On February 20, Dengzhou was the capital city.

Dengzhou was originally under the jurisdiction of Laizhou Prefecture, and was later upgraded to Dengzhou Prefecture, and the administrative office was in Penglai County, which was a prefecture and a county seat, under the jurisdiction of Ninghai Prefecture, Penglai County, Huang County, Fushan County, Qixia County, Zhaoyuan County, Laiyang County and Wendeng County.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court had set up a governor of Denglai here, and Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, had trained the sailors here, and Denglai became an important town for customs defense. It's just that since Yuan Keli's death, the governor of Denglai has been revoked by the imperial court.

Wang Yue's general's mansion is also located in the city, it is a very low-key house, but the inside is very particular, it was originally a merchant's house, and then the merchant lost his house, so he sold the house at a low price, and was bought by the shogunate of the general military palace to live in Wang Yue.

The soldiers of the rear battalion were stationed in Dengzhou with Wang Yue, the left part of the rear battalion was stationed in Laiyang County and Huang County, the right part was stationed in Weihaiwei, Chengshanwei and Ninghai Prefecture, and Wang Yue and the central part were stationed in Dengzhou Mansion and Fushan County.

Since Wang Yue came to the city of Dengzhou, Du Zhiyu, the prefect of Dengzhou, came to "worship the wharf" very interestingly.

At this time, the fish scale yellow books of households in various places in Dengzhou Prefecture, as well as the account books of farmland in various places, have been handed over to the Shogunate of the General Military Office, and it can be said that Du Zhiyu and civil officials and others from all over Dengzhou are just an empty shelf, and they are just the face of the imperial court in Dengzhou. On weekdays, everyone is basically led by the various departments of the Shogunate of the General Military Office, and everyone is used to this.

Wang Yue also greeted Du Zhiyu with a smile, and after greeting him, he said: "The soldiers of my rear battalion have been fighting for a long time, and I have just arrived in various places in Dengzhou, I want to let the soldiers take turns to take vacations

We also make some money. ”

"It's just that Lord Du knows about it, so as not to see the new army soldiers everywhere on the street and cause a misunderstanding."

Although the military discipline of the new army in Qinglai Town can be called the strictest in the Ming Dynasty, since Liu Yan became an army, there has never been a case of the new army soldiers oppressing the people and plundering the place, but in the impression of Du Zhiyu and some other civilian officials, no matter how strict the military discipline is, the officers and soldiers are also soldiers.

Although Du Zhiyu no longer cares about specific civil affairs, after all, sitting in this position, if something goes wrong, the court will find trouble for him.

So Du Zhiyu accompanied the smiling face, expressed his worries very tactfully, and then looked at Wang Yue, for fear that the general would be angry.

What Du Zhiyu didn't expect was that Wang Yue's smile was brighter than his, and he said: "Lord Du, rest assured, the military discipline of the officers and soldiers of our new army is the strictest, and there will never be any act of oppressing the people." If something really happens, General Ben will bear it with all his might, is it okay? ”

Looking at Wang Yue's smiling face, Du Zhiyu only felt very mad, so he hurriedly nodded and agreed, and when he left the General's Mansion, Du Zhiyu saw five new army soldiers traveling together, the five people were wearing new army regular uniforms similar to the Jinyi Wei Feiyu suit, wearing improved three-mountain hats on their heads, and they passed by the gate of the General Counselor's Mansion in a line with their heads held high.

Seeing this, the surrounding people pointed their fingers, and they didn't have too much fear, but seemed very excited.

"Look at those new soldiers, it's really spiritual, such a descendant, whoever has a daughter to marry in the past, just wait to enjoy the blessings!"

“

Who said no, I heard that in the new army, a big soldier can have five silver coins every month, that is, five taels of silver, and there are rewards for military merits, killed and disabled, in addition to the pension of the imperial court, the general soldier also gives a separate share, and when he becomes a new army, it is the guarantee of the whole family. ”

Listening to the discussion of the people over there, Du Zhiyu couldn't help sighing, the chief military officer Liu Yan trained so much, has completely reversed the inherent impression of the people in Qinglai Town, originally the people said that "good men are not soldiers", "there are no good people in soldiers", but now the men of ordinary people's families are holding back their strength to enter the new army, and those who have daughters in the family want to marry the soldiers of the new army.

