1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 111

It's now fashionable in North Korea to change surnames. Some surnames like Park, Kim, and Choi are being changed because the authorities don't allow these surnames, which symbolize the unique national flavor of Korea, to continue to exist, especially since they tend to cluster together in certain areas.

Ideally, the surname should be changed to common and typical Han Chinese surnames such as Chen, Wu, Wang, and Liu, but Zhao is the only surname not included.

Back in the village, Park Yoo-jeon saw his son writing at the table and was immediately furious.

"Why didn't you call me 'Father' when I returned today? Ah! Have you gone too far?!"

Park Yoo-jeon, filled with rage and with nowhere to vent it, grabbed his son and began to beat him mercilessly, always with a ready-made excuse.

The child's mother rushed over to mediate the fight, as the family's only hope lay with their eldest son, Park Tae-so, who was still in school.

The promotion of compulsory education is a national policy implemented without discrimination. It is being promoted in inland areas, border regions, and even provinces with their own unique cultures and writing systems, such as North Korea, Tibet, and Xinjiang. In these areas, each region is putting in its own efforts to promote it.

The central government has doubled its investment in education in regions like Xinjiang, Tibet, Mongolia, and the Ming Dynasty, all in order to thoroughly Sinicize them.

Whether or not education is provided in the eighteen provinces within the Great Wall, they are all Han lands, undeniably Han lands. Even if the world is in chaos, these provinces will still be participants in the competition. But the border regions with their own unique culture and writing are a different story.

Therefore, the central government is quite willing to spend money on abolishing and eliminating the ethnic cultures of border areas and implementing complete Sinicization.

Many provinces in mainland China privately require that 30% of their population receive free education to pass the test, but border provinces require over 70% to pass.

Park Yoo-jeon's family has one son and three daughters. His son, Park Tae-so, was forced to attend school. As for the daughters, it didn't matter. As long as all the men were Sinicized, how could women cause any trouble?

Furious, Park Yoo-jeon told his eleven-year-old son to quickly find another Chinese surname to change the names of the whole family. If he made a mistake again, Park Yoo-jeon threatened to hang his son up and beat him.

After venting his anger, Park Yoo-jeon shouldered his hoe and prepared to go to work in the fields. Besides the hoe, he also had to carry his ID card with him at all times. This thing cost a full six cents to get, a nationally standardized price.

Park Yoo-jeon's Kaesong region is located within the military buffer zone of the 38th parallel. The screening of people here is extremely strict. People can be checked by the police and the military at any time. If you don't have your citizen ID card, you may be labeled a "defector of South Korea" and then sold to a reformatory in Northeast China by the wolf-like army.

Rongjinli is a small village located in the buffer zone of the confrontation. The village has a population of just over 700, and more than 200 of them are immigrants from inside the pass.

Those old Han immigrants were born superior to others, each entitled to ten acres of land, while the local new Han immigrants, such as Park Yoo-jeon, did not enjoy the right to free land allocation. They could only purchase land at their own expense, and could not exceed ten acres per person, otherwise they would have to pay heavy taxes.

Park Yoo-jeon's family consists of nine people: his parents, his mother-in-law, himself and his wife, three daughters and a son. Theoretically, they could own 90 acres of tax-free land, but in reality, they don't have the money to buy it. The whole family only has seven acres of land.

Fortunately, it was a tax-free area. After the agricultural tax was removed, the annual harvest was enough to feed the whole family. Although they occasionally went hungry, at least they still had something to eat.

Moreover, the Republican government did not have any so-called corvée labor. During the off-season for farming, no men were conscripted. When he had nothing to do, Park Yoo-jeon would do odd jobs in the city. His family was struggling to make ends meet, but it was much better than life under the Joseon Kingdom and Japanese colonial rule a few years ago.

The current republican government does indeed rule with high pressure, suppressing and arresting people everywhere. But along with that, bandits, powerful figures, and landlords are all arrested as well. The republican government arrests good people, let alone bad ones.

