Zhili Baoding Mansion, a large courtyard, is crowded with people.

There are men and women, but most of them are women, and most of them are women in their thirties.

In fact, today's protagonist here is more of a young woman. It was only because it was inconvenient for the young girls to show their heads that their relatives came in their place.

The money widow was one of these women.

Widow Qian is actually very young, only twenty-three or fourteen years old, with a slender figure, a ruddy complexion, and a melon seed face, pretty and colorful.

Six years ago, she married the Guo family, and two years later, Xianggong died of a serious illness. After another two years, the father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law of the husband's family moved back to their hometown, leaving her alone here, and never cared.

Last year, when there was a big flood, all the mother's family died in the flood, and even the body has not been found.

Today, the widow Qian guards the family's two acres of thin fields and lives an immortal life.

In addition to enduring the prejudice and discrimination of others on a daily basis, we must always be on guard against the covetousness of some ill-intentioned men.

Originally, there were many rights and wrongs in front of the widow's door, but without the protection of her husband's family and her mother's family, life was even more difficult.

On days like this, she doesn't know when she'll be able to get through it.

Fortunately, she has a good neighbor, that is, Gu Xiucai's family.

The young lady of Gu Xiucai's family fell in love with her when she was born, and the two of them were like sisters.

Miss Gu's son-in-law is called Ning'er, and she has a big mansion here, with more than 20 tiled houses, which are dedicated to teaching crafts to others, such as popcorn, making tofu, stonemasons, etc.

Now, Ning Er has earned enough money in Zhili, and he wants to go to Beihai to join his original master, the younger brother of Jia Guifei in the current palace, Jia Tanhua after the Duke of Rongguo.

This time, Ning'er not only had to take Miss Gu with her, but also his friends, and she had to go with him.

These friends are all from the imperial capital, and they are decent people at first glance.

There is Fang Xiucai and his wife Feng Sanniang, as well as Liu Tieshan and his wife Wu Hongmei.

There are also two beautiful girls, who originally opened a big shop in the imperial capital, called Fenghua and Xueyue.

They will follow Ning'er to Beihai.

Widow Qian never dreamed that it was because of the arrival of these people that her fate would take a turn for the worse.

It turned out that these people had come here to recruit women to Beihai, and there were many men from all over the country, who had money, but could not get a lady.

Because there is a shortage of women there.

This kind of thing is simply unheard of.

At first, people didn't believe it, but then they went to the government to inquire, and the government said that there was such a thing in the imperial capital. Now a lot of men and women have gone there.

There is another point that the church gradually believed. That is, this matter was handled by Gu Xiucai's son-in-law.

Gu Xiucai's son-in-law is also a celebrity in Baoding Mansion. Gu Xiucai's family is a local native, an old family who knows the roots, and is a scholar with a high reputation.

Even Gu Xiucai strongly agreed, and people gradually believed in it.

Even if you take a step back, this matter really can't be done, and you can come back to Gu Xiucai in the future, but Gu Xiucai patted his chest to be a guarantee.

The conditions for recruitment are also very attractive.

As long as they are not more than 35 years old, whether they are girls, widows or slaves, they can go.

If it is a slave or a maidservant, he will be redeemed when he goes.

Therefore, in the past two days, many people have come to inquire about the news.

The money widow has decided, and this time she will follow.

Anyway, there is no good way to live here, so it is better to go there and wander around, and maybe you can find a good man.

It's hard for a widow without a man to live.

Besides, with Miss Gu going with her, what are you afraid of?

Therefore, in the past few days, she has come here every day to help answer some people's inquiries, as if she has become one of Fang Xiucai's them.

Now, Widow Qian is receiving an acquaintance of hers, Xiaoju, a childhood partner in her maiden village.

Xiaoju's father-in-law died in last year's flood. The husband's family asked her to marry a foolish uncle, but Xiaoju refused to obey until death, and tried to find a short term twice, but she didn't die.

Now that I heard about it, I was moved. I heard that Widow Qian was going to Beihai, so I came to inquire and see what the situation was.

"Are they really giving a pester?"

Xiao Ju has always been a little skeptical about such a good thing.

"Naturally, they gave it, not only to eat and drink, but also to give each person a silver pocket money on the way, and to buy shoes, rouge, gouache or something."

"Is it true that they all took a carriage all the way?"

"They hired a car all the way, and we didn't have to pay for it. Two sets of clothes for one person, one set of single and one set of cotton, were given to them when they went on the road. ”

"When you get there, do you really give a dowry?"

"Give, 10 taels of silver cash per person, 30 acres of land, if the man does not have a homestead, return a piece of homestead. If you don't have the money to build a house, you can lend money to build it. Seeds, farm tools, and ploughing cattle can be borrowed, and they can be returned after the grain has been collected. ”

"It's good, I'm afraid that the men there are not good, if you can't find a good man, even if you have money, you won't be able to live a good life."

"Most of the men there are soldiers, they are all literate and can do arithmetic, they are all subordinates of Jia Tanhua, the descendant of Rongguo Gong, who has fought in Wendula before. When I get there, one of the biggest advantages is that I can choose what I like, and I don't have the matchmaking words of my parents, and I can make my own decisions. If you don't like it, no one can force it. ”

"If you don't pick it for a while, even if you get married in the future, you can regret the marriage, and the man has to agree. You can regret the marriage twice. ”

"This is new, isn't this our women making their own decisions?"

"Not only is he in charge of this matter, but when he gets married in the future, the family property is also half of one person, and if a man wants to divorce his wife in the future, he will have to give us half of the family's property."

