national surname chiming

Chapter 52

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the sunlight during the day is no longer so violent.

In the past few days, under the supervision of the Shen Jiajia Ding, the newly recruited regiment and village braves stood in rows under the sun, carrying out the forbidden queue training.

Most of the recruits don't understand it, but fortunately, this kind of training doesn't take too much physical strength. It's more about tempering their will, and tempering their tolerance to exposure to the sun and other pains, and the patience will pass.

Since ancient times, it has never been heard that people can lose weight successfully by standing in the sun and standing in a military posture. This kind of training seems to sweat a lot and temper the will, but in fact it does not consume much energy. Drink plenty of water and replenish electrolytes and nothing will happen.

Shen Fu and other officers did not engage in excessive corporal punishment.The soldiers trained in these queues can get a chance to drink pickle water to replenish their body fluids every half an hour, so that the sunshine in the eighth month of the lunar calendar will not cause people to suffer from heat stroke.

If you are really tired of standing and feeling impetuous, then pull out to maintain formation and climb the mountain, and do some explosive cardio training.If no one is left behind when the team comes back, and the whole team maintains a good march, they can have a piece of pickled vegetable and tofu for dinner.

After a few days, the discipline of the team really improved a little.At least you won't rush into something, or rush away when you're frightened.

In a blink of an eye, the time came to the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.As the situation gradually stabilized, the rear supply fleet that Shen Shuren was looking forward to day and night also arrived, bringing to Shen Shuren the ordnance supplies, talents he urgently needed, and a small number of escort sailors.

Shen Shuren has been in correspondence with his hometown in Suzhou all the time, and he also knows who is coming for reinforcements this time, so he went to meet him at the wharf in Huangjiakou Town in person.

……

"Tsk tsk tsk, Shen Tongzhi, I haven't seen you for more than half a year. It's really not what it used to be. I'll pay my respects to Mr. Tongzhi."

On the Huangjiakou Wharf, the first and largest ship in the sand fleet has just docked, before the pedals are completely laid.

A twenty-five-six-year-old civil servant who looked quite heroic and strong jumped onto the trestle bridge with great agility, and joked with Shen Shuren by clasping his shoulders and back.

Shen Shuren patted the opponent's arm away, and responded jokingly: "Okay, cousin, don't embarrass me. There are no other officials, and you are talking about adults and not adults. Tomorrow, I will introduce you to other county magistrates in this prefecture. It’s not too late for the office.”

It turned out that this person was Zhang Huangyan—after the provincial examination last year, the Shen family sponsored him 5000 taels of silver and bought the eight-rank classic history of Tongcheng County, Anqing Prefecture next door.

Zhang Huangyan himself is quite up-to-date. In the past ten months, he has been diligent in government affairs, working under Shi Kefa, and his political performance is not bad.

Shi Kefa and Huang Degong also made a lot of achievements during this period. It is said that he repelled Lin Chengyang and wiped out the part of the bandit army that spread to the Huainan Plain. The main force of the bandit army had to retreat to the depths of the Dabie Mountains.

In this way, Zhang Huangyan made a small contribution, and the Shen family was willing to spend money on this potential stock. He finally rose from the eighth rank to the seventh rank magistrate.

Such a promotion speed is impossible under normal circumstances.

But Zhang Huangyan is also courageous. He heard that the Shen family needs to deploy forces in Huangzhou, and Huanggang County, the prefecture of Huangzhou, is now in the hands of Liu Xiyao. The original magistrate, Tongzhi, and county magistrate were all killed when Huanggang fell.

So Zhang Huangyan volunteered to be the county magistrate of Huanggang. After Shi Kefa helped him apply, Yang Sichang also nodded, and the matter was settled exceptionally.

After all, his county magistrate's jurisdiction is still in the hands of thieves, and he needs to recover the territory by himself before he can actually take office.Others would not want to take this kind of drudgery, even if they sold their officials, the Ministry of Officials might as well promote Zhang Huangyan out of the ordinary.

……

"It's been so long since I saw you, and you are now the magistrate of the seventh rank. You have experienced too many things in the past ten months." Shen Shuren felt that things were different.

Zhang Huangyan gave him a push: "If you get it, don't be a good boy. No one knows that you are a six-rank and acquaintance, or that you have passed the two-rank Jinshi examination, and your future is limitless. Let's just mess around with fame.

I really can't see it, you didn't go to the township test last year, but you can pass the final test, luck is unpredictable, I really have to believe in fate. "

Shen Shuren laughed at himself: "Okay, my brother, let's not say these hypocritical words, tonight I will invite you to drink and enjoy the moon to reminisce about the old days, and let Brother Ting Lin be with you-but it's agreed, you are not allowed to play those poems against the moon." flower work."

