The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Clang clang clang.

After dinner, Zhao Zhenwen struck the gong under the big pine tree at the entrance of the village.

When they heard the gong, some villagers were still having dinner, but the family members immediately put down their bowls and chopsticks and rushed to the village entrance.

Because this is the sound of the gong used by the village chief to call the heads of each household to discuss matters.

Although there will be no punishment for speaking too late, it would be embarrassing if the village chief scolded me for it.

What's more, since they immigrated to Ezo Island and participated in the construction of Fengsheng Village, the villagers here have become accustomed to following orders.

Generally speaking, the village chief would only beat the gong to gather everyone when there was something important.

If it is a good thing, but you go too late and get nothing, it will be too late to regret.

In this way, before long, the heads of the 50 immigrant households in Fengsheng Village were able to arrive near the big pine tree at the entrance of the village.

Other people who had nothing to do came to watch the fun, and some even brought bowls and chopsticks.

Although it was midsummer, the sky on Ezo Island got dark earlier than in Shandong, so Zhao Zhenwen lit a few torches under a large pine tree to prevent any trouble in the dark.

Seeing that the heads of each family had arrived, he cleared his throat, took out the minutes of the meeting he had made today, and began to speak.

"Since October last year, we have been here for more than half a year, right? Now every household has reclaimed at least ten mu of land. Those with a large population and hard work have even reclaimed dozens of mu."

"The spring wheat harvest is about to come. According to the rules of the cooperative, we can use some grain to repay the seeds and food we borrowed before, so that each family can have some surplus grain."

"In addition, the potatoes that the agricultural officer asked us to plant seem to be growing well. According to the agricultural officer, they can also be harvested in two months. He said that if nothing unexpected happens, the yield will be higher than that of wheat."

"Even if we ignore the production of potatoes, growing wheat on this Ezo Island is already a good life that we could hardly dream of in the past in Dachu. Don't you agree?"

The people who were willing to accept the arrangements of the Japanese army and immigrate to Ezo Island were relatively simple and honest people who wanted to live a peaceful life.

Therefore, the vast majority of people are satisfied with their current lives and feel that they have a bright future.

After hearing what Zhao Zhenwen said, they nodded subconsciously and even agreed out loud.

"The village chief is right. Farming on Ezo Island is indeed better than in Shandong. At least the Dalai government does not impose heavy taxes and oppress us like the Dachu government."

"There are also agricultural officials to guide us in farming!"

"I've been telling you, 20 or 30 years ago, before the Emperor Jiahua of the Great Chu ascended the throne, we didn't live such a peaceful life."

"If the potatoes this year are as good as the agricultural official said, then we can have a good harvest!"

"···"

Hearing the villagers' response, Zhao Zhenwen couldn't help but smile, thinking that the task assigned by his superiors this time should be easy to complete.

He pressed his hand to signal the villagers to be quiet, and then said: "We are living a good life on this Ezo Island, but have you ever thought about our relatives and fellow villagers who are living a hard life in Shandong with no food to eat?"

"I heard from above that there is another drought in Shandong this year. Although it is not as severe as last year, there are still many victims in Jinan, Yanzhou and Dongchang."

"Although the situation in Qingzhou, Dengzhou and Laizhou is much better under Dalai's rule, the folks there certainly don't live as well as we do here."

"Everyone, let's talk about this. Shouldn't we find a way to tell our tribesmen and fellow villagers that we have a good life here, so that they can come over and reclaim the wasteland and live a good life together?"

Many villagers' eyes lit up after hearing this.

"The village chief is right. My aunt's family is still in Qingzhou. They don't have an acre of land. They live by being tenants for the landlords. I don't know how they are doing now."

"Many of my people are still in Shandong, and there are also many people who don't have land. There are so many wastelands on Ezo Island, we should ask them to come and reclaim them together."

"We on Ezo Island are specialized in cultivating wasteland and farming, but I heard that Sado Island is specialized in mining gold and silver. If we let the new tribesmen go there to mine gold and silver, considering how well the government of Daegu treats the people, their lives will definitely not be bad."

"There are gold and silver mines on Sado Island? Can we go there?"

"I'm not sure. I can ask the village chief later."

"···"

Hearing the villagers talking, the topic turned to Sado Island, and Zhao Zhenwen had to cough a few times to interrupt.

"Fellow villagers, as mentioned above, if you want to tell your relatives, friends, clansmen, and fellow villagers in Shandong about the good life here, you can write a letter and ask the Haijun fleet to take it over."

"As for me, I have received a task from the society. During the three days that have passed, I am responsible for writing letters to everyone."

"It's free. Even the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone are provided by the club. This is a rare opportunity. If you miss it, there may not be a next time."

After Zhao Zhenwen said this, the villagers were immediately excited.

"Village head, are you serious? Are you really going to write letters to us for free?"

