With Wang Kaizhi's approval, boats full of new immigrants sailed into the Taijiang inland sea and continuously unloaded new immigrants at the Chisuo dock.
Wang Kaizhi, who had heard the news and rushed over, was surrounded by armed soldiers and personally came to greet the newly arrived Fujian immigrants.
However, when Wang Kaizhi came to the shore, he thought that Lin Mingjin had kidnapped more than a thousand beggars.
The refugees huddled together in fear. Their clothes were tattered, and almost everyone's feet were covered in mud. Only a few of them wore straw sandals, and even fewer wore cloth shoes with holes in them. Their bodies emitted the stench of not having bathed for a long time. Malnutrition was a common characteristic of them.
They used to be short-term laborers, long-term laborers, tenant farmers, domestic slaves, local soldiers, or rich people. No matter what they were in the past, a drought hit them, and now they were all hungry and poor people.
In the second year of Chongzhen (1629), there were droughts of varying degrees in Guangdong and Minnan. The people's harvests were far inferior to those of previous years, but the government's taxes were not reduced at all. In addition, the imperial court began to increase the Liao salary in the forty-sixth year of Wanli (1618). The lower class of the people were miserable. On the surface, the amount of additional taxes was not much, but after layers of exploitation, the taxes on the shoulders of the people were actually a mountain.
If the common people wanted to pay taxes, they had to sell their harvested crops to merchants for silver. However, merchants were profit-seeking and often colluded with the government. It was common to buy them at a low price. This was a form of exploitation.
When farmers wanted to pay taxes, they had to hand over their silver to the tax collector. The tax collector checked the quality of the silver to prevent anyone from passing it off as good quality. However, this link often became an important part of the tax collector's collection of the people's fat. You paid 1000 yuan, but he said that you only paid 800 yuan and needed to make up another 200 yuan. In the end, you paid 1200 yuan.
It was impossible not to pay. If you dared not to pay the extra money, then go to prison and suffer. The petty officials had many ways to deal with you. Many poor farmers would often fall into this situation. They could not afford to pay taxes, so they would borrow money, take on usury, or sell their fields and women. They would also be sent to prison and tortured until they became disabled.
More and more people who had lost their land or fled for their lives gathered together, forming a large-scale refugee. The starving refugees either broke into the villages of the large families and robbed the rich to help the poor, or rose up and killed the officials to rebel and cause trouble.
When the refugees saw Wang Kaizhi's hair-shaved attire, some of the commoners who could read a few words could not help but sigh,"This is a pirate's nest!"
However, most of the refugees did not have the psychological pressure to surrender to the bandits. No matter where they went, it was a way of living. They only wanted a way to live, as long as they could live safely.
Jiang Feng raised his simple megaphone and tried his best to explain in words that they were not pirates, but descendants of the former Song Dynasty who had returned to their hometown to reclaim land by chance.
No matter how much he said, the refugees still had a numb and empty expression. Every pirate claimed that they were forcing the people to rebel and robbing the rich to help the poor. Although the short-haired man in front of them said something new, they were no different from pirates who robbed houses.
"Why aren't these people reacting at all?”Tao Tian muttered softly, not understanding the refugees 'slow reactions at all.
"I know why." Witnessing the tragic appearance of these refugees, Wang Kaizhi was reminded of the famine in Henan in the movie " 1942." The refugees in troubled times were as cheap as dogs. Who would really care about these poor refugees who were hungry and only wanted a simple way to live?
The high-ranking official and county head, Jiang Feng, clapped his hands. The soldiers spread out to the sides, leaving a wide passage in the middle. The officers carried over wooden buckets filled with hot porridge, which was steaming hot and attracting attention.
Not now! Wang Kaizhi suddenly realized the consequences of Jiang Feng's actions!
The sharp-eyed refugees widened their eyes like an old cow whose tail had been set on fire. Those wooden barrels were clearly filled with thick hot porridge!
"It's porridge!
The refugees suddenly became restless. They hadn't had a proper meal for a month or two. Those who were really struggling could only chop firewood and cook porridge with wild vegetables. Some were even worse. They were so hungry that they lost consciousness. They could even use Guanyin clay to fill their stomachs. In the end, they couldn't avoid death from abdominal distension.
"Eat porridge!"
Their appetites boiled in their blood vessels and instantly occupied their brains. They could no longer hold back and rushed forward, as if they would be snatched away by others if they were a step late.
"Calm down!" Jiang Feng shouted through the loudspeaker, but this shout could not stop the refugees 'hunger instinct. They were like tigers and wolves running a hundred-meter race. Jiang Feng thought that he had been careless and was not prepared to deal with the crazy hungry people.
The refugees that were getting closer and closer were likely to threaten Wang Kaizhi's safety. Dozens of veteran soldiers raised their rifles and were about to shoot these 'madmen' who had lost their minds.
" Quickly go and restore order!" Wang Kaizhi felt a big hand gripping his chest tightly. He raised his hand to stop the soldiers, then ordered them to maintain order and warned them to kill as little as possible.
