I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 17
Chapter 016 The First Fire Burns
The Zuo Qiansuo of Dengzhou Guard and Zhongbaihu can also be shown as the guard company of the battalion commander Qianhu.The original Hundred Household Official was Gao Wang's nephew Gao Yuan. When he resigned, Gao Yuan also left with the seal, accompanied by Gao Wang's more than [-] famous Ding Bing.

Cheng Shijie was very clear about the responsibilities and responsibilities of Zhongbaihu, he then looked at Shen Mingyu and said, "Mingyu, you come to be the Baihu official."

"Thank you, Master, thank you Qianhu!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Let Qian Shu come over!"

Qianshu is the field and military training of Qianhu, and can be regarded as the deputy of Qianhu.Dengzhou Weizuo Qianhu theoretically should have a deputy Qianhu, but the former Qianhu Gao Wang was very strong. Han Wenfei, the hereditary deputy Qianhu who is over [-] years old, has been sick for half a year. Even if Cheng Shijie, the new Qianhu, took office, he still did not come.

As the saying goes, if there is no desire, there is no desire, as long as he doesn't want to seize power and is unwilling to do things, Cheng Shijie has nothing to do with him. The promotion or punishment of the deputy Qianhu level is no longer up to Cheng Shijie, the Qianhu.Of course, Cheng Shijie has the right to advise the commander, but not the right to dispose of it.

The current Qianshu is called Zhang Ruyi, a skinny little old man, similar to Shen Mingyu back then, and Cheng Shijie can't tell his age from his appearance.

Liu Mingyu met a lot of people during this time, except for the commander of the Dengzhou Guard, he saw a dozen fat people with collagen-covered faces.

"Humble book Zhang Ruyi pays homage to Master Qianhu!"

"Zhang Ruyi, please introduce Zuo Qianhu to Ben Qianhu!"

"Yes!"

Zhang Ruyi's eloquence is not bad, she explained Zuo Qianhu's basic situation clearly in just a few words.

Zuoqianhusuo now has 480 five households, all of whom are military households, with a total of 850 people, belonging to ten hundred households.

Cheng Shijie asked in surprise, "So many people?"

In fact, Cheng Shijie thought that there were 120 to [-] people in a thousand households, but he never thought that the population would be more than ten times larger.

"Master Qianhu doesn't know something. When Zuo Qianhu had the largest population, during the Jiajing Dynasty, there were more than [-] people in the entire Qianhu House."

"So, more than 3 people have been lost? Where are the people?"

"Some died, and some escaped. Today's weather is dry, and our Qianhu Station's grain harvest will be short again. I don't know how many people will starve to death!"

"How many military fields does Qianhuwei have?"

Zhang Ruyi turned around and went out, carrying a huge box after a while: "It's all here, with a total of more than [-] mu of military land, and the per capita land is less than two mu, all of which are bad fields."

Cheng Shijie also lamented that Zhu Yuanzhang set up the guard system with the original intention of hiding soldiers for the people, allowing each guard to carry out production and training at the same time, pick up a hoe to become a farmer, pick up a weapon to become a soldier, self-sufficient, without affecting national defense forces At the same time, open up more land and increase the grain harvest.

His original intentions were good, and for this reason, he made a death rule. Once enlisted in the army, all descendants will be in the army. Those who escaped from the guard may cut off their ears and noses, or beheaded at worst!At the beginning, the guard system really played a huge role, not to mention making a huge contribution to maintaining local security, and handing over tens of millions of shi grains to the treasury every year. The most period was in the Yongle Dynasty, and all the guards in the Ming Dynasty could serve the court. Provide more than 300 million shi of grain tax.

These achievements proved that Zhu Yuanzhang was right. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that nothing was static. When the two strong men Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di fell, everything changed slowly.

The military fields of the guards were encroached upon by local gentry and generals bit by bit. The soldiers in the guards cultivated less and less land and shouldered heavier and heavier taxes and corvees. They were overwhelmed and eventually fled one after another. More military fields, the generals of the guards even encouraged or forced the soldiers to flee.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the guards had completely lost their original functions. Not only was there no more grain handed over to the state treasury, but the state had to allocate a lot of money and grain to feed the millions of vulnerable guards.

Cheng Shijie is now a landlord, and the [-] mu of land is his. He looked at Zhang Ruyi and said, "How much food is there in the Thousand Households?"

"How can there be any grain? Last year's autumn harvest has already been sold out by Gaoqian households! Even mice don't want to enter the current grain depot!"

