The imperial court fled, the Qing people also fled, and the harsh winter passed.
The devastated people of Gyeonggi Province returned to their hometowns in fear, only to be faced with devastation.
The house is gone, the food is gone, the relatives are gone, everything is gone.
It is clear that the spring breeze brings warmth and everything revives, but for the people, all they can feel is despair.
Human life is like a piece of grass, but it is also the most tenacious and resilient creature in the world.
After too much sadness, people who are still alive have to think about how to continue living.
The weather is getting warmer, and it almost doesn’t matter where you live, but you can’t skip eating.
Not only do you need to eat enough now, but you also need to consider the future.
The only thing they can do is to ask for it from the ground beneath their feet.
However, after the disaster, people wanted to farm, but they didn't know where to start.
There are no farm tools, no livestock, and no seeds.
Although Mother Earth is selfless, she cannot conjure the hope of life out of thin air.
People in twos and threes gathered in the fields. After feeling deep despair, they didn't know what to do except howl and cry.
A large group of people and horses came from a distance. Not only were they dressed in extraordinary clothes, but they were also leading various livestock.
The people who had not yet come out of their grief were extremely frightened when they saw the approaching troops.
They already have nothing, so these noble people who came here won’t still reach out to them, right?
Soon, this large group of people came closer.
However, the costumes of these people are very strange and varied.
Some people were wearing the official uniforms of yangban lords, some were wearing the robes of scholar-bureaucrats, and some were wearing strange shorts and had monk-like short hair.
No one can figure out what kind of team this is?
But after these people came over, they didn't feel like outsiders at all. They looked around frequently, as if they regarded this place as their own territory.
"Minister Tong, this is Guguangli. There used to be seventy-two families, but now there are only these people."
Shen Qiyuan stood with Tong Jiafeng on the ground and personally introduced him to the situation in the countryside.
Tong Jiafeng took out his telescope and took in everything near and far.
"Half of this village is adjacent to mountains, and the land that can be cultivated is definitely not enough to feed the people."
Seeing that he noticed the problem as soon as he arrived, Shen Qiyuan was impressed.
"Minister Tong clearly sees that the local people usually work in farming, and during their slack time, they go into the mountains to hunt and collect herbs to supplement their family income."
Tong Jiafeng nodded, very satisfied with the environment here.
He threw the binoculars to his secretary and walked towards the local people.
"I wonder who is the chief?"
Although the people heard the translation, they still looked at each other in shock. Who would have thought that foreigners would come to this remote and isolated mountain village.
Could this be an official from the Qing Dynasty?
But when they were hiding, they had secretly seen what Qingren looked like.
Everyone has a pig tail hanging on the back of their head, but the clothes they wear are quite similar to those of North Korean people. They are completely unlike this person, wearing short clothes.
Seeing no one answered, Shen Qiyuan was very angry.
"You despicable and troublesome man, this is the Minister of Childhood who came from the country above. How dare you neglect me?"
The people looked at him and knew that he was a master of the second class, so they immediately knelt down and kowtowed.
Tong Jiafeng stopped him with a kind smile.
"Fellow folks, from now on the rules have changed. No matter who you see, you don't have to kneel down and kowtow."
These words were like thunder, causing the people to panic and have no idea what was happening. The Korean scholars on the side were red-faced and in a bad mood.
From now on, they can no longer show off their superiority, so how can they maintain the dignity of nurses and doctors?
But there is no choice. Now that I have chosen to follow the Xia Kingdom, I must abide by the Xia Kingdom's rules.
Some of the younger scholars felt that Xia's rules were better.
Young people are all active in thinking, unconventional in behavior, and their hearts are as high as the sky. Naturally, they are unwilling to be subservient to others.
But the rules in North Korea are there. In the past, they suffered countless injustices from superiors and elders.
From now on, they will learn the rules of the Xia Kingdom and they will no longer have to lie down on the ground to be children, so they will naturally be very happy.
After some patient exchanges, the people in Guguangli realized that these people in strange clothes were from the upper country.
However, the people in the countryside have no knowledge at all. They only know that the superior country of Korea is the Ming Dynasty.
As for what the Ming Dynasty was like, they had never seen it.
Since he is an official from Shangguo, he must be even more remarkable. Therefore, the people in Guguangli are all respectful and honest, hoping to suffer less punishment.
Tong Jiafeng walked among them.
"I am an official responsible for farming in the Xia Kingdom. Now that spring is here, the land cannot be left unused, otherwise everyone will starve. I am here to help everyone farm."
The people in Guguangli looked up in shock, all suspecting that their ears had heard wrongly.
How could these two superior men actually care about their lives?
Wouldn’t it just collect taxes and corvee?
Tong Jiafeng knew that he could not gain the trust of these people just by talking in words.
He waved to the back, and immediately someone ran to the animals and unloaded the burdens.
"Look, I know you don't have seeds or farm tools, but I've brought them all."
Everything can be deceived, except the real thing.
When the people saw the seeds before their eyes and the fine iron farm tools they had never seen before, they couldn't help but be ecstatic.
"Sir, are these...are these really given to us?"
Pu Nan, the head of Guguangli, was tremblingly stroking the strong iron plow and just wanted to cry.
He had been cultivating the land all his life, and his only memory was that no matter how hard he worked, he just couldn't get enough to eat.
In the autumn, when the harvest is finally small, officials and servants will come like wolves and tigers and snatch away more than half of it.
As for whether they would starve to death, those officials didn't care at all.
But now, when everyone is in complete despair and doesn't know what to do with their future lives, the new master from Shangguo actually sent seeds and farm tools.
This feeling of surviving a desperate situation is truly unforgettable.
Hundreds of people fell to the ground one after another, kowtowing and thanking Tong Jiafeng and others.
Although I had said before that I would never have to kowtow from now on, this time the people were willing to do so.
Their wish is very simple, that is, they hope to survive no matter how hard and tired they are.
As long as there is still hope of living, they are very patient and do not expect more.
But for the first time in thousands of years, someone gave them hope of life.
Seeing the common people weeping with joy, singing and dancing around Xia officials, Shen Qi, who was watching from afar, and other Korean scholars, all received a huge shock.
Their ideological outlook has also quietly changed.