Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume 5: Lying on the salary and tasting the guts

Chapter 4 Painstaking management of the initial army

Section 2 Opening House

In the first year of the Apocalypse, in the first month, the camp of the Hanwei Army in Tongzhou.

Time flies, Laba has passed in a blink of an eye, and for the military and civilian people of the Ming Dynasty, this has already entered the "New Year". After a year of hard work, Liu Yunwei is also preparing with all the soldiers, ready to welcome the arrival of the new year happily.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the Hanwei Army camp was brightly lit all night, and the officers and men of the whole army collectively observed the New Year, and the soldiers set up cauldrons and bonfires to drink wine and eat meat on the sides of their respective camp tents, and the officers and soldiers celebrated the New Year together, and the entire Hanwei Army camp was very lively.

The next day, early in the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, Liu Yunwei led Lu Ying, Wu Xing, Wen Poyu, Zhao Kaishan, Li Tianhao, Wang Gandang, Gao Hongguang, and Huang Fuming, eight guerrilla generals, as well as Yuan Mingxuan, Sun Yuanhua, and the thousand generals of the whole army, to worship heaven and earth and the tablets of the ancestors of the Liu family in the big tent of the Chinese army in the camp. After that, the officers and men of the whole army will make "plaque food" (that is, the common name of wontons and dumplings) together, and the whole army will eat together at noon.

Compared with the generals in the Hanwei army camp, the festive atmosphere of the common people in the capital and Tongzhou is obviously much warmer.

The people of the Ming Dynasty will also sacrifice to the gods and ancestors during the Spring Festival, and it is very solemn and strict. The people would cut the straw paper into paper money, as well as different offerings, which were offered in front of the ancestral tablets and statues of the gods. The offerings of the ancestral tablets are cooked food for three animals, and the paper money offered will be burned after three days; In front of the statue, fruit and vegetarian food are offered, and the paper money offered is burned after the Lantern Festival.

In addition, both men and women, young and old, during the festival, they are folded into ornaments in the shape of flying geese, butterflies, grasshoppers and other shapes with gold leaf paper, and inserted on their heads to set off the festive atmosphere. The big ones are the size of a palm, and the small ones are the size of copper coins. Most people wear one, but there are also rich people who deliberately show off their wealth, and they are full of shouting on their heads. Daming's fireworks and firecrackers have a fairly high level of production, with hundreds of varieties, and can even show realistic patterns such as flowers and plants after being fired. There are many kinds of fireworks in the Ming Dynasty, which are distinguished from the materials and forms of production: those wrapped in mud are called "casseroles"; The one wrapped in paper is called a "flower tube"; Those sealed in baskets are called "flower pots"; The one that only makes a sound is called "a cannon"; Those who can fly into the sky are called "fire"; After flying into the sky, it makes a loud sound called "three-level waves"; The ones that spin on the ground are called "ground mouses". Some powerful families will ask skilled craftsmen to make various fireworks every year, and set off them all night on Chinese New Year's Eve, and fireworks alone cost hundreds of taels of silver a year, which is equivalent to the financial income of a medium-sized county for a year.

And from the 10th to the 16th of the first month, it is the day for the people to enjoy the lanterns. At this time of year, lamp-making craftsmen and merchants from all over the country will gather in Beijing to sell their products on the North Street outside Dong'anmen, and many well-off people in Tongzhou will go to the trouble to buy. There are all kinds of lanterns in the light market, and people who come to watch them are shoulder to shoulder, both men and women, and it is very lively. On the fourteenth day of the first month, all kinds of lanterns began to be lit and hung in the streets and alleys of the capital, and the fifteenth day of the first month was officially launched, and the lights were stopped on the sixteenth day of the first month. On the night of the lantern strike, the women of the capital will go on a night tour together, with one of them walking in front with a lighted incense stick, and the rest of the people will follow behind, called "Walking a Hundred Diseases", praying for a good new year. If there is a bridge where you walk, three or five women will cross it hand in hand, which means to save the misfortune. At the city gates, women would also grope for the nails in the dark, and if they could touch them, it would be a good omen. On this night, Zhengyangmen, Chongwenmen, and Xuanwumen were all closed all night, allowing the people to come and go, while the sergeants and lieutenants patrolled all night to maintain order. At this point, the New Year is truly over.

Whether it is the official family or the people, the first day of the new year is called "New Year's Day", and the fifteenth day of the first month is called "Shangyuan". On New Year's Day, the festival was celebrated until Shangyuan. On the day of Shangyuan, fireworks were set off until the eighteenth day of the first month. In addition, in addition to the festival and fireworks, there are some other activities: the eighth and ninth days of the new year to the temple to incense, visit the temple fair; On the day of the beginning of spring, welcome the gods and watch the game. The temple fair is very lively, those who enter the incense, worship the Buddha, set up stalls, carry burdens, play tricks, mix people and dig bags, the three religions and nine streams gather together, and the five elements and eight works gather together. The competition will be more lively, the residents of a certain place or a certain ethnic group will join together, invite the troupe, dance troupe, juggling troupe, set up the stage to sing, raise the spirit to parade the street, open the way with fire forks, cover the top with tiles, and the audience on both sides applauds as if they were desperate. After visiting the temple fair, after watching the competition, it is the lanterns and fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first month, and the whole country can't help but be able to help but carnival for the last three days, and the eighteenth day of the first month will come. As soon as the eighteenth day of the first lunar month arrived, the stage was dismantled, the lanterns were put away, the peasants went to the fields, and the old gentleman of the private school rushed back from his hometown, and the sound of reading in the official school started again. After the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, the Spring Festival officially ended, and the busy year began. That is to say, the eighteenth day of the first month is the end of the Ming New Year carnival, after this day, the atmosphere of the New Year is swept away, and everyone has to work hard, so the people of the Ming Dynasty will call it "soul" from the first day of the new year to the eighteenth day of the first month, and the eighteenth day of the first month is called "collecting the soul".

