Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

They worked on the road for more than two months. When Li Sanshui and his companions did not know when they would finish their journey, they suddenly heard their leader Song Yingsheng shout:
"arrive!"

"The Cangzhou immigration camp is ahead."

"Men and women will be separated later. Go take a bath inside first."

Li Sanshui and other security chiefs and team leaders were ordered to separate the men and women under their command, and then the team leaders and deputy team leaders would lead the way and enter the camp to take a bath.

At the same time, they were told that each person would be given a set of clothes after bathing, and that the existing clothes and luggage should be stored together and someone should be arranged to look after them.

When Li Sanshui and others heard that they had arrived in Cangzhou, they cheered loudly.

Along the way, they didn't know where their destination was or where the military and civilian guards were going to move to.

But they knew Cangzhou. A lot of the food they ate on the road was transported from Cangzhou.

According to the legend of the victims, Cangzhou was a place with full granaries. Otherwise, there would not be so much food that so many people along the way could not finish eating it.

Now that they have arrived in Cangzhou, they have new clothes to wear, which makes them feel that Cangzhou is a rich place where they can have enough food.

Li Sanshui arranged for Yang Dani to lead the female team, and he led the male team himself. Following the guidance of the soldiers, they entered the spacious shower room.

Following an order, hot water gushed out from the iron pipe above his head, which startled Li Sanshui. Then he followed the soldier's instructions and let the hot water wash away the dirt on his body.

Li Sanshui, who had not taken a bath for a long time and had not even been to a bathhouse for many years, felt the long-lost comfort in this shower room.

Like everyone else, he rubbed the mud and dust off his body vigorously, as if trying to rub off all the bad luck he had accumulated along the way.

After about a quarter of an hour, when many people were still enjoying the hot water, the water in the pipe stopped and they were driven by the soldiers into the dressing room next door.

Here, everyone was given a new set of clothes and a hand towel.

Li Sanshui dried himself with a towel and changed into the clothes which seemed quite big for him.

The same is true for other people's clothes, except that children's clothes are smaller, and some parents are still not satisfied, thinking that less cloth is used and they are at a disadvantage when they get such small clothes.

It can be said that they don’t care whether the clothes fit or not, they only care about how much material is used and whether the cloth can be cut.

As a military household, Li Sanshui received some special privileges, including a vest with the word "soldier" written on the front and back.

The soldier who had just led him to bathe was also wearing a similar vest. However, the vests of those people were all yellow, with the word "Navy" written on them.

These people were soldiers from the coastal garrisons. They were recruited by the Navy Department and assigned to do these tasks after being trained.

Li Sanshui felt more at ease wearing this vest. He seemed to feel that there were people like him in this strange place.

When the soldiers saw him wearing the vest, their attitude became more gentle, and they told him to take people to wash their old clothes to avoid bringing the plague.

Hearing the word "plague", Li Sanshui was startled and asked:

“Is there a plague here?”

“Why haven’t you heard about it on the road?”

The soldier from the Navy Office said:

“Who said it didn’t happen on the road?”

"You just don't know it."

"Anyway, just be obedient, the court won't harm you!"

Ask Li Sanshui to take people to boil hot water and put the clothes in it for washing.

The rest of the people should stay in the tent and not run around, and spend the ten-day quarantine period.

Li Sanshui was frightened by the plague and did not dare to disobey the soldier's words. He led people to cook and wash clothes and sprinkled lime water in the tent every day.

It can be said that he has been very nervous for the past ten days.

Fortunately, the people he insured did not contract the plague. Even if some of them fell ill while resting, they were all cured and no one died.

Li Sanshui asked his captains to count, and found that there were still 101 households left.

This made him very happy, knowing that not only would he not be punished, but he would also get an extra 101 acres of land.

It was worth it for him to take care of them along the way.

With the help of officials from the Cangzhou Immigration Camp, Song Yingsheng almost collapsed after he had counted the household registration of his subordinates.

He worked hard and devotedly along the way, and many people said that he was a good official and he never escaped again.

But when he came to Cangzhou and counted the households, he found that there were only 980 households. Except for Li Sanshui's group, the other groups were a little short of 100 households.

This nearly broke him down, and he blamed himself for not bringing a few dozen more people with him:

"Twenty households!"

“There are only twenty households missing!”

"Why didn't I bring twenty more households?"

The court's regulations required them to bring 1,100 households with them when they set out.

But this is just an approximate number. A few dozen more or less households doesn’t matter, and no one will care.

