My life skills in Daming Liver.

Chapter 86 The Average Combat Power of the Ming Dynasty
Lin Qingcai also sighed, the clan brother also knew that Sun Dianshi used him as a spearman for his nomination this time.

But Sun Dianshi has already recommended his clan brother, if he doesn't go, the family's incense for these years will be in vain.

Xiong Yue said to Chen Chaoyuan: "Brother Chen is so clear about the affairs of the county government office. Could it be that there are also family members who are officials in the county government office?"

Chen Chaoyuan sighed and said: "My cousin has some connections in the county government office, and he is also familiar with that Sun Dianshi. To tell you the truth, last year I wanted to find a way to go to the county government office to find an errand."

Chen Chaoyuan's cousin is a litigator with a reputation as a scholar, and he must know Sun Dianshi who controls the torture room.

Chen Chaoyuan wasn't even a scholar, so if he said he went to the county government to find a job, he would naturally go to the county government to be an official.

Xiong Yue and Lin Qingcai were taken aback, and quickly said: "Brother Chen must not, once you become an official, you will be an official forever!"

The status of subordinate officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was very low, and the imperial examinations in the early Ming Dynasty did not allow the children of officials to take the exam.

However, the restrictions on the imperial examinations for the children of officials were relaxed in the middle and late stages, but once they became officials, they could not participate in the imperial examinations.

However, Chen Chaoyuan is already so old, and he has not even been a scholar in the imperial examination for many years, so it is normal for him to have the idea of ​​becoming an official.

Although the officials in the Ming Dynasty had no salary, they had a variety of search methods. Many officials were fat and oily, and many ordinary people wanted to be officials in the county government.

Chen Chaoyuan is the kind of honest person who doesn’t have any opinions. He has spent a lot of money in his family’s education over the years. Although he can make ends meet by writing pleadings with his cousin, but now that the child is getting older, it’s not an option to continue studying like this. .

Su Ze sighed, even if Chen Chaoyuan's personality went to the county government, he would not be able to compete with those tiger-like, wolf-like subordinates in the county government.

However, Su Ze didn't say much about his family's affairs, but he was very interested in Lin Qingcai's elder brother.

"Brother Lin, I want to entertain your family brother tomorrow. I want to inquire about something about the county government."

Lin Qingcai immediately said: "Then I'll make an appointment after school!"

"Then go to the Yueyue Tower."

Lin Qingcai glanced at Su Ze in surprise, but seeing Su Ze's demeanor, he even gave away rock candy, probably from a good family background.

It's just that Lin Qingcai can't figure out why he always wears coarse cloth Confucian shirts like himself.

While the four of them were chatting, Hai Rui came over wearing the patched Confucian shirt.

The four of them quickly saluted Hai Rui, and after the salute, Hai Rui brought the four of them to the school and started the afternoon lecture.

[School listening, "Imperial Examination" skill experience +10, Lv3, 215/300]

[School listening, "Imperial Examination" skill experience +10, Lv3, 225/300]

cool!

In two hours, I gained 20 points of experience in the imperial examination. Compared with liver skills at home, the speed of gaining experience in class is much faster.

After the lecture was over, Hai Rui said to the four of them:

"It's not peaceful in Nanping County today, so be careful when you go back and forth."

Su Ze quickly asked, "Are the Japanese pirates coming?"

Hai Rui nodded and said, "That's right, the Haidao Yamen has issued an official document, and King Wushoulu is about to rob us again, especially Su Ze, you have to be very careful."

The prestige of King Lu is known to the whole Fujian government, everyone trembled, and then looked at Su Ze who lived by the sea.

Chen Chaoyuan lived in the county, Lin Qingcai's family was not far outside the county, and Xiong Yue's family was at the foot of Wuyi Mountain, far away from the sea.

Only Su Ze, who lives in the military guard by the sea, is the most dangerous.

Hai Rui added another sentence, "If it's really not possible, I'll reserve a room for you. You don't want to go back to Changningwei during this time."

Su Ze bowed his hands to Hai Rui, and continued, "Thank you, teacher, but Changningwei is the hometown of my clan. If the King Deer comes to attack, I will stay in Changningwei and fight together with my relatives and brothers."

When Su Ze said that, everyone admired his bloodliness, and Hai Rui didn't persuade him any more, he could only tell him to be careful.

Hearing that the Japanese pirates were about to invade the border again, the mood of the people fell a lot. The last time King Lu showed off his power outside Fuzhou City, this time, I don't know how many people will suffer.

Hai Rui said angrily, "Maybe it's these officials of the sea route, the naval commanders along the coast, who are eating vegetarian meals in the corpses, which makes the southeast sea unrest, and the people's lives are devastated!"

When Hai Rui talked about the current situation, he was naturally heartbroken.

Hai Rui is an official, so it's okay to criticize his colleagues, but Chen Chaoyuan and the three of them can't do it, they just keep their heads down and don't speak.

