"What kind of era is Xingqian?

In the eyes of the contemporary people 300 years later, Xingqian means a new life and a beginning.

However, during the Xingqian period, a series of policies implemented by the government harmed the interests of the common people, resulting in a large number of people not being able to inherit their father's land because of the "primogeniture inheritance law". At the same time, the birth rate has risen sharply, the emerging industrial and commercial economy has been unable to absorb and absorb a large number of "surplus population", and peasants and unemployed urban people have become potential social destabilizing factors. For this reason, from the very beginning of the Xingqian period, the government introduced policies to encourage people to move overseas, that is, the so-called "overseas China."

…… The decision to divide Zhuxia, which changed the pattern of today's world, is also a continuation of "overseas China" to a certain extent. ”

"The History of the Emperor and Ming"

From the colonization of Taiwan before the Xingqian period, to the colonization of Nanyang after the first year of the Xingqian Dynasty, until the division of Zhuxia, the population moving overseas every year has been increasing.

Since the first year of Xingqian, there were 23,165 overseas immigrants, of whom 6 became exiles. In the fifth year of Xingqian, the number of immigrants overseas exceeded 100,000, and in the 10th year of Xingqian, it exceeded the 200,000 mark, and then it surged at a rate of 20 percent every year.

After all, compared to working in a domestic factory, or renting official land, they can immediately get enough land overseas. It only takes several years of continuous cultivation to get that field for free.

For the vast majority of people, immigration is undoubtedly the best option. In the 17th year of Xingqian, the number of immigrants overseas exceeded 600,000.

In the past ten years, Nanyang Zhuxia has been sparing no effort to absorb immigrants through various channels. And Daming is also sparing no effort to promote this cause. Especially with the creation of the "New Xia" and the North American colonies, the Ming government began to withdraw from the Nanyang immigrants, and completely handed over the Nanyang immigration cause to Zhuxia, after all, after ten years of development, Zhuxia has enough financial and material resources to continue this cause.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was faced with how to quickly and safely transport a large number of immigrants to the distant "New Xia" and the American colonies, which was a major issue that the government had to seriously consider.

The earliest immigrants to Oceania and North America took fast merchant ships to their destinations, and it may be easier to immigrate to the "New Summer" than to immigrate to North America, after all, they can call at ports in the South Seas along the way, and immigrants to North America whether it is the "Kuroshio Route" to the West Coast, or from the South Seas to the Cape of Good Hope, and then from the Cape of Good Hope to New York, it takes more than half a year to sail.

Despite the long voyage and long voyage, in the first few years, the merchant ships of the Ming Navy still transported a large number of immigrants on these two routes. By the end of the 10th century, more than 25,000 Ming people had arrived in New Town on the west coast of North America and New York.

On the ninth day of June in the 10th year of Xingqian, the "Flying Fish" built by the Haizhou Shipyard was launched, and the ship had a very special hollow bow, although its length-to-width ratio was 5, its speed had not yet reached the amazing speed that the clippers could achieve in the future. But she still made a splash in the shipping world, and her design features were later emulated by many ship designers.

This type of ship has a small freeboard and less superstructure, which not only improves the stability of the ship, but also gives full play to the role of the sail. The boat sails almost close to the water surface, the length-to-width ratio is generally greater than 6:1, and its underwater shape is designed to minimize the resistance to improve the speed, but maintains a certain lateral resistance profile, resulting in a particularly beautiful waterline, and even has a concave in the first waterline surface, and the long and sharp curve scissor-shaped head column is a situation suitable for racing, and can split the waves to reduce the wave resistance at sea, so it is called "flying shear".

Compared with the fast sailing ships of the past, this kind of "flying clipping boat" is faster, even twice as fast as ordinary sailing ships, especially after the first "Maritime Astronomical Calendar" was issued in the navy, so that the ships sailing at sea have achieved accurate positioning at sea, so as to get rid of the constraints of monsoons and ocean currents, and sail in the vast ocean, shortening the voyage of up to half a year in the past to less than three months.

The advent of the clippers changed everything, from the "Flying Fish" full of more than 500 migrants to return to Guangzhou after 136 days of sailing, one by one the clippers were put into the American route.

