Chapter 2164

Getting a stable living environment and stable income is the most intuitive feeling for most immigrants from Ming Dynasty after settling in Haihan. For refugees like Ren Song, who came to Haihan because of the war, stability is even more important.

The most important thing is that even though Haihan State has many restrictions on its people, at least you don’t have to worry about your own livelihood and safety all the time when you live in this country.

Although Xiunian came to Haihan because he was affected by the war, he had only arrived in Zhoushan for a short time and could not fully empathize with Ren Song's words. However, Xiunian also obtained an important piece of information from Ren Song's words.

That is, the living environment of Haihan Kingdom is safer than that of other countries, and may even be higher than that of the Ming Dynasty.

Xiunian did not know the internal and external troubles that the Ming Dynasty was facing at this time, nor did he know how many areas of the Ming Dynasty had been in war in recent years. Almost every year, hundreds of thousands of people left their homes and became refugees because of the war. Ren

Song claimed that Haihan was safer than the Ming Dynasty. This argument still surprised him. After all, in his impression, the Ming Dynasty had a vast territory and strong national power. It had always been the most powerful country in East Asia. How could it be inferior to the Ming Dynasty in terms of security?

Haihan.

However, Xiunian also knew that he didn't know much about Daming and Haihan, and asking too much would make Ren Song see through his own strength, so he didn't continue to dwell on this issue, and instead asked the other party about the experience and side business of Fuqiang Village.

.

Ren Song said: "This craft of making pottery and firing bricks and tiles has been passed down from our ancestors. Now that it can be carried forward in Fuqiang Village, I have no regrets in this life. As for how large this business can be in the future, it depends on the village.

I’m afraid I can’t see what these young people are capable of!”

Xiu Nian said: "Being a village elder should make you strong, but it is too modest!"

Ren Song waved his hand and said: "I'm really not humble. In terms of craftsmanship, at least I won't lag behind others in the surrounding areas. But in terms of the ability to run a business, you still need to be able to read and write. The young people with flexible brains are amazing.

.Monk, do you know that there is an academy opened by the Yamen over Dinghai Port, and there are courses specifically teaching people how to do business. If I were twenty or thirty years younger, I would definitely go and learn it."

Xiunian responded: "I haven't been in Zhoushan for a long time, but this is the first time I've heard about it."

The government-run academy that Ren Song refers to is actually a training course organized by the commercial department under the Zhoushan Management Committee. Local young people with a certain cultural foundation are selected as training subjects and let them learn how to use Zhoushan's unique trade environment to develop the local area.

Various resources and specialty products, simply put, you need to know how to do business.

Although it is difficult to say that products such as pottery and bricks have any special characteristics, and their value does not seem to be high, due to the large number of daily uses, it is indeed an industry that can be operated in the long term. And Zhoushan's

The population is still in the stage of continuous growth, and the demand for these products is also rising. The continuous expansion of production scale has also created requirements for professional operators. Craftsmen like Ren Song do not have sufficient business capabilities, so they are also recommended.

The candidates will go to Dinghaigang to receive training to operate Fuqiang Village's current specialty industries.

Neither Ren Song nor Xiunian have a clear understanding of all the details involved, but this does not prevent them from realizing the necessity of leaving professional work to professionals. And the Zhoushan authorities

This approach was something they had never seen before. Whether it was the Ming Dynasty or the Hirado Domain, the government would only be responsible for collecting taxes and would never be able to train specialized business talents for the private sector.

As for whether this method of operation is feasible, Fuqiang Village has obviously tasted the benefits. Xiunian noticed that the roads outside the village, the villagers' houses, and the number of carriages going to and from the kiln were obviously better than those of Gaoxie who had been there before.

Village, it seems that what Wang Dagui said when he said that Fuqiang Village is richer than Gaoxie Village is true.

Xiunian looked at the Japanese immigrants who were working hard to make bricks, and thought that these people were very lucky. The skills they learned in Fuqiang Village could benefit them for life, and they would no longer have to worry about livelihood issues in the future.

