Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 338: Food, Food, Food, Food and Grass Collectors
During the summer harvest season, the scorching sun scorches the fields.

The waist-high ears of wheat bowed their heads humbly, rippling into rolling golden waves in the dry wind, as if the earth was covered with silk dotted with gold flakes.

"It's time to start harvesting!" The hoarse shouts of the old masters pierced the heat wave, their hunched backs bent like taut bowstrings, and bundles of harvest were neatly stacked into a golden low wall.

On the distant ridges of the fields, groups of farmers were loading heavy sheaves of wheat onto wooden carts.

The squeaking wheels rolled over the bleached dirt road, carrying the hopes of the entire village to the grain collection point.

If it is a market town with convenient cargo transportation, taxes can be paid with small change earned from selling grain.

But in remote and poor villages, when the tax collectors' abacus beads rang, the farmers still had to make up for the officials' insatiable "surcharges".

Fortunately, this year is very different, and the Red Turban Army generals are jumping and skipping back to the countryside.

These men, speaking in different accents and shouting all kinds of strange catchphrases, helped the people harvest wheat.

They lined up in a row in the field. As soon as they heard the sound of a hand cannon, everyone immediately ran forward, holding sickles and cutting wheat frantically, as if they were competing for some special honor.

The soldier who won first place would raise his sickle high and shout, "I am the first one to harvest wheat!"

They then built a podium with wooden boxes and ranked the top three wheat harvesters.

The defeated soldiers always beat their chests and stamped their feet, looking dejected as if their reward of a thousand taels of silver had been taken away.

The common people did not understand what "raising reputation", "side quests", and "accumulating enough reputation to travel around the world" meant. At first, they thought that the Red Turban Army was going to go directly to the fields to collect grain.

It was not until the Red Turban Army soldiers finished cutting the silk and left that the people realized that these men were really helping them.

All the soldiers asked for in return was a simple scallion pancake and a bowl of corn porridge.

The people stood at the entrance of the village and looked at the backs of the Red Turban Army. They thought that they had rarely seen soldiers who did not plunder in their lives, and they had never seen soldiers who helped the people with their work. Their enthusiasm for paying taxes on time was increasing.

The people actively paid taxes, but the gentry remained the same, delaying payment whenever possible or bribing the tax collectors in an attempt to get away with it.

Some gentry who knew the situation tried their best to sell off their land, using the excuse that the land was for sale and they should not pay taxes.

Players don’t care what tricks these people use. As long as the land is not formally handed over, whoever owns the produced grain should pay the tax.

In the past, the collection of summer taxes was led by tax collectors, who focused on notifying wealthy households to pay taxes on time. In fact, the amount of tax to be paid was discussed privately in order to determine the amount of bribes.

This time, the players brought swords and some even brought out cannons, which were set up on the road leading to the tax collection points. Whenever they heard that a wealthy family was late in paying taxes, they would push the cannons to their door to urge them to pay!

The grain-collecting team, incarnated by the players, even often encounters people coming to file complaints, and hearing about past unjust, false, and wrong cases makes people furious.

In particular, there was a man named Qian Laogou who lent money and bought land in the Laizhou Prefecture area and committed several evil deeds. He was not exposed because he "did things cleanly" and cut off all his tails.

But the law of justice is vast and nothing can escape it. The volunteers who did not want to reveal their names wrapped their "complaints" in stones and threw them into the grain collection team's base under the cover of night.

The player uses "carbon-based communication" and checks clues from various places to confirm that Qian Laogou's crimes are innumerable, and immediately transports several artillery pieces to destroy the Qian family's village.

All members of the Qian family were to be exterminated, their ancestral graves dug up and thrown into the sea, their family tree, tablets, and ancestral halls all burned, and even any information about the Qian family recorded in the county annals was to be erased.

All the servants who committed evil by relying on the power of the master were hanged.

The remaining male servants and maids who were proven innocent were all released according to their original places of origin. If they lived in the "enemy-occupied area", they would be temporarily kept under the rule of the Red Turban Army.

All of the Qian family’s gold, silver, valuables, fields, houses, shops, mills and other financial and real estate were confiscated.

With the help of this method of collecting taxes while investigating and exterminating families, as well as the tax and service records, the collection of summer taxes in Denglai Prefecture and the northern part of Qingzhou Prefecture went very smoothly.

In previous years, the three prefectures of Deng, Lai, and Qing collected tens of millions of acres of land, 120 million shi of grain in summer and autumn taxes, and 95 taels of three taxes.

At this moment, the Red Turban Army used both kindness and force to plunder the gentry and powerful, demanding both food and silver, and squeezed out a total of 155 million dan of wheat and 86 taels of tax silver.

Taking into account the property seized from Prince Heng's mansion and the money and grain collected from the gentry, the Red Turban Army became very fat in one round.

