Chapter 93 Conflict between the army and the people
Under the intensive training of Wu Shigong and Xue Yongli, the training performance of the cavalry and soldiers was greatly improved. By March, after the wooden railings were removed, these soldiers were able to shoot calmly despite orders.
The soldiers are not shooting empty guns now. They have to load bullets according to the loading procedure of firecrackers. Then, when the cavalry rushes over, they shoot at the top of the cavalry's head. The cavalry is facing the bullets flying overhead.
With the "swish" sound, you can also keep your movements from deforming.
Wu Shigong also knew: Although so far, such training has not caused the death of soldiers. However, in this kind of training, something will happen sooner or later. In this regard, Wu Shigong can only be very helpless: usually sweat more, fight more
Stop bleeding!
However, there was one thing that made Wu Shigong very happy. Finally, some of them were able to fire.
The craftsmen and apprentices recruited by Wu Shigong, out of their hobby as technicians and introduced by a few guards of the Xue Mansion who had seen how to fire cannons, fumbled and fumbled, and actually fired the cannons.
This made Wu Shigong overjoyed. He immediately organized these craftsmen and apprentices into an artillery team, and raised their military pay to the same level as that of the cavalry team, three taels per person per month. Wu Shigong also appointed among the craftsmen, who were the first to figure it out.
In terms of artillery skills, a man named Liang Hui was the captain of the artillery team.
However, what makes Wu Shigong a little regretful is that the artillery team only has a few people, and they can only fire one cannon at most. And Wu Shigong now has four cannons here. There are still too few people who can fire cannons.
Therefore, Wu Shigong recruited fifty fifteen- and six-year-old boys in the Qianhu Office. Wu Shigong no longer dared to recruit strong laborers from the Qianhu Office. Because if he recruited more strong laborers, it would affect the Qianhu Office.
of farming.
The young men Wu Shigong recruited this time were in the name of recruiting domestic servants. Therefore, in addition to providing food and accommodation with Wu Shigong, these young men were given five taels of silver every year.
Wu Shigong selected thirty of these teenagers to serve as auxiliary personnel for the artillery team, and asked Liang Hui and others to teach them how to fire cannon. Wu Shigong trained these teenagers as preparatory personnel for the artillery team.
Wu Shigong asked the other twenty teenagers to take care of the horses. Now, although the cavalry team members receive high military salaries, they are actually very hardworking. In addition to training riding skills and taking care of the horses during the day, they also have to get up at night to feed the horses.
Feed your own horses several times with fodder.
We have all heard a saying, that is - "a horse will not gain weight without grass at night". The truth of this saying is: if a horse is not fed with fodder at night, it will gain weight.
With these twenty teenagers taking care of the horses, the members of the cavalry team can concentrate on training. Of course, these teenagers will also receive some basic riding training. They will also be the reserve personnel of the cavalry team.
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But as a result, the money around Wu Shigong became even more nervous. Moreover, the contradiction between Qianhu and the local government was unknowingly revealed.
Since the beginning of spring, not a single spring rain has fallen. Some experienced farmers have judged that it is certain to suffer from drought this year. Now it is just a matter of whether God can open his eyes and let a few rains to alleviate the disaster.
The magistrate of Naqi County has already performed several rituals in the county. Anyway, monks, Taoists, divine men and witches all came together to intimidate and lure the Dragon Prince.
Grain dealers in the county also took notice of this and started hoarding grain. The price of grain soon rose to four and a half cents per stone. It is estimated that when the economy is in recession, it will exceed seven cents per stone. If the disaster is more serious, it will exceed seven cents per stone.
One or two stones are possible.
After Yao Yuanwai successively delivered more than 9,000 shi of grain to Wu Shigong, he saw the price of grain soaring and delayed the delivery at first. Later, when he saw that the situation was wrong, he had a showdown with Wu Shigong: he was unwilling to deliver the remaining grain.
of grain, we have to end this transaction.
This is not entirely due to Yao Yuanwai's bad character. When doing business, the gentry at that time were basically very trustworthy, especially when the transaction objects were local people.
However, Yao Yuanwai basically sold all his own surplus grain to Wu Shigong, and he took the remaining grain from other gentry. And now that the price of grain is so high, Yao Yuanwai cannot do a loss-making business.
!
