Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 393 Luzon Opening up Wasteland

"finally reached……"

In the first month of the ninth year of Yongle, as many people lamented in unison, while the Ming Dynasty was working hard on internal martial arts, a ship successfully sailed into a harbor that did not look prosperous.

This harbor is large, but it is not bustling, as can be seen from the many empty ship bays in the harbor.

Among the ship bays that can accommodate fifty ships, only thirteen ship bays have ships berthed, and there are only a few people walking on the concrete pier that is three miles wide from north to south.

"boom……"

As the ship docked at its feet, many people on the deck looked at the archway on the pier.

【Port of Luzon】

Looking at the big characters on the archway, everyone felt very uneasy, and the dock was already taken over by more than ten officials.

They held iron trumpets in their hands and shouted at the horse-drawn boat with three thousand materials:
"Everyone should disembark and assemble according to the team at the time of departure. If you are illiterate, please ask someone. Don't act like a big girl and waste everyone's time!"

On the boat, many people began to help each other unload their belongings. Judging from their coarse linen clothes, they were obviously a group of ordinary people who were not living a good life.

"eighty two!"

Not long after, these officials led nearly a thousand people towards the depths of the dock.

"Your banner has the smallest number of people, with only seventeen households. Start counting now!"

The official walked up to a family and asked, saying it was a family, but they looked very different.

"This is overloading." The official's face showed displeasure: "If the ship sinks, you will all be exiled."

According to the officials' words, these eighty-two people began to gather together in their respective family units.

"From today on, I will be your chief. My surname is Liu and my full name is Liu. You can just call me Chief Liu."

"Although it is a wasteland, you don't have to worry. It is basically a plain. The local natives have also been wiped out. There is also a small stone fort under construction. There is a small flag of soldiers and horses stationed in the small stone fort."

"Are there no adults in your family?"

One cart after another was pulled out of the deck by manpower, and each cart was the belongings of a family.

After introducing himself, Liu Quan continued:
"You are all immigrants who went south to seek a living. After arriving in Luzon, the imperial court will place you on a wasteland thirty miles north of Luzon City."

However, due to the restrictions imposed by the court, their possessions were very limited. They only had clothes, trousers, cloth, rations and other things. Things such as furniture were not allowed on the ship and were sold before boarding.

There are all kinds of birds in the forest. The reason why this policy came about is because this kind of thing did happen in Luzon, and it was very bad.

A man in his forties carefully raised his hand to ask. When Liu Quan heard this, he said calmly: "For the prisoners of war who were captured after the defeat, if the animals are not strong enough, I will send them to you, but not too many."

"Choose a head from each of your families to come into the house with me and learn the rules."

Among the group of children from the Chaozhou Prefecture Nursing Home, the eldest boy, a fifteen-year-old boy, also walked into the group.

This family has a large number of people, including eleven people, but the eldest among them is only fifteen or sixteen years old, and the youngest is only eight or nine years old.

On the dock, the official frowned and questioned the captain. The captain was a man in his forties. Hearing this, he could only bite the bullet and said:
"There were originally two ships, but the mast of the other ship was blown off, so I had to carry people over first."

The oldest young man asked, and when the officials heard that he was from the Yangtze Hospital, they didn't say anything.

Walking into the bungalow, the space inside is about two-quarters wide, with tables, chairs and benches inside, enough to accommodate fifty people.

Upon seeing this, each family pushed the men from each family to study inside.

"In addition, regarding the matter of slaves, the court also has laws. Once a Han woman has an affair with a slave, both will be sentenced to death. The reporter can obtain half of the family property of the person being reported."

"one two Three……"

The official gave instructions to everyone, and then walked into a concrete bungalow behind him.

The officials shouted, and at the same time the boat ladder was placed on the dock.

Although it was only a horse-drawn boat with three thousand materials, as people poured onto the dock, nearly a thousand people had already stepped out of this seemingly small boat.

"That...sir...what is a slave?"

Until they were far away from the coast, the group was divided into eight general flags according to the numbers marked on the iron plate, and were taken to an open space not far from the other general flags.

"It won't happen next time, it won't happen again..." The captain quickly stuffed a sling of money into the official's arms. Upon seeing this, the official accepted the sling of money in secret and said sternly: "I won't do it next time."

Everyone took their seats carefully, and when the official saw this, he directly said:

When an eight or nine-year-old child finished reporting his number, the official frowned: "Now you all stand together according to each household."

After that, he abandoned the captain and began to explain things to the dozen or so officials he had brought with him.

What surprised them was that the imperial court would actually issue them slaves.

"In a moment, I will take you to get food, livestock and slaves, as well as farm tools, concrete and other materials for land reclamation and construction."

