【Asking for a Red Ticket】

The early morning rooster crow woke up the sleeping village, and it was not yet six o'clock when the morning sun shone through the fog and stretched the shadow of the sun long. The sweltering weather made it impossible to sleep for a long time, and people had already walked out of the grass hut in the village one after another, and after some exercise, they went out of the village. Go to work in the surrounding fields, only this time of the day is cooler, and later in the sun will be scorching to go back to rest, although the hut is small, but it is enough to withstand the high temperature of this season.

Ma Run got up earlier these days, because he always woke up from his dreams, remembering that he was only sixteen years old, but he had experienced much more than ordinary people.

He still remembers when he was seven years old, in the hometown of the Ming Dynasty to herd cattle for people, at that time his son was a craftsman in the village, that year to the county service, fell from the decayed main hall of the yamen, and finally saved his life, but collapsed on the bed, so that it did not last long, the government pension silver had not had time to cash in and could only be used for burning.

When he was older, Ma Run also learned the skills passed down from his family to make some carpentry and farm tools for people, but he had to make ends meet, and the family had to rely on his mother to make up for the pulp and laundry of large households, and the original few plots of land were sold out because of the repayment of debts.

Choosing to come to Nanyang from Daming to seek a life, in fact, strictly speaking, it is not up to Ma Run himself to decide. The hometown is poor, and it is even more difficult for orphans and widows in the poor countryside to set up a household, and Fujian, where the hometown is located, is not a place where the whole family can be supported by farming.

A gale a few years ago failed to keep even the only dilapidated wooden liao left in the house. If you don't agree to follow your mother's uncle's family to Nanyang, you won't have a better livelihood. Having been attacked by the island's natives while passing through Taiwan to replenish fresh water, and as the fleet traveled south to Luzon, Manila's fear of the Chinese had apparently had a significant impact on these immigrants. After some weighing, several families still found a boat family in the local area and came to Borneo further south, but they heard that the Han people in Kuching were quite good, so they traveled thousands of miles by sea in a daze to the country under the wind today.

But it's also a wish, now at least there is no worry about eating and drinking here, the weather is much warmer than home, there is no need to worry about the risk of freezing and starvation, let alone wind disasters, at least three years in Borneo, a decent typhoon has really not been encountered. Nowadays, there are still more than a dozen acres of thin fields that have been cultivated for less than two years, although according to the standards of the Ming Dynasty, these rotten fields that have not been carefully cultivated for several years are just some lower fields, and the output is not much, but it is better than nothing. In addition, the local fields are still cropped three times a year, and although the yield of Champong rice is not high, it is enough to eat.

There are all kinds of fruits in the forest, and Ma Run's ability to be a farmer was learned slowly in his fellow villagers in the past few years in Nanyang. Originally, I heard that there were still some Fujian townships in the north of Zhancheng, and the land there was more fertile, but compared to this Borneo, it was also a place of right and wrong, and the army of the Great Vietnamese side went back and forth with several surrounding countries, which was not stable, so there were also invitations from fellow villagers, but Ma Run did not want to go anywhere.

Originally, when he was in his hometown, Ma Run had a baby kiss with a family in a neighboring village, but since his son collapsed on the bed, the parent naturally retreated. has already given up the idea of starting a family, if he is still in his hometown, with his family's conditions, it is good to be able to marry a widow without a disability after some savings, at this time, the Ming Dynasty, because the family is poor, can not marry a wife and have children, and finally there is nothing unusual for the poor family who has not even been able to leave an incense.

But now it's okay to get by, people always have to have some higher pursuits, the Han people who go to Nanyang are generally more men than women, and if you want to find a Han woman in the nearby Han people's settlements, you have to prepare a lot of dowry. Ma Run fell in love with the youngest daughter of a Cantonese family, his family was an immigrant from Canton, and he had been rooting here for almost fourteen or fifteen years, but the other party's parents offered a price of 100 Benyang, and the boy retreated.

It's not difficult to feed the whole family now, but after all, Ma Run is only farming, and he can't see much cash, and the handiwork in the farming time can only be subsidized, and the local immigrants can only ask for people without asking for help, except for farming, only the better hired workers in Kuching City, but they have to take care of the fields, so this matter can only be done.

On the contrary, Ma Run's widow and wife found a good relationship here first, and that person is also an honest man, who helps his mother manage it on weekdays, and gradually this family has some appearance.

Of course, it is not difficult to find a woman to inherit the lineage in the local area, as long as the Han people want the women of the native people, it is definitely picked by the people, and the natives of Nanyang recommend their wives and daughters to the Chinese merchants to sleep not ashamed but proud of the things, but on the notes of the Ming literati, it can be seen that its customs are widely spread, although there are many contradictions between the Han people and the natives in various places, but it does not affect intermarriage, let alone those who live together. And the cheap old man in Ma Run's family now can afford an honest evaluation precisely because he has not been contaminated with a Turkish woman.

It's just that Ma Run feels that he is still young, but he is not in a hurry to get married, and when he earns some industry here, he still wants to return to Daming, and the thoughts of Guangzong Yaozu have always lingered in his heart. After a few years in Borneo, as he grew mentally and physically, he gradually discovered the opportunities that abound on the golden seaway of the South Seas.

