Chapter 27: The Foundation (I)

The new Huai warship, which combines the advantages of both the Arabian dhows and the Chinese Fu ship, goes very fast at sea. It has only been more than ten days since leaving Fuzhou, and it has entered the Yangtze River estuary, and Yangzhou Port is in sight.

Faster than the battleship is the flying star ship, which is used to deliver messages and issue orders. Because of the large vertical and horizontal ratio and the horizontal and vertical composite sails, and without any artillery, it can run more than 250 miles on average every day and night. Four days in advance, the preparations for the Northern Expedition were passed on to Su Mingzhe, Lu Luzeng and others who were sitting in Yangzhou. (Note 1) Su and Lu have been looking forward to this day for a long time. After receiving the order, he immediately summoned the chief and deputy directors of the three courts and various bureaus to stay in Yangzhou, and conveyed the specific tasks as quickly as possible. In the blink of an eye, the yamen at all levels under the rule of the Huaiyang Grand Governor's Office, the major legions in the Huai'an Army, the major commercial houses under the Huaiyang firm, as well as the Jiangwutang, the university, the Fuxue, the Baigong Technical School, the Yangzhou Commercial School and other institutions closely related to the Grand Governor's Office, all started running at high speed.

After half a year, there was once again a long queue at the entrance of the military departments of various prefectures and cities. Last time, I didn't catch up with the local people who signed up for the selection of auxiliary soldiers, and the young and strong refugees who had just fled north of the Yellow River in the second half of the year, all of them stood tall and pulled their backs, and the tendons and flesh on their arms were bulging. lest I be swept down in advance before I can participate in the test. Lost the opportunity to train to become a soldier, and then directly obtain fifteen acres of fertile land.

Indeed, fifteen acres of land is not much, and most of the locations are in Xuzhou, Suiyang, and even the new territory south of the Yangtze River. But with these fifteen acres in hand, it means that many people have jumped from coolies who have no fixed place to live into good families with houses and fields. As long as you are lucky not to die on the battlefield in the future, even if you lack arms and legs, you will still have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of your life after retiring.

And the combat effectiveness of the Huai'an Army is the first in the world. On this expedition to the south of the Yangtze River, most of the soldiers did not even hurt half of the hair, and they made several new achievements. Each level of merit means that they have added a large area of fertile land on the basis of the original fifteen acres of land. Not only will I not be hungry in this life, but as long as there is no loser in the next two generations, I will be rich for life.

The common people are the most simple and at the same time the most cunning. In a long and difficult life, they have mastered enough survival wisdom. It takes little effort to know what is best for you and your family. In their eyes, no matter how beautiful the slogans of the government are, they are not as good as a few buckets of rice and half an acre of land. And no matter how loud the gentry shout, as long as they can't come up with enough real money, don't expect to fool them into being cannon fodder!

Yes, cannon fodder, that's a fresh word. But as long as you have seen the Huai'an military exercise, you know the most standard interpretation of this word. If the cannon goes down, no matter whether it is an illiterate reckless man on the other side, or a showman who chews words and chews words, all of them will be bombarded to the bone. So if you want to make the Zhu butcher rebel, you take the lead and rush up, don't just point to a mouth! How much stupider is anyone than anyone these days?!

Just as excited as ordinary people are the students at all levels of school. In addition to the martial arts hall, students from the former government schools who want to become prominent in the school either participate in the imperial examination, or they have been among the best in all the tests in the school in the past two years. Otherwise, you can only start from the small officials in the county town and slowly work your way up. Business schools and technical schools are even more difficult to become officials, and they have basically cut off the way to become officials, so they can only go to various workshops and trading houses to work as craftsmen and managers.

Now, here's a good opportunity. According to the latest instructions of the University of Politics, anyone who meets the following four conditions, whether it is a university, a prefectural school, a technical school, or a business school, can apply for employment at the Governor's Office. Once hired, they will become a direct civilian in the Governor's Office. After the beginning of spring of the following year, he went north with Lord Robben and took over the newly recovered land from the Huai'an army.

The four conditions are very simple, and they are posted in black and white at the entrance of each school. First, they must be older than 17 years old, and they have reached their final year of school except for university. Second, be in good health and have no impairment in the eyes, ears or limbs. Third, he has a literacy of more than 2,000 words, can calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within 100, and can read through and explain the current laws of Huaiyang. Fourth, there is a desire to revitalize China, and even if you die without spinning.

The student's origin, place of origin, the profession of his parents, and whether anyone in his family has ever been an enemy of the Governor's Office are not taken into account by the Governor's Office. On the contrary, it was solemnly marked at the bottom of the notice that the yamen and the school authorities at all levels must not prevent him from registering with the general manager because of his background, otherwise, he will be investigated to the end.

This note may seem like a big picture, but it has kindled a fire in the hearts of many young people. The tradition formed by the Chinese nation since the Han Dynasty is to prove whether a person is excellent or not by becoming an official. Therefore, except for a very small number of hermits with noble aspirations, there are basically no scholars who are willing to be a leisurely white body for a long time. Among the business schools and government schools, especially in the former, there are many students because their elders once stood on the opposite side of the governor's office, resulting in the loss of hope for the governor in this life. Suddenly, I found that the Governor's Mansion was actually "hungry for food", and of course we had to firmly grasp the opportunity.

Under their influence, in some old courtyards in Yangzhou, Huai'an, Gaoyou, Jiqing and other places, a third tide of excitement has secretly formed in addition to young and school-age students.

"The Huai'an Army is going on a northern expedition!"

"The Great Yuan Dynasty's qi is really exhausted!"

"The emperor, the queen, and the crown prince are three, husband and wife turn against each other, and father and son kill each other. I have to go to a dead end. This God, didn't he really open the back door for Zhu Butcher? ”

"The true son of heaven has his own luck. Back then, Han Gaozu was just a ruffian! The world is still surnamed Liu for more than 400 years. ”

"Alas, creation makes people. I knew that the destiny was him, everyone! ”

The leaders of Shilin who once fought for the orthodoxy of the famous religion, the local tyrants who once wanted the Yuan army to plow the "red turban thief" and sweep the caves, and some former salt lords who were confiscated of their capital but were lucky enough to leave their lives, watched their juniors pack up their books and prepare to go to the Great Governor's Mansion to apply for recruitment, and the expectations in their eyes at this moment were actually more resentful and unwilling.

Change of dynasty, common thing, alas! Zhu Butcher has already revealed the aura of the true dragon emperor, can everyone continue to fight with him? In that case, it will not only delay yourself, but also delay the future of your younger generations. So, instead of clinging to the hatred of the past, it is better to open your eyes and look forward. After all, in addition to losing some old privileges, in the past few years, everyone's life has been quite passable. And the equal policy promoted by General Manager Zhu is not as terrible as everyone thought before. As long as you don't try to use your mantis arm as a car, in most cases, the new dynasty is more reasonable than Meng Yuan, at least it won't break into the house to kill people at every turn, and wipe you out at every turn.

Note 1: According to the records of Jiajing and Wanli's envoys to Ryukyu in the Ming Dynasty document "Records of the Envoys to the Ryukyus", it takes seven days and nights to travel from Fujian to Shuri (now Naha), and it can be estimated that the speed of the voyage is about 80 kilometers to 120 kilometers in one day and night.