"There's nothing we can do." The captain explained anxiously, but the official raised his hand to interrupt:
"Forget it, I won't forget it if nothing happens this time, but next time something like this happens, I will definitely report it."

As soon as the official opened his mouth, the group of ordinary people with their families responded reflexively as if they had been trained.

After Liu Quan finished speaking, the people below looked at each other in surprise. Their surprise was not that the imperial court gave them so many things, because they already knew about these things before going south, and many relatives told them in letters.

"Sir, we are from the Chaozhou Prefecture Nursing Home."

"Why are there so many people?"

Among the seventeen families, most families have parents and children, and a few even have three generations living under the same roof. Among them, only one family looks very strange.

Seeing that it was still early, Liu Quan told everyone about the incident in detail.

To put it simply, it was a murder case that occurred in March of the seventh year of Yongle. A woman was discovered to have had an affair with a slave, and they jointly killed her husband and two children.

Due to the seriousness of the case, Xu Chailao escorted the two men to Luzon City to be sentenced to Lingchi.

Afterwards, Xu Chailao specially promulgated this law to warn everyone.

In the bungalow, everyone took a breath of cold air after hearing the words, while Liu Quan glanced at everyone and said:

"Okay, now let's talk about the rules..."

Under the attention of everyone, Liu Quan explained Lu Song's rules.

Immigrants who came to Luzon, regardless of their previous status, came under the jurisdiction of the Xuanwei Division after arriving here, and their status was that of farmers.

After they came to Luzon, they did not collect any taxes for the first three years, but they would organize land measurement work every year. In addition, corvees would be sent out from time to time, but corvées were basically conducted around the affairs of the village.

For three years, their rations were taken care of by the Xuanwei Department, and materials such as cloth and salt were distributed according to the head count every year.

Starting from the fourth year, the tax they needed to bear was five taxes and one tax, and the court began to stop distributing rations, cloth, salt and other materials.

Until the Xuanwei Division is changed to the Chief Envoy Division, the taxation will be changed according to the Ten Taxes of the Chief Envoy Division.

"Don't worry about the food. When you go to collect the food later, it will be distributed at four dou per month for large households and three dou per month for small households."

"The distinction between large and small mouths is based on the age of twelve. Do you have any objection?"

Liu Quan glanced at the crowd and saw that no one spoke, so he closed his book and said, "You can go out now and line up according to your family to register. The name of our village is Donghetun."

After saying that, he watched everyone get up and line up according to family units.

They walked into the bungalow and registered everyone's gender, place of origin, and age.

More than eighty people may not seem like many, but they kept Liu Quan busy for half an hour.

The pile of children from the almshouse was ranked last. Liu Quan looked at their surnames. They all had the same surname of Lu. The oldest child among them was called Lu Yu, who was sixteen years old.

Glancing at Lu Yu, Liu Quan sorted out the document and made sure there were no mistakes before leading them out of the bungalow and towards the gate of the dock.

The entire dock is surrounded by walls, with only one gate accessible.

There are not many immigrants in Luzon, and it is usually good to have a ship in eight or nine days.

Therefore, these nearly a thousand people today are the only immigrant team at the moment.

In the team, Lu Yu, the leader of the children from the almshouse, looked at Luzon City, which was paved with concrete floors. In his eyes, Luzon City was much more prosperous than Chaozhou Prefecture.

Carriages were running back and forth on the streets, and many businessmen dressed as merchants were busy in the city.

Their team was slowly lining up. Behind the city gate was a granary, supervised by soldiers.

Standing in the queue, Lu Yu looked toward the warehouse, where he saw a plump, fat man wearing official robes.

He didn't know what rank the blue-robed official was, but in short, it was probably the largest official he had ever seen in his life, because Liu Lizhang, who was leading the way, had to bow to him from a distance when he saw that person, and there were people around him. There were officials in green robes nodding and bowing.

"The head of the household, Lu Yu, has one big mouth and ten small mouths, and receives thirty-four measures of food..."

The official sitting on the chair recited the information in the book recorded by Liu Quan, then raised his head and glanced at Lu Yu, and said in surprise:
"I'm afraid you won't be able to carry these thirty-four buckets of grain with your small body." Thirty-four buckets of grain weigh more than 500 kilograms. Even an adult would need two people to pull it. Lu Yu is only five feet tall. With a physique of over a foot and a pile of three- to four-foot-long dolls behind him, it would be very difficult for him to pull away this batch of grain.

"what happened?"

Hearing the official's words, the fat official standing aside turned his head to ask. Seeing Lu Yu and the others as a family of children, he glanced down at the brochure and couldn't help but smile:

"Thirty miles, thirty-four buckets of food, you may not be able to transport it."

"Sir, can we..." Lu Yu was worried that these officials were embezzling food, so he quickly defended himself.