"Alas! When will the soldiers and horses of the imperial court be like the new army? ”

Du Zhiyu sighed in his heart, and then sighed: "Alas! I guess in this life, I can't see it anymore! ”

At the same time, the five officers and men of the new army also heard the discussion of the people around them, and several of them were very proud in their hearts, and they also had smiles on their faces.

Walking in the forefront is Shen Wen, after experiencing the battle of Kaifeng, Shen Wen also won three thief heads when he pursued the rout with the army, and was promoted to the flag commander by virtue of his military exploits.

Behind Shen Wen is the old boss Lao Bai, and now Lao Bai has also been promoted to a hundred presidents in the central part of the country by virtue of his military exploits, replacing the boss of Bai who was injured and went home before.

"Did you hear that? Our new army has strict military discipline and excellent work style, and in the words of the lord of the town, we must strike iron and be hard, so that we can win the support of the people! ”

Lao Bai smiled and "educated" a few

subordinates, Shen Wen nodded and said, "What the boss said is right, the last time the military department came to train people, didn't you mention the words of the head town?" Yes, the people support the army and the army protects the people, so that the world can be stable and the country prosperous! I think that's how we do it in Qinglai Town. ”

"Hey!"

Lao Bai looked at Shen Wen, who was leading the team in front, and said with a smile: "You kid can, after raising the flag commander, this is a set of words, the military middle school teaches us to read and read, you kid really wrote it down, do you still want to be the champion?" ”

Several people laughed, Shen Wen smiled embarrassedly, and then said, "Boss, we finally approved a three-day vacation, where is this going?" ”

"Go to the front, I heard that there is a restaurant in front, where the roast mutton is a must in Dengzhou Mansion, let's try it and drink some wine by the way."

With a satisfied smile on his face, Lao Bai continued: "After eating and drinking, let's go to the Cloth Spinning Street in the east of the city to buy some cloth, supplies and food for the family, and let the foot merchants outside the barracks bring it back." ”

The crowd applauded and their hearts were excited.

At this time, the officers and men of the new army had a lot of money in their hands, and they spent a lot of money on weekdays, so many small merchants and vendors gathered outside the barracks to help the soldiers of the new army run errands or send property to their homes, just like the express delivery and errands in later generations.

Then everyone came to a restaurant, and the five of them found a table, ordered roast mutton, pork in sauce, and dry roasted fish, and asked for four plates of vegetarian dishes with wine, and a large jar of roasted pot wine, and began to drink.

Shen Wen and Lao Bai are all martial artists, and they don't pay so much attention to eating, and they are in turmoil

After that, a large jar of pot wine bottomed out, and a table of delicacies was swept away.

Lao Bai burped, stopped Shen Wen and the others who were about to settle the bill, and said arrogantly: "I'll come for this meal, in the battle of Kaifeng, I beheaded more than all of you, five thief heads, and the lord of the town rewarded me with fifty taels and fifty silver coins!" You have kept all your money for your daughter-in-law. ”

Everyone laughed and praised Lao Bai for his righteousness.

"Hehe, military master, it's a total of one or two or eight dollars."

Lao Bai directly took out two silver coins, and after the shopkeeper took them, he found two hundred copper coins.

"Huh?"

Lao Bai took a string of copper coins of 100 wen and said, "Just give me two coins of broken silver, so many copper coins, I can't take them." ”

"Hehe, the military master doesn't know, now there is basically no broken silver in our shops. Most of the silver coins and copper coins circulating in the market now are exchanged, even if there are some broken silver, they have all gone to the Shandong Qianzhuang branch in the city to exchange them. ”

Shen Wen asked, "Why is that?" ”

"It's so easy to use! This silver coin is one or two pieces of silver, and it is very convenient to use copper coins to find some bits and pieces. ”

Seeing that everyone didn't come out to buy things often, the shopkeeper added: "In the past two months, silver coins have been everywhere, and they are very useful. If you only seem to have silver coins in your hands, you might as well go to the Shandong Qianzhuang branch in front of you and exchange some copper coins for backup. ”

Everyone smiled and agreed, and Shen Wen said: "I heard that Lord Zongzhen got a money bank before, and let's go and see it today." ”

Shandong Qianzhuang is located in the capital of Dengzhou not far from the north, and everyone enters the store, only

I saw that the house was divided into two parts, separated by a wooden fence, and a few men were busy working inside. Outside, there were many stools, and there were already a few guest officers sitting there waiting.

