"Master Zuo, I don't know much about the situation in the dock over there, but you'll understand it if you go to see it." He Zhiyuan interrupted Zuo Fengtu, who was going to continue, said. Then he continued: "In the future, we will not only build large ships of 5,000 materials, but also warships and merchant ships that can carry out ocean voyages, so the dock should not be built too small." ”

Zuo Fengtu heard He Zhiyuan say this, and couldn't help but slander in his heart that such a big ship is not nothing, but it is not so easy to build, without drawings and sufficient financial resources, it is impossible to build it. But he didn't dare to say that, but he agreed first, after all, they still have a guilty body.

Half a month later, Xu Detian and Song Fuchen's military appointment documents arrived, and the two did not delay for a moment, and took the soldiers of the two general flags that had already been selected to Shijiu Qianhu to take up their posts.

Two days later, He Zhiyuan took the ten craftsmen selected by Zuo Fengtu and then went to the stone mortar. After arriving at the stone mortar, ten craftsmen went to the old dockyard and pier by the sea under the protection of a small flag to inspect it. He Zhiyuan went directly to the city to find Xu Detian.

As soon as they met, Xu Detian complained: "He Gongzi, the situation is far from what my father understood. There is a serious shortage of soldiers in this station, in fact, there are only more than 500 soldiers, and most of them are shortage. The actual number of military households is less than 3,000. More than 20,000 acres of land were concentrated in the hands of officers. Yang Qianhu, who left office, still wants to occupy the land and not hand it over, if it weren't for the prestige of our Ma Qishan Thousand Households, I'm afraid he would really not pay it. ”

"Also, half of the six incumbent 100 households are relatives of Yang Qianhu, and they will definitely not cooperate when the time comes, and it is possible to make a mutiny in a hurry. I'm afraid that the more than 100 people I brought with me alone won't be able to shake these soldiers. ”

In this case, He Zhiyuan had long expected that from the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there were military households fleeing, and in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, even more than half of the military households fled, and the military land was seriously merged. In the case of being overwhelmed, the only way for military households to flee is to die, and in order to survive, they can only flee. The flight of military households has seriously caused a serious shortage of soldiers, and the government has brought some ruffians, hooligans, and criminals to the army to fill their numbers, and this kind of soldier will certainly have no combat effectiveness, but he is very good at bullying the common people.

After listening to Xu Detian's complaint, He Zhiyuan asked Song Fuchen with a smile: "Song Qianhu, what do you think of this situation?" ”

Song Fuchen thought for a while and said: "Gongzi He, I think the top priority now is to reduce the burden on the military households first, and distribute the land returned by Yang Qianhu to the military households who do not have land, and these military fields belong to these military households. It makes sense to give them away. Let these military households live a good life, as long as the military households do not flee and support us, the next step can be to rectify military discipline, dismiss unqualified junior officers and soldiers, and finally recruit and replenish soldiers. ”

He Zhiyuan nodded and said, "You are right, in fact, you can also rectify military discipline and pacify military households at the same time." You can divide the work, Xu Qianhu began to rectify military discipline, cut off the soldiers, and Song Qianhu can go to pacify the military households. We must treat these soldiers strictly, treat the soldiers and ruffians ruthlessly, and treat the military households softly. As long as we do these three things, I believe that there will be a change soon. ”

After such an analysis, Xu Detian's heart immediately brightened. Rectifying military discipline was a familiar thing for him, but in the face of the intricate relationship between these soldiers and the large group of guards, he was a little stunned. He asked worriedly: "Gongzi He, some of these hundred households have some complicated relationships with the officials on Antonwei's side. It may offend some people when you deal with it, will this cause you some trouble? ”

He Zhiyuan knew that Xu Yesterdaytian was young after all, and he was not so confident in doing things, so he cheered him up: "You don't have to worry about this, as long as we have combat effectiveness, strength, military merits, and our financial resources, no one can take us." Just let them go and treat them like normal recruits. ”

Song Fuchen reminded at this time: "He Gongzi, these soldiers have been deducted badly before, and the military money they got is less than five dollars of silver, should we increase their silver?" ”

"It's natural, the soldiers here are treated the same as the soldiers of Maqi Mountain. However, if they disobey the military order, they will also be punished in the same way as Ma Qishan! He Zhiyuan replied.

Zhao Xing of Zhaojiatun secretly came to a ditch outside Tunzi at night, waiting for Zhao Min to escape with him. In this tunzi, he and Zhao Min are both orphans, their parents have died many years ago, and now the only ten acres of military land cannot be cultivated because they cannot be watered, and they are all kinds of miscellaneous labor and heavy labor, so they really can't live here.

Now both of them are singles, and they have nothing to worry about. So running away was the best choice for both of them, they heard that Juzhou was rich and recruiting workers everywhere, and it was not difficult to find a job to eat.

After a while, Zhao Min joined him, and Zhao Xing said, "While everyone in the tunzi is asleep now, let's run away." ”

"Zhao Xing, let's wait." Zhao Min said hesitantly.

