At midnight in the afternoon, the earth that had absorbed the sun all morning began to pour out heat. Pang Gang, Da Zhuang and Gou Sheng, who were carrying a large bamboo basket, left the castle and walked south for a mile. They stopped behind a hillside.
When he came down, Pang Gang was not a "new human being" who didn't distinguish between grains because he grew up in the countryside. He took a closer look and saw that the back of the hillside was densely covered with toon, bracken and other wild vegetables.
Wiping the sweat on his head with his sleeve, Pang Gang asked strangely: "Da Zhuang, Gou Sheng, don't you help thousands of households farm their land on weekdays? Why do you only eat these wild vegetables?"
"
Da Zhuang shook his head: "Of course not. It's April now, the lean season. We've all eaten up our food. What can we do if we don't go out to dig wild vegetables?"
"Last year's harvest was not good?" Pang Gang was puzzled.
"No." Da Zhuang on the side still shook his head, "Last year's harvest was okay, otherwise Gou Sheng and I wouldn't be able to survive now. We only started to run out of food after the Qingming Festival."
Pang Gang asked curiously: "How much is your land rent and yield per mu? Why are you running out of food only in March?"
"The two of us rented four acres of dry land from Binbaihu. The yield of wheat per acre is about one stone, and the harvest is four stones. The land rent is 37 cents, so our harvest is about one stone and two. It is not easy to last until March.
It's over." Gou Sheng had a hint of helplessness on his face.
"What, 30 to 70?" Pang Gang was shocked. How evil must be the person who can offer such an outrageous land rent. According to the harvest that Gou Sheng said, the two of them had about one stone and two.
That is about 360 kilograms of wheat, which is estimated to weigh 220 kilograms after molting. But it takes two people half a year to eat this grain. How can this be enough!
You must know that we are not in the era of overnutrition in later generations. There is basically all meat on the table, and rice is just a few bites. If people do not have meat and other non-staple foods to supplement their meals and just eat rice, an adult will need at least a month.
Eating more than 30 kilograms of grain, if coupled with high-intensity physical labor, each person would be unable to sustain 40 kilograms of grain a month. Otherwise, why would there be a saying among the people that "a half-grown man will eat a poor man"
, these two people are indeed very frugal to be able to survive for half a year with more than 100 kilograms of grain each.
"Then you can go fishing in the sea! This will fill your stomach somewhat!" Pang Gang pointed to a place further south, where the sound of waves could be heard faintly.
"Fishing?" A wry smile appeared on Da Zhuang's face: "Don't you know that our Ming Dynasty has a sea ban? Anyone who goes to sea without permission will be killed! Besides, you have to be careful when fishing at sea. Who knows if it will happen?
If I encounter pirates or Japanese pirates, I will take your life if I encounter you."
"Damn it!" Even Pang Gang, whose nerves had been sharpened to a certain extent, couldn't help but curse out. What kind of rules are these? It's just like the imperial court, and it doesn't allow people to live! But then Pang Gang thought about it.
Didn't I also see some soldiers? Their mental outlook is obviously much stronger than that of Da Zhuang. At least they have armors. Why are there such big differences when they are all military households? Thinking of this, Pang Gang asked again: "But just now I saw Qian Hu
Aren’t there some sergeants in the mansion? I think they are all in good spirits. Who are they?"
"Those, they are all servants of Master Qianhu and Master Bai, so they are naturally incomparable to us."
"Servant?"
Pang Gang scratched his head, still not understanding what was going on. Later, with Da Zhuang's explanation, he understood the origin of the Ming Dynasty's servant system.
It turns out that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, due to the collapse of the military household system, millions of military households across the country had transformed into complete farmers, completely losing their combat effectiveness in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Although military households lost their combat effectiveness, they could still maintain border control
Guard, right? So the recruitment system gradually replaced the military household system, and in order to achieve the needs of controlling the army and ensuring security, generals used their private money to support private soldiers, and these private soldiers are now commonly known as servants.
According to later generations, private armed forces like Jia Ding are illegal and must be resolutely cracked down regardless of the laws of that dynasty. However, since entering the late Ming Dynasty, especially during the Chongzhen period, due to the presence of the Manchu Qing Dynasty,
, there were rogue bandits in the country, and the rights and status of local or border town generals were greatly improved, so illegal armed forces such as servants were gradually put on the table openly.
Ignoring Pang Gang who was still thinking hard, Gou Sheng was only concerned about his stomach tonight.
"Okay, stop complaining. It's only right to quickly dig wild vegetables to fill your stomach. Who told us to be a poor military household?" Gou Sheng sighed, took out a small hoe from the basket, squatted down and started digging.
Wild vegetables.
While Pang Gang and the others were digging wild vegetables at the foot of the hillside, a group of officers in the Qianhu Mansion, including He Zhengnan Qianhu, were changing cups and drinking in a lively manner.
At this time, everyone was a little drunk. He Zhengnan patted the deputy Qianhu Zhao Daxian on the shoulder and said: "Brother Zhao Xian, you have done a great job in bringing this batch of food here this time. With these two thousand stones of food,
We can earn at least four thousand taels of silver by selling them around Jinan Prefecture." After saying that, He Zhengnan stretched out four fingers as thick as carrots and kept shaking them.