"A few military masters, is it saving, borrowing, or exchanging?"

Shen Wen said: "Let's exchange silver coins for some copper coins, how do we get them?" ”

"It's easy to say, how many people are together? Let's get a number first,"

The guy brought a small note with the words "One Three Soldiers": "A few military masters sit here for a while, wait until this number is called, and a few people go there to handle it." ”

Lao Bai and Shen Wen looked at the freshness, so they sat down and waited, and after a while, they heard someone shouting from inside the wooden fence: "Please come here from the guest officer of the First Third Army." ”

Shen Wen came to the wooden fence, and saw a guy inside and said with a smile: "Master Jun, please sit down, please put the silver coin on the tray here, after the small one is verified, he will take copper coins for the military master, and the exchange rate is one silver coin for one thousand copper coins." ”

"Okay."

Shen Wen took out five silver coins and put them on the tray inside the fence, this wooden fence is also carefully designed, you can only reach in through the relatively large gap at the bottom, but you can only put your hand into it, which prevents someone from getting into it, or reaching in to grab it.

I saw that the guy took the silver coin in his hand, looked at the code number on it, checked it with the companion who was holding the code book behind him, and looked at the workmanship and condition, and then took out five thousand copper coins, forty-nine strings of one hundred wen, strung with natural hemp rope, one string is nine hundred and ninety, and the red hemp rope is numbered to show distinction.

“

Guest, please count, we charge a handling fee of two thousandths for exchanging silver money here, and if we exchange five thousand copper coins, we will charge ten yuan, which is the remaining four thousand nine hundred and ninety yuan. In addition, our rule here is: count in person, and leave the cabinet is not responsible! ”

The guy used the tray to push the copper coin out three times, Shen Wen took it and muttered, "What kind of rule is this?" ”

Then Shen Wen called Lao Bai and a few people, and each person counted ten strings of copper coins, four thousand nine hundred and ninety, a total of fifty strings of copper coins, not a single penny, and everyone was relieved.

"Thank you."

Shen Wen and Lao Bai collected the copper coins, smiled and went out of the Shandong Qianzhuang branch, and went straight to the east of the city to buy.

Along the way, everyone bought a lot of linen cloth, cotton cloth, as well as rouge gouache, dry goods, mountain goods, etc., and exchanged a lot of 4,990 Wenhua, and in the evening, everyone held a lot of things.

"Haha, this is really convenient, in the past, I used broken silver to exchange copper coins, the exchange rate was different, the fineness of the silver was different, I don't know how many copper coins I can exchange every time, which is like this smooth, nothing was delayed!"

Lao Bai bought a lot of cotton cloth, saying that he wanted the foot dealer to send it home, and let his wife and mother make clothes at home.

Shen Wen also bought a lot of things, and said at this time: "Lord Zongzhen's move not only made money, but also saved the people from being exploited by profiteers, which is really a good deed." ”

In the past, if the people wanted to exchange money, they could only find private merchants, who often manipulated the exchange rate of silver and copper coins to plunder the people's hands

Poor money.

Now all the people in Qinglai Town have gone to Shandong Qian Zhuang to exchange, and Liu Yan has vigorously promoted silver coins, completely eliminating the possibility of those profiteers making profits from the exchange of silver money, not only earning silver, but also gaining a wave of people's hearts.

Lao Bai said: "It is indeed a good deed, and it is estimated that there is only our head town in the whole world." ”

A few people talked and laughed all the way, and soon returned to the outside of the barracks, where more than a dozen merchants had gathered, Lao Bai and Shen Wen handed over the things they bought, attached their respective addresses, paid the fees, and then entered the camp.

Suddenly, a horn sounded in the barracks, Lao Bai, Shen Wen and others were taken aback, and then the town magistrate in the middle of the camp came down to the gate with a few subordinates, and said loudly: "The general has an order: all the soldiers' holidays will be canceled, and from now on, all departments of the rear camp will be on alert, and all the merchants in the periphery will immediately disperse and must not gather!" ”

Lao Bai and Shen Wen were all stunned: something happened!