If there is one thing that is loved by both Cantonese and Hakka people, it is poon choi.
A large wooden basin is placed on an eight-immortal table, surrounded by four benches, and eight people sit around the table to eat the basin. This is not only the main form of banquet for the Hakka people, but also for the indigenous people of Guangzhou.
"Puncai", as the name suggests, is to use a wooden basin to serve food. It is somewhat similar to Zhao Hao's "I Can't Reach My Hometown" Huizhou Yipin Pot. But it has a more rural flavor and the ingredients are more varied. Seafood is naturally more common in places near the sea, while wild game is the main dish in the mountains.
More than a dozen ingredients such as radish, bean curd, pig skin, mushrooms, pheasant, pickled fish and stewed pork are fried, deep-fried, boiled, and then placed in layers in a pot to make a sumptuous hot pot.
In order to entertain the distinguished guests, the Hakkas specially killed a cow and added fresh beef, tripe and tripe to the dish, making it even more delicious. The aroma alone was enough to make countless children on the corridor cry with greed.
Moreover, each table only eats one dish, which is in line with the Chinese tradition of emphasizing family affection. Everyone holds chopsticks and keeps searching in the dish. The feelings are deeply exchanged with saliva, and naturally they are particularly close. Moreover, the deeper the dish is in the dish, the stronger the flavor is, so everyone can't help but search harder...
In addition, everyone was very hungry, so after a quick meal, every table was cleaned up.
That night, Zhao Hao and his sons and other distinguished guests slept in a room in the courtyard that was specially vacated by the Lin family.
The night in the mountain house was surprisingly chilly. As a result, Zhao Hao had to cover himself with a blanket for the first time since he came to the state.
This kind of environment and weather is perfect for understanding the great harmony between man and nature.
And this thick wall is very soundproof...
After all, Mr. Zhao was still young, so he called Secretary Ma, who was sleeping in the outer room, to come in and kill mosquitoes.
The two were swatting mosquitoes when they suddenly heard a female voice singing a nursery rhyme:
“The moonlight shines on the pond.
Riding a bamboo horse, crossing Hongtang.
The water in Hongtang is too deep to cross.
The wife rowed the boat to pick up her lover.
Ask about the man's shortness, ask about the man's height,
I ask you, when will you return?
It seems the soundproofing isn't that good...
Young Master Zhao was so embarrassed that he wished he could find a crack to hide in. Sister Ma didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was the one who should be shy, okay?
~~
Young Master Zhao spent the whole night swatting away all the mosquitoes in the room before going to bed.
He was sleeping soundly when he was woken up by Secretary Ma.
Young Master Zhao rubbed his sleepy eyes and glanced at Sister Ma. "Hey, why are you wearing clothes?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Sister Ma pinched him shyly and whispered, "It's already noon, I'm not as shameless as you."
As she said this, she wiped his face with a warm towel to cheer him up and said, "Hurry up and get up. We're waiting for you to have breakfast."
"Let them eat, I'll sleep a little longer." Zhao Hao turned over and lay on Sister Ma's soft thighs.
"Cheng Lin asked you to go over there quickly. It seems they have given a reply." Ma Xianglan held down his mischievous hand.
"Really?" Mr. Zhao's expression brightened when he heard this, and he immediately jumped up from the bed and said, "It seems there is good news!"
If it was bad news, then we should go home. If the zombie Taoist priest didn't know how to appreciate his kindness, Lin Run wouldn't persuade him anymore. Was the governor's reputation so worthless?
He quickly got out of bed, washed, dressed, and hurried downstairs to the central hall. He saw Lin Run, his father, Liu, and Yue had already arrived. Accompanied by Lin Zhengying and his son, they were eating breakfast and talking. The atmosphere seemed very relaxed.
"You finally got up, sit down quickly." Lin Run, who had no official business and had a good night's rest, said in high spirits: "Listen to what the old patriarch has to say."
"I'm all ears." Zhao Hao sat down next to his father with a smile.
"Try this steamed bun, it's delicious." Zhao Shouzheng pushed a small ceramic bowl in front of him. Zhao Hao saw a steamed red snack in the bowl, which looked like a cupcake, but with several big cracks on the surface.
"This crack is not caused by steaming. We call it 'smile', which is a sign of good things to come, so the more smiles the better." Lin Yichen explained with a smile. The smile on his face was also like the cracks in the bowl, but the dark circles under his eyes showed that he did not sleep well last night.
"What's the happy event?" Young Master Zhao asked with a smile, tearing off a piece of steamed bun and tasting it. Hmm, it's sweet, soft and fragrant, just like that.
"After a night of intense discussion, our Lin family has finally decided to take that step." Lin Zhengying held his graying beard and said slowly with a complicated expression: "Develop Feitianyan and use the porcelain stone mine in exchange for the future of our family!"
As soon as the words fell, the young people inside and outside the hall cheered enthusiastically. Perhaps it was because he felt the people's wishes that the old patriarch had to give in?
Zhao Hao also grinned at the red, smiling hair cake.
His plan to revitalize Chaozhou has finally cleared the last obstacle. Now he can say loudly, "Chaozhou is taking off!"
~~
Of course, things were not that simple. After breakfast, Lin Zhengying raised a bunch of concerns and conditions.
There are three main reasons. One is that if there are economic exchanges in the future, the chances of contact between the Hakkas and the natives will increase, and there will definitely be many conflicts. How will the government protect the Hakkas? Will it blindly favor the natives?
One is that they hope the government can make it clear that the ownership of Feitianyan belongs to the Lin family, so as to put an end to the indigenous people's unscrupulous plundering of the porcelain clay mines.