The crowd rushed up like a tide, surrounding the wooden bucket of hot porridge and fighting for it. Screams, shouts, and cries were heard as people fell to the ground due to exhaustion and were almost trampled to death by the crowd. A young and strong man pounced on the edge of the wooden barrel, but his limbs were weak, so he fell directly into the wooden barrel. He simply did not move at all. There was no movement for a long time, and no one knew if he was dead or alive.
A woman with unkempt hair and dirty face raised a broken wooden bowl that she carried with her and squeezed through the crowd. She used all her strength to scoop the bowl. Before she could turn around, a man grabbed the woman's wrist and wanted to snatch the bowl.
The man fought for a while. When he saw that half of the hot porridge was about to spill, he felt that he could not even snatch it from a woman. In a moment of anger, he punched the woman's back. Seeing that she could not withstand it, the woman suddenly opened her yellow teeth and pressed down on the man's fingers.
"Ah!" The man became ruthless and punched the woman's head. Just as he was about to kick the woman's stomach, he was stabbed by a sharp bayonet and died on the spot.
When the soldiers dragged the dead dog-like man away, the woman had already staggered away. She held a small broken bowl filled with hot porridge and squeezed the crowd back.
More wooden barrels were brought up, but the lack of porridge increased the panic of the refugees. Wang Kaizhi was about to tell them to leave. When the porridge was served, he suddenly saw two monkey-like children pounce on the unkempt woman. They asked if their mother was in pain while pursing their dry mouths and asking their mother to eat first.
"Doctor!" Wang Kaizhi shouted in the crowd, and a dozen or so quick-acting medics and interns quickly rushed into the crowd to treat the refugees who had just suffered minor injuries.
Wu Ke had been the captain of the militia for the past few days, and he had seen many tragic situations of the new immigrants. No matter how bitter and tired the refugees were, in his eyes, they were just " potentially dangerous elements " who created chaos.
"Anyone who doesn't listen to instructions is a rebel! "Bang!" "Bang!"
A few fierce gunshots rang out, and the refugees were suddenly stunned. The Yuan soldiers did not have much empathy for the refugees, so they all equipped their bayonet and rushed forward. They stepped forward to " physically dissuade " the refugees from receiving the hot porridge in order. Most of the refugees obediently lined up under the bayonet, but a few extremely hungry refugees had lost their ability to think. Even with the gun butts hammering them, they still had to cling to the wooden barrels and crazily drink the porridge with their hands or stuff their heads into the porridge barrels to drink as much as they could.
Some of the people who ran at the front felt that half a bucket of hot porridge was not enough. They were stuffed to death and some even drowned in the wooden bucket. The soldiers would basically knock them unconscious or stab them to death before dragging them out and throwing them to the side.
Looking at the gradually restored order in front of him, Wang Kaizhi had mixed feelings. He originally thought that when the refugees arrived, they would be grateful to the " Ao Song " after the county head Jiang Feng arranged hot porridge for them to eat. Then, they would be quarantine. After the 30-day " purification period," these well-recuperated refugees would become valuable human resources for the transmigration group and be at their disposal.
However, he was wrong. His understanding of ancient times was only limited to the written records. He had once thought that knowledge and the spiritual world were the most important wealth. He did not expect that eating was the most important need of a person, or rather, an ancient person. Without enough material things, how could he have a spiritual life?
He had even overestimated the bottom line of a feudal dynasty. It turned out to be hunger! Eat people! That was the true state of the people at the bottom.
In order to eat porridge, the refugees did not hesitate to risk being trampled to fill their stomachs. This kind of extreme hunger was something that Wang Kaizhi did not know. In his most difficult environment, he only ate once a day. If he did not eat twice, his entire body would be weak and his eyes would turn black.
The refugees 'instinct to disregard everything for survival deeply shocked Wang Kaizhi. They just wanted to live…His eyes were slightly red, and two hot tears filled his eyes. These were his compatriots.
They lived tenaciously like lowly insects, without any dignity. They fought desperately just for a mouthful of hot porridge to fill their stomachs. Perhaps the life ideal of most low-level farmers was to have enough to eat for the rest of their lives. Their family had five acres of land, and they felt comfortable and happy by farming to make a living.
But…Even such a simple dream could not be realized!
After the Zhu Ming Dynasty was established, they were the poorest people. After the Manchu Dynasty entered the pass, they were still the poorest people. When the Republic of China came, they were still the poorest people.
In the past, Wang Kaizhi's mind was only focused on farming, expanding and conquering, and seizing a historical position at the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Now, he had another goal in his heart-let them eat their fill, let all the poor people in China have a full meal!
January, 1630.
November 20, 2012. The Battle of Guangqumen and the Battle of Jingshi broke out.
At the same time, Zheng Zhilong, who had been occupied by Li Kuiqi, ran back to Dongyi's stupid port in a sorry state. Zheng Zhilong, who was in danger, set his sights on the Tainan area.
"Expel the Red Barbarians and occupy the high-ranking officials. Where did these Kun thieves come from?
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