The fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the first month. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

It was already early spring when the horses were raising dust on the potholed post road, but when they looked up, they were full of hazel barrenness, and the fields were desolate, even if some of them were obviously plastered, the grass was still several feet deep, and the soil was dry and watery.

Everywhere there were cracks of the drought, the grass was yellow, and the bark and grass leaves that were a little greener were all gone, which had been eaten up by the hungry people.

In the fields, on the side of the road, there were starving people who had fallen to the ground, and there were groups of refugees fleeing the famine, dressed in tattered cotton shirts, with straw ropes tied around their waists, carrying their own black and tattered quilts, and there were scrawny and shivering children at home.

Seeing Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen's army, some of these victims were afraid, some were numb, and some had a faint hatred in their eyes.

Watching these people with their families staggering by, trying their best to go in the direction of Zhangde Mansion City, anyone who saw it couldn't help but feel sad.

"Alas!"

Cao Bianjiao sighed heavily, looked back at the soldiers behind him, all of them looked haggard, unkempt, like beggars, no better than these refugees, even the royal courtiers had a grass root in their mouths, chewing intentionally or unintentionally.

After the two armies went south from Zanhuang, they were often full of hunger, so the slower the march, they walked from the garrison for more than a month before entering the territory of Zhangde Mansion of the Henan Buzheng Division.

When passing through Cizhou, he bought some grain and grass from the local guards, and was also sneered at by the local guards, and the hot-tempered Wang courtiers were so angry that they almost wanted to draw their swords, but Cao Bianjiao persuaded them.

Because the march is getting more and more difficult, the officers and men in the army have fled.

"Brother Wang, after crossing Zhangshui, you can reach Zhangde Mansion City tomorrow, and today, the army will camp by the river."

"Okay. General Xiao Cao. ”

The army set up camp and began to make fires to cook and feed the horses. Because of the lack of forage, the horses in the two armies were all weak and weak, and they became thinner and weaker. A lot of horses, not even a rider.

Now Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen are in the army, imitating Wang Dou. Some cooking carts were also built, but it was difficult for the clever women to cook without rice, and the firefighters could not make any sumptuous meals.

However, the smell of food still attracted the attention of some of the victims, but they did not dare to approach, but only dared to look from afar. Smelling that aroma, salivating.

Sitting in the tent, the guards brought two large bowls of porridge, which were so rare that people could see them, and there were some grass roots and wild vegetables floating on them. After taking one of the bowls, Cao Bianjiao was surprised: "Yo, today's meal is good." ”

looked at Wang Tingchen and saw that he only put the bowl in front of him, but did not eat or drink, Cao Bianjiao was very surprised: "Brother Wang, why don't you eat?" ”

Wang Tingchen opened his mouth and smiled: "I have eaten it a certain morning, and until now, I am still full......

He took out half of the steamed bun from his arms and shook it in front of Cao Bianjiao's eyes: "Look, I can't even eat this half of the steamed bun." ”

He pushed his bowl of porridge and half a steamed bun in front of Cao Bianjiao: "I'm so full, I may not be hungry until tomorrow, General Cao will do it for you." ”

Cao Bianjiao pointed at Wang Tingchen and said with a smile: "Brother Wang, I didn't expect you to hide it secretly, okay, I'm welcome." ”

He ate steamed buns, just gruel, and ate sweetly, Wang Tingchen watched from the side, swallowing saliva from time to time, only when Cao Bianjiao's eyes came, he turned his eyes away as if nothing happened.

Cao Bianjiao finished eating the two bowls of porridge, licked even the leftovers inside, and raised the bowl to his head, looked left and right, and saw not a drop of soup falling, so he put down the bowl, touched his belly and said comfortably: "Some days, I haven't eaten so full, it's really comfortable." ”

He stood up: "Brother Wang, let's go out for a walk and consume food." ”

"Okay, General Cao."

The two of them went out of the tent, crossed the bushes or licked the bowls carefully, or wrapped their clothes and armor, and sat around the fire, and slowly came to the Zhangshui River.

