On the seventh day of the sixth month of the seventh year of Xingqian, before the sky was bright, in front of the newspaper offices of the "Ming Pao" and "Gongyi Bao" in Zhongdu, the carriages that delivered the newspapers lined up, and after the newspapers were put on the carriages, the coachmen drove the carriages to the various districts, and stacks of newspapers were sent to the newsstands, and in the neighborhoods where the people lived, there were children of eight or nine years old waiting there, and they would open the newspapers and send them to the mailboxes of the people who ordered the newspapers, and the delivery of newspapers was an opportunity for them to make money. Delivering newspapers in the early morning does not hinder their learning, whether in Zhongdu or elsewhere in the Ming Dynasty, there will be thousands of children walking the streets and alleys to deliver newspapers and milk to the doorsteps of thousands of households, and today is no exception.

At about seven o'clock in the morning, as usual, Ding Mocun got up and went directly to the door, and before opening the newspaper, he first wiped the door number hanging next to the door, although there was no ash on it, but this was also a habit. In addition to the house number, the wooden door number also has the words "Ding Fu" written on it.

This door number is the face of the Ding family.

Putting the newspaper under his arm, he took out a bottle of milk from the milk carton on the side of Ding Mo Village, which was for the children to drink, and to give milk to the children, this was a habit from the palace, although Ding Mo Village himself was not used to the taste of milk, but it did not prevent him from ordering a bottle of milk for his children as much as possible.

"Drinking milk, I don't know if it can really make people stronger......"

Despite the suspicions in his mouth, Ding Mocun had never been heartbroken for milk money of one or two or five silver dollars this year, and in his opinion, even the things that dragon sons and grandsons like the crown prince drank were naturally good things.

"At least, it's a tribute ......"

When he comforted himself like this, Ding Mocun deliberately glanced at the "Royal Certification" badge on the milk trademark, but he didn't know that the largest shareholder of "Yisheng Dairy" was Royal, and the royal promotion of drinking milk may also have some interests.

When he sat at the table and prepared to eat, his other hand had already unfolded the newspaper, but as soon as the newspaper was opened, he almost choked on the millet porridge that had just reached his mouth.

"This ......, this is His Majesty's Imperial Pen!"

In astonishment, his eyes were fixed on the article in the newspaper, and the name of the report alone was enough to shock him - "The Dignity of the Soldier"

"The Yangtze River is a thousand miles away, and the soldier's mind is also; Taiyue is strict and majestic, and the thoughts of soldiers are also; The lone pine and the cold moon are proud and clean, and the discipline of the soldiers is also. Those who are old soldiers know that there is a country but do not know that there is a home; Knowing that there is a country does not know that there is a body; Knowing that there is death does not know that there is life; Knowing that there is progress, I don't know that there is retreat; Knowing the spirit does not know the intention; Knowing that there is obedience, there is no resistance; I know that there are orders, I know that there is military discipline, I don't know that I have a wife and children, and I don't know that there is an enemy country. It is bold, its heart is careful, its spirit is heavy, its conduct is noble, its vision is sharp, its means are spicy, its movements are strong, and its words are sincere. Practice its body in the ice and snow cellar, and accept its heart in the fine dust buckwheat; Grape wine, the blood of comrades-in-arms; The imperial chef is ashamed, and the projectile of the strong enemy is also. Born as the Great Wall of the country, and died as the protector of the people. Thunder thunders and does not startle; Ding Wok forging bones without fear. endure what others can't endure; Breaking what people can't break, their laughter is also, women and children are amiable; Its anger is also, the lion dragon can eat two feet and the rivers and mountains are different; One shot and the world held its breath. If the greatness of his power is, if the perseverance of his nature, if he is the nobility of his identity, if he is the purity of his mind, if he is ......"

After reading this article in one breath, Gu Yanwu only felt a little short of breath, his fingers pinched the newspaper, but one hand kept tapping on the table, and his two eyes stayed on the thin newspaper, as if he was concentrating on the calligraphy of the dragon and phoenix dance.

In fact, this is just the most ordinary Song style characters, what kind of calligraphy there is, but it is just an engraved print, but this does not prevent him from reading it. But those who know him well can surely see that his current state is not appreciative.

Just as he was thinking, the staff member Xu Fang gently walked to his desk, bent down, and said to him respectfully:

"Shousuke, have you read the newspaper today?"

Although Xu Fang's tone seemed calm, Gu Yanwu could still hear the nervousness in his tone. Xu Fang was a famous man in Suzhou, and respected his father's will that "he was not allowed to enter the Qing Dynasty" and lived in seclusion until his death. In order to pretend to be elegant, several Manchu Qing officials refused to see him.