As he said that, Shen Fu beside him had already brought two horses to wait for the young master and young master Biao to get on the horses.

But Zhang Huangyan seemed to remember something, and quickly ordered: "Why are there only two horses? Let another one out."

As he said that, he turned to Shen Shuren: "I was too excited to meet you just now, and I forgot to tell you about a surprise—look at the boats behind, who is getting off."

Shen Shuren turned his head to look, when he was talking just now, the second and third boats on the pier also docked, unloading passengers from the trestle bridge.

The second ship was under the banner of a military officer, dozens of well-trained mighty soldiers came down, and the leading officer, Shen Shuren, looked familiar.

After careful identification for a while, Shen Shuren recognized that it was Zuo Zixiong who drove out the bandits together with Shi Kefa when he transported grain to Shi Kefa in Feishui for the first time last year.

"Isn't Brother Zuo from Feishuiwei? This is really a surprise." Shen Shuren went up to meet them, and the three of them reminisced about the old days together.

Zhang Huangyan explained from the side: "I have been taken care of and appreciated by Shi Futai during this year. Seeing me volunteering to be an official in the enemy-occupied area this time, he also cherishes my talent. He is afraid that I will make a mistake, so he took Brother Zuo from Huang Zongzhen's command. call to -

In fact, strictly speaking, it is not considered a change of court.The boundary of Huangzhou here has been restored in the future, so it can be regarded as the defense area of ​​Huangzong Town.Brother Zuo was transferred from the regular guard to the regiment training, and he can be directly promoted to the capital.If you can get promoted again after you have done meritorious service, we are not delaying your future. "

There are several thousand households in a guard, and the Dusi is a higher-level "du commander" and the head of the guard.

Zuo Zixiong was originally in the regular army, but now he is transferred to regiment training, so of course he has to upgrade.Originally, there was a half-level "defense" between Qianhu and Dusi, so it was skipped directly.

When Zhang Huangyan introduced him, Zuo Zixiong came over to greet him with small steps, apparently he was quite afraid of civil and military dignity.

When Shen Shuren called him Brother Zuo, he also hurriedly waved his hands and said he didn't dare: "The general has long felt that the Tongzhi adults are talented and not extraordinary. Later, I heard that the adults and youngsters were awarded two Jinshi on the list, and the future is boundless. It is an honor for the last general to work with adults."

Shen Shuren was not entangled, but just nodded kindly: "Forget it, that's the case, everyone will be commensurate with their official positions in the future. Zuo Dusi, this Huangzhou regiment training guards depends on you. I guess Liu Xiyao will join the bandits during the autumn harvest. Some Daily drills and rectification of military discipline also depend on you to put more effort into it.”

The three of them chatted and rode back to the city, leaving the dock workers and servants unloading and counting the goods, loading them for transport.

"How many supplies did you bring this time? Are all the weapons I want? Has the Hongyi instructor who can speak Chinese arrived?" Shen Shuren asked casually.

Zhang Huangyan replied like a few treasures: "The Hongyi instructor is on the boat behind, and people will settle down in a while. I brought another thousand firearms this time, including [-] bird blunderbusses, [-] miscellaneous brand blunderbusses from outside, and turtledoves. There are two hundred guns such as Hongyi guns.

The clan spent a lot of money for this, and some of them asked Zheng Chenggong, and the price he gave was still fair.

Needless to say, knives and guns, I also made up a batch of excellent ones for you, which should be enough for our own servants and sailors. As you said in your letter, the inventory in the Huangzhou arsenal should be enough to equip the brave recruits. of.

In terms of armor, I bought dozens of expensive red barbarian armors, about 6 sets of iron-tipped cotton armors in the army, and a thousand pairs of cheap cotton armors without iron bars.The firearms cost a total of more than [-] taels of silver, and the armor is even more expensive. If this kind of thing happens a few times, your million-dollar fortune may not be able to withstand it. "

The official price of firearms in the late Ming Dynasty was not expensive. According to the "Sequel to the Two Zhejiang Coastal Defense Tests", the material cost of each bird gun purchased by Qi's army in the early Wanli years was only nine renminbi.Even if there was inflation in the last years of Chongzhen, it would be three or two at most.

However, the official pricing only calculates the cost of materials, that is, the depreciation money for steel and tools, and does not include the labor expenses of craftsmen.

Shen Shuren couldn't enjoy such a low quotation if he couldn't follow the path of formal government procurement.In fact, the labor cost of a bird gun, a weapon with complex processing, will be several times that of the material cost.

