Eighteen gentry from Wanping, Gu'an and Yongqing counties who had visited the door had agreed that the soldiers would enter the camp today, because the road was far and near, and there would be before and after arriving at the ancestral home, and the specific time of entering the camp was not set to die, it was already noon, and there were two places where the gentry and young men had not arrived.

In Han Xiufeng's opinion, the local gentry were more reliable than those magistrates, so he was not in a hurry, so he asked Chen Chongtong and Cui Hao to accompany the dozen gentry who had already arrived to eat and drink, and let Yongxiang, Yang Debiao, Datou and Guan Pengcheng and other military attaches first get familiar with the young men who were squatting on the school field and eating dry food, and they ate casually in the newly rented mansion, put down the dishes and chopsticks and studied the military book given by the emperor.

Leading troops to fight by reading military books is tantamount to talking on paper, but this pile of military books cannot be ignored. When Ji Yunfei left a few days ago, he repeatedly told him not only to study carefully, but also to have experience, no matter how busy he was, he should take some time to write an excerpt every month, and show the emperor the experience of camp affairs and studying this pile of military books.

I really can't read other books, I don't know how to write this experience, but the book "Actual Record of Military Training" in my hand is still worth a look, and I was fascinated by it, Su Jueming happily ran in and said: "Fourth master, fourth master, these two meals of wine are really not in vain, and one of those gentry is counted as a full pledge." Some have already donated the top belt, the most powerful have been donated to the fourth grade, and if they can't donate to the prison anymore, they will help their children and nephews donate, less than three or four, and more than seven or eight, Master Chen and Mr. Cui don't mention how happy, I didn't expect the gentry here to be better than the gentry in Taizhou! ”

The reason why Han Xiufeng asked Chen Chongtong and Cui Hao to come forward to entertain those gentry was to take this opportunity to turn the stack of blank photos given by Wu Tingdong into silver, looking at Su Jueming's excited appearance, he couldn't help but smile: "What is expected, in terms of serving the court, these gentry I invited are really better than other gentry." ”

Su Jueming said with a smile: "The gentry at the feet of the Son of Heaven are naturally more loyal to the court than the gentry in other places. ”

Han Xiufeng put down the book and said, "What you said is not right or not, to be exact, it is not on point." ”

"Fourth master, why isn't it on the point?"

"It's a long story," Han Xiufeng picked up the tea that Ren Yu'er had just made, and explained with a smile: "These gentry who are eating wine with Chen Chongtong are not simple, because whether it is Wanping or Gu'an, the fields in the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Yongqing and Zhuozhou were originally almost all the granges of the emperor and the princes and ministers and the banner land of the Eight Banners, and these gentry were originally either brought land to the princes and ministers and the people of the Eight Banners, or they were tenants or even domestic slaves of the Huangzhuang and Guanzhuang banner lands. ”

"What's so easy about that?" Su Jueming asked puzzled.

"Isn't it easy to go from a house slave to a gentry?" Han Xiufeng asked rhetorically, and then said: "You should have heard of the enclosure, the land within a radius of three hundred miles of the capital has been encircled by the Eight Banners, and their ancestors can only make cattle and horses for the banner people, and they have a miserable life. Later, the population of the soldiers of the Eight Banners multiplied, and the land rent could not cover the expenses, so they secretly gave them the land pawn. ”

"Why don't you sell it?"

"Because the imperial court did not allow it, it was strictly forbidden to buy and sell flag land at the beginning, and it could only be pawned to private households. Later, the court found that it couldn't help it, so it could only ?? It is agreed to buy and sell, but the flag land can only be sold to the flag man. Their ancestors thought of a way to find a poor flag man to buy it in their name, and later even bought it privately with the stewards of the Huangzhuang official land, that is, the heads of each village. ”

Thinking that there was a village head in the village, Su Jueming asked curiously: "What happened later?" ”

"The banner people will only fight, and they will not allow the imperial court to farm the land, so they can only rent the land to the households, but the banner people can not leave the capital for forty miles without permission, and they will go to the countryside every year to collect rent, and the maximum shall not exceed half a month. In addition, there are more and more people in the family, and the expenses are getting bigger and bigger, and the rent is getting more and more year by year, and many tenants can't get by, so they simply drag with the flag people, anyway, those flag people can only stay in the countryside for half a month. ”

"Rent?"

