The next day, Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Shen Tuo, Wang Bo, and Zhang Yi received the order and rushed to Wangjiazhuang as quickly as possible. In the afternoon, Liu Yan summoned several general managers under him in the Baihu Official Hall. The flag officer and the small flag officer discuss matters and discuss the matter of sending troops to suppress the bandits.
Soon, under the leadership of Liu Yan, a strategy was decided for each sentry to take turns to attack and suppress the bandits. As for the scope of the suppression of bandits, naturally it was within the jurisdiction of Wangjiazhuang. 33
"The current Seven Sentinel Army is dispatched one by one, and in three days they will begin to dispatch troops to suppress the bandits."
Liu Yan looked at Chen Xun and others who were eager to try, and said: "As for the order in which you send troops, I think it will be decided by drawing lots."
Then everyone laughed and got a few notes. Chen Xun volunteered to write numbers from one to seven on the notes, crumpled them all into paper balls and put them on the table.
Several people scrambled to get one each, and after opening it, they determined the order of sending troops.
Chen Xun led the front post in the first battle, followed by the rear post led by Wang Yue, the left post led by Zhang Yi, the right post led by Wang Bo, the guard post led by Miao Shao, the cavalry post led by Xu Ming, and the cavalry post led by Shen Tuo. center post.
At the same time, Liu Yan asked Xu Ming to lead the cavalry sentry officers to various places to detect the signs of bandits.
Nowadays, there are constant natural disasters, and there are countless bandits everywhere. Although Qianhu Village in front of Xiahe Village is in the hinterland of the military town, bandits are also rampant. The same is true in Wangjiazhuang. Although there are no large groups of bandits for the time being, there are many small groups. .
These thieves and bandits are not only good targets for military training for Liu Yan, but they are also a source of wealth. However, each garrison and fort in the Ming Dynasty has its own garrison boundaries. It is taboo to reach across the border, especially for ordinary people like Liu Yan. So far. Maybe I should select a few teams of soldiers and let them pretend to be bandits and cross the border frequently to have fun?
After the discussion was complete, Liu Yan thought in his mind.
After Xu Ming led the cavalry sentry officers to disperse for a few days to investigate, news soon came that there were several small groups of bandits entrenched in the mountains near Tiechu Mountain in the north, ranging from a dozen to dozens of people. etc. From time to time, they would go out to rob houses, kidnap people and extort money.
These places are mountainous and hilly areas, which are most likely to harbor bandits, and the number of these bandits is not large, which is perfect for Liu Yan to train his troops to suppress bandits and make money. Although these areas are not Liu Yan's safe zone, especially the hinterland to the north of Tiechu Mountain, which can be regarded as the boundary of other Qianhusuo, but under the pressure of survival, Liu Yan can't control so much. Grit your teeth and do it!
It is very likely that he will face off against Jiannu this year. Liu Yan must let all the expanded sentinel armies experience battle formations and get used to the bloody and cruel battlefield environment, so that they will not be overwhelmed when facing the fierce Jiannu cavalry. , frightened by the ferocity of the enemy.
At the beginning of June, Liu Yan asked Chen Xun, Wang Bo, Xu Ming, Miao Shao, Shen Tuo, Zhang Yi, and Wang Yue to take turns leading the troops in the battle, annihilating several small mountain tribes nearby, and taking out three thousand silver coins from various bandit nests. Several hundred taels, hundreds of weapons, a dozen horses and mules, and more than 1,200 shi of grain and rice.
Although the weapons that were seized were inconspicuous items, the money, grain, mules and horses that were seized were real good things.
Looking at these seized materials, Liu Yan and others' eyes lit up. Sure enough, suppressing the bandits would bring quick money, calm the people, and train troops in actual combat.
After discussing meritorious deeds and giving rewards to the soldiers who fought, some of the captured materials were rewarded. Looking at the surrounding forts, there was still no movement at all, and Liu Yan became even more excited. He was thinking whether he could look further and be bolder.