What the imperial court needed was for them to bring a thousand households to Cangzhou and then migrate overseas.

Song Yingsheng thought that it only took one year of work for a thousand households, and he was just a little bit short of that.

This made him quite regretful that he did not bring more people with him.

There are more than one people like him. Many people have no experience in first-time immigration and have lost many people along the way for various reasons.

After learning about this situation, Zhang Mengjing, the governor and minister of immigration, introduced a temporary policy for this group of officials in accordance with the power granted to him by the emperor:
That is, if the number of households brought exceeds the average and the population loss ratio is below the average, one year of merit will still be credited.

The others will be temporarily credited for half a year until the number of households is made up later.

The worst ten people will not be counted for their achievements, so that they can learn a lesson.

Because Song Yingsheng brought in the largest number of households and did not suffer much population loss, he was awarded one year's credit for his success and was even commended.

This made him very happy, and he was also quite satisfied with Li Sanshui, who did the best job under his command. After receiving the reward, he asked Li Sanshui:
"Sanshui, are you willing to follow me and help me immigrate in the future?"

Li Sanshui scratched his head. He had never thought about this before. He asked:

"Can I still get a share of the land if I follow the Captain?"

"Where can I get the 101 acres allocated to me?"

Song Yingsheng pondered for a while and said:
"Winter is coming soon, and there will be no migration this year."

"The next migration should be in early spring next year."

"You can go to Dongning first to claim the land and settle down there."

"Come by ship next year and follow me."

It was only at this time that Li Sanshui realized that he was going to Dongning.

However, at this time, he did not bother to ask where Dong Ning was, but asked Song Yingsheng:
"Next year, when I help the captain lead the immigrants, will each household also get one acre of land?"

"If you give me more land, I will help the captain lead the immigrants!"

Song Yingsheng wanted to recruit Li Sanshui as his subordinate, but he didn't expect that Li Sanshui just wanted to do some temporary work to earn land. After thinking about the relevant policies, his eyes suddenly lit up and he affirmed:
"I will give you a commendation and allocate more land to you in the future."

"If you can do well, you might even become a hereditary knight, just like Captain Zhang in the past."

Li Sanshui's breathing quickened when he heard this. In his eyes, Captain Zhang was already a great man. He had never thought that he could reach Captain Zhang's status. So, after hearing Song Yingsheng's promise, he immediately said:
"Dry!"

"I'll just follow the captain!"

"From now on, the captain is my master!"

He immediately changed his words and knelt on the ground, calling Song Yingsheng "Master".

Song Yingsheng hurriedly helped him up and said:

"That's not allowed in the military. Just call me Captain Song."

"Whether I can get a title in the future depends on you!"

"To be honest, I never thought that you, an illiterate military household, could lead a hundred households."

"You don't know how many village chiefs have been causing trouble for me."

"If the others hadn't done a worse job, I would have replaced them long ago."

Speaking of this, Song Yingsheng couldn't help but complain to several village chiefs.

On his way there, Li Sanshui had the least guards because Li Sanshui was the one who gave him the least worry.

Some of the baozhe were always causing trouble, and even forced him to reorganize the baozhe.

This is also the reason why he wanted to recruit Li Sanshui and let Li Sanshui follow him.

Listening to his praise, Li Sanshui chuckled and felt the feeling of being affirmed for the first time.

Especially since the one who affirmed him was Captain Song, he was very happy to hear that he was a big shot who was one level higher than the county chief clerk.

After Song Yingsheng praised him, he took out a robe and said:

"The weather is about to get cold, so His Majesty specially purchased furs from the grassland and asked the palace maids and eunuchs to make this."

"Some of them were made by noble people and distributed to soldiers to keep warm."

"You have brought more than a hundred households, so I will reward you with a coat."

When Li Sanshui heard this, he knelt down hurriedly.

He had never thought that he could receive a reward from the emperor, and that it might come from a noble person.

This made him at a loss for words, and he could only shout "Long live the capital" loudly towards the capital!
Song Yingsheng put the sheepskin military coat on Li Sanshui, patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him:

"Work hard in Dongning, the imperial court will not mistreat meritorious soldiers."

"I have already checked. Your ancestors joined the army during the Hongwu period and made great contributions."

"According to your majesty's order, all military households who joined the army during the Hongwu years will be granted 300 acres of land when they go overseas."

"In addition to your ancestors' merits in killing the Tartars and participating in the battle, you were awarded another 400 acres."

"With the 801 acres this time, that's acres of land."

