Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Xu Litie is a blacksmith and a good citizen.

In Joseon, it was difficult to get ahead without the status of a yangban. Only yangban nobles were allowed to participate in the civil service examination.

In theory, average people and good citizens are allowed to take the miscellaneous subjects, but the chances of passing are very low.

Xu Litie never had such delusion, so he has been working as a blacksmith with peace of mind, just like his ancestors.

Relying on his superb blacksmithing skills, Xu Litie lived a relatively smooth life. He married at a young age and had a son.

It can be said that although his life is not as good as that of the rich, it is more than enough compared to the poor. At least he has not become a pariah and has not even the opportunity to participate in miscellaneous subjects.

However, this life was disrupted by Ding Mao.

In the invasion of the Jianlu in the seventh year of Tianqi, he lost his father, mother, wife and children, and only survived by fleeing to the south with his young brother Xu Qifu.

Xu Litie was filled with hatred for the Jianlu, with whom he had a blood feud. However, as a mere civilian, he had no chance of revenge.

Moreover, the officials and generals of North Korea were not worthy of his trust. In order to avoid another chaos, he chose to settle in Namhansanseong.

This is a mountain fortress located on Namhansan Mountain southeast of Seoul. It was built as a fortress as early as the Silla Dynasty.

In the first year of the Tianqi reign, Gwanghaegun Yi Hun designated Namhansanseong as the garrison for the capital of Joseon.

After the current King of Joseon, Yi Jong, came to power, he also organized monks and soldiers to expand the city.

Xu Litie believed that the Jianlu might still move south, and he also thought that the place chosen by the king must be safer, so he took his younger brother Xu Qifu and settled in the mountain city.

Three years had passed since the Dingmao Rebellion, and his life had barely settled down. But the Jianlu once again marched south, staying in Yizhou and lurking there.

Xu Litie, who was filled with hatred, was worried about this, but the corrupt Joseon monarch and his ministers were not worthy of his trust.

This left him with a lot of skills but nowhere to display them.

As a result, I became more and more depressed, and was full of worries on weekdays.

One day, Xu Litie, who was working in the blacksmith shop, suddenly heard a piece of news from a customer:
"Hong Chengchou, the Ming envoy, was appointed by His Majesty as the Grand Marshal, responsible for the defense against the Jianlu."

"Marshal Hong issued an order allowing Koreans who served in the Ming army to obtain Ming citizenship after completing their service."

"With this identity, you can settle in Dongjiang Territory and other places and participate in the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations."

"If you can make meritorious contributions during your service, you can also serve as an official in the Ming Dynasty."

This made Xu Litie excited, and he asked:
"is this real?"

"Your Majesty allows Envoy Hong to recruit soldiers and restore his Ming identity?"

Based on his understanding of the Korean monarchs and ministers, this was very difficult, because they wanted all Koreans to be their slaves peacefully and never relax their control.

But the guest affirmed:

"The king has issued an order, and the matter is certain."

"Besides, citizens of the Ming Dynasty can also make donations. Many merchants are raising food or silver."

As he spoke, he enviously said:
"The status of a Ming citizen is hereditary. As long as you don't become a prostitute or a beggar, you won't become a pariah."

"Unlike the yangban status, which can only be passed down if both parents are yangban."

Complain about the powerful people in power, who do not allow the yangban status that pays donations to continue.

During the Imjin War, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to rescue Korea and needed Korea to provide food and fodder. However, how could the Ming army supply tens of thousands of troops when the eight provinces of Korea were occupied?

Therefore, the Nako was opened, allowing people to pay 200 koku of rice to become yangban. As a result, after the Japanese invasion, the number of yangban households was close to one-third of the total population in the country.

This situation was obviously not what the North Korean dignitaries wanted to see, so they followed the matriarchal law, stipulating that only by marrying a wife from the yangban class could their offspring continue the yangban status.

This caused the number of yangban households to plummet by three-fifths, and the North Korean people also fully realized the shamelessness of the emperor and his ministers in the court.

Therefore, if the Joseon royal court were to ask for donations again, not many people would respond.

However, if the Ming envoys want to collect donations, I guess many people will be tempted.

Xu Litie asked:
"Can I donate as a citizen of the Ming Dynasty?"

"How much money do you need?"

The guest said:

"It is the same as the donation price of the yangban households back then, which is 200 dan of rice, or 100 taels of silver."

"They are all based on the Ming dynasty's weights and measures. They need to be confirmed by the Ming dynasty and Korea."

"But if you have a lot of money, it's more cost-effective to donate and become a public official."