This is only the result of summer tax on 40% of the land in Shandong, not counting the autumn grain tax which will generate more tax in the second half of the year.

Even though half of the province was so fertile, the Ming Dynasty still repeatedly defaulted on the soldiers' wages.

In the late Ming Dynasty, according to the border army's salary, it only took 18 taels of salary to support a full-time soldier, plus five dou of monthly rations, which totaled only about 24 taels. The salaries of soldiers in remote provinces were even lower.

The amount of this summer tax converted into silver is about two million taels, which is enough to cover all the current combat and auxiliary expenses of the Red Turban Army, officials' salaries, and even have enough to recruit new soldiers.

Even if the soldiers need to be equipped with flags, armor and staffs, or even upgraded to a semi-firearms unit, there is still autumn grain to be supplied in the second half of the year.

Even shrewd players couldn't help but sigh that the Ming Dynasty had such great tax potential.

Shandong province alone had countless fertile fields and rich mineral resources, and its coastal areas offered convenient sea transportation and salt drying. However, it was exploited by the Ming princes, corrupt officials, and powerful gentry, leaving it in a state of decay. Granaries were everywhere empty, and military equipment was in disrepair.

How can we run the country well with such a group of insects and rats?
With sufficient food in hand, the players quickly resettled the refugees who had suffered from the "scorched earth" policy in various counties, and estimated that normalcy would be restored before the autumn harvest.

Combat players felt that the tax collection results were commendable, but they did not understand why. They only knew that the butcher's knife played a big role in forcing the gentry and powerful to obediently give up land and pay grain.

The civil service team understood that this was the core purpose of refreshing the civil service. Even if they killed all the powerful people without distinction, they still had to have people who could read and do arithmetic to count the land and valuables.

If the civil service team had not taken the time to keep an eye on these surrendered clerks, there would have been no way we could have achieved such impressive tax collection results.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to converting part of the military power into administrative power.

The advantage is that the Red Turban Army gained extremely strong control in a short period of time, just like a mutated queen insect, transforming its organs into tentacles that extend in all directions.

The disadvantages are also obvious. A large number of players have to disperse, which greatly weakens the overall military strength.

Before completely digesting the territory, the Red Turban Army really did not have the spare capacity to continue the conquest.

In this strange state of peace, the entire Red Turban Army received good news.

More than 2,000 new players who had previously joined the Shandong war zone arrived.

They followed the Black Flag Battalion northward and immediately entered the "Kun Gang" influence area in southern Shandong. Then, under the leadership of the Kun Gang, they disguised themselves as civilians escorting food and grass, crossed the hilly mountain roads, and arrived in Qingzhou.

These newcomers who supported the Red Turban Army brought some news.

The good news is that these 2,000 reinforcements have just arrived and do not have much elite combat power, but they usually like to watch the video of "Late Ming Dynasty" and can easily get started with military and political affairs.

Even if they were considered two thousand pairs of eyes to supervise lower-level officials, it would be a great help to the Red Turban Army. Secondly, the newcomers brought a batch of weapons and ammunition, two thousand Thunder Guns, which are rifled flintlock rifles, plus a series of small props that players will love.

The bad news is that the Ming army is gathering strong troops, and the gentry in various places have changed their stingy attitudes - it seems that someone is secretly promoting the Red Turban Army's policy of "suppressing the powerful", forcing a large number of wavering gentry to stand firm.

The gentry generously donated money to support the government troops and were about to launch a large-scale network to encircle and suppress the Red Turban Army.

Players are naturally not afraid of the enemy's counterattack.

They had already made preparations for both offense and defense, and a post station west of Qingzhou was gradually strengthened. Jiaozhou, at the junction of the plains and hills, was also reinforced.

Of course, most combat players don’t want to fight a city defense battle. They wish the enemies would gather together and kill them so that they can have a grand decisive battle.

Instead of staying in the prefecture and county to build a strong camp and fight a static battle, playing the game of you attack and I defend to capture the camp.

After all, siege is always a headache.

Although the Red Turban Army had tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry scattered across the three eastern prefectures, and only had 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and horses that could be deployed in Qingzhou, this did not prevent the Red Turban Army from recruiting soldiers.

After a round of quick, efficient and economical tax collection, the Red Turban Army became more confident.

In order to help the beggar army, which has established a preliminary rule, cross the river, the officials, police and other stability maintenance teams must account for at least 20/10,000 of the population.

The Red Turban Army plans to recruit 6,000 police officers and 30,000 new soldiers—

Combat players always have to be dispatched to fight, and the garrison missions are left to the direct retainers and new recruits.

As a result, the news that Denglai Prefecture and half of Qingzhou Prefecture were recruiting police and new soldiers spread quickly in cities and towns.

The Red Turban Army publicly recruited 6,000 police officers, requiring them to be between 18 and 30 years old, in good health and without any illness. If they were literate, the age limit could be relaxed to 35.

