Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1068 1063 [More than armed immigrants, fake monks]

"Even if the land is barren and unfertile, it will be tilled and irrigated until it is completely exhausted..."

"The fields end in land, and the land ends in mountains. Although the soil is shallow and the water is cold, and the hills block the sun, thanks to human efforts and the nourishment of rain and dew, some harvests are not without..."

These two paragraphs talk about Fujian agriculture in the Northern Song Dynasty.

After paddy fields were cultivated, dry land was cultivated, and after dry land was cultivated, mountain land was cultivated. Even hard and barren land was reclaimed as farmland, so that at least some harvest could be obtained.

In comparison, Guangdong's development level is not that high, and there are still many mountainous areas that are still uncultivated.

As a result, every year farmers from Fujian migrate to the counties of Guangdong near Fujian. They enter the mountainous areas of Guangdong, blaze new trails with great difficulty, and the whole village speaks Fujian dialect.

However, more landless farmers in Fujian turned to temples and became monks.

Those temples controlled industry, agriculture, and commerce. Some large temples along the coast even monopolized the supply of goods to the sea.

When the Ming Dynasty was founded, this phenomenon was severely rectified: a few temples were allowed to remain, while the rest were banned. The temples that remained had strict quotas for monks. The temple land was confiscated and distributed to farmers, and the shops and workshops were confiscated and auctioned. Even the ten-sided monasteries that were preserved had to pay taxes to the government.

Huang Cun was a farmer from Chishui Township, Dehua County, Quanzhou Prefecture. When the Ming Dynasty banned temples, his family was allocated 27 acres of mountain land.

Coupled with the promotion of corn and sweet potatoes, there were several years when people were able to have enough food to eat.

But they only had enough food for a few years. As the family grew in size, how could more than 20 acres of mountain land be enough to feed them?

My second brother was conscripted by the government and forced to immigrate to Guangxi.

At first, I asked someone to write letters to my family, but gradually, there was no news. I don’t know whether he died of illness in Guangxi or he saved money on letters, but I haven’t contacted my family for nearly ten years.

The third brother was tricked by the government into doing militia training, but unexpectedly he went to sea to fight with the army.

He also sent a few letters home, saying that his third brother had gone to a place called Zhanbei, where the fertile fields yielded two crops a year, and he was given dozens of mu of land, and asked several of his younger brothers to go as well.

Going overseas was too risky, and my second brother had lost contact in Guangxi, so my parents refused to let their son go.

Now, Huang Cun has become a monk.

This is a transitional profession. Although they are called monks, they are actually servants in the temple and can return to secular life and marry at any time.

Life was still okay. My third brother, who lived far away in Jambi, would sometimes ask someone to send money home.

"You guys, go and sweep the mountain gate quickly. The master will come to burn incense tomorrow!"

A middle-aged monk shouted at the top of his voice, and Huang Cun and two servants quickly picked up the brooms.

This temple existed before, but was once banned by the government.

Later, a great monk traveled here and lived in a deserted temple, chanting Buddha's name. He also begged for vegetarian meals from all over the place and provided free salvation for poor families.

After a while, this eminent monk became famous.

Some gentry donated money to help repair the temple, and some believers donated land to be used as temple land. Later, even the supervisor of the Chishui Iron Works came to worship Buddha and pray that there would be no accidents in the mines and iron works.

The incense became more and more prosperous, and the temple property became more and more.

There was a year when food was scarce, and Huang Cun's father sold five mu of mountain land to a temple. But the land still belonged to the Huang family, and they enjoyed permanent tenancy rights, which was the preferred way for farmers to sell land.

Huang Cun was cleaning the mountain gate slowly, but his thoughts drifted to Zhanbei, thousands of miles away.

He was illiterate, so he asked an old scholar in the village to read the letters his third brother sent home.

