Chapter 340 Cantonese

The sharp decline in the population, on the surface, seems to have a lot less mouth to eat.

But Lian Chengbi knows that the real problem is that after so many years of war, under the wanton slaughter of Tartar soldiers, Guangdong has lost mainly the labor force.

In Guangzhou, the most prosperous part of the Pearl River Valley, for example, the city's main people live in the city are merchants and handicraftsmen who do not work in farming, while in the vast rural areas of nearby prefectures and counties, large tracts of ownerless fertile land have been abandoned for a long time, and many fragmented families lack strong labor, and the composition of family members is extremely unreasonable.

What is even more serious is that among the people, the grain that the people rely on to survive the spring famine is even more pitiful.

Although the captive army captured a lot of grain in Guangzhou, Lian Chengbi knew very well that this grain was the military grain that Shang Kexi had collected and collected by the tyrannical expropriation and plundering almost the entire Guangdong.

It is not easy to rely on this grain to help the people of Guangdong and let them survive until summer maturity.

Therefore, the immediate urgency is not only to let the people return to their hometowns as soon as possible and cultivate as soon as possible, but also to find more ways in other aspects.

And after thinking and meditating, Lian Chengbi thought of no more than three ways:

First, preferential policies should be implemented to vigorously encourage agriculture and mulberry.

With the approval of the Marquis of Qinchuan, Lianchengbi decided to introduce a series of preferential policies to encourage agriculture and mulberry with light and meager endowments, and vigorously increased the enthusiasm of peasants for labor and production.

For ordinary peasants, all agricultural taxes are exempted this year, and all terra nullius land is not only owned by the cultivators, but also given monetary rewards.

However, in some densely populated prefectures and counties, they resolutely cracked down on the land illegally annexed by the powerful and powerful nobles, and ensured that the peasants had land to cultivate through confiscation and return, reorganization and planning.

Second, encourage the planting of new cash crops.

For the potatoes and sweet potatoes that Lin Xiao highly recommended, Lianchengbi has high hopes.

It is said that these two cash crops not only have a much shorter maturity period than rice and wheat, but also have extremely high yields, and can survive well even if they are grown in water-scarce mountainous areas.

Therefore, some time ago, in the area of Zhaoqing Prefecture and Luoding Prefecture, in the name of the Mission Office, using the seeds transported from Shangchuan Island, Lianchengbi organized manpower to plant a lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes, and accumulated some first-hand experience.

As for the scattered mountainous lands such as hillsides and graves, the garrison was responsible for cultivating all the most drought-tolerant potatoes.

Lian Chengbi hoped that through this small military reclamation system, the garrison would be able to ensure rations, cut off their behavior of competing with the people for profit, and establish a new type of military-civilian relationship.

Third, urgently procure food from overseas.

In a conversation with Hou Linxiao of Qinchuan, Lian Chengbi learned that this time they had seized a satisfactory amount of dirty silver, and with this money, they could purchase a batch of food from overseas in case of emergency.

This money was mainly the fat and ointment of the people that Shang Kexi had scavenged from Guangdong, so the Marquis of Qinchuan promised that he would use most of it for the relief of the people of Liangguang, and as long as there was silver, there would be grain in places such as Annam and Champang.

Even Chengbi also knows that emergency relief is temporary, and ensuring self-sufficiency is the long-term peace and stability, so the first of the above three is the root cause.

The Chinese people are industrious and able to survive, and with the guarantee of the policy, they will be able to go into battle together with the whole family, setting off an upsurge of land reclamation.

At the same time, he also hopes that relying on the new crops, the people can survive until summer maturity and prepare seeds for large-scale promotion in the coming year.

Therefore, Lian Chengbi attaches great importance to the use of such free performances to vigorously promote the policy, not only does he personally stand on the stage to preach today, but he also intends to let the troupe move to other state capitals to tour.

……

Lin Xiao, who was standing in the crowd under the stage, didn't know that Lian Chengbi had many thoughts, and at this moment, he was watching the big drama with relish.

As soon as Lian Chengbi entered the city, he came to the granary to meet him, and he confessed everything that should be explained, and in line with the principle of employing people without doubt, he did not let the army interfere in the specific affairs of local governance.

Today, he just came to accompany Ling'er to go shopping and relax, as long as the little girl has a good time, his goal has been achieved.

He knew that starting tomorrow, there would be something delicious on his table again.

Although the babbling lyrics of those people on stage were all in Cantonese, and he didn't understand a word, he still watched it attentively, and the more he watched, the more interesting it became.

Because, there is a character in the play, called Qinchuan Hou.

Although he doesn't seem to be the protagonist, the actor is really good-looking, and even Ling'er clapped her hands when she saw it, and turned around and made a grimace, jokingly saying in Cantonese: "Better looking than you......"

"Uh......"

Although Lin Xiao was choked and looked at Ling'er's smiling eyes, he suddenly felt that Cantonese was indeed getting better and better, and it was becoming more and more pleasing to the ear.

For Cantonese, which is difficult to learn, Lin Xiao once listened to Qu Shiyun's introduction.

According to Master Qu, the rhythm of Cantonese is the purest and most flavorful in Chinese, because it is the ancient Chinese that has been preserved so far and is much purer than that of the Central Plains.

Due to his long-term tenure in Liangguang, Master Qu Shiyun has an in-depth understanding of Lingnan culture, and unlike the clumsy Lin Xiao, he can even speak fluent Cantonese.

According to Mr. Qu, the formation of the Cantonese language mainly depends on the origin of the Cantonese people.

The Cantonese people are mainly composed of three major groups, the Cantonese people, the Chaoshan people and the Hakka people, all of which are the descendants of the Han people who migrated south from different parts of the mainland at different times.

Starting from the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" in the Western Jin Dynasty, there was the first large-scale southward migration of the Han people in the Central Plains for a long time to escape the war.

At that time, the whole family, and even the entire village, under the leadership of the patriarch and the village chief (called "Taigong" at that time), helped the old and the young to go south for a long distance.

Therefore, they brought all the Chinese, culture, and customs of the Central Plains to Guangdong at that time, and almost all the families of traditional Cantonese people have genealogies to record where they came from the Central Plains and when they moved to Guangdong.

The Han people who migrated south crossed the Lingnan Mountains and first arrived in the area of Nanxiong County in Shaoguan, northern Guangdong, where they would recuperate.

However, Nanxiong is a mountainous area after all, and agricultural products are far less abundant than those in the plains, so after they have breathed and adjusted there, they will continue to move south along the Beijiang River, or westward along the Xijiang River, so as to reach the final migration place - the plains of the Pearl River Delta, western Guangdong, and even eastern Guangxi.

Therefore, Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong is also known as the birthplace of the Cantonese people, and many big surnames have built Taigong Ancestral Hall there to commemorate the Taigong who led the ethnic group south.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the war in the Central Plains finally subsided, and the first southward migration of the Han people was stopped.

Therefore, the Han people in Guangdong later created a new Chinese character with the same pronunciation as the character "Yue" - "Yue", the purpose of which is to show that the current "Yue" is completely different from the ancient "Baiyue".

Thank you for the reward of the young lady "red and red trance"! Thanks thanks!

(End of chapter)