Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

Wucheng 15th April Yimao

It was a day, and it was very windy and windy.

The rain actually started to fall yesterday evening. Fortunately, Mr. Tao and I noticed the gloomy sky, so when we were passing through a village, we lodged in Liangban's house in advance.The owner of this house originally didn't want to receive our merchants, but he heard that they were merchants from Huaxia, and because of the bright silver, he finally gave us a firewood room.Although it was a bit cramped and dirty, it was better than being in the heavy rain.

And the host not only rented out the room to us, but also prepared rice porridge and pickles for us.

Speaking of which, there was really nothing to eat or drink along the way.It's hard to believe that even the Liangban family of the rural aristocrats only live on porridge with pickles on weekdays, and only serve salted fish when guests come. Only a few chickens and pigs are killed during festivals or festive occasions. , the fault is not illness, absolutely can not eat eggs and fresh fish; middle-class families do not even have pickles, it is very grand to have white porridge and salt dishes; , that is, the thin rice porridge that is ground together with husks and grains, and it is not guaranteed to be full every day.

It is said that only the Liangban Gaomen in the prefectures and counties eat better, but how good it is, most Koreans just hear it.

Due to the rain, Boss Tao and I couldn't continue on the road, so we could only stay helplessly in the firewood room with some leaks, so I asked Boss Tao to continue teaching me Korean conversation.To be honest, although my mother was born in the royal family of Joseon, she never taught me a word of Korean, and she did not speak a word in the palace, even after knowing that I might inherit the throne of Joseon. Maybe she wanted me to forget half of Joseon. The identity of a person is only a child of the Zheng family.

A morning passed like this, but in the afternoon, the rain hadn't stopped.At this time, a maidservant of the master’s family came to fetch firewood for cooking. I chatted with her stutteringly, and she kept laughing because the words didn’t convey the meaning.So I simply stopped showing off and asked Mr. Tao to translate for me.

Through Master Tao’s translation, I learned that, unlike those small landowners in Huaxia who have [-] to [-] acres, the two classes never go to the fields. This is determined by their “noble” status. The only thing they have to do is to study , Practice martial arts and participate in the imperial examination.It's just that the number of officials is limited, and there are wealthy middle-class people and even ordinary people who spend money to buy official positions. Therefore, another important daily life of Liangban is to travel and marry with families of the same status, so as to maintain their "noble" status.

After the maid walked away, I asked Mr. Tao about buying *officials* and selling *officials.

Mr. Tao told me that in the past, when the North Korean government was financially tight, it would sell famous utensils in exchange for income. However, with the (Chinese) imperial court’s request for political reform on the North Korean side, the number of real jobs at all levels in North Korea has been greatly reduced, so it is no longer available. A sufficient number of official positions have been bought and sold, and the income of the North Korean government is greatly abundant due to the fact that Chinese merchants run mines and forests in the dynasty, so there is no need to sell *officials.

Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, Director Tao told me that because the number of officials was greatly reduced, many Liangbans could not get official positions, and they had actually been reduced to the so-called rural bans, that is, rural Liangbans. This is probably the same kind of township class that looks bright on the outside but is extremely distressed on the inside?

Xinwei in May of the 15th year of Wucheng

It's a sunny day, cloudless and breezy.

Because Mr. Tao fell ill on the way, our trip was greatly delayed. Fortunately, everything has survived---after nearly three months of hard travel, we have now entered the territory of Seoul Prefecture and will enter soon King Kyung Hanyang of North Korea.

But I still want to complain. To be honest, the road conditions on this road are really bad. There are only a few places where the cobbled post roads can be seen, and most of the dirt roads can only allow two people to walk opposite each other. When it comes to merchants, it is rare for a remote North Korean village to carry a peddler on his shoulder.

Of course, for those who don't need to walk, it doesn't matter the state of the road. For example, before entering Lizhou County today, I saw the guard of honor of the governor of the county on tour.Although it is only a county magistrate equivalent to Huaxia, the county governor's traveling team is huge, surrounded by sedan chairs, there are more than a dozen subordinate officials on donkeys and carts, as well as dozens of local big families, and dozens of people on foot. The No. [-] officer shouted at the front and embraced at the back, and wherever he passed, everyone below the middleman had to kneel down and wait for him to go first, which can be described as a powerful force.

However, Master Tao and I, as Chinese citizens, don't have to bow down like this arrogant governor, but because of the road closure, the itinerary was disrupted, and we had to stay in this county without walls for one night.

After finding the only inn in the city that also operates a wine shop, I asked Mr. Tao about North Korean politics that he had been neglecting before.

According to Mr. Tao, North Korea is currently copying China's political structure. Under the Yi government, which is equivalent to the Huaxia cabinet, there are Caos equivalent to ministries and divisions equivalent to various yamen. Living in the judgment book, the deputy is called the judge, under which there are counselors and counselors similar to Langzhong and Yuanwailang, and Zhenglang and Zuolang who are equivalent to the principal and deputy principals; in addition, there is also the Governor's Office of the Five Chinese and Foreign Armies, which is equivalent to the Privy Council , the Sixian Yuan, which is equivalent to the Supervisory Yuan, the Sijian Yuan, an admonishment institution that does not exist in China, and the Chengzheng Yuan, which has both similarities and differences with the Huaxia Imperial Academy, etc.; Administrative divisions, under which are the county and the county governor, as well as the post station and Jindu directly under the government; there are no counties and prisons under the county

Guiyou in May of the 15th year of Wucheng

It is the day, and the sun is shining brightly.