In a recent letter, the third brother sent back a silver dollar, saying that he was a soldier in Zhanbi, and because of his meritorious service, he was awarded five mu of land, all of which were high-quality paddy fields that could produce two crops a year, and he also recruited locals as tenants, so that the brothers and their families could live there.

Huang Cun was still very young. He did not want to be a servant in the temple. He dreamed of going out to sea to join his third brother.

Once he got there, he could get a share of land, and he could get rewards for serving in the army. He could earn his own fortune, marry a native woman, and have children.

But his parents refused to agree. They saved the money that his third brother sent home and looked for an opportunity to redeem the fields that had been sold to the temple.

If my third brother continues to send money back, my parents plan to buy land from someone else.

"People are coming, a lot of people are coming!"

Fan Zhunfu from the same village shouted.

The monk in charge of receiving guests thought that a distinguished person had arrived with a large entourage, so he hurried to the middle of the mountain to greet him.

Soon, the monk came running back again: "Oh no! The county magistrate has come with his officers. They look ferocious and are here to cause trouble!"

The abbot packed his clothes and went to deal with it, while sending his confidant down the back mountain to get reinforcements.

Huang Cun, Fan Zhunfu and others quickly retreated to the side to avoid it.

But the county magistrate arrived outside the temple and shouted, "Seal off the illegal temples and arrest all the monks and servants!"

The abbot put his hands together and stepped forward, chanting the Buddha's name: "I didn't know you were coming, please forgive me..."

"Catch him!"

The county magistrate shouted.

Huang Cun was also arrested without knowing what was going on, and his hands were tied and he was forced to lie on the ground.

Batches of monks and servants were arrested and detained together, and the temple’s warehouses were also sealed off.

When the villagers in the surrounding areas heard that their children and grandchildren had been arrested, they rushed over to block the road down the mountain. More and more people gathered, and there were already hundreds of people.

The county magistrate said to the villagers, "This temple was built illegally, and the monks don't even have a certificate of ordination. This county is carrying out rectification under the order of the emperor. If you dare to stop it again, you will be disobeying the emperor's order!"

Many villagers were frightened and gradually made way for the path down the mountain.

At this time, an official came with hundreds of young men and asked, "Why didn't Magistrate Xue send someone to the Chishui Ironworks to inform us beforehand when he came to Chishui Township to arrest people?"

The visitor was none other than the supervisor of the government-run Chishui Ironworks, whose official rank was half a level higher than that of the Dehua County Magistrate.

Moreover, the two parties belong to different systems, and the ironworks is managed by people sent by the Ministry of Industry.

This illegal temple has always been protecting the Chishui Iron Works. Legend has it that the monks' chanting can keep the iron work safe.

The county magistrate sneered: "Du Changjian, you know that the temples in the suburbs of the county were closed down by troops sent by Quanzhou Prefecture this time. This rural temple in front of you was arrested by me, the county magistrate. I can give you face, but the troops coming next time will be from Quanzhou Prefecture!"

The supervisor's face changed drastically when he heard this.

"It's just a misunderstanding. We can talk about it over a drink some other day." The field supervisor saluted, then turned around and left with hundreds of miners and blacksmiths.

Damn it, the garrison troops of Quanzhou Prefecture have been dispatched. How dare he, a small ironworks supervisor, lead people to protect the temple?
The county magistrate did not tell the villagers about the migration, but only said that he would take the monks and servants back to investigate.

After Huang Cun was taken to the county town, he was detained for several days and was ordered to head south early in the morning.

After crossing mountains and rivers, they arrived at the territory of Yongchun County, where there were also many bald fake monks. The two groups joined together and took a boat to Quanzhou City.

My goodness, there are even more fake monks in Quanzhou City.

They were urged to board the ship, and countless fake monks cried and begged the government to let them go, promising that they would never seek refuge in the temple again.

The cabin was packed with people, and Fan Zhunfu from the same village was feeling terrified.

Huang Cun was a little excited: "We are going to go to sea, and we will definitely be able to divide the land!"

