Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 116: Ten taels of silver for compensation

In July, the height of summer, the weather was extremely hot and humid, and the early rice in Yong'an Prefecture gradually matured. The fragrance of rice filled the air, like a golden ocean.

How can ordinary people escape the heat? Farmers from all over the country go out with their families to harvest early rice and plant late rice. Guangxi has two crops a year, and harvesting early rice and planting late rice overlap. Now is the busiest time of the year.

On this day, Danchu had a rare moment of leisure, so he went out of the city to inspect the village. The order to require tenants to pay taxes and the order to establish village heads had been issued for half a month, and the results would be clear only when they were seen with one's own eyes.

Going north, we arrived at Xinxu. Yong'an Prefecture has one town and eight townships. Chengguan Town refers specifically to the city, and there are eight suburban townships. Among them, Xinxu Township, Wenxu Township, and Mojia Township are the three largest townships with the largest land area and the largest population.

The head of Xinxu Township was Liu Shu, who changed her name to Liu Shuying to avoid her enemies. Danchu was very unconventional in employing women as township heads. Liu Shu's strong troops had been incorporated into the Yong'an Army, and she herself was literate and talented, making her qualified for the position of township head.

When Liu Shu heard that Dan Chu was coming to Xinwei for inspection, he hurriedly rode on horseback to greet him.

Liu Shu had led a righteous army and traveled thousands of miles. She had experienced many legends and had already become very graceful and could compete with men. But when she saw Danchu, she was still a little shy. She dismounted and bowed, saying, "General."

Danchu dismounted to return the greeting. Seeing her dusty face, her beauty was still visible, and his heart was moved. She was good at poetry and prose, and had great talent and art. She was listed among the poets of the Southern Ming Dynasty. She was a widow for ten years, but her beauty remained the same, and she is still a beautiful woman. What belief supported her to rise up against the Qing Dynasty? What was her plan?

If her united front value was high enough, Danchu would have asked someone to take her as a concubine. However, thinking of Zhang Xianbi's self-humiliation by forcing her to take a concubine, Danchu put her thoughts aside and asked, "Miss Liu, how is Xinxu Township's compensation for the soldiers who died in the war going?"

Liu Shu was confident and said, "The list sent by the General's Office shows that there are twelve soldiers from Xinxu who died in the disaster. Ten of them have been verified, and the other two are still being verified."

The Yong'an Army did not have the money to provide compensation to every soldier who died, so they could only focus on compensating those who had performed particularly well and had outstanding military exploits.

"There is a man named Wang Daqi, who is my personal soldier. Have you found this man?"

"Found it. It's in Silian Village, not far from here."

Danchu smiled knowingly and asked, "Have you been to Silian Village?"

"I have been there. At the General's Mansion, when the commander issued letters of appointment to the township heads, he said that the township heads should be familiar with the conditions of each village and should personally handle government affairs. I have kept it in mind."

"Well, let's go to Silian Village first. I want to personally distribute the pension to Wang Daqi's family."

Mo Yufen accompanied them and was very impressed by Liu Shu, who had fought against the Qing Dynasty for many years, and kept asking questions along the way.

"Miss Liu, who did you learn your martial arts from?"

"I have a master in my hometown. The red tassel spear is passed down from generation to generation. It is said to be derived from the Yang family spear technique."

"Really? I also learned the Red Tassel Spear, but it was from Yu Dayou."

"What Yu Dayou?" Danchu scolded softly, saying, "Duke Yu Wuxiang is a martial arts master, how can you call him by his name? He has only been in Guangxi for less than two years, and you are really good at currying favor with him."

Mo Yufen rolled her eyes at her husband and asked, "Miss Liu raised an army to fight against the Qing Dynasty. She is truly a heroine among us women. I wonder how many Tartars she has killed? How many cities has she captured?"

This question happened to touch upon Liu Shu's sore spot. Liu Shu was not sure what to answer, so Danchu covered it up for her and said:
"Please don't laugh at me, Miss Liu. My Lady Ru grew up in Yong'an Prefecture. As the eldest daughter of the Mo family, she has never seen the world, but she admires the Marquis of Loyalty the most. She always wanted to learn from her and lead troops to serve the country."

