The weather in April, in the south of the Yangtze River in Daming, is so hot that you need to change into short clothes, and even the capital and Shanhaiguan only need to wear a single layer of clothing.

As the northernmost part of the entire empire of the Ming Dynasty, Nuergan Dusi is even more excessive than Liaodong, even at the beginning of April, it is just that the snow river has just opened, and the willow trees have just begun to bud.

Especially in the morning, you need to put on an extra layer of robes, otherwise you will still feel a little cool.

It was on this slightly cold morning that Emperor Chongzhen gathered his horses and ran out to a small town near the Taranamur River, intending to see how the people who had migrated to Nurgandus were doing.

This small town is not big, as evidenced by the reports submitted by Liu Xingzuo and Jin Yiwei.

A small town with less than 2,000 households in total, what kind of big town can it be? At best, it's just a bigger Zhuangzi.

However, because the land in Nuergandusi is not valuable, it is not easy to form a small town of more than 1,000 households, and you can't ask for too much.

Raising the horsewhip in his hand and pointing at the people who were working outside the town, Emperor Chongzhen said curiously: "Even though this town is smaller, why are there only so many people who come out to farm?" Aren't others farming for a living? ”

Liu Xingzuo bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, most of the people living in this town are original craftsmen, and they don't make a living from farming here on weekdays, they all give their own land to others to cultivate. ”

Land contracting? What are the beginnings of rural cooperatives?

After a bunch of messy thoughts flashed through his mind, Emperor Chongzhen spoke: "What about the rent?" No one would want to rent their land to others, right? ”

Liu Xingzuo said: "Your Majesty, most of the people in this village are people who have migrated out of the Guannei, and even if they are not related to each other, they can be regarded as familiar with each other, so most of the rents are 20%, and there is no 50% rent. ”

Emperor Chongzhen hummed at this time, nodded and continued to beat his horse and walk towards the town.

If the land rent of 20% is placed in the future generations, it is simply a black heart, but in the Ming Dynasty, the land rent of 20% is simply synonymous with conscience.

After all, even if Chongzhen's territory has expanded countless times, and countless people have moved out, coupled with the emergence of various new technologies, the number of people willing to farm has decreased, but the land rent is still maintained at the level of thirty percent, and two percent is already unimaginably low.

After walking forward for a while, Emperor Chongzhen turned his head and asked, "I was not wrong just now, right?" How can there still be Mao slaves and Japanese slaves? Are these barbarians honest in their work? ”

Liu Xingzuo bowed down on his horse and said, "Back to Your Majesty, these Mao slaves were bought through the hands of Jiannu.

At the beginning, Weichen and Xiahou bought many Mao slaves through Jiannu, and those who built the palace have been cleaned up because they know the topography of the palace, and the rest of them have not participated in the construction of the palace, and they were sold to the people after castration.

As for the Japanese slaves, they were captured from Ezo to Sakhalin and sold to the people here.

As for these barbarians working, the Japanese slaves are willing to exert their strength, after all, the people of my Ming Dynasty are kind-hearted, as long as they work hard, they can be fed.

It's just that those Mao slaves always want to make trouble because they don't have any alcohol to drink, and thanks to those Japanese slaves who took the initiative to suppress them, and because of this, the Japanese slaves here in Nuergandusi are more popular than Mao slaves, and their treatment is better. ”

Emperor Chongzhen continued to be confused****** it is understandable that the sons would make trouble, these guys who can make the bear cry will be very unhappy unless they have a drink to drink, and they will make trouble if they are unhappy, even if they have been castrated.

It is also understandable that the Japanese slaves took the initiative to suppress Maozi - the Japanese slaves have always thought that whoever has the biggest fist is the father, and once the father is in trouble, these Japanese slaves will charge forward, more active than anyone else.

However, the Nuergandusi side had already taken the lead in using barbarian labor, which greatly exceeded Emperor Chongzhen's expectations.

Theoretically speaking, the economy of the south is more developed than that of the north, and the places that need to use manpower are much higher than those in the north, so in the opinion of Emperor Chongzhen, the south should use barbarian labor earlier than the north, not to mention that this is the Nuergandusi that is further north than the north.

However, the fact is the opposite, the south has not yet begun to use barbarians, and Nuergandusi has used them first!

