Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 502 Five Princesses

"Call Dad!"

Zhu Yihai hugged the little girl and teased her with a smile.The little girl is no longer the mess she was before, her whole body is very clean, even her hair has been trimmed, and the lice have been carefully removed, two small buns are tied up and tied with red silk ribbons.

Her forehead is high and protruding, and her washed face is still yellow, but her eyes are very big.

Wearing a small skirt, Zhu Yihai could hardly feel any weight in her hands, with thin arms and calves.

"Call Dad."

But the little girl was just grabbing a boiled egg and eating it, with no joy on her face.

Ever since her mother died and was buried that day, this girl hasn't laughed, she doesn't cry or make trouble, but she just doesn't laugh, no matter how teased she is, she doesn't laugh or speak.

Either she was in a daze, or she was looking for something to eat, her appetite was astonishing, if Zhu Yihai hadn't been stared at and controlled her diet, this little guy could eat himself to death.

The imperial doctor prescribed a prescription to help regulate the spleen and stomach, and this little guy's appetite got better.

Whenever he was free, Zhu Yihai would come to see her, hug her, and tease her. Although she still didn't speak today, Zhu Yihai could feel that the child was getting close to him now. After he came, he would obviously look at her from time to time. He didn't even struggle to object when he hugged her.

Seeing her eating eggs so intently, Zhu Yihai felt distressed. She is a poor person who is like grass in troubled times. So far, Zhu Yihai has not figured out the identity of this girl, and her mother is still only anonymous. , Is there anyone else at home.

"Daddy give you a name, okay?"

The little girl continued to eat the eggs.

Zhu Yihai helped her wipe the egg yolk from the corner of her mouth, "How about Ning Wei, Zhu Ningwei? In the Book of Songs, picking weeds and picking weeds means weeds are the smallest vegetables. The Wei mentioned in the ancient books of songs is said to refer to wild peas and small vegetables. Wait, it's some wild vegetables.

Although you were born just like that Wild Wei Fu Ping, Dad believes that you can grow up strong, and you will always be safe and healthy in the future.

Ning Wei, do you like this name, my fifth princess? "

The little girl glanced at Zhu Yihai, then handed the egg in front of Zhu Yihai.

Zhu Yihai took a small bite, "Thank you, if Dad takes a bite, you should too."

Liu Chao sighed on the side, "Since the fifth princess was adopted by His Majesty, she is the most protective of food. She usually eats every grain of rice in the bowl, and even the medicine prescribed by the imperial doctor to regulate the spleen and stomach, etc., no matter how hard it is for her I will take the initiative to drink until there is not a drop left, even if I fall asleep, I always have to hold some food in my hand.
Unexpectedly, now he is willing to take the initiative to share eggs with the emperor. "

Zhu Yihai touched the girl's head. Her hair was yellow and split. He helped her take a bath and combed her hair earlier. It took a lot of effort to straighten her knotted hair, and she had to cut it off a lot to straighten it out.

This child is estimated to be only about three and a half years old, about [-] centimeters, definitely short, and some normal one-year-old children are this tall.

He suffered from severe malnutrition, even some ribs were turned out, and there was a slight rickety, but fortunately, the treatment can be improved.

She is a poor child. Like countless refugees from the Central Plains, wars, natural disasters and wars caused them to be displaced and leave their homes. In the end, their family members might be separated, but they starved to death, and the only relatives around her also starved to death beside her, helpless. .

But she was lucky again, she met Zhu Yihai, met the emperor of Ming Dynasty, immediately took her back, adopted her, and made her the fifth princess.

The egg yolk broke apart and fell into small pieces on the ground. The girl struggled to get down and insisted on picking it up and eating it.

After eating the eggs, the girl yawned contentedly and felt sleepy.

She was lying in Zhu Yihai's arms, feeling very safe, holding the necklace made of wooden hairpins left by her mother in one hand, and fell asleep.

Zhu Yihai hugged her and patted her gently.

"My lord, come and hug me."

"Need not."

"How is the adoption of refugee orphans going?"

"The servant has already sent people to each refugee camp to take charge of this matter. All orphans who have lost their parents and relatives will be sent to Denglai first, and then transferred to the orphan camp in Changshan, where they will be recuperated for a period of time before being sent back. In Jiangnan, an orphanage is already being built there, and they are also starting to contact officials, soldiers and civilians about adopting orphans." Liu Chao quickly replied.

Zhu Yihai sighed, "Just accepting orphans in refugee camps is not enough. This time, the Yellow River in Shandong Province will be destroyed. It is estimated that three provinces, ten prefectures, forty or fifty counties will be affected. After the flood, there will be a big epidemic, and then there will be a big famine. The method is to go deep into the disaster area and save more people, especially those orphans, if no one helps them, they will only die in a pitiful manner, their life has just begun, and they will wither, it is too cruel."

"My lord, we can't save so many people."

"Think of a way, save one more person."

"The servants try their best to use some other identities to go over there to save people." Liu Chao suggested some methods, such as buying people directly in the past, buying those orphans from their fellow villagers and relatives. At that time, after losing their parents and close relatives, relatives and fellow villagers can sometimes help them for a while, but they can't help them for a long time, because they can't take care of themselves.

You can also go to the porridge to give relief, and directly take in orphans in the local area.