"Why is there no food?"

Cheng Shijie feels that Gao Wang is really a pig's brain. Now that there has been a drought year after year, why doesn't he stockpile food?
Zhang Ruyi smiled wryly and said: "Gaoqian households sold their grain after autumn, and only left two to three hundred catties of grain for each military household. How can this grain be enough to eat! Everyone is saving desperately. One meal, one meal of wild vegetables and one meal of multigrain porridge, just like this is still not enough, there is still nearly a month before the autumn harvest, and more than 20 people have starved to death, and I don’t know how many people will starve to death!"

The plan can never keep up with the changes, Cheng Shijie originally planned to take advantage of Gao Wang to retire, this bastard took away everything Zuo Qianhu could take away, and bought some food with his own money, which can win people's hearts.

Now the best rice grain in Dengzhou is only five renminbi, even if each person sends a stone of grain, it means spending 500 taels of silver, which Cheng Shijie can afford.

But the problem is that Zuo Qianhu has more than 800 people, which means that if each person sends a stone of grain, it will need 3000 taels of silver.

Thinking of this, Cheng Shijie became angry: "Highly hope that bastard!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Zhang Ruyi and said, "Are there any of our Zuoqian households who are better at fighting?"

Zhang Ruyi asked puzzledly: "Master Qianhu means..."

"There are only a few dozen people in the Zhongbaihusuo, and this Qianhu will recruit elites from all the Qianhusuo to enrich the Zhongbaihuo!"

"Master Qianhu wants to recruit family soldiers?"

"That's right!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Notice, this thousand households will recruit family soldiers, eat enough food every day, and pay one tael of silver every month!"

"Yes!"

After Zhang Ruyi left, Song Kangnian smiled: "Master Qianhu wants to..."

"If you don't kill that bastard Gao Wang, this thousand households will have trouble sleeping and eating!"

Cheng Shijie has always been cautious and lives humblely.But when he saw the situation in Dengzhou Zuoqianhusuo, he felt like he was in an ice cellar.

An army was bred to be beggars. Looking at those soldiers with dead faces, it was really horrible. The entire Qianhu House did not have a pair of iron armor, and there were only less than fifty rusty firecrackers. I don't know if it will be able to start, but more than half of the soldiers in the Qianhu Station don't even have a pair of decent trousers.

I am afraid that such an army will not be able to take advantage of the refugees. Can this blame the soldiers for not being brave?

Can this blame the soldiers for being disloyal to the king and the country?

It's all bullshit. If such an army can win the war, it will be hell. However, the problem is that Ming relied on these troops to survive from the Wanli year to the 17th year of Chongzhen, with internal and external troubles, natural disasters and man-made disasters.

When Cheng Shijie sent someone to inform all the elites of the Qianhu House that he was going to recruit soldiers, he also asked people to cook in the Qianhu House. Even if the Qianhu House accommodated hundreds of people, it would not be a problem, so the three kitchens were very large.

Soldiers from Zhongbai households were assembled and asked to cook, that is, to wash the rice, put it in a pot to cook porridge, and throw radishes, dried meat, salt, and vegetables into the pot.

Thirty cauldrons, the smell of food soon came out, and these young adults who were already hungry were looking forward to it.

As night approached, the gates of Thousand Households were densely packed with volunteer elites.

Shen Mingyu stood at the door with a straight Tang knife hanging from his waist.

"Do you want to have a full meal!"

"miss you!"

"Master Qianhu doesn't raise waste, and wants to have enough to eat, so let's see if you have the ability!"

A tall man walked over. His bones and joints were thick, his muscles were well developed, and he looked very strong. In fact, this was just an illusion.This is a laborer who carries bags at the pier. Carrying bags is very hard work. The heavy physical labor has polished them into a strong body, but due to poor nutrition, their blood will soon be boiled dry. At most, people start to bend their backs when they are in their 30s, and their vitality is exhausted around 40 years old. Those who can live to 50 years old are considered old people, and those who can live to 60 years old are called old birthday stars.

Shen Mingyu suddenly raised his leg and kicked at the strong man.

The burly man was kicked hard, his body just swayed, but he didn't take half a step back.

"Okay, you count as one, go in and eat!"

The man said: "It really fills me up!"

"One spit, one nail!"

"I eat a lot!"

"Eat whatever you want, be careful not to be stuffed to death!"

The strong man lifted his legs and entered the thousand-household house.

"Who else?"

(End of this chapter)