The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 168: Go Serve as a Soldier for His Royal Highness the King of Wu

Cui Er was a little nervous and tentatively asked about the officers' attitudes:

"Military officers, we are all disaster victims. Will there be food to eat if we go to Bengbu Market? What do we need to do to get food?"

Several patrolling soldiers continued to approach Cui Er and his companions, and after seeing their appearance clearly, they suddenly became nervous again.

A soldier waved back, and the patrol leader immediately followed with several other soldiers.

The soldier said to the squad leader:

"There's something wrong with these people. They don't look like ordinary disaster victims. Instead, they look a bit like deserters..."

The squad leader also glanced at Cui Er and the others, looked them up and down, and made a gesture to prepare for battle.

The ten soldiers in the patrol team immediately pointed their guns at Cui Er and others.

When Cui Er saw this scene, he panicked to the extreme and subconsciously stepped back slowly.
"General...what do you mean? We are all ordinary people..."

The squad leader held his gun and shouted loudly to warn Cui Er:
"Stand still and drop your weapons. If you move again, we will shoot you.

“Whether you are a deserter or a disaster victim from the north, you are not considered guilty in the Ming Dynasty. At most, you will be sent overseas to open up wasteland.

"But you have to fight against the Ming army. If you rob and kill people in Ming territory, you will be shot on the spot!"

Cui Er was obviously stunned. He didn't expect that the other party guessed that he came from the Qing Dynasty. What he didn't expect was that the other party seemed to think that he was a deserter:

"No...we are not deserters..."

But the patrol squad leader believed in his own judgment.

Whether or not someone has led troops, killed anyone, or especially has led troops in battles, their temperament is obviously different from that of ordinary people.

The patrol team leader continued to shout:
"I say again, stop and don't move, put down your weapons and surrender, or you will be shot on the spot!

"I'm going to count to three and then shoot—

"3——2——"

Cui Er felt very aggrieved in his heart, but there was no point in feeling aggrieved.

Looking at the other side's black muzzle of the gun and listening to the countdown of the Ming Dynasty officer, he had to immediately show an attitude of obedience.

"I'll let go, I'll let go..."

Cui Er took off the axe at his waist and the oxtail knife he had stolen from the landlord's house, and threw them on the ground not far away.

Cui Er's companions followed suit.

The patrol squad leader waved his hand, and two soldiers stepped forward, used the butts of their guns to pull out the weapons of Cui Er and others, picked them up and moved away from Cui Er and his men.

Another soldier stepped forward, first untied Cui Er's bun to observe, then turned back to report:
"Squad leader, judging from the traces of their hair, they must have just come from the north."

In the Qing Dynasty of this world, people do not need to shave their heads, but growing braids has become a habit.

The curly characteristics of hair are obviously different when it is braided all the time and when it is tied into a bun all the time.

So when you just change your hairstyle, it’s easy to see if you untie your hairband.

The patrol squad leader laughed dryly and asked:

"Where exactly are you from? Which part of the Qing Dynasty did you originally belong to? If you report the truth, you can redeem yourself for your crimes!"

Cui Er still didn't understand why he was considered a deserter:

"Soldier... We are from Heze, Shandong, but we are not deserters. We are just common people fleeing famine.

"There has not been a drop of rain in our hometown since the beginning of this year. We have not harvested any grain in summer and autumn, and there is nothing to eat.

"We heard that the Ming Dynasty would provide food to the disaster victims, so we took the risk and fled south. We are not deserters."

The squad leader nodded slightly after listening to this. He already had a basic understanding of the situation in Shandong. This guy was right.

But the squad leader was also confused. He had already said that desertion was not a big deal, so why did these people just not admit it?

“You still don’t admit it. I can tell at a glance that you are not ordinary disaster victims.

"Ordinary disaster victims are not as calm as you when facing the army, and most of them can't speak clearly.

"You watched us raise our guns, and then you secretly and carefully stepped back.

“You laid down your weapons, and then several of your companions followed suit, and they were obviously your subordinates.

"You are at least an officer who has commanded hundreds of people.

"You've probably fought together, or at least seen blood together."

Cui Er finally understood vaguely:
"General... We are not deserters. I only led a few hundred disaster victims to flee, not a few hundred soldiers.

"All kinds of things happen on the road to escape, and fights happen every now and then. We just fought together."

The patrol squad leader was still somewhat confused:

"Hundreds of disaster victims? Where are they? Take me to see... wait a minute..."