While Liu Yan was sending troops to suppress the bandits, victims and refugees from various places also came to take refuge one after another. Liu Yan took all these people into Wangjiazhuang Military Households and distributed them to various Huolu Duns and Tunbu according to the population. Let these refugees and disaster victims rejoice and be grateful to Liu Yan.
According to Zhao Min's visits and records with a group of scribes, it took two days to compile the register. These disaster victims and refugees have more than 260 households and a population of nearly 1,300, including 700 men. There are more than thirty people, more than five hundred and fifty young and strong.
These populations have greatly alleviated the population pressure in various parts of Wangjiazhuang, allowing Liu Yan to have more manpower to devote to various undertakings.
Liu Yan also left more than fifty households in Wangjiazhuang, and took all these newcomers into Wangjiazhuang military households, but still allowed them to build houses outside the fort. At this time, the residential population in Wangjiazhuang Fort was already saturated, and some space was left in the fort for public buildings, such as temples, stages, archways, military merit temples, and the like. If all these people lived in the fort, it would definitely be very crowded.
Liu Yan asked the craftsmen in the fort to plan several pieces of land along the outside of Wangjiazhuang and build several barracks along the outside of the fort. When there is more money and food and the population increases, he will consider building a new fort wall.
Liu Yan issued a notice asking all sentinel troops to strengthen training every day. The remaining military households continued to reclaim land, feed pigs and grow vegetables, dry salt fields, soap workshops, wineries, firearms supervision offices, soldier armor supervision offices, etc. The factory also works overtime, right? It's cost-effective. No one in the military households under Liu Yan can be lazy. Of course, the wages and benefits Liu Yan gave to these military households were also better, much higher than those of the other hundred households. Therefore, although the military households everywhere worked hard, no one complained, and everyone was doing their best. Do your best.
Liu Yan, who came from a later generation, certainly knew the importance of base areas. The income from the current suppression of bandits can be used to raise some soldiers and horses. However, when external demand is exhausted one day, the money and food for raising soldiers and people will need to be driven by the population of his own territory, so he cannot relax in the management of his own land. , whether it is a salt drying plant, a soap workshop, a winery, or a firearms manufacturing department, or a military armor manufacturing department, they must continue to develop and grow, and the more the population, the better.
While Liu Yan was sending troops to suppress the bandits, he was also taking in the victims and refugees. As the population in Wangjiazhuang grew and his reputation quietly spread, some businessmen approached Liu Yan, hoping to let them work in Dapanbao and Dapanbao. Open a store in Wangjiazhuang.
Not to mention the current shortage of land in Dapanbao and Wangjiazhuang Fort, even if these businessmen can make some money by buying land and building houses in the fort, Liu Yan would not be surprised.
Liu Yan has always been wary of businessmen in the late Ming Dynasty! Many merchants in the towns of Jiubian were slave laborers of the Tatars. Even if they were not slave laborers, they often informed them and provided information. The fall of Tieling, Kaiyuan, Fushun, Liaoyang and other places in the late Wanli period was an opening to the internal thieves. Yingheshang.
Liu Yan didn't want such a fate to happen to his Wangjiazhuang one day.
However, some merchants sold goods that they needed for themselves. After careful consideration, Liu Yan decided to implement the inspection system and establish a merchant registration system.
Liu Yan stipulated that these merchants could only build shops outside Dapanbao and Wangjiazhuang, and buy land to set up shops along both sides of the avenue. They also needed to apply for a city registration opening guarantee certificate from the Wangjiazhuang Hundred Household Office with their household stickers. After registration and approval, , had just obtained the right to live outside the fort. At the same time, these merchants had to pay a certain amount of tax to Liu Yan before they were allowed to set up shops outside the city and engage in commercial sales and other business operations.
This merchant registration system was implemented in the early Ming Dynasty, but by the mid-Ming Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty, this market registration system had ceased to exist in name only.
Moreover, the phenomenon of the combination of officials and businessmen in various parts of the Ming Dynasty was very common. It can be said that officials are businessmen and businessmen are officials, especially those from the Donglin Party. Many big businessmen are descendants of official families, and they even have their spokespersons in the court, such as Shanxi merchants, Beijing merchants, and Hui merchants. Even medium-sized merchants from various places generally have close ties with local officials and gentry.
