"When I heard about the Northern Expedition to the Li puppet country, the people were enthusiastic, so I organized 100,000 people to transport grain and collected 10,000 cattle and donkeys..."
Second Prime Minister Mao Fu followed closely and said enthusiastically.
"Where are the soldiers?"
King Qin nodded and looked at the generals on the side.
Although these people are wearing the same Beijing military robes, you can see the differences if you look closely.
The cuffs are as thin as possible, with more green cloth strips. The original black and red have turned into black and green, which looks quite strange.
But there is no way. In Annan, green military uniforms are the mainstream, which is more convenient for hiding and marching.
Ordinary soldiers carry a bamboo hat behind them, which is perfect for keeping out insects and rain.
Of course, as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, the red triangle scarf on the back of its neck cannot be omitted. This is a symbolic thing.
The leading generals raised their heads and said: "Your Majesty, the morale of the army is high. We are waiting for the king's order to march north."
"good--"
"Since our soldiers are working hard, how can I not appreciate them?"
The King of Qin laughed and said: "Pass this order, all the officers and men in the army will be given one month's salary as an incentive."
"The king is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old -"
Amidst the joy, King Qin left with satisfaction.
You Pingman also left the palace with the crowd.
As the bastard son of Yi Guogong You Shiwei, although his father lost power, the power of the Duke's mansion remained undiminished. Therefore, as soon as he came to Qin, he immediately gained the position of Yingzheng.
In fact, if he had followed his original intention, he did not want to come to Qin, but there were only two lords in the Yiguo Palace, the Duke and the Baron, occupied by the eldest son and the second son respectively. He, a bastard, was not eligible at all.
Therefore, he had to bring a dozen servants, five thousand silver coins and armor to Saigon to join the Qin army.
As for the 5,000 Beijing camp, they are singles who have been selected. The risk factor is too high and they are always at the forefront of fighting, so there are not many noble sons.
The continuous battles in the past few years have given him continuous military achievements. After taking Hue, the King of Qin fulfilled his promise and knighted the soldiers.
Therefore, last year, when he was promoted to a guerrilla general and personally led a regiment of 3,000 men, he was granted the title of Prince of Xing'an County and was given a fief of 800 shi.
The system of honors and honors in the Qin State has been improved several times, and because of the improvements made by the Ming Dynasty, it has taken on a unique look.
From high to low, they are respectively Duke, Duke, Duke, Prince, Prince and the fifth rank.
The sons or grandsons of the King of Qin were named kings.
Not only did the names of the fifth-class nobles have the word "county" in their names, but their food estates were only one-third of those in the Ming Dynasty.
To put it simply, the maximum of a county official's food can be two thousand stone, the maximum of a county prince's can be one thousand five hundred stone, the county's uncle's one thousand stone, the county's son's three hundred stone, and the county's male's one hundred stone.
Although it is a bit stingy, there is no way, who makes Qin poor?
The land of the Five Prefectures has only one million people, but it supports 50,000 Qin people, 5,000 capital camps, and more than a thousand officials. It can be said that the burden is extremely heavy.
Thanks to the continuous support of the imperial court and the continuous flow of money, food and material resources, Qin was able to support the country.
It was precisely because of the low salary that the King of Qin agreed to change the succession of barons from three generations to five generations to make up for it.
Annan has two or even three crops a year, so there is not a big problem with grain and grass, but there is not much tax money. Annan is short of copper, silver, and gold, so people usually barter.
The silver coins sent from Beijing every month are the key to paying the Qin army. Otherwise, even if Qin is sold, it will not be able to support a standing army of 50,000.
As soon as You Pingman came back, a group of officers came to see him.
Basically, they are mainly composed of team commanders and camp commanders, who are the core officers in the army. The camp commanders all carry the title of county men and are already at the bottom of the ranks of the Qin Dynasty.
Qi Zheng's face is filled with longing, hoping to move up a level and become an ordinary baron.
Among these officers, only twenty-three out of ten were Han Chinese, and most of them were ordinary Qin natives.
Obviously, the Qin State's preferential treatment and stimulating nobility system made these locals loyal to the King of Qin.
As for the Li family and the Nguyen family, they didn’t even have surnames at that time.
You Pingman lamented that this group of people had become die-hard loyalists of King Qin.
"Everyone, I just came back from the palace."
As soon as these words came out, everyone stood in silence, their eyes filled with excitement and desire.
Although it is in pure Chinese, the locals can understand it.
Without it, in the Qin State, the middle and upper classes, including the King of Qin, all spoke Chinese, so ordinary people naturally spoke Chinese in order to move up the ladder.
