The river is gentle and flows slowly. When the rainy season comes, the water level of the Chao Phraya River, which flows from the land of the Kingdom of Siam from north to south, rises again, rolling and churning all the way to the Gulf of Siam.
Near the Golden City in the lower reaches of the Chao Phraya River, a fat man wearing a Ming Dynasty-style silk robe was leading a Siamese servant who was holding an umbrella for him. The same man was holding an umbrella himself and was wearing a scarlet Ming Dynasty official uniform. The extremely dignified-looking official was walking on the river embankment in the rain. To the east of the river is a large lush rice field. This rice field is probably the property of this fat man. Seeing the lush rice growing in the field, the fat man has so many smiles that there is no room for them.
The official seemed to have something to ask the fat man for help, and kept saying complimentary words: "Old Ye, when it comes to rice cultivation in this area of Golden City, you are the best! Look at these two thousand acres of rice fields. It looks so good! How much is the yield per acre? Three stones or four stones?"
"Peng Zhizhou, please don't make fun of me, Fatty Ye. How can there be such a high yield per mu here in Siam? Do you think this is Hubei? Although there are many paddy fields in Siam, the land is not fertile and there is no manpower to cultivate it intensively. And in order for the rice to be delicious, it usually takes just one season... to produce rice for one stone and a half is pretty good!”
"Your one and a half stone is golden fragrant rice, which is worth three or four stone of two quarters of rice... But Lao Zhang, do you really plan to farm in Siam for the rest of your life?"
"What else can I do if I don't farm? I'm not like Old Yao who knows how to do business, and I'm not a civil servant like you... I'm just a farmer. Now I have two thousand acres of paddy fields here in Golden City. What else is there to be dissatisfied with?”
"You mentioned Lao Yao... I remembered, you know, Lao Yao is now a noble man!"
"Xungui? Promoted by Prince Luo Kun?"
"No...he followed Prince Luokun's younger brother, Prince Jiaqing, and is now a marquis!"
"What? Lord Marquis? How is it possible... How noble is the Lord Marquis of the Ming Dynasty? General Zhang under Prince Luo Kun is the Nanhou who can overcome difficulties."
"Haha, of course he is not the Marquis of the Ming Dynasty, but the Marquis of the Jiaqing Kingdom!"
The two people who were talking were both from Hubei. Peng Zhizhou was Peng Ziqin, the parent official here in Golden City. It was he who introduced the unlucky Yao Daqiao into the Luokhun Palace.
Unexpectedly, Yao Daqiao is now a dignified marquis with a fiefdom of thousands of miles! Yao Daqiao was only a magistrate, but also a magistrate under a vassal town. He was the magistrate of the Golden State under the Western Jiedushi Department of the Ming Dynasty.
The so-called Golden State refers to the land belonging to the Ming Empire around the mouth of the Mekong River with Golden City as its core. Of course, this land was not occupied by the Ming army. The Ming army was a benevolent and righteous army. How could they do such a thing? This land was dedicated to the Ming Dynasty by King Nare of Siam in order to thank the Ming Dynasty for helping him restore his country. It was also to provide a base for the Ming army to station nearby - the Golden City is near Ayutthaya City. The army stationed here can go north to the city of Ayutthaya at any time to ensure that the King of Siam is safe and peaceful.
This Golden State has about 5,000 square miles of land (referring to arable land). Except for a small part that has been developed into castles, docks, and commercial ports, the rest is rice fields, covering more than 2 million acres!
The rice produced in this area is called golden fragrant rice. It does not follow the path of high yield, but pays attention to the taste. The annual output is less than three million stones, but it can be sold for seven to eight million stones.
The fat man who was talking to Peng Ziqin was named Ye Jiaxin, the rich farmer who was brought out of Hubei by Yao Daqiao.
Now he is considered successful in his career. He owns 2,000 acres of paddy fields in Golden City and earns more than 3,000 taels a year just from selling rice.
But his burden is also quite heavy - he has too many wives and too many children!
He now has two wives. He originally had a first wife when he was in Hubei. After arriving in Siam, he married a Siamese woman. Later, he took his first wife and two children to Siam Golden City.
