These guards are all yellow and thin, and the mandarin duck robes on their bodies don't know how many years they have been worn, they are full of patches, and they have been washed so that they can't see the original color, plus they don't pay attention to hygiene, if they don't have a waist knife pinned to their waists, they will really be regarded as flower children on the street.

This is also a soldier, this is also called a soldier?

In his opinion, only men like Fei Hong and Donkey, who are as strong as cattle and more than 1.80 meters tall, can be regarded as soldiers. These few people in front of him can be knocked down with one hand.

Fei Hong and the others had long heard that the soldiers of the Southern Guard were unusable, and they were not as elite as the Nine Sides, and they were also mentally prepared, but when they saw people today, they were still surprised. Especially when I saw their hands and feet, which were even thinner like stalks, they all showed uncomfortable expressions.

Sun Yuan took a breath of cold air and couldn't help asking, "Get up, are you all soldiers of the Thousand Households?" ”

The little official clearly saw the dissatisfaction on Sun Yuan's face, and when he heard him ask, he hurriedly waved his hand at a few guards and told them all to retreat.

Then he said embarrassedly: "If you go back to the master of Qianhu, there are thirty families in the Wei Institute, and when the previous master of Qianhu was transferred, they were all taken away." The villain had already heard that the master was coming to take office, so he ordered a few decent people from the military households below to come over and serve the marquis. ”

"Is that passable?" The donkey barked.

Wen Laosan also said sarcastically: "Such a soldier, in our Taiyuan Town, even if it is a husband, no one is willing to bother to catch it." You can't pick up your shoulders, you can't carry your back, and you can't be forcibly recruited to be auxiliaries, which is a waste of food. ”

Xiao official: "Yes, yes, the military households of our thousands of households have a hard life, so naturally they can't be compared with Master Sun's personal soldiers." ”

According to the unspoken rules of the military circles in this era, all officers will support their families and soldiers, whether it is equipment or military salary, they will also take their families away when they leave their posts. And the relationship between the family and the officer is like that of a slave and a master. The number of family members directly reflects the strength of this officer.

For example, an officer of a thousand households generally has to raise three to fifty families, and the first rank of guard commander is as many as two hundred.

When it came to the chief military officer of the Nine Sides, there were thousands of people. For example, Zu Kuan, the general soldier of Liaodong who rescued Fengyang and encircled and suppressed the peasant army, personally led 3,000 main forces to attack, and these 3,000 cavalry were all his own soldiers. Because of this elite, Zu Kuan can occupy a place in the Liaodong Jiangmen, and is known as a fierce general who dares to fight.

As for the rest of the soldiers, they seemed to the officers to be no more than a full number, and a battle was usually fought by the family.

And the other soldiers are mostly soy sauce.

Speaking of this, the little official secretly glanced at the people around Sun Yuan again, but his heart was shocked: Sun Qianhu came to Ningxiang to take office this time and brought more than 20 personal soldiers. Although the number of people is small, these soldiers are like slaughterers who have been on the battlefield at a glance. Moreover, they are as strong as oxen. Oh my God, is this still called a man, it's all livestock! It can be seen how strong Master Sun Qianhu is to this extent!

Only then did Sun Yuan understand that these soldiers were all temporarily called by the Qianhu Institute to be guards on duty.

He was also mentally prepared for the poverty of the military households in the Ming Dynasty, but he didn't think that the military households in the land of Jiangnan were also poor and weak to such an extent, so he stretched out his hand to help the little official up, and asked gently: "Get up, what is your name, you may be literate and write articles?" ”

The little official replied: "The villain's surname is Guo Mingdao, he was born in a military household, studied in a private school for a few days, and has been on an errand in a thousand households for thirteen years. ”

"Oh, it's the old man in the office." Sun Yuan nodded and said, "It's getting late, please settle down." ”

"Yes, yes, the villain will do it." Guo Daodao nodded again and again.

The journey was tiring, and the situation was not good.

Everyone's faces were not very good, but Sun Yuan had an indifferent expression.

At that moment, everyone settled down under Guo Daodao's courteous time.

Sun Yuan, his mother, and Shaoyu naturally lived in the official office. The official office is actually very dilapidated here, the place is big, but it is full of dilapidated houses, many of which have holes in the roof, and they need to be repaired to live in it.

As for Fei Hong, Guan Tao and others, they lived in a few rows of bungalows next to the government office.

Dinner was naturally lackluster, it was all brown rice, there was no way, so Guo Daodao could only take the silver and buy a few chickens and a pig from the people, and finally let everyone eat enough.

Then, it was time to hand over the various official duties of the Thousand Households.

Sun Yuan saw that everyone's mood was not high, and because he was tired from walking in the past few days, he said that he would talk about official business early tomorrow morning, and then hold a meeting, and rest first today.

Guo Daodao has his own home in the city, and he has to say goodbye. Sun Yuan stopped him: "Guo Yuan, stay for a while, and walk around with me." ”

"Yes, Master Qianhu." Guo Daodao's official position is that of a thousand households, and he does not enter the stream. is not like the official of the Wei Command Envoy, but he is also a servant of the ninth grade.

