The midday sun was scorching the earth. Xiao Chen sat under a sea buckthorn tree in Gong Changwei's courtyard, holding the roster of all Gong Changwei's soldiers and flipping through the pages.
Among them, the names of about five hundred people were framed by a black frame drawn with a brush.
These people are the five hundred soldiers buried underground in Nanshan.
"After these people died inexplicably back then, did Gong Changwei provide compensation?" Xiao Chen asked in a low voice as he continued to flip through the roster in his hand.
"In this matter, according to Zhang Xing, the commander of Gong Changwei, each of Gong Changwei paid twenty taels of silver, and Dingxihou paid thirty taels of silver. Each family member received a total of fifty taels of silver as a pension."
Sitting next to Xiao Chen, Duan Tianming stretched his head and looked at the roster in Xiao Chen's hand while answering.
"These five hundred soldiers are strong and strong and are the backbone of the family. We will take part of Dingxihou's family property and give each of them fifty taels of silver." Xiao Chen said.
"Okay." Duan Tianming nodded.
"Are those Gongchangwei soldiers who are carrying gunpowder and arrows and preparing to hijack the government office forcibly on this list?"
"Here, at the very back."
Hearing this, Xiao Chen flipped through the roster.
The last few pictures have a lot of names written densely on them.
"These people were all replenished by Gong Changwei after the five hundred people died?"
"Yes, they are all from the caravan."
"People from the caravan?" Xiao Chen turned his head and looked at Duan Tianming, "Did Zhang Xing tell the truth, or did these rebellious archers tell the truth?"
"I didn't interrogate these archers. This is what Zhang Xing told me." Duan Tianming said.
"He was rebellious again, and he almost blew me up with gunpowder arrows. The most important thing is that he is still a member of the caravan." Xiao Chen couldn't help but laugh: "Du Shaoqin and the prison guards have been busy these days.
What?"
"He's been very busy these days." Duan Tianming grinned, "Didn't he take on a disciple named Yang Zhengkun? In the past few days, he took his disciple to the government office to interrogate the criminals we captured one by one.
Woolen cloth."
"Those prisoners in the government office are nothing to be tried. They are all those who have confessed. After asking around, you can still find out whether there is a flower. Let him bring the prison guards over and tell the rebellious people in the yard.
The archers, interrogate and interrogate well."
"These people are just soldiers who followed orders. That Qianhu, Du Shaoqin, has already obtained a confession."
"These people are complicated. Since they are here from the caravan, let's ask carefully if they have done anything sneaky before." Xiao Chen suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, these people have been added to
Gong Changwei, are all their family members here?"
"This, I really didn't ask." Duan Tianming said hurriedly.
"The emperor's oral order arrived in the morning, and the nine tribes in Dingxihou were to be killed immediately. We have already done this in advance. However, we cannot just idle like this. These archers are also guilty of rebellion. Let Du Shaoqin lead the prison guards
We need more manpower to practice torture and extort confessions, so that everyone can get started." Xiao Chen said casually after closing the roster.
"What will happen to these people after the confessions are made?"
"The crime of rebellion is punishable by beheading. Forget about the nine clans, but the family members in the guardhouse will still not survive. Let Du Shaoqin kill them after the trial is completed. As for the family members, you take someone to deal with them."
Duan Tianming stood up: "Should I go now?"
"Well, don't forget to bring fifty taels of silver each to the families of the soldiers who were killed." Xiao Chen warned.
"Okay, I'll prepare the money first."
The nearest farmland to Gongchangwei is located in the vast land to the west of Gongchang City.
Compared with the mountainous areas in the north and south, the military field of Gongchangwei is flat and fertile, making it easy to irrigate.
In the middle of the military field, there are two ditches three feet wide, with streams flowing in the middle.
Every ten feet or so, there is a small ditch that leads to streams and irrigates farmland.
The seedlings in the field were not seriously affected by the damage. Although they are not as stubborn as in previous years, they have grown to almost half a person's height.