"Xu Xuanwei, for a small price, I will give a cow to this family."

Liu Quan stood up and bowed at the critical moment, and the only one who could be called Xuanwei was Lu Song's Xuanwei envoy Xu Chailao.

Xu Chailao didn't want to skimp, because he would only have a chance to promote Luzon if he developed it well.

He was still disdainful of the immigrants' food rations.

"That's okay." Xu Chailao nodded and said to an official behind him who was managing the livestock: "Turn the cow around and give it to this kid, and give them a cage of chickens."

"Yes!" Hearing Xu Chailao speak, the official took out a cow, directed the cow to come forward, and put a martingale on it.

"Come forward, baby." The official called Lu Yu to come forward and taught him step by step how to drive the cattle.

Seeing this, Lu Yu nodded: "Thank you, sir. I learned these in the almshouse."

"Just learn it. This is your chicken coop. There are twelve chicks. You should take good care of them. When you grow up, it will be convenient for you to sell or do anything else."

"Thank you, sir." Lu Yu bowed his head to express his gratitude, and then he brought his younger brothers and sisters to help him move thirty-four buckets of grain and farm tools onto the bullock cart.

When he looked back, Liu Quan and the others were carrying bags of gray ash.

When he drove the bullock cart to follow him, Liu Quan stopped him and said, "You can take care of your younger brothers and sisters by yourself. The adults are busy with this."

Although he didn't say much, Liu Quan still took good care of Lu Yu and his group of orphans who had left the orphanage.

For an entire hour, Liu Quan directed more than 20 young adults from the remaining 16 households to load more than 300 bags of cement onto the bullock cart.

After everything was done, the nearly a thousand immigrants here at the city gate were also hungry.

Fortunately, it was already dusk, and everyone was arranged to enter the camp where immigrants temporarily lived, and had a big hot meal here.

The meal was not sumptuous, just a bowl of rice and vegetable soup with some pickles.

Although it is not rich, for everyone who has been eating cold meals at sea for a month, it is already the most satisfying meal they have eaten in this month.

After a short night's rest, in the early morning of the next day, with the sound of gongs and drums in the camp, nearly a thousand immigrants began to get up one after another, walked out of the camp and lined up, passing through the not-so-busy but very neat streets of Luzon City, walking out of the city gate and heading north go ahead.

Compared with yesterday, today's team looks very "bloated".

More than a hundred cattle and nearly a thousand short and thin natives pulled carts, and under the supervision of a cavalry team of fifty people, walked north with the nearly a thousand immigrants.

Among the team, Lu Yu looked around after the team left Luzon City.

Outside the city of Luzon, the cultivated land stretches for more than ten miles, with rivers crisscrossing it. Many shirtless people are sowing food. Even those who don't farm can see the fertility of this land.

Although the roads outside the city are only rammed earth roads, they are built in all directions, with villages every few miles.

Because they were arranged too far away, many cultivated lands suddenly bordered on wasteland. As I walked, I saw a large cultivated land in front of me.

There are dozens of villages of various sizes located around the city of Luzon. Some of them have hundreds of people, while some only have dozens of people.

Throughout the whole day, Lu Yu's team did not decrease because they had not yet reached the outermost edge of Luzon City.

They simply set up camp in the wild and rested for a night. They set out on the road again the next day. In the afternoon, their team began to separate. Some went in other directions along the auxiliary road, while others continued to take the official road to the north. go.

On this road heading north, there are waist-high weeds everywhere. Liu Quan said that every year the troops of the Xuanwei Division would set fire to these weeds, but due to heavy rainfall, they would be lush again the next year.

Just like those woods that occasionally appear on the plains, they have obviously been burned down by fire many times, but after the rainy season, they can take root and sprout again, and a little bit of green appears.

"Okay, let's take the auxiliary road to Donghetun. It's almost three miles away from here."

On the way forward, Liu Quan, holding a flag with the character "朜" in his hand, suddenly stopped and explained to Lu Yu and others behind him.

Everyone looked at the other teams that were still taking the official road to the north, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

They waited for a long time until the people behind them caught up, and Liu Quan began to lead them towards the auxiliary road that had been burned down not long ago.

Maybe immigrants came here, so the weeds here were burned down, and the ground for miles around was covered with thick piles of plant ash.

Looking at these plant ashes, many experienced farmers in the team couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

There are naturally many forests in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. However, for the people living on the coast, the coastal forests have long been cut down. Even if they want to set fire to the mountains to obtain plant ash, they still need to walk hundreds of miles north and go deep into the mountains. It is possible to obtain.

But here, looking at the thick piles of vegetation ash, everyone couldn't help but feel that the road ahead was a little brighter.

