open sea

Chapter 38 Miners
"Suppress the miners? Qingyuanwei still has mines?"

In March, the [-] mu of land under the general banner began to be sown.

Although the houses of the Banner Army are simple and simple, there are more than [-] households in the area, and it is not too difficult. The craftsman made a broadcast cart and borrowed cattle and donkeys from Anyuan Station. Mu has always attached great importance to the Banner Army, and now his Shi Qi is the Bird Gun Team, Shao Tingda is the Sword Team, Fu Yuan and Lou Qimai are the Spear Team, Wei Balang is the Longbow Team, and the Fifty Banners Army is the first to form a formation Strictly practicing his spirit and respecting orders, and practicing skills after rewards and punishments are made clear, although he has not made great progress now, he looks good.

Among them, the blunderbuss team is the most outstanding, with the most exquisite firearms supplemented by gunpowder to practice archery, and Shi Qi, the most educated scholar among the five small flags, leads the teaching and education. It can be said that it is the most elite team under Chen Mu's command. , its morale is almost comparable to that when Chen Mu led Xiaoqi himself.

In other words, to put it bluntly, the remaining four small banners have not yet formed a reliable combat capability.

Combat strength is achieved by fighting, and there is no reason to stand in line to train elite soldiers.Without experience in battle, what use is there for the Banner Army to stab with spears and spears, to shoot with longbows with precision and speed, and to dance with knives and cards vigorously?
Chen Mu has experienced two battles. In the two battles, their training is not necessarily worse than that of the enemy, and their armor is better than that of the enemy.Whether it's Chen Guan who just wants to escape from the bandits, or the five hooded firemen running around, born in military households and raised in the guards, are they really inferior to bandits and Japanese pirates?
Without the mentality of fearlessness in the face of death, no matter how rough and burly a man is in panic and fear, he will be killed by a thin and bold enemy.

Chen Mu has been thinking about when he can encounter two or three less dangerous small battles. Even if some people will be lost on the battlefield, only those who survive can be called the real banner army.

But he didn't expect to encounter such an opportunity again, it was actually Bai Yuanjie who asked him to lead his small flag to suppress the Qingyuan miners.

In the newly built shabby 'Zongqi Yamen', the messenger Bai Qi took two sips of water from a ladle, then let out a sigh of satisfaction, sat down and said to Chen Mu: "Of course there are mines, there are more than 20 mines in Qingyuanwei. There are seven or eight official mines, and more than a dozen private mines owned by the guards, and even you Chen Zongqi—don’t you dig mines in caves, this is not uncommon!”

Chen Mu was taken aback by Bai Qi's words, and then realized that Bai Qi was referring to the matter that he asked Yu Ding to cook salt in the cave. After thinking about it for a while, he didn't deny it, and asked, "Everyone knows about it?"

"I know! It's not a big deal. Qingyuanwei is so big, people come and go, and whoever does what can hide it!" In the past six months, Bai Qi and Chen Mu have had a lot of fun, and it's not like before So unfamiliar, he sneered, and then waved his hands and said: "Chen Zongqi doesn't have to take it to heart, the master said that it is not easy to feed a Zongbanner, it doesn't matter if you pick some wood and dig some mines, and rely on the things collected from the sky to subsidize the family. Chen Zongqi has no other requirements, he doesn't care about farming well, training soldiers well, and defending the Feishui Bridge."

"But Chen Zongqi, you can have some snacks. The master's barbarian battalion has practiced water and land battles diligently. Don't be ashamed on the battlefield. Our faces will be ugly."

Chen Mu understood at this moment, he said he was wondering why Bai Qi talked so much today, so he came to beat himself up for Bai Yuanjie, in order to persuade himself not to be fascinated by "mining" and "eating for nothing". training.

"Brother Bai, don't worry, the Banner Army will be able to fight once more. Even if they face the Japanese pirates now, it won't be like last time." Chen Mu smiled like a bright mirror in his heart Said: "Qianhu wants military exploits, and Chen also wants it. You must not embarrass Qianhu in the fighting field!"

"It's all old acquaintances, so I'll just say it casually."

Bai Qi smiled, and felt relieved when she saw that Chen Mu had no other reaction, and then said: "Chen Zongqi has a chance to lead troops to fight a battle, the four official mines refused to pay the mining tax, and the owner of the mountain gathered more than [-] miners to resist. Collect, the tax officer entrusted the matter to Qianhu, but Qianhu was unwilling to do such a thing, and he had to refuse the middle official, so this matter can only fall on Mr. Chen's head."

This year, the mining tax is collected every month by the chief secretary, and Chen Mu knows that when the chief secretary issues a transfer order, none of the officers in the guard can refuse.

Chen Mu also knew about this group of miners in the Ming Dynasty. For example, when Qi Jiguang recruited soldiers in Zhejiang, he took a fancy to the Yiwu miners who fought fiercely for the mines. He didn't even dare to intervene, he was probably the most famous miner in the Ming Dynasty.But the miners in Qingyuan are also like this?
Chen Mu didn't know.

"The important thing about this matter is to force him to pay taxes, not to kill people, and not to show sympathy and conflict with the chief secretary, otherwise the future will be lost." Bai Qi obviously knew that this was a difficult job, and said: "President The flag should be careful."

Chen Mu, on the other hand, was surprised by the manpower gathered by the official mine, and asked, "There are only 200 people? The tax official collects the official mine tax, so will the private mine also be implicated?"

What he worries about is that others think he is mining. He doesn't understand how the mining tax is collected. Whether it is paid in silver or ore, and if he pays silver, he may still lose money in making nitrate; if he pays the ore, where does he get the ore? pay taxes!

"Tch! Headquarters, don't worry. Those tax officials don't care about private mines. Private mines were either dug by the officers and soldiers of our guards, or exiles gathered on the mountain without a master official. Five or six furnaces were set up on each mountain, and each furnace gathered two There are 300 people, and there are tens of thousands of people, and they will disperse in spring and summer. If they manage it, it will be a civil uprising, who dares to control it?" Bai Qi's smile faded away, and said: "They dare to bully these law-abiding mountain owners, There is one furnace for each mountain, and the fixed labor for each furnace is [-], first pay [-] taels of silver to register the ticket, and sell the workers in February, and then you have to pay another [-] taels if you want to start mining.”

Only one furnace can be built per mountain, and only fifty workers can be hired for each furnace. The productivity is fixed, and the output is also set. For some reason, Chen Mu wondered whether the mountain master would have money left to pay taxes after sending out 50 labor wages.

No matter which link is wrong or the money is not enough, this is the result... lead troops to suppress.

A thousand people is a civil uprising, but a hundred people is not a civil uprising?
Chen Mu didn't know, he only knew that since he was a military household, he couldn't run away if this matter was pushed to him.

How could such a damn thing happen to me?Chen Mu was anxious like an ant on a hot pot. After sending Bai Qi away, he wandered around the house for a long time before finally making up his mind to send Wei Balang an order to gather the flag army!

Note: For mines, mountain owners, and mine taxes, refer to "Tieye" in Volume [-] of Dai Jing's "Jiajing Guangdong Tongzhi Draft" in Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)