In order to avoid an ambush, the squad leader did not immediately let Cui Er lead him to find the victims he mentioned.

First, he told the deputy squad leader beside him to ride his bicycle back to the city to report.

Ask him to explain to the officers above that he discovered deserters who were suspected to have come from the north during his patrol, and there might be several hundred of them in total.

Ask your superior to arrange at least a company, preferably a battalion, to take control.

The squad leader continued to inquire about Cui Er's situation at the scene. He stood there for more than an hour and finally waited for a bicycle battalion to arrive.

The squad leader reported the situation to the battalion commander who came rushing over, and then followed Cui Er to find the refugees he mentioned.

The group found the more than 500 disaster victims from the north led by Cui Er in a reed marsh on the bank of the Huai River.

The battalion commander ordered his men to keep Cui Er under control, arranged the team to move forward in groups, divided the victims into several groups, and arranged staff officers to question them separately.

More than an hour later, the battalion commander received several batches of highly similar reports.

They were not deserters, and Cui Er was not an officer. He was just a street urchin in Heze County.

During the escape to the south, Cui Er slowly gathered hundreds of victims in order to avoid being robbed by a large number of victims, and actually led several hundred people with him.

They had no food on the road, so they went together to rob the farms of several landlords. It can be said that they had fought together.

Cui Er also gained the trust of the young and strong people around him and really seemed like his subordinate.

After listening to the report, the battalion commander said to Cui Er in surprise:
"You are such a talented person. You can actually lead a small team by yourself..."

Cui Er is now both worried and conflicted:

“So I’ve already said it before, I’m really not a deserting officer, so can we go now?
"I want to go to Yingtian Prefecture and open a paper fan shop with my eldest nephew and two apprentices."

The battalion commander here laughed and said:
“Although you are breaking the law by robbing the landlords’ farms in the north, it is not under the jurisdiction of our Ming government.

“But since you have committed murder and robbery, we can no longer let you into the city as ordinary civilians.

"All of them will be assigned to the Australian Immigration Guard Corps and serve as soldiers for His Royal Highness the King of Wu in the future."

Cui Er didn't really want to join the army:

"Hey, hey, hey...I did do all these things myself, but my eldest nephew never did. He is only twelve years old and cannot join the army..."

The battalion commander ignored Cui Er's explanation and arranged for soldiers to escort these hundreds of disaster victims to the immigration camp in Bengbu. Cui Er and his companions were all sad along the way, but their mood soon changed after they arrived.

Inside Bengbu Market, there is a large area of ​​temporary sheds where thousands of disaster victims gathered.

There was a makeshift large pot in the shed, which was cooking porridge using coal. Cui Er and others went to get the porridge and had a meal.

It seems that the Ming Dynasty really provides meals. Your background is not important at all. You can just pick up a bowl and drink porridge when you go there.

The victims originally fled the famine just to survive, but after they had a hot meal, most of them had no other thoughts.

Cui Er himself quickly accepted the reality because he found that he seemed to have become an official.

The Ming Dynasty officers reorganized all the new victims.

Ten households of disaster victims were organized into a small flag, ten small flags were organized into a hundred households, ten hundred households were organized into a thousand households, and ten thousand households were organized into a guard.

Because of Cui Er's special experience when he arrived, he was assigned to be a centurion, responsible for managing a total of one hundred households of disaster victims.

When Cui Er heard this arrangement, he was completely stunned.

Before Cui Er came to the south, he thought of various possibilities, but he never thought that he could become an official directly.

I have never been to school, I can barely read, and I am just a street kid.

How can I become an official?
But the reality is so unexpected.

Cui Er was in charge of the ten small flags below, reported to his own thousand-household officer, and was responsible for transmitting orders and arrangements up and down.

From time to time, I had to do some work according to orders, such as transporting food and supplies to the train station.

Follow the cook to build a new stove and carry out rice and water to cook porridge.

Cui Er was also confused when he was working.

The big iron truck that I had seen before, with more than a dozen huge carriages behind it, was filled with rice when it came to Bengbu Market.

Cui Er's limited knowledge made it impossible to assess how much food there was.

When Cui Er led his men to carry rice bag by bag and delivered it to the granary where rice was stored in Bengbu, he felt a huge shock again.

The rice bags in the granary were piled up like a mountain, and the rice that was taken out to make porridge every day was charged by the cartload.

"Where does Daming get so much rice?"

"Only with this much rice can we feed so many disaster victims in Bengbu."

"There's so much rice piled up here that you can eat it freely. When it's time to eat, no one will rush to grab it, because everyone can eat it anyway, right?"

