Chapter 016 The first fire is burning brightly
Zuo Qiansuo of Dengzhou Guard, Zhongbaihu, can also be represented as the guard company of the battalion commander Qianhu. The original Baihu official was Gao Wang's nephew Gao Yuan. When he resigned, Gao Yuan also followed him, accompanied by more than 20 of Gao Wang's servants.
Cheng Shijie knew very well the responsibilities and responsibilities of Zhongbaihu. He then looked at Shen Mingyu and said, "Mingyu, you come to be the official of this Baihu."
"Thank you, my boss, thank you Qianhu!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Let Qian Shu come over!"
Qian Shu was in charge of Qianhu's field work and military training, and he could also be regarded as the deputy of Qianhu. Theoretically, Dengzhou Weizuo Qianhu should have a deputy Qianhu, but the predecessor Qianhu Gaowang was very strong. Han Wenfei, the hereditary deputy Qianhu who was over sixty years old, had been ill for half a year. Even if Cheng Shijie, the new Qianhu, took office, he still did not come.
As the saying goes, if there is no desire, there is no need. As long as he does not want to take power or do things, Cheng Shijie has no way to deal with him. Promotion or punishment at the level of Deputy Qianhu is no longer the responsibility of Cheng Shijie, a Qianhu. Of course, Cheng Shijie has the right to make suggestions to the command department, but he has no right to dispose of them.
The current Qian Shu is called Zhang Ruyi. He is a skinny little old man, similar to Shen Mingyu back then. Cheng Shijie can't tell his age from his appearance.
Liu Mingyu met a lot of people during this period. Except at the Dengzhou Guard Command and Envoy Office, he saw more than a dozen fat men with faces full of collagen.
"I humbly ask Zhang Ruyi to pay my respects to Lord Qianhu!"
"Zhang Ruyi, please introduce the situation of Zuo Qianhu to this Qianhu!"
"yes!"
Zhang Ruyi's eloquence is pretty good, and he could explain Zuo Qianhu's basic situation clearly in just a few words.
Zuoqianhusuo currently has 7,485 households, all of which are military households, with a total of 14,857 people, belonging to ten 100-household substations.
Cheng Shijie said in surprise: "So many people?"
In fact, Cheng Shijie thought that a thousand households had 1,120 people, but he never imagined that the population was more than ten times larger.
"Master Qianhu doesn't know something. When Zuo Qianhu had the largest population, it was during the Jiajing Dynasty. There were more than 54,000 people in the entire Qianhu."
"So, there are more than 30,000 people missing? Where are the people?"
"Some have died, and some have escaped. The weather is dry today, and the food harvest in our Qianhushao will be short again. I don't know how many people will starve to death!"
"How much military land does Senhuwei have?"
Zhang Ruyi turned around and went out, and after a while he brought over a huge box: "It's all here. There are more than 23,000 acres of military land in total, and the average person has less than two acres of land. It is all bad land."
Cheng Shijie also lamented that Zhu Yuanzhang established the guard station system with the original intention of hiding soldiers among the people, allowing each guard station to train while engaged in production. If you pick up a hoe, you will be a farmer, and if you pick up a weapon, you will be a soldier. They are self-sufficient, without affecting the national defense strength. At the same time, more land is opened up to increase food harvests.
His intentions were good, and for this reason, he set a death rule. Once he joined the military, his descendants would also have military membership. Those who escaped from the guard house would have their ears and nose cut off at the least, or beheaded at the worst! At the beginning, the guard system indeed played a huge role. Not only did it make a huge contribution to maintaining local public security, but it also handed over tens of millions of dans of grain to the state treasury every year. At the most, in the Yongle Dynasty, all the guard posts in the Ming Dynasty could be used by the imperial court. Provided tax revenue of more than 23 million shi of grain.
These achievements proved that Zhu Yuanzhang was right. Unfortunately, he did not realize that nothing remained unchanged. When the two strong men Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di fell, everything slowly changed.
The military fields of the guard station were gradually occupied and encroached by local gentry and generals. The soldiers of the guard station cultivated less and less land and shouldered more and more heavy taxes and corvees. They were overwhelmed and eventually fled one after another in order to occupy the land. In more military fields, guard generals even encouraged or forced soldiers to flee.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the guard station had completely lost its original function. Not only was there no more grain to hand over to the state treasury, but the state also had to allocate a large amount of money and food to feed the millions of vulnerable officers and soldiers of the guard station.
Cheng Shijie has now become a landlord, and he owns more than 23,000 acres of land. He looked at Zhang Ruyi and said, "How much food does Qianhuxu have now?"
