"The official at the Royal Camp Liangtai also said that although their Imperial Camp no longer recruits soldiers, they have been marrying wives for the Imperial Camp soldiers," Zhao Fu said.
Zhao Gui asked, "What do you mean?"
"That's what it means. If there is a girl of the right age, the Imperial Camp Liangtai is willing to give gifts to the Imperial Camp soldiers to marry them. It is said that they have done this for a long time and have married tens of thousands of soldiers in the Imperial Camp."
Zhao Gui's eldest daughter is only nine years old, but Zhao Fu's children are relatively older. His eldest daughter is eighteen, his second daughter is sixteen, and his third daughter is thirteen. To put it bluntly, these are almost old enough to get married.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there were not many pinging rituals, but in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the pinging rituals gradually increased, and you could not get a wife if you were not high. In the late Ming Dynasty, because the high pinging rituals gradually led to high dowries, the dowry was even more expensive than the pinging rites.
high.
And often the dowry is brought to the bride at the end of the ceremony.
In the early years, having daughters was all the fun and joy, but having too many sons was hard work. Later, those who had too many daughters were very worried. In many places, some girls couldn’t get married because they couldn’t afford dowries for their daughters. They couldn’t afford to accompany them.
.
Later, in many places, female babies were drowned as soon as they were born. Especially in the late Ming Dynasty, female infant drowning was very serious in many places. Most of them were unwilling to raise more female babies, except for the reason of favoring boys over girls.
In addition, the main reason is that in the late Ming Dynasty, according to local customs, girls were given heavy dowries.
The custom is such that it is difficult to get married without a dowry. If the dowry is not given, the husband's family will not be willing, and even the daughter will not be willing.
Zhao Fu and Zhao Gui are from the same village, and he used to be a small rich farmer. However, life has been difficult in recent years. He cannot provide his daughter's dowry, and his daughters have also been delayed.
The eldest brother is already eighteen years old, and he has negotiated with several companies, but when someone asks how much dowry he can give, he gives too little and the other party becomes unwilling.
My daughter can't get married and she always blames her family.
"The royal camp provides good conditions for marrying wives to soldiers. They will help the soldiers pay the gift and then buy a dowry for the bride. They also say that after they give the gift to the bride's family, they don't have to take it back."
"Furthermore, these imperial soldiers are paid very high salaries. The auxiliary soldiers are paid three taels of silver a month. The combat soldiers are divided into three grades, ranging from three taels and nine to four taels and five. There are also rewards, etc., and they can even buy land at low prices.
If you get married, life will be much easier."
Zhao Fu has planned to marry all three daughters into the imperial camp. Such a daughter will have at least five taels as a gift, which is fifteen taels, and he does not need to pay half of the dowry. According to the customs in their hometown, if he finds a well-matched family
When marrying a daughter, the gift is five to ten taels, and the dowry is ten taels.
In their hometown, the long-term workers hired by their family were only given three taels of silver throughout the year, including food and accommodation, two sets of clothes, and gifts and snacks during the New Year.
Marrying a daughter requires the income of a long-term worker for four to five years.
"Can we still get married in such a chaotic situation?" Zhao Gui asked.
"It's not that we are getting married here. I asked the officials at the Liangtai, and they said that the Imperial Camp Liangtai will be responsible for the wedding first. They will pick up the girl first and then send her back to the rear. By then, where will the Imperial Camp be? Private
Those who perform well will be given priority to get married. Then the two parties will hold a blind date, in short, hundreds or even thousands of new couples will get married at a time."
"I think it's pretty good." Zhao Fugang had just finished a meal of porridge, but he was already thinking about the future, "I think His Royal Highness King Lu is really good, and his soldiers are also good. I can't stay in Shandong anymore, and I don't know how this battle will be fought."
No matter how long we fight, the famine will probably not be alleviated, so we might as well go south."
"You and I are both literate. It's not difficult to find a job in the past. It's better than here. But it's not easy to go all the way south. If my daughter marries into the imperial camp, then they have to take care of me, my father-in-law, right?"
Zhao Fu is very smart.
After hearing this, Zhao Gui also felt that King Lu was good and could consider the soldiers in this way. No wonder these imperial soldiers had good military discipline, did not bully the people, and even served porridge.
"Then I'll go south. I've read and can write and do math. I'll go to Liangtai and ask if I can do anything."
"Well, then our two families can go south together and help each other," Zhao Fu said.
······
Luqiao Town.