"The Ming Dynasty's public servants do not have to serve in the army and can move freely."

"The price is ten times that of a citizen, one thousand pieces of silver."

This was the pursuit of some wealthier businessmen, who directly obtained the status of public officials through donations.

Although they were only foreign officials, they could only move freely in places outside the control of the Ming Dynasty. However, they had the same rights and interests as the Ming Dynasty, and if they were sentenced to death, they would still need to be judged by the Ming Dynasty emperor.

In the past, the King of Joseon had always strictly controlled this and had not opened up many quotas. Now, in order to raise food and fodder for the troops recruited by Hong Chengchou, he finally opened up a little.

Some nobles even donated money to Gongshi, considering it as a golden ticket to immunity from death.

Xu Litie was even more excited when he heard this, because he knew more than the guest. When he was working, he heard some officials who passed the miscellaneous examinations gossiping that the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were very fair, and nearly half of the Jinshi were commoners with three generations of ancestors.

Last year, when the imperial examination was held, this proportion dropped to 20% to 30%. The Ming Emperor was furious and specially added special examinations for those who had three generations of commoners as their ancestors.

This made the small families and the Yangbanhu, who had suffered greatly from the control of the imperial examinations by the big families, extremely envious after hearing about this from the Ming envoys.

Xu Litie felt that if he could obtain the status of a Ming citizen or a Ming official, he and his descendants would have a chance to turn things around.

Even if one generation fails to pass the exam, there will always be scholars and juren after a few generations. He can support them with his superb blacksmith skills.

But he has no money now, and the opportunity to donate is fleeting, and it might stop at any time.

So after the guests left, Xu Litie thought about it for a long time and finally decided to join the army:

"Join the army and serve for three years, and you can obtain Ming citizenship."

"If you die on the battlefield, you can designate someone to receive this status."

"I have nothing to worry about now. I only have you as my brother."

"Even if you die on the battlefield, you will still have a chance to turn things around."

Speaking to his younger brother, Xu Litie ignored his crying and entrusted him to the neighbor.

He closed his blacksmith shop and took his usual tools with him to join the army.

Because he felt that the army would definitely need blacksmiths, and he could serve more safely with his skills.

There are many North Koreans who share the same idea as him.

These people were either born into low-class families or were unable to turn their lives around due to other reasons.

They all saw this military service as a hope for a change of fate and hoped to obtain citizenship of the Ming Dynasty. When Xu Litie signed up, he saw a young man carrying a bow and arrow, who seemed to be a nobleman. With his superb archery skills, he amazed the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the current Ming army does not seem to attach much importance to bows and arrows. They attach more importance to fire guns than bows and arrows.

After experiencing the Imjin War, Korea learned how to use iron cannons from Japan and also vigorously developed muskets.

Xu Litche had helped soldiers repair muskets in Namhansanseong Fortress and was no stranger to it.

In addition, his blacksmithing skills were quite good, so he was recruited as a logistics personnel and trained as an ordnance clerk.

Here, Xu Litie saw many muskets, which were far more advanced than the matchlock muskets used in Korea.

The young man who was good at archery whom he had met before was taught by Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers to use a musket to fire an arrow-shaped bullet that looked like a small arrow.

The power of this arrow-shaped bullet really shocked him.

The sharpshooters of the Ming Dynasty were good at shooting and could use it to penetrate armor from 200 steps away.

In North Korea, they still use the old scale, one foot is about 29 centimeters, and one hundred steps is 145 feet, about meters.

The Koreans believed in the ancient book that the target of shooting an arrow through a willow tree from 130 steps away was the same as their archery goal. The military examination even had a target of 188.5 steps, which was equivalent to meters.

So much so that even the Ming Dynasty was quite amazed, and "Goryeo bow" even became a synonym for excellent bows and arrows.

This young man named Cui was a sharpshooter trained in military science, but his family stood on the side of Gwanghaegun, and after the current Joseon king rebelled, his family became pariahs.

However, thanks to his ancestors' inheritance, his archery skills were still very sophisticated. After becoming a musketeer, he quickly adapted to shooting.

But there is a difference between arrow-shaped bullets and bows and arrows. He was not as accurate when using arrow-shaped bullets as when using bows and arrows.

This made him quite distressed, and he kept practicing hard.

However, the high price of arrow-shaped bullets made the number of them distributed very small. If he had not shown his excellent archery skills with the bow and arrow, he would not have received this kind of ammunition.

During normal shooting training, lead bullets are mostly used.

There is a huge difference between lead bullets and arrow-shaped bullets, and the accuracy is also very poor, so the practice effect is naturally not very good.