"A square li is 375 mu, and 801 mu is more than two square li. According to your majesty's order, I will grant you a second-class sergeant."

"From now on, you, as a military household, will become a hereditary sergeant. All your sons who join the army will have sergeant status."

Li Sanshui didn't know what a hereditary soldier was, or how it was different from a military household, but the eight hundred acres of land made him open his eyes wide.

He had never thought that he would be able to get so much land.

Even though these lands were far away overseas, they still needed him to cultivate them.

What he was thinking at this moment was that since he had become a landlord, he must have more children and pass on the family business.

Thinking back to more than two months ago, I was still thinking about escaping, otherwise the Li family might have been wiped out.

Thinking that he not only had a woman but also 801 mu of land, he was extremely grateful to the emperor who had given him the land. He suddenly knelt on the ground again, shouting "Long live the emperor".

Seeing this, Song Yingsheng knew that it should not be difficult to persuade military households like Li Sanshui to move overseas.

After all, the emperor was too generous to the military households. He gave 300 mu of land to the military households who served in the Hongwu period, and 260 mu to the military households who served in the Yongle period. Other military households were granted one mu of land each year starting from the year their ancestors served in the army, and finally an additional 30 mu of land.

In other words, anyone who joined the army in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign and was willing to become a military household would be granted 31 acres of land.

This does not include the fifty acres of land they were allocated when they joined the Dongning Guard.

It can be said that after using the land left behind after the relocation of the garrisons to buy out the merits of hereditary officials, the emperor used the land overseas to buy out the merits of military households.

In the future, the outstanding military households will become hereditary sergeants and become part of the military and civilian guards, a class between officers and military households and civilian households, and the main force of future grassroots officers.

If a military household was allocated more than ten li of land, or 3750 mu of land, the emperor would promote him to an officer and grant him the hereditary title of centurion or hereditary knighthood.

The hereditary title of knighthood that Song Yingsheng promised to Li Sanshui came from this.

Li Sanshui, who already owns 801 acres of land, can be promoted to knight if he can contribute another 2949 acres.

Compared to him, it is even simpler:
"I am a civil servant who leads a thousand households. The number of households required is ten times that of military households like Li Sanshui."

"Only when the number of households that have migrated reaches 37500 will there be a chance to obtain the hereditary knighthood."

"If we move one thousand households each time, we will need to do it thirty-seven times."

"If Li Sanshui does a good job, twenty-nine times will be enough."

"He has a better chance of getting Spyker than I do."

One migration takes more than two months. Even if we rush back, it will probably take another four months.

In addition, it was inconvenient to migrate in winter, which meant that even if Song Yingsheng tried his best, he could only migrate twice a year, and thirty-seven times would take nineteen years.

Song Yingsheng didn't know if he could keep doing this, but according to the emperor's prediction, the drought would last for more than ten years.

In other words, after a dozen years, when the drought stopped, he would no longer be able to rely on immigration to make a living. Nineteen years was a rather dangerous number for him.

It is very likely that he will not be able to gather the number of households required for the canonization of knights. In the future, he will need to take some risks and bring more people each time.

This was also the reason why he wanted to recruit Li Sanshui and offered him the promise of a title.

Compared to him, Li Sanshui, who only needed to move twenty-nine times in about fifteen years, had a greater chance of being granted a title.

This made him at a loss for words, and he could only envy the achievements made by Li Sanshui's ancestors.

After Song Yingsheng explained the details to him and learned the conditions for becoming a hereditary centurion like Zhang Baihu, or being conferred a hereditary knighthood, Li Sanshui became even more excited and agreed with Song Yingsheng to work with him again next year.

Then he brought a booklet with pictures drawn on it and showed it to his subordinates.

This booklet contains the conditions promised to them by the imperial court, as well as the things that need to be paid attention to after moving to Dongning.

Drinking boiled water, spreading lime, and preventing mosquitoes were emphasized in the booklet, so that they would be careful of contracting malaria when they arrived in Dongning.

Fortunately, it is October now, and the temperature in Dongning has become cooler, so there are relatively fewer mosquitoes.

It is also easier for these Shaanxi people to adapt.

Li Sanshui and other military households who received land rewards tried their best to explain the richness of overseas countries to the refugees under their command, telling them that overseas lands are also land.

Under their encouragement, most refugees put aside their fear of going overseas.

After the Dongning fleet arrived, we boarded the ship and headed for Dongning Wei.

Song Yingsheng finally completed his immigration mission and began to return to Shaanxi. (End of this chapter)