The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Several veterans looked up at her and said, "No money, no treatment!"

Pan Jun said with a look of regret, "I only did this because I saw you were soldiers, and you were wounded while protecting your country. I couldn't bear to see you aggravate your old injuries because of rheumatism..."

"Go away, go away, I won't listen to your nonsense. I have no money, I won't treat you, I won't treat you even if you die right now."

"Hey, I don't believe in this nonsense! I won't take your money, I'm going to cure you! Are you coming or not?!"

Several veterans lifted their eyelids and looked her up and down, their faces full of suspicion: "Where did this idiot come from? Is she really not taking any money, or is she trying to scam you first and then take it?"

One person said, "Don't believe it. There's no such thing as a free lunch. I think she's a fraud."

The veteran, who had just stood up, sat back down.

With a snap of his fingers, Pan Jun sent a stool sliding out from under a veteran's bottom and moving directly behind him.

Pan Yun straightened her robes and sat down.

The veteran, whose stool had been taken away, let out a "Hey!" and rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight, but someone grabbed him and said, "Don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive."

Pan Yun looked up and sized up the old soldier whose stool had been taken from him. After a moment, she said, "Do you feel thirsty, have a sore back, weak knees, and occasional dizziness when you wake up every morning? And every winter and spring, do your wounds become numb and itchy, red and swollen?"

The veteran blurted out, "How did you know?"

Pan Yun confidently stroked her chin and shook her head like her senior brother: "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, but just tell me, was my prediction correct?"

The comrades looked at the veteran with piercing eyes.

The veteran choked for a while before nodding: "Yes, but..."

"That's right!" Pan Jun slapped his thigh and asked, "Treatment or not, it's free!"

One of the veterans narrowed his eyes and asked, "Is the consultation fee free, or is the medicine also free?"

Pan Yun: "I don't want any of them!"

Veteran: "If there are other treatments such as acupuncture, will they cost money?"

Pan Yun: "No."

"If it can't be cured today, will you still charge for follow-up consultations, medication, and acupuncture?"

Pan Jun, exasperated, said, "If I come, I definitely won't want it." Even if I wanted it, I wouldn't have gotten it if I didn't come.

The veterans then moved their stools closer to Pan Yun: "Come, come, let us see."

Pan Yun grunted twice, checked their pulses, and immediately took out his needle kit and pricked them like hedgehogs.

Not long after the needles were inserted, the group felt a warm current rising in their bodies, and the persistent numbness and itching on their old wounds subsided considerably, which relieved their anxiety.

While treating them, Pan Yun said, "You are worrying too much and your hearts are closed. Even with medicine, these wounds will be hard to heal. As people, it's better to think more positively."

As the veterans sat and let her apply the acupuncture needles, they chuckled and said, "Little Taoist priest, how old are you to be trying to persuade us to let go? When you grow up to our age, you'll understand that things in this world aren't solved just because you think you can let go."

Pan Jun: "Then find someone to talk to. Talking it out will relieve your mental stress and is also good for your health."

“You’re wrong again,” the veteran said. “Military matters are all classified. How can you tell outsiders? That’s a capital offense.”

Pan Yun rolled his eyes and said, "Come on, I just passed by and I could hear you cursing the commander through the door, saying he's withholding your monthly rations and you're almost starving. If this were a secret, it would be all over the city by now." The old soldier burst into laughter, "You little Taoist priest, you're funny. Are you trying to find out what's going on in our army?"

Pan Yun pressed down on his shoulder and warned, "Don't move. If they remove the needle, it will hurt you to death."

The veteran remained motionless, while another veteran beside him chuckled, "Young Taoist, just ask whatever you want to know. There's no need to beat around the bush. You're right, our garrison really doesn't have any secrets."

Pan Yun's eyes flickered slightly. After finishing the acupuncture, she squatted down in front of them and said with a smile, "I do have something to ask you. I want to know where the prisoners who were exiled to Chaozhou by the imperial court and assigned to the army were placed?"

"What do you ask for this?"

“My father offended the treacherous eunuch Wang Zhen during the Zhengtong era and was exiled to Chaozhou. I was young and powerless at the time. Now that I have grown up, I want to find my father, but when I went to the county government, they ignored me. I went to the centurion's office, but they also ignored me. Helpless, I could only come to the thousand-household office.”

Upon hearing this, the veterans relaxed and laughed, "What's so difficult about that? I'll check for you later. I thought it was something serious. Here's what we'll do: tell me your father's name and the year he was exiled, and I'll check for you later. Come back tomorrow."

Pan Jun readily agreed and chatted with them for a while. After the needles were removed, the veterans tried it out and felt much better.

Pan Yun left them two bottles of medicine and then took her leave, promising to meet again the next day.

Pan Yun turned around and left the city. She chose a direction and flew directly to Xianlong Bay.

In Chaozhou, rice is grown, and the rice in the fields has been harvested. Some of the harvested rice stalks have even sprouted new green shoots from their roots.

At this time, in the eastern part of Xianlong Bay, which belongs to Feng Bancheng, there are many children and teenagers in what is said to be a military settlement. They are wearing short jackets and trousers, barefoot or wearing straw sandals, and cutting the sprouting green rice that is only a hand's length long.

If you eat two meals a day, this is the time for breakfast.

Sure enough, they took what they had cut down and went home.

Pan Yun followed them for a long time and finally found a village in a mountain valley.

She glanced at the banner hanging at the village entrance and knew they were military households.

Pan Yun entered the village quietly, passing by the back of a house's kitchen.

The kitchen was a half-room built of wood. Through the gaps in the wood, she saw a boy chopping up washed rice stalks and throwing them into a pot. There was good porridge in the pot, but the husks hadn't been removed very cleanly, and it was still quite thin. However, once the rice stalks were added, the porridge quickly thickened.

Pan Yun clenched her molars.

Zhu Yuanzhang was once very proud because he maintained an army of millions without costing the country a single grain of rice.

His strategy of stationing troops occupied one-tenth of the country's arable land. He established a strict system of garrisoning and defense, with 30% of the border areas designated for city defense and 70% for land reclamation.

In the mainland, 20% of the troops were used to defend the city, and 80% to defend the fields.

The soldiers guarding the city and their families were exempt from land tax and labor service; while the military households that settled in the fields all had land to cultivate, which not only provided them with enough to eat and wear, but also supported the soldiers guarding the city.

These military households were the source of soldiers. In order to ensure the strength of the soldiers, he distributed fertile land to the military households so that they could eat their fill and develop strong physiques.

He also wanted the military households to train regularly during the off-season so that if war broke out, these military households could be conscripted into the army and adapt to the battlefield the fastest.

He established military academies so that the children of military households could learn to read, study military texts, and practice martial arts from a young age, in order to cultivate the seeds of generals and commanders...

He did so much, he could never have imagined that only seventy years after his death, his son, a soldier, would be starving, emaciated, and unable to even get enough to eat. Forget about enlisting in the army for the front lines; he'd probably be easily defeated by anyone. (End of Chapter)