Originally, Suzhou was adjacent to Changzhou, with Xu Fang's talent, after His Majesty raised the army, if he could defect to His Majesty, maybe now he is also an important minister in the court, but unfortunately he missed this opportunity, until before His Majesty's Northern Expedition, he came to his mansion at the invitation of Gu Yanwu.

In the past few years, Gu Yanwu has repeatedly recommended Xu Fang to His Majesty, but there has been no suitable position, after all, it is a bit condescending for him to release a prefect, but it is difficult to convince the public to release the positions of governor and political envoy, and it is precisely because of this that it has been delayed until now, because of this matter, Gu Yanwu can be said to be quite a headache, and has been hesitating what position he should recommend him to.

"Well, this article is bound to cause an uproar."

"Indeed."

Agreed, Xu Fang looked at Shoufu and said.

"Your Majesty respects the military so much, I'm afraid it may not necessarily be my blessing!"

Gu Yanwu didn't speak immediately, he picked up the newspaper again, and then read it aloud.

"The Yangtze River is a thousand miles away, and the soldier's mind is also; Taiyue is strict and majestic, and the thoughts of soldiers are also; The lone pine and the cold moon are proud and clean, and the discipline of the soldiers is also. ”

He read the first paragraph before he spoke.

"The comparison of generals with rivers, Taiyue, lone pine, and cold moon, like this, is indeed unprecedented!"

"Not only is it unprecedented, it can even be said to be unheard of, even in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the general can be the pillar, I have never seen anyone respect the military so much, the person who has been admired throughout the ages is nothing more than the general, as for the soldiers, even in the Qin and Han dynasties, they are just vulgar barbarians......"

The staff who can become the first assistant must be a well-educated person, and when he was in seclusion at home, Xu Fang read all the history books, and he naturally had a source for saying this sentence.

"Hanshu Confucianism Biography" "Filial piety, Gao Hou, the ministers are all military heroes" This shows that in the time of Gaozu, Xiaohui, Lu Hou, and Emperor Wen, up to the ministers. Most of the ordinary officials down to the local level once had military merits. State power at all levels is in the hands of landlords with military merit large and small. According to estimates a few years ago, in the early Han Dynasty, about 600,000 soldiers were given land houses because of the kicking of the knighthood, and the benefit of the military lord could reach 3 million, accounting for about 20% of the population at that time. Generally speaking, although the Qin and Han dynasties implemented the military merit system, its system was gradually abused, one of which was the constant conflict between the military lord and the people, for example, Emperor Wenjing had unconditionally and universally "bestowed the people with the first rank of the father" and "bestowed the people as the father of the latter knighthood" ten times, and then there was the implementation of the system of buying the lord of the army and the system of giving the lord on the border. In this way, the military lord has gradually become less important to the people, and since the time of Emperor Wu, the military lord has been no longer valued by the people......"

When mentioning the old events of the Han Dynasty, Xu Fang's words are as well-founded as a manuscript.

"In the Qin and Han dynasties, although there were military lords, they were often heavy generals and light pawns, and the titles were overflowing, and everyone in the world was knights, so they were naturally not valued by others."

As far as the matter is concerned, Xu Fang is telling the truth, and even later, even those who oppose the award of sergeants do not oppose it because of historical experience.

"Since the first year of Xingqian, although the military merit reward has not been implemented, after the first year of Xingqian, a large number of "military officials" have been awarded titles and honors, and a large number of local gentry have been supported by rewarding land. For example, in the first year of Xingqian, His Majesty stipulated: All soldiers who participated in King Zheng's Northern Expedition were awarded "honors" and rewarded with 100 acres of land; for the "soldiers" who followed from Jiangyin and had no fault and did not receive medals, they were all rewarded with "first-class honors" and 200 acres of land, and "knights of each level"; for the soldiers who participated in the Northern Expedition, they were awarded "second-class honors" and 150 acres of land. Even if the former soldiers of Xingqian did not have a knight, they also got 50 acres of meritorious land. As a result, no less than one million soldiers in the country have obtained economic benefits such as "food and food" or land and houses, and have become new gentry with the privilege of exemption from military service......"

For this kind of large-scale reward, the original court was naturally very dissatisfied, but because the world was initially determined, the land was vast and sparsely populated, this kind of reward actually did not cost anything, just a piece of wasteland, compared with the cost of resettlement of retired soldiers, the reward field is the cheapest kind of placement.