As for knives, guns, cotton armor, etc., it is the materials that account for the bulk of the money.A set of high-quality cotton armor with iron inserts costs eight taels of silver for the main material alone, and at least a dozen taels of silver for all the accessories.

Iron armor in the late Ming Dynasty could no longer make the armor too small, so it was not as troublesome to polish as the iron armor of the Song and early Ming, and there was no need to drill holes for the armor to thread and sew.

Just line the large iron sheet directly between several layers of rolled cotton, and then sew a series of vertical and horizontal grids to fix it, which is somewhat similar to the principle of the body armor insert plate of later generations.The price is that the defense at the seams is relatively low, which is much lower than Zhajia.

After Zhang Huangyan outlined the accounts, he also advised his cousin to find a way to build his own workshop and hire craftsmen to make ordnance in the future, which would save some money.The spot premium for direct buying is too high.

Shen Shuren also agreed, saying that next year he will build ordnance in his own factory in the Dabie Mountains, but this year he bought it at a high price because he needed it urgently.

Shen Shuren had read many time-travel novels in his previous life, and he knew that as the protagonist, he should hold all the supply chain in his own hands to ensure his "strategic supply security".

Anyone who handed over his ordnance supplies to outsiders would be given the same notoriety as "the prodigal woman surnamed Song next to Chang Kaishen, who deposits the money for buying planes in the bank and earns interest".

However, he will also analyze specific issues in detail. Right now, it is urgent. For those things that anyone can make and have no technical secrets, it is okay to outsource them temporarily.Just like a supply chain company like Xiaomi, it was an assembly plant when it first started. In the future, it will produce technical content, and of course the self-research rate will increase.

Everything happens naturally, there is no law.

A group of people recounted the past, and soon rode back to Qizhou County.

Zuo Zixiong lived in the regiment training guard, while Zhang Huangyan and Shen Shuren continued to live in Zhao Yunfan's county government office.

Who let Huanggang County be in the hands of the enemy, the Qizhou county government has already crammed two county magistrates and one Tong magistrate, all the rooms are full, and only a few nearby houses can be occupied.

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I will watch the moon and drink in a while, Shen Shuren is also very happy to have a few relatives and friends visit, so I will take a bath and change clothes first, so as not to be ashamed and unable to enjoy myself.

After returning to the back house, his eyes lighted up, and he noticed that several personal servants who were left at home by him were actually among the family members who were picked up today. Serve him to change clothes.

Shen Shuren couldn't help being taken aback: "Mo Ju Dailan, you guys are here too? Why didn't my cousin tell me just now. There is a lot of chaos here, and I specially didn't bring more female relatives to the post because I was afraid it would be unsafe."

When the personal maids saw the young master, their eyes were red, and they bit their lips to express their loyalty: "We are not afraid of anything if we can be with the young master. The wife and aunts at home have also ordered to let the young master serve by your side." Everyone Follows—

Young master, you should also be considerate of Mrs. Master's intentions.Even before they got married and stayed here, they came to be an official in such a dangerous place, so it would be better to have more people around them to serve them.

In fact, I heard that in April before, when you just became a Jinshi and was awarded the Imperial Academy, the master was already helping you negotiate a marriage.It's a pity that I later heard that you took the initiative to release Huangzhou, and those Beijing officials who were originally interested gave up the marriage. The master told his wife in his family letter, so that she can take care of her. Whether you marry a wife or not, you must Stay behind as soon as possible. "

Shen Shuren was also very speechless after hearing this.It can only be said that parents in the feudal era were too concerned about whether their son could produce a grandson as soon as possible after he became an official.Especially when the son went to be an official in a dangerous place, this consideration became more and more intense.

This is the need of etiquette, and has nothing to do with good or bad.

Shen Shuren held his forehead and sighed: "You two are the only ones here?"

Dailan and Moju both admitted: "Actually...Miss Chen and Miss Dong were also sent here. Madam and aunts already know that Miss Chen is already the son of the young master, and Miss Dong was filial last year, and now she is also born. It's a filial piety. But they don't know how to serve others, they are taking a bath in the wing room, and the two of us are here to take care of the young master's bath."

really.

For this kind of thing, Shen Shuren can't say that he cares about it, but he can't say that he rejects it, so let it be.

"You guys have worked hard too. Hurry up and finally get to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Let's wash off the dust in a while. Let's watch the moon together at night."

-

PS: It's just that the transitional chapters intensively explain the characters' reappearance, there won't be any emotional drama, don't worry.

(End of this chapter)