Another thing is that they hope to give the Lin family a certain number of places for tongsheng, but it doesn't have to be too many, just a minimum of two each time.
The first one is very simple. Zhao Hao told them that the Hakka and Tujia peoples did not trade directly, but rather used a third-party company as a transit. Therefore, the porcelain clay mines were sold to third-party companies, and the third-party companies would also be responsible for making porcelain in the future. In short, the Hakka and Tujia peoples could avoid excessive contact for the time being. When the economic ties between the two sides gradually became closer and time eliminated the hostility, they could slowly start to interact with each other.
In addition, Zhao Shouzheng said that he would order each county to set up a "Hakka and Native Affairs Arbitration Tribunal" to deal with disputes between Hakka and Natives, as well as public security cases. This would prevent the petty officials, who were all natives, from being partial to each other. In order to ensure the fairness of the judgment, he appointed someone to serve as the president of all the arbitration tribunals.
As for major cases, if the Hakka people were worried that the county would be unfair, they could bypass the county and file a lawsuit directly with the government office.
Lin Zhengying was very satisfied with this. In fact, he was just worried that "the county magistrate is not as good as the current one". The governor and the prefect were not close to the people, and most disputes had to be resolved by the county. He felt much more at ease when he could connect directly with the prefect.
Second, the property rights issue of Feitianyan has also been properly resolved.
Although the Lin family had not registered the land ownership with the government for more than a hundred years, according to the principle of "cultivated land is permanent property", the land they reclaimed in Feitianyan belonged to them in terms of ownership. Even if the Feitianyan land had an original owner, or as they worried, "the wealthy families in the prefecture colluded with the clerks, fabricated documents, and stole the land", there would be no problem.
Because according to the Ming Dynasty Law, the cultivator can enjoy actual possession of abandoned land. If the original owner does not return to the land within ten years, the occupant's ownership of the land will be recognized. Now Chaozhou is under the control of Zhao Shouzheng, and this one rule can eliminate all the evil tricks.
On the contrary, the three seemingly simplest ones - guaranteeing that the Lin family would have two students in each college examination - were flatly rejected.
"Then we must at least guarantee one, we really can't have any less..." Lin Zhengying's cheeks flushed red, and he insisted, "Our Lin family has been excluded from the imperial examinations for sixty years. This has had a huge impact on us! Last night, we asked someone to look it up in the family school, but they couldn't even find a copy of the Four Books! We have to start all over again. If we rely on ourselves to take the exam, it will take at least ten or twenty years for us to pass the exam to become a scholar."
"Yes, I completely understand your concerns. But the imperial examination is the foundation of the country. Although the change in the number of students may seem to have little impact, it must be reported to the court." Zhao Shouzheng told Lin Zhengying very seriously: "Also, it is the power of the inspector to admit students. Even if I let them off in the prefectural examination, they will still be rejected in the academy examination."
"The Inspector is specially sent by the imperial court to manage the official schools and examinations throughout the province." Lin Run also said in a deep voice: "Even this court has no right to interfere with his decision."
After a pause, Lin Run said sternly: "Even if this court can do it, we will never agree to it. Our Jiumu Lin family has been famous for thousands of years, and each generation has relied on their own efforts to get to the top. Using the back door and asking for favors will bring shame to our ancestors!"
"Yes, what my uncle taught me is..." As the saying goes, 'You will rise with this, and you will fall with this'. Lin Zhengying relied on the ancestral rituals and laws to rule the entire family. Lin Run's seniority was there, so he didn't curse when his ancestors were mentioned.
But he still couldn't hide his disappointment on his face. In the eyes of Hakka people, passing the imperial examinations and bringing honor to their family are much more important than making money. If you don't believe me, look at the civil servants in Guangdong in later generations. 70% of them are Hakkas...
"It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish." Zhao Hao understood this mentality very well, so he smiled and interrupted, "Leave it to me. How about this, our group builds a school in Daliao specifically for Hakka children to teach them to read? You may not understand our teaching level. But it doesn't matter, just find a scholar and ask around and you will find out."
Hearing this, Lin Zhengying looked at Zhao Hao with doubt. He thought, aren't you a businessman? And you are so young, why are you getting involved in the affairs of scholars?
But he is the son of the top scholar, so he should have something. This is a serious matter, I dare not agree to it rashly.
“Haha, you don’t recognize a great person, do you? Young Master Zhao is not only the son of the number one scholar, but also the teacher of the number one scholar… Of course, he is not his father’s teacher, but his disciple also passed the exam and became the number one scholar.” Yue Yunpengba had to give the Hakka people a fixed number of enrollment quotas, so he began to explain a lot of things.
Although two places at a time are not many, there can be four places in three years, eight in six years, and after twenty or thirty years, there will be thirty or forty scholars from the same clan, which will be a huge political force in this government.
He naturally had to support Mr. Zhao's plan. "In this subject, the Yufeng Academy he founded even admitted 50 Jinshi in one fell swoop! Isn't that amazing?"
"In fact, there are 31 people who passed the Xiangshan Academy exam..." Mr. Zhao said silently. But he wished that the others could be counted separately, so that they would not be so conspicuous.
But this was enough to shock the Lin family.
Mr. Jinshi, that is the Wenquxing from heaven! Each one of them will gather the literary spirit of the eight townships, and it will take many years for a county to produce one.
There were more than 1,400 counties in the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial examinations were held every three years, with about 350 people passing each time. On average, it would take less than a decade for a county to pass the imperial examination.
Mr. Zhao's school can have fifty students pass the exam! What kind of fairy school is this?