my steam dam

Chapter 155 Immigration?
"Two hundred acres of land?"

"migrant?!"

Lao Li and his companions looked at each other with serious expressions.

In the 20th year of Hongwu, an immigration and reclamation order was issued to encourage the inland people to immigrate to Yanyun, and each family was given [-] mu of land to reclaim it by themselves.

In this era when a family of five can only cultivate less than [-] mu of land at most, it is already very exciting to give a family of [-] mu of land.

However, there were not many people who responded at that time. In eight years, 50 households, or [-] people, had immigrated.

The main reason is that it is difficult to leave the homeland.

It is different from later generations.

In this era where there is no communication between fifty miles away and it is like two worlds, ordinary people in this world cannot be expected to have any foresight and courage.

In addition, human beings are group animals, and what they are most afraid of is leaving the familiar group and living in a strange place.

It's not that they can't live at all, most of the poor who don't have much knowledge and can't read a single word dare not travel thousands of miles away with their families.

If something happens to this, it is impossible to solve and deal with it if you are not familiar with the place.

Just like Lao Li, although his family only has five or six acres of land, he still needs to rent land from the landlord to support the whole family.

But now that life is so busy, I am not willing to abandon my contacts, land, and good relationships in Qinghe County, and go to places thousands of miles away where I am not familiar with.

As long as my tiger head studies hard, after graduating from the county primary school, the life of Lao Li's family will be prosperous and the future will be bright!

Not at all willing to bet on immigrants who don't know what to expect!

However, Lao Li's reluctance does not mean that other farmers are not moved.

"Xiao Zhao, you are not too young anymore, it's time to get married." Lao Li turned his head to look at the young man with the dog's tail grass in his mouth, and persuaded him very seriously:
"It's not a problem that it's always like this."

"Why don't you sell the three acres of paddy fields at home and ask for a daughter-in-law to participate in the immigration!"

"One household is divided into [-] mu of land, which is more than what was given by the reclamation order of Yanyun who immigrated to Yanyun before!"

Where there are rich people, there must be poor people.

Although there is quite a lot of cultivated land in Qinghe County, there are also many big landlords entrenched in Qinghe County.

At most, a family can have one or two hectares of land, and at least three or four hundred mu.

How these landlords got their land, how much trickery and forced buying and selling are in it, no one can tell.

Anyway, the combined land in their hands can occupy half of the cultivated land in Qinghe County.

And these landlords accounted for less than 10% of the population of Qinghe County.

The remaining half of the land is divided among the 90% of ordinary people.

As a result, there will always be people who don't even have ten acres of land, and must rent land from landlords and be tenants for them in order to live.

However, during the Taiping period, being a tenant for the landlords was not considered an errand, and the landlords did not dare to exploit too much.

Even because there is no shortage of work for the grand event, the remuneration needs to be raised to attract tenants to rent their own land.

In fact, the tenants in the prosperous age are not much different from the migrant workers in later generations.

And in a sense, it is also working for myself.

After all, after renting a field from a landlord, whether the harvest is good or not depends on whether you work hard or not.

Be diligent and feed the whole family.

However, not all farmers with less land in Qinghe County can become tenants!
There are also some poor peasants at the bottom who can't even afford to rent land, or dare not rent land, so they can only work as farm laborers for landlords.

Compared with the tenants, the life of the farm laborer is more difficult.

The common people who do long-term, monthly, and odd jobs for landlords are the peasant class.

These farm laborers have no land, not even production tools, and cannot afford to rent land. They can only make a living by selling labor.

On weekdays, not to mention living in poverty, if there is a disaster year, they may face no food to eat and starve to death on the streets.

Xiao Zhao, whose real name is Zhao Liusheng.

The reason for this name is that when his mother was pregnant with him, she was busy doing farm work.

One morning, while doing farm work under the willow tree, the premature baby started to move, so Xiao Zhao was delivered under the willow tree.

So it was named Zhao Liusheng.

It's just that Xiao Zhao's parents left early, and both died of illness when he was 12 years old, leaving him only a dilapidated house and five acres of paddy fields.

For him to grow so big, he had to sell two acres of land to support himself.

Fortunately, he alone had enough to eat, and the whole family was not hungry. When he grew up, he only had a hoe, and those who didn't have a hoe worked as farm laborers for the landlords and gentry, and they lived a decent life.