In the 18th year of Xingqian, the 2,483-ton "New York," which had just been built, became the largest merchant ship on the "Guangzhou-New York" route.

Guangzhou is one of the most important ports in the Ming Dynasty, and it is also the place where millions of immigrants must leave the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty is far away from the Americas, and the arduous journey is full of uncertainties. Whenever immigrants board a ship and go to sea, the joy and sadness of parting are often intertwined, making the atmosphere of each migrant ship set sail with a strange and solemn atmosphere. It was a completely foreign world to immigrants to the Americas.

Almost every immigrant, just think of the exotic land they are about to go to that they have never thought of and seen! , will cause them uneasy. So, like other immigrants, Li Mingdian, with his wife and daughter, once again remembered the mountains and rivers of his hometown, the decaying houses in his hometown, and the acres of wheat fields that were still growing neatly under the snow.

Of course, all this has nothing to do with him, as the fourth child in the family, when he left home as an adult, in addition to a house that his father bought for him, there was also a rented 30 acres of official land, that is, his father said that he was a good relative.

Thirty acres of official land, even if he paid thirty percent of the rent, the harvest was enough for the family to eat, he and his daughter-in-law worked on that field for seven years, from the birth of his daughter, to the birth of two sons successively, life was quite comfortable, but he still chose to leave.

"I can't let my son rent a field for the rest of his life like himself in the future!"

Like most people who choose to emigrate, Li Mingdian chose to emigrate because he could get 500 acres of land there, and the 500 acres of land belonged to him for generations, as long as he cultivated it for ten years. Of course, in the past ten years, he still needs to repay the family's immigration fees, after all, the immigration fees are paid in advance by the government.

In fact, although as early as the Jiangbei submersion, began to emigrate overseas, but the immigration at that time was chaotic, the government often handed over the immigration to the various shipping bureaus, with the number of immigrants growing year by year, operating the immigration business became a profitable business, and many immigration companies emerged. However, immigration companies are mixed, colluding with shipping companies to falsely claim that the cabin is full, charging extra fees to immigrants who are eager to leave the country, lowering food and hygiene standards, etc. In the second year of Xingqian, the exiled ship "Xinzhou" anchored in the port of Guangzhou had an incident of exiles jumping into the sea and escaping, which uncovered the black curtain of the cruel abuse suffered by the immigrants, especially the exiled prisoners, during their journey, shocked the Ming Dynasty and the opposition, and also aroused the government's attention to the transportation of immigrants. After repeated discussions, the imperial court finally decided to take over the immigration business, including the selection, training, transportation, resettlement and protection of immigrants, and established a national immigration company——— overseas business company, and provided full travel expenses and handling fee subsidies to the people who emigrated overseas. Of course, the grant needs to be repaid.

It was the national policy of immigration that changed the proportion of the population of Nanyang in a short period of time. Immigration to North America is also part of the national policy of immigration, but compared with the "new summer", there are still not many immigrants to the Americas every year. After all, the cost of immigration is high.

Migrants who take a boat from the port will usually stay at the "migrant hostel" near the port for about 7 days to go through immigration procedures and health quarantine, and prepare the corresponding sailing items. These "migrant hostels" are generally hotels designated by the provincial overseas immigration associations, and are wooden buildings with 2-3 floors. During their stay at the seaport, migrants are required to apply for passports, purchase ferry tickets, undergo medical examinations, smallpox vaccinations, and disinfect their luggage. For most immigrants from farming backgrounds, these are problems that they have never encountered before, and they suffer physically and mentally. In addition, the cost of their stay is also unaffordable.

The Guangzhou Port Migrant Shelter is a five-story wooden building with 50 rooms, each with a capacity of 12 people. The initial shelter was accommodated by more than 600 people. This number is roughly the same as the number of passengers carried on migrant ships in North America, and the interior decoration is modeled with the cabins of migrant ships, so that the migrants can adapt to life on board as soon as possible.

Like other immigrants, after entering this "immigration hostel", which is somewhat like a ship, the first step is to queue up for registration, and I queued up for a long time with my wife and children, and said to Li Mingdian without raising his head when the immigration officer took the immigration form.

