Out of the Lantern Festival.

The nobles who went down to the Nanyang Boys' Camp to exercise began to return to Nanjing, but Chen Ding did not leave, he still had a task - he wanted to take a walk and go shopping in Singapore.

Chen Ming felt the need to let his eldest son broaden his horizons and let him really feel the difference between the Nanyang Chinese society and the immigrant villages and the local rural grassroots.

Tiny Singapore is only the size of a county. But over the years, in addition to a fairly large naval base and surrounding garrisons, boy boy camp and other military facilities, as many as 155 migrant villages have taken root, sprouted and grown here, and they eventually formed 11 townships and a municipal government. This is where the city of Singapore comes from.

This warm and humid place is not suitable for the survival of Mongolian horses, and after the elimination of time, the horses here are now all shorter southwestern horses.

Chen Ding rode in a carriage dragged by two horses, the carriage was pulled by the southwest horse, there was a guard standing on the left and right frames, followed by two carriages, and four policemen on horseback, a total of sixteen people. The six guards and four policemen all wore rattan hats, carried long guns on their backs, and pistols at their waists. The three carriages looked identical on the outside, and there was no difference at all from the outside, but inside the other two carriages were Singapore's Deputy Mayor and the Chief of Police, and six identical rattan boxes were neatly tied to the tops of the three carriages.

"Your Highness, this piece is the famous 'Dead Sea' back then. The original Malays landed from the beaches of this generation in canoes to make trouble for us. The garrison regiment often set up ambushes in this generation. "The deputy mayor pointed his finger to the sea, and in fact, the entire northeast coastline of Singapore Island was covered by a small hundred miles." At that time, killing people was about cutting down the grass and eradicating the roots, and when the captives were not natives, they were not merciful. As long as those who dare to come to make trouble, not only those who come will die, but their tribes will also be retaliated against. Many indigenous tribes on the other side were slaughtered all over the ground, and blood flowed like rivers...... "At that time, the garrison regiment retaliated and really killed a lot of Malays. The territory is not limited to Johor, but also includes most of the Malays such as Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Measter, Perak, etc.

"It was also hated at that time, and later the Malays would ...... obediently" When Chen Han really pulled the Malay row into his bowl, no one in the whole Malay resisted, and it was not because the Malays suffered the pain and accepted the lesson.

"At that time, after killing someone, the body was thrown into the sea. At that time, fishing boats did not come to this area to fish. There are often rumors in the port area that someone found a finger from the fish's stomach when they killed the fish...... "The deputy mayor's eyes flashed with reminiscence, and the whole person seemed to be immersed in the memories of the past."

He came here in the first year of Singapore's reclamation, and it has been ten years since then.

Singapore was built right under his nose and is the result of his countless efforts.

Of course, the deputy mayor knows Chen Ding's identity, and a lot of bitter water in his stomach is pouring on Chen Ding, and he should have no chance on weekdays.

"Immigration is also not easy to manage. Miscellaneous, stubborn. ”

"Immigrants from different places are often at odds with each other, and there is a strong gap between the north and the south."

"The imperial court has detailed plans for many things, and the common people have opinions and say that they are lenient."

"It's still the old tradition before, if something happens, don't report it to the official first, and find the elders to judge first. I sued the official when it didn't make sense. ”

"The quality is low, because the immigrants are disrupted and settled, the relationship is shallow, and conflicts often break out between neighbors over trivial matters."

"I have no ambitions and have very low requirements for life. Once the basic survival requirements have been met, there is no motivation to move up. ”

"Old-fashioned, poor ability to accept new things. A lot of things have to be done by coercion

Promote it. As for the immigrants who cheated and took advantage of the public in the early days of their arrival, they were even more ......"

Chen Ding was silent when he heard it. By the time Singapore was developed, Chen Han had already established himself in the mainland, and the various materials needed by the immigrants were not only fully supplied, but also supplied in a timely manner. The most important thing is that many of the officials who came with the immigrants at the beginning, whether they were high-level or grass-roots, had rich administrative experience, and it can be said that they were a group of officials who were selected to far exceed the overall average quality line of Chen Han officials at that time.

Unlike Chen Han's officials and public servants in the mainland at that time, when the government went to the countryside and the township official system was implemented, the entire Chen Han public servant class was rising and expanding geometrically, because the number of grassroots public servants needed, that is, the number of township officials was too large, so that the overall quality level of 'township officials' was pulled again and again, and many township officials themselves did not know how many words, just like Ge Er at the beginning, they themselves were all for the sake of eating. There are also a large number of military personnel in the middle!

At that time, the work at the grassroots level was simple and rude, and at every turn, the township officials had to wield the 'iron fist of the government,' threatening the labor reform, tying up people indiscriminately, and beating people indiscriminately emerged one after another.

