national surname chiming

Chapter 50 Rearing the Arms for War
With Shen Shuren's IQ, of course he would not just focus on farming and building territories, but he would not pay attention to guarding against thieves and neighbors.

The reason why he can be so determined is to operate at his own pace.

On the one hand, it was because he had a certain amount of confidence in the existing servants, sailors, and the remaining local regiment training strength, and knew that with this strength alone, it would be absolutely no problem to defend the cage city in case of an unexpected situation.

On the other hand, because of this period of time, his intelligence work and deception work are also doing well.On the other hand, Liu Xiyao was just a vulgar thief who had never studied at all and didn't know any far-reaching strategies, so Shen Shuren used a little trick to buy two or three months to gain a firm foothold and hold back the enemy.

As early as the beginning of Shen Shuren's tenure, when he went deep into the counties to observe the people's conditions, Shen Shuren noticed that the counties in Huangzhou had long been withered and poor due to successive years of wars, and there was no food left everywhere——

Especially before the fifth battalion of Gezuo was recruited by Xiong Wencan two years ago, they had already fought Yuan Jixian in the local area for a long time, and they smashed everything that could be broken.So many people have tossed about eating horse chews, and the surrounding towns and towns that are not protected by city walls are all so poor that they can't find anything if they call them.

Therefore, if the thieves wanted to rob things, they could only enter the bandits before the autumn grain harvest.Because only the crops in the field that have not yet been harvested, the government has no time to transfer them.

Even if the thieves are weak in attacking the city and unable to seize the army rations in the city, at least they can camp in the wild for ten days and a half months, and when the rations are fully ripe, they can harvest and rob them on the spot.

Before that, Shen Shuren deliberately took strict measures to keep the walls clear, and made no secret of his behavior, deliberately letting Liu Xiyao know all this.

It was also rumored that high-yield food crops from overseas had already been planted in some areas of Huangzhou counties this year.

If the thieves enter before the grain is ripe, the local garrison will be required to cut and shovel all the immature new high-yielding crops, so that the thieves cannot get the mature seeds!

Liu Xiyao, who could not read a single word, was obviously extremely lacking in financial calculation ability. The few scholars around him didn't know how to use schemes, so they were deceived by this series of measures, and waited until the autumn harvest to send troops.

……

Of course, Shen Shuren won't waste these few months of preparation.

In mid-August, after the military ration and internal faction issues were thoroughly resolved, he immediately set about rectifying the armament with all his strength.

Because of the two seasons of farming, the autumn harvest in the south is a bit later than in the north. In addition, the temperature accumulation of crops in the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty was slower, and the autumn harvest in mountainous areas was delayed until October.So Shen Shuren had at least one and a half months to deal with armaments.

Three days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, he asked the county magistrates Zhao Yunfan and Jiangcheng to pull out all the regiment training in each county and concentrate on training.

The troop training regiment usually has to do farm work. In order to resume production as soon as possible, Shen Shuren didn't bother too much.

In the Ming Dynasty, the staffing of a regiment training center was full of 500 people, but the regiment training here in Huangzhou, since its establishment four years ago, has never been full on the surface, because the money and food cannot support it, and the registration will not be full. The military salary is approved in full.

On the books, Huangzhou bears the expenses of [-] or hundreds of people every year, but actually counts the heads one by one, and there are only about [-] people.The rest were eaten up by military officers and local officials at all levels.

Two-thirds of the empty salary is enough to be insane.

Fortunately, Shen Shuren now has enough food, and he can let his family subsidize the money, so he swiped a pen and demanded full recruitment.

If you want to protect your family and defend your country, you can't be stingy with giving money. In history, Zheng Chenggong wanted to restore Daming, so he had to take Zheng's money and turn his family into a country.Shen Shuren had the same reasoning today.

Huangzhou has been rectified by Shen Shuren in such a way that it is now possible to raise rations for two guards.But the key imperial court has only one guard, and it is not easy for him to clearly super-staff "support the self-respect of the soldiers".

Therefore, after raising enough 1000 regiments to practice, the extra food can be used to support the family. The Ming Dynasty also allowed military generals and local guarding officials to support the family.When Shen Shuren took office, he brought [-] people, and the number can be expanded later.

……

The next day, the recruitment notice was posted in Qizhou and Qishui's subordinate townships.

The people in the ten miles and eight townships, because of the benefits of rent reduction or exemption this year, are still looking forward to life, so they heard that it was Master Tongzhi's banner, and immediately responded to join in the fun.

Shen Shuren's false target for recruiting troops is relatively clear. There are no mineral resources in Huangzhou, so it is impossible to recruit miners like Qi's army.

Then look for dock workers and hunters first, followed by Liangjiazi farmers.

As for those wandering people, Shen Shuren would rather not use them.Or after he recruited the dock workers away, he would catch those vagrants and go to the government as dock workers for a year or so to hone their temper and discipline, and then consider choosing the best to join the army.

After clarifying the targets, the main locations for recruiting soldiers are ready to be revealed: the two most important recruiting places are Huangjiakou Town at the mouth of the Qishui River and Lanxi Town at the mouth of the Xishui River.

These two towns are on the traffic arteries where the main rivers in Huangzhou flow into the Yangtze River, and there are many dock workers.