The old superstructure of Korea has been completely swept away. The Korean royal family and the Yangban nobles are now history. Without those parasites above them, and with the provincial government having a change of heart and implementing lighter taxes, people like Park Yoo-jeon who are willing to assimilate into Han culture are living quite well these days.

With stable order, good public security, and reasonable taxes, life is like paradise for these new Han Chinese in North Korea.

They all cherished this life because they were the happiest people compared to their compatriots in the south.

People in North Korea are now well aware of the situation in South Korea. Newspapers are constantly reporting on the dire situation in the South, and large numbers of people from the South are fleeing South Korea at all costs, crossing the military buffer zone in an attempt to enter the North and seek a way to survive.

These people are called "South Korean defectors." After arriving in the North, they brought the most authentic news, which was far less than one-tenth of the "miserable" situations that the officials in the newspapers painstakingly fabricated.

Even the Republican government's propaganda apparatus couldn't fathom just how utterly shameless the Japanese were.

"Ah-woo-e, ee-woo-yu, bo-po-mo-fo"

While hoeing the ground, Park Yoo-jeon recited the pinyin, explaining that the Republic has now issued a standard pronunciation of the national language along with a corresponding dictionary to facilitate literacy for its citizens.

Children in North Korea are under compulsory education, but adults don't dare to relax either. To say nothing of anything else, you have to be able to write a self-criticism in at least 500 Chinese characters, otherwise you'll have to go to a reformatory in Northeast China.

The Republican government's judicial system is divided into civil and criminal cases. Criminal cases, needless to say, inevitably lead to re-education camps, regardless of whether one is a new Han Chinese or an old Han Chinese; everyone has to go through a period of further education.

However, trivial matters, such as petty theft and fighting, fall under the civil domain. Within the region, these are generally handled by local police and judicial authorities, with local sentences served.

In North Korea, it's necessary to write an additional letter of self-criticism and publicly repent. If you can't write it or your attitude is bad, then it becomes a criminal case instead of a civil one.

After working for most of the day and reading the pinyin chart more than a dozen times, Park Yoo-jeon cleared out half an acre of land. Looking at the old men who had oxen plowing the fields, he was filled with envy. If he had an ox, how wonderful that would be. Even if he rented it out, he could earn at least 50 cents a day.

Park Yoo-jeon's family owned seven acres of land, three of which were previously rented from a landlord. The landlord's entire family couldn't bear the Republic's "eleven taxes" and immigrated to Northeast China. The three acres of land were sold to Park Yoo-jeon at a low price. Later, the government gave them four acres of "ownerless land." Although it was said to be ownerless, it was actually because the owner's entire family had gone on a trip to a reformatory in northern Mongolia.

Of the seven acres of land, four acres near the river were planted with rice, while the other three acres, which were inconvenient to irrigate, were planted with potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Park Yoo-jeon's family relied on sweet potatoes and potatoes grown on their three acres of dry land to fill their stomachs. As for rice grown in irrigated land, it was simply too expensive for them to afford.

All rice needs to be sold to the government for money; ordinary families can't afford to eat white rice every day.

North Korean rice, grown at high latitudes, has a unique flavor and is very popular in markets outside North Korea. The local government also needs to purchase grain to establish a strategic reserve system.

If farmers sell their grain to government reserve institutions at low prices, it is tax-free, not a commercial transaction, and no taxes are levied. They keep all the money.

However, if the goods are sold to buyers at a high price, then a personal income tax of at least 15% must be paid, regardless of whether it is within the Great Wall or in North Korea.

Or you could eat it yourself if you're so capable, and the government won't bother you either, but are you willing to do that?

Sitting down against the edge of the field, Park Yoo-jeon took out a cigarette butt from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He had quite a few cigarette butts in his pocket, all of which he had collected while doing odd jobs in the city, especially near the military camp, where there were the most and the longest cigarette butts.

The only downside was that the trash cans at the entrance of the military camp were monopolized by locals, so he couldn't find anything better inside and could only pick up some cigarette butts around the sentry post to smoke.