Not to mention, the Qin army almost 100% imitated the Beijing camp. There were military schools, and the main task was to teach Chinese.
At the same time, ordinary indigenous people do not have high requirements when they serve as commanders and corps commanders below the team leader, but if they want to climb to the team leader level, they must know Chinese. This is a requirement and threshold.
After three years of training, the officers all speak Chinese well.
"General, do you want to go on the Northern Expedition?"
"That's right -" You Pingman nodded and said: "The puppet king of the Li family has stolen power in the north, and the Zheng family has stolen power. The king is destined to be involved, and he has also accepted the emperor's order, so he is going to expedition north to Thanglong to complete the unification of Annan. "
As soon as these words came out, the generals suddenly became elated.
Although there are only more than two months until the end of the dry season, it doesn't matter. They are all locals and can march in the rainy season.
Besides, Annam is not a big place. It takes at most ten days to reach Thang Long, and a month of fighting is enough.
"From now on, all vacations will be cancelled, and one month's salary will be paid."
"Quartermaster, you go to the camp to collect supplies, and each team will collect them."
Arrange step by step and methodically.
Needless to say, the morale of the Beijing camp is strong.
As the main force, Jingying obtained half of the titles among the lords, and the team members were all barons and viscounts. It can be said to be a great harvest.
This group of people also accepted their fate: to serve as imperial guards to protect the King of Qin after the war.
In fact, it was doomed from the moment they were chosen.
In early April, 30,000 Qin troops crossed the Linghe River, broke through the Zheng Army's camp and ferry, and officially launched the Northern Expedition to attract their attention.
At the same time, the 5,000 Beijing Camp and the 5,000 Qin Army, escorted by the Nanhai Navy, secretly marched towards the Red River Delta, preparing for a surprise attack.
However, the city of Hue was extremely supportive of King Qin.
The promulgation of surname orders, rent and interest reduction orders, and land equalization orders continued to increase the prestige of the King of Qin, and there were even cases where people only knew about the King of Qin but did not know about Annan.
People's will is united.
Naturally, the Zheng Group in Shenglong was not to be outdone. Year-round military preparations and a military system similar to those in the Sui and Tang Dynasties allowed it to gather tens of thousands of troops in a short period of time.
As time went by, its troops continued to increase.
In the Tuyuan Quang area, the Wu Group was not to be outdone and wanted to take advantage of the war between the two armies.
In Gaoping, the Mo family naturally wanted to restore their country and the country, and it could be said that they were gearing up and excited.
As soon as Qin sent troops, the whole Annan was in chaos.
…
For Luzon, which is thousands of miles away, the impact of Annan's war is really not small.
The Governor of Luzon walked towards the city head and saw the prosperous Luzon City.
After years of development, Luzon City has continued to expand outwards, with a circumference of thirty miles and accommodating more than 100,000 people. It can be said to be extremely prosperous.
The sails of the ship were falling like clouds in the port, and at a glance you could not even see the edge. Workers and sailors were like ants, busy non-stop, working hard for food.
Jin Bao shook his head slightly: "Annan's food supply has always been the bulk of ours. Now that the war has started, we have to find a good home."
"Yes." The chief envoy nodded in agreement: "Qi State also has a huge demand for food. We need to find a place to buy food."
"I think the Taiwan government should have some food."
Although Luzon and Taiwan are not far apart, their positioning is very different.
Due to the Jiade Plain in Taiwan, the land is flat and fertile. Not only can sugar cane be grown, but there is also a large amount of rich land for growing grain.
Luzon is different. Due to its location in Southeast Asia, the Netherlands and Spain are hungry for tobacco, flax, spices, coffee, sugar cane and other cash crops, so Luzon gives priority to economic development.
The cultivation of a large number of cash crops has caused Luzon's import and export tariffs to continue to increase, and the Governor's Office has become increasingly wealthy.
At the same time, rice production was insufficient.
In order to feed their people, the Spanish had to bring high-yielding crops such as sweet potatoes and corn from the New World.
Then it spilled over to Ming Dynasty.
Of course, in an archipelago region like Luzon, there are more mountains than plains and less paddy fields than dry land, so it is normal for rice production to be insufficient.
The indigenous people can survive by eating bananas, but the migrating Han people cannot. They cannot survive without rice.
"Just buy more from Taiwan!"
Jinbao nodded: "When Annan is captured and Qin is unified, there will be no shortage of food."
"By the way, the food purchased will be supplied to Qi State first."
The chief envoy nodded in agreement.