"What are you waiting for? There are only two catties of rice at home, and if you don't leave, you will starve to death at home. Zhao Xing asked puzzled.

Zhao Xing replied: "Haven't you listened to the people in the tunzi in the past two days? The thousand households of the stone mortar have been replaced. The current Qianhu Lord is the deputy Qianhu of Ma Qi Mountain, or the son of Xu Qianhu of Ma Qi Mountain, I heard that the treatment of soldiers there is very good, and there is a reward for winning battles. If we go to the stone mortar to serve as soldiers, will it be better than fleeing? ”

"What is the relationship between Ma Qishan Qianhu and Shijiu Qianhu?" Zhao Min still asked puzzled.

"Xu Qianhu who is transferred here is the son of Xu Qianhu of Ma Qi Mountain Thousand Households, and the treatment of Ma Qi Mountain Thousand Households as a soldier is good, where can Shi Jiu Thousand Households be in the future? If we flee, we will be black in the future, and if we are caught, we will go to jail, I think it is better to wait and see. If it's still the same as before, let's run away again. ”

"However, if you don't run away, there will really be no rice at home." Zhao Xing still insisted on escaping.

Zhao Min thought for a while and said: "In this way, let's buy some rice with a cotton jacket, wait for half a month, and if it doesn't work, it's not too late to escape." ”

Zhao Xing was still hesitating and didn't answer, and Zhao Min further persuaded: "And haven't you noticed any recent changes?" Since Xu Qianhu came here, Ding Zhuang in our tunzi has not been asked to help Qianhu adults work these days. I heard that I went to the stone mortar to repair the city wall yesterday, and when I finished work in the afternoon, I also gave 50 copper coins. ”

When Zhao Xing heard this, he asked in surprise: "Is there anything else?" Why haven't I heard of it? ”

"You don't go out all day, where do you hear about it?" Zhao Min pursed his lips and said, "I think that now our Shijiu Thousand Households is different from before, so let's wait." ”

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Zhao Xing finally changed his mind. Together with Zhao Min, he quietly returned to Tunzi.

Two days later, Zhao Jiatun posted a notice, and a team of soldiers rang gongs in Datun to promote:

"Listen to each family, the new Lord of the Thousand Households has an order, first, from today onwards, all military households will be exempted from all miscellaneous duties, and the military land tax and grain can be paid according to the regulations of the imperial court, and no more will be levied. Second, 4,300 mu of the occupied land in Zhaojiatun will be returned to each household. Third, all military households who are in difficulty in living can go to the Acropolis of the Thousand Households to borrow seeds, farm tools, rations, and all other materials for production and daily life. Fourth, the wharf and dock of Shijiu have recently begun to recruit 200 men, with a daily salary of 100 yuan, and a settlement will be made every five days. ”

At first, the villagers didn't believe that this was true, and some boldly stepped forward to ask:

"May I really not need us to work at your lord's house in the future?"

"No need, each family will do their own work in the future." One soldier replied.

"Who's going to do the work of the adults?"

"Adults have to pay for finding people to work, and they will never let the military families work in vain!" The soldier replied.

"Is the occupied land really returned to us?" Someone asked cautiously.

"Tomorrow, the head of your village will start dividing the land, and you just have to plant it when the time comes." The soldier replied.

Hearing the exact answer of the soldiers, there was no longer doubt. These four pieces of news spread quickly in the forty tunzi under the jurisdiction of Shijiu, and these military households were so excited that they rushed to tell each other when they heard the good news. Those who wanted to run away all dispelled their minds, and the military households who suffered from no rice finally had hope of survival.

Zhao Yuangui, the first commander of Zhaojiatun, came to the barn with the roster of military fields, set up a table and began to return the more than 4,300 acres of fields in the tun. Until now, he still feels like he is dreaming, these lands were occupied by the former Qianhu for various reasons, more than ten years have passed, and the villagers have already given up these lands, but he didn't expect the new Qianhu to return it as soon as he took office. He felt that this Ren Qianhu was different from before, and treated them as poor military households.

Zhao Xing and Zhao Min, two difficult brothers, did not get rid of their cotton clothes in the end, they each received the returned fifteen acres of watered land, and the two pushed the wheelbarrow to the Shijiu Acropolis to borrow seeds and rations, and also went to the Acropolis to sign up as a hired laborer by the way.

The two brothers spent five days getting up early and working late to plant their own fifteen acres of land, and then went to work in the dockyard to earn money. Zhao Min has the most ideas and is the most calculating. He told Zhao Xing: "Don't take care of these crops at home, a salary of 100 wen a day is three taels of silver for a month, and three taels of silver can buy three stone of rice." Isn't it better than growing crops at home? No matter how well the crops are served, can you harvest an extra three stones of grain? ”

Both of them are thinking about working hard for two years, and when they have saved enough money, they can find a matchmaker in the village to say a daughter-in-law, and have two more babies, and they will have a head in the future.

Both of them were glad that they didn't run away at that time and that they had caught up with the good times......