The biggest difference between this place and the Ming Dynasty is that there are no rules, even if there are also masters and slaves, but it is by no means as clear as in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the lord was the master, and the scholars who read and wrote were able to stand tall and have the endorsement of the government. Even though there are also storytellers who say that 'the court is Tian Shelang, and the twilight ascends to the Tianzi Hall', the powerlessness that can be felt after experiencing the invisible cutting of the obscure social class on the mainland is not found here.

Outside, in the face of large and small Fan barbarians, the Han people gathered in the villages had to huddle together to protect themselves, whether you are from Liangguang, Fujian, or even the rich Jiangnan, only by uniting as one can you take root here.

Compared to the second and third generations of Chinese businessmen who were able to spend a lot of money in Kuching's towns and ports because of the pioneering, the Han Chinese settlements outside Kuching have no capital and demand for intrigue, not to mention the remoteness of Zhangquan Township compared to the few places outside the outer walls of Kuching.

After this month, the boy officially turned sixteen years old, and today, as usual, got up early to go to his own field for a turn, in fact, it is not very good-looking, and he is not afraid of being worried about that little yield. After looking at the fields, Ma Run was going to the nearby forest as usual to see the trap set yesterday. Whether it is the fish and shrimp in the river or the birds and beasts in the forest, there are not many more than in the hometown, but the next clip is simple, and you can see some meat every three or five times. Such a comfortable life should have gone on forever, and there were occasional natives who were looking for provocation on weekdays, but they were all monkey-like barbarians, and more than 100 Han people in Zhangquan Township had each sent people out and ran away a few times, and they didn't dare to come again. The local acquaintances who often interact with the Han people are very easy to get along with, and often come to the market to communicate with the villagers, and Ma Run's cloth clothes are exchanged for his home-made farm tools from a nearby tribe.

The days passed like this, and if there were no jackals, tigers, leopards and headhunters in the forests south of Zhangquan Township, it would really be a paradise scene.

It's just that in recent days, the idea of this paradise has become more and more shapely.

It's just half a month's work, and a watchtower has been erected at the intersection of Zhangquan Township to Kuching, which is similar to the style seen in my hometown, but it is smaller.

For the young Ma Run, change came from a more regular life, as he had experienced in the Ming Dynasty as a child, and order was being established by the new conquerors, but this order seemed to have more beautiful aspirations for Han immigrants like Ma Run.

Every three days, the village Baojian, the elders who used to be called Kapitan by the natives, would conduct routine drills under the watchful eye of the newly stationed cadres and local guards of the Great Song Dynasty, and the more than 250 commanders sent by the army last week were all found. It's only been two days since the last exercise, and tomorrow will be the same.

Settlements such as Zhangquan Township have heard that the heads of the Transshipment Division are going to set up four more places around Kuching City, and they are already working on it, Lun Du and Se Long Gate in the west, Xilian in the south, and Si Wen Ran Ferry in the east, which guards the eastern gateway of Kuching on the source of the Sandong River in the east. Only the local Hermes-Epitek called Zhangquan is the smallest village, and Ma Run feels that the chiefs value this place only because there are more Hans-Epitek than elsewhere.

The change has shattered the peace and quiet life of the locals, and at this time of year, the Han people in the village are either busy preparing for the first rice harvest of the year, or trading freshly dried pepper with the merchants of Kuching City. Just as Ma Run patrols his own fields outside the village now, planting seedlings in mud puddles before the rainy season arrives, but now the rice is growing well.

However, with the order of merging the villages, more and more surrounding tribes were relocated to the surroundings of Zhangquan Township willingly or unwillingly, and the pattern of this place in the past became compact, and the conflicts between the indigenous Han people and the native people gradually increased.

The bigger change in the village is also the hygiene habits brought by the chiefs, a new house around the bunker is called the public hall of the military office, a public hall with a defensive bunker stationed dozens of Song soldiers, the playground next to it is also the place where the militia of Zhangquan Township practice on weekdays, with the migration of the Tu people, the number of people who drill has gradually increased. Right next to the military office, the first public toilet in Hongxiang built by Ma Run and other 100 local strong men has been out for almost ten days, and during the interval of weekday drills, these young strong men have also been driven by the chiefs to deal with their stool in the toilet, and they can no longer be solved casually in the forest outside the playground.

The familiar sound of the bell came from the direction of the service station, and those who were still wandering in the stockade, regardless of the Han people, were attracted by this sound, which was supposed to ring the drill signal of the night day, and they had long been accustomed to hearing it these days, and everyone reflexively quickened their pace towards the service station.

Dressed in a crisp cardigan, the local chief stands behind his back under the flagstand in front of the station, and the red Polaris flag flutters on the high flagpole. Hongo Baojian, who was standing behind the chief, saw that the people had arrived neatly, and he straightened his voice and said loudly:

"Fengxi Borneo is the commander of the transfer, and the militia of Zhangquan Township is recruited to go out of the battle, and immediately go to Sanfa."