"This is also a helpless way, who let those flag people have to collect so much rent, who let those flag people not give them a way to live. Anyway, it came and went, and there were many flags in their hands, it is said that some of the head of the village and the banner people were forced to be in a hurry, and the lawsuit was brought to Shuntianfu, accusing them of 'dominating the flag land of the Huangzhuang', but the imperial court was not allowed to sell the official land and flag land privately, and if it was really a thorough investigation, I don't know how many princes and ministers of the Eight Banners would be unlucky, so it was over. ”

"Their ancestors even dare to dominate the Huangzhuang?" Su Jueming asked in surprise.

"Didn't you say it just now, some of them had made a contract with those village heads and flag men in private, and some of them were forced to have no choice." Han Xiufeng took a sip of tea, and then said: "The Eight Banners are the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, and the imperial court naturally can't let the banner land and even the Huangzhuang be sold privately or even overpowered, so Yongzheng Ye and Qianlong Ye successively used internal funds to redeem the fields that those Zhuang heads and banner people had privately pawned out and even sold, and at most they actually checked and redeemed more than 14,000 hectares at most!" ”

"And later?"

"At the beginning, the land was redeemed and returned to the flags, and it didn't take long for the flag people to take back the land and start selling it privately, Qianlong was in a hurry, so he simply did not return it, and still handed it over to the tenants to cultivate, and the rent received should be issued to the flags, which is the so-called flag rent. In short, the imperial court has taken great pains to conquer the land. Anyway, in the first year of Xianfeng, the hundreds of thousands of hectares of land circled at the beginning of the founding of the country, except for the prince's farmland, were almost all sold to the households, and those flag lands that were sold to the households were neither rented to the flag nor paid taxes to the imperial court. ”

It was the first time Su Jueming had heard of this, and he couldn't help but sigh: "My good boy, the ancestors of these gentry are too powerful, and they actually got back the whole idea of the land circle when the flag people entered the customs!" ”

"So it's not easy for them to say, but privately looking for a flag man to buy it is not right after all, and it happens to meet the long-haired rebellion, and the court is short of silver in order to quell the chaos. I don't know if it was the princes and ministers in the capital who put it forward first, or whether they were entrusted by the gentry to make a statement, anyway, the emperor issued a holy decree in the first month of the previous year, and those who allowed the people to buy flag land privately were promoted to the department, changed to their own name, and forever for their own business. ”

Su Jueming finally figured it out and muttered: "Their ancestors have been fighting with those flag people for generations, and they finally won the fight in the first month of the year before last!" ”

"It can't be said to be a fight, but the words are not rough, anyway, they finally really turned over, and finally had their own land, neither can they be circled by the flag people, nor can they be snatched away by the long hair, so as long as there is a little family property, they will build forts and forts to do group exercises. As for the pledge, it has been bullied by the flag people for hundreds of years, and it is natural to raise your eyebrows when you have this opportunity. ”

Thinking that although the head of the banner man in the village is also a top belt of the ninth grade, he is as poor as a flower who wants to eat, Su Jueming couldn't help laughing: "In terms of housekeeping, the banner people are really not as good as us Han people." ”

Han Xiufeng smiled and nodded, thought about it and put down the teacup and said, "The reason why they pledged the donation is because they want their sons and nephews to get an errand in my river camp, because for them, this can not only glorify their ancestors, but also keep the family business." After all, my river camp was originally to defend Gyeonggi, and it would not be transferred to other places to quell the chaos like the towns. ”

Thinking that some of those gentry not only gained fame, but also donated their official bodies, Su Jueming couldn't help asking: "Fourth master, they want to advance both civil and military, and want to get involved in military power!" ”

"Don't talk nonsense, people are generous to protect the family and defend the country."