Zhang Mingbin, Zhu Shengli, Zhu Chenggong, Zhang Quan, Liu Mu, Shen Wenzhong and other officers from the imperial camp were discussing matters.
"These pseudo-Tatars actually massacred Xiazhen. We must avenge this!" Zhang Mingbin punched the table, "Kong Youde, the traitor, has withdrawn to Yanzhou, and Geng Zhongming has also withdrawn from Yutai to Jining. Now Shang Kexi
The traitors are acting as the vanguard and are heading south along the canal."
"It has been found out that Shang Kexi has 8,000 people, including 4,000 cavalry and 4,000 chariot battalions. His strength is stronger than that of Kong Youde before. His soldiers and horses are very elite and have a very high armor coverage rate, especially the chariot battalions.
There are also many artillery pieces, and the infantry is also equipped with blunderbuss."
"I want to kill them all. Last time Kong Youde ran too fast and had no chance to stop him. This time Shang Kexi is here. Let's kill this traitor first."
Shen Wenzhong was a civilian official but also a military supervisor. He looked at the map.
"Shang Kexi has an army of eight thousand, with elite troops and sophisticated weapons. We currently only have about ten thousand troops, so we may not be able to defeat them if we fight hard. Moreover, Tan Tai and others have ten thousand and eight banners not far behind."
"Mr. Shen, you are a civil servant. War is not fought as you said. As long as we find the right opportunity, we can win quickly and deal heavy damage. It is gratifying. I have even chosen the battlefield. It is here in Luqiao Town.
Fight, this is the only way for Shang Kexi to go south."
"And this location is good, with Mount Fu and Baima River in the back, and Nanyang Lake in the west. This terrain is very suitable for fighting. We will fight them here!"
"I have sent cavalry to demolish Yutai City. Geng Zhongming took away all the money and food before withdrawing. Shang Kexi must pass here..."
Shen Wenzhong hesitated a little, "The task given to us by Your Highness is to strengthen the walls and clear the country. If we want to fight, we should also lure the enemy to Xuzhou City and fight again."
"Mr. Shen, you are the supervisor of the army. You are responsible for military law and other matters. You are not familiar with combat command, so you should listen to us."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Shen Wenzhong asked the other leading generals, "Do you also think you can fight?"
Zhu Shengli and Zhu Chenggong both wanted to fight this battle. The tragic massacre in Xia Town was still in their minds. "I agree with the fight. It's good to see that there are only 8,000 people after all."
······
On the west bank of Nanshan Lake, Yutai City.
When the forward cavalry arrived, which was still gratifying, they all cursed when they saw the empty city and the torn-down city walls.
They scolded Kong Youde and incompetence, scolded Geng Zhongming for sabotage, and scolded the Ming army for having no courage.
After scolding him, he no longer wanted to stay in this dead city.
"General, traces of the Ming army have been found in Luqiao Town on the other side of the lake."
The cavalry commander Xu Erxian heard this and immediately decided to rush the cavalry to Luqiao Town to destroy the Ming army first.
"Go and tell General Ban behind you to let his infantry camp wait for the king's chariot camp here. I will go and capture Luqiao first."
Xu Erxian and Ban Zhifu were both Shang Kexi's confidants when he was still in Dongjiang. Now Xu Erxian leads a forward force of four thousand cavalry.
This person is quite experienced and is not willing to wait in this empty city for too long.
The distance between the two places is nearly a hundred miles.
It's only half a day away.
Xu Erxian led four thousand riders to gallop along the road to Luqiao Town, and arrived outside Luqiao Town in the afternoon.
At this time, the Ming army in Luqiao Town did not seem to expect that the Qing army came so quickly and there were so many cavalry. They behaved in a panic and actually abandoned the city and left.
When Xu Erxian saw this, he laughed out loud regardless of the exhaustion of the entire army.
"The thief is nothing more than this, chase him!"
The four thousand Qing army and Han cavalry cheered up and chased after them again.
The Ming army who escaped from Luqiao Town also carried a lot of food, grass and other baggage, and most of them were infantry. They were frightened by the pursuing Qing army and hurriedly abandoned their baggage, but they still couldn't run fast.
Finally, they had no choice but to cross the Baima River and escape to Mount Fu.
"Hahaha, there is no way to escape, do you still want to climb into the mountain?"
Xu Erxian laughed wildly, waved his troops and continued to chase.