The fields of the guard stations were divided into thousand-household stations.
The soldiers who died in Nanshan, as well as the archers who later rebelled, were all from Gongchang Wei's Qianhu Station in Longxi.
After leaving the west gate of Gongchang City and walking ten miles away, you will find the residence of Qianhu in Longxi.
Next to the office of Qianhusuo, there are low adobe houses built densely like honeycombs. These are the concentrated residential areas for the families of Longxi Suotuntian.
In the very middle of the residential area, there is a large square with a radius of one hundred feet.
This is the place where the grain is dried after it is harvested and matured.
Although they all have military status, these people dress just like ordinary people.
Dressed in coarse cloth, wearing straw sandals, and with tanned skin, although he looks old, he is also extremely healthy.
It was noon and the sun was so hot that it was impossible to work in the fields.
The military households took advantage of this time to take a short rest.
Seven or eight people, holding rice bowls, sat under the shade of the trees on the edge of the square, chatting here and there while eating.
Not far away, three children of five or six years old, with their braids tied randomly on their heads and bare feet, were walking around looking at the ground, as if they were looking for something.
"Brother, look at these little babies, how could a military household like ours suddenly have a child and be so beautiful?" One of the young men held a coarse cloth bowl the size of his head in his hand.
He raised the chopsticks in his hand and pointed at the little girls around him and asked.
"These children should be orphans left behind by some high-ranking official, right?" the middle-aged man replied.
"Hey, I heard this girl said that her parents are dead, and I don't know who picked up these children!" Another woman said.
At this time, a girl standing in front turned her head and saluted the adults: "Grandpa, grandma, uncles and aunts!" "Children, I see you have been in this square for a few days, why don't you go home? Have a meal.
Is it done yet?”
An old man with gray hair, holding a bowl, raised his hand and waved to several children.
"No." The leading girl lowered her head, holding the front of her tattered clothes with both hands, her face flushed.
"It's noon now. Go home and have dinner. Your parents will be looking for you later."
"There is no food at home, and my parents are gone."
"Where are your parents?" The old man was stunned. How many stray children are these?
"My mother died when she gave birth to my sister, and my father also died when he went to fight the year before last." The girl whispered.
"That's nonsense." The old man's face was serious, "There has been no war in the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years. You said that your father died in the war the year before last, which is obviously a lie."
Hearing the child talking like this, the middle-aged man seemed to remember something: "Old man, you have forgotten that the year before last in our Longxi Institute, 500 soldiers went out but never came back."
"But that wasn't a war, it was construction of fortifications, and an accident happened." The old man replied.
"What does a child know? When she talks about fighting, she probably means building fortifications."
"It turns out he is the orphan of our military household in Longxi, poor child." The old man stood up and looked at the children, "Come on, all of you come over. Grandpa still has food at home, so I'll give you a bowl each."
When they heard that there was food to be eaten, smiles suddenly appeared on the faces of several children.
He hurried over and knelt down in front of the old man: "Thank you, grandpa."
"No thank you, no thank you. Just wait, grandpa will serve you some food." Turning his back, the old man secretly wiped his eyes with his right hand.
"Well, the guard station has been really chaotic in the past few years." The middle-aged man sighed, "The five hundred military households in the west went out the year before last and never came back. There are countless old people and children left at home. And then they were replaced.
There are five hundred military households who have gone out a few days ago and have not returned. I heard that their families have been controlled by people from the capital."
"I heard that our Lord Qianhu and those people wanted to hijack the government office, but they were arrested." The woman next to her took a quick sip of the thin noodles in the bowl and whispered.
"Even if you hear about this kind of thing, you have to pretend not to have heard about it. Let's just farm properly and don't talk about it anymore." With that said, the middle-aged man stood up and prepared to leave.
"Da da da." There was a rapid sound of horse hooves, and hundreds of fully armed captains rushed into the square along the official road, raising dust all over the sky.