Park Yoo-jeon couldn't bear to waste a match to light his cigarette, so when he saw an old man burning stubble in the neighboring field, he went over and borrowed a match to light his cigarette.

When his neighbor Wang Dali saw this, he burst out laughing: "You old lecher, you can't even afford to light a cigarette. You're over 30 years old, and you're always smoking other people's leftover cigarette butts. You're really pathetic!"

Wang Dali was an immigrant from Shandong who came from inside the Great Wall. He was tall and strong, and as his name suggests, he was famous for his great strength. He could take care of five acres of land a day by himself and an ox.

Park Yoo-jeon explained in broken Chinese: "Cigarettes, matches, expensive! Buy clothes, buy pens, okay!"

Wang Dali loosened the reins, letting the old ox graze on its own. He then took out a pack of Fuxing brand cigarettes, popped one into his mouth, and lit it with a flick of a match.

"See this? My son bought this for me. He's a captain at the county police station, and someone brings him cigarettes every month, one carton at a time. He says he can't finish them all, so he brings them to his old man!"

"Hey kid, wanna smoke some cigarettes? I'll get you a carton, want some?"

Park Yoo-jeon reached out his hand, wanting it: "Yes, I want it!"

This carton of cigarettes, it's the Fuxing brand, I definitely wouldn't smoke it myself, but I could sell it to someone else for at least two or three yuan!

Wang Dali revealed his true intentions: "Wanting it is no problem, but you have to give me something in return."

Park Yoo-jeon asked, "What? My family is poor!"

Wang Dali's old face broke into a kind smile as he affectionately put his arm around Park Yoo-jeon's shoulder: "We're neighbors, after all. I don't mind that your family is poor. How about we get married?"

"None of my three sons are married, and you have three daughters. Let's become in-laws. I promise I won't treat you badly, you old lecher!"

The Wang family has three sons. The eldest son fought in the war and retired after the war. He stayed in the county as the head of the police station. Although he had an official position, he was really ugly and had been injured and was lame in one leg, so it was really hard for him to find a wife.

The second son is twenty-three this year. He's also a good-for-nothing. He managed to get a police officer position in town through his older brother's connections, but he just coasts through his days and gets scolded by his superiors. He's ambitious but unlucky. It would be best if he could get married to settle down.

The third son is still young, only fifteen or sixteen years old, but he's reached the age where he should be looking for a wife. The sooner he finds one, the sooner he can become a father.

Wang Dali happened to have his eye on the three daughters of his neighbor Park Yoo-jeon. He didn't mind that they were all Koreans, since they were all the same anyway. They were better than those strange-looking Russian women, and the children they gave birth to would be more in line with Chinese aesthetic standards.

As for the opinions of the three sons, those are irrelevant. In this day and age, if the father arranges the marriage for his son, would you dare to rebel?

After listening for a while, Park Yoo-jeon finally understood what his neighbor Wang Dali meant. However, he did not object at all; on the contrary, he was very happy about it. He was the one who decided on the marriages of his three daughters. It didn't matter who they married. Wang Dali's family was really well-off, and they would enjoy their good fortune after marrying into the family. His father-in-law would also benefit from the marriage.

Moreover, with three more capable brothers-in-law, her son Park Tae-so's future will be much smoother.

And so, while the two fathers were smoking, they settled their children's marriage arrangements on the edge of the field.

Chapter 187 On the River of Imjin

"boom blah blah"

Just as Park Yoo-jeon and Wang Dali were still immersed in their daydreams about their children's wedding, a jarring gong sounded outside the village.

"Hurry home, grab your weapons, get ready to make a fortune!"

Wang Dali reacted the fastest, quickly throwing down his farm tools and running home. Park Yoo-jeon, realizing what was happening, also ran after him.

When he got home, his wife, who had been waiting for him, was already standing at the door with a sickle. Park Yoo-jeon didn't have time to think, took the sickle and left, while his wife kept telling him to be careful and not to rush too fast.