After thinking about it for a long time, Emperor Chongzhen came back to his senses.

There are indeed many places in the south that need to use barbarians, but the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Communications have long carved up the barbarians, either to build railways or to pave asphalt straights, where is the surplus can flow into the people?

However, the geographical location of the Nuergandu Division can be described as unique, and the railway lines planned by the Ministry of Railways in the Nuergandu Division are not very many, and the time and manpower are much less, while the Mao Nu is constantly flowing into the Ming Dynasty through the hands of Jiannu.

There are many barbarians left, and the Ministry of Railways will naturally pick the fat and the thin, and select some strong ones to be transported back to Daming by railway to repair the railway, and the rest will not matter, and it will be thrown directly to Liu Xingzuo, the commander of the Nuergan Dudu.

It is impossible for Liu Xingzuo to raise so many barbarians - the barbarians can eat and drink, so why should they raise them themselves? It's not that I want to rebel.

Liu Xingzuo, who felt that he couldn't afford to raise so many barbarians, found a group of horses and discussed for a long time, and then simply sold these barbarians to the common people, and each barbarian was worth ten taels of silver.

The people of the Ming Dynasty who immigrated to Nuergandusi were happy, even if there were only two people in a family, they would have twenty taels of silver to settle down, the house was allocated by the government, the ploughing cattle and seeds and a farm tool were also distributed by the government, and even the rations needed in the first year were also given by the government.

In this way, the twenty taels of silver in my family are basically useless, unless I buy some chickens and duck seedlings or something, or buy some food to improve my life, otherwise there is really no place to spend.

Now, what does it mean to be able to buy a brute laborer? This is similar to spending ten taels of silver to buy a big animal, although the laborer eats the same as a person, but the amount is less than that of a large animal, and he can understand people's words, this transaction is not a loss!

The people who have silver in their hands and can't spend it and Liu Xingzuo, who has a barbarian in his hand and plans to sell barbarian labor, are simply dry firewood meets fire, pheasant meets hooligans, the two sides have confirmed their eyes, and the opposite side is the person they are looking for.

The people happily dragged the laborers home to work and farm, and Liu Xingzuo also happily counted the Chongzhen treasure money.

After figuring out this joint in his heart, Emperor Chongzhen was no longer entangled, and continued to walk towards the town in a leisurely manner.

The forester outside the town is also a big man with a head and a face, after a few years of reading books but failed in the imperial examination, in a fit of anger, he asked for his life to come to Liaodong The forester outside can be called a mudslide among the many students of the Ming Dynasty, and was valued by the government of the Nuergandu Division, and became the mayor of the town of the Lannamur River, and he can be regarded as a leading figure.

After Emperor Chongzhen once again borrowed the identity of a distant relative of the British government, he went to visit the forester's home in the name of going out to play.

For the polite son in front of him, Lin Yuanwai is also extremely optimistic, especially the identity of relatives in the British Mansion, which adds a lot of points to Emperor Chongzhen, if it is not for Emperor Chongzhen to show that he already has a wife, I am afraid that Lin Yuanwai plans to marry his daughter to Emperor Chongzhen.

After a few idle words, the forester spoke again: "Compared with the Ming Dynasty, Nuergandusi can indeed be regarded as a bitter cold place, and since Li Gongzi has come here with him, he must taste some of the delicacies here." ”

Emperor Chongzhen smiled and arched his hand: "Since this is the case, then there will be more laborers." ”

The forester sighed, waved his hand and motioned for the housekeeper to go down to prepare the wine and food, and then took out a small box from his arms, pushed it in front of Emperor Chongzhen, and said with a smile: "Li Gongzi wants to taste it?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen picked up the small box with some doubts, opened it and looked at it, and immediately gasped.

How did Daming come up with cigarettes? There is no filter, but is it a coincidence or is it deliberate? Are there any other traversers?

The murderous intention in his heart was great, but his face became closer and closer: "The good teacher forester learned that Xiao Ke's family does not allow Xiao Sheng to smoke these things. ”

The forester nodded regretfully, and said regretfully: "It's a pity." Like Liaodong, Nuergandusi belongs to the land of bitter cold, and even a few points more.