On the other hand, in the end, what everyone did not object to was precisely because they knew that in history, after the Qin and Han dynasties rewarded the military merits and lords, they were not valued by others, so they were happy to see the flood of honors. Only when the lords are flooded will they become more and more worthless and unappreciated.

Some of them have even made wishful thinking, and after this western expedition, they will ask His Majesty to confer a large number of honored soldiers, so that the honorable soldiers will be further proliferated, but now, in addition to the old pawns of the dragon, if you want to become a honored soldier, you need strict military merits. As for the ordinary soldiers, they will only get a field after retirement, and that field is also taxable.

The period of the Great Knights is over.

Just when people became the new local gentry because of hundreds of thousands of knights, these martial artists participated in local affairs together with the cultivators and gentry, and often let the latter be unwilling to "live with the martial arts", and thought they were honored there. Who would have thought that now His Majesty would suddenly write this article himself.

An article "The Dignity of the Soldier", so that the world no longer dares to call the soldier a "barbarian", Your Majesty Chrysostom said, who dares to use "barbarian" and other coarse words to describe the soldier, that is to bully the king.

His Majesty took the lead this time, using words that are often only used to describe the dignity of scribes to describe soldiers, which caught all the literati in the world off guard, even if they were such as Gu Yanwu, Xu Fang and others, they also felt that His Majesty was a little "exaggerated" this time.

"I can have today, it is true that I am thanks to the soldiers, but Your Majesty's words today ......"

Again, Gu Yanwu looked at the newspaper in his hand.

"Those who are old soldiers know that there is a country but do not know that there is a home; Knowing that there is a country does not know that there is a body; Knowing that there is death does not know that there is life; Knowing that there is progress, I don't know that there is retreat; Knowing the spirit does not know the intention; Knowing that there is obedience, there is no resistance; I know that there are orders, I know that there is military discipline, I don't know that I have a wife and children, and I don't know that there is an enemy country. He is bold, his heart is careful, his spirit is heavy, his conduct is noble, his vision is sharp, his means are spicy, his movements are strong, and his words are sincere...... This, throughout the ages, how many soldiers have been worthy of such words? ”

No matter how well the article is done, it cannot hide the fact that a soldier is like a bandit, and in history, a soldier is equal to a bandit, and this is a fact that cannot be changed.

"Born as the Great Wall of the country, and died as the protector of the people...... Such as Wu Sangui, such as Kong Youde, such as Shang Kexi, such as the generals who surrendered, such as those soldiers and martial artists who want to kill all the barbarians, how can they be worthy of such words? ”

Perhaps, Gu Yanwu is not opposed to admiring soldiers, but he doesn't like this kind of infinitely elevated words. But hearing Xu Fang say this, he shook his head and said.

"Your Majesty is referring to my Ming soldiers...... It is the soldiers under his command, not the soldiers of the past. ”

Gu Yanwu has never liked to follow others in the same footsteps, let alone echo the views of others, and as the first assistant, he naturally will not follow because others confuse their views.

"But someone will say that!"

Xu Fang looked at Shoufu and said.

"It's not to confuse right and wrong, but after people all over the world see this article, there will definitely be people who confuse right and wrong, and there will definitely be people who confuse the two, so Your Majesty's plan to show dignity for the soldiers is probably going to fall short!"

Xu Fang said the key to it - the world will confuse right and wrong.

"The reason why Your Majesty intends to show dignity for the military is nothing more than to take advantage of the fact that the world is talking about the merits of the soldiers, to further improve the status of the soldiers, after all, since the Song Dynasty, the situation of strong civil and military weakness can be said to have accumulated for hundreds of years, if it is not so, how can there be a lesson of building a captive and entering the customs, so Your Majesty wants to improve the status of the military, and such a promotion is suspected of pulling out the seedlings to help grow!"

Xu Fang's words made Gu Yanwu nod his head thoughtfully, and he thought the same way.

"Your Majesty once said that no matter how military you are, you should maintain a balance, a country with a strong military force and a weak country with a weak culture will be in chaos, and a country with a strong and weak military force will perish...... This time, His Majesty opened his eyes for the warriors, it was really ......"

Shaking his head and sighing lightly, Gu Yanwu frowned and said.

"It's a misconsideration!"

Saying this, Gu Yanwu looked at the newspaper again, and after thinking for a while, he picked up the pen, then put it down again, and then continued to pick up His Majesty's article and study it.

At this time, there was only one thought in his heart - how to end this matter!

。 m.