In comparison, Xiunian also realized that the person with the best luck should be himself. At least he did not need to do heavy manual labor like these ordinary immigrants as soon as they were assigned to the settlement. While visiting various places in Baiquan Town,

The village's task did not seem to be as difficult as imagined. To be precise, it went smoothly beyond expectations. Both the village chief and the villagers provided extremely high cooperation, and there was no lack of cooperation that Xiunian was worried about.

situation.

Xiunian was not sure whether his official status played a role or whether these people had enough trust in the town government to allow his mission to go smoothly. However, he knew that his so-called official status was actually just a misunderstanding of these people.

, he is indeed a person who comes to run errands with a letter of introduction from the town office, but he cannot be called an official errand, because he has not even obtained the nationality that is highly valued by Haihan people and immigrants. In essence, he is still a foreign immigrant.

From a certain point of view, Xiunian's experience in Gaoxie Village and Fuqiang Village can be regarded as super-standard treatment. This also gave him more expectations for his development prospects. After all, he has just joined the job.

With such superior treatment, when I become a full-time naturalized citizen in the future, I will be able to walk in Baiquan Town with my head held high.

"Monk, you must have had a very unusual experience in coming to Zhoushan Island to be an official, right?"

Ren Song's question brought Xiunian out of his thoughts, and he smiled and replied: "Yes, looking back now, this experience is really unusual. Fortunately, I chose the right approach every time.

If I had to do it all over again, I might not be able to get to this place."

When Xiunian was in Hirado, he had no intention of defecting to Haihan. At first, he stood up to help Haihan's army maintain order just for the purpose of self-protection. However, what he thought was the right approach was rejected by his former partners.

So he had to completely separate from his past identity in Seogwipo and seek refuge with Haehan to obtain better living conditions.

Xiunian believed that he had not actively harmed anyone in the process. On the contrary, he knew that he had helped many civilians in Hirado who were kidnapped by the Haihan Army to save their lives, including fellow monks who regarded him as a traitor.

. Xiunian believed that what he did was right, so he never felt ashamed of his choices. At this time, when he looked back at the choices he had made before, it naturally seemed to be extremely correct.

However, Xiunian did not intend to brag about his experience to Ren Song when they met for the first time. This was because he was unclear about the purpose of Haihan's attack on Hirado, and he did not want Ren Song to have any hostility because of his origin; secondly, he did not

He was sure whether Ren Song would spread what he said. If Jiang Zian heard some rumors, he might not be able to keep his job. He knew that his status as an official was valuable, and the other party was a villager of real value.

The chief is a member of the public family who receives his salary from the town office every month. The consequences of saying the wrong thing in front of the other party may be very serious.

To be on the safe side, Xiunian kept his mouth shut and did not have an in-depth discussion with Ren Song on this topic. He asked Ren Song to take a look at the place where these new immigrants were resettled. Ren Song did not refuse and even took him.

Followed him to the village.

Fuqiang Village temporarily placed these immigrants in the village school. Yes, that’s right, in order to enable the more than 20 children in the village to read and read, Fuqiang Village specially hired a teacher and set up a school in the village so that the children could read and write.

Study nearby instead of going to a school in town.

"The children read and write here during the day, and at night they set aside space for the new immigrants to sleep. There are eight households in the town with these twenty people. To build eight households' houses at one go, one or two hundred people will be needed, and the construction period will take a long time.

It will take six or seven days to complete. So they still have to live in the school for a while. If it is quick, they will probably be able to move into a new house next month."

While listening to Ren Song's introduction, Xiunian looked at the environment of the school. This kind of brick and tile house seems to be standard in Fuqiang Village, and in order to facilitate school children to read and write, there are a number of open tiles on the roof, so the lighting inside the house is also very good.

Yes, it can be said that the windows are bright and clean. The new immigrants can temporarily live in this kind of environment with a strong aroma of books, which seems to be slightly better than Gaoxie Village's arrangement in the ancestral hall. Of course, Gaoxie Village did not open a village school in the first place.

They all went to public schools in the town, so there was no way to make a fair comparison.

Xiunian asked casually: "Are the houses built for new immigrants the same kind of brick houses?"

After asking, Xiunian felt that her question was a bit redundant. The cost of building a brick house is at least several times that of a mud-wall thatched house. Why should Fuqiang Village provide such good treatment to new immigrants?

