Dozens of miles along the coast, there is a reed swing, and in the reeds, you can see cooking smoke everywhere, although it is not noon, but the coastal land, everywhere is cooking smoke, that is the cooking smoke when the stove people fry salt. As for the millions of acres of reeds, they are the fuel for frying salt.

And here is the two Huai salt farms, in Huai'an, Yangzhou after the successive recovery, Yancheng and other places are also Shun at any time, this salt field is naturally also Shun, but the so-called Shun, often just change a flag, for the salt field Yanding, stove Ding, change of dynasty, for them, there is no impact. After all, whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, they are just salt dices guarding the field, and as for the stove ding, they are still the stove ding for frying salt.

It is precisely because of this that when Zhu Mingzhong, who was dressed as a son, came here, looking at this place, he even had a feeling of a paradise, those who patrolled the salt and salt were even wearing the uniforms of the Qing army, but the braid had already been shaved off, perhaps because the salt farm often had merchants from all over the world coming, Zhu Mingzhong and his party did not attract their attention at all.

"Military gate, as early as the Tang and Song dynasties, the two Huai salt fields have been stove Ding, hereditary from generation to generation, to our emperor Ming Cheng Yuan system, the implementation of the "registration", and the stove Ding as the registered population is called "stove registration", and the craftsman's registration, the same military status, the same as the three special household registration of our dynasty. Anyone who is classified as one of them becomes hereditary and cannot be changed. Among the three, the status of the stove household, sometimes called the stove household, is the lowest, and it is regarded as a practitioner along with prostitutes, actors, and slaves. For hundreds of years, the stove households were exploited by officials and salt merchants, and it was often difficult to survive due to natural disasters and frequent military shipments. ”

After entering the salt farm, Wu Pinya, who followed Zhu Mingzhong on horseback, talked about "stove people", a special group he had never known, a group that was also regarded as "practicing people".

After the Qing captives entered the customs, the tradition of "compilation" was still preserved. "Where there are four armies, people, craftsmen, and stoves", but in the second year of the Qing Dynasty's entry into the customs, the craftsmen were abolished, but the stove households were still the same. There are many reasons why the Qing prisoners want to keep the household registration unchanged: on the one hand, it is to ensure that there is enough manpower for salt production and protect the income of the salt tax from the impact of the change of nationality; On the other hand, it is also to prevent the private sale of stoves. Therefore, at present, it is still "salt official, stove industry hereditary", and in addition to civil nationality, only stove Ding is the world", stove Ding is required to be a single independent nationality, and according to the regulations, he is not allowed to leave the nationality and exile ......"

Riding on a horse, looking at the men and women frying salt under the grass shed and by the stove on the side of the road, Zhu Mingzhong's brows tightened, he never thought that the salt production in the Lianghuai Salt Farm would be so backward, and he was still using such a primitive salt making method.

"Two Huai stove Ding is often through the "allocation", "occupy" or "recruitment" way into the stove register, once into the stove register, not can be changed at will, after the world is chaotic, the stove Ding has fled, after the Qing captives occupy Jiangbei, in order to obtain the salt class, immediately take various measures to recruit back the stove Ding to resume business......

Of course, he didn't say that the original method of recruiting back the stove households was through the strict orders of the government, and the stove households dared not to return to their hometowns, and there was no forgiveness for killing! Even the stove households that have been charged to the door of the prince Baylor must all withdraw.

"At present, there are 20 salt farms in Huainan and three salt farms in Huaibei, with a total of nearly 80,000 stoves, which should actually be 80,000 households, more than 100,000 stoves......"

100,000 stoves!

This is the reason why Zhu Mingzhong came here, and it is also Wu Pinya's way to solve the shortage of soldiers, recruiting troops from Zaoding. And the reason why they were chosen is precisely because of the special identity of these people.

"Appeasement envoy, the status of the stove people is only slightly higher than the prostitutes and other untouchables, ordinary people are more subjected to all kinds of exploitation, and the suffering of the stove is far greater than that of other industries, two Huai stove Ding salt, "its preparation method, sea salt has fried and sunned", but whether it is fried or sunned, the hardships that the stove Ding must bear are unimaginable. Taking Huaibei as an example, Huaibei produces salt by drying salt and brins salt into salt by sunburning. …… The field of selenium salt is deep and the salt is sinking, and all those who take salt are naked in winter and summer, and they are often paralyzed in the cold, so the households that fry salt are more blind and shimmer in the fire; The households that dry salt are more broken bones, and they are softer than salty", and the bitterness of the stove can be seen from this. As for this Huainan frying salt, it is not necessarily easy either......"

Speaking of Zao Ding's suffering, Wu Pinya thought of their hard life described in Guo Wuchang's "Compassion for Yanding".

"Boiling salt is bitter, boiling salt is bitter! The coastal wind and haze make it rain, the red brine grass is dry, and there is no firewood at the bottom of the stove. There is no way to make a living with borrowing, and five of the ten villages have fled......"

From Wu Pinya's words, Zhu Mingzhong could hear his sympathy for Zao Ding.