"Master He, if we go to Shaanxi, the price can go up several times." There were people nearby making suggestions.
"Alas..." He Zhengnan waved his hand and shook his head and said: "Although the price of food in Shaanxi is high, we have no access to it there. In addition, the road is far away, and it is not easy to transport food all the way there. We
You can’t afford to take this risk, don’t you think?”
"That's right, Lord Qianhu is wise!" Everyone at the wine table started to flatter him.
After everyone drank two more drinks, Baihu Binshiqian said with some worry: "But sir, please forgive me for talking about my humble position. The main reason why the garrison master is willing to allocate food and salary this time is to let us send troops to exterminate the bandits entrenched in Wangjiatun.
, since we have received the food, we must go to war and show off, right? Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to do business if the garrison master finds out."
He Zhengnan put down the chicken leg in his hand, picked up his sleeve and wiped his mouth casually and said nonchalantly: "What are you afraid of? I have already thought about it. Let's go to Wangjiatun with all our troops to show off.
Then kill a few more heads and hand them over and everything will be fine, right?"
"Sir, please forgive me for being so bold. I have heard that the thieves in Wangjiatun are colluding with the intruders. I heard that hundreds of people have gathered now, but here we are... you
You must not take it lightly!" Although Bin Shiqian did not finish his words, everyone understood what he meant.
My family knows their own affairs, and they know the situation of the Lingshan Guard most clearly. The only ones with real combat effectiveness in the Lingshan Guard are He Zhengnan and the servants in the hands of hundreds of households. Although the guard's register says that there are troops stationed there There are 1,200 people, but in fact there are less than 500. Including He Zhengnan and the servants of each hundred households, there are only more than 600 people. They are aware of the combat power of the garrison. They are just a flag-waving role, so that They are all good at farming, but if they rely on them to suppress bandits, forget it.
However, He Zhengnan obviously didn't listen to what Bin Shiqian said. He just laughed and said: "Bin Baihu, don't worry? I already said that after we send out troops tomorrow, we will just go to Wangjiatun for a walk and then come back. Just kill a few thugs along the way and chop off their heads and you'll be done with it, so why are you so worried? Come on, come on... let's drink this cup full again!"
After listening to He Zhengnan's words, all the officers smiled broadly. They each raised their glasses and continued to drink. They were not worried at all about tomorrow's bandit suppression.
Bin Shiqian looked at He Zhengnan, whose face was red from drinking, and the rosacea on his face was constantly glowing red. He sighed secretly. Although he was very worried about He Zhengnan's attitude of underestimating the enemy, he was only a member of a hundred households. , but there is no way to decide such a thing. I just secretly decided in my heart that tomorrow I would try to pick some good weapons from the arsenal and send them to the flag troops under my command, which could be considered a rainy day.
The sky was gradually getting brighter, and Pang Gang, who had slept all night in his clothes, got up early. He came to the door and sat down, and then looked at the "Encyclopedia of Modern Weapons" in his hand in the faint light that had accompanied him to this deceptive era. 》.
He had been surprised by He Zhengnan's performance when he was reading this book yesterday. Why did the "Encyclopedia of Modern Weapons" turn into a book of The Analects of Confucius in He Zhengnan's hands? Did this guy have hallucinations in broad daylight? Or was it him? This book has an automatic hiding function that no one can use except you?
Pang Gang, who was thinking hard, inadvertently flipped through the book in his hand. When he inadvertently turned to the front page of the catalog, he saw a small line of bold characters at the bottom of the front page that read Iron Ore 270, Wood 270, Tungsten Ore 0.
"This is a crazy idea. Could it be that this thing is just like the games my buddies used to play? Can we use these resources to create weapons?" And the reason why we can't create hot weapons is because of the lack of resources?
Thinking of this, Pang Gang turned the book from the hot weapons chapter with black and white pictures to the cold weapons chapter with color pictures, and carefully flipped through the information on cold weapons. The current situation gave him a strong sense of crisis. I have a strong feeling that Qianhu, who seems to be very bold, and Zhao Daxian, the deputy Qianhu who caught me here, will definitely not let me go. The reason why I escaped yesterday was because I treated them badly. They said that they were just ants. The reason why they did not kill themselves immediately was because the ants posed no threat to them. If they wanted to kill themselves, it would only be a matter of words. They felt that their lives could be lost at any time. Pang Gang disappeared and felt so helpless. He hugged the thick book in his hand tightly. His intuition told him that the importance of this book to his future was absolutely unparalleled.
When Pang Gang was lost in thought, he suddenly heard the dull bell ringing in the castle. The bell rang eight times in a row before stopping.
While Pang Gang was wondering, Da Zhuang and Gou Sheng, who were still lying on the bed, jumped up at some point, hurriedly put on their clothes, pulled Pang Gang up and ran outside.
"Come on, the bell is ringing!"
"What's the matter? I haven't had breakfast yet."
"Stop eating, Master Qianhu wants troops."
"Ah... order troops? Didn't you say yesterday that it's rare to order troops here only once in eight lifetimes? Why did you order troops all of a sudden?"
"Who the hell knows, this is the second time I've grown so big?"
After Gou Sheng finished speaking, he pulled Pang Gang and ran outside...