While the north is already experiencing a severe winter, the south is as warm as spring, with temperatures in Mekong Province almost reaching summer levels.
The Saigon port has been expanded, and several large ships slowly approached the dock, with the flags flying on their masts clearly indicating their identities.
Yes, the largest port in Mekong Province is Saigon Port. It was not named after the emperor, but the port where tribute ships from the west docked during Zheng He's voyages to the West. Saigon means "tribute from the West."
As soon as the gangplank was set up, the immigrants brought their families, carried their most important belongings on their shoulders and backs, and set foot on this strange land.
"We brought this upon ourselves, don't just grab it!"
"I saw the sign. Look how scared you are."
"You talk nicely, but you're still moving forward after seeing the sign. You have no good intentions."
Amidst the clamor, the immigrants were a little confused. They had good words when they came here, but they didn't expect to be so popular.
"Fellow villagers, this way, this way." A fat-faced man greeted them enthusiastically, afraid that people would not recognize his dialect accent. With a smile on his face, he led people to the registration office next to him.
The government officials were busy registering people for citizenship in the tent. Those who were recruited by the government and those who came voluntarily were arranged by the government, and those who were recruited by others were naturally taken away by the government after they were registered.
Population is wealth and power, and this is true in Mekong Province.
The Maritime Merchants Association was wealthy and powerful, and the number of people it recruited had earned Li Guozhu a seventh-rank county magistrate position; Yan Siqi took action a little later, but he also spent money to recruit people in Fujian and got his nephew a county magistrate position.
There were also southwestern chieftains who heard the news and, with the idea of expanding their territory, had already established several pacification envoys and more than a dozen chief officials in Mekong Province.
This is just the beginning. Many mainland chieftains don’t know about it yet, and some chieftains don’t believe it and are still hesitant.
Recruiting dozens of people to become platoon leaders, recruiting a hundred people to become company commanders... The court's policy of encouraging immigration is similar to a certain historical stage in later generations.
But in actual operation, there is still a lot of room for improvement in Mekong Province, and it is impossible for many local tyrants to appear.
First of all, the army. Whether it is the pacification envoy or the chief official, they must provide a certain number of soldiers according to the population ratio.
These soldiers will be trained and organized into an army, led by Ming army generals, to expand the territory, occupy more land, and plunder resources.
Then, a certain amount of land was added to the pacification envoy and the chief official. To put it bluntly, it was a division of the spoils.
This not only deprived the chieftains of their direct command of the army, but also provided incentives so as not to cause too much opposition and resistance.
After all, the population of the Pacifier and the Chief Official is not too large, and the armed forces they mobilized are unlikely to compete with the local barbarians.
You just need to send some strong men, and you don’t have to worry about food, military pay, or disability pensions. It’s equivalent to sending people to work and making profits for yourself. It’s very good!
As for the county magistrate appointed to recruit immigrants, the officials under you must be dispatched by the Ministry of Personnel. It is not just you who will benefit from it.
"Your Excellency, these ships all come from Qinzhou, Guangxi. There are no ships from Jiangsu and Zhejiang." The servant ran into a restaurant and reported to Li Guozhu.
Assistant Li Guo felt a little regretful, nodded slightly, and said, "It's only been these few days. You come to the dock every day to keep an eye on it. I have official duties to attend to, and I can't miss work because of this."
"Don't worry, sir. I will guard the dock and even keep one eye open when I sleep." The servant bowed quickly and agreed.
Li Guozhu stood up, walked out of the restaurant accompanied by his entourage, got on a carriage, and drove away into the distance.
The Mekong Delta, also known as the Nine Dragon River Plain, is also the largest plain in Southeast Asia.
There are dense river networks and canals crisscrossing here, endless rice fields, and orchards with fragrance all year round. If well developed, it will become an extremely rich and prosperous land.
That’s right, the Red River Plain has become Annan’s main economic area, while the Mekong River Plain is far from being developed.
Originally, this was just a small fishing village called Priango, surrounded by swamps. Later, it gradually developed into a major port and trading center in Chenla. Because of its dense network of waterways, this area was nicknamed "Water Chenla."
Several years ago, the Ming navy occupied this place and forced Zhenla to retreat westward.
Zhenla, later the Kingdom of Cambodia, was already in decline at the time and was unable to resist not only the Ming army but also the Vietnamese refugees.
If history had not changed, this place would have become the world of Vietnamese refugees in a few decades, and it would not have been officially incorporated into Vietnam's territory until the Nguyen Dynasty sent a noble to rule here.
Now, because of the emperor's intervention, this place has become the Mekong Province of the Ming Dynasty.
Over the years, the number of immigrants and exiles has exceeded 200,000, steadily outnumbering the Vietnamese refugees who came here to escape the civil war between the North and South Dynasties in Vietnam.
At the same time, it also became an important base of the Ming Dynasty Navy and a transit port for maritime merchants going to Southeast Asia.
Despite this, Mekong Province is still in its early stages of development. It not only requires a large population increase, but also the issue of how to deal with the increasing number of Vietnamese refugees is an unavoidable problem.
Li Guozhu drove to the governor's office and met with Governor Dong Yingju. Only then did he learn that the emperor had issued a new decree and required Mekong Province to comply with it.
Although the formal meeting would not be held until tomorrow, Dong Yingju still conveyed the content of the new decree to Li Guozhu so that he could make suggestions tomorrow.
"Although Vietnamese refugees submit to government rule, they are not of our ethnicity and their hearts must be different. For long-term development and social stability, the Nationality Law is timely."
Dong Yingju has become very tanned and his face is full of vicissitudes of life. He has devoted all his energy to the construction and development of Mekong Province.
Li Guozhu listened carefully to Dong Yingju's explanation, nodding from time to time to express his agreement with the emperor's will.
Recruit people to settle down and reclaim wasteland, so that the Yue (referring to the Annamites), Tang (referring to overseas Chinese), Liao, Man and other refugees become citizens of the Ming Dynasty, enjoying the same rights as inland immigrants to settle down and pay taxes.
This policy was not new or unique; Dong Yingju had implemented it when Mekong Province was first established. However, despite its benefits for the development of Mekong Province, he also had concerns.
The use of the Nationality Law to identify and restrict people has created fixed norms and conditions for becoming a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. You can't just become a citizen if you want to, and you can't just stay here if you don't want to.
Either they solemnly swear to join the Ming nationality, fulfill the responsibilities and obligations of the Ming citizens in the future, and enjoy the treatment of the Ming citizens; or they refuse and voluntarily get out of the Ming rule in Mekong Province.
Taking the oath of membership is not the final procedure. You have to learn Chinese within two years and obtain five years of residency; then pass the naturalization test within five years to truly obtain Ming citizenship.
Speaking Chinese and writing Chinese characters is equivalent to abandoning the original cultural heritage of the ethnic group and largely integrating into the Han ethnic group.
If this generation is like this, the next generation or even the next generation may not even know their own language and writing. Can a nation without a language and writing heritage still be called a nation?
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