Zheng Haizhu raised his right hand and led the Chongming County Magistrate back, while apologizing: "The second master has to hear these terrible and tragic things. They are all Liao people who have been in the bitter water for a long time. Please bear with me."
The face of the Chongming County Magistrate was full of justice.
"What are you talking about, Mrs. Zheng! Isn't it true that we scholars, the original intention of studying and becoming officials, is to share the worries of Long Live and make a living for the people? If you have any difficulties, Madam, just come to me."
As he spoke, his pace quickened a little more.
He thought to himself that these Liao people were suffering, but it was enough for him to hear a few words and feel a little lucky to be in the prosperous Jiangnan. How could he be patient and become the object of complaint for the mud-legged people?
Fortunately, this woman named Zheng had a good eye and knew how to stop the noise of the Liao people and send him out respectfully.
After the county magistrate left, Wu Bondang, who had gone to deliver ginseng and mink skins to the parents of several officials in Chongming, also came back.
Zheng Haizhu asked him to gather the Liao people in front of the largest straw shed.
There were about a hundred Liao citizens, the number of people in two middle school classes in later generations, standing in front of them. It was far from a "dark mass".
But a single spark can start a prairie fire.
Zheng Haizhu traveled from Wusongkou to Chongming. During the voyage, he listened to Wu Bangde's report and observed at the same time.
She is generally satisfied with the personnel structure of the Liao people.
Most of them are alone, just like the big brother who was moved and howled at the beginning. After all, in miserable and abusive environments, it has always been harder for the young, old, women and children to survive and escape. Even if possible, the family will have the belief to stay alive and leave the hope of survival to the youngest male.
But in this first batch of "Sparks", Wu Bond also recruited ten families with girls and babies. According to Zheng Haizhu's explanation to him, men who can take out women and children intact when fleeing are not only conscientious men, but also have better survival skills and mental abilities than those of the same sex, and can be used as key training targets.
Moreover, this group of immigrants is different from the group of trackers three years ago. They arrived to reclaim Chongming Island, which does not have the prosperous and mature market atmosphere of Songjiang. Only when there are women in the immigrant group can a decent community be built in a short period of time. It will provide a sense of security to the outside world and make it easier to attract local women from poor families to marry in.
At this moment, Zheng Haizhu walked up to a Liao family.
He was neither tall nor strong, but looking at the hardened stubble and protruding Adam's apple, Zheng Haizhu estimated that he must be seventeen or eighteen years old. The girl next to me is about twelve or thirteen years old, and her facial features are very similar to those of younger generations.
"They are brother and sister. They both escaped from Huajiatun outside Kuandian Pass. The elder brother is called Huada and the younger sister is called Hua Er." Wu Bond said to Zheng Haizhu.
Zheng Haizhu nodded, glanced at a wooden handle-like thing in the girl's hand, and asked curiously: "What is this?"
Hua Er is skinny and skinny, but her eyes are bright and lively.
When she spoke, her enunciation was very clear.
"To tell you my lady, this is the roller used to ginning cotton seeds."
Zheng Haizhu smiled kindly: "Oh, I said it looks familiar. It's the handle that shakes the cotton gin. We all gin cotton like this here in Songjiang. My child, why are you carrying this on your long journey?"
"This is what my mother uses. When I keep this, I feel that my mother is still here and teaching me step by step."
Zheng Haizhu's heart suddenly tightened, but Hua Er did not howl like the fellow Liao citizen just now. Instead, he looked around, pointed at a young man and said: "He also has a kite kidnapper. His father can make kites." .”
The young man was not eager to show off, he just looked at Hua Er innocently. As expected, there was a wooden pole wrapped with a kite string tied to the hemp rope around his waist.
Zheng Haizhu said to Hua Er: "When the textile loom is shipped from Songjiang, you can install your mother's roller. It will definitely work."
Hua Er nodded vigorously.
Zheng Haizhu walked back to the front of the crowd and said loudly: "Dear fellow villagers, I have lived in Liaodong before, and we transported the big iron cannons used to fight the Tatars in Fushun. I know that the people of Ming Dynasty have suffered at the hands of the Tatars. Of course I know. Now, I don't have the ability to destroy Hou Jin's lair, so I can only discuss with Mr. Wu to draw more folks out of the fire pit. Let's live a good life here and continue the incense."
All the Liao people bowed their hands and thanked him, saying "Female Bodhisattva is so kind" one after another.
Zheng Haizhu didn't feel at all excited about being called "Long Live the Mountain".
She glanced at those faces and confirmed again that the eyes most of the middle-aged men looked at her were different from the way they had seen Huang Zunsu in official robes at the dock.
Historically, peasants who have not been forced into desperation are still afraid of officials and soldiers, but not of a woman who is just giving away her life.
