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

Chapter 638 Maggots
The 15th year of Chongzhen, the first month.

The horses kicked up dust on the potholed post road. It was already early spring, but looking up, the hazelnuts and fields were desolate. Even if the fields were obviously plump, the grass was still several feet deep, and the soil was dry and watery.

There are drought cracks everywhere, the grass is withered and yellow, and the slightly greener bark and grass leaves are all gone, because they were eaten up by the hungry people.

In the fields and by the roadside, there are hungry people lying on the ground everywhere, and groups of refugees fleeing from famine, wearing tattered cotton jackets, with straw ropes around their waists, carrying their own black and torn quilts, with skinny quilts on them, shivering children at home.

Seeing the army of Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen, some of these victims were afraid, some were numb, and some had hatred in their eyes.

Seeing these people with their families staggering past, trying their best to go in the direction of Zhangde Prefecture City, no one who saw it could not help but feel sad.

"Ugh!"

Cao Bianjiao sighed heavily, looked back at the soldiers behind him, all looked haggard, unkempt, like beggars, not much better than these refugees, even Wang Tingchen had a grass root in his mouth, intentionally or unintentionally chewing.

After the two men went south from Zanhuang, they often had a full meal and a hungry meal, so the slower they marched, they walked from the station for more than a month before entering the territory of Zhangde Mansion, the Chief Secretary of Henan.

When passing through Cizhou, he bought some grain and grass from the local guard, and was ridiculed by the local guard. The irritable Wang Tingchen was so angry that he almost wanted to draw his sword, but Cao Bianjiao persuaded him.

Because the march became more and more difficult, the lieutenant soldiers had already fled.

"Brother Wang, after crossing the Zhangshui River, we can reach Zhangdefu City tomorrow. Today, the army should camp by the river."

"Okay, General Cao."

The army set up camp, started to make fires, cook food, and feed the horses. Because of the lack of fodder, the horses in the two armies were all weak and weak, and there were so many horses that they could not even ride people.

Now Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen's army imitated Wang Dou and also built some cooking carts, but it's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice, and the fire soldiers can't cook any rich meals.

However, the aroma of the food still attracted the attention of some victims, but they did not dare to get close, they only dared to look around from a distance, smelling the aroma, salivating.

Sitting in the tent, the personal guard brought two big bowls of porridge, which were so rare that there were some grass roots and wild vegetables floating on it. Cao Bianjiao was surprised when he took one of the bowls: "Hey, today's food is good."

Looking at Wang Tingchen, seeing that he only put the bowl in front of him, but didn't eat or drink, Cao Bianjiao was very surprised: "Brother Wang, why don't you eat?"

Wang Tingchen opened his mouth wide and laughed, "I ate it some morning, and I'm still full..."

He took out half a steamed bun from his bosom and shook it in front of Cao Bianjiao's eyes: "Look, I can't even eat half of this steamed bun."

He pushed his bowl of porridge and half a steamed bun in front of Cao Bianjiao: "I'm so full, I might not be hungry until tomorrow, General Xiao Cao will do it for me."

Cao Bianjiao pointed at Wang Tingchen and said with a smile: "Brother Wang, I didn't expect you to hide it secretly, well, I'm not polite."

He was eating steamed buns and gruel, and he ate it sweetly. Wang Tingchen watched from the side, swallowing his saliva from time to time, only when Cao Bianjiao looked at him, he turned his eyes away as if nothing had happened.

Cao Bianjiao finished the two bowls of porridge, licked up the leftovers, and raised the bowl to his head. Looking left and right, he didn't see a drop of soup falling. Then he put down the bowl, rubbed his belly and said comfortably: "Sometimes Day, I haven't eaten so full, so comfortable."

He stood up: "Brother Wang, let's go for a walk to digest food."

"Okay, General Cao."

The two left their tents, crossed clumps of soldiers who licked their bowls carefully, or wrapped up their armor, and sat around the fire, and slowly came to the Zhangshui River.

Because of the severe drought, the Zhangshui River, which used to have a lot of water, was left with shoals everywhere, and even some river sections were cracked, and the waist-deep withered yellow thatch undulated along the terrain.

This……

In the nostrils, the disgusting smell of corpses became more and more disgusting. Through the thatch and some mounds, both of them saw that in the grass piles in front of them, on the edge of the river, and in the river water, there were dead bodies. There were rotting corpses, men, women and children, exuding a strong, disgusting stench.

These corpses may have been dead for a long time. Although the weather is still cold, they are still rotting corpses. All of them have dark brown strips of clothes, and their hair is also dirty and sticky. bang bang.

Fat maggots came out of them from time to time, and some wild dogs were gnawing, dragging some internal organs all over the ground. Without exception, the eyes of these wild dogs were all faint green. shine.

"This……"

Cao Bianjiao's hands were trembling, his throat was choked, and he wanted to say something, but he couldn't speak.

