May 27 of the eighth year of Chongzhen

Wang Zhi was ordered by Pang Gang to go to Lingshan Guard, Qiu Hongbao and Qianyue Fort to recruit some mud and water carpenters to come and negotiate the renovation of the castle.

Things went unexpectedly well, and the next day Wang Zhi came to Wanghai Fort with a large group of craftsmen, and the number of them was so large that Pang Gang, who was worried that there were not enough craftsmen, was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped in fright.

Looking at these people in front of him, who were already black and thin, almost unclothed, Pang Gang was speechless again, are they still a group of people, even the originally down-and-out military households are ten times stronger than them!

Most of these people did not wear shoes, they were wearing clothes that could no longer be seen, their faces could no longer be said to be dishes but pitch black, and the unkempt hair on their heads could be used as a bird's nest. Seeing such a situation, Pang Gang only had one sentence to describe in his heart, "Miserable, really fucking miserable!" ”

Pang Gang was excited and unconsciously called Wang Zhi's nickname, "Are these people really craftsmen?" Don't you call Hanako from you, right? ”

Wang Zhi looked at Pang Gang and smiled bitterly: "My lord, they are craftsmen, and there is no fraud!" ”

"Why, even Hanako is much stronger than them!" Pang Gang shook his head a little out of disbelief to express disbelief.

"My lord, it's true! They are the craftsmen I recruited from the guardhouse, and their craftsmen are different from us, we"

Under Wang Zhi's explanation, Pang Gang learned that in Daming, there is actually a group of people who are worse than military households, and they are artisan households. Generally speaking, the military household is already a very miserable group of people in the Ming Dynasty, they are not allowed to leave the nationality for generations, and they cannot participate in the scientific examination, that is to say, as long as you enter the nationality of the military household, you don't want to go to the official career in this life, and don't want to do other careers, your son and grandson can only be a military household forever, and can only be a soldier.

However, after comparing with the military households, the artisan households are more miserable, the military households are in the tuntian of the thousand households, and the original imperial court will give the fields of the tuntian, at least you can farm and pay taxes to support yourself, but the artisan households are not good, the artisan households do not have their own tuntian, and they are completely regarded as official slaves, and they need to go to the artisan workshops of the imperial court in shifts to serve, and the craftsmen who are stationed in the thousands of households have to become the top craftsmen of the thousands of households, which is equivalent to the modern military logistics department, of course, the lowest status. They can't farm, they can't fish, they can't do anything else, the only thing they can do is do the things prescribed by the court for others, for example, if you are a blacksmith, then you can only make iron, if you are a carpenter, you can only do carpentry work, and so on, so their life can be said to be much more miserable than that of military households.

Looking at the group of people in front of him who could only see a little white from their eyes, what else could Pang Gang say after listening to Wang Zhi's explanation? He had no choice but to wave his hand and let down the more than 300 pot-bellied kings, but he still specially called the servant woman who was in charge of cooking, and he could only let these people eat gruel within three days, and they couldn't let them eat too much, otherwise their long-term empty stomachs would definitely not be able to stand it!

In a thousand words of gratitude, the craftsmen followed Wang Zhi and a few servants to settle down.

Sighing softly, Pang Gang said to himself: "I didn't expect the craftsman's house to be so miserable, it's really sad and lamentable!" ”

"My lord, there are so many pathetic and lamentable, what can we do?" While speaking, Hua Yan didn't know when he came to Pang Gang's side.

At this time, Hua Yan still had a trace of pity on his face, he slowly walked to Pang Gang's side, put his hands behind his back, and said gloomily: "In the past, Emperor Taizu Gao set this rule, I don't know how many talented people with lofty ideals have been stuck in the promotion road, so how many people with lofty ideals have no way to serve the country!" ”

Out of emotional agitation, Pang Gang unconsciously gritted his teeth and said: "So this unfair system must be completely changed!" ”

"Well, sir, what do you mean by that?" Hua Yan asked in surprise, with a hint of confusion in his tone.