But the purpose of recruiting people to Chongming is not just to do charity. While I sincerely sympathize with the Liao people, I also want to establish authority in front of them.
Zheng Haizhu knew very well that when he gained the trust of scholar-bureaucrats like Zhang Quan, Shang Zhouzuo, and the Zhang brothers, he relied on the perspective of God; when he had close friendship with such powerful men as Yan Siqi and Ma Xianglin, he relied on white moonlight. Dividends or opportunities for bandit dens to be in trouble; Zheng Zhilong, Wu Bond and others maintain adhesion with themselves because of the experience of starting a business together.
But for these farmers who come from the lowest level of the world, all the above are useless.
The more Zheng Haizhu is unable to be as powerful as Qin Liangyu and can lead them into battle, the more she must emphasize her official status. Otherwise, the more Liao people she attracts, the harder it will be for her to suppress them.
Zheng Haizhu then made a gesture to ask everyone to be silent, and continued: "Fellow folks, don't forget, you can come here to farm because the imperial court treated me as a meritorious official and gave me a sixth-grade imperial order. You have all seen how well the general magistrate of Songjiang Prefecture, as well as the eldest and second lords of the county here, have arranged their arrangements today. In this case, I will lead them to protect the peace of this place. Now it is The beginning of February is the spring plowing season in the south of the Yangtze River. You have to go to the fields in time for the farming season in the past few days. After this period of busy work, each household will send someone to participate in the drill. This place is close to the sea, and pirates are making trouble, and they are no softer than the Tatars. .”
"Okay, okay, we all listen to the female Bodhisattva." A rather mature-looking Liao citizen in the front row responded.
Zheng Haizhu stared at him: "Don't call me the female Bodhisattva. Those wealthy people in Songjiang City who come out to give porridge are the female Bodhisattvas. Call me Mrs. Zheng."
"Oh... Madam, don't be weird, don't be weird." The Liao citizen touched his head and said sarcastically.
In the crowd, the girl Hua Er and her brother Digu said: "I already said that I have the rank of an official, how can I still call her a female Bodhisattva?"
Hua Da looked at his sister and said confusedly: "Why can't we shout? Those masters in official uniforms, don't we also want to shout Qingtian?"
Hua Er no longer explained to her brother, she just rubbed the wooden crank in her hand and spoke silently to her mother in heaven: "Mom, my brother and I survived to this... What is this called? Oh, it's called Chongming Island. "
…
"Dad, Mom, are you okay?"
At dusk, Zheng Haizhu sat on the stone in front of the hut, looking up at the magnificent sunset over the sea in the distance, thinking about his parents in another time and space.
Counting from the 42nd year of Wanli, it has been six years since my soul traveled to this world.
Eight years after graduating from the Institute of History and Geography of 985 University, I had a deposit of RMB 8,000. I was still unmarried and had an unstable career. I made a living by receiving manuscripts from time to time. I was able to get a settlement price of 380 words per 1,000 words. In the end, I was forced to work all night to finish the manuscript. Died suddenly at the age of thirty-three years, three months and eight days.
It is said that if a woman is afraid of being called an old woman after turning thirty, she should die, because in this case, people around her will comment: "Look at that person, who was only in his thirties and died at a young age."
Zheng Haizhu can imagine that in the context of being a representative of sudden death in modern society, I am afraid that she has been burned to ashes for several weeks, and there are still people who will analyze this woman's failed life from various angles and sigh.
But this kind of imagination is nothing more than fleeting self-mockery. The only thing that can keep a daughter awake at night is the thought of her elderly parents.
My parents never put pressure on themselves using worldly standards of success. The most common thing they nag is: "Eat less takeout and sleep more."
I don’t know how they survived these six years.
Zheng Haizhu turned his attention to the south of the beach. She remembered that in later generations, there would be many B&Bs there. Once, she met a kind company and got an extra thousand yuan in royalties, so she took her parents to Chongming Island to stay in a B&B for two days. Her parents were in high spirits and even danced a ballroom dance in the sunset.
"What's wrong?"
Wu Bondang came over, handed Zheng Haizhu porridge and steamed buns, and asked while looking at her face.
Zheng Haizhu rubbed his eyes before taking the porridge bowl and wrote lightly: "It's nothing, the island is windy and there is a lot of sand."
Then he asked: "How much rice did you use to make porridge today?"
Wu Bondang sat down, took a bite of the steamed bun and said, "These days, they are on boats and do not work. They don't use much physical energy. They also have steamed buns with them, so half a stone of rice is enough for this meal of porridge."
Zheng Haizhu estimated: "The farmers will be busy in the fields later. A family of 100 men plus 20 to 30 women and children will earn three taels of silver per day, and one hundred taels for dry rice in a month."