Orion hunters in the mountainous area want to trade fur and dried meat, and most of them will push wild animals to Hekou Town to trade in small carts in exchange for food, cloth and daily necessities.

On the wharf of Lanxi Town, not long after the notice was posted and the stalls had just been erected, they were soon surrounded by groups of thin-looking men who definitely did heavy manual labor.

They generally have some trust in Shen Tongzhi, because recently, after Yuan Zhongyi was killed and Shen Shuren opened the river ban, there are no other civilian ships on the Yangtze River in Huangzhou, and the Shen family's ships have monopolized the business. .These dock workers can only do work for the Shen family.

It's just that the Shen family's boats are not as many as other civil forces combined. Now the logistics are a bit sluggish, and the dock workers are always not enough to pick up jobs. They have long been looking forward to the stars and the moon for some part-time jobs.

"Eh? Is this Shen Tongzhi going to recruit soldiers? It's a good thing. In the past half a month, only the Shen family's boats have come and gone. I feel that the work has been reduced a lot. I can finally serve as a soldier and eat food!"

Some strong men are eager to try after listening to others' explanation.

There were also some stable and good citizens who were more prudent and asked around the officers who set up the booth: "General, are these newly recruited soldiers going to the front line to fight against Liu's bandits? Wouldn't they be dragged up to die without training?"

The one recruiting troops in Lanxi Town today is Shen Shuren's personal follower, Shen Fu.He has already hung up a regiment to practice thousands of households, which is completely the result of Shen Shuren covering the sky with his hands and allowing others to be relatives. He is very powerful in armor.Because Lanxi Town is more important, he was sent here.

Being called a general, Shen Fu was also in a good mood, and said in a majestic tone: "Everyone, don't worry! Listen up! Master Tongzhi definitely loves the people like a son more than any officials you have ever seen before, and will not use soldiers casually.

Those who are selected can go through two months of practice before being sent to defend the city and camp to guard against Liu Xiyao's invasion, and will not take the initiative to attack.But if Liu Xiyao really calls, we have to fight back, but there must be rewards and Anjia money.

Don't be too tired, you know that it's not something you can do if you want to be a regiment of soldiers.Those who have violated the law within a year are not wanted, nor are those who are in poor health.Entering the army, in addition to the five buckets of rations per month for the housekeeper and the housekeeper, there is also five silver coins for the army! "

After the announcement of the military pay, many people were really eager to try, and they were not so worried about the possibility of being sent to the front as cannon fodder.

It is not easy to live in this world.

On the other hand, after Shen Fu finished the general conditions, several of his subordinates, Baihu, began to publicize more details-after all, it is not easy for Lord Qianhu to bargain directly with the mud legs, otherwise the military power will be lost.

"Hurry up if you want to sign up! Master Tongzhi said that if you don't take the initiative to attack Liu Xiyao this year, then you won't take the initiative to attack Liu Xiyao. If you really die in battle, you will be given five rations and five coins, and they will be given to your family members. Years, it’s considered a pension.”

As soon as this sentence was said, those who hesitated completely obeyed.They figured it out, even if they died, the family members could get about 18 taels of silver and [-] shi of grain, a life is worth so much, it's good.

Of course, the government did not say what kind of food to distribute.With today's expensive rice prices, it is estimated that there will be no white rice, and the newly introduced corn and potatoes may be used to make up the number.

In this precarious time, as long as you can eat, what white rice do you need?

"Recruit me, recruit me!"

"Count me in!"

A group of relatively simple-minded dock workers quickly got caught up and rushed to the conscription flag to line up first.

Others who have more ideas are still hesitant to calculate the authenticity of the conditions, fearing that they will be tricked.

At this moment, Qianhu Shen Fu spoke again. He first took a short stick and knocked on the gong next to him a few times to signal everyone to be quiet:

"Calm down! My lord Tongzhi has an order. If you want to join the army, you have to pass the assessment. Those who stood up first just now can get preferential treatment. Those who are still hesitant behind will all have to pass the assessment!

In the time of a cup of tea, those who can swim to the other side of the Xishui River; or those who can hit at least one target with three arrows without clusters;

If you can complete at least one of the three items, you can start as an auxiliary soldier, with only rations, but the salary is halved. After training well, you can turn into a regular soldier.Those who can do two things will be directly recruited as regular soldiers.If the three items can be achieved, an additional three taels of silver will be given as a settling fee. "

The assessment standard announced by Shen Fu was also carefully considered by Shen Shuren himself, so it was considered impartial.

Carrying a stone lock is a test of strength, and it is fair to everyone.Swimming is good for the assessment of dock workers, and archery is good for the assessment of hunters. As long as the previous work is done well, it should not be difficult to pass.

Everyone heard that there is a settling allowance of three taels of silver, which can be cashed out on the same day after passing the assessment, and their trust in this policy suddenly increased.

Those who hesitated to wait and see also came to line up one after another. Under the supervision of Shen Jiajiading, they jumped into Xishui row by row and swam to the other side.They lined up again to carry those heavy stone locks.

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PS: There will be some transitional chapters of farming and training, please be patient, and we will start a war with Liu Xiyao soon.

(End of this chapter)