In the third year of Longwu (A.D. 1647), the tenth day of October, Huguang Baoqing Mansion

On the outskirts of Fucheng, endless rice paddies stretch on both sides of the official road to the foot of the mountain in the distance. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoUnder the warm sun, a strong wind blows from time to time, rolling up layers of golden waves.

In the rice fields, the busy figures of harvesters can be seen everywhere, dotted with the undulating golden rice waves, which is spectacular.

Although the sun was not very hot, the long hours of labor still made the reapers sweat like rain, and the hot steam of their bent bodies made the whole scene even more intense.

The work was hard, but hardly a single person showed fatigue on his face and slowed down his movements. Everyone was very energetic and didn't seem to know what tiredness was. In their hopeful eyes, what was reflected was a bunch of heavy ears of rice, gently swaying in the wind, unpretentious but so dazzling.

The rice fields in this vicinity all belong to Bao Qingwei, and the busy harvesters in the fields are Bao Qingwei's military households, and the harvest season is always their busiest time, which is the case every year. The only difference is that the busyness of previous years is a kind of torture, but this year's busyness is a kind of willingness and enjoyment.

The military households all know that since the Huguang Metropolitan Division changed the commander of the capital last year, their lives have changed dramatically.

The newly arrived commanders punished the corrupt military attachés, cleared out the tuntian fields they had swallowed and redistributed them, allocated cattle and seeds, ordered large-scale land reclamation, verified the number of military households, and introduced various tax exemption policies to encourage the fugitive military households to return to their hometowns.

After a series of measures, among the nearly 4,000 military households that still exist in Baoqingwei. The military households that had lost their land and had no more land in their names were reassigned their own land, and although it did not reach the standard of 50 mu per household at the beginning of the dynasty, it was gradually increasing. It's hopeful.

In addition, the number of acres of land owned by military attachés of Xiaoqi, 100 households, and 1,000 households was strictly restricted, and the kind of driving military households under their names such as pigs and dogs in the past was expressly prohibited. There were a few bold earth snakes who tried to challenge this rule, and all of them were beheaded in public by the military masters of the supervision group sent by Chenzhou. Since then, the tide has changed.

The soldiers in the fields were busy, and the end of the official road suddenly rolled up smoke and dust, and a rumbling sound followed. Growing.

The curious people stopped what they were doing, straightened up and looked at the end of the official road.

"It's time to go through the army." I don't know who said it first.

It didn't take long for him to testify his judgment. A group of cavalry appeared in everyone's sight wrapped in smoke and dust, about twenty or thirty people, freshly clothed, angry, horses, and armored. The tiger talisman on the fiery red flag silently identified them.

"This is Huguang Town, and the soldiers under the command of the Lord himself."

More and more military households raised their heads and looked at the official road. His eyes were full of curiosity and envy. They had also seen the cavalry of thousands and hundreds of households before. But neither the appearance nor the momentum can be compared with the cavalry in front of him.

Soon, the cavalry of Huguang Town galloped across the official road and rushed in the direction of Fucheng.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, another troop of cavalry in the same costume passed by. In this way, three teams in a row were enough to open the eyes of the military households between work.

Seeing the back of the third cavalry disappear to the end, he continued to wait and see for a while, until he thought that there would be no more back. The soldiers retracted their gaze and continued to bend down to harvest.

"What a mighty soldier! Look at the man. The horse! ”

"All the soldiers commanded by the Lord himself, so how bad can it be?"

"My son was also drafted into the army of the commander at the end of last year, and he must be as spirited as they are."

"My brother too, maybe in a few days, he will be able to come back. We harvest rice on the side of the official road every day, and we can see it on the top. ”

The soldiers were gossiping and talking happily, and this experience became the best episode for them to relieve their boredom.

After a while, a louder noise from the official road once again attracted the attention of the military households. This time the movement was unprecedented, and it was not comparable to the three teams of cavalry in front.

The smoke and dust rising were like dragons dancing together, and the sound was like thunder on the ground. When the dust cleared a little and as far as the eye could see, someone with outstanding vision pointed into the distance and exclaimed: "Look, look, army, army......"

The others followed his arm and pointed to the pole to look into the distance, and after a while, he saw the flag rolling in the distance, like a sea of clouds, and the figures under it were crowded, and the black pressure was overwhelming, and he couldn't see the edge. The bits of metallic glitter in the sunlight form a sea of dazzling light, presumably the reflection of the armor. I could hear the neighing of horses and the sound of horses' hooves, and I heard that there were no less than thousands of horses.

Shocked, in the hearts of the military households who were watching at the moment, only the word shock remained!

Soon after, when the army approached and passed through the official road in an endless stream, the shock in the hearts of the soldiers turned to shock.

