California, Gold Mountain County, Fugui County.
This auspicious place name belongs to the most prosperous capital of Xinhua Kingdom on the west coast of the New World, and this kind of wealthy place name is also very common here in Xinhua Kingdom. The names of the thirteen states under the Xinhua Kingdom were all given by Zhu Cixiang, which is a bit random, but still normal. The names of counties and counties under the state are all voted by the local triads... Are there any decent people among the triads in the New World? Nine times out of ten, they are ordinary people who come here to dig for gold and catch mink. Of course, they have to give the place where they settle a good name that brings wealth.
Therefore, names such as Fugui County, Facai County, and Jinyin County are very common in Xinhua.
And such an extremely vulgar country actually abandoned the imperial family and established a republic. Of course, it was not because of the establishment of some utopia. It's because people who first arrived in this land of "gold everywhere" were unwilling to take root here for generations. They all wanted to return to their hometown in Ming Dynasty to enjoy the blessings after making a fortune. Moreover, the officers and soldiers of the Ming army and navy who followed Wu Sangui, Shi Lang, Chen Yonghua and others to the New World did not want to be Xinzhou people for generations to come, so they had little interest in founding the country in Xinzhou, and few wanted to give up their Ming Dynasty honors and go to Xinzhou. Become a noble of the New World.
And even if they wanted to, they couldn't become the nobility of the Xinhua Kingdom, because the local nobility of the Ming Dynasty were generally not frivolous, they were all military aristocrats with military estates and military households. It is not difficult to establish a land in the New World as a military household, but it is difficult to establish a military household!
Here in the New World, the most precious thing is population!
Although when the Xinhua colony was opened, Zhu Cixiang organized ten thousand households and three hundred Pacific sailing ships to sail across the ocean at one time. In the following ten years, the shipping scale of ten thousand households a year was maintained.
But after these military households arrived in the New World, they became a "nation" that farmed, fought, and panned for gold. It didn't take long before every family owned a manor and everyone held a gun. With their independent economy and powerful military force, they could no longer become vassals of the nobility.
After the discovery of gold in California, the hugely expensive sea transportation was suspended and was replaced by gold prospectors and merchants. It is even less likely that these people will become vassals of the nobility. They all paid for their own tickets to the New World. They are all free people, and everyone has a gun!
Therefore, here in the New World, there is no soil for the existence of Ming-style military aristocracy. As for the establishment of a royal estate by relying on large estate owners with industrial and commercial backgrounds, just like the previous generation of local tyrants in the United States. Because the land in the New World in this life has been "ownerless" from the beginning. In the early years of Xinhua's founding, it was not the "shareholders of the United States" who paid for the immigration of 10,000 households a year, but the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, no group can legitimately divide up a considerable part of Xinhua's land.
Therefore, the underlying assets of the Xinhua colony that Zhu Hexing took over were hundreds of thousands of family farms that were both farming and grazing.
What organizes these family farms are autonomous 100-household forts - the colonization of the New World in this life was pioneered by military households, and the first large-scale arrival of immigrants was a full 100 100-households. These 100 households were scattered on the fertile land around Xinhua Bay (later Vancouver Island), forming the first 100 small colonial strongholds.
In the years that followed, hundreds of hundreds of households arrived one after another. They spread out along the west coast of the New World and several large rivers with abundant water, and established more than 1,600 household forts and hundreds of thousands of family farms. , became the foundation of the Thirteen Prefectures of Xinhua.
At the beginning, these more than 1,600 hundred forts were still led by military officers. But within a few years, those officials from hundreds of households and officials from thousands of households either returned to their homeland, or went to serve as officials in the capitals of the thirteen states, or became officers of the Xinhua Standing Army, or died in a foreign country. And no new officials were sent down - even in the Ming Dynasty, the government generally did not go to the countryside.
