Wu Shigong got the letter of appointment for his new position from his father-in-law that night. Wu Shigong's new position was to be an agent for a thousand households in the Guide Guard, Guide Prefecture, Henan Province, below, for six years.

When his father-in-law Xue Lian handed over the letter of appointment to Wu Shigong, he told Wu Shigong: The place where this position is located - Guide, Henan, is a place in the Central Plains. That place is quite fertile, surrounded by armies and lined with cities.

, so it’s relatively safe, and Wu Shigong’s Qianhu Station basically won’t fight.

Xue Lian also warned Wu Shigong: After he arrived at the place, he should not cause trouble and make trouble again. As long as Wu Shigong stayed in the place peacefully for a few years, it did not necessarily have to be six years. As long as the news in the capital had passed.

, Xue Lian will find a way to transfer Wu Shigong back to the capital.

Wu Shigong was helpless to find that he had an official position as an agent again. However, Wu Shigong was quite satisfied with the arrangement of his father-in-law Xue Lian. The most satisfying thing was that there would be no war where he was. Moreover, the agent Qianhu, as soon as he heard the name

He was in charge of a force of a thousand men. In modern times, it would be the official position of a regiment commander. Wu Shigong didn't know that it was impossible for a thousand households of his to have a force of a thousand men. Regarding this, his father-in-law Xue Lian also

I didn’t tell Wu Shigong.

Wu Shigong also considered: As for six years later, even if his father-in-law Xue Lian finds a way, Wu Shigong will not return to the capital, and he will also find a way to take the Xue family out of the capital. As for what method will be used then,

Let’s talk about it then.

So, why did Xue Lian say "wonderful!" to the official position Wei Zhongxian arranged for his son-in-law?

First of all, of course, the location where Qianhu is located is relatively safe. Guide, Henan, is also relatively wealthy. Then Wu Shigong will not suffer too much when he gets there.

Secondly, in the late Ming Dynasty, the guard posts and Qianhu posts, especially in the interior, although they were all military households, also had to undertake some military tasks of suppressing bandits and maintaining local security. However, these guard posts and Qianhu posts were basically not needed.

The Qianhusuo went to fight the war. The fighting would be completed by the soldiers, that is, the recruited soldiers who were paid by the imperial court. The military households in the Weisuo and Qianhusuo would at most do some auxiliary and logistical work during the war.

Of course, if the situation is critical, those military households will also go to the front line to fight. However, since they usually have no military training at all, their combat effectiveness is conceivable.

So, what is the main job of these military households? They are to farm the land and pay grain to the court.

When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Zhu Yuanzhang's purpose of setting up military households was: on the one hand, he could use the soldiers of the military households during wars; on the other hand, when there was no war, those military households would farm the land and use part of the fields.

The harvest was turned over to the court.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, we already know that the imperial court's financial crisis was very serious. Therefore, the taxes collected from military households accounted for 20% to 30% of the total fiscal revenue of the entire Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the imperial court's taxes on military households also

Just watch very closely.

As for Wu Shigong's agency for thousands of households, we can look at it this way. Think of Wu Shigong's agency for thousands of households as a large farm of the imperial court, and the military households are the tenant farmers in the farm, and Wu Shigong's agency for thousands of households is the big steward of the farm.

Therefore, in Xue Lian's view, Wu Shigong could easily complete his work as long as he ensured that he paid all the taxes to the court every year. Xue Lian did not consider at all how much extra money his son-in-law Wu Shigong would make from his position as agent for thousands of households.

.Using Xue Lian’s idea: Even if the tax paid by thousands of households is not enough, the Xue government will subsidize a little, as long as Wu Shigong completes the work well.

Third, Wu Shigong took the position of acting as agent for Qianhu, which was a kind of demotion. This also gave Emperor Chongzhen an explanation.

We can take a look at the situation of Li Lu, the former commander of the Nancheng Military and Horse Command Department. He was transferred from the capital to the local area to serve as a garrison. Wu Shigong was a Qianhu of the Qianhu Station. Although in terms of grades, they were all in the fifth grade.

, However, Li Lu had a regular military position, while Wu Shigong's military position was quite prestigious. This is just like the difference between the commander of the regular army and the commander of the reserve force in modern times. Therefore, Wu Shigong's transfer this time should be said to be a demotion.

Therefore, if Emperor Chongzhen liquidated Wei Zhongxian's party in the future, he would see that Xue Lian had the good sense to demote his son-in-law Wu Shigong and drive him out of the capital. Wu Shigong was just such an insignificant person.

If he had no official position, then Emperor Chongzhen would basically let Wu Shigong go.