Su Ze felt that the problem of the Japanese pirates in the Ming Dynasty was not just a problem of officials.

The imperial court lacks a long-term coastal defense and maritime trade policy, and often changes its orders day and night, and the attitudes of the officials in charge are often diametrically opposed.

At the most fundamental level, the reason why the Ming Dynasty boycotted maritime trade was Zhu Yuanzhang's "art of controlling the people".

According to Zhu Yuanzhang's complex and diverse occupational system, everyone's responsibilities are fixed when they are born.

Kitchen households are responsible for making salt, military households are responsible for serving as soldiers, peasant households are responsible for farming, and artisan households are responsible for craftsmen.

Everyone does their own thing, and they are all serfs of the Zhu family. The descendants of the Zhu family only need to accept the support of the people.

It's just that the family business is too big, and there are too many things. Except for the previous generations of emperors who can handle it, the descendants of later generations can't manage it.

At this time, some civil servants and eunuchs could only be promoted to be housekeepers as house slaves.

The most important thing about this system is naturally "everyone performs their duties". The strict household registration system of the Ming Dynasty was also to prevent population movement and confine everyone to the land.

This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty has never developed such a large area as Penghu.

To develop, people have to be relocated, and Penghu is isolated overseas, so it is inconvenient to manage.

In case the Penghu separatist regime rebelled, it would be better not to develop it directly, and to prohibit the coastal people from going to the island, and only set up a patrol department to be responsible for patrolling and preventing the coastal people from smuggling.

Under such circumstances, how much motivation do generations of military households have to die for the Ming Dynasty?

Therefore, military guards like Changningwei are the oddities among different kinds, and guards like Yanpingwei are the norm in the Ming Dynasty.

If you win, your old Zhu family will not reward you, and if you lose, you will lose your head, so it is better not to fight.

As long as you don't fight, there is no loss!
King Deer has bombarded Fuzhou City, and Fuzhou City reported to the imperial court that "nothing happened this year", no matter how many villages King Deer looted, anyway, as long as the imperial court can collect enough taxes, no one cares whether you have Japanese riots .

Su Ze would not think that Hai Rui could not see the essence of the problem. Now Hai Rui is just a newcomer in the officialdom who is not a qualified county school teacher.

In his view, the coastal problems are naturally the vegetarian meals for officials.

People are always growing up, the current Hai Rui certainly has different ideas from the Hai Rui who wrote "Public Security" in the future.

But his concern for the country and the people remains unchanged. This is why Hai Rui is Hai Rui.

After Hai Rui left, Chen Chaoyuan said to Su Ze: "Brother Su, I still have a spare room in my house. If you don't mind, you can stay in Nanping City temporarily."

Su Ze knew Chen Chaoyuan's kindness, and he said, "Thank you, Brother Chen, I still want to go back to Changningwei."

Seeing that he was resolute, everyone couldn't continue persuading him.

Hai Rui provided meals for the four of them. Although it was just rice and pickles, the four of them ate with gusto.

After finishing eating, he returned to the school building, and Chen Chaoyuan said again: "The last time King Lu invaded the southeast, he almost captured Jianyang, Zhangzhou, and once a small team went to Nanping County. It was Li Hu from the county yamen village who led people out of the city, and drove away this Japanese bandit squad."

Su Ze asked, "How many people are there in this team?"

"50 people."

Su Ze was even more speechless. The 5000-man guard in Yanping was blocked by 50 pirates in the city to fight?
This is too magical!

But Su Ze thought about it, it seems that this is not magical enough.

If the historical development does not go wrong, next year, that is, in the 34th year of Jiajing, a group of Japanese pirates landed from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, looted the three provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangsu, and plundered more than 80 counties in Hangzhou, Yan, Hui, Ning, and Taiping. Forced to stay under the city of Nanjing, the capital, ran rampant for more than 5000 days, killing and wounding [-] officers and soldiers.

The records in the history of the Ming Dynasty are: "Suddenly invaded Kuaiji County, robbed Hangzhou, invaded Shexian County, Huizhou, reached Jixi and Jingde, slaughtered Jingxian County, went to Nanling, and arrived at Wuhu. Burned the South Bank, went to Taiping Mansion, violated Jiangning Town, Go straight to Nanjing."

In the battle of Jiangning Town, the Ming army commanders Zhu Xiang and Jiang Sheng led the crowd to meet and reject, "I couldn't resist, Xiang died in battle, Sheng was injured and fell off his horse, and more than [-] officers and soldiers died."

How many Japanese pirates were there that caused tremors in the three provinces and even attacked the city of Nanjing, one of the second capitals of the Ming Dynasty?

The answer is 53 people.

Calculated in this way, Yanpingwei's combat effectiveness is also at the average level of Ming Dynasty.

