Jinan Prefecture, thirteen miles west of Yantou Town, at the foot of the eastern foothills of Huashan Mountain.
This place was originally a flat land at the foot of the mountain. The land fertility was pretty good. However, because it was far away from surrounding villages and towns, it was very troublesome for the people from Yantou Town and other places to come and reclaim the wasteland. In addition, it was too expensive for the people to reclaim the land alone. , if they hadn’t followed the shogunate several times to clear up wasteland, no one would have come here to reclaim wasteland.
Regardless of the current situation, this previously unnoticed plain at the foot of the mountain is bustling with activity. Hundreds of people are busy everywhere under the command of dozens of soldiers from the Fubiao Battalion.
The people were divided into two teams. One team was near the foot of the mountain and was digging foundations and building houses according to the plan drawn on the ground with white ash. This was one of the hundreds of new villages planned by Jinan Prefecture. The official name is Huashhandong Village.
Another group of people are on the periphery, busy reclaiming farmland. The more than 5,000 acres of wasteland enclosed in the surrounding area all belong to Huashhandong Village, and are evenly divided into the hands of hundreds of people and hundreds of households. Each household They can all be allocated more than fifty acres, which is enough for a family to live here.
These people were not originally people under the rule of Jinan Prefecture, but the family members of the bandit Laoying who migrated from Xingtang County and were placed in Jinan Prefecture.
After screening, as well as preaching, observation, and rectification along the way, the remaining more than 400,000 people were all docile, and were then dispersed and settled in various places in Jinan Prefecture by Yan Jizu, and hundreds of new sites were planned throughout Jinan Prefecture. Villages are specially designed to house these people.
At the same time, because Liu Yan allocated money and grain as a guarantee, he built villages and reclaimed wasteland in the early stage.
All the expenses were advanced by the government. After the next year's harvest, these people would gradually repay the government's advance money and grain in five years. Then starting from the sixth year until the tenth year, the court would exempt everyone from taxes.
Such generous conditions made all these 400,000 people feel at ease. If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't survive anymore, who would be willing to live the precarious and chaotic life before?
Now that they have a new home, farmland, and hope of survival, no one is willing to live a turbulent life anymore. These 400,000 people quickly settled down, and then under the command and supervision of the soldiers of the Fubiao Battalion, Start building your own new home in full swing.
Lao Li and his two sons were also assigned to Huashhandong Village, and were assigned a house in the inner part of the village. Although it was only three main rooms and two side rooms, and the house was only on the ground floor. The white lines painted on it have not yet been built, and the father and son can only live in temporary tents.
But these are irrelevant. In Lao Li's view, the white line on the ground is his home and the hope for himself and his two sons to survive!
So every day before dawn, Lao Li, like other common people, came over to supervise the soldiers of the Fubiao Battalion who did not need supervision at all. They spontaneously picked up various tools and started working. Everyone knew in their hearts that no matter how hard it was, no matter how tired it was, , this is also working for oneself, so no one spares any effort.
"father!"
In the early morning of this day, Lao Li was digging drainage ditches in the village with several old men. The excavated soil would be transported to the surrounding areas and used as materials for building houses, killing two birds with one stone.
Lao Li Hu
Then he heard someone calling him from behind, and when he looked back, he saw his second son Li Fugui and third son Li Xile running over, each carrying a not too big bamboo basket in their hands.
Lao Li's three sons were given the names of Peace, Wealth, and Joy respectively. However, the eldest son, Li Pingan, was not safe. He was selected as a dead soldier by the bandits and died directly on the battlefield. Even his corpse has not been seen in the capital until now. , I don’t know where the death is. Every time Lao Li thinks about this, he can’t stop crying.
Fortunately, he still has two sons, and Lao Li can only hope that after settling down here in Shandong, his two sons will be truly wealthy and happy.
"Why are you here?"
Li Fugui said loudly: "Dad! We can help pretend to be stupid."
Li Xile said: "Yes, we are pretending."
Everyone nearby laughed when they saw this, and their faces were filled with deep happiness. One of the old men said: "I said, Lao Li, you gave birth to a good son. You are so considerate. Let them help you pretend to be dirty. Stop pretending." One thing, don’t take your child’s feelings for granted.”
Lao Li nodded and agreed. He just looked at his two sons with pity and kept saying things like "stop pretending" and "don't run around".
Li Fugui is only thirteen years old this year, Li Xile is only ten years old, and the eldest brother Li Ping'an, who has died in the battle, is only fifteen years old this year.
Lao Li was in his forties. He was originally a strong man, but because he could no longer survive, he married his mother-in-law at the age of thirty. After leaving three sons, his mother-in-law was gone. A few years later, he met a gangster. He has been living in chaos for half his life, suffering almost every year, and it has made Lao Li's life seem like five years.
, sixty years old, his face is full of weather.
But things are getting better now. After settling in this Hua Shandong Village, as long as I grit my teeth and pay back the money and food owed to the court for five years, I can then be exempted from taxes for five years. My family's life will definitely get better year by year, and now there is also Looking forward to it!
The old man on the side was over fifty years old. He was a little tired from work, so he stopped to wipe his sweat and said to Old Li: "Old Li, I heard that after our village is built, every household will be registered as a household. , when the time comes, do you think we are a civilian household or a military household?"
When Lao Li heard this, he immediately raised the corner of his mouth. This question happened to be on the muzzle of his gun, and he said: "You don't know this, right? Didn't a senior official come here a few days ago? I was standing closer at that time. , listening to the senior official talking to the people next to him, it seemed that he was talking about conscription."
"High official?"
Only then did everyone remember that Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, came for an inspection a few days ago. Everyone in the village rushed to greet him. Fortunately, Governor Yan was very kind and brought some food to everyone. There was no ostentation. It was very nice. Affinity.