It's too common for Ge Er to scare people into not cutting down trees.

It is also thanks to the common people of this era who are 'well-informed', and have been influenced by the 'arrogant and unreasonable' of the officials in the Manchu Dynasty for a long time, and do not feel that the 'roughness' of the township officials is the real 'roughness', so that Chen Han passed that stage peacefully, and now it is obviously much better.

Even if a part of the land in a county in Singapore is set aside for military use, there are only 155 villages in the entire 'city', which obviously has not yet been developed to the saturation level. Even with the people in the port area, the population has just exceeded the 100,000 mark. This is also because there are many Chinese from Luzon and the East Indies in the port area, and they do not return after they come. And if you include the serfs and labor prisoners attached to the military and villages, the total population is only about 200,000.

Compared with Singapore, which has a population of five or six million in the 21st century, Singapore, with a total population of only 200,000, obviously has great prospects for development.

Now the food produced here is at least enough to meet the local needs, and some meat, pepper and fish can be provided, and after years of development, the basic life can be maintained. But Singapore is a military base, not a military forbidden, and its maritime trade is always moving forward. Every year, it consumes a lot of beef, and Singapore's inner migrant villages are trying to develop a pig industry.

In the case that the entrepot attribute has not been actively lit up by Chen Han, Singapore's biggest role is actually only rubber cultivation.

Natural rubber can be made into the best raincoat of this era after a simple chemical treatment, and even natural rubber without chemical treatment can be made into a raincoat. The natural rubber applied to the cloth is added to the cloth, and although this raincoat has the same defects as natural rubber, it sticks to your hands in hot weather and hardens when cold, but it is definitely significant.

What's more, Chen Ming also knows about a vulcanization.

It only takes constant production of raincoats to make the value of the rubber tree a hundred years earlier than the previous plane.

Don't underestimate a thin raincoat, it's a necessity. When raincoats made of natural rubber began to be rolled out on a large scale in the private market, it is hard to imagine that in the Jiangnan region of China, there are still people who insist on using bulky coats or oilcloth clothes.

This small raincoat has a big business opportunity.

……

After traveling more than a mile from the beach, Chen Ding saw a Zhuangzi, and the road into the village was a very smooth dirt road, about four or five feet wide, which could be used for two carriages in parallel.

There are no potholes on the road, and there are some small trees planted on the left and right, it seems that they have not been a few years old, and the trunks are not thicker than an arm's thick, but they are also green.

&nb

sp; Chen Ding got out of the carriage, took an internal guard, and walked into the village. Others are far behind.

Chen Ding's eyesight is very good, and from a distance, he saw a man with a tall pointed hat on his head carrying water to water the small trees by the roadside. Chen Ding walked over slowly, and saw that the man with the pointed hat turned out to be an old man with gray hair, and after pouring the bucket of water, he sat straight on the ground, wiping his sweat while drinking the last scoop of water in the bucket into his stomach.

An old man carrying water to water a tree alone and wearing a pointed hat that doesn't feel right at first glance? Is it a punishment?

When Chen Ding walked up to him, the old man had already taken out his cigarette pouch and pot, ready to take a cigarette and rest.

"Uncle, why are you here alone to carry water and water the trees?" Singapore's migrant villages, there are labor prisoners and serfs, and there are quite a few of them. This kind of hard work that does not interfere with agricultural work should be done by prisoners in labor camps. And the old man in front of him was full of red light, he couldn't see a trace of vegetables, and he was dressed like an ordinary person, obviously not a labor prisoner, let alone a serf. But he wore a top hat again, and he was alone carrying water to water the trees.

A layer of sweat appeared on the old man's forehead, and he didn't take off his pointed hat.

While asking, Chen Ding handed the old man a cigarette, which was a high-end cigarette.

The old man immediately recognized that the extraordinary was coming, and on one side he took it and put it on his nose and sniffed it again, and on the other hand, he smiled hehehe: "You are an official family, you are here to investigate, right?" ”

The expression on your face that you can't fool me made Chen Ding very strange, "How do you see this?" ”

"Hehe, over the years, there are not one or two officials in our village who have been conducting investigations, most of them can see that their identities are not simple, just like you, full of style, at first glance, they are not ordinary people. It's just that your baby's face is too light. The old man was unexpectedly from the Central Plains, his voice was different, and Chen Ding felt like a fellow countryman. But the tone of the old man's speech, the commonly used tone, has changed a little, a bit of Shandong, Northwestern, hodgepodge flavor. "My old man is not nonsense, you really have a lot of extravagance in this baby, which is different from the people who eat in the soil, and it is not the same as the young people in the city. At first glance, he is a scholar and a nobleman. "The old man was referring to the port area of Singapore. It is home to all the civil affairs authorities in Singapore.

