A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 48
When Wang Dou came to the Yongning Gate in the south, he saw a woman kneeling there, surrounded by a large circle of people, all pointing and discussing.

Seeing Wang Dou coming out, everyone said: "Your Excellency has come out."

Hastily made way for Wang Dou.

Wang Dou stepped forward, looked at the woman on the ground, and couldn't help being startled. Looking at her face, it was clear that she was Xu Yue'e who had disappeared that day.

Seeing that she looked haggard, her face was extremely pale, and there were some bloodstains and scars on her body, I don't know where they came from.

Hearing the movement, Xu Yue'e raised her head to look at Wang Dou, and bowed deeply: "Minister Xu Yue'e, come here to seek refuge, and I hope you will take me in."

Zhong Rong was standing behind Wang Dou at this time, he said in a low voice: "My lord, this girl is ominous and cannot be taken in."

Qi Tianliang and Yang Tong also said the same.Gao Shiyin was originally standing beside Wang Dou, but now he subconsciously moved away from Xu Yuee.

Discussions from everyone nearby also came from time to time: "I heard that Xu Yue'e was abused by the Tartars..."

"Yeah, that's not counting. I heard that she even killed her own son."

"If such a woman enters our castle, everyone will be in bad luck..."

……

Listening to the whispers of others, Xu Yuee's expression was indifferent, and she just knelt motionless.

Wang Dou said: "It's okay, there is a shortage of manpower in the castle, so let her stay."

Wang Dou made a decision with one word, and everyone fell silent immediately.

Wang Dou called Tao Shi over: "Sister-in-law Qi, please arrange what Miss Xu will do in the castle in the future. Also, cook some porridge for her to support her health."

Tao replied with a smile all over his face, glanced at Xu Yue'e, and greeted her: "Little lady, please follow the lady."

Xu Yue'e thanked Wang Dou in a low voice, then got up and staggered to follow Tao Shi into the castle.

A large group of military households stayed there whispering there.

……

Dow arranged Xu Yue'e in a barracks on South Street, where there lived women who were also captured by the Hou Jin army.

Xu Yue'e recuperated in the barracks for a few days and never went out every day. Only Xie Xiuniang caught a chicken after hearing the news and went to visit her.

A few days later, Xu Yue'e was arranged by Dow to go to the livestock farm to feed the pigs, and she went without saying a word.

At this time, it was the middle of June in the eighth year of Chongzhen, and it was the seventh month of the Gregorian calendar in later generations. Winter wheat, sorghum and other crops were harvested one after another in Baoan Prefecture.

Wang Dou's military training was also temporarily suspended, and the soldiers of each team followed their families to work in the fields, harvesting crops in various fields.

According to the final statistics, the fields reclaimed last year were planted this spring, and the yields of millet and sorghum reached about seven or eight buckets per mu.Fields that are far away from the canal and rely on irrigation wells can harvest five or six buckets per mu.

Even if autumn is near, winter wheat can also be sown. In this way, including wheat, millet, sorghum and other miscellaneous grains, everyone can harvest more than one stone per mu of land, and nearly two stones of grain output.Moreover, their taxes and grains were not collected in the first year of the castle, and all the income from the fields belonged to them.

Seeing these grains, the military households who assigned the fields were overjoyed, all of them were smiling, and they made a fuss for a while.The later military households who had not yet been assigned the fields were all envious, and only hoped to reclaim the wasteland as soon as possible so that they could also share the fields.

Dongjiazhuang management team officer Zhang Guiwen was also very surprised to hear that Wang Dou had achieved this result in his first year in farming.After hearing this, Xu Zhongjun, the defender of Shunxiang Castle, was also very pleased.At this time, he was seriously ill and bedridden, so he asked his confidant Xu Lu to bring someone to express condolences.

……

In northern Daming, each family has [-] mu of land, which is not enough for them to live a stable life.A family with a few laborers needs at least [-] mu or [-] mu of land to support a family and pay taxes and food from the government of the guard.

Wang Dou planned to reclaim some wasteland along the Dongfang River before the autumn sowing, and distribute some fields to the original and later military households. From now on, each military household in the fort will have at least [-] mu of land.

Regarding the reclamation of the land before the autumn sowing, Wang Dou handed it over to Qi Tianliang, and he organized the manpower in the castle to try to reclaim another batch of fields before the autumn sowing.In addition, the water conservancy construction of new fields and the excavation of irrigation wells in various places must be carried out at the same time.

……

After the wheat in the field was harvested, mother Zhong also came to Jingbian Fort.Wang Dou hired two elderly military households to clean and take care of the Wang's house over there.