"Then what did the adults say?"
Lao Li said: "It is said that the imperial court is going to abolish military households and carry out some military reforms. From now on, all the imperial soldiers and horses will be recruited and hired soldiers."
"ah?"
Everyone was surprised. Could it be that the guard system that had lasted for more than two hundred years in the Ming Dynasty was going to be completely abandoned?
Lao Li looked at everyone's surprised expressions and was very satisfied. He continued with a hint of pride: "From now on, the soldiers and horses of the imperial court will not have arable land to divide, but they will receive military pay every month. I seem to have heard that all the previous military households must If it is changed to a private household, the cultivated land allocated by the court does not need to be returned.
, directly assigned to individual people for use. "
Everyone was envious when they heard that there was such a good thing!
At this time, another person said: "In this case, how much food does the imperial court need to raise troops? Does the imperial court have money? Don't have to pay more taxes then. Before we can live a good life, we will be squeezed and ruined again!"
Everyone felt a chill when they heard this, and many people's expressions changed drastically.
Lao Li said: "Probably not, Mr. Liu Ge, oh, he is Liu Yan, the Duke of Lu who defeated King Dashun. You should all know that he has a lot of property, right? Now, although it has been classified The imperial court, but the money earned is a wealth that is overwhelming, and the imperial court should raise troops and horses."
When everyone heard the name Liu Yan, they felt a mixture of love and hate in their hearts. It was because Liu Yan repeatedly defeated the bandit army, causing heavy casualties to everyone's family members, but it was also because of Liu Yan that everyone could settle down and live here, which made everyone want to hate Liu Yan, but they couldn't.
One person asked: "Old Li, where did you hear all this? How old is Governor Yan that he can tell you this?"
Lao Li pretended to be mysterious and said: "Of course Governor Yan will not tell me this, but the soldiers around him know it. The soldier chatted with me for a few words and we got along well. I only heard what he said. "
Everyone nodded in understanding. The soldiers beside the governor naturally knew many important affairs of the court. It seemed that what Lao Li said was true!
"I don't know that the imperial court recruits troops, but there is not much military pay."
Lao Li looked at the speaker and asked, "Have you not had enough of this war?"
The man suddenly shrank his neck
, a trace of pain instantly appeared on his face.
Seeing this, Lao Li sighed and said, "Okay, everyone, let's work quickly and build the village as soon as possible, so that everyone can have a place to live and settle down."
Everyone nodded and started to work quickly.
But behind Lao Li, Li Fugui and Li Xile heard about the imperial court's recruitment of soldiers. Their eyes flickered, and they didn't know what they were thinking.
At the same time, in the governor's office of Jinan Fucheng, Yan Jizu was looking at a report, which was a summary of the expenses of newly built villages in Jinan Prefecture.
"Spent so much money on food?"
Yan Jizu's face looked a little ugly. Liu Yan had ordered the Ministry of Finance to allocate a large amount of money and food specifically to resettle a population of 400,000. Yan Jizu originally thought that he would have some surplus, and then applied to Liu Yan to use the surplus to build Fubiao Camp. Presumably Liu Yan would not disagree.
But Yan Jizu looked at the summary of expenses in his hand, including the construction of hundreds of villages, the purchase of large quantities of cement and wood, the large purchase of cattle, seeds, farm tools, daily necessities, the recruitment of civilian laborers, the rental of carriages and horses, etc., all kinds of expenses Like running water, the money and food in Yan Jizu's hand scattered out, making Yan Jizu feel heartache.
"well!"
Yan Jizu smiled bitterly and said: "After all, this amount of money and food is enough, there is nothing left. Speaking of which, Yue Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance is an old acquaintance, why is he so unkind, just give it to me as a gift. The calculation is so accurate!"
Yan Jizu then said to Zu Yonghai, the counselor of the Fubiao Camp next to him: "We must guarantee suppliers of money and food in various places and must not interrupt them.
Although these more than 400,000 people have been screened, we should not take it lightly and try to comfort them as much as possible, but we must also be vigilant. If there is the slightest sign of trouble, we must be alert! "
Zu Yonghai said: "Don't worry, Mr. Futai, my subordinates have mobilized five thousand soldiers to disperse and deploy them to garrison in various villages. There will be no problem."
"Don't be idle, go around and inspect from time to time."
"yes!"
Then Zu Yonghai said: "Futai, this elder has been in Beijing for so long, why is your wife still living in Fucheng, Jinan?"
"You ask me, who am I asking!"
Zu Yonghai chuckled and said, "My subordinates are worried that this lady is in the city and our relationship is too big."
Yan Jizu obviously also has this concern. Even if there is no danger, greetings and care are unavoidable in daily life. Fortunately, Wang Yunhe is very approachable and does not have the airs of those high-ranking officials and wives. However, Yan Jizu did not dare to show any slightness and still sent him frequently. Yan Jizu did not dare to lack any of the courtesy and treatment that a person should receive from someone.
"Let's not talk about Madam for now. Is there any news from Qingzhou Mansion? Li Yan and Hong Niangzi have arrived. After they met with Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi, nothing happened, right?"
Zu Yonghai shook his head and said: "It's okay. Sir, don't worry, what kind of trouble can their Qinglai Town Military Academy make?"
"Well, I hope so."
Then Yan Jizu said with a smile: "But they are lucky that they were favored by Mr. Ge and wanted to cultivate them."
Zu Yonghai said: "Yes, this Qinglai Town Military Academy
, Qinglai Town Yanwu Hall will soon be changed into Huangming Military Academy and Huangming Yanwu Hall. The former is specially used as a training place for senior generals, while the latter is for grassroots generals, soldiers, and civilian talents. Li Dingguo, It's a good time for Li Yan and the others to catch up! "