Because of the severe drought, the Zhangshui water, which originally had a lot of water, was only shallow everywhere, and even some sections of the river were cracked, and the withered yellow thatch that was waist-deep was undulating along the terrain.

This......

In his nose, he smelled more and more the disgusting smell of corpses, through the thatch, some mounds, both of them could see, in the grass in front of them, on the edge of the river, and in the river, full of rotting corpses, men, women and children, exuding, a strong, disgusting smell of rancidity.

These corpses, who may have been dead for a long time, are still rotting corpses even though the weather is still cold, and their bodies are all black and brown striped clothes, and their hair is also dirty and glued into lumps, and they look stiff.

Fat maggots, from time to time out of their bodies, and some wild dogs, are gnawing, dragging some internal organs all over the ground, without exception, these wild dogs, their eyes are shining, all green and faint light.

"This ......"

Cao Bianjiao's hands trembled, his throat choked, he wanted to say something, but he couldn't speak.

Wang Tingchen opened his mouth, and everyone behind him looked at him blankly, unable to bear to look at it.

"Who?"

One of the guards drank suddenly, and saw the grass not far away, several ghostly figures sprang up, and soon disappeared into the barren grass, and their glances flashed with a faint green light.

"Where to go?"

A personal general is going to lead people to chase after him, are these figures the spies of some bandits in the vicinity, who came to spy on the army?

"That's it."

Cao Bianjiao waved his hand, and the army camped by the river, attracting a lot of victims to wander nearby, these people may have been attracted by food, but their own army was hungry and cold, but they had no spare strength to help.

He sighed, and was about to walk back, when he suddenly stood, and the cold hairs all over his body shuddered.

He stiffened, pulled some thatch, walked forward, and stared blankly.

Wang Tingchen was strange, and also stepped forward, and then his body trembled, and he stiffened.

In the grass pile in front of them, several corpses, lying horizontally and vertically, may have been dead for a long time, each corpse, exuding a strong smell of putrefaction, and maggots with white flowers crawled all over these corpses.

A corpse, which appeared to be a woman, sat a baby wrapped in a small quilt, babbling and muttering in his mouth, and from time to time grabbing with joy the fat maggots that emerged from his mother. Then his little hand grabbed the still wriggling maggot and sent it into his small mouth.

saw Cao Bianjiao and others. He also looked at it curiously, his eyes innocent, while lifting a maggot that was desperately tumbling and waiting for the person in front of him. Stretched out his hand and babbled a few times, seemingly. I want to share my happiness.

There was no movement in front of him, his round eyes blinked suspiciously, and he stuffed the maggots in his hand into his small mouth, and clapped his little hands excitedly.

Looking at the maggot of the white flower, he struggled hard in his little mouth. There were also some sticky liquids, which flowed down from time to time, and Cao Bianjiao's mind was blank, and Wang Tingchen still had his mouth open, and there were guards behind him. Many people are already vomiting, and some have tears in their eyes.

This situation and this scene violently impacted the hearts of Cao Bianjiao and others, although they had experienced the battlefield and seen a lot of cruel scenes, they had seen a lot of all kinds of starvation along the way.

However, this kind of human tragedy in front of him still made Cao Bianjiao's whole body tremble, and his liver and gallbladder were broken.

"Ah......h

From his mouth, a terrible scream suddenly came out.

He knelt down and cried to the sky, "Why is this? ”

He cried, "Da Ming...... My great Ming, ......"

He cried like a child, and beside him, the royal courtiers couldn't help crying, and finally cried.

Hearing the news, the soldiers of the three armed forces in ragged clothes all shed tears.

……

Xuanfu Town, the residence of the general army.

"Commander Zhang Du, you can be honest and hand over the acres of household registration in the capital, Ben Hou is very pleased."

Looking at Zhang Guowei in front of him, Wang Dou said lightly.

Wanquan Si Yamen, not far from the General Soldier's Mansion, on the west street of the archway, is also a very prominent Yamen, the flagpole, the shadow wall, the stone lion are roughly equivalent to the Shuaifu, but the decoration and the scene are slightly inferior.