Upon arriving at the village entrance, Wang Dali waited specifically for Park Yoo-jeon. After all, they were in-laws, and even if it was just a verbal agreement, once it was made, it couldn't be taken back.

Wang Dali was much better equipped than Park Yoo-jeon. He carried a Hanyang rifle on his back, had a bullet belt around his chest, a leather belt around his waist with a leather water bottle and a machete hanging from it, and a bag of dry rations on his back.

More and more villagers gathered around, each with their own unique equipment, but all were full of enthusiasm.

When the village chief, a retired veteran, arrived, he didn't waste any words. He waved his hand and said, "All of you, get out there! Don't let a single one escape. Whoever catches one keeps him. The rest of you are not allowed to be envious, and you are not allowed to steal anything. Otherwise, I will not let you off the hook!"

The villagers nodded in agreement, and then the group dispersed, heading south towards the Jinjiang River.

The sound of gongs in the village signifies the arrival of "defectors" from the south. As this is a military buffer zone, neither China nor Japan can deploy armed personnel within it; at most, they can only have a small-scale police patrol, and they cannot be equipped with firearms.

Therefore, people from the south often risked their lives to cross the buffer zone and head north.

South of the 38th parallel, the Japanese army maintained strict vigilance along the buffer zone boundary line, and any Koreans who approached were shot dead without any explanation.

However, the Japanese still needed a large number of Korean laborers to enter their buffer zone and build defensive fortifications.

The Japanese conscripted foreigners to build watchtowers; everyone knows what kind of behavior that was, so I won't go into too much detail. The Koreans absolutely couldn't stand it.

At least the Republic's reform camps provided meals, but the Japanese didn't even provide meals, and you had to bring your own tools—it was a one-way trip.

The North Koreans definitely can't hold out. If they can't hold out, they'll have to run for their lives. Where will they run to? To the north, of course!

Besides labor teams, many Koreans in the south would also bribe guards and risk their lives to cross the 38th parallel to escape to the north. Even those Japanese settlers who were driven to desperation would flee.

Regardless of what happens after going to the North, even being sent to a reformatory is better than staying in South Korea and waiting to die. At least in a reformatory, there is a ten-year survival rate, but in South Korea, there is absolutely no hope. Staying here will definitely mean death.

As a result, residents along the North Korean border had another way to make a living: capturing defectors. Every one they captured brought them money. The military's offer was, well, a bounty. For every defector they captured and handed over to the military, they would receive a reward of three yuan.

The military, acting as a middleman, sold the people to the Northeast Rehabilitation Camp for twenty yuan each, making an enormous profit from the price difference!

Of course, it's not that those who defect from South Korea are destined to go to reformatories. There is still a chance to become law-abiding citizens. First, they must be proficient in Chinese language, able to speak and write Chinese characters. Then, they must be able to pay more than three dollars as ransom to the locals. The locals will not make things difficult for them, and the village chief will help them register their household.

However, if you can't speak Chinese, the starting price for your release is thirty dollars. The military thinks it's more profitable to collect your release fee than to pay the head fee to the reformatory, so they will let you go.

Although the military is ruthless, it also values ​​long-term commitments and is quite trustworthy when it comes to getting things done for money.

Otherwise, it would be too unseemly to make money this way; it would be a one-off deal, and there would be no money to be made afterward.

Park Yoo-jeon and Wang Dali teamed up and searched their way to Imjin River. After walking for more than ten miles, they soon encountered a group of ragged, inhuman-looking South Korean defectors. The group of seven or eight defectors saw Wang Dali and Park Yoo-jeon carrying weapons, but instead of running away or resisting, they raised their hands and approached.

Upon approaching, they knelt down and mumbled broken Chinese, saying that they knew the rules, wouldn't run away, and begged not to be killed.

"They're all damn poor, we can only hand them over to the army!" Wang Dali searched them one by one and found they didn't have a single penny, saying it was bad luck.