In fact, Mrs. Zhong was very reluctant to leave Xinzhuang, where she had her farm and house, but she didn't want her son to worry, after all, it was safer to live in Jingbian Fort, and she could see her son from time to time.

Right now, Wang Dou's General Banner Office is located at the north end of South Street, close to the wall of Jingbiandun, so that if Jingbian Fort is captured by the enemy, he can retreat into Jingbiandun and rely on the last fortress to defend.In Jingbian pier, Wang Dou also set up several pier troops to keep watch every day.

Behind the official hall is the residence of the Wang family. The military officers in the fort, such as Qi Tianliang, Han Chao and Han Zhong, also live next to the residence.

After her mother came, Wang Dou recruited a group of military officers to take care of her. During the banquet, Zhong's face was full of joy and red. After all, this fort was built by his son, and he is the owner of this fort.As a mother, I naturally followed suit.Since she entered Jingbian Fort, every military household in the fort met her with respect and called her old lady, which she could not enjoy in Xinzhuang.

After the banquet, Zhong Shi was still in high spirits, but then he sighed again.

Wang Dou asked, "What worries does mother have? Tell my son to listen."

Zhong sighed, "It's not for your uncle."

Only after her explanation did Wang Dou understand that his uncle Zhong Zhengxian had only been here for half a year after he had arranged for him to be a clerk in Dongjiazhuang at the beginning of the year, and Zhong Zhengxian was restless again.He always disliked that Dongjiazhuang was too small and too poor, and thought that he should be transferred to Shun Xiangbao, and his status was too low.

He often said in front of people: "With my ability, how can I be a small scribe, at least I should be a pawn."

Li Chao and Zandian Zhang Jingchang, the secretary of Dongjiazhuang, thought Zhong Zhengxian was too arrogant and rejected him, which made Zhong Zhengxian even more angry.He often went to his sister Zhong's to cry and complain that he was treated unfairly, hoping that his nephew would find a way to transfer him to Shun Township Castle, and also hoped that he could make some connections so that he could raise his status from Zan Dian to Punisher .

Zhong Zheng's identity in appearance is actually a collection of codes, the last of the officials.However, to be promoted from Zandian to Dianli, there is a division official in between, and several strict examinations must be passed. Even if the promotion goes smoothly, it will take six years.How can it be done in one step?

Faced with Zhong Zhengxian's crying request, Zhong naturally scolded him, saying that the government has its own rules for promotion, how can you embarrass your nephew as an uncle?
However, Zhong Zhengxian came up with a way, that is, to accept donations, donate dozens of stones of rice and grain to the preparatory warehouse in Zhoucheng, and he will be promoted immediately.

All prefectures and counties in Ming Dynasty have reserve warehouses to prepare for the usual famine, and the rice and grain in the reserve warehouses are all donated by the people.For these donors, the Ming Dynasty has special reward provisions. Those who donate to the people, or reward them as righteous people, can see officials and not worship them.Either give Yu Guandai a loose official, or act as an official, and the rewards are generous.

The amount of grain stored in each preparatory warehouse has always been included in the performance appraisal standards of local officials, so local officials have always welcomed people who are willing to donate.

Zhong Zhengxian had inquired about it. In the past, if officials like them donated rice, they could be promoted to two levels with [-] nanometers. Now it is reduced to [-] nanometers. If they donate silver, the required amount is even less.

Under Zhong Zhengxian's begging, Zhong Shi also had a headache, so she asked Wang Dou what he meant.

Wang Dou shook his head, his uncle... really can't say.

He asked his mother, "Shouldn't our family's taxes be paid?"

Zhong said: "When I came to the castle for my mother, the village chief Jiashou started to urge her."

The Wang family has [-] mu of land, all of which are private fields that need to pay taxes. Daming's summer tax and autumn grain, the summer tax collection starts in June and is limited to payment within August.After the "one-whip law" was adopted by the Ming Dynasty, the summer tax and autumn grain tax were changed to tax silver. Instead of going through the grain chiefs and village chiefs in various places, the people went to the state city to pay by themselves. The calculation time is almost the same.

Wang Doudao: "I will go to Zhoucheng tomorrow and pay the tax. By the way, I will help my uncle."

Wang Dou decided to go to Bao'an Prefecture City. In addition to paying taxes and money, at the beginning of the year it was discussed in the fort to invite several military and Chinese doctors, but there was no whereabouts. Wang Dou decided to go to the Medical Department to invite some highly skilled doctors back.

Zhong Shi nodded, sighed again, and said, "Your uncle..."

She said shaking her head.

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(End of this chapter)