Chapter 027
Cheng Shijie naturally heard Xiaoqi's hint.
If he hadn't really been unable to tell, Cheng Shijie would have been living like a dog for so many years.
He was an official bought with money, which meant that he was equivalent to being airborne in future generations.
Since it was airborne, it must have blocked some people's way. It would be strange if people didn't resent it.
Zuo Qianhu had great ambitions to become an official, but Han Wenfei had no ambition to make progress as deputy Qianhu. This means that the person who succeeded Zuo Qianhu should come from outside Zuo Qianhu's office in Dengzhou. This is actually not difficult to guess. A transfer across a thousand households, whether it is a flat move, a left move, or a move to the Jin Dynasty, can only be a big shot in the Dengzhou Guard Commander Si Yamen.
It is said that there are three things that a new official needs to do when he takes office. In fact, is there no test?
Now comes the test.
Cheng Shijie ordered to summon the 100 households and 100 households from Zuo Qianhu Station, as well as the general banner, Xiaoqi and other officers to come to Qianhu Station for a meeting.
In the past, they would delay this order and find excuses not to come, but now with the wealthy Cheng Daqian, Qianhu built kilns to bake bricks and tiles, woodware factories, and salt factories in Qianhuzhai.
Military households who participate in the work will receive a salary of one dou of grain per day, which greatly boosts the morale of the military households in the Qianhu Station. Even in the post-autumn period, many people still come to work in the Qianhu Station.
More importantly, the two camps of Zhongzuo and Zhongbaihusuo have been completely renovated. The other camps are immediately anxious. They also want to live in new houses and live a happy life like those in Zhongzuo and Zhongbaihusuo. The little days when a child is in a hot spot.
"Greetings to Mr. Senhu!"
Cheng Shijie looked at the crowd and said: "I called everyone here today mainly because of one thing. The Commander-in-Chief ordered us at Zuo Qianhu to put down the ruthless bandit Qin Wu. What is the origin of Qin Wu? Let us all tell you! "
Zhou Yandong coughed and said, "Master Qianhu, you should have pushed this matter aside!"
"If you can push it, you can definitely push it. Isn't it impossible to push it away?"
Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "Our Qianhu Office has been busy for so long, and nearly one-third of the houses have not been repaired. If the houses are not repaired, how will we survive the winter!"
"This battle is not easy to fight!"
Zhou Yandong said: "Speaking of the fifth year of the Qin Dynasty, in fact, in the second year of Chongzhen, the world's soldiers and horses were the king of Qin. Zhejiang Dusi sent a force of soldiers and horses north to the king of Qin. After this army of the king of Qin arrived in the capital, Jiannu had already withdrawn, and the court Just order King Qin’s troops from all over the place to return!”
Cheng Shijie understood.
At that time, the court had no money. When they came to visit King Qin, local officials from various places provided food for the army for one day, but when they returned, no one took care of them. There was a situation where the army was looting the place. Some of the Zhejiang army died of illness and exhaustion on the way.
At that time, Liu Yiqing, who was the commander of the Zhejiang Army, was also a talented person. He could not raise food and could not bring the large army back to Zhejiang, so he sold part of the army to a miner in Dengzhou Prefecture and transferred about 800 Zhejiang soldiers. Sold as a mining slave. Qin Wu was a lower-level officer among the mining slaves at the time, serving as the sentry commander. Because the Jianjun army was influenced by the Qi family army, its organization was different from that of the Ming Dynasty Guards. It adopted a team of twelve people, four teams plus a deputy commander and a deputy commander, and a post of fifty people.
Digging coal in a mine is a very heavy physical job. The miners are also poorly fed and suffer heavy casualties. Unbearable, Qin Wu led the miners to riot and fled the coal mine.
This Qin Wu was very cunning. He was different from ordinary rebels who rushed to attack the state. He neither went to the county town nor the state town. Instead, he specifically selected the farms of landlords outside the city to attack.
Dengzhou Guards once sent people to encircle and suppress them, but they all failed and the losses were very heavy.
"This battle is impossible to fight!"
Zhou Yandong said: "Qin Wu has a cavalry team with about three hundred riders. We people can't withstand a round of attack. Besides, Qin Wu has captured several cannons. He wants guns and cannons." There are cannons and the equipment is better than the most elite troops of the Dengzhou Guard!"
Hundreds of other households are also trying to persuade Cheng Shijie not to fight.
Cheng Shijie's eyes glowed green. It was really hard for him now. Although they still had more than 4,000 taels of silver, they had to pay out a salary of more than 600 taels of silver every month, and they also had to prepare cotton-padded clothes for the winter. Unlike later generations, cotton clothes and cotton cloth in the Ming Dynasty were prohibitively expensive.
A soldier's cotton-padded coat, cotton shoes and overcoat would cost at least fifteen taels of silver. This was not just purchasing ready-made clothes directly, but buying cloth for uniform processing by the women of Qianhusuo. The female workers only received seven liters of grain per day, which, if converted into copper coins, was equivalent to thirty-five copper coins. However, the salary of male workers is 50. This is the result of everyone's resistance and they are determined not to allow equal pay for men and women.
Even if ordinary military households were ignored, more than 400 servants and soldiers would need more than 6,000 taels of silver. Cheng Shijie did not have much money.