As the name says, this city is in the north of the Han River, and all must be crossed by ferry. The cost of the ferry is as high as [-] cash, which is obviously not accessible to ordinary North Korean people, but someone told me later that this is Guandu, and the price is inflated. In fact, the people who come and go are either rich or expensive, and they don't need to spend money at all. As for the common people, there is a wild ferry not far away, and the price there is only five yuan.This news made me very depressed, but anyway, I entered Hanyang.

From the outside, this is the city with the highest wall I have seen in North Korea, but the overall area is not large, only one-third of Wuchang Prefecture is less than, it is hard to imagine that this is the capital of a country.However, the city is not very good, and the cost of entering the city is not cheap, and it costs three hundred Wen per person. If a donkey enters the city, you have to pay another three hundred.Compared with Wuchang Mansion, where ordinary pedestrians do not need to pay any fees to enter the city, it can be called extortion.

After entering the city, I found an inn run by a Huaxia businessman to live in. I took Mr. Tao around the city, and even the palace was very low, not to mention other ministers’ residences, even the Huaxia stationed in North Korea. The Guoxin embassy does not look as good as the mansion of an ordinary merchant in China.On the bright side, North Korea advocates simplicity from top to bottom. On the bad side, North Korea’s national strength is extremely limited, and even the country’s appearance is not well decorated.

After walking around, I found that there were very few shops in the city, so I asked Master Tao why.

Mr. Tao told me that Hanyang is the political center of North Korea, so it is naturally not very prosperous economically. If you want to see rows of shops, you have to go to Jemulpo. There are countless shops opened by Chinese merchants. There is nothing, but it is about a day or two away from Hanyang; as for what is needed in North Korea Gaomen, just send someone to find the principals of these companies in Hanyang, and order directly. Once there are fresh goods from China that arrive in North Korea , These principals will also come to introduce. After the North Korean dignitaries have seen the samples, they will buy according to their preferences, and they will also deliver them directly to their door.

It dawned on me that this is actually exactly the same as in China, except that it lacks the necessary retail links. However, judging from the purchasing power of the Korean people, only the Liangban and some wealthy middle-aged and ordinary people can enjoy the high-quality goods in China.

Jiaxu in May of the 15th year of Wucheng

It's a sunny day, breezy and cloudy.

Since Hanyang is a prison, I didn't stay for many days and left the city for Gimpo the next day.This time, I crossed the river from the wild, and the fare was much lower than that at Guandu. It’s just that there are frequent patrols coming over to fight the autumn wind, so the price will increase temporarily, but it’s just five cents changed to ten cents.

There was nothing to say along the way, and before evening, Mr. Tao and I arrived at Jimulpo. Thanks to the cement sidewalk donated by Huaxia businessmen, if we followed the previous dirt and stone roads, we might have to rest for one night on the way just work.

I didn't know until I arrived at Jemulpo, but I realized how much I missed the domestic scene when I arrived at Jemulpo.However, it was getting late at this time, Mr. Tao and I hurriedly found an inn to stay in, and we didn't want to go to Jimulpo at night.

Wucheng 15th May Yihai

It's sunny and windy.

After waking up early in the morning, I left Master Tao who was still soundly asleep, and wandered around Jemulpo by myself.Of course, this is not because my Korean has been perfected, but because I can hear Chinese accents everywhere in Jimulpo, and I can speak Nanzhili official dialect, so I can travel unimpeded along the way.

During the daytime, Jemulpo is not peaceful. Early in the morning, the harbor pier is already noisy. Hundreds of dock workers are busy loading and unloading various goods.But in the process, I discovered an intriguing thing, that is, hundreds of Korean women and the same number of men boarded a Chinese merchant ship.

Is it possible that Chinese businessmen are still doing short-distance passenger transport in North Korea?But it’s not like, those North Koreans on the boat are all disheveled, can they afford the cheapest boat ticket?For this reason, I asked a Chinese businessman on the side of the pier to find out what was going on, and only then did I know that these were laborers who had signed a contract of prostitution and were going to be sent to China, and Korean women who were married to China.

Isn't this a slave?I continued to ask this person puzzled.Perhaps for the sake of the Huaxia lineage, the businessman patiently explained it to me.It turns out that this is really a slave trade, and besides North Korea, there are Japan, Vietnam, and Annan.Kingdoms of Siam.However, on the one hand, all human trafficking is conducted by specialized firms selected by the governor's office; on the other hand, most of the exports from these countries are women.Most of these women who have left their homes will be selected by the (China) court for those Chinese people who are unable to marry.As for males, only North Korea and Japan are allowed to export. Among them, North Korean males will work as coolies in mines for five years. As long as they survive, they will be eligible to be naturalized in China, and then they will be resettled by the Chinese court to reclaim wasteland in border areas; The males exported from Japan need to join the Shence Army and fight for China for five to eight years before they can be allowed to be naturalized in China, and the Chinese court will also allocate land in the border areas for resettlement.

What shocked me was that according to this person, those North Korean civilians who were trafficked were all voluntary. What's going on?Could it be that North Koreans would rather be slaves of a big country than the citizens of a small country?There are still other reasons. Thinking about the suffering scenes I saw along the way, I have a little understanding in my heart.