Su Ze asked again: "Isn't there a general cannon on the city wall of Nanping County?"

Chen Chaoyuan said again: "Brother Su, you said it is the one on the city gate? That one is already a cannon cast in Chenghua, and it has long been unusable because of the wind and sun. Besides, can you still use it in Yanping Guard now?" It’s hard to find someone who can handle this gun.”

Well, Su Ze just felt like he asked a stupid question.

The problem of the Ming Dynasty was not only a problem of the combat effectiveness of the army, but also a problem of the entire system, and even military technology had regressed.

Su Ze asked again: "Yanpingwei still has [-] soldiers, do you still need Minzhuang to fight?"

Chen Chaoyuan said disdainfully: "Yanping Guard? How many soldiers are there in Yanping Guard? Who can say clearly? I'm afraid even Commander Yu doesn't know how many soldiers he has under his command."

"I remember that five years ago when the imperial censor of the Qing army came to Nanping, all the beggars in the city and outside the city were dragged into the army to serve as heads."

It was only then that Su Ze remembered that Daming's characteristic of eating empty wages.

The supply of the Ming Dynasty was calculated according to the number of troops. On the basis of the military system of the guards for generations, there appeared a family of officers who held military positions for generations.

Most of the officers' families are a model of vegetarian meals, such as this one located in the commanding envoy's family.

And officers at all levels and levels are also corrupted under this system, and air pay is one of the problems of the Ming Dynasty army.

One is to withhold military rations and salaries issued to soldiers. This is a basic operation, and basically all officers in the Ming Dynasty can do it.

There is also a direct fabrication of the identity of a soldier, and then let his family members receive the military salary.

There are also generals who deduct soldiers' salaries and then use soldiers as domestic slaves. This is an ordinary magical operation.

There are also those who sell the farmland of the guard to others privately and become landlords.

There are also those who directly smuggle ordnance and sell armor and weapons to make money.

Those who offered fake salt, those who set up cards to force donations, and those who engaged in business, the army of the Ming Dynasty can be called a hundred "flowers".

Having said that, it is no wonder that the reason why Yanping Guards were so frightened when they heard that the imperial court was going to send a censor to the Qing army was because of a guilty conscience.

After talking about the Japanese pirates, the atmosphere was a bit dull.

Lin Qingcai said: "So Brother Xiong's hometown is stable, and the Japanese pirates will not attack Wuyi Mountain."

Chen Chaoyuan also nodded.

But Xiong Yue sighed and said: "Stop talking, the tea tribute from the imperial court is getting heavier and heavier, and half of the people in the village where my family is located have already fled to the mountains and become refugees, which is even more chaotic than the coastal areas." .”

Everyone was shocked, but they didn't expect that Wuyi Mountain was also unstable.

Su Ze asked, "Is this tea tribute so heavy?"

Xiong Yue nodded and said: "I heard that at the founding of the country, the abolished regiment tributes were scattered. Although they also paid tributes, but at that time they only had to pay tributes to Nanjing, and the amount of tribute tea was not as large as it is now. It can be regarded as a few years of good life. My ancestors were also like that At that time, we opened a tea plantation in Wuyi Mountain."

"Nowadays, the number of tributes is getting larger and larger, and they still need to be escorted to the capital. The tea garden in my family is busy for a year just to complete the task of tea tribute, and they need to pay for someone to send them to the capital. I can't hold it anymore."

Before the Ming Dynasty, Tuancha was popular in the Central Plains.

At that time, the method of steaming tea was used to make tea. The steamed tea had a strong bitter taste, and it was necessary to add various spices and complicated production processes to get rid of the bitter taste in the tea.

Spices are a luxury in themselves, and the price of group tea is even more expensive, and the production cost is extremely high, so tea has also become a high-end luxury.

At that time, the method of making tea was also the method of making tea, which required various tea sets and teacups. The upper class not only pursued drinking tea, but also developed a set of rituals for ordering and tasting tea, which belonged to the top cultural people.

Fried tea also appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, but at that time it was only drunk by ordinary people, and it was not popular among the upper classes.

After Zhu Yuanzhang won the world, he didn't like loose tea with strong fragrance and complex production, so he ordered to change the round tea tribute from tea gardens in various places to loose tea. , reducing the bitter taste of fried tea.

The royal family drank loose tea, and nobles and ministers naturally followed the trend. From the Ming Dynasty, loose tea began to enter the upper class and became popular all over the country.

Tea sets in the Song Dynasty were generally black, because tuan tea needs to be "rich in tea soup" to match dark tea sets.

In Ming and Qing Dynasties, most tea sets were made of white porcelain, because the color of tea should be clear when fried tea is brewed, and only white porcelain can show this clear color.

Unexpectedly, this Ming Dynasty is not easy everywhere, and Su Ze couldn't help but burst into a foul breath:

"This shitty world!"

(End of this chapter)