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Text Chapter 458: Jianzhou Fugitives

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    The winter temperature south of the Yangtze River is not very low, hovering around zero degrees at most. However, the water vapor in the south is relatively heavy, so the winter here is not as dry and cold as in the north, but it is a kind of damp cold, which makes people feel  Even more uncomfortable.

    This is Jianzhou in the northwest of Fuzhou. This Jianzhou is not the Jianzhou in the northeast in later generations, but in the Fujian Province in later generations. The word "Fujian" is separated. "Fu" refers to Fuzhou, and "Jian" means "Fuzhou".  Refers to Jianzhou.  However, during the Tang Dynasty, Fuzhou was one of the largest cities in the world. Its textile and port trade were among the best in the country.

    Compared with Fuzhou, Jianzhou is not very well-known. The only thing that is available for sale is tea. The famous Dragon and Phoenix Tea in later generations was produced here. Unfortunately, Jianzhou's tea became famous throughout the country during the Mid-Tang Dynasty.  , became tribute tea in the Song Dynasty and reached its peak. However, during the Zhenguan period, Jianzhou was still just a place that not many people paid attention to.

    Fujian is mountainous, and Jianzhou is no exception. This is a group of mountains in the southeast of Jianzhou. The mountains are densely covered with jungles. However, due to winter, most of the trees in the mountains and forests have become bare, and the grass has lost its former green.  It looked very bleak.

    In this mountain forest, on a winding path, a small team of more than a dozen people was advancing along this path with difficulty.  These dozen or so people are all young and strong men of seventeen or eighteen years old. Although the clothes they wear are a little shabby, they all look good. Moreover, each of them is pushing a wheelbarrow with some big and small bags on it.  Don't know what's inside?

    These people were talking as they walked, including the chubby young man in the team.  He was complaining to the dark and thin young man in front of him: "Brother Shitou, the Chinese New Year will be in one month. At this time, the owners of various factories are raising wages. If we work for another month, then this month's wages will be  Just like the previous two months, but you insist on us all going home, isn¡¯t this a waste?¡±

    Walking at the front of the team, the thin and dark young man whom the fat man called Brother Stone seemed to be their leader.  After hearing Fatty's complaint, Shitou said angrily: "Dunzi, what do you know? The Chinese New Year is indeed a good opportunity to make money, but at this time, the government's inspections are also strict, for fear of causing some trouble during the Chinese New Year.  If the identities of us people are discovered by the government, do I still have to say what the consequences will be?"

    As soon as Brother Shitou finished speaking, he immediately attracted loud echoes from others. Among them, the guy who was right behind Dunzi, who was thin and small, with a head full of yellow hair, and looked like a monkey, also laughed and said: "Still  Brother Shitou said it well. We are all fugitives and have no household registration in the government. If we are found out, we will rush to the boat and be sent back to our hometown without saying a word. After all, our parents are from Song Dynasty.  I fled here from Zhouzhou and haven¡¯t gone back for more than ten years. There is no house or land in my hometown, why should we be forced to drink from the northwest wind when we go back?"

    Hearing what the other party said, Brother Shitou at the front looked back in surprise.  He said with some surprise: "Monkey, I didn't expect you to learn a lot this time. What I said is exactly the same thing."

    Hearing Brother Shitou¡¯s joke, Monkey felt a little embarrassed.  The group of young people behind also laughed and started chatting about what they had gained from this trip.  With the voices of these young people, the mountain road finally seemed to have some life, and even the temperature seemed to have risen a bit.

    Brother Shitou in front did not participate in the discussion of his friends. Instead, he looked up at the mountain road, calculated how long it would take to get home, and then began to think about his thoughts without saying a word.

    Shitou and the companions behind him all come from a small village called Luoshizhai, but this village is a bit special. This does not mean that Luoshizhai is very remote and requires climbing several mountain ridges to reach it, but that the people in Luoshizhai are  The villagers are a bit special because they are all fugitives, that is, those who live in the Tang Dynasty but do not have a household registration in the Tang Dynasty.

    The composition of the refugees is very complex. Most of them are hiding in the mountains and forests because of the war and have little contact with the outside world. Some people are unwilling to pay taxes, so they take the initiative to escape and become refugees. Others are because  Due to historical reasons, they passively became refugees.

    For example, people like Shitou, whose parents fled to the south to escape the war in the Central Plains, finally settled near Jianzhou, and became war refugees. People like Shitou were all born after they settled here.  They have long regarded this place as their home, but according to the regulations of the imperial court, all fugitives who are discovered will be immediately sent back to their place of origin. This is naturally something that people like Shitou are not willing to do.