Wu Bangde said: "There is no harvest yet, and it should be better by the end of the year. By the way, when I followed the officer to deliver gifts today, I saw a rice store next to the county government office. When I asked, it turned out that it was opened by a relative of the county magistrate's family. Each stone is one penny more expensive than Songjiang."
"Buy it, even if it costs two dollars," Zheng Haizhu said without hesitation, "There is also salt. Say hello to the second master later and say that we will try to cook some salt ourselves, after all, it is close to the sea. But it is absolutely If we don’t transport it to the county town and sell it, we won’t take away the business of the gentleman.”
Wu Bangde understood this and discussed with Zheng Haizhu various matters such as determining the leader of the Liao people's team, asking instructors from Zhenjiang Qijiajun for training, and selecting a few smart ones to enter the intelligence station system.
Zheng Haizhu said sincerely: "An official went to Japan to marry a wife. Shouguan is in charge of the Zhenjiang trading company. He will get married soon. There are quite a few trackers recruited by the canal who can do the job, but they have to keep an eye on the artillery for a long time. Factory. You, you have to help me in Chongming for two years."
Wu Bondang still had a calm expression: "I will."
He handed over a red and blue velvet sweat towel: "The clean one is from the Han family handkerchief you gave to the county magistrates today."
Zheng Haizhu was a little embarrassed.
She was not a sloppy person originally, but she had been running around a lot these years, and she did some things that even men were not as good as, such as wearing a veil on her body at all times.
He probably wiped his mouth with his sleeve several times while eating two meals today. The careful Director Wu from the Intelligence Bureau really couldn't stand it anymore.
Zheng Haizhu Yangzuo calmly took the sweat towel, wiped his mouth, and said with a smile: "I'm ashamed, I'm not as particular as you."
When she said the word "fashionable", she suddenly realized that there seemed to be a faint scent of fresh soap on Wu Bang Bang's clothes today.
How did you do it after taking the boat for more than ten days?
In fact, this smell is not unfamiliar. Zheng Haizhu remembered that when she first dealt with Ma Xianglin in the bandit den, she smelled the smell of soapy water mixed with masculine scent.
In the days that followed, the man who was often as close as a few feet to me was none other than Wu Bond.
Zheng Haizhu does not shy away from examining the erotic part of her modern soul.
After traveling to this point, she asked herself whether she had any feelings, but the desire could not disappear.
After all, even in the late Ming Dynasty in this world, the gradually enlightened atmosphere would produce many literary works that dared to express desires. Why would she, a modern woman, force herself to kill her nature?
When Wu Bang Bang showed that he would sacrifice himself to his lover in heaven by staying single and not marrying, it was not that Zheng Haizhu didn't have the idea of treating the other person as his pure desire partner. Anyway, everyone is prepared to be single for the rest of their lives.
But the other party is an ancient man after all, so don't scare him. It would be a pity to lose such a powerful arm in your career.
When Zheng Haizhu was a little confused, Wu Bangde continued to say in a calm tone: "Zhenjiang Main Station, Liaodong side, and the canal Yanzhou trading company, our intelligence agents are all tied up and will not be left unused. Li Daniu Needless to say, Zaohua has never been stupid again. In the twelfth lunar month, when King Lu and His Highness went to worship Confucius, it was Zaohua who was the first to discover that the Wenxiang Sect wanted to carry out assassinations in revenge."
"Oh? How did you find out?" Zheng Haizhu rolled up the handkerchief and asked calmly.
"She saw that the candles had become much thicker than usual, and she also saw a manager of the Kong family walking towards the backyard. You think, the stewards of Yan Shenggong's mansion, like the long history of the palace, are all scrambling for things at this time. How could he hide when he showed his face to the front? As it turned out, the candle was indeed filled with gunpowder, and the person in charge wanted to escape after changing the candle."
Zheng Haizhu said sincerely: "No one is perfect, and Zaohua is indeed useful. Her cleverness and decisiveness, I have not mentioned, it would be nice if she could be more calm than before."
Wu Bond's tone suddenly softened: "Miss Zheng, there are some things that I, a rough man, can't say to Zaohua. You have to take the time to ask her if she wants to get married. She turned 20 last year. If she wants to get married, we will give her a dowry and let the matchmaker find a good family."
Zheng Haizhu thought to himself, haven't you counted who that girl wants to marry?
Even if the prince has a noble stomach, in her eyes, he is not even worthy of carrying Mr. Wu's shoes.
But she finally swallowed what she wanted to say and responded: "Okay, after the Chongming situation is settled, I will go to Yanzhou to meet with His Highness and the others, see the people you transport to the coal mine, and ask Zaohua by the way. This matter."
Zheng Haizhu finished his porridge and was about to get up to see how the Liao residents were being resettled, when he saw a mule cart parked not far away.
The handlebars had barely stopped the car when a woman wearing homespun clothes jumped out of the car and rushed over.