If you resell crystal or steel knives, this involves a problem of scarcity and high value, and the risk is too high. Cheng Shijie does not want to destroy the market for crystal glass products in Dengzhou. This is just like the diamond market in later generations. Diamond production can be increased a hundred times. Once the production is too high, the diamond market will collapse.
A man is not rich without windfall, and a horse is not fat without night grass.
Cheng Shijie's troops did not have long training time, so they could practice with this group of bandits.
This is not the most critical issue. The most critical issue is that Cheng Shijie took a fancy to Qin Wu's savings over the past two years. With Qin Wu's reputation, he should have robbed a lot of money.
"Where is Qin Wu's lair, does anyone know?"
"It's not a secret!"
Zhou Yandong said: "It's in Linglong Mountain in Huang County, but it has rolling hills and crisscrossed ravines, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The last time Dengzhou Guards' 5,000-strong army was not defeated..."
"That's it. After everyone goes back, harvest the military fields in their respective 100-household offices and put them into warehouses as soon as possible!"
"But there is a severe drought this year and the food harvest is almost gone!"
"If you can, take it as little as possible. Anyway, no matter how small the mosquitoes are, they are still meat!"
As hundreds of households left.
Song Kangnian looked at Cheng Shijie and said with a faint smile: "Master Qianhu, are you worried about how to deal with the ruthless bandit Qin Wu?"
Cheng Shijie said calmly: "If you have something to say, just say it, if you have something to say, just fart!"
Song Kangnian looked at Cheng Shijie with some surprise: "Why is Mr. Qianhu so vulgar?"
"I was a rough person, but now I'm better and I don't pretend anymore!"
Cheng Shijie looked at Song Kangnian and said, "Does Mr. Song have three options for Cheng to choose from?"
"Well……"
Song Kangnian was slightly startled: "Master Qianhu can read minds?"
"You can't read minds, I've seen a lot of people like you!"
Cheng Shijie stood up and prepared to leave.
Song Kangnian said: "I said, I said..."
…
After Cheng Shijie received the order, the entire Qianhu Station was still the same. Those who should be busy with the autumn harvest were busy with the autumn harvest, those who should be repairing the houses were repairing the houses, and those who should be training were still training.
Before routine training, Cheng Shijie still gave training.
"I can tell you some good news today. The collective bathhouse built by this thousand households has been completed. Everyone can take a free hot bath tonight!"
The servants and soldiers were very happy. In fact, no one wanted to be sloppy, but bathing was okay in summer, but it was a very luxury in winter.
You can take a hot bath to relieve fatigue, which has many benefits. But in many cases, conditions do not allow it.
Cheng Shijie said: "The second thing is that we are planning to set up a primary school in Qianhu House. All your relatives or your own children can be sent to the school. There is only one teacher in the school for the time being!"
In fact, Cheng Shijie didn't think too much at this time. I just wanted to find something for Song Kangnian to do, so that he wouldn't have to pretend to be a ghost.
However, Cheng Shijie ignored the desire for knowledge in the late Ming Dynasty. Children of military households have been military households for generations, but there is only one exception, and that is to participate in the imperial examination. Many high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the Ming Dynasty came from military families, including Zhang Juzheng, Hai Rui, and Yuan Keli.
I pity the hearts of parents in the world.
"Sir Qianhu, is it really free to have a school?"
Cheng Shijie asked: "Do you have money?"
"No!"
"Isn't that right? Since everyone has no money, naturally I won't accept any money from you, and I won't accept it from you either!"
Everyone laughed, and many laughed until they shed tears.
Who doesn’t want their children to read? It’s just that studying costs a lot of money, paper, pen and ink, studying abroad, buying books, and paying your husband a lot of money. In addition, there are very few schools. They are either official schools or private schools run by landlords and gentry, which only admit children of the clan. The poor cannot enjoy it.
It can be said that the right to read and write has been monopolized by the rich, and the poor can only drool.
Cheng Shijie wanted to open a primary school. In Song Kangnian's opinion, Cheng Shijie was building a talent reserve to wait for the right time. As long as the opportunity comes, Cheng Shijie will soar into the sky.
Just when the troops were training.
A huge convoy appeared in front of the north gate of Zuoqianhusuo. The entire convoy contained more than a hundred large vehicles. Looking at the ruts made by the wheels on the ground, it was obvious that they were loaded with heavy objects.
The soldier guarding the city gate asked: "What is this!"
"The grain purchased by Mr. Qianhu. Official, this is the voucher, please take a look at it!"
"Let go!"
Pedestrians and military households were also talking about it.
"Hey, have you heard? Master Qianhu is buying food again!"
"The densely packed carts are filled with grain, and the warehouse is almost full!"
"What are you buying so much food for?"
"Eat, you idiot!"
The peasants in these convoys put the grain in the warehouse of Qianhusuo and then left, almost every day.
After five consecutive days, it finally attracted the attention of interested people.
…
Huang County, Linglong Mountain.
A fast horse broke through the tranquility of the morning.
"A certain person wants to see the boss and has important information!"
Qin Wu looked at the detailed work in front of him: "Did you see it clearly?"
"It's really true. In order to prevent it from being fake, I even went to take a closer look!"
"Master, is there something fishy?"
Qin Wu was still hesitating.
"They said they have ordered Zuo Qianhu Station to attack us...are they buying food at this time?"