There are also many other ways, such as taking away orphans over the age of eight or nine as apprentices.

Just like now the imperial camp sent people from Huainan, Shandong, Henan and other places to contact the local Zhongming forces, and married a large number of young girls to marry the soldiers of the imperial camp.

There is turmoil over there now, and it is still a disaster area. A few buckets of food can bring back a young girl. Compared with Jiangnan, the cost is very small. The conditions are very poor, and some are even pure propertyless, even servants and tenants.

Marrying the soldiers of the imperial camp is regarded as a welfare of the imperial camp. If it can reduce expenses and find a good girl, the imperial camp will certainly be happy.

For the victims, survival is the most important thing. If they can exchange a few buckets of food, the family may be able to survive the famine. But if the daughter is married to the south, she may even live a good life without starving. In February, you have to accept the bride price and depend on the family, but now you don't pay so much attention.

To keep their daughter from falling into prostitution and falling into the fire pit of a brothel is already the last thing parents can do for their daughter.

It is said that the locals in Jiangnan now start to be hostile or even hostile to a large number of Jiangbei women going south, thinking that they have robbed those young and high-quality imperial soldiers. It is indeed attractive.

This also began to seriously impact the marriage tradition in the south of the Yangtze River. In the past, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, marriage was a big event, with heavy gifts and heavy dowry. It was a great burden on both men and women. Many poor people could not afford to marry a wife. He can't even marry his daughter.

Therefore, in Fujian and many other places, the situation of drowning female infants has always been serious.

Although this custom is a burden for the common people, it is not so easy to break the custom. If you don't do it like this, you will not be able to hold your head up in all directions, and others will laugh at you.

And if a man can't afford the gift money, no one else will marry a girl to you.

But now, because of the large number of Jiangbei women going south, they are basically married in three or five buckets of food, and apart from bringing a small burden, they will not have any dowry.

The imperial camp will help them arrange blind dates. There are three chances to meet each other, and then they will be forced to match. After they are matched, they will hold a wedding for them, and they will also get them a red envelope. It is a dowry at the bottom of the box.

Such a simple but efficient new type of marriage has had a great impact on the Jiangnan native.

Others marry with three or five buckets of grain, and if the imperial camp comes forward, the soldiers of the imperial camp don’t need to pay for the grain themselves. After marrying, they can get a few taels of silver as a dowry. Yin Zi, the girls are often young and fit. With such good conditions, many soldiers from the imperial camp who had poorer conditions in the past were naturally willing to marry these Jiangbei girls, and instead of paying extra high betrothal gifts, they found local girls.

Local men also use Jiangbei girls to speak.

Even what the imperial camp can do, they can naturally do. Now there are many such intermediaries in Jiangnan, who go to Jiangbei, take three or five buckets of food to bring the girl back to Jiangnan, and then introduce it to Jiangnan men. Of course, they have to go to Jiangnan again. Although there is a lot of expenses for introducing some tea and foot money, it is still much lower than the cost of marrying a local girl.

Facing the impact of Jiangbei girls, the local girls can only change their traditions. Either they see outstanding men, such as promising soldiers of the imperial camp, or scholars, etc., and reduce the betrothal gifts or not accept the betrothal gifts, or they no longer choose others. If you choose, you will almost get married, and you will no longer want this or that.

Many things are changing.

The refugee girls in Jiangbei exchanged a few buckets of food for their families, and the imperial camp got a good benefit for the soldiers at a small cost, giving them wives.

The soldiers of the imperial camp got their wives for free, and they were full of joy. They were extremely grateful to the court and the Holy Majesty.

The girls in Jiangbei left the turbulent Jiangbei disaster area, came to Jiangnan to marry and settle down, and started a stable life again.

This seems to be a virtuous circle, and it even spawned the Jiangnan Dental Shop, which brought some food to the disaster-stricken areas in Jiangbei, brought back girls at a very cheap price, and then introduced them to men in Jiangnan, earning a good intermediary fee and making a fortune , and ordinary men in Jiangnan can finally marry their wives.

"Liu Chao, I have been thinking about it for a long time. There must be a detailed plan for helping orphans. For example, we must think of ways to get those orphans from the disaster area as quickly as possible, and then treat and recover them in time. After three to five years After a month of recuperation, I still have to find a way to find someone to adopt."

"Or the imperial court or my internal funds will provide money to find a family to foster."

"You can also encourage the common people to adopt orphans, and provide some appropriate policies to reward them."

Liu Chao lamented the emperor's benevolence, but he had to remind the emperor, "My lord, today the world is in turmoil, disaster victims are everywhere, and orphans are constantly being produced. If the emperor wants to do his best to help and adopt, it will cost a lot of money, which is very important. many."

"Do your best to save it."

Facing this kind of chaos and tragedy, Zhu Yihai also knew that he could not save everyone, so he could only give priority to helping orphans, they are the future of the nation.

Then there are craftsmen and scholars, which are the basis for the development and growth of the imperial court.

Then there are young and strong, which is a high-quality labor force.

Although such a classification will inevitably lead to a situation where if one is saved first, the other may not be saved, but this is a helpless move.

Perhaps they should be treated equally, but in this kind of catastrophe and famine, orphans are the least able to resist and should be rescued first.

(End of this chapter)