Although at present, all the commanders in the capital department have become subordinates of the general army, and officers at all levels are mostly serving as deputy general soldiers, staff generals, guerrilla generals, etc., but the capital department manages the guard station, is responsible for tuntian, training, patrolling, armament, and what to prepare for the army, and is in charge of the land, population, and taxes under its name, but in fact it still has a lot of power.

For many health officials, managing the health center and paying grain and taxes are thankless in the current Ming Dynasty, but Tuntian and the books are what Wang Dou needs.

"Xia Guan is willing to serve the Hou Ye."

Zhang Guowei sat on the chair with half of his buttocks, and his posture was very low.

Wang Dou nodded, he went on a killing spree on the East Road back then, and even Zhang Guowei's uncle was killed by himself, but he didn't expect Zhang Guowei to be able to let go of hatred, but he was a character.

He said: "Okay, the one who knows the times is Junjie, if you follow me sincerely, Benhou will definitely not treat you badly." ”

Zhang Guowei arched his hand: "The lower official is only the head of the marquis." ”

Zhang Guowei said goodbye, Wang Dou looked through the booklet, sighed for a long time: "After many years of military escape, Dingkou is now insufficient, and it is necessary to recruit displaced people." ”

Zhang Gui, the ambassador of the Department of Civil Affairs, also looked through the document book carefully, and also sighed: "When the great grandfather was here, the Xuanfu had more than 126,000 soldiers, 19 guards, 7 guards of 1,000 households, and more than 50,000 soldiers in Guangguang Town, but now, excluding the East Road, there are less than 90,000 registered officers and soldiers in the town, and even fewer officers and soldiers are in charge. ”

Wang Dou said: "Except for the fleeing military households, many Dingkou are hidden. ”

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 120,000 soldiers in Xuanfu Town, because of the implementation of the guard system, behind each soldier, the representative was a family, so at that time, there were more than 100,000 households in the entire Xuanfu, and this generation reproduced from generation to generation, but the population did not increase but decreased.

In addition to fleeing, of course, a large part of it was hidden by officers at all levels, Haoqiang, etc., and became tenant farmers of their family.

All kinds of encroachment, land annexation, etc., the town and the east road are similar, but the enlarged version is more complicated.

Wang Dou groaned: "It's still like the East Road, the relevant planning of the Department of Civil Affairs, the establishment of Tunpu, the people of Tunpu can recruit surplus population from the East Road, or recruit from local military households, and then it is to absorb displaced people, especially from Datong Town, Shanxi Town and other places." ”

Wang Dou remembered that in the 26th year of Hongwu, there were 590,000 households in Shanxi, with more than 4 million mouths.

Although it is said that in the Wanli year, there are still 590,000 households and more than 5 million people, but as Fang just said, it is only hidden by all kinds of things, or the household register statistics are not in place, and it is impossible for the population not to increase several times in a few hundred years.

Shanxi has always had a lot of people and little land, which attracts displaced people and has a lot to do.

In addition, the shogunate also had a series of plans, grand plans, military and civilian. Industry and commerce, supervision, etc., will be fully implemented in Xuanfu Town.

……

Several officials of the shogunate civil department went out. A cold wind blew in the face, quite chilly, and it also blew Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of Xuanfu who came over, his beard was messy.

"I've seen Governor Zhu."

Zhang Gui and a few people gave a salute.

Zhu Zhifeng was wearing a red official robe. Behind him were several officials and staff, and when they saw this, their faces sank and they snorted. passed by Zhang Gui and a few others.

The staff officers behind him passed by with the same straight faces.

Zhang Gui and the others glanced at each other, sneered, and walked away.

This laughter was extremely harsh, Zhu Zhifeng's footsteps paused, and the staff behind him were also angry.

