Great time travel

Chapter 10, 27 Moments in the Four Years of Chongzhen ([-])

The Tenth Moment: The Confusion of a Rookie in the Countryside

The northern border of the Ming Empire adjacent to the grassland, Xuanfu Town, Huailong Road East Road, Baoan Prefecture, Shunxiang Fort
A round of setting sun slanted in the sky, sprinkled the blood-like sunset glow on the vast land, and all that could be seen was a desolate and desolate scene - the canals were dried up, the seedlings were withered, and yellow and dead crops could be seen everywhere; sporadic There are emaciated children and ragged women who toil in the fields to eke out a living, but the harvest in these disaster years is not even enough to meet their basic needs of food and clothing.

As a border town adjacent to the grassland, the yield per mu of Xuanfu Town could not be compared with that of the mainland, but there are a lot of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. According to the absurd system formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang, the guards of the Ming Dynasty generally have to support themselves For myself, every year I have to pay for the farmland, but even the land itself has been snatched away by the landlords and gentry. I often have to pay the land tax when I don’t have any land, and my life is worse than that of ordinary people. There is no way for those landless military households to hand over their land tax out of nothing. If they are forced to do so, they will only provoke a mutiny, but they will still receive nothing, and it may cost their own lives. So the usual practice is to Such arrears have been accumulated year after year, and it has become a bad debt since then).Coupled with the burning, killing and looting of bandits and bandits, the Houjin army and the Mongols, and the even more terrible years of drought, all the soldiers and civilians are struggling on the verge of death. The acquiescence and distribution of fat are the helplessness for maintaining survival.

The cold wind from the Mongolian plateau is always mixed with countless fine sand and gravel, blowing people as if they are about to crack their skin.Facing the wind and sand blowing from the northern desert, Wang Dou, the commander of Shun Township (defense officer) who had just led his troops to repel a group of rogues, led a group of soldiers who were tired and haggard despite their bright armor, There were also several mule carts carrying trophies, walking silently on a road overgrown with grass.

Stepping on the withered grass and yellow sand everywhere, looking towards both sides of this road, Dongjiazhuang and Xinzhuang, which were forced to evacuate the people and burnt down voluntarily when the Tartars invaded last year, are still in ruins, unable to be repaired at all. You can also see some dead bones that have not been buried here and there.There is also Jingbian Fort, the old village of Wang Dou before he took over Shunxiang Fort as the defense officer. It was built brick by brick and led by Wang Dou himself. I remember raising a lot of pigs and sheep and digging fish ponds. , Construction of irrigation channels, spent countless painstaking efforts... But now they are all destroyed in the continuous flames of war...

——As a traverser who has lighted up his military skills and possessed a talent for war, Wang Dou has fought bravely in the past two years, and his victories are enough to boast in front of the world.But there are so many enemies he has to deal with: after the battle, the Golden Army and the Mongolian Horse Bandits, and after the Mongolian Horse Bandits, there are Mainland Bandits—the Shaanxi Peasant Army, which will sweep the world in the future, will come from time to time in the past two years Go around the Xuan Mansion!

Indeed, the border town of Xuanfu has always been barren, far less prosperous than the Central Plains, and there are not many goods to grab.However, the military households here have been neighbors of the Tartars for generations, and most of them are young and strong, and they are more capable of fighting than those peasants who have just put down their hoes in the interior. Therefore, it has become an excellent place for recruiting soldiers in the eyes of various bandit leaders... If only It was some poor military households who couldn't bear the hardships and turned to the bandits. Perhaps Wang Dou thought that they had nothing to do with himself, and he had the right to think that they were going to "work" in other places.But the problem is, every time any group of mainland rogues come to Xuanfu to recruit people, they never forget to ruin the place by the way...

Although human life is as tenacious as weeds in troubled times, as long as the ground is quiet, the refugees will naturally return to their hometowns, but even if the whole family is safe and sound, they can only starve to death after returning. During the years, the military disasters spread, and there were repeated chaos. The cattle, donkeys and mules of the rural people were killed and robbed, the houses were burned, and the property was naturally lost.Even if these penniless people escaped the massacre and kidnapping and returned to the village safely, they have neither farm tools, livestock, nor seeds and food. If there is no relief from the government, they will not be able to make it to the next grain harvest.

However, during the reign of Chongzhen, how could the Ming court, which suffered from all kinds of terminal symptoms, still be able to help the people?Even though the emperor was not deceived and the cabinet had the intention to deal with the aftermath, judging from the current state of the Beijing imperial court with fires in all directions and smoke everywhere, even if there is some relief, it will be a drop in the bucket.

——In front of you are the fierce and fierce Tartars, and behind you are endless bandits. In such a desperate situation, it is the limit for Wang Dou to barely survive.

When wars and disasters continued on the earth, the God of the Little Ice Age did not forget to bring all kinds of bad luck to the people of Xuanfu: drought, locust plague, and sandstorms came one after another.The young and strong men in the frontier had suffered heavy casualties during the southern invasion of the Tartars and the poisoning of the bandits. Many fields could only be cultivated by the elderly, women and children. It's not bad if there is no harvest like in northern Shaanxi!

However, the imperial court continued to press for taxes regardless of the life and death of the people. Even in such a catastrophic year, they still refused to reduce or exempt them...

Alas, if I want to save this desperate era with my own power, even if I just want to save the people around me, it is really too difficult.

Thinking of this, Wang Dou couldn't help but sighed melancholy, and turned to look at the soldiers following behind him.There was a silent cry of helplessness in my heart.

Everything is difficult!
——Although as Wang Dou's biggest capital to settle down in troubled times, the Shun Township Army he built with his own hands has withstood the test of various enemies. Said to be the first-class elite soldiers in Xuanfu.But no matter how tough and capable the army is, at least it needs enough food and clothing to fight... However, his Shunxiang army is not the Guanning army in western Liaoning. Bring your own food, fodder and weapons to fight, and occasionally you can get some relief from above.