The sunset was like fire, Guo Daodao was apprehensive and cautiously accompanied Sun Yuan on the outskirts of the city. Once a son of heaven and a courtier, generally speaking, when a thousand-household officer leaves, he will take away all his former cronies and family members. When the previous Qianhu resigned, he also asked him if he wanted to go over together, and Guo Daodao was also moved. But after thinking about it, he refused, after all, he grew up in Ningxiang since he was a child, and his family and friends are all in Ningxiang, but he can't do without it. Besides, even if you go with your predecessor Qianhu, what can you do, isn't it also a small official?

But today he regretted it a little, this Sun Qianhu brought more than 20 family members when he took office. Moreover, looking at the shrewdness and ability of the surnamed Guan under him, he must have taken over his position as a minister.

How can an official with no rank leave his post and can only go back to the countryside to farm and make a living.

Just thinking about it in a mess, Sun Yuan suddenly asked: "Guo Yimu, do I have a military camp in the thousands of households in Ningxiang?" ”

"Yes, yes, less than a mile ahead." Guo Daodao put away his chaotic thoughts, pointed to the place less than two hundred steps to the west, and said: "This military camp was built when the Japanese invaded the country in the year of Jiajing. However, the country has been in peace for a long time. Moreover, once there is something at the border, the war is all done by the border army, and there is nothing to do with our military households. Therefore, the place was deserted. ”

Sun Yuan was surprised: "I'll take a look, master." ”

After walking for a while, I saw a mess of houses, the place was very large, and there were walls, which had the taste of an ordinary middle school in later generations. Even better, there's a school field the size of two standard football fields.

It's just that this place has not been used for a long time, and not only is the school yard overgrown with grass, but even the houses are wet and dark.

In the setting sun, the entire barracks was filled with the murmur of grass insects, and the breeze blew, which was very quiet.

"Good place, these days, Guo Yan has seen that you are a little tired, find someone to come and repair this place, as for the salary, ask Guan Tao to ask."

"Yes, the villain will do it." Guo Daodao hurriedly agreed.

"I'll give you three days." Sun Yuan raised three fingers: "Can it be done?" ”

"The villain must have done this errand properly." Speaking of this, Guo Daodao couldn't help but ask curiously: "What does the master want to do in this military camp, and spend so much silver?" ”

"You don't have to worry about that."

"Yes, the villain is talkative." Guo Daodao hurriedly responded, and it could be seen that the new master of Qianhu was a very gentle person, and he didn't have much arrogance. He had the courage to interject again: "Master Sun, in fact, you can requisition dozens of military households to repair the military camp, and there is no need to spend this money." ”

"What you said is right, but it's a pity that Ben Qianhu is in a hurry to use this military camp, and he doesn't have time to recruit manpower. So be it. ”

"Yes."

After shopping around his property, Sun Yuan went back to the house to sleep very satisfied.

Lying on the bed, he thought about it, on the surface, although this Ningxiang Thousand Households was poor and closed, it should be said that it was the worst place among the ten Thousand Households in Dahewei. But that's fine, it's not easy to train in a prosperous place. The poorer the soldiers, the stronger the fighting power. Just like Qi Jiguang, the military god in the Wanli period, recruited soldiers to recruit miners in the mountainous areas of Yiwu, and only chose the kind of grain family that looked honest and honest.

And because this place is really not valued by the top, it is suitable for you to slowly accumulate strength, and you are not subject to unnecessary restrictions.

At the best time, the previous Senhu took away the officers and family members in the office. Sun Yuan came to make this thousand households, a blank piece of paper is easy to paint, and it also saves the trouble of rectifying personnel.

The second day was the first day after Sun Yuan took office, and the first thing was Guo Daodao's transfer of the affairs of the Thousand Households.

First of all, there were the seals and military talismans, and then there were several thick booklets, on which the numbers of the population, land, and houses of the thousand households were recorded.

Sun Yuan first looked at the yellow book of household registration, and when he saw it, he was a small surprise. The total population of Ningxiang's thousand households is 7,624 people, that is to say, there are six people in each household under his command. Of these more than 7,000 men, 3,000 were women, and among the remaining men, excluding the elderly and children, there were about 2,100 men between the ages of 13 and 50, all of whom were available to him in the future.

According to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty guard army, several prefectures were a defense area and guarded. There are 1,000 households and 100 households under the guard. The number of soldiers was about 5,600 for the guards, 1,120 for the 1,000 households, and 12 for the 100 households. There are two general flags of 100 households, each with 50 people, and 10 small flags, with 10 people under each jurisdiction.

More than 2,000 people are enough to fill 2,000 households.

This human resource is very sufficient.

However, looking at the number of cultivated land in the institute, Sun Yuan shook his head. There are too few, and they are all hilly and hilly. With this bit of land, it is simply impossible to feed such a large number of people, no wonder the few guards I saw yesterday were as poor as Hanako.

But on second thought, this is normal. First, the land occupied by the army was already barren; Secondly, Jiangnan is already rich, and the population has grown massively for many years, and the contradiction between more people and less land is particularly prominent. Not to mention a military station, even if it is a place, it is densely populated and narrow. Fortunately, the industry and commerce in the south of the Yangtze River are developed, and the water transportation, salt transportation, and textile transportation have absorbed a large number of people, so that the social order has not been affected by the population expansion. In the Ming Dynasty, there was no major peasant uprising in the south of the Yangtze River. But not in the north, once the sky is met, the people have no way to live except fleeing and rebelling.

It can be seen that in economically underdeveloped areas, if there are too many people, it is not a good thing.