After Wu Shigong returned, he wanted to know the actual situation of the soldiers' pay in the Ming Dynasty. However, not many people knew about it. Those guards of the Xue Mansion all had generous monthly salary in the Xue Mansion. They didn't know much about the pay of the soldiers in the Beijing camp.
Not to mention the salary of the local soldiers.
Zhou Xun still knew a little bit. Combining the local situation introduced by Chang Meng, Wu Shigong finally had some basic understanding of the situation.
It turns out that although Henan is the hinterland of the Central Plains and relatively wealthy locally, this is all said to the upper class people. The people at the bottom can be said to be in a state of semi-starvation where they are not hungry to death, but they are not full.
In Henan, there were eight vassal kings, all of whom had huge fiefdoms. In addition, there were a large number of officials and gentry families, and these people did not need to pay taxes on their land. Moreover, in the late Ming Dynasty, land annexation had actually begun
It’s very serious. In Henan, less than 10% of the land is still in the hands of farmers.
However, these homesteaders have to bear the taxes and labor of the entire Henan Province. Therefore, the burden of the people at the bottom has actually reached a critical point.
But the court didn't know, or to be precise, they didn't want to know about this situation. The emperor and ministers thought that Henan was a very wealthy place, so they paid very close attention to the taxation here. This resulted in
As a result, the yeoman farmers went bankrupt one after another, and their lands were annexed by the lords and officials and gentry who did not have to pay taxes. The remaining yeoman farmers had to bear more taxes.
This vicious cycle makes the lives of the people at the bottom increasingly miserable.
As for the military pay provided by Wu Shigong, not to mention the one or two and a half dollars of silver, the food of one and a half stones per month can feed a family of three. In other words, just for the food of one and a half stones per month, for
Those military households who are in a state of semi-starvation are absolutely attractive. They will all come to Wu Shigong to sign up as soldiers.
After knowing this situation, Wu Shigong resolutely decided to expand the army. However, before Wu Shigong came up with the army expansion plan, Chang Meng found Wu Shigong. Because, when he knew that Wu Shigong wanted to recruit soldiers, and these soldiers could still get military pay
At that time, the whole town was in a sensation. Moreover, the news spread to the county town.
Although, the big families in the town basically thought that Wu Shigong's brain was burned out. He had too much money and no place to spend it. The Ming Dynasty was still very stable. Why would you, a thousand households, spend money to recruit and train soldiers?
However, those people at the bottom don't care about this. As long as their families have enough to eat, they can do anything. Besides, the stability of the Ming Dynasty is only good for them. They don't have to fight hard, and there are good things like getting military pay. Who can
Not willing to do it?
And these people all begged Chang Meng, who was Wu Shigong's long-term attendant. These days, Chang Meng's small benefits were being treated with mercy. So Chang Meng begged Wu Shigong.
Wu Shigong is now ordered by Han Xin, the more the better. Moreover, he cannot recruit too many soldiers in Qianhu Station at one time. Qianhu Station still needs a certain amount of labor to maintain the cultivation of military fields. Therefore, he agreed to Chang
A fierce request.
Unexpectedly, the military households in Qianhu Station quit their jobs. How could Mr. Qianhu turn his elbows outward when doing things? So, they also went to Wu Shigong's place to make trouble. After some bargaining, Wu Shigong finally came up with this
A recruitment plan.
Among the people, a hundred soldiers were recruited and they began training immediately. During the training period, they received 30% of the military pay.
In Qianhusuo, 300 soldiers are recruited. They will start training after building the Qianhusuo fortress. During the training period, they will also receive 30% of the military pay.
After training together for two or three months, a unified assessment will be conducted and a hundred soldiers will be selected as Wu Shigong's personal soldiers and receive full pay. The rest will receive 50%. However, from now on, these soldiers will receive 50% every month.
Soldiers who are paid have one chance to take the assessment. As long as they pass the assessment, they will receive full pay. However, those who fail the assessment three times will be dismissed.
As for the remaining military households in Qianhu, Wu Shigong will form them into an auxiliary team. They will also participate in military training during the off-season. Wu Shigong will pay them 10% of their military pay.
After such generous conditions were provided, six or seven hundred local people came to Wu Shigong to sign up. In desperation, Wu Shigong had no choice but to continuously raise the admission standards, and finally recruited a hundred soldiers. Moreover,
Wu Shigong also paid 30 yuan as hard-earned money to all the people who came to take the exam but were not admitted.
After recruiting these soldiers, Wu Shigong called Zhou Xun and Qian Qi over and asked them to be responsible for the training of these soldiers. During the training, Zhou Xun was the leader and Qian Qi was the deputy.
