Fujian Jianzhou Prefecture
Fujian has been an indisputable place for military strategists since ancient times. Even Brother Zheng suffered heavy losses when he conquered Baiyue in the south.
This place is directly across the Wuyi Mountains from the Central Plains, and there are four rivers and canals within it.
Although it is close to the Central Plains, its climate tends to be subtropical. There are many jungles in the territory, poisonous insects are everywhere, and there is very little arable land.
Basically this area is the last stop for conquering the world.
Although Fujian is located along the coast, its economy has always been extremely backward, unless it is a very commercial dynasty.
For example, in the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, Fujian's advantages would be infinitely expanded.
Quanzhou, the world's largest port during the Yuan Dynasty, had the largest import and export in the world. Even ordinary people could make a fortune every day as long as they lived in Quanzhou.
However, in dynasties that did not emphasize commerce, such as the Ming Dynasty, Fujian was a useless place. Even if they were engaged in foreign trade, they would not go to the coastal areas here.
Coupled with Lao Zhu's most confusing sea ban, the people in this area were extremely poor.
Except for the Yuan Dynasty, few dynasties would do business in Quanzhou, because these are two completely different forms of foreign trade. Imports and exports in Quanzhou are directly centralized and distributed.
And if you want to send foreign goods to the Central Plains and sell Central Plains goods abroad, although Fujian is located along the coast, it is not a good choice.
The key point is that there is not even a major road in the Wuyi Mountains. If you want to transport goods back and forth, you need to cross the mountains.
This was the biggest cost problem for merchants in ancient times.
Since we have to bear such a large freight cost, why not find other coastal cities for import and export?
Therefore, the development of Fujian during the Ming and Qing Dynasties can be said to have declined to the extreme compared with its heyday during the Yuan Dynasty.
This area is too dependent on the imperial government's policies.
Because of the protection of the mountains, the floods in the south of the Yangtze River did not cause major disasters to Jianning Mansion, but floods still occurred.
Now Jianning Mansion is in an embarrassing situation.
There was a disaster, but it was not as severe as the area south of the Yangtze River, so the court's priority for rescue was also low.
A young man, about seventeen or eighteen years old, was sitting next to a tea stall with a newspaper in his hand. It was said to be a tea stall, but in fact it was just a place where people paid to drink a large bowl of water.
The boy's clothes were patched in secret areas. If you didn't lie down on him to look, you would never see them.
The most impressive thing is his bald head.
At a young age, his hair has turned gray.
Half a head of white hair, combined with his young facial features, looks particularly weird.
The young man was flipping through the newspaper with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
The front page of the newspaper was the imperial court's disaster relief in Jiangnan.
"Good Samaritans, please do it, please do it..."
The pitiful sound of begging sounded in the young man's ears, but he didn't even raise his eyelids. In a world hit by natural disasters, this scene was too ordinary.
Maybe you have some reaction after watching it at first, but you will become numb after watching too much.
I saw a woman who looked like a rag, holding a baby in her arms. She was begging everywhere, hoping for a mouthful of water and a mouthful of food.
However, now the people have too much time to take care of themselves.
How can you have time to care about others?
Even if the imperial court rescues people, the number of people in the imperial court is not infinite. Dozens of state capitals south of the Yangtze River have all been affected by the disaster, and it will take time for the imperial court to rescue them.
The woman walked to the tea stall with the baby in her arms. The woman looked at the tea stall owner with pleading eyes.
"Brother, please give me a drink."
Unbearable flashed in the tea stall owner's eyes, and he pretended to scoop out a large bowl of water and hand it to the woman.
The woman's eyes flashed with emotion, and her hand stretched out tremblingly like a dead tree,
The young man put the newspaper on the table and looked at the tea stall owner.
He opened his mouth and said,
“Nowadays, the ground is full of hungry people, some come to ask for alms, and others come to beg.
If you give one, you won’t give the next one.
If everyone knew that you could drink tea for free, would you still be in business?
Don’t you understand the principle behind a dead Taoist friend but a poor Taoist? "
The young man's words made the tea stall owner's hand tremble suddenly, and he poured water into the bucket again.
The tea stall owner looked at the begging woman with apologetic eyes.
"Sister, I'm sorry, I, I have to do business too."
The tea stall owner said this, took a step to the side and blocked the bucket tightly.
Obviously, even if the woman told her about flowers, she still couldn't get the bowl of water out.
The begging woman lowered her head. She no longer had the energy to resent the talkative boy. She was exhausted to the extreme.
If there was anything that could keep her going until now, it was the baby in her arms.
The baby's face is very clean. The mother, even though she no longer looks human, will still wipe the baby's face from time to time.
Women are naturally weak, but mothers are strong.
This woman burst out with infinite power.
The begging woman staggered away from the tea stall. She didn't know where to go next, so she could only walk all the way.
But when will this end?
When passing by the boy,
The young man called to the woman,
He opened his mouth and said,
"Sister, everyone here has too much time to look after themselves, who can take care of you?
You have the time to walk back and forth, why not just find a place to sit and wait for death.
Maybe if they see you starve to death, some kindhearted person will help you adopt the child. "
The begging woman looked at the young man with white hair and didn't know what he meant.
Are you entertaining me?
The woman turned her head and lowered her head. It didn't matter anything. Let's have fun. Let's be insulted. She had no dignity for a long time.
As long as it's a mouthful of food and a mouthful of water, she can pay any price.
The young man continued,
"Looking at how pitiful you are, you might as well do this.
Now you crawl from here to the street on your knees, and I will give you two dollars. "
Hearing this, the tea stall owner looked at the young man with disgust. Not only him, but also the tea drinkers around him cast hateful looks.
Even if you don't give money to give alms, you still want to tease the orphan and the widowed mother? !
When the begging woman heard that she was offered two coins, her eyes suddenly lit up.
His piercing eyes dazzled everyone around him.
exclaimed,
"Really?"
The young man nodded,
Seriously,
"As long as you crawl from here to the street on your knees."
The begging woman immediately put the baby on her back on the quilt, knelt down, and pretended to crawl to the street.
The woman was also desperate. She didn't even look at whether this young man really had a lot of money, and she didn't care whether what he said was true.
Just crawl from the tea stall to the street like a dog.
The tea stall is also on the street, which means that the woman has to crawl out of the entire street on her knees!
The tea stall owner couldn't stand it anymore, so he came over and tried to pick up the woman.
"Sister, stop being like this, this person is just teasing you."
The begging woman could no longer listen to other words. All she could think about was the money. She pushed back her messy hair and put her hands on the ground.
Suddenly, he crawled forward.