The banner like the sea, the bright armor, the guns like the forest, the gun carriages and the shining artillery, as well as the strict queue, the majestic pace, and the murderous spirit tempered by the bloody battle, the demeanor of the strong army is fully revealed.

"That's the banner of the commander!" A hundred households who happened to be patrolling the edge of the field suddenly pointed ahead in surprise and said to the people around them.

"Where?"

"There!"

In the surging sea of flags, the two flags are a large section higher than the surrounding ones, and they are generally particularly conspicuous when they stand out from the crowd. One of the red flags is still a tiger charm pattern, and the side next to it has a big "Pang" character, if you get closer, you can also see a line of small characters: Dingwu Hou, the right governor of the governor's mansion Tongzhi, the commander of the Huguang Metropolitan Division, the chief military officer of Huguang Town......

"Commander of the Commands!" An old soldier with gray hair was full of gratitude and excitement and took the lead in kneeling down in the field, kowtowing in the direction of the banner.

"Commander of the Commands!"

"Commander of the Commands!"

……

More and more military households knelt down, and voices of gratitude converged. Justice is at ease in people's hearts. As the lowest level, they may not have much knowledge, but the tradition of gratitude and retribution that has been passed down since ancient times has long been deeply rooted in their bone marrow. Who is really doing things for the people? They naturally have rods and scales in their hearts.

"Go and let the soldiers get up, harvest with peace of mind, don't miss the farming time!" Under the banner of Shuai, Pang Yue commanded towards Wei Yuan.

"Yes!"

When Wei Yuan took the order and left, Pang Yue couldn't help but sigh to the surrounding generals and staff: "This is the military household of the Ming Dynasty, and by extension, the ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty are like this." For them. The open and secret battles in the temple and the competition on the battlefield are too far away. What they yearn for is nothing more than to be able to eat and clothe themselves and continue the bloodline of their ancestors, who can give them this. They will be grateful to Dade and will be willing to endure even if they are exploited and oppressed. However, throughout the ages, these two simple desires of the common people have often become a luxury. As for the people of later generations, they often only think of the glory of the heroes who competed for the throne and made meritorious contributions. And the trillions of dry bones buried under the foundation of Wang Tu's great cause have long been forgotten. It's so-called. Prosperity, the people suffer, death, the people suffer! ”

"The people of China have been loyal and pure since ancient times. Now that the marshal can practice benevolent government and treat the people well, the people will naturally give back with sincerity. If today's situation can be sustained and extended, it will be a truly peaceful and prosperous era! Zhang Yunli said.

"It is not difficult to prosper in one place at a time, but it is not easy to prosper for a long time and prosperity in the world. If Daming wants to reproduce the prosperous era, it is not a long way to go! Tian Shizun then sighed.

Pang Yue nodded slightly in agreement. His gaze withdrew from both sides of the official road and redirected to the distance. The face was calm and thoughtful.

At this time, it was the last time we set out from Hengzhou to march into Liangguang. It's been almost half a year. In the intervening time, the situation has changed dramatically.

After being lost for more than half a year, Liangguang returned to the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing army of Liangguang was completely annihilated, and Tong Yangjia, the governor of Liangguang and Guangzhou, and Li Chengdong, the governor of Liangguang, were given the head. The tentacles of the Manchu Qing retracted back to Fujian.

After the recovery of Liangguang, Huguang Town, Ma Jinzhong, and Chen Youlong's nearly 30,000 troops continued to be stationed in the local area, while resting and recuperating, clearing the remnants of the Qing army, and assisting in the rebuilt Ming government to maintain the local area and rebuild the ruling order. Since the fall of Liangguang was not too long, the people's hearts and minds were not lost, and the foundation still existed, the initial results were already achieved after a few months.

Emperor Longwu, who has always tried to forge ahead, took this opportunity to purge the Liangguang civilian, military and military groups that had begun to separate from the imperial court. Ding Kuichu, the former governor of Liangguang, surrendered and was killed, and as for Zhu Zhijian, the former governor of Guangdong, Cao Ye, the governor of Guangxi, and the rest of the local officials who abandoned their pastoral duties, they were all removed from their posts and investigated. The general soldiers who fled without a fight in several towns in Liangguang were also relieved of military power and imprisoned, and the troops and horses were scattered and reorganized.

After the old system of civilian-military generals was severely punished, all important positions in the Liangguang officialdom were replaced by newly appointed officials of Emperor Longwu.

In terms of civil officials, in addition to Yang Tinglin's new governor of Guangzhou, Chen Zizhuang was appointed as the new governor of Guangdong, Chen Bangyan was appointed as the political envoy of Guangxi, Zhang Jiayu was appointed as the prefect of Guangzhou, and so on.