Fan Zhunfu said worriedly, "I'm afraid he'll die outside."

"Death is a bad fate, but it's better than being a slave in the temple," Huang Cun said, "My third brother has dozens of acres of paddy fields in Zhanbi, and he hired many barbarians as tenants, and he would send money home every year. My parents didn't know how to adapt, and just saved the money and looked for opportunities to buy land. In my opinion, the whole family should have gone to sea to join my third brother a long time ago." A fake monk next to them said, "An elder brother in our village went to Taiwan and made a fortune by panning for gold. He wrote letters to recruit more than 20 people from the village to go over there, and bought land and formed a society to reclaim wasteland."

"Why don't you go?" Huang Cun asked.

The fake monk said, "My brother died of illness within a year. I heard it's easy to get sick in a wild place. It's better to live a miserable life than to die. It's better to be a monk."

As the conversation started, more and more people in the cabin spoke up, talking about the people from their respective villages who went out to sea.

This group of fake monks were transported to Guangzhou Outer Port and landed.

Then, they waited there, batches of fake monks were brought in. In the end, there were more than 14,000 fake monks and temple servants.

The government also assigned doctors, all of whom were recent graduates from Lingnan Medical College.

Lingnan Medical College is very famous in the south. They have extensive research on tropical diseases and their understanding of parasites and bacteria is also leading the country.

However, there is a rule that prevents many people from applying for the exam.

That is, graduates of Lingnan Medical College must obey the government's assignments.

Some were transferred to Guangxi, Hunan, and Guizhou, some were transferred to Annan and Taiwan, some went directly to become naval doctors, and the more unfortunate ones were assigned to Malacca, Jambi and other places.

Therefore, anyone from a wealthy family would not go to study at Lingnan Medical College.

Huang Cun drank herbal tea for the first time in Guangzhou Outer Port.

The doctor told me to cook it, saying it can prevent disease.

Merchant ships requisitioned by the government, carrying fake monks, headed from Guangzhou to Champa in batches.

Huang Cun was in the second group to land. As soon as he got off the boat, he was taken to the military camp, and then he was assigned a spear, leather armor and a sword. He immediately began basic military training while the weather was not hot.

After three months of training, Prince Yu Zhu Kang finally led his army back.

Zhu Kang did not hold a formal founding ceremony, but only announced a series of decrees. He had to wait for the imperial court to confer the title of king before he could truly offer sacrifices to heaven and earth.

"The land has been divided! The land has been divided!"

The battalion that Huang Cun was in, led by dozens of elite soldiers, was heading to an area on the outskirts of the city.

This place was severely damaged by the Zhenla army. Many nobles and rich people were killed, but some escaped.

Without measuring the land carefully, the officer pointed at the paddy field and said as he walked with the roster: "Lin Shanyong, this piece of land is yours... Zhou Zhong, that piece of land is yours... Huang Cun, that piece of land is yours..."

Some rich people who escaped back tried to reason with the government, but were simply driven away.

Some nobles also gathered rich and poor people and came with knives and sticks in an attempt to protect their land.

The officer gathered the armed immigrants from this battalion together and shouted, "They are coming to rob your land. What should we do?"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer. They were still fake monks a few months ago.

The officer was furious and said, "You are all useless. They are coming to rob the farmland. Are the swords and guns in your hands just for show? Follow our previous drills and form a formation to kill the enemy!"

Can you still do this?
Huang Cundu was stunned. It was clearly his family that was stealing other people's land, but suddenly it became others who were stealing his land.

In any case, as the bugle and whistle sounded, Huang Cun immediately formed a battle formation with his companions.

"Team one to team four, outflanking to the left. Team five to team eight, outflanking to the right. Team nine, team ten, follow me forward..."

"Pay attention to cooperate with your teammates, keep your eyes on the flags and your ears on the whistles!"

"Who is the captain of the seventh team? The herald should go and ask, how does that bastard lead the team?"