Therefore, these more than 1,600 hundred forts gradually lost the management from the top, and had no choice but to become autonomous. And just when these Baihubao began to explore autonomy, a very good-looking autonomy model spread from across the ocean... This model was the Triad.
Because of the lack of nobility, clans, and bureaucrats, the Triads' position in the political life of Xinhua was much more important than that of the Ming Dynasty and other Ming Dynasty allies and vassal states.
On the morning of the sixth day of June in the 18th year of Hongxian's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Hexing, the commander-in-chief of the Xinhua Kingdom, his wife Ding Yuying and his concubine and sister-in-law Ding Yuru, sat in a four-wheeled carriage and left the commander-in-chief's mansion on Ruyi Street. , and went straight to the Xinhuaguo Sanhe Association on Sanhe Street.
The Grand Commander's Palace was not far from the Xinhua Triad Association. After walking on the deserted streets for a while, the carriage turned a corner and entered the Triad Association Street.
Ruyi Street and Sanhehui Street are two intersecting streets, which are considered lively areas in Fugui County. Along the streets are some yamen of the Central Government of Xinhua, as well as some splendidly decorated bank branches. However, compared to the port area of Golden Bay outside the city, this place is still far behind - Golden Hill County in California is located in the San Francisco area of later San Francisco. It has an excellent bay, a comfortable climate, and is surrounded by gold mines. It rose rapidly after the gold rush, surpassing Xinhua Bay and becoming the most prosperous area in Xinhua.
However, the current Xinhua State has a total of only 300,000 households and 2.0 million people, spread over a very vast land of 13 states. Therefore, the most prosperous Fugui County is located in the Ming Dynasty, which is an ordinary county. county level.
But the wealth of this Fugui County is real... just look at the gold-plated carriage that Zhu Hexing and his wife are riding in!
This kind of gold-plated carriage is very common in Fugui County. Respectable people have one or even several carriages!
In addition to good cars, the houses in Fugui County also look very wealthy. Each one is tall and grand, with high walls and thick wooden doors. The houses inside are also very solidly built, with iron gates and iron-barred windows. . At a glance, you can tell that there is a lot of gold stored in the house, and you are afraid of being robbed by thieves.
The golden carriage of Zhu Hexing and his wife stopped in front of an "undefended" government office. The two cuirasses guarding the yamen gate recognized the carriage and immediately came forward to greet it. There was also an elderly officer who walked out of the gate and opened the car door diligently.
Zhu Hexing recognized the man and said with a smile: "It's Wu Guoxi. Is your master here?"
"Come here, come here." The officer named Wu Guoxi turned out to be Wu Sangui's family servant. When he was a child, he followed Wu Sangui to the New World. He first served as a soldier and then as an officer, but he never became a high official. He was older. He arranged to become a guard captain at the Triad Association.
"Here it comes, here it comes... I knew there was something big to announce today, so I came early in the morning. The other elders have also arrived, and they are waiting for you, the leader."
There is only one major event to be announced today, which is that Emperor Hongxian Zhu Cihong will abdicate and Emperor Hongxing Zhu Hehao will ascend the throne.
This happened three months ago, but it was only delivered to Golden Bay in the New World yesterday!
The change of monarch in the mother country is of course a major event. So Zhu Hexing will give a speech at the Triad Association, and then lead all the elders to make a blood alliance and swear allegiance to the new king.
"Okay!" Zhu Hexing got out of the carriage door and looked up at the door of the Triad Yamen. Two red columns were pasted with couplets inscribed by Zhu Cixiang himself.
The first couplet is: The earth shakes the high hills, and the streams and mountains are beautiful through the ages; the second couplet is: The door faces the sea, and the Sanhe River flows for thousands of years; the horizontal line: The country of citizens!
Zhu Hexing turned around, stretched out his hand and said to the second wife Ding Yuru: "Have you brought the leading stick?"
"Bring it!" Ding Yuru presented a short stick engraved with dragon patterns with both hands - this short stick was the symbol of the leading power of the New China Triad Association.
