The fence around the small courtyard was now covered with leafy vines, and a few ignorant birds were happily chasing each other on the roof of a house.

Under the cultural rendering of a nation, it determines the temperament, appearance, and even words and deeds of a nation. Zhengliang once went to Ningbo Mansion and other places in the Ming Kingdom, and was deeply impressed by the demeanor and behavior of the people there. The young man in front of him gave Zhengliang such a familiar feeling, so Zhengliang asked if this young man was from Mingguo.

And the answer is also in line with Zhengliang's expectations, this person is indeed an immigrant from the Ming Kingdom. This surprised Masahiro. A Ming man married a woman from a local people, and settled in the local village. Is this a legendary entry?

"My lord, there is a village called Daping Village near this village, which is the village of the Ming people." It seems that he saw Masaliang's doubts, and the person who had been in charge of leading the way for Masato whispered to Masayo.

"Oh? Is there a Ming settlement near here? After hearing this, Zhengliang was surprised again. It's no wonder that Ming people appear here.

"The villain thanks the adults for saving their lives in the first place." Just when Masato was surprised, the young man who had been a little frightened suddenly knelt in front of Masaliang.

"You? This is? The young man's sudden action made everyone present puzzled.

"Have you forgotten? Eight years ago, it was the adults who helped my father, mother, and two siblings outside a tea stall, and even brought us here to settle down, so that I was saved from starving to death in the wanderings! "Speaking of which. The young man was already in tears.

"Is that you?" It was mentioned by young people. Masahiro remembered it. Eight or nine years ago. He went to the Ming Kingdom to find a trade route at that time, that time it was on the way to Ningbo Mansion, and then when he was resting on the tea stall, he happened to see a man and a woman and two couples with two children hobbling over, so he gave them some food in a moment of kindness, and later arranged for Wang Hai to send them from the Ming Dynasty on the other side of the sea to settle here, but he didn't expect to meet them here today. Looking at this situation, this young man is the same little boy as he was at the beginning.

But when you feel that fate is magical. Zhengliang couldn't help but wonder, today Zhengliang came out after a special disguise, and after so many years, Zhengliang's appearance has already undergone a lot of changes, how did this young man identify him? So Zhengliang couldn't help asking:

"How did you recognize me?"

"My lord, the villain recognized the adult by seeing the scar on the back of your hand. At the beginning, the villain was extremely hungry, and his hands and feet were almost weak, and it was the adult who delivered a small piece of dry cake to the villain's hand, and at that time the villain completely remembered the scar on the adult's hand. The young man quickly explained.

"I see." Masara rolled up the sleeve of his right hand, and there was indeed a scar between the back of his hand and the palm of his hand. This scar was left when Masara led the people to fight fiercely with the bandits on the wild mountain. Due to the depth of the wound, the scar has not completely disappeared to this day.

Now that the doubts are gone. Zhengliang naturally wanted to take the opportunity to ask about the living conditions of these Ming immigrants, so he continued to ask:

"How are your parents and sister?"

"Thanks to the blessing of the adults, my parents are still alive, and my father is now the head of a small village. My sister lives with her parents, too. Once again, I would like to thank you for your kindness to my brother. The young man replied with a look of joy on his face.

"Oh?" As soon as the young man said this, Zhengliang felt a little surprised. When he first met them at the foot of the mountain, Masashi clearly remembered that the couple had only two children, a boy and a girl.

"It was the adults who gathered me and the other homeless people together, so that I could reunite with my brother who was separated when he was hunted down by the local government." The young man said gratefully.

After hearing this, Zhengliang immediately understood. At the beginning, on the way to Ningbo Mansion, he saw so many displaced people, and the local government not only did not care, but even sent people to drive these displaced people, so Zhengliang temporarily entrusted Wang Hai, a merchant of the Ming Kingdom, to gather these displaced people, and then arranged them in the cottage that they occupied, and then sent them to the territory of the Luo family in batches after gathering enough people.

"My parents and my brother and sister often thought about the great kindness of the adults, and in order to thank the adults for their great kindness, they even enshrined the statues of the gods in the lobby of the house to pray for the blessings of the adults." The young man continued. This practice of young people has been very common in the territory of the Luo family, and many local people have placed a wooden statue of Zhengliang or hung a portrait in their homes for various reasons such as worship and gratitude.

"And why is that?" Masarashi continued to ask. Since this young man's family is nearby, it seems that the young man has settled here. But according to the tradition of the Chinese, they basically like to live together, and this young man is here, which is a bit strange.

"The family business has been inherited by the brother, and the villain plans to come out alone to build a family business, and the villain's wife has just lost her only father, and she needs the villain's care, so she came to settle here." The young man immediately reported it.

"Hmm." Masarashi nodded. From the young man's words, Masa-liang felt that this young man really had the idea of building a family business on his own, but he still kept in touch with his family. It feels like he was influenced by the local culture and habits (the eldest son inherited the family business, and the other sons found other paths), which can be regarded as a fusion of Ming culture and local culture.

