The fence around the small yard was now covered with vines covered with green leaves, and a few ignorant birds were chasing happily on the roof of a room.

Under the cultural exaggeration of a nation, it determines the temperament, appearance, and even its words and deeds. Zhengliang has been to Ningbo Prefecture and other places in Ming Dynasty and has a deep impression of the people's demeanor and manners. The young man in front of him gave Zhengliang such a familiar feeling, so Zhengliang asked whether the young man was from the Ming Dynasty.

The answer was also in line with Zhengliang's expectations. This person was indeed an immigrant from Ming Dynasty. This surprised Zhengliang. A Ming Dynasty man married a woman from a local citizen and settled in the village of the locals. Is this the legendary marriage into the family?

"Sir, there is a village called Daping Village near this village, which is a village of Ming people." It seems that Zhengliang was confused, and the man who had been responsible for leading the way for Zhengliang whispered to Zhengliang.

"Oh? There is actually a Ming people's settlement nearby?" Zhengliang was also surprised again after hearing this. It is no wonder that Ming people appeared here.

"The villain thanks for the help of his life." Just when Zhengliang was surprised, the young man who had been a little worried and scared suddenly knelt in front of Zhengliang.

"You? Is this?" The young man's sudden action confused everyone present.

"Did you forget it? Eight years ago, it was the adult who helped my father, mother and two brothers and sisters outside a tea stall. Later, he brought us here to settle down, which saved us from starving to death in the wandering!" At this point, the young man was already filled with tears.

"Is it you?" Zhengliang remembered it when the young man mentioned it. Eight or nine years ago. He went to Ming Kingdom to find a trade route. That time, he was on his way to Ningbo Prefecture. When he was resting at the tea stall, he happened to see a couple of men and women staggeringly with their two children. So he kindly gave them some food. Later, he arranged for Wang Hai to send them from the Ming Dynasty, which was far away from the sea, to settle here. However, he did not expect that he would meet them here today. Judging from this situation, this young man was the first little boy.

However, when he felt that fate was magical, Zhengliang couldn't help but wonder. Today, Zhengliang came out after disguise, and after so many years, Zhengliang's appearance had changed a lot. How did this young man recognize him? So Zhengliang couldn't help but ask:

"How did you recognize me?"

"Sir, the villain recognized the adult when he saw the scar on the back of your hand. At that time, the villain was extremely hungry and his hands and feet were almost weak. It was the adult who personally delivered a small piece of dry cake to the villain's hand. At that time, the villain completely remembered the scar on the adult's hand." The young man quickly analyzed.

"So that's the case." Masaliang rolled up the sleeve of his right hand. There was indeed a scar between the back of his hand and his palm. This scar was left when Masaliang led his leaders to fight with bandits on the wild mountains. Because the wound was deep, the scar has not completely disappeared to this day.

Since his doubts were gone, Zhengliang naturally took the opportunity to ask about the living conditions of these Ming immigrants, so he continued to ask:

"How are your parents and sister?"

"For the blessing of my elders, my parents are still alive. My father is now the head of a small village. My sister is also living with her parents. I would like to thank the adults for their kindness in saving my brother again." The young man replied with joy on his face.

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

"It was the adults who gathered us and these refugees that allowed us to meet again with our brother who was separated when he was hunted by the local government." The young man said gratefully.

Zhengliang immediately understood after hearing this. On the way to Ningbo Prefecture, he saw so many refugees. The local government not only ignored them, but even sent people to drive them away. Therefore, Zhengliang temporarily entrusted Ming Dynasty businessman Wang Hai to gather these refugees together, and then arranged them to the copycat he occupied at that time. After gathering the number of people, he sent them to the Luo family's territory in batches. It is estimated that the family met in the copycat.

"My parents and my brother and sister often worry about the great kindness of the adults. In order to thank the adults for their great kindness, they even worshipped statues of the adults in the lobby of their homes to pray for them." The young man continued to tell. This practice of the young man's family is already very common in the territory of the Luo family. Many local gang members mostly placed a wooden statue of Zhengliang or hung a portrait at home due to various reasons such as worship and gratitude.

"Then why is this?" Zhengliang continued to ask. Since the young man is nearby, the family is nearby. But looking at the current situation, it seems that the young man has settled here. But according to the Chinese tradition, he basically likes to live together, and this young man is here, which is a bit strange.

"The family business has been inherited by my brother. The villain plans to come out alone to build a family business. In addition, the villain's wife has just lost her only father and is in need of the villain's care, so she came here to settle down." The young man immediately reported.

"Yeah." Zhengliang nodded. From the young man's words, Zhengliang felt that this young man really had the idea of ​​relying on himself to build a family business, but he still kept in touch with his family. He felt that he was influenced by local cultural habits (the eldest son inherited the family business, and the other sons found another way out), which was also a fusion of Ming culture and local culture.