The two stood on the wall and continued to look into the distance.
After a while, there was a commotion at the port. A group of officers kept driving ships away from the port, thus vacating a huge berth.
The people who were driven out complained, but there was nothing they could do about it. The police officers were like this and couldn't afford to offend them.
A quarter of an hour later, a huge sea-going ship slowly sailed into the port. It had three masts and six sails, and was one of the best in the entire dock.
"This is the latest 3,000-material ship built by the imperial court. It has 500 rooms on top, and the bottom holds gifts and supplies. It is a commercial ship specially designed to carry people."
Jin Bao sighed: "Three thousand materials are really big!"
"Why is such a big ship just transporting people?" the chief envoy asked curiously.
"How can we travel to and from the capital, as well as Luzon, Qin, Qi, etc. without a big ship?"
Goldberg still had some political thinking, and he could understand the importance of such large ships and fixed shipping routes.
The transportation between Qin, Qi, Taiwan, and the mainland basically relies on sea-going ships.
The intensification of personnel exchanges naturally enhanced the court's control.
Just like railroad tracks, with fixed routes, ships, and time constraints, people will form a habit that they cannot get rid of.
"This ship is operated by the imperial court, and private individuals can also join. The ship starts from Guangzhou, goes to Taiwan Prefecture, then to Luzon, and finally arrives in Hue."
Jin Bao said softly: "Or Guangzhou, Hue, Luzon, Taiwan, back and forth, twice a month."
"When there are more ships, it may take three days or even every day for ships to arrive in Luzon."
"This kind of public merchant ship is similar to the railway track." The chief envoy praised.
"Especially with the escort of the Nanhai Navy, the security is too high."
In fact, the escort of the Nanhai Navy is also a kind of patrol, which is nothing more than two things. Who dares to disobey the emperor's orders.
If such a route really takes shape, it will be a good thing even for senior officials like them.
After all, even as a governor, if he wants to travel to and from the mainland, he can only hire his own ship, or take a boat, which is extremely high in terms of safety and cost, and is inconvenient.
Moreover, commercial ships specially carrying people are convenient and comfortable, whether for food, drink or accommodation.
"These people are all from Qi State, please arrange them well!"
Jin Bao squinted his eyes and watched for a while, then left directly.
This is the mission of the Chief Envoy, there is no other way.
Soon, more than a thousand people disembarked from the ship, and these people were placed in a group of stilt wooden houses, where they could stay safely.
Wang Hu held his son, carried luggage on his shoulders, held the hands of his wife and children, and was driven by a group of guards to a village.
The family looked around, and the unfamiliar atmosphere made them couldn't help but tremble in their hearts.
The short clothes on his body were washed white, his long hair was so messy that it was tangled, and his eyes were full of longing and fear for the future.
"This is your residence." The officer casually ordered: "Stay here for a few days, and when you get used to it, I will take you to Qi."
"Remember, don't run around or be eaten by a snake."
The officers laughed and left immediately.
Soon, Wang Hu saw dozens of big men coming over. They were the organizers on the ship and the hosts of this immigration.
The villagers stared at them closely.
Coming to this foreign country, they had no choice.
"Everyone, please be quiet. We built this house. Each of you has a house, and it will be enough to live in."
The big man in front of him said loudly: "You all have quilts and everything. The food will be brought to you later. Make arrangements for food and drink. Wait for me to arrange it first -"
Then another big man held a booklet and counted the number of people one by one. After finding that there were no mistakes, he arranged the houses one by one.
"Wang Hu's family of four, you go to No. 156."
Immediately, a big man took the family to a stilt house.
Wang Hu took his wife and children and carefully walked into the house.
I saw only two rooms, four beds, and wooden bowls and basins on the table. The wood was fast and it looked very neat.
"Your family will stay here for ten days and a half, and when you get used to it, you can go to Qi."
The big man didn't say much and left directly.
"Master, are we going to live here?" the wife asked tremblingly.
"Live here." Wang Hu swallowed his saliva: "It's much better than our hometown, just live here."
They all come from the Yimeng Mountain area of Shandong Province. They don’t have three acres of land, they don’t have enough food and clothing, and they suffer from natural and man-made disasters. They lose everything due to a serious illness, so they have no choice but to go out and make a living.
Although it was prosperous, a flash flood swallowed up all the savings over the years. The land was gone and the house was gone. In this case, the only way out was to go to sea.
In the State of Qi, every household was rewarded with a hundred acres of land and a free house. With the endorsement of the Yamen, as victims of the disaster, they could only let it go.