"Hey, hey." Chen Ding laughed twice, did not deny it, but said in the Central Plains: "Uncle is from the Central Plains? I'm also from the Central Plains. ”

When a fellow sees a fellow countryman, this feeling is good. Chen Ding doesn't want to be in tears, as long as he can ask two truths.

"My family is from Luoyang, where is the uncle?"

Chen Ding sat next to him with his ass. The old man showed a happy look on his face, "Then you and I are still half a fellow." I'm from Chendi. "I don't feel that the taste of the Central Plains in the accent is stronger.

Chen Ding knew that this 'Chen Land' referred to there, Chenzhou Mansion, and it was not far from Lushan.

"What do you want to ask? For the sake of your fellow countryman, I'll tell you all about the old man. The old man spoke with an oily touch of experience.

"Uncle, I'm just asking why you are watering here alone? Still wearing this tall hat? ”

The strangest thing about Chen Ding is this. The pointed hat was an insult, and he was ready to listen to the old man's grievances and scoldings, and this hat and errand must have been punished by the village magistrate of their village. And is this a violation of the law?

Because of the relationship between fellow villagers, the old man had already let down his guard against Chen Ding, and Chen Ding felt that he was very likely to listen to a stomach full of resentment.

"Punished. The public asked me to dig a ditch, and I told me that I was sick and said that I would go to the city to see my son. We're all in the city. As a result, I went to the town to watch a big play, and I happened to be there

Zhang Chaoquan, who bought eggs in the town, saw it. Zhang Chaoquan is the militia captain in my village. ”

"I was punished for watering the tree."

"I also criticized and fought on the big playground at the head of the village. Bad for me, I don't say anything. You have to wear the hat for five days before you can erase it. ”

This old man was really punished, but he did not vent his bitterness to Chen Ding, a fellow whose identity looked unusual, as Chen Ding expected, but admitted his mistake cleanly.

This was much beyond Chen Ding's expectations, Chen Ding was going to ask deeply, and he was going to go to this village today.

"Then why did you skip work, uncle? Is it too tiring and hard to dig a canal, and you don't pay for it, or is it something else? ”

"Baby, the public doesn't mean that you don't give food or pay for it. But ah, digging the canal is so tiring and hard. The bitterness on the old man's face was not fake, "It's hot and humid here, and water seeps out as deep as you dig underground, and digging a canal is much more bitter than the current job, too bitter." ”

"Both of us work in the city, and we are more profitable to farm the land every month. Old man, I don't even have the heart to manage my own land, so I just went out, what ditch am I going to dig for? ”

"I haven't had a good life for more than 40 years, and it's rare to have a good meal of noodles. Finally, the family came to this good place, the court allocated the land, we didn't have to worry about eating and drinking, and we both had a good carpenter job, and we could earn a lot of money every month. Why don't I enjoy my happiness while I still have a few years to live? ”

Looking at the nagging old man, Chen Ding was suddenly speechless. The happy light in the eyes of the old man in front of him was not fake, but this spirit was wrong.

But Chen Ding thought about it again and didn't say anything.

In front of him is an old man who has suffered for most of his life, and finally in his old age, the old man is in his fifties, in this era, for the common people, this is an age when the loess is buried to the neck, what reason does Chen Ding ask him to continue to maintain the past 'hard and simple'?

This is what the deputy mayor said before that immigrants have no ambitions and have low requirements for life. Once the basic survival requirements have been met, there are no concrete examples of motivation to move forward. But it's no wonder that they are a little rich: the people who were pulled here from the mainland did not have a rich family at the beginning, and now this day of food and clothing is already a life in heaven.

Chen Ding asked about the situation in the village, how the land was grown, and whether there was enough food to eat.

"I didn't talk about farming. It's warm here, I've never seen winter, I can grow crops all year round, the food is absolutely enough, there are many children, and the weak laborers are still poor, but it's much better than in the past. Not only in our village, but also in the surrounding villages, the old man has never heard of anyone who is poor and can't open the pot. Even those flag cubs are stronger than in previous years.

The most bitter thing for me now is that the court is in charge too much, and there is too much labor, and I have no rest.

It's like this time, old man, I don't want to make that money. But the village is not an old man, and I don't want to earn that money, so the men in the village line up, and it's my turn. The head of my village said that I should go to cook, stand in front of me, and not be tired and panicked. He said it strangely lightly.

The laborers in the village alone have to go to dozens of people, and everyone has to make great efforts, and each one is worth a pound of rice. Zhang Chao has all gone to the town to buy eggs, can this be an easy life? Old man, I cook for dozens of people, that's not a joke. Besides, there are also re-education through labor prisoners.

Add a piece, I can't serve the old man! ”

The old man in front of Chen Ding waved his hand again and again. ())。 If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point () to vote, your support is my biggest motivation. Please arrive. )