Wang Tingchen opened his mouth, and everyone behind him just stared blankly, unable to bear to look.

"Who?"

One of the guards yelled suddenly, and saw several ghost-like figures jumping up from the grass not far away, and quickly submerged in the grass. Their glances also had a faint green light.

"Where to go?"

A general is about to lead his men to chase after them. Could it be that these figures are the spies of some bandit nearby, who came to spy on the army?

"That's it."

Cao Bianjiao waved his hand, and the army camped by the river, attracting a lot of victims wandering nearby. These people may have been attracted by the food, but their own army was also suffering from hunger and cold, but they had no spare energy to help.

He sighed, and was about to go back when he stopped suddenly, and the hairs all over his body trembled.

He stiffened his body, pulled out some thatch, walked forward, and then stared at it blankly.

Wang Tingchen was surprised, and followed him, and then his body trembled, and he was also stiff.

In the haystack in front, several corpses were lying here and there, probably dead for a long time, each corpse exuded a strong rancid smell, white maggots crawled all over these corpses.

A corpse, it seems to be a woman, on her corpse, sits a baby wrapped in a small quilt, in his mouth, babbling and muttering, from time to time happily grabbing, the baby that emerges from the mother's body Fat maggots, and then his little hand picked up the wriggling maggots and sent them into his small mouth.

Seeing Cao Bianjiao and others, he also looked over curiously, with innocent eyes, while lifting a desperately writhing maggot, stretched out his hand to the person in front of him, babbling a few times, as if he wanted to share his happiness.

There was no movement in front of him, his round eyes blinked suspiciously, then stuffed the maggots in his hand into his little mouth, and clapped his little hands excitedly.

Seeing the white maggots struggling hard in his small mouth, and some sticky liquid flowing down from time to time, Cao Bianjiao's mind went blank, Wang Tingchen still opened his mouth, and the guards behind him, many of them couldn't bear it anymore. I couldn't stop vomiting, and some people had tears in their eyes.

This situation had a severe impact on the hearts of Cao Bianjiao and others. Although they had experienced many battlefields and seen many cruel scenes, they also saw many starvation and death along the way.

However, the tragedy of human relations in front of him still made Cao Bianjiao tremble all over, and his liver and gallbladder were about to burst.

"what……"

From his mouth, a shrill scream suddenly came out.

He knelt down and cried out to the sky, "Why is this?"

He cried, "Da Ming... my Daming..."

He cried like a child, and beside him, Wang Tingchen couldn't help crying, and finally burst into tears.

Hearing the news, all the soldiers of the three armies in ragged clothes were in tears.

……

Xuanfu Township, the residence of the General Soldier.

"Commander Zhang Du, I am very pleased that you can report to the public and hand over the household registers and fields in the capital."

Looking at Zhang Guowei in front of him, Wang Dou said lightly.

The Wanquandu Si Yamen is not far from the Zongbing Mansion, just on Pailou West Street. It is also a very prominent yamen. The flagpoles, screen walls, and stone lions are roughly the same as the Shuai Mansion, but the decoration and scene are slightly inferior.

Although now, all commanders and envoys in the capital division have become subordinates of the general army, and officers at all levels also serve as deputy commander-in-chief, generals, and guerrilla generals, etc. The land, population, and taxes under the name are all managed, but in fact the power is still very large.

For many guards, managing the guards requires paying food and taxes, which is a thankless task in the current Ming Dynasty, but the farming and documents are what Wang Dou needs.

"The next official is willing to serve Lord Hou."

Zhang Guowei sat on the chair with half of his buttocks, and his posture was very low.

Wang Dou nodded. Back then, when he went on a killing spree on the East Road, he even killed Zhang Guowei's clan uncle. He didn't expect Zhang Guowei to let go of his hatred, but he is quite a character.

He said: "Okay, those who know the current affairs are heroes, if you follow me sincerely, this Marquis will definitely not treat you badly."

Zhang Guowei cupped his hands: "The next official is the only one who looks after you."

Zhang Guowei left and went out, Wang Dou flipped through the documents, after a long time, he sighed: "Military households have fled for many years, and now there are not enough Dingkou, we need to recruit refugees."

Zhang Gui, the ambassador of the Department of Civil Affairs, also looked through the document carefully, and also sighed: "When the Taizu was there, the Xuanfu had more than 12 troops, nineteen guards, and seven guards for thousands of households. In the town alone, there are more than [-] soldiers, but now, excluding the East Road, there are less than [-] registered officers and troops in the town, and even fewer military officers."

Wang Dou said: "Except for the military households who fled, many Dingkou have been hidden."

There were more than 12 soldiers in Xuanfu Town in the early Ming Dynasty. Because of the implementation of the guard system, each soldier represented a family. Therefore, there were more than [-] households in the entire Xuanfu at that time. Not more but less.

In addition to fleeing, of course a large part of them were hidden by military officers at all levels, tyrants, etc., and became tenant farmers of their family.