"Haha," Liu Shu smiled and said, "Leading troops to war is not something that can be done by just talking. Without the military and literary skills of the Marshal, how can one lead troops to fight?"

Mo Yufen was very disappointed. Seeing Danchu and Liu Shu singing the same tune, she simply stopped talking.

The group arrived at Silian Village, but no one was at Wang's house. The old man next door said that the Wang family was rushing to plant late rice at the east end of the village.

Danchu did not hesitate and ordered to go to the fields to find Wang Daqi's family. He wanted to personally deliver the pension to Wang Daqi's family and learn about the situation of the tenants' grain. Hearing that the general was coming, the village chief also rushed over and took Danchu and his party to the field. The Wang family, young and old, hurried out of the fields, their bodies covered with mud. When they saw the official, they could not speak, but just kowtowed. They were very frightened, thinking that a disaster was coming, and their bodies were shaking like sieves.

"Old man, Da Qi died in battle. I came here specially to give you the pension, for no other reason. Here are ten taels of silver, a small token of my appreciation, please accept it."

Wang's father was probably less than fifty years old, with dark skin and skinny body, but he looked like he was in his seventies or eighties. He looked up and saw a silver ingot of ten taels, but he didn't dare to take it, and looked at the village chief beside him anxiously.

The village chief stepped forward and explained, "Old Wang, this is Marshal Cen, the Marshal Cen who loves the people like his own children. Your boss died in battle, and the Marshal came here specially to give him some silver to show his gratitude."

"Ah?" The king's father was too honest to dare to take over.

Cen Yong took the silver, stuffed it into Wang's father's hands, and said, "Uncle, Da Qi is a brother in our team. Please accept this ten taels of compensation silver."

Wang's father then realized that the people came to give silver sincerely. Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are determined by God. When Da Qi was alive, the Yong'an Army provided him with food and clothing, and after his death, he received ten taels of silver. Is there such a good thing? He has never seen ten taels of silver in his life!

His hands were rough, dirty, dark, and covered with calluses, typical of a tenant farmer. Holding the silver ingot was like holding Wang Daqi's life, like holding the hope of his entire family.

"Is my Da Qi brave on the battlefield?"

He only spoke in dialect, and his voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.

The village chief translated his words, and Danchu quickly said, "Da Qi is my personal soldier. He was very brave on the battlefield and killed three Tartars!"

"Oh! That's enough." The father smiled with satisfaction. He wanted to ask where his son's body was, but the Marshal was so majestic that he didn't dare to say it.

Liu Shu added, "Old man, the commander-in-chief said that if a soldier dies in battle, his family will be exempted from taxes. In your case, the tax will be reduced by half according to the policy. How many acres of land do you rent?"

"My family rented eight acres of land, all of which belonged to Mr. Wang from our village."

"Each mu of paddy field in Silian Village produces three shi of rice per year. Three times eight equals twenty-four. You should have paid twelve shi of land tax, but it will be reduced by half to six shi. This year you only need to pay six shi of rice, and the remaining eighteen shi will be yours."

"All mine? Is there such a good thing?"

Danchu smiled and said, "It's all yours, absolutely true."

The king's father thought for a moment and said to himself, "There are nine people in my family, and eighteen stone of grain is definitely enough for them!"

Danchu became interested and asked, "How much rent did your family pay before?"

"In the past, we had to pay at least 16 stones of grain, but the whole family only had 8 stones of grain. At that time, Da Qi was still at home, and 8 stones of grain for ten people was not enough to eat. We were hungry all day long! He ate a lot, but he was not full all day long, so he simply joined the army."

"Now it's all right! Your family will pay six shi of rice this year, and six shi next year, and it will be like this for ten consecutive years!"

"Oh! What about ten years later?"

Before Danchu could say anything, Liu Shu interrupted and said, "Ten years later, everyone's life will be better! We won't have to worry about food and clothing every year!"

The king's father also smiled, knelt down again, and thanked Danchu profusely.

(End of this chapter)