"I've wanted to write a letter and send it back for a long time, but I didn't know if it would work, so I never dared to ask. Now I can actually send a letter back for free, that's great!"

"Village head, can letters be sent to places other than Shandong? I have several relatives living in Hebei."

"Can it be sent to Henan? My sister married in Henan. She sent a message before saying that life is difficult there. I want my sister and her family to move here as well, so that it will be more convenient for us to visit relatives."

"···"

Hearing the various questions from the villagers, Zhao Zhenwen patiently answered them one by one.

"We said at the meeting that no matter where you want to send your letters, the officials of Da Chu will help you."

"So don't worry, everyone. As long as your relatives, friends, and clansmen are still here, they will definitely receive the letters."

Someone immediately said, "Village Chief, I want to write a letter now!"

Zhao Zhenwen couldn't help but laugh and scold, "It's dark now, you want to blind me? No matter how anxious you are, you have to wait until tomorrow."

"The elementary school is on holiday tomorrow, so I don't have to go to school. It's a good time to write to everyone."

"But my time is limited after all, and the free pens, ink, paper and inkstones given by the higher-ups are also limited. So everyone can think about what to write in the letter when you go home tonight. A few dozen words are fine, but no more than 300 to 500 words. No more than that."

"It's okay if you can't think of anything to write. Just tell me what's going on and I can help you think of something."

"Okay, if everything is ok, let's go home, wash up, and rest early."

After saying that, Zhao Zhenwen asked the villagers to go back.

The villagers were very excited and discussed what to write in the letter as they walked.

For many lower-class people, they may not have the opportunity to send a letter to others even once in their lifetime, and even if they do, the chances are very rare, so writing a letter is a very novel experience.

In the next few days, Zhao Zhenwen worked hard and wrote letters to fifty households in the village.

Another month passed quickly, and in early August, the wheat on Ezo Island was finally harvested.

The harvest on Ezo Island was good this year, and with the guidance of agricultural officials, most of the fields reclaimed by the immigrants had enough water for irrigation, so they really had a good harvest.

Suddenly, every household was smiling, and they were looking forward to the potato harvest in a month or two...
Xiangjing.

Imperial City. Emperor Jiahua was not cultivating immortality for a rare time, but was enjoying the dance of a favorite concubine in the palace.

This concubine of his was only in her twenties and had been favored a few years ago. However, at that time, Emperor Jiahua was mostly focused on cultivating immortals, so he only doted on this concubine in general and was not obsessed with her.

But in the past month or so, he often came to the concubine's palace to drink and appreciate her graceful dance.

Because only in this way can he temporarily forget all the worries and troubles of the previous dynasty.

Over the past month, the bandits have sent a fleet to show off their might outside the city of Nanjing, severely slapping the face of the Chu court.

Even more despicable and shameless, they sent troops to attack Jiangbei and are now approaching Runing Prefecture in Henan.

As for Nanjing, after Zhao Zhiwei arrived, he managed to mobilize more than 300 Tianwei cannons. When he had gathered 500 cannons, he was ready to give the bandits a severe blow.

Unexpectedly, the pirate fleet seemed to have received the news in advance and left.

Although the Tianwei cannon transferred to Nanjing was not useless and could still be deployed on the river bank to prevent the pirate fleet from invading again, this incident still made Emperor Jiahua very angry for a while.

As for the loss of Jiangbei, it not only made him depressed, but also made him feel that he was about to become a king of a fallen country.

If the Great Chu perished in his hands, he would have a hard time even saving his own life, not to mention relying on the whole country's strength to cultivate immortality.

It was also at this time that he suddenly began to cherish the delicacies and beautiful women that he had not cared about before.

"My beloved concubine, you dance very well. I will let Concubine Rong play the zither and Concubine Xin sing to perform for me with you some other day."

Upon hearing this, the dancing Concubine Zhen smiled sweetly and said, "That's great. I have long been looking forward to rehearsing singing and dancing with my sisters, Concubine Rong and Concubine Xin, but they refused."

"Now that your majesty has given your order, I will finally get what I want. I will definitely think of a beautiful song and dance to help your majesty relieve his worries."

Emperor Jiahua couldn't help but sigh, "My beloved concubine really cares about me. She is not like those ministers in the court who only know how to bother me with things all day long, but can't even come up with a solution."

Emperor Jiahua had just finished speaking when the eunuch's report was heard outside the palace.

"Your Majesty, several ministers have come together to ask for an audience. They said that urgent news has come from Jiangbei that Yingzhou has been lost!"

Yingzhou was lost?
Emperor Jiahua was slightly stunned after hearing this, and then he returned to his original expression.

Because he knew that the fall of Yingzhou was only a matter of time and was not surprising.

