Ning Shuisheng is a fisherman in a small mountain village on the outskirts of Xiamen. In fact, it is not correct to say that he is a fisherman, because since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the rule that no entry into the sea was set, so fishermen do not exist.

But under the pressure of survival, there are still many fishermen who secretly go out to sea to fish. Unlike those sea merchants who bribed the government to go out to sea openly, those fishermen who want to survive and make a living can only choose to go out to sea to fish at night. When they come back before dawn, this is the case with Ning Shuisheng's family.

However, this situation is already in the past. Just over a month ago, officials and the villages all came to the village and notified the villagers with drums and drums that the emperor issued an order to lift the sea ban, and from then on, everyone can go out to sea to fish and even do business openly.

To be honest, when Li Zheng came to inform him, Ning Shuisheng's family even thought that this was Li Zheng's prank. How could the forbidden sea that had lasted for hundreds of years be lifted like this? Isn't this a joke?

However, the development of things really went beyond Ning Shuisheng's family's expectations. In the next half month, some bold fishermen in the village began to try to go out to sea during the day.

The villagers soon discovered that what Li Zheng said seemed to be true, and the government officials no longer cared about them. They even saw that many vendors who only dared to go out to sea at night on weekdays have begun to go out to sea openly during the day, and there are more and more trends.

As more and more people began to go into the sea, Ning Shuisheng finally believed the fact that he had originally scoffed at. After the confirmed news was true, Ning Shuisheng and his family almost cried with their heads in their heads.

Anyone who is familiar with the sea knows that the danger of going out to sea at night is much higher than during the day. The light at night is very poor, and the dark sea is almost invisible. It is entirely illuminated by the storm on the boat. In addition to the ever-changing climate and the storm that occurs at any time, it is conceivable that the danger of fishing under such conditions can be imagined.

Ning Shuisheng's father went out to sea to fish late at night five years ago, and then never came back. Ning Shuisheng and her mother, who received the bad news, almost collapsed.

The result of the family that lost its pillar is naturally conceivable, and Ning Shuisheng's family suddenly fell into an unsustainable state.

In order not to let the mother and sister starve to death at home, Ning Shuisheng, who was nearly thirteen years old at the time, had to go to the old path of his father and follow another fisherman from the same village to the sea. This took five years to do so. During these five years, Ning Shuisheng experienced countless risks and almost buried himself in the belly of the fish several times, but he survived. Now the court actually said that he could go into the sea to fish during the day, which made Ning Shuisheng, who had long been used to fishing at night, very uncomfortable.

However, after being shocked, he was ecstatic. Seeing that the court had really lifted the sea ban, Ning Shuisheng discussed with his family and planned to borrow money to buy a boat. In this way, he could catch more fish, fill his mother and sister at home, and save a dowry for his growing sister.

Just as Ning Shuisheng was about to do a big fight, several young people came to the door.

These young people are friends who grew up with Ning Shuisheng, and they have a very good relationship with Ning Shuisheng.

"Brother Shui Sheng, let's join the army together!" The person who spoke was named Lu Dahai, a young man with a small size, dark skin, and a typical fisherman growing up by the sea.

"Entering the army? Are you crazy? How could you think of going to eat this bowl of dead rice?" Ning Shuisheng frowned. The court opened the sea ban. He was about to take advantage of this time to do something big. How could he join the army? Besides, the court is fighting with Zheng Zhilong. What if he had a mother and sister at home?

Lu Dahai blunt his mouth to another thin young man next to him: "Ah Xiao, come and tell Brother Shui Sheng."

Ah smiled and said, "Brother Shuisheng, you don't know that. This time the court not only wants to open the sea ban, but also rebuild and form the Fujian Navy. This time the court sent the high-ranking official named Jiang Ningbo to come to Fujian to fight Zheng Zhilong and others. Jiang Ningbo appointed Lord Lu as the admiral of the Fujian Navy, responsible for the reconstruction of the Navy. There were notices outside the village. Don't you know yet?"

