Chapter 952: Mission Impossible (Please Subscribe)

Liu Liang, a former booi from Shengjing beyond the pass, came down the gangplank of the Henan in tears.

Because he knew this was the last time in his life he would ever set foot on the soil of the Divine Land!

He had been captured by the Ming army at the Battle of Deshengdian. First he had been put to hard labor in Tianjin and on the Wei River — building walls, hauling boats. Hard as the days were, he had still held on to hope — the hope of going home! Home to Shenyang in the northeast, back to the fields, back to a good life with his parents and brothers, and if the chance came, to take a wife...

As he saw it, he ought to be allowed to go home, because he was no proper Qing soldier. He was only a booi — and not even an old booi at that, but a Han farmer who had gone beyond the pass to make a living after Dodo took control of the region. He had merely been given the name of booi; in practice he farmed and paid grain tax, and he had never thought of soldiering for Dodo. It was only because his family had owed money to a bannerman lord for his elder brother's wedding that he had been forced to follow the army — not to fight, but to wait on his master hand and foot.

But in the end, who would have thought his master would run off and leave him on the battlefield to be taken prisoner.

Still, the Ming officers and soldiers guarding him were reasonable enough. Apart from making them work without pay, and beating them if they slacked off, they did not mistreat them much — they gave them food and a way to live. So he waited with all his heart for the day of his release!

But how things developed far exceeded anything he had expected!

Release was impossible! How could they be released? With so much hard labor needing hands, how could they just let go of this gang of prisoners who cost nothing?

If they were to be let go, it would be as exiles!

In the end, seeing that he worked hard, the higher-ups gave him a small privilege: he could choose one of three places of exile.

The three places of exile were: the Western Regions — that is, the later Xinjiang; the Jīn'ōu Army — that is, the area around the later Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; and the Prefecture of America, Huashengdun — that is, the area around the later Seattle, Washington, in the United States of America... The relative merits of these three places were plain at a glance. The Western Regions were bitter cold, and Jīn'ōu was full of pestilence, but both were far better than Seattle!

If he went to the Western Regions or Jīn'ōu, there might still be a chance of returning to the Central Plains in this life... According to the explanation given by the Ming officer selling them on the places of exile, Jīn'ōu and the Western Regions were at least still on the continent of the Divine Land, while the Prefecture of America belonged to some continent called America — the very name sounded like no good place — and once you went, you were not allowed to come back. They would have to be Americans for generations to come!

So at first Liu Liang wanted to go to the Western Regions. He had heard of the place — the Tang monk had passed through there on his journey to fetch the scriptures. Apart from the demons, it was not bad in other respects... And since they now had matchlocks and flintlocks, he was not worried about demons.

But going to the Western Regions required the "family package" as a priority — you had to have a wife with you, so you could put down roots and devote yourself for generations. And Liu Liang was all alone, so he could not go!

Next he thought of going to Jīn'ōu — Jīn'ōu sounded quite prosperous. But they told him that to go to Jīn'ōu you had to know how to grow rice, and he did not! So Jīn'ōu was out too, leaving only the Prefecture of America.

But he was still unwilling, so he went on being a "Liu the Laborer," doing hard labor for the Zhu Emperor... until not long ago, when the higher-ups offered thirty "special quota places" to go to "America" — with a Japanese wife thrown in!

That was a huge incentive... and there were only thirty places!

Liu Liang reflected that his life had been bitter — not only poor, but a prisoner of war, and no longer young either. He was already in his late twenties, and who knew when this hard labor would end? If he was not released in three or five years, he might well end up a bachelor for life!

Now to be able to get a wife was not bad at all — even if she was a bit ugly, even if she was a bit old, he would accept it!

So he gritted his teeth and chose the special package of going to America with a Japanese wife...

Only after boarding the Henan did he realize he had been fooled!

The Prefecture of America did not exist at all. The place was there, but there was no such prefecture... That place was now a wilderness, with nothing at all!

In order to open up new territory, the court had sent a company of flintlock musketeers across the ocean to occupy a point there. But this company was to return home after completing its mission; it could not stay permanently. So the higher-ups selected thirty strong men from among the captured Qing soldiers to go to America and farm... Someone had to farm! Otherwise how could they open a colony there and run it for the long term?

And farming in a place with unfamiliar climate and soil was a gradual process — they could not send thousands or tens of thousands at the start, or if the harvest failed, large numbers would starve.

So the first batch was thirty farmers, with a plan to reclaim fifteen hundred mu of land and plant wheat. If they could harvest two or three thousand shi of grain, that would prove the soil of America could grow food.

And in order to let these thirty farmers produce some little farmers in the Seattle region, Wei Zaode, who was in full charge of the American colonization, proposed that the Navy Department, responsible for transporting and mobilizing the migrants, find wives for these thirty farmers!

That nearly killed the navy! Where would the navy get such resources?

Later it was Zheng Jiangong who remembered that his uncle Zheng Hongkui was "pimping" in Japan, and so the difficult problem was passed to Zheng Hongkui.

That was how the special offer of going to America with a Japanese wife came about... Liu Liang and twenty-nine other fine young men, all lured by the "Japanese wives," boarded the Henan bound for America.

"Stop daydreaming, get to work!"

A naval officer's shout rang in Liu Liang's ears. Liu Liang wiped away his tears, then walked forward to the mountain of supplies. Two flintlock musketeers who had come down from the ship pressed a sack of wheat onto his shoulder, and then one asked, "Can you take another?"

"Sure!" Liu Liang had strength to spare — otherwise he would not have been "tricked" into going to America as one of the first pioneering farmers!

Thirty strong pioneering farmers, plus over a hundred equally strong flintlock musketeers, plus some sailors — everyone worked together, carrying the supplies piled on the dock one by one onto the Henan.

By the time the supplies were all loaded, it was already the early hours of the next day, and the sky was beginning to lighten.

Just then, about thirty small-statured Japanese wearing conical hats and loose kimonos, escorted by a dozen or so warriors dressed as ronin, entered the dock at Uraga Harbor and made their way toward the Henan.

Liu Liang had by then finished carrying the sacks and was catching his breath on deck. A Ming naval officer who normally guarded these migrants suddenly shouted: "All Americans disembark — there is another batch of cargo to carry!"

Liu Liang and the others did not dare dawdle at the order. They hurried down the gangplank one by one, but on the dock they found no cargo — only thirty "Japanese children" in conical hats, standing in a row.

Where was the cargo? Why could they not see it?

As they stood puzzled, someone shouted a phrase in Japanese, and all the "Japanese children" took off their conical hats. In the dim light of the dock, Liu Liang realized they were all girls... They looked very young — were they even sixteen?

Then someone else shouted: "One each, one each, no grabbing — whichever one you are given is yours..."

Liu Liang and the others were stunned. What was this? What were they being given?

The officer, seeing that no one moved, grew impatient and said loudly: "What are you waiting for? Wives are being handed out... It is all written in the contract, and you all signed it. Now none of you may complain that they are too small. If any one of you dares refuse, you will all be dealt with by military law!"

"Dealt with by military law" meant execution by firing squad. Either take the wife issued from above, board the ship, and go to America to have children — or be shot!

The thing sounded absurd, but it was absolutely necessary, because this was colonialism!

Colonize, colonize — the people who are bred out are the colony!

At the mention of military law, no one dared complain that these Japanese wives were too small. They all lined up and went forward one by one to be married — and that counted as starting a family!

When the Henan reached the continent of America, they would still have to establish themselves, farm the land, and breed a few more of the next generation!