One person said: "Zhu Gong." Yongning Houpu went to the town and immediately ordered the city to be cleaned, although this is a good thing, but he is only in charge of the army, this civil aspect. Is it ultra vires? ”

Another person, in his thick Gyeonggi accent, said: "Look at those shogunate officials, they came here on the East Road, and when they arrived in the town, the Marquis of Yongning wants to elevate Zhu Gong and other civil powers?" ”

"Huailong is preparing Ma Guoxi, his power has been taken away, and Duke Zhu needs to take it as a warning."

Zhu Zhifeng's face was flat, he entered the lobby, and when he saw Wang Dou's face, he said unhappily: "Ancestral system, the chief military officer of the town, but the training of military horses, repairing the city, defending against thieves, protecting the residents, is the hand of the Marquis of Yongning stretched too long?" ”

"Ancestry?"

Wang Dou looked at the angry Zhu Zhifeng, although he admired him, it did not mean that Wang Dou would give in.

"The ancestral system, guarding the general military officer, reorganizing the army, issuing strict orders, training and soothing the soldiers, and cheering up the military prestige. Be well-dressed and sharp. When the pier of the castle collapsed, the repair was completed, and the officers and soldiers rode horses and ordered them to be strong. He still supervises the grain and grass in the fields, and does not allow the encroachment of money and grain. In the event of a thief, the camera is defended. ”

"I rely on the ancestral system of Emperor Gao and Emperor Wen, I don't know Zhu Gong, which emperor is I relying on?"

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the general army had great power, and was responsible for training, combat, and food and salary, although it was related to the suppression of the imperial court later, but it was also inseparable from the degeneration of the warriors themselves.

Everyone is proud of being vulgar, and many generals in the army do not even know a few big characters, so they must have a ghostwritten document, that is, the origin of the military armament, and later, the money and grain collection, the inspection of military merits, the construction of projects, the raising of horses in the tuntian, and the local civil affairs were all handed over to the military garrison, which led to the expansion and improvement of the military armament's authority.

At present, the towns, the governor is in charge of the military and the people, mainly biased towards the military, of course, Tuntian grain and grass will also ask about anything, military equipment, household department Langzhong, in charge of Tuntian, etc., Zhu Mintai is a shrewd person, and if he doesn't come forward for anything, he will provoke Zhu Zhifeng to be this bird.

Looking at Governor Zhu who was huffing and whirring like a cockfight in front of him, Wang Dou slowed down his tone: "Of course Dou will not deprive Zhu Gong of his power, and the matter of Xuanzhen still needs Zhu Gong and Dou to work together." ”

He briefly talked about his big plan, the establishment of Tunpu is one, and in the future, Xuanzhen will also open a large number of labor-intensive industries, such as textile industry, flour industry, etc., and also build roads and canals, so that a large number of locals, as well as foreign displaced people, can make a living......

Shanxi coal resources, can open more coal mines, hire manpower, close to the outside of the Saiwai, or many places outside the Saiwai, also suitable for planting cotton, wheat, etc., the later generations of Zhangbei County, the grassland is vast, you can raise a large number of horses, cattle, mules, sheep, open a livestock farm.

Xuanzhen and Xuanda, there are many places, there are many iron mines, a large number of iron factories can be built, a series of operations, not only can benefit the people, is Governor Zhu, there are countless living people, and the same can be praised by 10,000 people.

In Wang Dou's explanation, unconsciously, Zhu Zhifeng was attracted by Wang Dou's topic.

※※※

In the past two days, I went out with my family because my wife saw a news and objected to my writing, and it was even better not to use the Internet.

Yes, writing is ultimately just a hobby, and it's not my way of making a living now, so it's impossible to put a lot of energy into it.

Therefore, after negotiation, in the future, I will be less in front of the computer, only write, upload articles, no longer visit forums, read book reviews, various websites, etc., to prevent addiction, maintain a good rest routine, and spend more time on reality.

I agreed, and I also found that many times the irregular work and rest and the deterioration of my health are caused by wandering around the Internet and passing time.

The little soldier will finish the book, after all, there are many of my dreams in it, as for the book after the end, whether to write a book or not, let's talk about it.

Perhaps, I will spend more time traveling around the country and visiting my castles. (To be continued.) )