"Will there be such a good thing? Can't believe it? ”

"When the time comes, the deed will be decided, and there will be someone here to guarantee it. Anyway, I'm going to make up my mind this time. Think about it yourself. ”

"Such a good thing, when you get there, there is nothing else to pay attention to?"

"Naturally, there is, that is, when you get there, you have to go on a blind date, and after a blind date, you get married. There is no matchmaker, just find it yourself, if you live well, you will live it for the rest of your life, if you don't have a good life, you can regret the marriage twice, and then find the right one yourself. ”

"Oh, if you regret marrying twice and can't find a suitable one, what can you do?"

"Xiaoju, we have all married once, and if we regret marrying twice, we will be three men. If you find three men and can't find a suitable one, don't blame others, you deserve to be unlucky. ”

"You're right, the elders are in charge the first time, let's not count, these two times it's your own decision, but it's no wonder that others."

"Have you figured it out? If you think about it, you will go over there to sign a deed, Gu Xiucai will make a guarantee, if it is not true when he gets there, he will pay compensation. Is your husband's family willing? ”

"Hmph, they've been looking at me for a long time, and they wish I had left earlier."

"That's for the best."

So, Widow Qian led Xiaoju to Fenghua and Xueyue, signed a contract, and Gu Xiucai drew a pledge on it, which was regarded as a guarantee.

"Well, if you get there and find that your promise has not been fulfilled, come back to me, and I will compensate you."

With Gu Xiucai's promise, Xiaoju left happily.

"Brother Gu, how many people are there today?"

Fang Xiucai came over and sat down next to Gu Xiucai.

"There are 23 people today, there are more than 80 people in the past few days, and more of them are inquiring about the news, going home to check, and in two or three days, they will be able to reply. I thought there would be about one hundred and fifty or sixty by then. ”

"Then I was overjoyed, I was supposed to have a hundred people, and I was content."

"It's still Brother Fang who has given enough benefits, where to find such a thing. Although he is uprooted from his hometown, he is not easy to live at home now. Especially if there are many girls in the family, those widows can be regarded as giving them a way to live. ”

"When they get to Beihai, they'll know they've gone to the right place. Most of those men are Jia Tanhua's subordinates, who were the heroes who pacified Wendula at the beginning, and most of them are from Zhili, and when they were training in the imperial capital, I often went to their military camp. They're all very nice guys. ”

"I heard Ning'er say that they are all literate, which is quite unusual."

"Brother Gu, I'm going to blame you for being lonely and unheard. Jia Tanhua's subordinates are all literate, and they were forced to learn at the beginning. Ning'er used to read and write and do arithmetic or something, and they all studied there together, and now he is your son-in-law, don't you believe him? ”

It's not that I don't believe it, it's just that Jia Tanhua's actions are unheard of. However, it is a pity that Jia Tanhua is talented and not used by the imperial court. ”

Jia Tanhua was less than twenty years old, and he was appointed as a guerrilla in Bukui, and later the emperor called him to serve as the deputy head of the Zongren Mansion, and Jia Tanhua never returned to the court. A few days ago, the emperor summoned him to serve as the right attendant of the military department, but unfortunately, some people were unwilling to let him come back. ”

"Alas, now that the government is in chaos, from now on, I am afraid that the world will not be peaceful."

"Alas, it is precisely because of this that Jia Tanhua said this time that I decided to move my family to Beihai. Although it is difficult to leave the homeland, it is better to be a peaceful dog than to be a troubled person. When you get there, you can live a peaceful life after all, and if you are still at home, the future is uncertain. ”

Jia Min's current plan to recruit women is actually inspired by France's "King's Daughter" program.

More than 200 years ago, the French established the colony of Quebec in North America.

However, for more than a hundred years, this colony has not developed much.

The reason for this is that it is sparsely populated.

During the reign of King Louis XIV, the "King's Daughter" program was implemented to recruit women to the colony of Quebec.

The conditions for recruitment, including blind dates, dowry, travel expenses, clothing, land and property protection, determination of the woman's economic status, and even allowing the woman to repent of the marriage twice, are all copies of the "King's Daughter" program.

Because this event was carried out in the name of the King of France, the women recruited through this program were called "Daughters of the King".

Seven days later, the ten soldiers of the Yuanfu Corps sent by Jia Qiang, under the leadership of Liu Fushan, came to Zhili to make peace with Fang Xiucai. They will escort these recruited women to the North Sea.

The route of this trip is to first get on the ship in Tianjinwei, land at Niuzhuang in southern Liaoning, and then go to Beihai.

Fang Xiucai has already done it many times to organize people to go to Bukui and even Beihai, and he has already accumulated rich experience.

A day later, Fang Xiucai, Ning Er, Fenghua, Xueyue, Liu Tieshan, Wu Hongmei and others set off for Beihai with 208 recruited women.

These women, based on their trust in Gu Xiucai and with a beautiful vision of a new life, resolutely embarked on the journey of a strange place thousands of miles away.

Looking at the more than thirty carriages in front of him, Fang Xiucai looked at the escort and Ning Er and the others.

"At the beginning, when Chief Min escorted 500 people to Bukui for the first time, there was not a single death or injury along the way. Now we are taking them to the North Sea, and we are going to send them safely. ”

"We are all the first to follow Chief Min, if something goes wrong, we don't have the face to see Chief Min. Do you understand? ”

"Don't worry, Fang Xiucai, I won't disgrace Chief Min."