Xu Litie saw his distress, and during the day's rest, he took the initiative to approach him and said:

"Mr. Cui, it's not enough to just practice hard like this. On the contrary, you might damage the musket."

"Why don't you let me help you adjust the musket? Maybe it will be more accurate."

Cui Nanyi glanced at him and said doubtfully:
"you?"

"Can the Ming Dynasty's muskets be improved?"

I have serious doubts about this.

Xu Litie spoke earnestly, saying:

“I don’t deserve the improvement.”

"But I can build on it and adjust it to the best of my ability."

"When Cui Jun fires his first round, it will definitely be more accurate."

This is his confidence as a blacksmith, that he can restore the barrel of the musket to its original shape.

Perhaps because he had been hanging out with some untouchables in the past few years, Cui Nanyi did not discriminate against Xu Litie. Instead, he thought seriously and looked at his musket again.

These sharpshooters used spring-wheel fire guns with a higher firing success rate. According to the classification of the Ming Emperor, they were sniper guns specially used to kill important targets.

Each one is the best of the best, carefully selected and modified from the tens of thousands of muskets produced.

However, after using it for a while, its performance was different from the initial one. Cui Nanyi even had to adjust the wooden butt of the arrow-shaped bullet sometimes to make it fit the gun barrel better.

Because of this, he believed Xu Litie's words a little and said:
"Unauthorized modification of military equipment is not allowed."

"I will report this to the captain and ask him to let you do the experiment."

Ask the captain of the sniper team to scrap the musket and give it to Xu Litie for testing.

The Ming officer in charge of the sniper team did not look down on the Koreans. After arriving in Korea, he found that the Koreans were indeed very good at bows and arrows and muskets. Some archers turned snipers and were even close to his strength.

He took out the scrapped muskets from the army and gave them to Xu Litie to repair, to see if he could fix the scrapped muskets to the accuracy of a sniper rifle.

Xu Litie, who knew that this was a rare opportunity, used all his skills. He used his decades of experience in blacksmithing to successfully repair a gun barrel. He then put it on the sniper rifle used by Cui Nanyi and let Cui Nanyi try it out.

With the help of this gun barrel, Cui Nanyi successfully hit the target two hundred steps away. This made everyone in the sniper team cheer loudly.

Their shouts attracted Zhou Yuji, the team leader.

He came to Korea as the general of the imperial camp, leading the emperor's personal guards.

However, of course not all of his soldiers were from the Imperial Camp. Only the 300 cavalrymen led by Cao Bianjiao were warriors from the Imperial Camp.

The other three thousand men were from the new troops of the Patrol Battalion, and he brought them into four battalions.

This sniper team belonged to one of the battalions, and he was used as an instructor to train Korean musketeers.

After hearing their noise, Zhou Yuji shouted:
"What are you making so much noise about?"

"Don't you know the rules of the army?"

The captain of the sniper team hurriedly apologized and reported the matter to him.

Zhou Yuji heard that a Korean sharpshooter had successfully shot a target at a distance of 200 steps, and had initially reached the standard of a sniper. He was also delighted that he had adapted to the firearm so quickly.

What made him even more delighted was that the blacksmith named Xu Litie could actually repair the sniper rifle with his skills. In the Ming Dynasty, such a person would be rated as an eighth-level worker or even an engineer.

Such talents are usually kept tightly in the Wensi Academy and the Equipment Academy, and not many of them join the army.

Now that one was discovered in North Korea, he immediately gave the order:
"Cui Nanyi and Xu Litie have made great contributions. Award them medals immediately."

"Promote them to sergeants and incorporate them into the new army."

I was eager to bring this person under my command, lest someone else snatch him away.

At a time when firearms are becoming increasingly important, an excellent ordnance officer has a huge impact on military equipment.

He also wanted to be like Sun Yingyuan, hoping to establish merit by improving firearms.

Xu Litie made him see this possibility, so of course he had to seize it.

In fact, if these two people were not Koreans, he would have wanted to incorporate them into the Imperial Camp instead of the new troops of the Patrol Camp.

The recruitment of Korean soldiers was under the jurisdiction of Hong Seongchou, the minister to Korea. This matter reached his ears after he returned to Seoul.

Although Hong Chengchou did not think highly of the two men and did not have the confidence to compete with the imperial camp for them, he seized this opportunity and hoped that Zhou Yuji would send more new troops to follow him.

When he was on Beihai Island, he realized how powerful the new troops of the Patrol Battalion were. The combat power of these musketeers was far superior to that of ordinary troops.

He hoped that when he went north, he would have more new troops with him. (End of this chapter)