In the end, Wu Shigong, an official with thousands of households, only served as an agent for six years. After six years, as long as the news has passed, there is a high possibility that Wu Shigong will be transferred back to the capital.

Therefore, it can be seen that Wei Zhongxian was really good to Xue Lian and found such an appropriate official position for Xue Lian's son-in-law. Xue Lian couldn't help but admire it loudly.

However, Wei Zhongxian and Xue Lian never imagined that within a few years, Henan would be hit by famines one after another. Peasant rebellions also occurred one after another. In the end, the entire Henan province became the main battlefield for the peasant rebel army and the imperial encirclement and suppression army. Years of wars continued.

From then on, the whole of Henan was a land of thousands of miles. In real history, the two largest cities in Henan were Kaifeng and Luoyang. Kaifeng City was dug up by Li Zicheng’s rebel army to dig out the embankment of the Yellow River, diverting the water from the Yellow River and flooding the city. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in Kaifeng City

Only a few hundred people survived.

After Luoyang City was captured by Li Zicheng, King Fu (the uncle of Emperor Chongzhen) in Luoyang City was chopped up alive by Li Zicheng, made into hot meat slices, and made into Fulu soup with venison.

If they knew all this, would Wei Zhongxian and Xue Lian still feel wonderful? Of course, Wu Shigong now has no idea of ​​all this.

However, the position of the Qianhu who served as agent for six years is also a bit strange. Because in the Ming Dynasty, the position of Qianhu in military households was basically inherited by father and son. And the position of Qianhu was assigned to him after the death of the old Qianhu.

His son was only ten years old and was not yet sixteen enough to inherit the position, so he needed someone else to temporarily act for him. When the son of Qianhu became an adult at the age of sixteen, the official position of Qianhu would be returned to him.

However, under normal circumstances, relatives of the old man or other people in the guard station will be the temporary agent. But why do you need to report to the Ministry of War? No one knows the reason. The Ministry of War will not care about such a trivial matter.

.For the Ministry of War, as long as there is no shortage of taxes paid by the thousand households, it doesn't matter even if there are no thousand households. But now Wu Shigong just needs it, so it is naturally given to Wu Shigong.

The next day, as soon as Wu Shigong arrived at the Yamen, he received a message from Eunuch Qin: Emperor Chongzhen would send someone to take over the Nancheng Military and Horse Command Department in the afternoon.

Wu Shigong immediately sent people to gather all the deputy commanders and hundreds of households, and informed them that the Nancheng Army and Horse Command Department would change its command. Moreover, he asked Li Mu to prepare the accounts of the Army and Horse Department, and be ready to hand over at any time.

.

In the afternoon, Emperor Chongzhen indeed sent three of his guards to take office with documents in hand. They simply handed over the affairs and did not check the accounts of the Military and Horse Department in detail. Their main purpose was to let Wu Shigong

Give them the official seal of the commander of the Military and Horse Division as soon as possible.

After the handover was completed, Wu Shigong walked out of the Bingma Si Yamen. He looked back at the Yamen and felt a little disappointed but also a little relieved.

Just as Wu Shigong was about to leave with Shumo and the guards of the Xue Mansion, suddenly, someone next to him called him: "Sir."

Wu Shigong took a look and realized that the man he knew was Qian Qi, the second son of the late deputy commander Qian, whom he had assigned to Xiaoqi's position.

Wu Shigong stopped and asked Qian Qi what happened?

That Qian Qi told Wu Shigong: Deputy Commander Qian's wife was already very unhappy that Qian Qi got the position of Xiaoqi instead of Qian Qi's eldest brother. But because Wu Shigong was still the commander of the Military and Horse Division, she was also unhappy

I didn't dare to take any action. However, now that the news of Wu Shigong's resignation has spread, Deputy Commander Qian's wife has also become active and has kicked Qian Qi out of the house. Qian Qi now wants to join Wu Shigong and follow Wu Shigong.

After listening to Qian Qi's words, Wu Shigong smiled, a little sad. Wu Shigong thought: I have done so many things in the Military Horse Division, and the income of all the people in the Military Horse Division has been greatly improved. But so far, only

Qian Qi, a person who is almost in no way close to herself, took refuge in herself.

Wu Shigong signaled to Qian Qi and said, "Then let's go together."

On the way back to Xue Mansion, Wu Shigong asked Shu Mo to deliver a message to the powder shop, so that Zhao Ruya would not have to clean up the mess at the powder shop. Wu Shigong asked Zhao Ruya to prepare that he would leave the capital soon. When the time comes, he will bring
Chapter completed!