They walked in the middle of the wasteland filled with plant ash. Liu Quan explained as they walked:

"After you have built your houses and settled down completely, we need to build canals, dig gullies, and consolidate the road, and then we can open up wasteland."

As he spoke, a concrete stone castle standing on the wasteland appeared in front of him.

Seeing Liu Quan and the others arriving, the door of the stone castle was opened, and the team wearing mandarin duck jackets walked out of the stone castle, quietly waiting for Liu Quan and the others to arrive.

Beside the stone castle, a two-foot-wide river slowly flows southward. Mountains can still be seen vaguely in the distance, and they don't seem too far away.

There were only 82 nominal immigrants in Liu Quan's group, but there were 71 prisoners of war and slaves in the team.

As long as these slaves work for immigrants for three years, they can obtain "white citizenship", and the so-called white citizenship is a native with legal status.

They can open up wasteland and farm with the Han people in towns and villages, or they can go to Luzon City to work and make a living, but most of them choose to go to other villages to open up wasteland and cultivate their own fields after three years of living in wasteland.

"Wang Yao, the small flag officer of Donghe Tun."

"Liu Quan, the head of Donghe Village."

Before arriving at the stone castle, Wang Yao and Liu Quan reported their homes to each other, and then briefly communicated about the immigration settlement issues.

While they were communicating, Lu Yu and others also looked up at the concrete stone castle, which was two feet high and more than ten steps wide from east to west.

Considering the size of this stone castle, it is not a problem to accommodate hundreds of people, but immigrants obviously cannot be qualified to live in it.

Not long after, after the exchange between Liu Quan and Wang Yao ended, Liu Quan also began to direct everyone to separate their families in the south of the stone castle, less than 20 steps away from the stone castle.

Although it is land reclamation, it is not possible to divide houses by randomly choosing an address, because there are native people in the mountains not far from Donghetun, so their houses cannot be built alone and must be close to other neighbors. .

"Each house occupies an acre, and several men will follow me to measure it with a tape measure and sprinkle lime powder."

"The others followed Wang Xiaoqi to unload the goods, and after leaving people to guard them, they took the bullock carts and slaves to the northeastern mountain to cut down trees and collect firewood. All trees and firewood were distributed uniformly."

"The women and children stayed behind and dug gullies with hoes in the areas where lime powder had been sprinkled!"

Liu Quan seemed to be very experienced, and he quickly planned a team of more than 100 people and selected Lu Yu to be the leader.

After he measured the land and stretched out the measuring tape, Liu Quan would spread the lime himself, and the women following him would dig out a two-foot-deep gully according to Liu Quan's request.

Mud mixed with plant ash was piled next to it. From afternoon to dusk, as the addresses of the eighty-seven families were planned and gullies were excavated, Liu Quan began to assign their respective portals to everyone.

Lu Yu's family was lucky enough to be assigned a piece of land next to Shibao.

"Okay, starting tomorrow, you women and children will dig out the foundations of each house. The man will follow me to the river to pull river stones every morning, and in the afternoon to cut wood in the woods."

"That's it tonight, you each pitch your tent on the door of your own house."

After Liu Quan finished speaking, he used the language of the local natives to direct the natives to live at their own address.

In the future, most of these native people will live in the same courtyard, and they will all have to accept unified management.

Once a native does something that violates the "Laws of Land Development", other natives will still have a way to survive if they report it, but if they cover up, they will be suppressed.

Although there are only twelve Ming troops in the stone fort, it is easy for them to defeat these more than seventy natives after wearing armor, not to mention that there are inns every ten miles on the official road, and there are stationed at the inns to support all directions at any time. There are hundreds of troops.

After setting up the tent and transferring the grain, farm tools, and salt from the oxcart to the tent, Lu Yu and his brothers and sisters began to rest. As for the cattle, Wang Yao and the others took them to the stone fort to raise them. They could only wait. Lu Yu and his family will not be released to them until their houses are built.

"Brother, how many acres of farmland can we cultivate in three years?"

Lying in the tent, a young man in his mid-twenties asked Lu Yu. Lu Yu didn't know much, but he still said based on what he had heard in the nursing home before:

"In our family, you and I, as well as Wang Yao and the others, are a bit weak in cultivating land. But we have cattle. I think we can still cultivate 20 acres of farmland in three years."

"Is it enough to eat?" The young man looked worried, and Lu Yu was not sure:
"If this place is as Liu Lichang said, each mu of land can produce eight measures of grain in the first year, one stone in the next year, and one and a half stone in three years, that should be enough for us."

When he said this, Lu Yu looked at his ten younger brothers and sisters. There was no doubt that most of them were burdens, but since he came from a nursing home, he would not leave them behind.

Thinking of this, Lu Yu clenched his fists: "You're already here, come on!"

(End of this chapter)