Ning Shuisheng glared: "You don't know that I'm illiterate, are you laughing at me?"

"I dare not dare!" A Xiao waved his hand quickly. Ning Shuisheng is the young man who is recognized as the best in the village and has the most resolute temperament. Not everyone can bear the burden of supporting the family at the age of thirteen. For this, no one in the village doesn't give a thumbs up.

"Okay, don't say anything, I can't join the army." Ning Shuisheng said lightly, stood up and turned around and walked outside, "Okay, I have to go to my sixth uncle's house and prepare to borrow some money from him. Let's talk about it if you have something to do."

"Brother Shuisheng, don't rush to leave!"

Seeing that Ning Shuisheng was about to leave, Lu Dahai, who was standing beside him, was anxious and quickly pulled him away.

Ning Shuisheng turned his body helplessly and looked at Lu Dahai: "Dahai, why are you pulling me to do? I still have something to do here."

"Brother Shuisheng, we really have a good thing this time." Lu Dahai looked around and lowered his voice and said, "Brother Shuisheng, you don't know. The imperial court needs to recruit a large number of people this time to rebuild the navy. The notice at the entrance of the village said that as long as it is selected by the imperial navy, each person will pay a settlement fee of five taels of silver, and in the future, each person will have one taels of silver and five dou of silver in military pay and five dou of grain every month. Do you think this soldier is worthy?"

"real?"

Ning Shuisheng's body was shocked and he looked at Lu Dahai with disbelief.

Lu Dahai smiled proudly, "How about Brother Shui Sheng, is this good news useful to you?"

Ning Shuisheng still said with some doubts: "This is not recruiting soldiers, this is recruiting son-in-law. Will the court be so generous?"

"Brother Shuisheng, don't know." Ah Xiao smiled and said, "This time the recruitment was handled by the high-ranking official named Jiang Ningbo. I heard that Jiang Ningbo is the richest man in the Ming Dynasty. He specially allocated three million taels of silver to rebuild the navy!"

"Three million taels of silver?"

Ning Shuisheng was already shocked, just now. He was still worried about how to raise seven or eight taels of silver to buy a small fishing boat, but he only took millions of taels of silver at one's own move. Is the gap here so big?

Seeing Ning Shuisheng who was dull on the spot, Lu Dahai and others had joking smiles on their faces, because just now, they heard the official officers interpret the content on the notice for them the same expression as Ning Shuisheng.

Seeing Ning Shuisheng's shocked look, Lu Dahai, who felt the show, said again: "Brother Shuisheng, there are not many good opportunities like this. I heard from the official officer that the navy only recruited 8,000 people this time. If we go too late, they might not recruit them. Let's hurry up and go to the city."

"this……"

Ning Shuisheng was obviously a little moved. Once hired, he would have five taels of silver for the settlement fee, and one taels of silver for the military pay and five dou of grain every month. He grew up so old that he had never heard of such a good thing, not to mention seeing it. If he could be chosen as a soldier, it would mean that he could use the settlement fee to renovate the dilapidated house. Even if he didn't go out to sea to catch fish, his military pay alone would be enough to support his mother and sister, which was much better than the hard work of going out to sea to fish.

However, Ning Shuisheng is a filial person. He thought for a while before saying, "This... I have to ask my mother."

"What else are you asking!" Lu Dahai was anxious, "You don't know your mother's temper yet. Can she let you eat that bowl of rice? I told you, A Xiao and Gou Sheng and I have agreed to join the army together. If you don't go, we won't care about you. If we all go home in a grand manner in the future, you will regret it!"

"All right!"

Ning Shuisheng gritted his teeth and finally agreed. Although he was in the danger of losing his head in the army, what are you doing these days? His father caught fish for a lifetime, but in the end he was buried in the belly of a fish?