"The ticket price to New York is 100 taels, the navigation fee is 25 taels, the port detention fee is 2 taels per day, according to ten days, it is 2 taels, the quarantine disinfection and smallpox vaccination fee is 1 tael or 3 yuan, the barge fee and the baggage handling fee are 1 tael, a total of 126 taels and 4 yuan, the boat fare for women and children is half price, and the procedures are exempted, a total of ......"

The official who calculated the total number of calculations and looked at Li Mingdian and said.

"It's a total of 352 taels, and this money is provided by the government in the form of an interest-free loan, as long as you sign and draw a pledge."

Looking at that piece of paper, Li Mingdian knew that as long as he drew the charge, he would owe 352 taels of silver to the Ming Mansion!

When farming in my hometown, one stone of wheat could only be sold for 4 yuan of silver, and thirty acres of land was at most thirty stone wheat. Therefore, without state and other subsidies, it is difficult for immigrants to afford the high cost of travel.

Even with the government's subsidy, 352 taels is a sky-high price for immigrants, so much so that he hesitated for a long time when he signed it.

"Don't hesitate, when you get to New York, you'll get 600 acres of land! In ten years, I will definitely be able to repay this money! ”

Six hundred acres of land!

This is the size of the plot of land that people who immigrate to North America can get. However, no one knows that that land is often just a wasteland, and it takes them years to slash and burn it to turn it into fertile land.

"Sign it here."

Under the guidance of the immigration officer, Li Mingdian signed his name on the paper, and after arranging the room, the immigration officer said to him again.

"After a while, you take this watch and go to the gun shop to buy a gun gun with a watch, remember, you want to buy a six-ring wheel gun, do you know? For a family of four, you have to buy at least five, plus two long guns......"

"Sir, why do you want to buy a firecracker?"

Li Mingdian asked with some confusion. He did have more than a hundred taels of silver, but all those silver were the ones he was going to buy horses, farm tools, and firecrackers there when he arrived in New York. Maybe it's necessary, but do you need to buy that much?

"That is, buy so much at once?"

The person next to him also asked.

"What? I'm afraid that the money is not enough, don't worry, these six-ringing guns are sold to you according to the purchase price of the army, you have taken a big advantage, and a six-ringing gun outside costs at least fifty or sixty taels of silver, if it weren't for the fact that there are too many natives in North America, the government would not worry about this, but after you buy the guns, you can't use them for the time being, and the weapons will be sent directly to the immigration ship, and you will receive them with your ticket after arriving in New York......"

Although the staff of the immigrant hostel did not tell them that there were many natives living in the vicinity of the New York colony, and that they often clashed with immigrants, and that wars between immigrants and aborigines often occurred, they still felt from the words of the staff that it was not a peaceful place.

"Dad, you say, why are we going so far away?"

After entering the room, as her daughter and sons jumped on the bed happily, the woman looked at Li Mingdian and asked.

"Actually, it's not bad to go to Nanyang, it's still close, although there is less land, but I haven't heard that there are going to use knives and guns......"

The daughter-in-law's words made Li Mingdian stunned for a moment, and then said.

"There is a lot of land in New York, and the weather is similar to Nanyang's hometown, the four seasons are distinct, the Nanyang side is tropical, there is only summer all year round, and there are many mosquito diseases, and we are planted paddy fields, we are used to planting dry fields, so it is better to go there......"

Li Mingdian, who has been reading books in social studies for a few years, although he has only read books for a few years, he also knows that the climate in North America is different from that of the South Seas, and for more than ten years, the popularization of education has also made the Ming people of this era irregularly as in the past, regarding overseas as a wild land, after all, as early as when they were young, they knew the world through the world map and teaching wall charts, and knew that the Ming Dynasty was only a part of the world, and there were many places overseas, where the land was more fertile than the land of the Ming Dynasty, and it was just that people needed to cultivate it.

"Quande, Quanren, you see, this is America, here is Daming, we are in Guangzhou Mansion, wait for a few, let's take a big boat all the way to here, you see......"

The daughter lying on the bed pointed to the simple map in the book and told her brothers about the beauty of the place.

"When we get there, there will be endless land in our home, and when you grow up in the future, you will be able to live a good life......"

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