The Sakai family burst into tears when they saw the scene of these old military families of the Ming Dynasty being adopted.
Because Ieji Sakai thought of the situation when his family was a low-level samurai and was treated poorly, with only quilts, pots, and stones at home.
According to historical records, the reason why poor Japanese samurai kept stones in their homes was because they could sweat out the cold by lifting the stones in the cold winter.
In short, this is all related to the reduction of expenditures by many daimyo, resulting in the decline of the treatment of low-level samurai.
"They treat those who serve you more favorably than we do!"
Sakai Ieji also thought of this situation in his family's past, and was touched by the scene in front of him, and said this with tears in his eyes.
Masuda Nagamori knew the Ming Dynasty better and said:
"They weren't like this before. As far as I know, most of the time in this country, they look down on their own warriors, and they are not as good as us when it comes to focusing on martial arts!"
"It's just that things have changed since the current emperor came to the throne, but it still surprises me that they still care about the life and death of the old warriors and return them silver coins."
"This shows that the Ming Emperor is truly a benevolent king! He must have put in a lot of effort to make these people who are no longer useful to the empire live like human beings!"
"I really want to be his warrior now!"
"Because he didn't treat warriors like weapons, just throw them away when they get old, regardless of whether they live or die."
Masuda Nagamori couldn't help but say a few more words.
Sakai Ietsugu murmured at this time: "When will we be able to reward the old samurai who have dedicated their lives to their lord like the Ming Dynasty? How can we be forced to become ronin or even starve alive?" die?"
When Masuda Nagamori and Sakai Ieji were sighing at the scene in front of them of the old soldier of the Xiaoling Guard receiving the old silver, they also looked at the old soldier of the Xiaoling Guard who was adopting the old silver and listened to the subordinate secretary reciting the contents of the imperial edict over and over again. The military households were all overjoyed.
Some asked with disbelief, others praised the Emperor on the spot, and many even knelt down spontaneously, looking north and bowing in tears.
"Wu Chong, the guard of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, thanks the Emperor and wishes the Emperor long live!"
Wu Chong, the second son of Wu Yu, the former Xiaoling Guard Baihu, was receiving the pension money and thanking the imperial edict. He knelt down and kowtowed several times.
Because Wu Chongzheng was worried that because he was over sixty, the court did not provide any more subsidies, and his grandson happened to be sick at this time, and he had no money to treat him, so he could only go to the temple to pray to the Bodhisattva. Now he has received a pension fund, and I heard that Every year I get pension money, so I am naturally grateful. Just as I bow to the Bodhisattva with great piety, I will bow to the Huanghuang Holy Edict with as much piety as I do.
Although the Ming Dynasty has implemented new rituals and abolished many kneeling rituals, customs cannot be changed overnight.
For ordinary soldiers and civilians, kneeling has become a way of expressing respect that they have long been accustomed to, so it is difficult to change it for a while.
After all, they kneel when praying to Bodhisattvas and kneel when praying to ancestors.
In any case, Wu Chong's kneeling at this time was because he sincerely wanted to kneel. If he was not forced by the king's courtesy, he could be considered kneeling without servility.
At this time, Wu Chong shouted his name and identity loudly to the imperial edict, which could be regarded as expressing a sense of honor.
It was obvious that he still recognized his identity as a veteran soldier of Xiaoling Guard.
Even though the imperial court had not been so kind to military households like them before, he was still very proud of his ancestors who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to drive out the Tartars, restore the Han family, establish the Ming Dynasty, and then become a military household of Xiaoling Guard.
"Zhang Huan, the guard of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, thanks the Emperor and wishes the Emperor long live!"
"Cheng Defu, the guard of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, thanks the Emperor and wishes the Emperor long live!"
…
When Wu Chong shouted, several old military households who still had a sense of honor started shouting after him.
In the past, other military households would have thought it was ridiculous that they thought they were glorious mentally but were not actually regarded as individuals by the court.
But now no military household is laughing at them.
Because now the imperial decree does say that their contributions are worthy of being remembered by the country and the nation, and also by the emperor, so they choose to treat them preferentially and regard them as precious.
Therefore, not only did the military households not laugh at these people who seemed to be easily moved, but they also felt a little ripple in their hearts. They gradually straightened their backs and began to have some sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty established by their ancestors. Some want to follow suit.
Even Ying Tianxun and Liu Fangyu didn't laugh at these veteran military households.
He also did not draw a clear line between himself and these old military households just because he had passed the imperial examination and became a member of the scholar-bureaucrat class, but believed that these old military households were not as noble as himself.
Now, because of the emperor's military reform, he began to accept his military status, and he did not draw a clear line with these old military households. He even watched all this with a tearful smile and some empathy.
Then, he looked into the distance, as if he also saw the glorious scene in the past when his ancestors carried out the Northern Expedition to eliminate the evil smell of the Central Plains.
At this time, the red sun was hanging high in the distance, and the sky was filled with glow.
"It's not too late for Sang Yu, it's not too late to start your army now."
Liu Fangyu started talking to himself again.
"Lao Mei, tell me, it would be great if the imperial court had such a high-quality army as early as the beginning of the country. There were still many military households at that time, many of them were veterans who were good at fighting. Maybe they wouldn't have fled and become slaves of wealthy families. The territory might even be larger than that of Meng Yuan?"
