The three years that Xiao Ruxun stayed in Myanmar were also the three years of frequent disasters in the north and the three years of large-scale migration of people from the Central Plains to Myanmar.
In the beginning, this policy was widely questioned. Whether the migration to Myanmar could work or not, the focus of the discussion in the court was not the rationality of the policy itself, but whether the refugees who suffered from the disaster were willing to believe that they could go to Myanmar to live.
Based on the conditions that Xiao Ruxun put forward, such as fertile soil, thousands of miles of fertile land, it was a barren land that no one had developed. If people developed it, it might become a new paradise after a few decades.
To be honest, the officials didn't believe in this kind of excuse at all. They didn't believe in anything that could not be put in front of them, nor were they willing to pay attention to it. However, it was indeed their dream to transfer the disaster victims to Myanmar.
After these people were transferred to Myanmar, they would not be a hidden danger to the Central Plains. There would not be any rebellion after starvation, and there would not be any beating, smashing, looting, and burning. This was extremely beneficial to the grass-roots officials and landlords. If this policy was effective, then they could think less about the consequences when they wanted to annex land in the future.
Anyway, if something happened, they could just send people to Myanmar. Anyway, how could that barren land be compared with the fertile land of the Central Plains? If these extra refugees were thrown away as a burden, the remaining people would be effective taxpayers, wouldn't they?
According to Yuan Huang and Xiao Ruxun's calculations, if the large piece of land in Myanmar was to be fully developed, at least eight to ten million people would be needed. They could continue to accept refugees from the Central Plains for a long time to fill the population. This policy was widely accepted a year later. Since then, thousands of refugees were transferred from the Central Plains to Myanmar every month.
In the past few years, the north had suffered from repeated droughts and cold disasters, and a large number of people lost their land and became homeless. In order not to let them become a hidden danger to the court, the court also went through a lot of trouble. Now that there was a good place like Myanmar, of course, they would send all of them there.
But even so, for Xiao Ruxun, the population of Myanmar was still not enough. There were more than a million people gathered around the four major trading port cities. The further south one went, the better the development and the more people there were. The further north one went, the more primitive forests occupied the majority. The development had not been completed, so it was uninhabitable.
Even so, after decades of development by the Tung Yu Dynasty, they still managed to carve out a piece of land for survival. Currently, there were less than four million people transferred to Myanmar, which was really not enough to satisfy the needs of Xiao Ruxun in developing the north.
Therefore, the population exchanges between Myanmar and the inland areas of the Central Plains would inevitably continue.
It was under such a background that Old Zhou came to Myanmar from Xianyang.
Speaking of which, Old Zhou and Xiao Ruxun were fated to meet.
He used to be a chef in a big restaurant in Xianyang. As a result, in the 23rd year of Wanli, that area was hit by a disaster, causing a population loss and large-scale disasters. The boss saw that continuing to open the restaurant would only result in a loss, so he abandoned the restaurant and fled with his belongings.
Old Zhou's hometown was in Ningxia in the northwest. In the battle of Ningxia, Bo Bai's army swept through most of Ningxia, and Old Zhou's family was also affected. There were seven people in the family, and he was the only one left alive. He was saved when Xiao Ruxun led troops to counterattack and recover the lost castle. He had always been grateful to Xiao Ruxun.
The restaurant collapsed, and Old Zhou had nowhere to go. No land, no job, and no way to survive. In desperation, he heard that the court was organizing refugees to go to Myanmar to develop Myanmar under Xiao Zhennan's command. Old Zhou heard that Xiao Zhennan was Xiao Ruxun. So he made up his mind and went to Myanmar by boat.
When he arrived in Myanmar, he happened to see Xiao Ruxun recruiting chefs from the Central Plains to cook for him and the officials in Marquis Zhennan's mansion. Old Zhou immediately signed up, and the last ten people were selected to cook in Marquis Zhennan's mansion.
Old Zhou's cooking was the best, and he was praised by Xiao Ruxun and Yuan Huang. They summoned him and gave him some money. Only then did he tell them about his past. Xiao Ruxun was very emotional about it.
After cooking for a year, Xiao Ruxun released Old Zhou from Marquis Zhennan's mansion and he entered the army to be the army cooks. He said that Old Zhou's cooking was the best, and it was a waste of his talent to only cook for him. The soldiers had to work harder, so he asked Old Zhou to cook better food for the soldiers.
At that time, the Zhennan Army was being reorganized. After Old Zhou entered the army cooks' army, he became the chef of the cooks' army with his good cooking skills. He had more than twenty cooks under him, and his cooking was very popular among the soldiers. Xiao Ruxun was also used to bringing Old Zhou's cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' meals were all cooked by Old Zhou.
When they went north, Old Zhou happened to be cooking with the army cooks, so they went north together. He followed Xiao Ruxun's army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' army cooks' meals were all cooked by Old Zhou.
Xiao Ruxun had a lot of things to do, and it had been a long time since he met up with Old Zhou to talk. It was rare that he had the time to stroll around the cooks' army camp, and he happened to bump into Old Zhou cooking.
Xiao Ruxun walked up to him with a smile.
"Old Zhou! Are you cooking? "
Old Zhou was busy cooking, and when he looked up and saw that it was Xiao Ruxun, his weather-beaten face immediately broke into a smile.
"Silang!"
Old Zhou called out cheerfully.
Xiao Ruxun moved closer to Old Zhou's side and looked at Old Zhou's work. He saw that Old Zhou was cutting meat.
"What meat is this? Why is it so fragrant? "
Old Zhou happily replied, "This is wild boar meat. It's firm and delicious, and it's top-notch meat. Back when I was a cook in Xianyang, many people were willing to eat this wild boar meat. It's even more popular than regular beef and mutton. It's also sold at a higher price, and many high officials and nobles were also willing to eat it."
Xiao Ruxun nodded his head.
"I remember that those bastards went hunting and hunted quite a lot of wild animals. Hmm, not bad. They even got a wild boar. How is it? Is the meat enough?"
Old Zhou patted his chest and said, "I guarantee that the soldiers will be satisfied with the food. With so much food, how can we not make a few delicious meals? Haha, Silang, don't worry! Oh right, Silang, I have some wild boar meat here. Do you want some? "
"You have it prepared?"
Xiao Ruxun felt that his mouth was secreting some kind of liquid. "Sure, give me some!"
"Hehe!"
Old Zhou happily lifted the cloth covering a large pot. Then, Xiao Ruxun saw a large piece of black meat. Old Zhou took out that large piece of meat, chopped it off, and handed it to Xiao Ruxun.
"I just roasted it and it's still warm. I'm planning to keep it for Silang. If Silang handles military affairs too late at night, I'll cook some hot meat for Silang to eat. It's cold now, so eating this meat will definitely be comfortable. If you don't think it's flavorful enough, here's some sauce."
Xiao Ruxun nodded his head and took the piece of meat. He brought it to his mouth and took a big bite.
"Hmm! Fragrant! "
This meat was chewy and didn't look old. It was very delicious. After one bite, he wanted to take another. He couldn't stop. After taking a few big bites, Xiao Ruxun saw that the guards who came with him were salivating. He couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Hahaha! Old Zhou, get some for them too! "
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