Yingzhou is located to the west of Sizhou and adjacent to Ru'ning Prefecture in Henan Province. Previously, the bandits were unstoppable in the north of the Yangtze River, and the government troops were unable to resist them even if they occupied the city.

The imperial court was unable to provide suitable troops for support at the moment, and Emperor Jiahua was quite surprised that Yingzhou could hold out for more than ten days before falling into the hands of the bandits.

As for where the bandits will attack next after taking Yingzhou, it is actually not difficult to guess.

Either go south to the south of the Yangtze River, or take over the other half of Shandong, and finally attack Henan to make it easier to take Xiangjing directly later.

What should he do then?

Emperor Jiahua didn't dare to think about it because it made him too painful.

Then he drank the fine wine in the golden cup in one gulp, exhaled the smell of alcohol, and said to Zhen Fei who was standing in the middle of the hall: "My beloved concubine, why are you standing there in a daze? The musicians should not stop. Keep playing the music and dancing!"

Before the harem entrance is closed.

Xu Wei and Gao Sheng brought Wu Mian with them to ask for an audience with Emperor Jiahua.

Upon learning that Emperor Jiahua was drinking and watching dance in Zhenfei's Palace, Wu Mian was calm, as if he had expected this; Xu Wei shook his head and sighed, his face full of disappointment.

Gao Sheng wanted to curse Jia Hua for being a tyrant, but due to the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects, he could not speak, so he cursed: "It was all because of that evil concubine who bewitched Your Majesty to indulge in wine and women and neglect state affairs!"

"You two, we can't just sit there and wait like this any longer. Why don't we break into the palace together and ask His Majesty to depose that evil concubine!"

Wu Mian and Xu Wei both understood that deposing Concubine Zhen was just an excuse. The key was to use this incident to make Emperor Jiahua surrender and handle state affairs properly instead of evading them.

Wu Mian refused immediately, "Breaking through the palace is a capital crime, if you want to break in, go ahead, but don't drag me along!"

Xu Wei also advised: "Mianzhi (Gao Sheng's name), don't act recklessly"

Goldman Sachs asked anxiously, “Are we just going to sit there and wait?”

Xu Wei sighed and said, "Please kneel down and ask for permission. Send someone to spread the news secretly so that the students can also know about it."

When Wu Mian and Gao Sheng heard this, they knew that Xu Wei wanted to use public opinion to force Emperor Jiahua to show up.

The two had no other choice, so they agreed immediately and knelt together in front of the palace gate.

As cabinet ministers, they were well prepared and had soft pads sewed onto the knees of their trousers to alleviate wear and tear on the knees caused by long periods of kneeling.

About an hour later.

Upon hearing the news, many students gathered outside the Meridian Gate of the Imperial City and started making a noise.

"The bandits first took Jiaodong and then Jiangbei. They are rampant. Your Majesty, how could you be deceived by the evil concubine, indulge in wine and women, and ignore state affairs?!"

"Your Majesty, please banish the evil concubine to the cold palace, stop drinking and sex, and handle state affairs!"

"Great Chu's Grandmaster, did you see this? Great Chu is about to perish at the hands of the evil concubine!"

"If Your Majesty does not attend the court again, we will kneel outside the Meridian Gate forever!"

"···"

The noise made by the students was so loud that some daring ones were afraid that Emperor Jiahua, who was in the harem too far away from the Meridian Gate, could not hear them, so they brought gongs and drums and kept beating them.

You know what, this trick really works.

In Zhenfei's palace, after a dance ended and when it became quiet, Emperor Jiahua actually heard the faint sounds of gongs and drums and noise.

So he wondered, "Where in the palace is there so much noise?"

Soon a eunuch came to report, saying, "Your Majesty, something bad has happened. Hundreds of students are kneeling outside the Meridian Gate, saying..."

The eunuch hesitated and did not dare to repeat what the students had said.

Emperor Jiahua said angrily, "What did you say?"

The eunuch took one look at Concubine Zhen and gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, please banish her to the cold palace, ask her to stop drinking and sex, and manage the affairs of state in the court."

After hearing this, Zhen Fei was stunned and felt that she was being blamed for no reason.

Then she threw herself into the arms of Emperor Jiahua with a pale face, crying, "I am innocent! Your Majesty, please help me!"

Emperor Jiahua was also angry and said, "What nonsense! Concubine Zhen was just dancing for me to relieve my worries. How could she be called a demon concubine?"

"Also, how did the students know about this? I'm afraid it was all that old Xu Wei's idea, right?"

The eunuch lowered his head and dared not say more.

Emperor Jiahua realized that he had guessed correctly, and immediately stood up with anger and said: "Well, I will go to meet them and see what they have to say. The bandits have taken Yingzhou, so I am not anxious? But can I do anything if I am anxious? If I can solve the problem, why do I need them?" (End of this chapter)