Regarding Zhu Yijun's reform of the military system, improving the status of military households, and giving preferential treatment to military households, Mei Shi, the commander of the Xiaoling Guard, and Xiao Gang, the commander of the Xiaoling Guard, responded that after the pension was distributed and the patrol ended, they They found a place to drink, and it seemed that only a drink could be worthy of their current mood.
At this moment, Xiao Gang couldn't help but asked Mei Shi drunkenly.
Mei Shi smiled bitterly and picked up a bowl of wine, drank it all in one gulp, then slapped the bowl on the table and said:
"That's right!"
"I don't know if Uncle Chengyi (Liu Bowen) proposed the Military and Defense Law to Taizu. He only told Taizu about the benefits of cultivating troops in the fields, but did not tell him that if the Military and Defense Law is not bad, the army must be allowed to do so. Are military households in Wei more expensive than civilian households? That’s why we didn’t do this in the first place!”
"Anyway, the consequence of not doing this at that time was that as time went by, no one was willing to farm and work hard."
"In any case, His Majesty is a sensible person now. He knows that he cannot let his sword become rusty and dull, and must smelt and pour iron frequently."
Xiao Gang said, covering his face, twitching twice, and asked: "With your Majesty's decree, will the civil servants in Nandu City not dare to ridicule us casually?"
Mei Shi nodded, hiccupped and smiled: "Of course!"
"Being both civilized and military is the way to be noble. You must follow your husband to study well and become literate. You must not be blind."
Liu Fangyu and other apostles continued to carry out the national policy of military reform in accordance with the imperial edict. Therefore, the next day, he came to the newly established social school of Xiaolingwei to advise the children of a group of military families to behave well. Reading, and conveyed to them the emperor's expectations for them and his grace in their studies.
Zhu Yijun is now extending his grace to gentrify military households and build his own power base. Essentially, it is because the court is richer that he has such capital.
There are emperors in history who have tried such efforts, but Zhu Yijun was not the only one, but he did not succeed.
Zhu Yijun's success now is actually mainly because he is not only Guijun, but he also made the cake bigger before Guijun.
The first is external expansion, and the second is internal reforms with the help of Zhang Juzheng and others, which releases a lot of productive forces and keeps social wealth increasing.
Therefore, he can successfully conquer the army.
Otherwise, if Zhu Yijun rashly invests in the army without increasing social wealth, although the status of military households will be improved, civilian households will suffer greater losses due to greater financial pressure, which will in turn make farmers Uprisings occurred frequently.
It is precisely because Zhu Yijun first increased social wealth, and then permanently exempted corvees and various miscellaneous taxes, that the people of the world actually lived more like individuals than before. Therefore, Zhu Yijun's army is now relatively smooth, and not many people are passing through. They resisted in the form of an uprising, and thus did not give any excuse to some scholar-officials who opposed this reform.
While Liu Fangyu and others were implementing the national policy of military reform, Masuda Nagamori, Sakai Ieji and his party continued to take a boat north along the Qinhuai River to Nanjing.
And they also saw the scene where the people of Ming Dynasty also lived a prosperous and comfortable life on the road.
"Suddenly spring is weak, plum blossoms are flying like snow."
"Who can be thousands of miles away and hear the flute without thinking of returning home?"
On this day, Masuda Changsheng was on the outskirts of Nandu when he saw a group of half-grown teenagers singing and reciting poems near the water to show their elegance. When they were happy, they poured wine into the river.
While listening to these young scholars reciting poems, he smiled at Sakai Ieji and said, "The people of the Ming Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty were really rich! Otherwise, they wouldn't be so leisurely."
"That's right, look there."
Sakai Ieji pointed to the shore as he spoke. Masuda Nagamori then saw someone on the shore dancing swords in the market to entertain the people. There were many people watching, and they seemed to be fine. Some of them were holding dogs or holding cats.
"It's really idle. Don't these people farm and weave?"
Masuda Nagamori couldn't help but say something, and then he heard the sound of singing again.
Then, he saw a woodcutter playing a flute in a pavilion while unloading a load of firewood, a vendor playing the piano, and tea drinkers listening to a book by the fire. He couldn't help but ask in Chinese about the boat that carried him. Here comes the boatman of these people:
"Boatman, why are the people of your country so idle?"
"Because the Emperor is good! He has issued an edict to exempt people from corvee forever. Especially after the Emperor's Western Tour last year severely punished the evil officials and evil gentry who did not comply with the decree to implement the exemption of corvee, no government tycoon dared to enslave the people casually, and among the people, there was no sense of wealth. Or if you don’t want to work hard, you don’t have to work too hard. If you earn enough to support your family, you don’t have to tire yourself anymore, and you will naturally be free.”
"And don't look at how many people are free now. If you don't weave in the fields, you will save more money than before!"
"Who knows, there is so much food shipped from overseas, and so much cotton is manufactured by big machines in the mainland. Food and clothing are not expensive, and you don't have to pay dingyin. Land rent has also dropped a lot, so it's not like that. More generous than before when I was tired."
"I've finally discovered that this kind of money can't be saved through hard work. It only comes at a good time."
The boatman started singing happily as he spoke.
"Looking across the river at my sister in blue, waving to my brother and nodding my head; turning my brother into a little eel, swimming across the river to entangle my sister..."
(End of chapter)
