Finally arriving at Qianhusuo, Wu Shigong felt relaxed all over, and his fatigue suddenly increased. So, he quickly went to bed. In a daze, a warm body got into Wu Shigong's bed.
In the darkness, Wu Shigong touched his body and smelled it, and knew it was Zhao Ruya.
Wu Shigong asked in surprise: "How did you get in? There are Xiuzhu and Zhuyun sleeping outside."
Zhao Ruya replied proudly: "They can't stop me."
The two were affectionate all night. But before dawn, Zhao Ruya secretly went back to accompany her daughter. Wu Shigong thought to himself: "Why does it look like an affair? When we arrive at Qianhusuo Fortress tomorrow, we can finally live a normal life.
."
However, Wu Shigong soon became disappointed.
The next morning, Wu Shigong asked the innkeeper of his inn to find someone who was familiar with the local situation and take Wu Shigong and others to Qianhusuo Fortress to have a look. The innkeeper called his nephew Chang Meng over.
When Chang Meng knew that Wu Shigong was going to Qianhusuo Fortress, he immediately shouted: "Master Qianhu, that Qianhusuo Fortress has been abandoned a long time ago." Then Chang Meng introduced Wu Shigong to Qianhusuo Fortress in detail.
Condition.
It turns out that when Qianhusuo Fortress was first built in the early Ming Dynasty, there was no town where Wu Shigong lives now. Because the construction of Qianhusuo Fortress needed to take military functions into consideration, therefore Qianhusuo Fortress was built.
Next to the town, halfway up a small hillside. It takes about half an hour to walk from the town.
But as time goes by, many families gradually move to this small town. Because the terrain here is gentle and the geographical conditions are relatively superior. Moreover, this small town is at the intersection of two rivers, which flow from south to north.
It has become a commodity distribution center in the nearby area.
As this place became more lively, the local gentry built houses and set up business stores here one after another. As the population gradually became denser, it gradually became a small town. Even thousands of households in Qianhusuo.
Moved his office and residence to a small town.
Chang Meng also told Wu Shigong: The land in this town was actually owned by Qianhusuo, and it was located in the center of Qianhusuo. However, with the local occupation, this town has been completely owned by the local government.
Already.
Moreover, with this town as the boundary, all the land to the east was occupied by local gentry. Today, only the land to the west of Qianhusuo is preserved.
The Qianhusuo Fortress has been uninhabited for hundreds of years and has long since become a ruin.
Wu Shigong frowned after listening to Chang Meng's words, and finally decided to let Chang Meng lead the way to the ruins of Qianhusuo Fortress to have a look.
After arriving at the Qianhusuo Fortress, Wu Shigong first asked Xue Yongli and others with military experience to guard the Xue Mansion to observe the geographical location of the Qianhusuo Fortress.
After carefully observing the Qianhusuo fortress, Xue Yongli reported to Wu Shigong: "Sir, the location of the Qianhusuo fortress is quite good. There are hills behind it, and the attacking army cannot move at all. And that
There are two rivers on both sides, which act as a natural moat."
"If someone attacks Senhusuo Fortress, they can only attack from the direction of the town. However, because Senhusuo Fortress is built on the mountainside, the attacker can only attack from the bottom up, making the attack very difficult."
"Moreover, judging from the structure of the Senhusuo Fortress, the layout of the entire Senhusuo Fortress is very reasonable. It is also very convenient to get water. It is a good place to build a fortress. However, it is a little too dilapidated."
Wu Shigong and the others didn't know that the original Qianhusuo fortress was built at the location determined by generals with rich battlefield experience in the early Ming Dynasty. Of course, it was built very reasonably and with careful military considerations.
Wu Shigong and Xue Yongli walked around the Qianhusuo Fortress and found that the Qianhusuo Fortress was indeed too dilapidated. All the buildings in the Qianhusuo Fortress only had their foundations left, and even the outer walls collapsed.
All that was left was a foundation that was as high as half a person, and the stones on it had long been picked up.
Wu Shigong immediately decided to rebuild the fortress immediately. He wanted to use this fortress as his main base to save his life.
Xue Yongli reminded Wu Shigong: "Uncle, it will take a lot of labor and time to completely build this fortress."
Wu Shigong said to Xue Yongli: "First raise the outer city wall to the height of one and a half people, and then build a half-man-high parapet on the outside of the top of the city wall. In this way, it will be barely enough for defense. In the future, there will be more
I will use my free time to heighten and strengthen the city wall."
"A wall was also built around the core of the fortress, and houses were built inside. I think it would be better for us people to move in earlier and have peace of mind. Besides, living in an inn in the town will cost a lot.