But Wu Shigong also knew that the price of grain was soaring. How could he agree to Yao Yuanwai's suspension of the grain transaction? So Wu Shigong personally went to the door with his people and had a big quarrel with Yao Yuanwai several times. In the end, Yao Yuanwai simply said to Wu Shigong
When he came, he didn't see him behind closed doors.
Wu Shigong was so angry that he immediately went to the county government and reported Yao Yuanwai. When County Magistrate Qi saw that it was such a troublesome matter, he started to act like a man in the middle again.
But this time, Wu Shigong and Yao Yuanwai could not agree on the terms. In the end, Qi County Magistrate was annoyed by Wu Shigong and became a little angry. He made a tough judgment. Of course, Qi County Magistrate's judgment will also be
Yao Yuanwai, a gentry who prefers the local area.
The magistrate of Qi County made a ruling: let Yao Yuanwai return the silver that he had not traded for grain to Wu Shigong. He also compensated Wu Shigong fifty taels of silver as Yao Yuanwai's punishment for breaking the contract.
After receiving such a verdict, Yao Yuanwai immediately gave the extra money and the compensation money to Wu Shigong. But Wu Shigong was furious on the spot. He took pictures of the major case in the county government lobby and cursed County Magistrate Qi as: "faint official."
Magistrate Qi was stunned by Wu Shigong's spittle.
Magistrate Qi thought to himself: "Just hold back this breath for now. Anyway, I will be transferred this year. I don't have to deal with these 25,000 households anymore."
After Wu Shigong suffered such a dumb loss, his buttocks were still hot. Unexpectedly, one wave would come after another. The military households in Qianhusuo and the local farmers had already clashed. Now, both sides have begun to gather manpower.
A large-scale armed fight is about to occur.
After Wu Shigong got the news, he quickly rushed to the scene with a large group of soldiers, and first asked the soldiers to separate the two sides of the confrontation that was about to break out.
After all, Wu Shigong was a man with an official status. When he saw officials coming forward, the military households and farmers just said "you" and "I" explained my reasons to Wu Shigong. From their words, Wu Shigong finally understood the reason for their confrontation.
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It turns out that what they were fighting over was the water source. We already know that there are hills near the current farmland of Qianhushuo, and the terrain must be relatively high. Originally, several ditches were built in the river next to the town to divert water.
It is located in the farmland of Qianhusuo, so the problem of water collection is not big.
But now there is a drought. Farmers in the farmland near the river are afraid that the water in the river is not enough, so they have to cut off the water in the ditches leading to the farmland of Qianhusuo. How can the military households of Qianhusuo let them cut off the water? Both sides
The contradiction lies here.
Without much effort, Magistrate Qi, who got the news, rushed here with his government servants. Local gentry such as Yuan Yuan also arrived. So, under the auspices of Magistrate Qi, the two sides began mediation work.
In the end, it was Wu Shigong who came up with the idea: "Fellow members, I also know that many people were confused when this disaster struck. However, I just looked at the situation of the river and feel that the water flow can still satisfy the nearby farmland.
Water supply.”
"This is what I think: now we should organize all the military households in our Qianhu Station and the tenant farmers in the hands of all the members to dredge the rivers and dig ditches together. Try to save all the farmland nearby. That is better than having no harvest at all.
good."
"What if the drought becomes more serious and the water flow in the river becomes smaller? Then the farmland on high ground will be given up first. Even if the farmland of our Qianhusuo is given up first, I will accept it."
Yao Yuanwai and the others whispered for a while and felt that Wu Shigong's idea was quite fair. So they all agreed.
Finally, at Wu Shigong's suggestion, Wu Shigong and these gentry gave out three to five hundred shi of grain for the larger ones, and one to two hundred shi of grain for the smaller ones. They collected two thousand shi of grains and set up a charity warehouse to prepare for the relief of those people.
Farmers ensure that they will not starve to death in this disaster year.
The Yicang was located in Qianhusuo Fortress. In addition to being well-defended and relatively safe, the magistrates of Qi County and Yao Yuan also saw that although Wu Shigong usually behaved a little, he actually
Still very reasonable.
After solving the trouble here, Magistrate Qi left in a hurry. Now in this county, fights over water sources occur in more than one place. Magistrate Qi is also busy going to other places to put out fires.
Woolen cloth.
After the military households in Qianhusuo and the local farmers learned about this agreement, their hearts calmed down. After all, they would not starve to death in this disaster year. So they all supported the gentry like Wu Shigong and Yao Yuanwai.
Under the organization, drought relief and self-rescue work began.