If it is better in spring and summer, but in late autumn and when winter is approaching, the weather can literally freeze people through the bones, so the people of the land of Nurkandus like to drink strong liquor and tobacco just to keep warm. ”

Emperor Chongzhen asked with a curious baby look: "Tobacco? I've seen that thing before, but when did it become like this? ”

The forester put on an unfathomable look and said with a smile: "Speaking of this tobacco, Jiangnan appeared first."

I don't know who got the tobacco smoked by the Western barbarians, and learned their method to roll up the tobacco and smoke it, but the tobacco leaves outside were replaced with paper, which was less vigorous, similar to the tobacco that my Ming people originally smoked. ”

Emperor Chongzhen took the small box and looked at it over and over for a long time, but he didn't find any similarities with the cigarette boxes of later generations, so he asked immortally: "How much silver is a box of this kind of thing?" How many are in a box? ”

Lin Yuanwai was suddenly a little glad that this Li Gongzi was already married, if he married his daughter to such a fool, the family would be able to lose his business sooner or later: "Silver? Li Gongzi said with a smile, this tobacco is just a box of a few pennies, where to buy it with silver.

I'm not sure how many sticks there are in this box, it's roughly the same as before, it's all calculated by weight, fifty wen a catty, it's hard to say how many. ”

Emperor Chongzhen relieved himself a little.

If there is a bastard thing who crosses over to engage in the tobacco business, it is estimated that this thing will be divided into branches like the cigarettes of later generations and sold by the box, instead of being sold by the pound as it is now.

I guess it was just a guy who took the shit luck figured it out.

While thinking about it, the housekeeper of the Lin Mansion had already returned, bowed to the forester, and said, "Master, the wine and food are ready." ”

The forester nodded, got up and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Li Gongzi, please?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen also stood up with a smile and followed the forester towards the living room.

The food in the Lin Mansion is nothing special, in the eyes of ordinary people, it is already a sumptuous wine and food, and in the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, he can't even get an ordinary evaluation.

It was the roe deer meat on the table and the plate of poultry meat the size of a pigeon that aroused the interest of Emperor Chongzhen.

After tasting the taste of roe deer meat, Emperor Chongzhen took another piece of poultry meat and tasted it, and the sweetness in his mouth made Emperor Chongzhen can't help but squint his eyes: "This is?" ”

The forester said with a smile: "This is the flower-tailed grouse, there are a lot of them here in Liaodong and Nuergandusi, but I can't see it in Daming Pass."

Although the meat quality of this grouse is also delicious, in fact, the really delicious soup is made from the grouse, which is much stronger than eating meat. ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he took a bowl of soup and tasted it, and found that it was really as the forester said, and the taste was incomparably delicious.

Putting down the bowl in his hand, Emperor Chongzhen sighed: "Such a delicious soup is almost the same as the imperial food in the palace." ”

Lin Yuanwai took a fancy to this Li Gongzi even more at this time - it was not uncommon for Emperor Chongzhen to give imperial food to the British Mansion, but if the distant relatives of the British Mansion could taste the imperial food in the palace, there must be something that the British Mansion valued.

After finishing the meal, Emperor Chongzhen returned to the main hall with the forester and sat down, and after taking a sip of the tea that the maidservant had just served, Emperor Chongzhen spoke: "It is said that Liaodong and Nuergan are bitter cold places, but with this flower-tailed grouse, it adds a meaning." ”

The forester laughed and said, "What Li Gongzi said is extremely true. Not afraid of Li Gongzi's jokes, Lin tried and failed, and he had already lost his patience for the imperial examination.

It's just that I don't think that this Nuergandusi still has such good things, but it is not in vain in this life, not in vain. ”

After Emperor Chongzhen laughed a few times with the forester, he changed his voice and asked, "The forester has been coming to Nuergandusi for some years, so he is quite comfortable here?" ”

The forester said: "This is natural, much more comfortable than in the Ming Dynasty, the land is planted, the food is cooked, the government takes care of it in many ways, and occasionally reads the sage books, isn't it beautiful?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen suddenly put on an envious look and said: "If it is really a fairy-like life, I don't want to go back to the capital." ”

After another long day of idle talk, Emperor Chongzhen got up to say goodbye to the foresters, and took Liu Xingzuo and others, who were waiting outside, to the summer palace.

As soon as he returned to the palace, Emperor Chongzhen ordered: "Spread Xu Xianchun to come and see me." ”