Chapter 406: Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron
Early the next morning, Chongzhen had a rare sleep.
"Long live my Lord." Suddenly, a high-pitched shout sounded outside the tent.
Li Xiangjun, who was sleeping soundly, was suddenly awakened and quickly sat up to get dressed.
Chongzhen looked away from Li Xiangjun with some reluctance, and dressed neatly under Li Xiangjun's service, then put on his sword and walked out of the tent.
"Long live my Lord." Gao Qiqian whispered, "The chieftain from western Hunan and Hubei has come to say goodbye to you."
"Farewell? I'm afraid I'm here to ask for the reward money." Chongzhen smiled and said, "However, this time we were able to put down the Shadingzhou rebellion so quickly. The native soldiers in western Hunan and Hubei deserved the most credit."
reward."
After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Let them wait in my tent first."
"Accept the imperial edict." Gao Qiqian accepted the edict, turned around and left.
Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen again: "Wang Daban, has the Changde prefect transferred the grain?"
"Back to Lord Long Live, Changde Prefecture has transferred 100,000 shi of grain very early in the morning." Wang Chengen responded respectfully, "The silver has also been paid, at the price of five qian per shi."
"Okay." Chongzhen said again, "Go and ask Wang Euzhi to come."
Wang Chengen received the order and quickly found Wang Fuzhi.
Chongzhen asked Wang Euzhi: "Wang Euzhi, do you have a brother?"
Wang Fuzhi was stunned for a moment and said, "Go back to your Majesty, I have two elder brothers."
Chongzhen asked again: "Which brother is in the grain business?"
"Grain business?" Wang Euzhi said in astonishment, "Why does the Holy Spirit say this? My family has been farming and studying for generations. The eldest brother Wang Jiezhi and the second brother Wang Shenzhi are both scholars and have never been in the grain business."
Chongzhen said: "Then it's probably one of your clan brothers who is doing the grain business under your name. This man is so bold that he even steals the business to the Ministry of Internal Affairs."
"I will go back and investigate clearly."
Wang Fuzhi's face fell instantly.
He really remembered that there was a clan brother who was in the grain business.
"This matter is not urgent. I have more important things for you to handle now." Chongzhen said, "You have been getting along day and night with more than 60,000 soldiers from the Yongshun and Baojing Xuanwei Division in western Hunan for almost half a year. We are on good terms.
How's it going?"
"It's not bad." Wang Fuzhi said, "At least Yongshun, the chieftain of Baojing Xuanwei Division will no longer be able to rebel."
"This is not enough." Chongzhen said solemnly, "If I now decree that the native soldiers move their families out of the mountains and settle in the lake area around Dongting Lake, how many native soldiers do you think will respond?"
"Move the native soldiers from western Hunan out of the mountains?" Wang Fuzhi said in astonishment, "Does the Holy Spirit also want to change the native soldiers in western Hunan? This matter is a bit too hasty."
Chongzhen said: "Just answer my questions."
Wang Fuzhi pondered for a moment and then said: "It is estimated that half of the soldiers will respond."
Chongzhen added: "What if I reward them with twenty-five acres of land, and they can buy the most fertile lake land at the price of 1 tael of silver per mu?"
"One tael per mu? Or the most fertile lake field?"
Wang Fuzhi said: "In this case, I dare not say everything, but the vast majority of the soldiers will happily move their families out of the mountains of western Hunan."
"Okay, then you can go back to the soldiers camp to declare the decree." Chongzhen said with a smile, "Those who are willing to move their families out of the mountains will be resettled around the Dongting Lake area, and each family will be rewarded with twenty-five acres of land. Those who are not willing will be rewarded with twenty-five acres of land.
You don’t have to force yourself, you can go home after receiving seven taels of silver and two stones and five buckets of rice for daily work.”
"Receive the decree." Wang Euzhi left after receiving the decree.
Only then did Chongzhen bring Zhu Cijiong, Hu Guozhu and others to the Chinese army's tent.
Chongzhen slept in a small tent last night. It is impossible to sleep in a big tent.
In the large tent of the Chinese Army, more than thirty chieftains from Baojing Xuanwei Division, Yongshun Xuanwei Division and Shinan Xuanfu Division had gathered together. Standing among a large group of men with tangled hair, Ran Sanniang looked particularly graceful and tender.
By the way, Qin Liangyu, the chief minister of Xuanfu, also stood among these chieftains.
I don't know if it was an illusion, but Chongzhen always felt that Ran Sanniang was ogling him.
The little widows of the Tujia people are different from the little widows of the Han people. They are very bold.
Seeing Chongzhen come in, Peng Tingyu, Ran Sanniang and other chieftains knelt down to pay homage.
"Pingsheng." Chongzhen shook his hands and said with a smile, "I have worked hard for you all over the past six months."
Ran Sanniang said hurriedly: "It is our duty to serve the imperial court and be loyal to the Holy One."
"I was really touched after hearing Sanniang's words." Chongzhen smiled at Ran Sanniang and said, "However, as the saying goes, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers. You are loyal and conscientious in serving the court, but I can't let you
It's time to bleed in vain. The wages and rice owed to you for work and food should be paid, and the rewards should also be agreed upon."
Hearing this, the big and small chieftains present suddenly became energetic.
I just don’t know how much the Holy Spirit plans to reward them?
Also, are the silver and working rice distributed directly to the soldiers or are they handed over to them for distribution?