"If we had so much rice in our hometown, we wouldn't have to flee to the south."

"It's not like we don't have food in our hometown. In fact, there's quite a bit of food in those grain stores, but they just won't sell it."

"These are all rice from the Ming Dynasty court, not rice from grain merchants."

"The Qing court... doesn't have that much rice, otherwise those grain merchants wouldn't have hoarded it and not sold it."

"The Ming Dynasty is willing to provide food for us disaster victims. If Shandong is also part of the Ming Dynasty, would they come to Shandong to provide disaster relief?"

Cui Er stayed in Bengbu Market for only three days, and then he and his captain were put on a large iron cart carrying rice.

There were no special passenger carriages, so the victims just squatted in the open truck compartments so they wouldn't feel suffocated.

After wandering in the carriage for more than six hours, Cui Er arrived at Jiangpu County, Jiangbei, Yingtian Prefecture.

As soon as he arrived near Jiangpu County, Cui Er was once again shocked by the generosity of the Ming Dynasty.

Outside Jiangpu City now, there are rows of disaster relief camps everywhere, and it is impossible to tell how many there are at a glance.

In Jiangpu County, there are makeshift sheds at every street corner.

The local people in Jiangpu County did not eat porridge at home every morning and evening. Instead, they all went to the government office's porridge shed to drink porridge.

Some people would even bring some pickles with them, and the government office didn't care at all, they would just serve porridge to the visitors.

Because Yingtian Prefecture also suffered from drought this year.

The local residents do not need to be relocated directly, they just need to be provided with basic food to survive the years of famine.

Cui Er and other disaster victims from the north had no idea about the concept of two worlds.

But they all felt that it was great to come to Yingtian, as if they had come to a completely different world.

In the Ming Dynasty, no matter what it is, there seems to be an outrageous amount of it.

Plenty of steel was laid on the ground as roadbed, and rice was made into porridge for free and supplied to all the people. It seemed that these things were no longer free.

The most outrageous thing that Cui Er found was the first order he received after getting off the train.

Before entering the designated disaster relief camp, all the households in his area had to take a collective bath.

They were urged by the veteran in charge of the camp to walk into a large temporary bathhouse.

Use something that smells like sulfur and hot water that automatically sprays out to wash your body and clothes.

They also distributed a set of simple coarse cloth clothes to the victims such as Cui Er, so that they could wear them after the attack and wait for their clothes to dry.

All the female members of the family were led by other female officials to take a bath at a different time from the men, and they were given a set of clothes after taking a bath.

After taking a shower, victims like Cui Er and others looked at the camp where they were and the boilers that were smoking everywhere and felt incredible.

"Not only free meals, but also hot water from a charcoal fire? Baths for us? Free clothes?"

"Where did the Ming Emperor get so much money? What does the Ming Emperor want us to do?"

"Didn't I say that I would serve as a soldier for His Royal Highness the King of Wu and open up wasteland..."

"Is it enough to just join the army and open up wasteland?"

Many disaster victims even felt a little guilty, thinking that they were being treated too well.

Although the clothes distributed now are only made of coarse cloth and are made very roughly, they are obviously new clothes and new cotton cloth.

In ancient times, clothes were considered property. Many poor families only had one set of clothes per person and had no room to change them, let alone the opportunity to wash them frequently.

But after the Ming Dynasty had steam looms, coarse cotton cloth was not much more expensive than raw cotton.

At the same time, according to the King of Wu's theory, most epidemics are caused by tiny organisms such as bacteria, and dirty environments and clothes are prone to breeding bacteria.

So in order to prevent the victims from causing plague, they had to clean the entire camp with sulfur soap before entering.

Cui Er and others lived in the disaster relief camp for several days, slowly adapting to the incredible reality, and then they received orders to board the ship again.

Cui Er was specially marked as someone suitable to be an officer, so he was sent away early.

A large number of steam-sailing ships belching black smoke, carrying a total of 300,000 disaster victims including Cui Er, sailed along the Yangtze River towards the sea.

Cui Er knew that he was going to Southeast Asia, but when he looked at the scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River on the boat, he still felt like he was dreaming.

On both sides of the Yangtze River below Yingtian Prefecture, the buildings outside the city walls are densely packed together, and just like the disaster relief camp in Jiangpu County, there is no end in sight.

If you look up into the distance, you can see a large number of huge chimneys spewing out thick smoke, which are many times more than those in Bengbu.

(End of this chapter)