Wu Shigong told them: In addition to the necessary physical training, the soldiers' training consists of two aspects. One is formation training. Wu Shigong also became cruel. The standards he proposed to Zhou Xun and Qian Qi were completely in accordance with the modern military parade.
standards were drawn up.
Another item is to teach these soldiers how to use firecrackers. Make sure that everyone fires twenty rounds of live ammunition.
Wu Shigong's request made both Zhou Xun and Qian Qi look embarrassed. So Wu Shigong threw another candied date at them: "You two just need to do your best. This officer will see it. As long as you work hard. Wait."
At the end of this military training, except for the personal team, which is led by me personally, the rest of the soldiers are divided into two teams, with you two as captains respectively."
After hearing Wu Shigong's promise, Zhou Xun and Qian Qi both beamed with joy.
There is another tidbit in the process of recruiting soldiers. After hearing that Wu Shigong had such generous conditions, some of the craftsmen and apprentices who built Qianhusuo Fortress also wanted to be soldiers.
After they told Wu Shigong their ideas, Wu Shigong immediately decided to recruit them all. Moreover, all of these people were given full military pay.
Both Xue Yongli and Zheng Zhen didn't understand Wu Shigong's move. However, Wu Shigong's next answer to them was even more incomprehensible to them.
Wu Shigong said this: "Science and technology are the primary productive forces!"
After Wu Shigong finished all this, he finally started to attack the merchants in the small town in order to develop financial resources.
One day, all the merchants in the town received a notice issued to them in the name of Qianhusuo. The main content of the notice was: Since the land in this town is owned by Qianhusuo. Therefore, from now on,
Starting next year, all merchants in the town will have to pay a land lease fee of fifteen taels to Qianhusuo every year.
As soon as this notice reached the hands of these merchants, it caused an uproar. They all gathered at Yao Yuanwai, the largest merchant in the town and the largest gentry nearby, to discuss a countermeasure.
However, Yao Yuanwai told these merchants that they did not need to worry at all. He analyzed these merchants: All they have to do is refuse to pay the land lease fees. If Wu Shigong wants to file a lawsuit, the ownership of this land has been disputed for hundreds of years.
How can we tell the difference clearly now? If Wu Shigong wants to compete in power, how can Wu Shigong, a dragon across the river, compare to local snakes like them?
When some merchants expressed concern: Wu Shigong originally had many guards, but now he is recruiting soldiers aggressively. What if Wu Shigong uses force against merchants like them?
The member Yao waved his hands and said disapprovingly: There is no need to worry. Wu Shigong is an official person. If he uses force against them, it will be a blatant rebellion. With Wu Shigong alone, there are hundreds of people. Isn't that asking for death?
At the end of the story, the member Yao was so interested that he wrote a reply to Wu Shigong. He sent someone to send it to Wu Shigong. The content of the reply was very rude, with only four big words on it - "Whimsical!"
"
After Wu Shigong saw Yao Yuanwai's reply, he laughed. Of course he knew that his act of collecting land rental fees would not go well. However, he did not expect that the answers from these merchants would be so rude. Wu Shigong thought to himself
Said: "It's time to show them some color."
But before Wu Shigong could take any action, Mr. Tao came again with Tao Xin.
Mrs. Tao came to see Wu Shigong last time, thinking that Wu Shigong was intimidated by her tough appearance, so Wu Shigong would agree to her request. Therefore, she thought Wu Shigong was weak. So, this time she went even further to find him.
.
Wu Shigong patiently listened to Tao's joke and understood Tao's purpose. It turned out that the thousands of households in the Qianhu Office would also get certain benefits from the money and food they turned in every year. However, because this year, Li Bingbei said
The money and food required were too much, so the benefits gained by the first thousand households who died were not taken.
And when Mrs. Tao found out that Wu Shigong spent a lot of money to recruit soldiers, she thought that Wu Shigong was taken advantage of. Today, she forced Wu Shigong to give her the benefit.
After understanding all this, Wu Shigong almost slammed the table. However, he finally endured it. Because the amount of the benefit was not much. Wu Shigong had planned to go to Qianhu, so after visiting the family members of Qianhu
At that time, he sent some money as condolences. Therefore, Wu Shigong also took out 150 taels of silver and sent Tao away.
Seeing Mr. Tao's proud back when he left, Wu Shigong's eyes narrowed. Because, he realized that he might have overlooked a problem: he only came to this Qianhu Office to act as an agent for Qianhu, and the name of Qianhu Office was justified.
The Qianhu should be Tao Xin, the child next to Mr. Tao.
If someone uses Tao Xin's name to oppose him when he is doing things in the future, he will be very passive. Wu Shigong thought to himself: "It's time to find an opportunity to solve this hidden danger."