."
After listening to Wu Shigong's words, Xue Yongli nodded and said: "In this case, before the Chinese New Year, this fortress can be initially built."
On the way back, Wu Shigong gave Chang Meng 200 yuan for his hard work. After hearing that Chang Meng was familiar with the local situation, he decided to continue employing him tomorrow and let him go to each of the hundreds of households under the Qianhu Station.
I went to deliver a message asking these hundreds of households to gather together in the small town tomorrow afternoon and talk about random things.
Chang Meng happily agreed.
Wu Shigong decided to let these hundreds of households arrange labor and build the Qianhusuo fortress as soon as possible. Moreover, Wu Shigong also wanted to select the best among these laborers to recruit 200 soldiers.
Of course, Wu Shigong will also pay some remuneration for these labors. He will also pay military pay to these soldiers.
In the evening, Wu Shigong, Xue Yongli and Zheng Zhen carefully calculated the cost of building the fortress. After the "cracking" sound of abacus, Zheng Zhen told Wu Shigong that the fortress was built according to Wu Shigong's simplest method.
For the expenses, you should also prepare 2,600 taels of silver.
After Wu Shigong heard the numbers, he took a breath of air-conditioning. But he thought about it carefully: It is urgent to build the fortress now, so the money cannot be saved. And Wu Shigong is planning to recruit 200 people from Qianhu Station this time.
Soldiers, military pay cannot be saved either.
Wu Shigong was prepared to give the guards brought to Guide from the capital this time a military salary of three taels of silver per month. Of course, those guards from the Xue Mansion were more cost-effective, because Xue Lian originally gave them a monthly salary, so they got
It's double pay.
As for the soldiers Wu Shigong planned to recruit from Qianhu this time, Wu Shigong decided to pay them according to the standard military pay of the Ming Dynasty. That is, one tael and five silver per person per month, and one and a half stones of rice.
Therefore, if Wu Shigong starts distributing military pay, he will spend nearly one thousand taels of silver every month. Add in the food for the soldiers and the feeding of the horses. No matter how you calculate it, the monthly expenses will exceed one thousand two hundred taels of silver.
.
Moreover, the cost of making weapons, necessary routine expenses and Wu Shigong's own living expenses have not been taken into account. If all are taken into account, it will cost at least 1,500 taels of silver per month. And now, Wu Shigong is just preparing to own it.
Four hundred soldiers. Wu Shigong thought to himself: The cost of this army is really astonishingly high!
Wu Shigong only has more than 40,000 taels of silver around him now. Although this amount of money can be said to be a huge amount of wealth for ordinary people, for Wu Shigong who now has to raise an army, it can only last thirty months.
Seeing Wu Shigong in trouble, Xue Yongli and Zheng Zhen on the side came up with ideas.
Xue Yongli said to Wu Shigong: There is no need to pay military pay to the soldiers recruited from thousands of households. In the entire Ming Dynasty, no one paid military pay to recruit soldiers from military households. Even if Wu Shigong was kind-hearted and wanted to pay military pay, how could he do it?
Three or five is enough. This can also save a lot of money.
Wu Shigong categorically denied Xue Yongli's statement. If those soldiers were not paid military pay, who among them would work hard in training? Who would work hard for Wu Shigong?
However, Xue Yongli's statement reminded Wu Shigong. Wu Shigong decided to set an assessment standard in the process of training soldiers. Soldiers who meet the standard will be given full military pay; those who fail to meet the standard will be given 50%. In this way, those soldiers
Once you train, you will gain motivation.
And Zheng Zhen said to Wu Shigong: There is no need to spend money to recruit labor from military households.
Wu Shigong also categorically denied Zheng Zhen's statement. If Wu Shigong used these laborers for free, although these laborers would not say anything on the surface, they must have resentment in their stomachs.
Wu Shigong wanted to build this Qianhusuo Fortress into a fortress. The location must be very important, and people and people must also be important. Wu Shigong did not want these laborers to hate him.
Seeing Wu Shigong's resolute attitude, Zheng Zhen came up with another idea: Zheng Zhen asked Wu Shigong not to pay these laborers directly, but to subtract the amount of money and grain they should turn in next year. In this way, the payment amount would be met.
As a result, Wu Shigong's current financial pressure will also be smaller.
This is a good idea! Wu Shigong immediately followed the good advice. In this way, Wu Shigong can save hundreds of taels of silver now.
After Xue Yongli and Zheng Zhen left, Wu Shigong thought to himself: "We have to develop some new financial resources. Otherwise, we will be left with nothing."