"Oh, nothing, I'm just talking to myself." As soon as Hua Yan's words came out, Pang Gang, who came back to his senses, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, if his words just now were heard by someone who cares, it would cause an uproar. It seems that I still have to pay attention to the occasion when I speak in the future, and this sentence is a wise saying whether it is now or in the future!

Pang Gang, who deliberately diverted the topic, pointed to the wall of Wanghai Castle and said, "Hua Zhudian, didn't you recommend a few friends to me a few days ago?" When will they arrive? Our city wall is about to start to be built, according to the regulations of the imperial court, our Wanghai Fort should be equipped with a priest, two pawns, now everything depends on you alone to support this is not good, in the long run your body can not hold on. ”

Hua Yan did not doubt that he had him, lowered his head and said with some emotion: "There is Lord Lao's concern, I have already sent a letter to my friends a few days ago, and it is estimated that they will arrive in a few days, and I promise not to delay the affairs of the adults." ”

"Alright, let's go back first." Pang Gang said as he walked towards the fort

The next day, Pang Gang negotiated with the craftsmen who had dragged their families to Wanghai Fort, giving them one penny of silver in addition to food and lodging for each day, and promised to let their families join in building the canal or helping with some logistical things in the fort.

This initiative has been greatly welcomed by the artisans, so that their food and clothing for this year will be secured.

These people are all generations of craftsmen, and they or their ancestors have participated in the construction of many castles, and now the construction plan of Wanghai Fort is actually a familiar thing for them. After a few days around Wanghai Fort, they quickly came up with a plan for the reconstruction of the castle, and the design plan and including the division of the streets, the location of the wells, the location of the temples and the location of the houses, as well as the future fort wall, the fort gate, the battlements on the fort wall, the firing port and other defensive facilities on the fort wall were all very thoughtful, much stronger than Pang Gang's two knives.

After the design drawings were drawn, the key remaining issue was the cost of building the walls and some of the buildings.

According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty at this time, the silver taels required to build a city wall with a circumference of one mile such as Wanghai Fort were about nine hundred taels.

In this way, the silver in Pang Gang's purse was even more deflated, and this incident also made Pang Gang's heart more and more depressed.

But the bitterness is the bitterness, but the thing still has to be done, under the order of Pang Gang, all the residents of Wanghai Fort except the children, all the men and women all go into battle together, and everyone must be diligent in building their homes.

For a time, the men, women and children of Wanghai Fort, all holding hoes, carrying dustpans, baskets, to the periphery of the fort to dig and pick soil, this is necessary to build the city wall required to build the soil layer, in the city wall after laying the soil outside with green bricks or boulders wrapped, this is also the popular practice of the city wall in this era, of course, the city wall is all built with boulders or green bricks is not impossible, but the silver that is needed will go to the sea, tens of thousands of taels of silver may not be able to block it.

In order to build the city wall, Pang Gang also went to Lingshanwei for help, but the result was very disappointing to him, Lingshanwei now not to mention the boulder blue bricks, even the wood is lacking.

As a last resort, Pang Gang sent Li Xian to Qingzhou Mansion, and cheekily begged Qingzhou Governor Wei to sell him some green bricks, boulders and timber cheaply, but even so, he still spent more than 200 taels of silver.

June 12 of the eighth year of Chongzhen

The inner wall of Wanghai Fort has been built, and all that remains is the construction of the outer wall, and at the same time, the first well in Wanghai Fort has been dug successfully. The well is about 22 zhang deep, the well water is shallow and the water quality is better, the bottom of the well is paved with fine sand, the wall of the well is built with bluestone, and the outside is surrounded by gravel. When the first bucket of water was pulled up, the surrounding onlookers were thunderous for a while, and then tasted it, the well water was clear and sweet, and it was really a rare sweet well.

In this way, day by day, the work of Wanghai Fort has slowly entered the right track, and everything is steadily moving forward according to the blueprint of Pang Gang's plan

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