"Are there many cases of marrying a woman like you?" Zhengliang continued to ask. It is rare to meet a Ming immigrant from the bottom of the Ming Dynasty. Zhengliang naturally had to take the opportunity to understand their living conditions. After all, the reports from the retainers were just a few words, which was not enough to let him know the situation at the bottom of the society.

"There are indeed many, but there are not many female relatives in the village." The young man reported truthfully.

After hearing this, Zhengliang thought about it for a while and it was true. In the escape and wandering, women with slightly weaker constitutions and children are often the most likely to get sick and die, so among the refugees who were lucky enough to be rescued by the Luo family, the proportion of males has always been the largest, which also caused the proportion of males in some Ming immigrants settled in villages. So the males in the village were marrying local women one after another. This is also a good phenomenon, after all, this is also a process of mutual integration between two ethnic groups.

Then Zhengliang asked about the living conditions of the young people's immigrants in the Ming Dynasty. From the information about the young people, Zhengliang even heard news about the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. In recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, and even spread to the south. The Ming Dynasty has started its pace of decline.

Looking back, why did the Ming Dynasty eventually perish? In Zhengliang's view, it was nothing more than the following reasons. The country's financial difficulties led to famine. There was no money to provide relief; there was a war, and there was no money to pay military pay. There was no money to provide relief to the victims, and the hungry people were in chaos; there was no money to pay military pay, and the hungry soldiers were in chaos. The combination of hungry people and hungry soldiers led to large-scale domestic rebellion. The government army lacked combat effectiveness, which led to the country being unable to eliminate foreign invasions and could not eliminate internal rebellion. The fiscal crisis led to military crisis; the military crisis led to a greater financial crisis. Such a vicious cycle led to the Ming Dynasty eventually demise.

Some people may ask? Isn’t the Ming Dynasty known as the lowest tax dynasty? Why is it gone?

This can be seen from the fact that the local refugees were willing to cross the sea to settle in the Luo family territory. Since the taxes are so low, why would these Ming immigrants rather give up their hometowns and come here?

Social conflicts during this period of the Ming Dynasty had become increasingly intensified, and national politics became increasingly dark. During this period, land annexation became increasingly fierce. The land was rapidly concentrated, and the emperor's imperial farms increased rapidly. The land of princes, honors and eunuchs had far exceeded that of previous generations. The phenomenon of land annexation by officials and tyrants was also very serious. They were connected by fields, one family and ten families. The military farms were mostly annexed by eunuchs, which were severely damaged. The people lost their land and went into exile everywhere. Within the ruling group, the contradictions became increasingly sharp. The eunuchs were autocratic and the people were corrupt. Later, there was a dispute between the cabinet ministers, and the bureaucrats connected with each other and fought each other, and the court was in chaos.

Moreover, in addition to taxes, the people in the Ming Dynasty also had corvee labor. The corvee labor burdened by farmers was distributed by local authorities, and there were too many places where corrupt officials could be dealt with. This phenomenon was inevitable even in later generations when supervision was so tight, not to mention that in ancient times, there were limited supervision methods, underdeveloped traffic, and information blocked?

Service means free labor driven by supply. The existence of service confirms that the so-called low tax revenue is just a false illusion. Service means management expenses of state administrative agencies, mostly post stations, service personnel, military service, etc. The government only provides them with basic food supply, and the labor and technology of the people are free for the state to use. There is no doubt that this additional, personal labor service has many disadvantages, and it is often imposed on the poor and the people. The additional tax collection is irregular and cannot be resisted, which is far greater than normal taxation.

The land is gone, and the burden of various corvee labor is increased in disguise (in fact, it is equivalent to increasing taxes in disguise). When encountering natural disasters again, how can the people who have nothing resist? Therefore, the so-called "low taxes" in the Ming Dynasty are completely an illusory illusion.

From the information that Ming Dynasty has suffered natural disasters for years, Masayoshi suddenly became alert. Last year, there were abnormal climates in Japan (such as thunderstorms in autumn; winter is too long, etc.). Some abnormal climates will basically have various strange weather before they appear. So Masayoshi couldn't help but think of the Little Ice Age.

Regardless of whether the Little Ice Age has begun to affect the local climate, Zhengliang must be prepared. As the saying goes, be prepared. After returning, you must organize the Interior Affairs Office to prepare well.

Now it seems that it is also good to go downstairs and learn about the situation at the bottom. At least it will make you realize the negligence in decision making and then make up for it quickly.

(Thanks to "Baishi Jinglun" for his monthly ticket; thanks to "Seven Cups of Tea, Green Mia" for his reward. Thanks to everyone for their subscription and recommendation tickets.)
Chapter completed!