I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 421 Liaodong
"I understand, Uncle Duan!" Fan Kai obviously heard it and responded firmly.

At this time, the man and the woman also recovered and knelt in front of Duan Ping with a plop.

"Thank you so much for saving our lives, thank you so much for saving our lives!" The two people kowtowed continuously.

"It's just a small favor. No need to call me benefactor." Duan Ping said as he put on his shirt.

"It's just a piece of cake for you, benefactor, but you saved our lives. We will definitely repay you in the future," said the man.

Duan Ping waved his hand and said nothing.

The people around them looked at the man and woman with complicated eyes. After all, the villagers who chased them said that they had committed adultery and eloped. With the current social atmosphere in Ming Dynasty, they would be discriminated against wherever they went.
The man obviously noticed the gazes of the people around him and said, "Let everyone know that Xiumei and I are childhood sweethearts. The crime of adultery is just a slander. What happened today was a helpless act under the pressure of the clan."

The man's name is Qiao Zhi. His story is very old-fashioned. The two had already decided to spend their lives together, but the girl's parents disagreed and betrothed her to a scholar as a concubine, forcing the couple to elope.
"I often encounter this kind of thing. You are all miserable people! Since you have run onto the railway, I will definitely protect you," Duan Ping said.

"Do you see them often?"

Wang Ze suddenly understood why Duan Ping always gave people a sense of proficiency when handling such matters. It turned out that it was because he often had to deal with similar matters!
"If they run onto the railway, will you protect them?" Wang Ze suddenly realized the problem and asked directly.

"Yes, all the people in the world are the subjects of the great emperor. We are ordered by the great emperor to protect his subjects, so we should perform our duties conscientiously." Duan Ping straightened his chest, with reverence in his eyes, and said seriously.

"Many people come to this railway to seek death, but even more people come to this railway to survive! Enough people have died on the battlefield, so don't let more people die because of these things outside the battlefield. They are only sixteen or seventeen years old. It's a pity that they died at such a good age." Duan Ping continued.

Wang Ze suddenly understood what Duan Ping said, and his gaze towards Qiao Zhi and the other man changed.
"We heard that once we were on the railway, we would be protected by the Royal Group, so we decided to run away with Xiumei." Qiao Zhi said. In the Ming Dynasty, the railway was not only a road to faraway places, but also a road to freedom. Many young people who were persecuted by feudal etiquette chose to leave their hometowns by railway to pursue freedom and happiness.

Zhu Houxuan was very encouraging of this behavior. The repeated struggles of these young men and women made this world shrouded by patriarchal system much more beautiful. They were also an important force in promoting social progress.
So he specifically ordered the staff of the Ministry of Railways to properly place and protect such people when they were found, which led to what happened today.
Those who can run onto the railway are all people who have been "screened" and are exactly the people the Royal Group needs.
Zhu Houxuan's order tore a hole in the feudal and conservative clan society in the inland of the Ming Dynasty, giving young people who could not stand the clan system a new choice.
After a conversation, the eyes of the people above Ma Lie turned to Qiao Zhi and the others with a much softer look.
The train continued to roll forward. When it arrived at Zhending Prefecture, Duan Ping separated from them and they switched to a steam locomotive.
Although the production capacity of steam locomotives has been greatly expanded, it is still far from fully meeting the needs of the Royal Group, so it has not been able to completely replace the Marxist locomotive.
It was the first time for them to ride in this kind of car, and they were all very curious.

This group of immigrants was eventually assigned to reclaim wasteland in Liaodong. A steam locomotive pulled them from Zhending to Tianjin, where they were sent on board. The Bohai Sea was relatively calm, and although some people were seasick, the symptoms were not too serious.
The food on the boat was much better than on the train. You could get a lot of fish by dragging a net behind the boat. Sea fish could be cooked deliciously with the simplest cooking methods. Wang Ze ate a lot of fish.
It was also the first time for them to see so many large ships, some of which were emitting black smoke like trains.
They stayed on the boat for three days and then landed again, where they were told they had arrived at a reclaimed land.

Wang Ze suddenly realized that he had come to Liaodong, thousands of miles away from his hometown.
This was the farthest trip he had ever taken, and the most important thing was that he didn't feel tired at all.
They landed at a place called Yingkou, and beneath their feet was a large area of ​​uncultivated black soil.
The land in Liaodong is really fertile and it is really a treasure land. During the Yongle Dynasty, Liaodong did not need central government funding at all. It had more than enough food and grass to supply to the central government and was also responsible for supporting the food and grass of the Nurgan Dusi. There are also three major iron factories here, which can make guns and cannons, build ships and produce salt by themselves. It can be said to be a blessed land!
In the words of a Ming Dynasty minister, the farmers in Liaodong are rich in grain, the people in the marshes are rich in seafood, the people in the mountains are rich in wood, and the people in the sea are rich in goods. They are easy to obtain and cheap, and the people are very convenient.

The current situation is purely caused by the system.

The entire Liaodong region was under military control, and most of the Han people were soldiers (or their families). Soldiers had almost become serfs, preferring to escape to the mountains and become wild men rather than farm for the imperial court for generations.

The corruption in Liaodong is even worse than that in other border towns!
Because the land in other border towns was relatively poor and faced Mongolian pressure, no matter how corrupt the eunuchs and military officers were, they dared not go too far. But Liaodong only had to face the Three Guards of Duoyan and the Jurchens, who were weaklings at the time. In addition, the land was fertile and the wealth was abundant, so the eunuchs and military officers were extremely greedy.

The Qing Dynasty was able to grow so big, don’t blame the Little Ice River or the Donglin Party, the core problem lies with the military officers!
The literati did not like to go to a cold and bitter place like Liaodong, so the disaster of Liaodong was caused by the military officials, and the blame for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was laid on the civil officials.

Since the Chenghua Li Ting, Liaodong military officers have "died in peace". Because there is no external pressure, they madly exploited the soldiers under their rule, and the area of ​​abandoned military settlements increased year by year. There are records of "so and so using soldiers as slaves" everywhere in history books.

What does it mean to use soldiers as slaves? It means to use soldiers as slaves. Other places use dozens or hundreds of soldiers at most, but in Liaodong, thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers are used as slaves!
This was only the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and the eunuchs and military officers in Liaodong dared to turn thousands of soldiers into serfs!
There were many and deep-seated reasons why the Ming Dynasty eventually collapsed in Liaodong.

(End of this chapter)