"There is no food. Last year's autumn harvest has already been sold out by Gao Qianhu! Even rats are not willing to enter the current grain depot!"
"Why is there no food?"
Cheng Shijie felt that Gao Wang was really a pig. There had been droughts for years, so why didn't he stock up on food?
Zhang Ruyi smiled bitterly and said: "After the autumn, thousands of households in Gao sold their grain, leaving only two to three hundred kilograms of grain for each military household. How can this little grain be enough? Everyone is saving desperately, and only needs Just one meal, one of wild vegetables and one of multi-grain porridge, is still not enough. There is still nearly a month until the autumn harvest, and more than 20 people have already starved to death. I don’t know how many more people will starve to death!"
Plans can never keep up with changes. Cheng Shijie was originally planning to retire while Gao Wang was high. This bastard took everything Zuo Qianhu could take away. He spent his own money to buy some food, which could win people's hearts.
The best rice grain in Dengzhou now only costs five taels of silver. Even if each person is given one stone of grain, it would cost 500 taels of silver, which Cheng Shijie can afford.
But the problem is that there are more than 14,800 Zuoqian households, which means that if each person is given one stone of grain, it will require three thousand taels of silver.
Thinking of this, Cheng Shijie became angry: "Gao Wang, this bastard!"
Cheng Shijie looked at Zhang Ruyi and said, "Don't we have anyone from Zuo Qianhu who is more capable of fighting?"
Zhang Ruyi asked in confusion: "What does Master Qianhu mean..."
"There are only a few dozen people in the Zhongbaihu Office now. This Thousand Households Department must draw elites from all the Thousand Household Offices to enrich the Zhongbaihu Office!"
"Master Qianhu wants to recruit servants?"
"That's right!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Notice, this thousand households will recruit servants and soldiers, provide enough food every day, and pay one tael of silver every month!"
"yes!"
After Zhang Ruyi left, Song Kangnian smiled: "Master Qianhu wants to..."
"If we don't kill this bastard Gao Wang, this thousand households will have trouble sleeping and eating!"
Cheng Shijie has always lived a cautious and humble life. But when he saw the situation in Zuoqianhu Station in Dengzhou, he felt as if he was in an ice cellar.
An army was raised like beggars. Looking at the soldiers with lifeless faces, it was really miserable. There was not a single piece of iron armor in the entire Qianhu household, and there were only less than fifty rusty firecrackers. These firecrackers were still alive. I don't know if it can be fought. More than half of the soldiers in Qianhusuo don't even have a pair of decent pants.
Such an army may not be able to take advantage of the refugees. Can we blame the soldiers for not being brave?
Can you blame the soldiers for not being loyal to the emperor and the country?
It's all bullshit. It would be damning if such an army could win the war. However, the problem is that the Ming Dynasty relied on these armies to last from the Wanli year to the 17th year of Chongzhen, suffering from internal and external troubles, natural and man-made disasters.
When Cheng Shijie sent people to inform all the elites of Qianhu Station that he was recruiting servants, he also asked people to cook in Qianhu House. Even if Qianhu House could accommodate hundreds of people, it would not be a problem, so the three kitchens were very large.
Soldiers from hundreds of households were gathered together and asked to cook, which meant washing the rice and putting it in a pot to make porridge. They also threw radishes, dried meat, salt and vegetables into the pot.
The aroma of food soon emerged from more than thirty large pots, and these young men, who were already hungry, were looking forward to it.
As night approaches, the gates of Qianhuzhai are crowded with elites who come forward.
Shen Mingyu stood at the door with a Tang straight knife hanging on his waist.
"Would you like to have a full meal?"
"think!"
"Qianhu-sama doesn't raise waste. If you want to have enough to eat, let's see if you have the ability!"
A tall man walked over. He had thick bones and joints and well-developed muscles. He looked very strong, but in fact this was just an illusion. This is a laborer who carries bags at the dock. Carrying bags is very hard. The heavy physical labor has built a strong body for them, but due to insufficient nutrition, their essence and blood will soon be drained. , at most they start to bend over in their thirties, and their vitality is exhausted around the age of forty. Those who live to fifty are considered old, and those who live to sixty are called old people.
Shen Mingyu suddenly raised his leg and kicked towards the strong man.
The strong man received a hard kick and his body only swayed, but he did not take a step back.
"Okay, you count as one, come in and eat!"
The man said: "I'm so full!"
"Every spittle brings a nail!"
"I have a big appetite!"
"Eat whatever you want, be careful not to get stuffed to death!"
The strong man raised his legs and entered Qianhu House.
"Who else?"