All kinds of encroachment, land mergers, etc., the town and the east road are similar, but the enlarged version makes the situation more complicated.

Wang Dou pondered: "It's still Rudong Road. According to the relevant planning of the Department of Civil Affairs, Tunbao will be set up. The villagers can recruit surplus population from the East Road, or recruit from local military households, and then absorb refugees, especially from Datong Town and Shanxi Town. Wait for it to be absorbed."

Wang Dou remembers that in the whole of Shanxi, in the 26th year of Hongwu, there were 59 registered households with a population of more than 400 million.

Although in the Wanli year, there were still 59 households with a population of more than 500 million, but as I said just now, it was just hidden by various means, or the household registration statistics were not in place. After hundreds of years, it is impossible for the population not to double. of.

Shanxi has always had a lot of people and little land, so it has great potential to attract refugees.

In addition, the shogunate also has a series of plans, big plans, military, civil, industrial and commercial, supervision, etc., which will be fully implemented in Xuanfu Town.

……

Several officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the shogunate went out, and a cold wind blew in front of them, which was quite chilly, and it also blown the beard of Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of the Xuanfu, who came across from him.

"I met Governor Zhu."

Zhang Gui and others saluted.

Zhu Zhifeng was wearing a red official robe, followed by several officials and staff, his face darkened when he saw this, he snorted, and passed Zhang Gui and the others.

The staff and officials behind him also passed by with a straight face.

Zhang Gui and the others looked at each other, let out a laugh, and walked away.

This laughter was extremely ear-piercing, Zhu Zhifeng's footsteps paused, and all the staff behind him were also annoyed.

One person said: "Mr. Zhu, Hou Pu of Yongning came to the town and immediately ordered the city to be cleaned. Although this is a good thing, but he only manages the army. In this civil aspect, has he overstepped his authority?"

Another person said with his strong Gyeonggi accent: "Look at those shogunate officials. They did this on the East Road, and they did it when they arrived in Zhencheng. Is the Marquis of Yongning going to take away Zhugong and other civil powers?"

"Huailong prepares Dao Ma Guoxi, his power has been taken away, Mr. Zhu needs to be a warning."

Zhu Zhifeng's face was serious, he entered the hall, and when he saw Wang Dou's face, he said displeasedly: "The ancestral system, guarding the commander-in-chief, is only training the army and horses, repairing the city, defending against bandits, protecting the residents, and the hands of the Marquis of Yongning." , is it stretched too far?"

"Ancestral system?"

Wang Dou looked at the angry Zhu Zhifeng, although he admired him, it didn't mean that Wang Dou would give in.

"The ancestral system is to guard the commander-in-chief, to organize the army, to issue strict orders, to train the soldiers, and to cheer up the army. It is important to have neat armor and sharp equipment. When the castle piers collapse and the repairs are completed, the officers and soldiers are ordered to ride horses. Raise fat and strong. Still supervising the garrison of food and grass, and all money and food are not allowed to be invaded. When there are bandits, the camera will be defended."

"I followed the ancestral system of Emperor Gao and Emperor Wen. I don't know Mr. Zhu, but which emperor did I follow?"

In the early Ming Dynasty, the commander-in-chief had great power, and he was responsible for training, fighting, and food and pay. Although it was related to the subsequent suppression by the imperial court, it was also inseparable from the depravity of the warriors themselves.

Everyone is proud of their vulgarity. There are many generals in the army who don't even know a few big characters. There must be a document written by ghosts, which is the origin of military equipment. Horse breeding and local civil affairs were all handed over to military equipment, which led to the expansion and improvement of military equipment powers.

Right now in all the towns, the governors are in charge of the military and civilians, and they are mainly military-oriented. Of course, they will also ask about everything about farming and grass. Provoke Zhu Zhifeng to be the first bird.

Looking at Governor Zhu who was angry like a fighting cock before him, Wang Dou slowed down his tone: "Of course Dou will not deprive Duke Zhu of his power. The announcement of the town requires the concerted efforts of Duke Zhu and Dou."

He briefly talked about his big plan. The establishment of Tunpu is a one-off. In the future, the town will be declared a large number of labor-intensive industries, such as textile industry, flour industry, etc., and roads and canals will be built so that a large number of local people will be able to return. There are foreign refugees who can make a living...

Coal resources in Shanxi can open up more coal mines and hire more people. It is close to the outside of the Great Wall, or many places outside the Great Wall. It is also suitable for growing cotton and wheat. In later generations, Zhangbei County has a vast grassland and can raise a large number of horses, cattle, mules, and sheep. Start a livestock farm.

Xuanzhen, Xuanda, and many other places have a lot of iron mines, and a large number of iron factories can be built. After a series of operations, they will not only benefit the people, but Governor Zhu has countless living people, and can also be praised by thousands of people.

During Wang Dou's explanation, Zhu Zhifeng was attracted by Wang Dou's topic unconsciously.

(End of this chapter)