    In fact, the life of refugees like Shitou is not very good. They do not have household registration, so they cannot get land issued by the government. In order to survive, they have to go into the mountains to reclaim wasteland. In addition, they are afraid of being discovered by the government, so  The place where the refugees liveThey are all very remote and even very dangerous. If you are not careful, you may be attacked by wild animals or something. In addition, the food output in the wasteland is not high. The food they harvest in a year can only be eaten for more than half a year at most, and the rest  They have to go up to the mountains to hunt or dig wild vegetables to make a living.

    In addition, in order to escape from the government, fugitives try not to have contact with outsiders. In addition, they live in poverty, so even various items for daily life are very scarce. For example, taking the most basic salt, they can only take things.  If you exchange with some private salt dealers, you often have to pay several times the price, which can be said to be a huge disadvantage.

    But even so, these refugees still do not want to return to their place of origin. After all, although their life here is not very good, at least they are not hungry to death. If they occasionally catch some game, they can exchange it for a few pieces of salt.  And if they were allowed to return to their place of origin, they would not have a place to live, and they would not know whether the government would allocate land to them. They did not dare to take the risk, so between staying and going back, they chose the former.

    Shitou let out a long sigh when he thought of the hard days in the village. Behind him were the brothers who grew up with him, but except for Dunzi, almost all of them were very thin. This was all because they didn't have enough to eat all year round.  I'm hungry.  As for Dunzi, it¡¯s because his father is an experienced old hunter who can often catch a lot of prey. In addition, apart from several older sisters, he is the only son in the family, so whatever delicious food is available in the family comes first.  He let Dunzi eat, and he ended up becoming such a fat man.  I remember when I was young, he and his other brothers were always envious of the fat man for being able to eat meat regularly.

    But the hard days of the past are over. Since His Highness King Qi started industry and commerce in the Tang Dynasty a few years ago, many factories and workshops have been built in various places. Although Jianzhou is located in the south, it is very far away from the big port of Fuzhou.  Recently, and because it is rich in tea, many businessmen have invested and built factories here. In addition to producing various types of tea, there are also textile, food and other factories. It has now become one of the supply bases of Fuzhou sea trade.

    It is precisely because of this that Jianzhou City and surrounding towns are recruiting people everywhere, and even many factories that are really short of people are forced to find ways to buy a lot of slaves to work.  Under this situation, many refugees also ran from the mountains to towns and worked in factories.

    However, compared with normal people, these refugees suffer a lot. This is because they do not have household registration, so they are often discriminated against by factory owners, who pay them much lower wages than other workers, and sometimes even  They are less than half of normal workers. In addition, they have to be careful when living in cities and towns. They must not be caught by the government, otherwise they will be sent back to their place of origin. This is what all refugees fear most.

    The Luoshi Village where Shitou and the others are located is very remote, and they know less about the outside world. It was only in the first half of this year that Shitou and the others heard about the recruitment of workers in Jianzhou from a sister from the village who had married to another refugee village.  , and according to the sister, her husband and some young men in the village worked in a manufacturing factory in Jianzhou City, and they could earn several hundred wages per month. Although it was much less than ordinary workers, it was so much money.  If replaced with food, cloth and other items, it would be enough for their family.

    Young people like Shitou and others were very moved by the news brought by this sister who married outside. Unfortunately, their parents held old ideas and were afraid of being discovered by the government after going out, so Shitou and the others proposed to work outside.  All plans are against it.

    Faced with this situation, Shitou, who was usually the most assertive person, became the backbone of Dunzi and Monkey. Finally, they discussed it and finally decided to sneak out and work in a small town outside Jianzhou City.  First, I worked as a coolie for a businessman, carrying large bags for a month. After finally finding some connections, I went to a tea factory in a small town and worked as an apprentice for a month. Only then did I officially start my job.  for four months.

    Being an apprentice originally meant no wages, but now there is a shortage of people everywhere, so now even apprentices get some wages. Although it is not much, it is enough to feed one person.  And in the four months since Shitou and the others officially started working, everyone has done a good job, and they are paid according to the amount of work, so in the final calculation, Shitou and the others have each saved more than two thousand dollars.  .

    Don't underestimate these two copper coins. You must know that a bucket of rice in the Tang Dynasty only cost four or five cents. Moreover, the price of salt has dropped in recent years, and each kilogram of salt is only a few cents. So if you calculate it, two coins are enough for them.  The family¡¯s annual expenses.

    It was precisely with these wages that Shitou and the others had the confidence to return home. Moreover, it was useless for them to ask for money in the mountains, so when they came back, they all exchanged their money for daily necessities such as meat, rice, oil, and salt. They must have waited for the food at home.  When the fathers see these things they brought back, they shouldn't hold them accountable for the crime of escaping secretly in the first place, right?
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