Therefore, Wang Dou's Shunxiang army not only had to be self-reliant, but even had to pay all kinds of exorbitant taxes to the top, which is really unreasonable!
However, even though he was in such a predicament, Wang Dou didn't want to rebel for the time being. Although the Ming Dynasty had shown signs of terminal illness, it was still a colossal monster. There was only a three-point chance of rebellion, but it was close to death... Being a bandit The survival rate is obviously not as high as that of the official army.

sex

However, the expenses needed to support Wang Dou's elite soldiers must not be counted on the yellow and dry crops in the field alone, and it is impossible to allocate much money from above.The border town is full of wars, and Wang Dou can hardly do business if he wants to do business. Even the treasonous business of "Tongta" is divided and monopolized by several Shanxi merchants, and outsiders can't get in at all.And Xuan Mansion does not rely on canals and seas, so it is extremely difficult to develop business.

At present, the only hope that Wangdou and Shunxiangbao can get rid of the financial crisis is the silver mine buried underground - just in the territory of Baoan Prefecture in Xuanfu, and in the place of Zhuolu County in later generations, there is the glorious Xiangguang Silver Mine The total reserves of the Shangjinggou silver mine in Heluanzhuang are said to be close to [-] tons.

Wang Dou had sent someone to look at them before, and these places are still deserted, and no one knows about the silver mines, so in the process of enclosing those two places to open silver mines, there are no obstacles for the time being.But the problem is, not to mention waiting until the silver mines are opened, with Wang Dou's status and background, he may not be able to keep this source of wealth under the ingenious plunder of various dignitaries and officials.Even the mining itself is unpredictable—those silver mines are not open-pit rich mines, and the mining cost is extremely high. Not only does it need to dig a deep well of at least ten feet, but even after the mine is mined, the ore needs to be removed first. It is pounded very finely with a pestle, and then put into a large bucket with water and stirred hundreds of times. The essence of the ore meat is selected, and finally it can be put into the silver furnace for smelting, and the "ash blowing method" is used to purify the pure silver... The manpower and material resources consumed during this period can be reduced It's not a small amount, and mining also requires a lot of strong labor. For Shunxiangbao, which has lost a large number of strong men due to military disasters, it is almost tantamount to worsening the situation.

Fortunately, several groups of refugees have recently poured into Baoan Prefecture. Most of them have no food and clothing. It is very good to be able to find a job as a coolie. Most of them have already started to sell their children and daughters, and even plunder and steal to make a living. I am afraid that they will eventually become Mob vagrants——The local officials in the late Ming Dynasty basically understood the above reasons, so they jumped up in a hurry. Wang Dou took the opportunity to stand up and take over the work of resettlement and management of these vagrants, and knocked on the government and the government for this reason. With a sum of money from the gentry, they obtained the labor force and start-up capital for mining silver mines: these refugees were willing to do any work as long as they had a bite to eat.And after the young and strong men among them were recruited, the chance of the refugees turning into mobs was immediately eliminated in the bud.

Right now, Wang Dou sent people to secretly mine various mines, and the silver has already started to be released one after another, and the first batch of self-casting silver has also been sent to the soldiers - of course, it is impossible to hide such a big movement like mining and smelting Those local snakes.Although after making this windfall, I don't know what troubles will be caused next, but before attracting the covetousness of those greedy gentry, at least Wang Dou and his subordinates can live a healthy life.

Alas, I opened up my own financial resources to make up for the insufficient supply of the court, and the so-called "drifting" of officials at all levels, but there is no precedent for the army to maintain its combat effectiveness by doing business and mining.In the early days of the reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping of later generations asked the army to try to endure it. Although he allowed the army to do business, he only reduced expenditure. He didn't dare to cut off the supply of the army!Doesn't this force me to seek my own financial resources to become a warlord?Wang Dou thought resentfully.

With such chaotic thoughts, Wang Dou led his troops into Shun Township Fort, seeing dilapidated streets and houses, and pedestrians with disheveled faces.There are not many brick-and-timber houses in the whole castle, and the rest of the houses are rammed earth walls and thatched roofs. There are a few thatched houses painted with chalk on the outside, which are shops——Xuanfubian Town Such a poor and remote place can be considered prosperous if it can have this level of business.

Among them was a store that sold groceries from the north and the south. It seemed that a batch of relatively rare fresh goods had just arrived. Many aunts and aunts who liked to watch the excitement came to watch, chirping and commenting, and the parents were short-tempered and nagging endlessly... Originally, Wang Dou just glanced over curiously, but he happened to notice something on the shelf, and suddenly his mind was like thunder, booming!
A moment later, carrying a box of cigarettes from Shandong, Wang Dou left the grocery store in confusion, and started on his way home again.

"...Wendengxiang?! What brand is this? Wait, it doesn't matter what the brand of this cigarette is. What really matters is, during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, did China already have cigarettes at such an early age? I I thought it would at least be the late Qing Dynasty or even the Republic of China!"

Playing with the cigarette box in his hand, Wang Dou thought more and more confusedly, vaguely feeling that the world might be different from his cognition.

But what Wang Dou didn't know was that his wife Xie Xiuniang was looking at the newly bought small mirror like a precious treasure at this time, her eyes were full of joy...

——In the countryside of Xuanfu, where the news is blocked and the traffic is difficult, the head of Wang Dou, who is currently struggling to survive, is still ignorant and at a loss about the messages of other traverser forces.However, in the well-informed and prosperous southern commercial port, other fledgling traversers have already discovered the great changes brought about by the pioneers of various walks of life to the world, and feel deep fear and guard...