"Go...go...go, Nobo, haven't you heard about Gang? The Chinese army has only been in Burma for less than three years. How dare you break away from slavery like this? Be careful that Mr. Mambo Gang comes back to steal you." Skin." The village chief warned the person who asked the question with disgust.
"Yes, no matter how powerful the Chinese army is, they are only in Burma for a while. When the time comes, they will leave..." Thinking of this, Nuobo's expression also darkened.
Seeing this, Song Qingquan turned to the translator on the right and asked: "Brother Wu, what did they say just now?"
After the translator roughly described the situation just now, Song Qingquan turned to the slave Nuobo and said: "Actually, you don't have to worry about this. As long as you assist our army in the war in Myanmar, you will be related to our army. , with our army as your support, who will dare to treat you as a slave then?"
Hearing this, Nuobo, who had originally turned gloomy, regained his excited expression: "Sir, can my family be freed from slavery by then?"
"This is a natural thing. If you can join the Burmese army organized by our army, you can exchange military merit for fields. It is not impossible to become a rich man after you retire." Song Qingquan showed a faint smile. said.
"Okay, sir, where can I join? See if I can do it." Nuobo asked excitedly.
"Don't worry about this. You can try it at the Myanmar Army recruitment point of our army in the county. Generally speaking, if you have a strong will and pass the physical fitness, there will be no problem." Song Qingquan introduced.
"yes…"
Just when Nuobo was about to continue talking, someone interrupted him loudly and asked Song Qingquan: "Sir, you just said that slaves can apply for two acres of land from you, right? ?”
"Yes..." Song Qingquan answered him without thinking it was evil.
"I'm not a slave, but my family doesn't even have two acres of land, so I live by renting other people's fields. Can I also apply for a field?" the speaker continued to ask.
"Yeah, my family is too..."
"My family is not the same. It would be great if we had our own fields..."
…
For a moment, the crowd started talking.
"Well, during my pilgrimage, I never thought that the Burmese people who were not slaves would not have their own land. You know, the people there have at least five acres of land per household or more, so we have never thought about your situation. ." Song Qingquan replied.
"Five acres, are all the people in China so rich?"
“Oh my gosh, five acres of land, it would be great if I had five acres of my own.”
"Five acres, land without paying rent, I guess I would wake up laughing in my dreams..."
As soon as Song Qingquan's words were translated, the crowd started talking heatedly again.
At this time, Song Qingquan continued to say: "However, we also know your current situation. We have also requested my pilgrimage to allow you to make up for two acres per household if your family's land is less than two acres.
"Of course, this land cannot be given for free. You also need to help us do some work within your ability, such as building houses to house the old, weak, women and children in Myanmar who were harmed by the Burmese army. There is no problem with this!"
"No, no, this is also doing a good deed and helping the Burmese people." The crowd expressed their opinions one after another.
"Sir, two acres per household is a bit too little. Can we divide it more?" It seems that Song Qingquan people are easy to talk to, and some people began to ask unsatisfiedly.
"Well, it's not impossible. If you can join the Burmese army as auxiliaries, assist in transporting military rations and ensuring logistics, after the war is over, in addition to a certain salary, you can also get five acres of land. Of course, if you can If you join the Burmese soldiers, you will receive more salary and more land. When the war is over, it is not impossible to get more than ten or twenty acres of land." Song Qingquan seemed to have found the same feeling as before, no matter where he was, the nature of his work Pretty much the same.
Influenced by farming culture, Myanmar people’s desire for land is no less than that of China.
"Sir, how much is the salary of an auxiliary soldier? Is it high?" Someone couldn't bear the temptation and asked.
"If I remember correctly, the salary of the auxiliary soldiers is six cents of silver per month." Song Qingquan replied.
"How much is six cents of silver?" someone in the crowd asked the person next to him.
"I don't know, I rarely even touch copper coins, let alone silver." The person who was asked also replied with a blank look on his face.
"That's a lot of money, probably more than 800 to 900 yuan!" At this time, the person behind the man answered him instead.
"With more than 800 yuan, you can marry a wife." After hearing this, the eyes of the person who asked the question seemed to shine.
"The salary of the auxiliary soldiers is so high, so the combat soldiers..."
"Sir, how much is the salary of the soldiers?" At this time, another voice asked.
"For combat soldiers, the basic salary is one, two or three cents of silver per month. If you kill the enemy and perform meritorious service, you can get additional rewards. But you also know that combat soldiers are very dangerous." Song seemed to expect that someone would ask this question. Qingquan answered very simply.
"suck…"
Hearing this, many villagers couldn't help but take a few deep breaths, and their eyes gradually lit up. As for Song Qingquan's last sentence, he couldn't listen to it at all.
"It is indeed a wealthy kingdom. This salary is enough to work hard even if there is no land, let alone land to share?" At this moment, most of the young men were gearing up, wishing they could become soldiers immediately.
………
In mid-September of the second year of Tianzhi (the 23rd year of Qianlong)
The number of Burmese troops recruited by the Yi Dynasty in Myanmar increased from a few to dozens, then to hundreds to thousands, and now it is approaching tens of thousands.
Looking at the continuous stream of Burmese people who come to ask to join the army, the recruitment office has repeatedly raised the recruitment conditions but still failed to curb this strong momentum. So the person in charge of the recruitment office had no choice but to write a memorial and hurry up to ask Zhang Rui what should be done next.
After receiving the memorial, Zhang Ruifei did not feel any pressure. Instead, he said with a smile on his face: "Yong Jiya, if you compare me to burning money, you will definitely lose. And what I am burning is your Burmese money and food. See what you can do." What kind of courage do you have to fight with me? If you can't burn me, then I won't be polite to Myanmar."
With a stroke of his pen, Zhang Rui wrote: "First expand the army by 30,000."
Note ①: During the Qianlong period, one tael of silver could be exchanged for between 1,000 and 1,200 copper coins in peacetime. However, if there is a natural disaster or war, the conversion will fluctuate greatly. For example, during the Kangxi Rebellion, one tael of silver could be exchanged for more than 1,700 yuan; during the Daoguang Opium War, one tael could be exchanged for more than 1,800 yuan. arts. Considering the poverty of the area in Myanmar and the depreciation of Myanmar's copper coins, I exchanged one tael for 1,800 yuan.