Su Jueming suddenly realized that he had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly smiled: "Yes, yes, yes, protect the family and defend the country." ”

That's what he did when he was in Taizhou, and Han Xiufeng didn't think there was anything wrong. What's more, even if you don't rely on those gentry, those gentry will also run group exercises, and even the imperial court is constantly sending ministers to the provinces for group training, whether it is Jinghai or Shanghai, Yangzhou and other places, they all rely on the gentry to summon the township to quell the chaos, give the local gentry some sweetness, and let them pay for it.

Just thinking about waiting for the soldiers to officially enter the camp after a few days of training, and then submitting to the Ministry of Culture and Taoism to ask Wu Tingdong to pull out a group of generals and additional foreign commissioners from those children and lieutenant colonels sent by the gentry, the big head actually led Xiaoshan Shandong, which should have been in the capital, to come in.

"Fourth Master, I was driven away all the way, and I can be regarded as seeing you in front of Lord Su!" Xiao Shandong obviously came on horseback, and he couldn't stand steadily, rubbing his ass eagerly.

Han Xiufeng motioned for the big head to pour a bowl of water, and asked, "Which Lord Su?" ”

"Lord Sushun, Master Wu went to the guild hall in the middle of the night, let the little one hurry up and report to you, Lord Sushun is ordered to come to the river camp today for a review." Afraid that Han Xiufeng didn't know which Su Shun it was, Xiao Shandong wiped his sweat and said breathlessly: "It's the big red man in front of the emperor, the big man Su who just appointed the squire of the Ministry of Works a few days ago." ”

Han Xiufeng had heard Huang Zhongyin, Ji Yunfei and others mention Sushun in the days when he was waiting for the introduction in the capital, and he thought that the clan was really a big celebrity in front of the emperor as Xiao Shandong said, and couldn't help asking: "How did Master Wu know?" ”

"Master Su knows that you and Master Wu are fellow villagers, and last night I specially sent someone to invite Master Wu to have a drink, anyway, Master Wu said that this is a great thing, so let you hurry up and prepare. He also said that Lord Su is different from other princes and ministers, he doesn't like those red tapes, and he doesn't like to engage in those false things, as long as he thinks that your soldiers are well trained, he will not only help you speak well to the emperor, but you don't even have to worry about the money and food in Heying in the future. ”

The emperor sent Su Shun to inspect the river camp, Han Xiufeng was both surprised and sudden, thought about it and asked, "Master Wu didn't say anything else, didn't you ask me to give me a letter?" ”

"I didn't say anything else, and I didn't let me carry the letter, it's not that he doesn't want to write to you, it's that he can't take care of it and it's too late."

"When will Lord Su Shun leave, you should know when it will be?"

"I know, Lord Wu said that Lord Su plans to leave early in the morning, and it is estimated that he will be able to arrive before the sun sets."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, drink saliva first. Yu'er, hurry up and call Cuihua and cook some food for Xiaoshan. ”

"Oh, I'll go." Ren Yu'er reacted and hurriedly walked out of the hall with the door frame.

As soon as Han Xiufeng stood up, Su Jueming asked eagerly: "Fourth Master, do you want to go and talk to Master Chen and Yongxiang so that they can prepare early?" ”

"Master Wu said very clearly, don't engage in all those red tapes, there will be nothing to prepare." Han Xiufeng thought about it and walked to the corner of the wall, took off the oxtail knife hanging on the wall, and said as he walked out: "You just know what Lord Sushun is coming, don't tell others, just don't know anything." ”

"Fourth brother, I won't talk nonsense!" The big head hurriedly said.

"It's good to know, let's go, go to the school."