Liu Yan hated this even more and believed that this was one of the reasons for the collapse of the current situation. Moreover, the commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was very low. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that every commercial tax should be 10% of thirty, and those who exceeded it would be considered as violating the order. In the 10th year of Wanli, there were regulations that issued a tax exemption deed for the next three years. If the purchase price is less than forty taels and the pawn price, all taxes will be exempted. If the purchase price is more than forty taels, the tax will be 1 cent per tael.
Therefore, the burden on merchants in the Ming Dynasty was very light. Coupled with the combination of government and business, merchants in the late Ming Dynasty became more powerful and arrogant. They would go on strike at every turn to threaten the government.
Although Liu Yan's career has just started, he must prevent such things from happening in the future. The Shanxi merchant incident made Liu Yan even more wary. Those merchants hoarded goods, drove up prices, and betrayed the country for glory. Their moral corruption has reached an incredible level.
Therefore, Liu Yan had to strictly manage the businessmen and conduct regular audits every few months. This matter was left to Zhao Min. Zhao Min was originally a scribe, and he had been at Wangjiazhuang Baihu Office for so many years, so he was proficient in these matters.
In addition, with the arrival of these businessmen, Liu Yan was also inspired. With the increase in the population of military households in Wangjiazhuang, there was still a large demand for various daily necessities such as salt, cloth, medicine, tea, camellia oil, etc. In the past, There were only some vendors who carried needles, thread, dye, scissors, spoons and other small groceries to sell outside the fort. Even in Wangjiazhuang, there were only a few shops such as Wanfu Oil Shop, which were far from meeting the needs of military households.
Liu Yan plans to open a trade market a few miles away from Wangjiazhuang. From now on, military households and civilians in the surrounding area can come to pick out some agricultural and sideline products on the first, fourth, seventh and other days. They can also buy them in his own fort. some useful substances.
Seeing Liu Yan's attitude towards him, those businessmen were naturally dissatisfied. Those who came to Wangjiazhuang could not be big businessmen, but they had the ability to buy land and set up shops, so they naturally had a certain strength. Most of these businessmen were the sons of squires or from wealthy families in Qianhufu in Xiahe Village. They had always been very successful in Lingshanwei, but they didn't expect to hit a snag with Liu Yan.
Liu Yan's attitude inevitably offended them and the forces behind them, but Liu Yan ignored what they thought. With the strength of the soldiers and horses currently in Liu Yan's hands, Liu Yan would still have the confidence to argue with him even when facing some of the superior officers of Lingshan Guard.
However, Wangjiazhuang's current population and wealth are a large source of customers. After thinking about it, these businessmen still have to do what Liu Yan said, honestly apply for city registration with household allowances, and wait for future registration. approve.
After dealing with the merchants' affairs, the sentinel armies also swept away the bandits in and around Wangjiazhuang, with fruitful results.
Liu Yan immediately held a celebration banquet in the official hall of Wangjiazhuang Baihu, and called all his subordinates to celebrate. Wang Yunhe also attended the banquet. She was very beautiful in a horse-faced skirt, and her hair was pulled into a woman's bun. , everyone was amazed as soon as he appeared.
Liu Yan raised a glass to invite everyone, and everyone drank happily. After three drinks, Zhang Lei, who had not been seen for a long time, came to Liu Yan with his glass and said with a smile: "My lord, I would like to propose a toast to you."
"Haha, General Zhang Qi has worked hard during this period. The military camp is all thanks to you."
Ever since Zhang Lei was promoted to the chief flag officer by Liu Yan and appointed as the field officer of Wangjiazhuang, he stayed at the military camp day and night, leading the military households in Dapanbao and the surrounding Huolu Dun to be busy farming, even When Liu Yan got married, he failed to come back. During this time, Zhang Lei lost a lot of weight and tanned a lot.
Zhang Lei said: "This is my duty, and it is not hard work. It's just that I have something to say today, which may displease the Lord."
Some people died, but not completely...
