20demayo Chapter 316 Huaishugou
Chapter 316 Huaishugou
The place where Zhong Yuemin and his colleagues went to the countryside was called Huaishugou.
I originally thought that this place must be full of big locust trees, so it got this name.
But when Zhong Yuemin and his companions arrived at Huaishugou, they found that there were only a few locust trees in the entire village.
After Zhong Yuemin, Zheng Tong and their friends from Sijiucheng had settled down, the village chief Kang Daman, who came over and offered to help them clean up their accommodation, also gave them a general explanation.
This branch of the bloodline in their village came from the Big Locust Tree in Hongdong, Shanxi.
Although our ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years, the name of the village Huaishugou has been passed down.
Many of Zhong Yuemin’s friends are from either Hunan or Jiangxi, and some are from northern Shaanxi.
To be honest, the parents and grandparents of these guys have all mentioned the Hongtong Big Locust Tree to some extent.
However, the families of these buddies basically moved to the former capital later. Although they were given up their military power, most of them were able to transfer back to their various positions.
Therefore, on weekdays, these guys don’t have much time to interact and chat with their parents. Even if they have some free time, they basically just listen to the older generation talk about their glorious past.
After Zhong Yuemin came here, he became acquainted with the village chief Kang Daman.
They did not encounter any intimidation like in Ningyuan, so these educated youth were able to interact with the villagers in a relatively harmonious manner.
But these days are really boring and monotonous.
Zhong Yuemin himself is a person who is particularly interested in everything, so when he was in the old city, he was peacefully studying during those days when things had not yet become chaotic.
I searched around and read a lot of random books, ranging from poetry and songs to history and humanities, as well as famous Chinese and foreign literary works.
In the past, in the old city, I would hang out with a bunch of buddies all day, fighting, skating and taking pictures with girls. Although I didn't make any progress, it was at least fulfilling.
After coming here, I work in the fields all day long. I reclaim wasteland at dawn and go to bed at dusk.
For someone like Zhong Yuemin, this was simply torture.
So, taking advantage of their free time every day, Zhong Yuemin and Zheng Tong would go to Kang Daman's house.
First, I asked about the origin of the village name, which was the story of the Hongdong Big Locust Tree.
These things may seem meaningless and uninteresting to other guys.
But for Zhong Yuemin and Zheng Tong, it is extremely attractive.
This legend is so old that even in this small village there are several versions of the story.
But most of the spread began in the early Ming Dynasty.
The end of the Yuan Dynasty was also a rather chaotic time, with various rebel armies rising up to resist the Yuan Dynasty.
Not to mention the Central Plains, even the Jiangnan region, which has always been known as the land of fish and rice, was full of starving people.
Didn’t Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang join the rebel army because almost his entire family starved to death?
Hunger, war, plague, and various natural and man-made disasters caused the population of the Central Plains to plummet.
Nine out of ten houses are empty, bones are exposed in the wild, and no roosters crow for a hundred miles. This is not an exaggeration.
After Zhu Yuanzhang had firmly established his rule over the world, he naturally faced the difficult task of governing the country.
The first point is the extremely uneven population distribution.
Shanxi is known for its mountains and rivers. It has been a natural refuge almost every time there has been war.
Therefore, by the Hongwu period, the population density in Shanxi had reached an astonishing level.
However, the Central Plains area was vast and sparsely populated, so this immigration movement began. Although the scale was not the largest in Chinese history, it had the most far-reaching duration and outward impact.
At that time, Hongdong County not only had a large population, but also had convenient transportation. It was not far from the Yellow River. To the north, it could take the road to Shanxi, and to the south, it could lead to Henan, Shandong and other places.
More importantly, Hongdong County is close to Taihang Mountains and has a relatively safe geographical location. Many fleeing people have come here to seek refuge, resulting in an "overflowing" population here.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this place, he thought it was a natural "immigration pool", so he ordered the people of Hongdong to be distributed to various places.
Not only that, later on, Hongdong County almost became a centralized transfer point.
Every batch of conscripted and escorted civilians must be checked and allocated here, and then sent to various parts of the country by drawing lots.
More than 800 surnames spread from here, and over the decades, six or seven million people were scattered.
When we talk about it now, we hear more of it as a heroic feat, but to the people at that time, it was like the abyss of purgatory.
When the government issued an order, the people had to obey, otherwise they would be treated as disobedient. To prevent people from escaping, the soldiers would even raid at night and take people away from their homes.
Many families have been separated due to immigration policies. Some parents and children have been assigned to different places and may never see each other again in their lives.
What is even more sad is that in the context of the times, everyone could only rely on walking. Some places were very long, and the journey required walking hundreds or even thousands of kilometers.
There was a shortage of water and food along the way, and many people did not reach their destination alive due to hunger, disease or attacks by bandits.
In order to stabilize its regime, the imperial court at that time wanted to prevent the common people and clans from migrating to various places and forming bands together, thus forming local powerful clans.
Therefore, all orders issued were completely inhumane.
People with the same surname are not allowed to be assigned to the same place.
This kind of death order cannot be relaxed by human feelings.
Therefore, a family of four or five brothers would simply change their gender in order to be able to live together.
They are clearly brothers but they have four or five different surnames.
In this way, many originally single surnames gradually changed, making the later family tree more complicated.
For example, if you trace back the names of Chen, Cheng, Cheng, etc., it is very likely that their ancestors were all from the same family.
This also became the most critical process in the complex evolution of surnames in the Central Plains.
Zhong Yuemin and Zheng Tong listened attentively.
Of course, these are just some rough outlines. When Kang Daming told these two city kids the stories these days, he mostly talked about the sad stories of separation.
Zhong Yuemin and Zheng Tong naturally accepted it all.
With two such loyal listeners, Kang Daman was naturally in a good mood.
I have also become much closer to these city kids.
I take good care of them on weekdays.
He even got excited and started talking about a lot of rumors in the mountains.
These things are more attractive than those historical allusions.
They are young at heart, even though they say they want to overthrow all feudal fans.
But in the mountain village, these rumors are endless.
In the past two days, after Kang Daman saw that there was really nothing more to talk about, he did not care that the general environment did not allow it, and quietly took Zhong Yuemin and Zheng Tong to his house to talk about the abandoned graves in the mountains!