But it’s not a problem to live like this all the time!

Seeing that Xiao Zhao is already 24, still can't get a wife, and the family doesn't even have a low birthrate. Everyone who is usually more playful is also quite worried about his future.

Not only Lao Li, but several other farmers also surrounded Xiao Zhao to persuade him.

"Xiao Zhao, anyway, your family has nothing to worry about, and your relatives have long since stopped contacting, and life is very tight, so you might as well sign up for immigration!"

"Anyway, nothing to worry about, where is life?"

"You sold the paddy field, and you can sell it for more than 40 taels of silver, which is enough for you to ask for a daughter-in-law."

"When the time comes, the couple will immigrate together. Even if it may be farther away, there will still be [-] acres of land. How can it be better than your current life?"

"A few years ago, I immigrated to Yanyun, and now I live a pretty good life!"

Several farmers with older grades, old and young at home, and a fairly stable life, all tried to persuade Xiao Zhao with the tone of someone who had experienced it.

They are not false.

A few years ago, there were also landless farm laborers immigrating to Beiping and Shangan in Qinghe County. At that time, Xiao Zhao was still young, so it was not suitable for him to go.

However, the people of Qinghe County who immigrated there in the past also sent letters back one after another, and everyone also learned about the immigration situation.

Most of the immigrant people live a pretty good life.

Although the land in the north is not as large as that in the south of the Yangtze River, it is unstoppable. Each household has a hundred acres, and life is better than that of relatives who stay in Qinghe County!
Many fellow villagers who had lived a stable life and were reluctant to immigrate were a little moved and wanted to sign up for emigration.

Now the imperial court has issued a new immigration reclamation order, and it has been increased again, giving each household [-] acres of land!

With the experience of last time, I am afraid that there will be a lot of applicants this time.

Zhao Liusheng was persuaded so much, and a look of excitement appeared on his originally foolish face.

But he still hesitated and said: "But...give me two hundred acres of land, and I can't manage it!"

"Besides, everyone immigrated in the past, and every family divided the land, and I couldn't find tenants to help me plant."

Lao Li patted his thigh: "Oh, Xiao Zhao, do you still remember the tractors that the county magistrate sent to help those big landlords in the county harvest the wheat fields during the summer harvest this year?"

"And that rotary tiller that can plow hundreds of acres!"

"The technician from the machinery factory who came to my house last time to see the tiger's head mentioned it, saying that the imperial court wants to popularize that kind of farming machine."

"As long as you spend money, you can buy it, and the price will not be very expensive. If it is not possible, the imperial court can also provide rent, and you can rent it when the farming is busy!"

"In the future, using a steam engine to plow the land will be as common as using a cow, and every household can use it!"

"With the help of that kind of steaming machine, even if you are alone, you can plow two hundred acres of land!"

"Is that true?" Zhao Liusheng asked in surprise.

Not only him, but other farmers also looked at Lao Li curiously.

If this is the case, then it is not impossible for them to immigrate!

Among them, a farmer shouted angrily: "If the landlords use those machines, what will happen to us tenants?"

"They can plow the fields by themselves, and they don't need to rent them out at all!"

The farmers who were still smiling at first changed their faces when they heard this.

"Extremely great!"

"With these machines for plowing the land, wouldn't we, the tenants, have no use for them!"

"That can't be done!"

Even Lao Li shook his head with a wry smile: "Yeah, I was also very anxious when I heard the news."

"My family's land lease will expire after next year."

"If Huang Yuanwai can get a rotary cultivator and tractor to cultivate the land in the coming year, he may not even rent the land to me."

"If it wasn't for Huzi who is going to take the primary school entrance examination next year, I would even want to immigrate."

"Hey, I just hope that Huang Yuanwai will let me rent a few more years of land for the sake of my ten years of renting and farming for the Huang family."

"As long as we survive for another six years, there will be hope for good days."

The big guys looked at each other, and they were all confused by the news.

"The immigrant reclamation order should be released in the county, right?"

"Why don't we go and see what's going on?"

"If the conditions are right, maybe you can consider it?"

The farmers talked more and more enthusiastically, and even Lao Li waved his hands with interest: "Go! Go and have a look!"

"If it's suitable, I can't immigrate, but I can also let my brother-in-law go. His family is having a hard time recently!"

(End of this chapter)