Ren Song nodded matter-of-factly and said: "Of course we have to build brick houses, otherwise these newcomers will feel inferior in the village? Our Fuqiang Village receives several batches of immigrants every year, if we treat them differently every time

, has formed a local custom, then in a few more years, how many levels will this village be divided into? "

Xiunian initially thought that Ren Song's approach was because Fuqiang Village was relatively wealthy, and he could do whatever he wanted with his wealth. But then he thought about it, in addition to Fuqiang Village's financial resources and its own advantages of being able to make bricks and tiles, Ren Song's idea was also true.

To a certain extent, if there is a difference in treatment between existing villagers and new immigrants, leading to estrangement between groups, it will indeed be detrimental to the relationship between villagers and the unity within the village in the long run.

But he also remembered the practice of Gaoxie Village, which only provided thatched houses to new immigrants. As for renovating better houses in the future, it would have to be through his own efforts. Wang Dagui believed that this approach could better stimulate new immigrants to work hard.

Let them adapt to the social rules of using labor to improve their quality of life as soon as possible.

Xiunian felt that it was difficult to judge based on his own knowledge as to which of these two approaches was better, but he felt that the two village chiefs had relatively good reasons for their actions. Perhaps this issue needs to wait until he returns to the town hall to see if it can be solved.

Couldn't get an answer from the mayor.

After visiting the school, Ren Song politely invited Xiunian to stay for dinner, but Xiunian wanted to go back to the town office earlier. Rather than enjoying a dinner in Fuqiang Village, he wanted to go back early to sort out the day.

The harvest that comes down.

Before leaving, Ren Song also gave him a souvenir, a clay pot produced in Fuqiang Village. It was quite big and a bit heavy in his hand.

"I made it myself. It can be filled with pickles, rice or water. It's not a valuable thing. Monk, please don't dislike it... If the town hall hadn't been too far away for you to pick up, I would have given you a clay jar...

…”

Xiunian could only smile bitterly and thank Ren Song for his kindness. After looking at the earthenware jar with a diameter of two and a half feet, he wisely chose the easier-to-handle clay pot. He understood that Wang Dagui and Ren Song might be giving him something.

It has the purpose of getting closer to each other, but it cannot be said that there is much interest in it, and it is not to bribe myself. After all, the gifts are all local specialties from the village, and they are not worth much.

This sense of simplicity reminded Xiunian that when he was at Guangming Temple, believers who came to the temple to worship would often offer various fruits and vegetables harvested in their own fields. Although the property they offered was far less than what the dignitaries brought to them.

The incense money in the temple is more of a simple piety.

Xiunian believes that from a certain point of view, these village chiefs are also believers, but what they believe in is not the invisible gods and Buddhas, but the government that can bring them a stable life. And he, a fake official with integrity

, in the eyes of these village chiefs, it symbolizes the authority of the government. The gifts given to them are actually an offering to express their reverence to the object of their faith, rather than to help them achieve certain goals.

Xiunian knew that today he visited only two villages he randomly selected. There were dozens of villages like this on Zhoushan Island. However, upon contact with these villages and farmers, he could feel that they were anything but ordinary.

At least it was very different from the farmers he had come into contact with in Hirado in the past.

These people no longer just make a living by farming, they also have other side businesses. Although these side businesses are not uncommon, these villages can be managed successfully. Their vision is no longer limited to the one-third of an acre in front of them.

Instead, he saw a wider scope through the industries he operated, including the entire Baiquan Town, the entire Zhoushan Colonial Area, and even Haihan Capital, thousands of miles away.

They are still farmers, but they are no longer the traditional farmers in Xiunian's perception. With Xiunian's knowledge, he doesn't know how to define the status of these people. He just intuitively feels that the lifestyle of these ordinary people is the same.

It is also a manifestation of the national strength of Haihan State.

Is this just a special case in Zhoushan, or does the entire Haihan Kingdom have this kind of atmosphere? What special industries do other villages have? How does the Zhoushan Management Committee manage and coordinate the affairs of so many villages? Xiunian suddenly became interested in this.

interest.

He knew that maybe the people at the town office could answer some of his questions, so he wanted to return to the town as soon as possible. But this was much more difficult than visiting the village itself, because the clay pot he was carrying was really heavy.

.
Chapter completed!