Those who originally worked as third-shift yamen runners, have rich experience in catching thieves and have no criminal record can be given priority for admission.

The police were paid one tael of silver per month, which included two meals.

If you encounter a difficult case and need to work overtime, you will be provided with a midnight snack, and three salaries will be paid at the end of each year based on your performance.

Meals are even included!
The onlookers were shocked when they saw the free meals.

They had seen with their own eyes the Red Turban Army's troop meals, which were all delicious food prepared by the generals themselves. A nutritionally balanced meal was equivalent to two or even three meals for an ordinary family.

According to the grain prices in Qingzhou in normal years, one or two taels of silver a month is enough to feed three people for a year.

Most of the poor people who make a living in the city either cannot find a job to support their families, or can only do odd jobs in some shops to make a living.

As for salary and holidays, those are luxuries that I dare not even think about.

If the shopkeeper is kind-hearted, he may give some bonus at the end of the year. If he is mean and stingy, he may deduct some from the clerk's rations, or even deduct all the clerk's salary, or even beat, scold and humiliate him frequently.

After all, the world is becoming increasingly unstable, and more and more poor people are losing their land and livelihoods. If you don't want to do this job to make a living, someone will naturally take your place.

Not to mention that the Red Turban Army’s “fast squad” actually has three year-end salaries!
The police who managed local public security in the Ming Dynasty were fast-track yamen runners, commonly known as constables. They were considered to be "public servants" with low rank but great power, and were despised by the upper class.

The gentry and wealthy families, who prided themselves on their respectability, looked down upon such lowly positions.

However, ordinary people and small households do not mind it. They would like their whole family to do it if they have the opportunity to eat public food.

Not long after the recruitment notice was displayed, tens of thousands of people rushed to apply to become police officers.

The new players in charge of police security carefully selected nearly 20,000 relatively "excellent" candidates from tens of thousands of candidates.

Even then, further review was required to eliminate those who came from wealthy families, but in the end, an excess of 10,000 people were selected.

The police training period is one month, which is divided into combat skills training and law enforcement skills training. After completing the training, they will follow the players in urban and rural law enforcement to exercise their professional abilities.

Police recruitment is going very smoothly and new recruits are being recruited at full speed.

New recruits were paid a monthly salary of 150 taels of silver, with the army providing their meals. After three months of training, they were given three days off each month.

For players, such conditions can only be said to be no worse than those of beggars, at most they are of medium level, but in the eyes of ordinary people, this is simply a "high salary"!
Not only the poor people under the rule of the Red Turban Army, but even the poor people in the "Ming-occupied areas" wanted to come and get a share of the military supplies when they heard that the Red Turban Army was recruiting soldiers.

However, the Red Turban Army’s recruitment conditions are several times stricter than those of the police.

Applicants must be between 16 and 25 years old, in good health, of clean origin, over 1.65 meters tall, and preferably literate or able to do arithmetic.

If you have skills in using swords, sticks, bows, crossbows, or bird guns, or have worked as a miner or boatman, you can pass the interview directly.

These conditions are harsh for ordinary people, but they are tailor-made for military households.

They used to be like serfs of generals, doing farm work such as tilling the fields and raising livestock, but they also practiced spears and sticks on weekdays and were much more proficient in military affairs than ordinary people. Most of the battalion soldiers recruited by the Ming Dynasty were reorganized garrison soldiers.

However, the Ming Dynasty did not cherish the garrison soldiers of the three prefectures of Deng, Lai and Qing, which was a good deal for the players.

The nine guards and more than ten thousand-household units had a total of more than 60,000 military households, which was more than enough to select 15,000 able-bodied men. The remaining 15,000 were carefully selected from the people, and the compilation of 30,000 new recruits was soon completed.

There is no shortage of weapons, armor and staffs.

The granaries in prefectures and counties were easy to be "stolen", but the weapons in the arsenals were difficult to flow out.

The quality of these weapons is average, and after repairs they can still be used, making them just right as consumables for new recruits.

As for the battle robes and military uniforms, some were made from cloth and cotton clothes seized from the gentry.

Armed with weapons and battle robes, these former able-bodied men looked respectable and looked like real officers and soldiers at the grassroots level of the Ming Dynasty.

Just as the players were working hard to train the police and new recruits, a disheveled man who looked like a beggar came to the Qingzhou County Court, where a lawsuit was going on in full swing.

The "county magistrate" appointed by the Red Turban Army sat in the center, and several victims and defendants stood in the hall.

Citizens flocked to the corridors to watch the action, while shrewd vendors hawked cold tea and snacks nearby. Some even brought their own benches to enhance their height, specifically to watch the lawsuit.

The beggar man only took a few steps forward, and the stench on his body forced the crowd to subconsciously make way for him.

The man looked closely and saw that the county magistrate was wearing armor and a helmet, ready for war.

(End of this chapter)