As chieftains, they naturally hope that the Holy One can hand over the money and rice for work and food to them, so that they can deduct part of the rewards and rice for work and food from the soldiers.
Each soldier only received so much reward money and food and rice.
But thousands or even tens of thousands of people add up to a huge number.
However, based on His Majesty's usual practice, he probably would not hand over the money and rice for work and food to them.
Facts have proved that these chieftains were still too naive. Not only did Chongzhen not only give them money and rice for work, but he even deprived them of all their soldiers.
"Everyone, sit down." Chongzhen said again, "Sit down and talk."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." All the chieftains expressed their thanks and sat down one after another.
Chongzhen pretended to agree on a reward with the chieftain, but secretly ordered Hu Guozhu to isolate himself from the inside and outside.
In this way, the soldiers and soldiers outside could not find the chieftain, and the chieftain inside did not know what was happening outside. By the time they went out, everything had settled.
Drawing firepower from the bottom of the cauldron, Chongzhen was playing dirty tricks.
…
Peng Ada and Peng Aer are two brothers, both native soldiers of Yongshun Tianjiadong Division.
Peng Ada had already married a wife and gave birth to a son, but Peng Aer had not yet gotten married because his family was poor and could not afford the betrothal gift to marry him.
The land in the mountains is too barren.
The two brothers Peng Ada, Peng Aer and their father, the father and son, get up early every day and go out in the dark. However, after a year of busy work, there is not much food left after paying the rent for the toast. It is difficult to feed a family of six.
It's very difficult to eat, but fortunately the two brothers are good at hunting and can supplement the family income.
But life was still very hard.
Peng Ada is only in his early twenties and looks like he is in his forties.
Because life was so hard, the brothers were full of yearning for the salary and rice that would be distributed soon. As for rewards, the brothers didn't even dare to think about it.
"Second brother, I heard that five months' salary and food and rice will be paid out in full at once. In this way, we two brothers can go home with fifteen taels of silver and five stones of food! With this money and this
With five stones of grain, I can arrange a marriage for you." Peng Ada said with a longing look on his face, "The remaining silver can also buy a donkey."
"Why are you getting married? I won't get married." Peng A'er said with a dark face, "Buy the land first."
"If you can't buy a few acres of land, and you have to pay 70% of the rent to the chieftain's family every year, your life will still not be better."
"What kind of land should we buy?" Peng Ada sighed, "The land in Tianjiadong belongs to the chieftain's family. No matter how much money we have, we can't buy it. Brother, you'd better give up this idea as soon as possible."
"I just don't understand why all the land in Tianjiadong belongs to the chieftain's family?"
Peng A'er said coldly: "The native soldiers in Yunnan have all been assigned fields. It is said that the wolf soldiers in Guangxi have also been assigned fields. Maybe the Holy Father will also allocate land to our native soldiers in Xiangxi."
There are ready-made examples in the past, coupled with the influence of Prince Qin for nearly half a year, the vision and thinking of the one hundred thousand native soldiers in western Hunan and Hubei have undergone earth-shaking changes, and the biggest change is that they no longer bully the chieftains as before
I accepted the situation and began to yearn for a better life at home.
No one is stupid, they all know how to compare.
Seeing that the wolf soldiers in Guangxi and the native soldiers in Yunnan are living a good life, the native soldiers in western Hunan and Hubei will take their place. The wolf soldiers in Guangxi and the native soldiers in Yunnan have obviously made mistakes, and they can still live like that. Let's
The local soldiers in western Hunan and Hubei were the heroes of the Ming Dynasty, so why should they live worse than them? It doesn't make sense.
"Shut up, are you allowed to say such nonsense?"
Peng Ada was startled and whispered: "Be careful of the chieftain picking off your hand and hamstrings when you get back."
The chieftain is the local emperor, and what he says is an imperial edict. He has the power of life and death over the local people in his jurisdiction. It is relatively easy to break off the tendons of the hands and hamstrings.
"I just said that this time I have to buy the land."
Peng A'er, on the other hand, was on the verge of a fight and was not afraid.
Peng Ada raised his hand and was about to teach his second son a lesson when the soldiers outside suddenly made a noise and ran outside like a swarm of swarms.
"Er Gouzi, what happened?" Peng Ada asked in shock.
"The wages have been paid! There is also working rice!" Peng Ergou said with excitement, "Hurry up and get the wages!"
"Have you been paid?" Peng A'da was overjoyed when he heard this. He didn't bother to teach Peng A'er a lesson at the moment and quickly turned around and followed him.
Seeing Peng Ada and Peng Aer follow, Peng Ergou said excitedly: "I heard that in addition to salary and rice for work and food, there are additional rewards. Each person has twenty-five acres of land!"
"How much?" Peng Ada shouted in excitement.
"Twenty-five acres per person." Peng Ergou said, "But it's not free. You have to buy it with silver, one tael of silver per acre."
"One tael of silver per acre?" Peng A Dadao said, "Is this different from giving it away for free? In Yongshun, the cheapest land costs 56 taels of silver per acre, and the best paddy fields cost 20 taels!"
Peng A'er also asked: "Where are Ergou from?"
Peng Ergou said: "How do I know this? I won't know until I go there."
When the three of them ran to the open space outside the camp, they saw more than 60,000 soldiers from Baojing and Yongshun had already gathered together, and each one of them was cheering loudly.