"Cheng An, it seems that you know a lot about the suffering of these stoves."

Through the understanding of the past few days, Zhu Mingzhong found that this Wu Pinya is also quite talented, not to mention anything else, his mastery and understanding of all industries alone is not comparable to those around him, at most Qian Lei can be compared with him. And he is not like Qian Lei, who can do things by any means.

"Back to appease the envoy, when the lower officials were forced to obey the Kou, the people around him had fled to the stove, and the suffering of this stove was really the first of all industries,"

Then looking at the grass hut, in this midsummer, in front of the hearth constantly stuffed with reed grass stoves, sighing at the bitter life of the stoves, Wu Pinya looked at the appeasement envoy and said.

"At present, this Henan, Huguang and other places are still under the Qing captives, and these two Huai salts naturally cannot be sold, in this case, the appeasement envoy may as well recruit the people of the stove as soldiers, as long as they are allowed to make their military achievements, the people of the two Huai stoves must be willing to drive for the army!"

Looking at Zhu Mingzhong in a blink of an eye, Wu Pinya's eyes were full of expectation.

Military merit naturalized!

This is exactly what Wu Pinya suggested, in his opinion, it is far more appropriate to recruit these salt people than to impose the "A Soldier System" now, after all, these stove people have always been eager to become citizens, rather than being trapped in front of the stove to fry salt day and night.

It is precisely because of this that for them, "military merit" will be full of temptation, and in this way, they can be attracted to take the initiative to join the army.

"Military Merit ......"

Reciting these four words, Zhu Mingzhong had only heard of "military merit reward", but "military merit naturalization" was unprecedented in history, how desperate it would be, and these stove people would be willing to risk going to the battlefield to leave here.

But that's fine, it's only when they're so desperate that they're motivated. Not only the motivation to join the army, but also the motivation to fight on the battlefield.

The desire for freedom will drive them to keep fighting and winning.

"Junmen, don't look at these stoves, they don't seem to be very eye-catching, but they work day and night, and their physical strength is superior, that is, the women in the stove household, a hundred catties of salt bags, can also carry two bags per person, and the men's physical strength is several times that of women......"

Perhaps as if to prove his words, at this time, I saw a woman carrying two salt bales of no less than 200 catties, and carried them directly from the stove to the car, as if she had thrown a bag of cotton.

At this time, Zhu Mingzhong believed his words, so he spoke.

"Cheng'an, the key is ......"

At this moment, there was a sudden shout in the distance, and there was a gong in the middle of the shout, and only the person who struck the gong said.

"All the stoves and all the households have listened well, the old man has a life, and the stoves are out, and they are all in front of the scene,"

The salt patrol who struck the gong shouted as he walked,

"Let's go and have a look, let's see if there's anything wrong?"

Zhu Mingzhong said to Wu Pinya that when he walked forward, he would occasionally look at those stoves, maybe they looked ragged, even a little tired, but their bodies looked quite strong, and their bodies were generally taller than the people in Jiangnan, and of course they were stronger. This is because most of them are northerners, so they have a certain advantage in height and strength.

Perhaps they will be the last recruits of the Loyalists. Although we are well aware of the shortcomings of the "A soldier system," it is inevitable that the conscription system will replace the conscription system.

Zhu Mingzhong, who has more than three and a half centuries ahead of the times, is very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of the conscription system.

The conscription system can indeed bring elite soldiers, and he can use military salaries to attract a source of soldiers with sufficient quality, but the number of elite soldiers is limited, because a country's financial resources are limited.

In this era when the industrial and commercial economy is not developed, the full implementation of the conscription system in China, a huge country, is a disaster for the country. Tremendous financial pressure can overdraw the wealth of society as a whole. The government had to devote its limited financial resources entirely to raising troops.

For example, in the Song Dynasty, in the late Qing Dynasty, and in the Republic of China, the huge amount of military salaries paid every year constantly overdrafted the country's financial resources. In the end, the country was overwhelmed.

Even in the 21st century, only a handful of countries have fully implemented conscription. And the size of its army is relatively limited.

And in the event of a large-scale war, conscription is chosen without exception over conscription.

In the 21st century, countries with large armies such as China are mainly based on the conscription system, supplemented by the conscription system, and a large number of mobilized soldiers are accompanied by a small number of volunteers, that is, professional non-commissioned officers, which is the direction of development of the army.

From the point of view of physical fitness, these stoves are fully qualified for recruitment, coupled with their special status, and the resulting desire for freedom, make them more suitable to serve as the backbone of the army.

Perhaps with Jiangbei's financial resources, it is now unable to support the annual military salary expenditure of at least 3 million taels for 100,000 people, but if it is only 50,000 or 60,000 people, the military salary expenditure is acceptable. In the future, after the implementation of the "A Soldier System", these veterans can become the backbone of the army as non-commissioned officers.

"The key is the system."

When thinking like this in his heart, Zhu Mingzhong knew very well that in the end, all this still depends on whether these stoves are willing to be soldiers.

(There is one more shift in the evening, asking for a monthly pass, from now on, three shifts a day!!! ）