The Baima River is not deep at this time, so not only can horses be crossed, but infantry can also cross the river directly.
The cavalry chased quickly and reached the river in a blink of an eye.
At this time, the Ming army that had crossed the river saw that they were fighting hard, so a general ordered the soldiers to form an array along the river, hoping to block the cavalry from crossing the river.
"Stupid!" Xu Erxian laughed and scolded him, and ordered the cavalry to cross the river and pursue him.
The Ming army on the other side fired arrows to stop them. The river water slowed down the Qing cavalry. Some casualties were caused by bows and arrows, but they were not serious.
The Qing cavalry were well-equipped, their armor could protect them from many arrows, and they also had shields.
Crossing the river with the wounded cavalry.
After landing, they quickly gathered in formation.
The Ming army turned around and ran up the mountain.
"This is a desperate situation. Chase them and don't let them escape."
The remaining Qing cavalry successfully crossed the river and disembarked.
Facing Fushan Mountain, Xu Erxian didn't care. Although it was disadvantageous for the cavalry to attack the mountain, it also depended on who the opponent was. The Ming army saw that they were so scared that they didn't even want a town like Luqiao Town, so they didn't understand at all.
fight.
If they had really resisted tenaciously, they would not have abandoned the city and gone up the mountain. These people were simply in a panic and had no choice but to take the road, so the cavalry only had to catch up and cut them down, and there would be no resistance at all.
In order to annihilate these Ming troops as soon as possible, Xu Erxian also specially divided the four thousand men and horses into four groups, each with a thousand riders, and divided them into four separate groups to go up the mountain. He must be able to quickly capture and capture these Ming troops.
During the previous crossing of the river, they only lost a few dozen horses.
On Fushan Mountain.
Several hundred Ming troops who had been fleeing from Luqiao Town finally made it up the mountain.
On the mountain, it is not simple.
The several hundred Ming troops were just bait. In order to lure the Qing cavalry to attack the mountains, Zhang Mingbin, the commander-in-chief of this battle, even gave up the opportunity to defend Luqiao Town and attack at Bandu, just to lure the Qing cavalry into the mountains.
Once on this mountain, the Qing cavalry would have no advantage at all, and would even be blocked by separation, making it difficult to adjust quickly.
At this time, the cavalry from Jinwu Town, the infantry from Yongwei Town, the infantry from Yongwei Town, and even the infantry from Zhu Chenggong's naval division had all climbed up the mountain.
Many cannons were even moved up the mountain.
And Luqiao Town is not really deserted.
Shen Wenzhong also hid in the city with his auxiliary soldiers to act as a surprise force.
Qing cavalry at the foot of the mountain attacked the mountain from four directions, roaring towards them.
On the mountain, Zhang Mingbin just sneered.
He followed his brother Zhang Mingyang in fighting the Tatars in Liaodong, and fought against the Eight Banners, so he was still afraid of these Han banner cavalry.
"Look at how arrogant these Tatars are. They didn't send any scouts into the city or into the mountains to do reconnaissance. They just rushed up all at once. Haha, the four thousand horsemen who came from Nanyang had already galloped hundreds of miles. They were exhausted.
, and now you are rushing into the mountains, isn’t this looking for death?”
Zhu Chenggong stood next to him, very excited. The deputy chief of the Navy led the sailors to stand on the mountain to set up defenses. This was unprecedented.
Who would have thought that the Ming army would set up an ambush here, and who would have thought that there would be so many Ming troops.
After all, in the eyes of General Shang Kexi, the Ming army cannot fight at this time, and if they can really fight, they should hold on to Luqiao Town. If not, they should ambush on the north bank of the Baima River. It is only reasonable to attack halfway across the river. How can it be
Abandoning towns and riverbanks and retreating to the mountains.
There's no such way.
"Are all the ministries ready?" Zhang Mingbin asked.
"Don't worry, we have set up a three-layered formation on the mountain and set up three lines of defense on the mountain. Even if they can break through the first layer, there will still be a second and third layer behind them. As long as they can't break through our third layer, then there will be no danger.
On this mountain, once the Qing cavalry can no longer charge, they will no longer have any use and can only be reduced to lambs to be slaughtered." Liu Mu said confidently while holding a broadsword.
This was a battle between the soldiers and horses of the four towns of the Royal Camp. There were 20,000 people in total. Against 4,000 cavalry, they were still on the mountain. No one thought they would lose.
"Come on, let them truly understand the power of our Imperial Army!"