In terms of military generals, Wang Dongri was appointed as the new commander-in-chief of the Guangdong army and the commander of the Guangdong Metropolitan Command, and his post of Shaozhou General Soldier was taken over by Cao Tianqi, the former commander-in-chief of the Qingyuan regiment. The Anti-Qing Righteous Army, which was originally organized by Chen Bangyan, Chen Zizhuang, and others, was also reorganized, and its elite was selected, the old and weak were eliminated, and it was organized and trained according to the establishment of regular battalion recruitment. Among them, the generals who had made meritorious contributions to the war were all awarded official military positions such as general and guerrilla, and they still commanded the old troops and guarded the localities.

At this point, the style of the officialdom of the two Guangxi provinces has changed, and the situation of semi-separation has been greatly alleviated.

With Liangguang, a source of taxation, the financial dilemma faced by the Longwu court was gradually eased.

As for Pang Yue himself, it can be called a double happiness. At the beginning of August, he officially married Liu Bing'er in Guangzhou, and his happy life finally came to an end. For this reason, the whole army had a two-day holiday, and it had a good time. Last month, Emperor Longwu's edict was transmitted to Guangzhou, and Pang Yue was named Marquis of Dingwu. The news spread, and the soldiers of the town cheered and boiled again.

Marrying a relative, marquis, two happy events together, it can not be said that the spring breeze is proud, Pang Yue will occasionally be proud, but calm down and know that now is not the time to enjoy wealth and wealth.

Today, the great country has been occupied by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty no longer even owns half of it. Not far north of Huguang Changsha Mansion is the front line, the enemy and our two sides of the battle line in Jiangxi are different from each other, there are Qing army Jin Shengheng and Wang Deren in northern Jiangxi, and there is Liu Wuyuan, the governor of southern Qing and Jiangxi in the east of Ganzhou. Fujian even fell to the whole territory. At present, only the southern part of Huguang, Liangguang and Guizhou have no trace of the enemy. Yunnan, located to the west, was also occupied by the remnants of the Great Western Army, and although it temporarily abandoned the name of the Great Western Army, its attitude is still unknown.

Originally, at the suggestion of He Tengjiao and other ministers, Emperor Longwu had the intention of letting Pang Yue be reappointed as the commander-in-chief of Guangdong and leading the army to garrison on the spot. However, due to the opposition of Zhu Dadian, Lu Zhenfei and others, coupled with the recent emergency reports in various prefectures and counties in the west of Huxi, saying that there have been traces of the strikers and sentinels of the Great Western Army in the territory many times, and there is a fear that a war is coming, so Emperor Longwu finally vetoed He Tengjiao's proposal on the grounds that the attitude of the remaining thieves in the west was unclear and that the west of Huxi could not be defended without a powerful general. Maintaining Pang Yue's original position, he led the army back to Chenzhou at the end of September and the beginning of October.

Knowing this result, Pang Yueming remained silent on his face, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After receiving the holy decree, Pang Yue immediately gathered his soldiers and horses, and brought all kinds of craftsmen and technicians recruited in Liangguang this time, as well as a large number of raw materials purchased for the General Manufacturing Bureau, captured trophies, etc., and personally led the main force of the army to stay overnight, and went north on a dry road. The newly formed Fubo Battalion, led by battalion officer He Guoyuan, returned north by water.

As for Shi Lang, he continued to stay in Guangzhou with some of his men and horses, and was responsible for the formation of the naval division.

Now, the naval division of Huguang Town has been officially approved by Emperor Longwu, and it is initially decided to use Xingang Island as a base, and a basic shelf has been erected in terms of establishment, and officers above the middle level have been appointed, but the work of finding shipbuilders and drawings is still not progressing much. Before Pang Yue left Guangzhou, he specially transferred some Cantonese officers who were familiar with naval warfare from the Fubo battalion, and sent them to Shi Lang together with Shi Fu, Cheng Sheng, and other Fujian generals who had recently surrendered to Cheng to assist him in the formation work.

Time passed in a hurry during the march, and when he returned to the territory of Huguang, Pang Yue immediately had a sense of pleasure of fish entering the sea and the dragon ascending to heaven. After all, he has been in business here for the longest time and has spent the most energy. This place is also the foundation on which he can stand in troubled times.

This time, he did not plan to return to Chenzhou in a hurry, but planned to inspect and stop at various health centers along the way to see the extent of the implementation of the previous new policies. If it is still found that there is a head snake like Lu Dengyun at the beginning, he will not tolerate the adulterer and resolutely punish it! The guard station seems to be insignificant, but it is one of the important sources of soldiers and food and grass for the soldiers of each battalion in Huguang Town, which cannot be underestimated.

Passing by Baoqing today and seeing the scene in front of him, Pang Yue was relieved and felt that he had a long way to go.

Under the clear sky, the flags were unfurled, the war horses were galloping, and the main army of Huguang Town was marching mightily on the official road, like a giant dragon. (To be continued.) )