If someone can speak Chinese and can afford the ransom, they can hand it over to the village, and the town government will even give them a two-yuan bonus—much more generous than the military.

With a few defectors in tow, Wang Dali distributed some dry rations to them, then found the town mayor and the accompanying officers in the rear, sold them all to the officers, and received a reward of twenty-four yuan.

The town mayor looked rather grim. He had only taken in about twenty compliant citizens, while the military had already taken in over a hundred. Clearly, he was losing face.

The county, city, and even the province have all issued notices requiring them to accommodate more people and labor force and increase local production and construction, but these money-grubbing soldiers just won't cooperate!

After making a profit, Wang Dali and Park Yoo-jeon split the money 50/50 on the spot and then went back to look for the next wave.

This kind of money is much faster to earn than farming. You might not even earn three yuan a year from an acre of land, but now you can get three yuan right away for catching someone!

Soon, the South Korean defectors in the mountainous areas of Hebei were all captured by the "slave-catching teams" that flocked from all over the country. Wang Dali and Park Yoo-jeon could only continue to venture deeper into the Imjin River. They did not reach the north bank of the Imjin River until after dark.

The Imjin River is one of the boundary rivers between the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It flows into the Yellow Sea. After arriving at the north bank of the river, Wang Dali and his companion witnessed a scene they would never forget.

The river was teeming with people; in just one or two kilometers of the river, at least tens of thousands of people were crossing. Countless figures floated on the water, swimming with all their might towards the other side.

In the darkness, the Japanese military gas searchlights cast a ghastly white light, illuminating the south bank. On the south bank, countless South Koreans were surging towards the Imjin River.

The screams and wails from the opposite bank echoed through the night sky as Japanese soldiers chased down fleeing Koreans with machetes and bayonets.

The military buffer zone is not allowed to contain firearms. Even if someone brings them, they dare not fire them, because if gunfire or artillery fire were to be heard in the buffer zone, it would mean that the illusion of peace on the peninsula has been completely shattered.

The Japanese pursuing troops only dared to use melee weapons to kill, and even though they could not stop the surging fleeing crowd, they dared not fire. The National Defense Army troops that came from the north bank after hearing the news also remained silent, and the officers directly ordered everyone to empty their magazines and turn off the safety.

On the river, gunboats from both China and Japan entered the scene, because the median line of the river was the dividing line. If the Japanese gunboats were deployed, the Chinese gunboats had to follow suit.

The Chinese gunboats ignored the refugees swimming across the river and headed straight for the Japanese gunboats, where sailors were using special weapons to attack the refugees.

The Japanese used long bamboo poles with a fixed metal ball tied to one end, and then repeatedly struck the heads of refugees that surfaced in the water. If they were hit, their brains would splatter and they would become immobile.

The Chinese gunboats rushed over not primarily to rescue refugees, but because the Japanese gunboats had approached the median line of the river, which was a provocative act that had to be responded to and fought back.

Soon, several gunboats from both sides approached, but a miraculous scene unfolded: the two sides began firing at each other with bows and arrows, and the cannons and machine guns on the gunboats were removed and replaced with catapults.

No one had any intention of using firearms; instead, naval warfare entered the era of cold weapons.

After the Japanese gunboats were engaged, the pressure on the refugees crossing the river was greatly reduced; at least they no longer had to worry about having their heads smashed by bamboo poles falling from the sky.

Wang Dali and Park Yoo-jeon stared in disbelief at the surging crowd on the river, speechless with astonishment.

The fact that the Japanese gunboats were entangled did not mean that the refugees crossing the river were safe, because the power of the natural environment was even greater. It was the late spring season, and the water level of the Imjin River was rising and the current was accelerating.

Many refugees swam and sank, then disappeared without a trace. Some drowned and grabbed onto those around them, clinging tightly until they all sank.

There were even more people on the other side of the river who couldn't even swim, but they still resolutely plunged headfirst into the river.

Even those who could swim were swept away by the swift current and couldn't make it across.

Fear is in the nature of living beings, but courage is the hymn of humanity!