"Are there many cases like you marrying a local woman?" Masarashi continued to ask. It is rare to meet an immigrant from the Ming Kingdom at the bottom, and Zhengliang naturally wants to take the opportunity to learn about their living conditions. After all, the reports of the retainers are usually just a few words, which is not enough for him to better understand the situation at the bottom.

"There are indeed a lot, but there are not many female dependents in the village." Young people report truthfully.

Zhengliang thought about it for a while after hearing this, and it was indeed the case. In the midst of the flight and wandering. Women and children who are slightly weaker are often the most vulnerable to illness and death. So in the end, among the displaced people who were fortunate enough to be rescued by the Luo family. The proportion of males has always been the largest, which has also contributed to the disproportionately large proportion of males in some villages settled by Ming immigrants. As a result, there was a situation where the men of the village went out to marry local women. This is also a good phenomenon, after all, it is also a process of integration between two peoples.

Later, Masato asked the young people about the living conditions of some Ming immigrants, and from the young people's information, Masaliang even heard about the current situation in the Ming Kingdom. In recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently in the northern part of the Ming Kingdom, and there is even a tendency to spread to the south. The Ming Dynasty has already begun its pace of decline.

In retrospect. Why did the Ming Kingdom eventually perish? In Zhengliang's view, it is nothing more than the following reasons. The country's financial difficulties led to famine and no money to provide relief; There was a war, and there was no money to pay the salaries. There is no money to help the victims, and the hungry people are in turmoil; There was no money to pay the army, and the hungry soldiers were in rebellion. The combination of the hungry and the hungry soldiers led to a massive civil rebellion. The lack of combat effectiveness of the government forces has made it impossible for the state to eliminate foreign invasions or to suppress internal rebellions. Fiscal crisis. leading to a military crisis; The military crisis, which led to an even greater financial crisis. And so a vicious circle. The Ming Dynasty eventually came to an end.

One might ask? Wasn't the Ming Kingdom known as the dynasty with the lowest taxes? Why is there no money?

This can be seen from the fact that the local homeless people are willing to cross the sea to settle in the territory of the Luo family. If the taxes are so low, why did these Ming immigrants choose to abandon their homeland and come here?

During this period of the Ming Dynasty, the social contradictions had become increasingly intensified, and the country's politics were becoming darker and darker. During this period, land annexation became increasingly fierce, land was sharply concentrated, and the emperor's imperial estates increased rapidly, and the farms of princes, lords, and eunuchs far exceeded those of previous generations. The phenomenon of land annexation by the wealthy landlords is also very serious. They are connected to each other, one family and ten families. Tuntian was also mostly annexed by eunuchs, which was seriously damaged. The people lost their land and went into exile. Within the ruling circles, the contradictions are also becoming more and more acute. The eunuchs are dictatorial, and the people are carved. Later, there was a dispute between the ministers and ministers, and the bureaucrats joined up with friends and turned against each other, and the court was in chaos.

Moreover, in addition to taxes, the people of the Ming Dynasty also bore forced labor. The peasants' forced labor was distributed locally, and there were too many places where corrupt officials could handle it. This phenomenon is difficult to avoid even in the era of such strict supervision in later generations, not to mention the ancient era when the means of supervision were limited, the transportation was underdeveloped, and the information was blocked.

Servitude is free labor that is driven. The existence of the military confirms that the so-called low taxes are just a hypocrisy. Service is the administrative expenditure of the state administrative organs, which is probably post station, errand service, military service, and so on. The government only provided them with basic food supplies, and the labor and skills of the common people were free for the use of the state. There is no doubt that this extra, personal servitude has many drawbacks, and is often inflicted on the poor and the righteous. The additional levy is irregular and cannot be resisted, and the harm is far greater than the normal taxation.

With the land gone, and the burden of all kinds of forced labor being increased in disguise (in fact, it is equivalent to increasing taxes in disguise), and then in the event of a natural disaster, how can the people who have nothing resist it? Therefore, the so-called "low taxation" of the Ming Kingdom is completely illusory.

From the information that the Ming Kingdom has suffered from natural disasters for many years, Zhengliang suddenly woke up. Last year, there were also abnormal weather conditions in the country (such as thunderstorms in autumn; Winter is too long, etc.). Some abnormal climates are basically preceded by all kinds of strange weather. So Masato couldn't help but think of the Xiaoice period.

Whether or not the Xiaoice Age has begun to affect the local climate, Masahiro must be prepared. The so-called preparedness. When I go back, I must organize the Interior Pavilion to prepare well.

Now it seems that it is also good to walk down there from time to time to understand the underlying situation, at least so that you can realize the mistakes in your decision-making and quickly make up for them.

(Thanks to the monthly pass of "Baishi Jing"; Thanks to the reward of "Seven Cups of Tea, Green Mia". Thank you all for your subscription and referral votes. (To be continued......)