Seeing Ning Shuisheng agreeing, Lu Dahai and his group cheered. The reason why they insisted on bringing Ning Shuisheng was not only because they admire Ning Shuisheng's character, but more importantly, Ning Shuisheng is the best among them in terms of water nature and experience going to sea, and it is also recognized by the village. With Ning Shuisheng's addition, they feel even more at ease.

So, Ning Shuisheng, who was nearly 18 years old, was dragged by his friends on the road to the city.

The next thing is simple. Since it is to recruit naval masters, fishermen like Ning Shuisheng, Lu Dahai and others who grew up on the beach are naturally the first choice. Ning Shuisheng and his group had more than ten people, except for a young man who was too weak who did not meet the conditions, all others passed the recruitment. When Ning Shuisheng and his group returned to the village wearing newly-launched green military uniforms and stared at a pair of green military boots (Liberation Shoes) that many people had never seen before, the whole village was sensation.

Looking at Ning Shuisheng, who was completely refreshed, Shuisheng's mother and sister had no choice but to have a chance. The An family's money had been obtained, and the person pressed his handprints at the government office. He could not regret it.

In this way, Ning Shuisheng became a member of the glorious Fujian Navy.

Of course, this is just a small episode, so let’s focus on Xiamen City again.

Since Yang Feng brought Jiangning troops to Xiamen, Xiamen, which was originally slightly deserted, has become lively.

At the beginning, the people of Xiamen were still a little afraid of the arrival of the Jiangning Army.

There is an old saying among the people: "Soldiers pass by like combs." It means that the place where the army passes by is like being combed with a comb.

The local army is better, at least they are all fellow villagers in the countryside. They look down and don’t look up. I feel embarrassed to do it too much.

But the guest army is different. Those big-headed soldiers from other places will not have so many concerns. Once they start to get into trouble, the most cruel ones will be the ones.

So when the local people first saw the Jiangning Army, many people thought about how far they could go.

However, as time goes by, people's ideas gradually change.

Many ordinary people were surprised to find that these Jiangning troops were completely different from the officers and soldiers they had met in the past.

Not only does this army not rob anything, they actually pay at the price when they buy things. This is so strange. You should know when those unreasonable big-headed soldiers were so polite? Didn’t this the sun hit the west?

That's not all. As time goes by, the people were surprised to find that Jiang Ningjun was so rich, so it would be fine to pay for buying things, but they didn't bargain. What was going on?

Later, a well-informed person revealed the reason. Those with the lowest level of big-headed soldiers received one or two taels of military pay per month, and the military pay would double if it were wartime.

Is this a soldier too rich?

Someone who had served as soldiers secretly calculated in his mind that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had no military pay. The teams who could lead military pay were recruiting soldiers, but even if they were recruiting soldiers, they only had one or two silver dollars a month.

On the surface, it seems to be quite a lot, even higher than the Jiangning Army's military pay.

But don't forget that this is just an apparent number, but in fact, only half of what you get, and even owes it for several months from time to time.

The Jiangning Army was not the case. They received real wages, which was fine, and they also distributed food, which was the most shocking thing.

In an era of low productivity, everyone understands the meaning of food, which means that as long as you join the Jiangning Army, you will not have to worry about your life for at least a family of five.

Seeing such generous treatment made many people's eyes turn red. They gave out equipment and military uniforms, and their military pay was so high that even the son-in-law was not treated so well.

Some active-minded people have asked quietly whether the Jiangning Army will still recruit people?

The final result is frustrating. The Jiangning Army will not recruit people, at least not recruit for the time being.

However, just a few days ago, the situation changed. The Fujian Navy was about to rebuild it. The rich Jiang Ningbo ordered the reconstruction. Not only that, the notice of recruiting troops also stated that fishermen who are familiar with water were given priority.

Well, these are not important. What is important is that the notice said that the military pay of the Fujian Navy is the same as those of the Jiangning Army, and it is even slightly higher. This news is too amazing. For a time, not only the people from nearby towns, but also fishermen from Putian, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and other places flocked to Xiamen.
Chapter completed!