Huang Cun followed the army around in a daze, then shouted and killed along with others, raised his gun and rushed forward behind the rattan shield bearers.

He thought it was just a scare, but he didn't expect it to be serious.

The natives were frightened and fled in all directions, but Huang Cun was chased all the way. He saw with his own eyes that the captain shot one of them down with a crossbow.

This captain was also a fake monk in an illegal temple, and it was said that he was also a martial monk who practiced guns and sticks.

"kill!"

Huang Cun's blood boiled and he thrust his gun towards a native who was begging for mercy.

After an unknown amount of time, Huang Cun lay on the ground, gasping for breath. The officer came over and scolded him harshly, "Fighting with a bunch of unruly people, you are tired like dogs? Why are you staggering here and there? Stand up!"

Huang Cun quickly got up. He was now extremely afraid of the officers and was afraid that he would be executed by military law if he disobeyed.

On that day, land and houses were divided and marked with stones or sticks.

Huang Cun looked at his dilapidated house, and from time to time went for a stroll in his paddy fields, grinning happily all the way.

There were many people who did the same thing as him. They were all in a state of inexplicable excitement, completely forgetting the fear they had experienced before when moving and burning the corpses.

They returned to the barracks to rest in the evening, and were ordered to line up to collect the tenants and their wives early the next morning when the bugle call was blown.

Those tenants were all low castes and untouchables of Champa.

To them, it doesn't matter who they work for. They just do whatever they are told to do, without any resistance.

As for wives, some were Champa women and some were Chenla women.

Many of those Zhenla women were abducted from Zhenla’s second largest city, and among them were many wealthy girls with extremely fair skin.

Prince Yu came over, but Huang Cun was too far away to know what he said.

After Prince Yu left, another officer came over and conveyed the words of His Royal Highness Prince Yu: "From now on, you will all be soldiers of the Southern Yu Kingdom. His Royal Highness will distribute land, houses, wives and tenants to you. You must train and fight for His Royal Highness! If you make military achievements, you will also be rewarded. In the future, each of you can become a landlord..."

Huang Cun left the military camp as if in a dream, and the people he traveled with were all comrades who were assigned to the same village.

They all brought their wives and tenants, and some of the tenants also brought their wives and children. Unfortunately, they could not understand Chinese and could only follow them.

After returning to the village, Huang Cunlian arranged accommodation for his tenants by means of gestures and demonstrations.

Then he dragged his wife's hand and went home.

Although the woman's skin was not white, it was not too dark either. She was considered quite pretty among the village girls and seemed to be a few years older than Huang Cun.

Huang Cun talked to himself. The woman didn't know what he meant and just looked at him blankly.

A few days later, Huang Cun and his men were called to the military camp outside the city to receive food, seeds and oxen.

Those oxen were compensation paid by the Kingdom of Zhenla. Each village could get several oxen, which were considered the collective property of the village.

There were also many scholars sitting in the barracks, and armed immigrants lined up to write letters.

Huang Cun waited for a long time, and finally it was his turn. He happily recited: "Dad, Mom, eldest brother, eldest sister-in-law, fourth brother... I got land in Champa and got married. They are all paddy fields that can harvest twice a year. The government also gave them to tenants to help farm... Third brother was not lying. There are many good fields overseas. You can get them when you come..."

The scholar who wrote the letter reminded: "You can persuade your family members to come as well. As long as they come, you will be given land."

"Yes, yes, yes," Huang Cun said, "Dad, Mom, you and your brothers, sisters-in-law, brothers and sisters can come too. You can go to my third brother's Zhanbi, or you can come to my place. It's better than farming those mountains in my hometown..."

When the scholar was helping to write the letter, he automatically blocked out the content about Jambi and other places, and then added a sentence: Champa is better than Jambi, and it is much closer to my hometown. When my family business grows bigger, it will be convenient for me to return home to worship my ancestors.

(End of this chapter)