After the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Liu Yunwei also began to re-devote himself to the training of the Han Wei army.

On this day, Liu Yunwei was about to take people to the outside of Tongzhou City to check the spring plowing preparations for Juntun and Mintun, when he was about to get on the horse, he suddenly felt a dark in front of him, and suddenly felt that the world was spinning. Liu Yunwei was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly grabbed the reins of the war horse tightly, and the whole person hung on the side of the saddle.

The iron cavalry soldiers next to him were all shocked when they saw this, and they all stepped forward to help Liu Yunwei down, and hurriedly carried them back to the big tent of the Chinese army. At this time, Liu Yunwei was already a little fainting, and his face was very ugly, his forehead was full of sweat, and the soldiers were very anxious when they saw this. One of the Bai Zong hurriedly pointed at several of his subordinates and shouted, "Go and ask the medical officer to come!" General Lu and Lord Yuan are also invited! Remember to block the news, the general must not get out of the picture! Hearing this, the iron cavalry soldiers immediately dispersed.

It didn't take long for an iron cavalry soldier to come to the Chinese army's tent with a medical officer, and then Lu Ying and Yuan Mingxuan also arrived in a hurry.

Seeing that the medical officer was taking Liu Yunwei's pulse, everyone quietly stayed aside, for fear of disturbing the medical officer's diagnosis. After a long while, the medical officer breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Lu Guji, Lord Yuan, the little general is fine, but he is too tired. Just after the New Year, the little general's body and mind suddenly relaxed a lot, and all the previous hard work hit his heart, and this person naturally couldn't support it. ”

Lu Ying asked worriedly, "Then how is my eldest brother's situation now?" Will there be any dangers? ”

"The little general has stabilized now, but you must rest more, eat some tonic food in moderation, and don't work anymore, otherwise you will be left with the root of the disease."

Lu Ying and Yuan Mingxuan nodded their heads and thanked them again and again. The doctor left a prescription and left.

At this time, Liu Yunwei also slowly woke up, and when he saw that Lu Ying and Yuan Mingxuan were there, he smiled bitterly and said, "Alas, why did I fall ill at this time, and I am about to start spring ploughing." ”

Seeing this, Yuan Mingxuan said with a straight face: "Little general, you have to understand your position!" You are the commander of the Hanwei Army and the chief officer of Tongzhou Town, all you need to do is to sit in the Chinese army and command us to complete specific affairs, you don't need to do everything yourself! From today onwards, you can't run around like you used to. ”

Lu Ying also said: "Big brother, Lord Yuan is right. In the future, you only need to give an order, if your body is exhausted, who will lead us in the Northern Expedition in the future! ”

Liu Yunwei was very relieved to hear this: "I understand, everyone is worried." However, our Hanwei Army is now seriously short of people, whether it is civil or military, it is a lack of talents, and now there are still some vacancies in the thousands of battalions, not to mention Tuntian and Jiangzuo, I'm in a hurry! ”

Yuan Mingxuan was silent for a while when he heard this, and said: "Little general, I think it is better to issue a recruitment notice in the name of Tongzhou Town, gather talents who are willing to come to serve in the Hanwei Army, and enrich all aspects of the army. The little general is the general of a town, and he also has to consider the affairs of the opening mansion, so that someone will share it, not only will the little general be much easier, but the speed of my Hanwei army will be much faster. ”

After finishing speaking, Lu Ying agreed with Yuan Mingxuan's proposal, and Liu Yunwei was also very moved, but still said: "But will anyone be willing to come?" You must know that our Tongzhou Town is a well-known Qingshui Yamen, and there is no oil and water to fish, and those who study may not be willing to come. ”

Yuan Mingxuan said helplessly: "You can give it a try, let's wait and see." ”

"Okay, let's see how many aspiring scholars there are in the dynasty." Liu Yunwei continued: "In addition, these scholars who are willing to come to Tongzhou Town to serve must be assessed and screened, and they must rather be lacking than excessive!" I will never want those who are not right-minded and covet official positions; As for the vacancies in the army, I think we can hold a big competition and select directly from the ranks and men. ”

Yuan Mingxuan and Lu Ying both agreed very much when they heard this, and discussed the relevant details with Liu Yunwei.

After the three of them finished discussing, Liu Yunwei said: "Then let's settle it like this, and Lord Yuan will be fully responsible for recruiting the shogunate's subordinates; And the matter of selecting vacancies in the army is in charge of Lu Ying. The two of you must hurry up, and in a month at most, you will have to complete this matter. ”