After the family was reunited, Ye Jiaxin had a fate of "having many children and troubles". Two wives gave birth to children, and now they have five sons and four daughters to support!
The son needs to share the family property, and the daughter needs to be accompanied by a dowry... And he himself is not good at it. Recently, he has fallen in love with a Siamese girl of Persian descent and wants to marry her as a third wife - Siamese side The ethnic groups are very mixed, including local indigenous people, Han Chinese from the north, and Persians, Arabs and Westerners from the west.
Among them, the Siamese women who are mixed with white blood are very beautiful (there are actually quite a lot of mixed blood, because Siam did not have Confucian education in the past, so it was relatively casual), and Ye Jiaxin met such a woman. A girl of seventeen or eighteen years old, her family is still a run-down Siamese nobleman - Siam has been quite chaotic in the past two years. From time to time, some people oppose King Narei or are killed by King Narei.
His two wives gave him five sons and four daughters. If he had one more wife...his 2,000 acres of family property would still be a bit small!
Ye Jiaxin nodded, "Old Yao really has an official career!"
"Not only are there officials?" Peng Ziqin said with a smile, "There is also wealth! The princes of the Jiaqing Kingdom have fiefdoms...a land of 1,000 miles square, almost 400,000 acres!"
"400,000 acres..." Ye Jiaxin took a breath, his eyes burning.
Peng Ziqin on the side had already noticed his expression, and asked with a smile: "Old Ye, do you want to get a title and some land?"
Ye Jiaxin smiled and shook his head, "How can I have the blessing of being a marquis? And I can't compare to Lao Yao. He is a person who can get in!"
"Haha, the opportunity to be a marquis is rare," Peng Ziqin said, "but I think you can still become a baron of the vassal state."
"Peng Zhizhou, you are making fun of me again," Ye Jiaxin smiled, "How can I do this?"
"Ability?" Peng Ziqin touched his beard, "How capable do you think Lao Yao is? This is his chance..." He looked at Ye Jiaxin seriously, "Old Ye, actually your chance has also come. !”
"What? My chance?" Ye Jiaxin was stunned, "What chance do I have?"
Peng Ziqin smiled and said: "Old Ye, how about following me? I will guarantee you a baron in the vassal state...a city of 10 miles and 4,000 acres of land! With this family fortune, you can have a few more My son has enough points!"
"What? Peng, Peng Zhizhou, what did you say?" Ye Jiaxin couldn't believe his ears.
Peng Ziqin said: "Old Ye, our opportunity has come! You, just follow me and let's go out together. There is still an earl and a baron... I will be an earl and you will be What do you think, Baron?"
"Really?" Ye Jiaxin looked at Peng Ziqin, "Peng Zhizhou, are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's true!" Peng Ziqin nodded seriously, "How about we go for it together? Even if we can't make it, we won't lose anything! What if luck comes? Then we will be Earl, Viscount, and Viscount. Our descendants will all have a bright future.”
It turns out that Peng Ziqin also plans to "take the exam" to become an earl of a vassal state!
He has come to the end of his career with the Western Army. He is already the magistrate of the state... There is no government under the Western Army. Above the state is the Jiedu Envoy. Where else can he be promoted? Judge Jiedu? That can only be done by Prince Luokun’s confidants!
So he had the idea of hopping to find a count in the newly opened Twelve Principalities - he felt that he had a good chance of passing the "examination" because he was now the governor of the Western Army, and the Western Army's territory was tight. Is it next to Malacca?
He has been in the Jing Navy and the Western Army for many years, and is very familiar with the situation in Malacca. He may not be sure of being the chief minister of the principality, but a field officer is more than enough.
The problem now is to gather 10 retainers... This is a problem. He is a "lone retainer". He has no retainers and no old friends. The only people who could be recruited to make up the numbers were a few staff members and a few relatives who followed him. The most important person was Ye Jiaxin, a big farmer.
Old Ye may not be good at other things, but his ability to cultivate land is one of the best in Siam. The golden rice he grows is better than anyone else!
So I brought this old man together to take the "examination", and I would be more certain of becoming an earl!
