A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 336 Surrender and Rebel

On the tenth day of May in the 12th year of Chongzhen.

The security guard guards Xu Zucheng's nephew, and Lai Mancheng, the proprietor of Shun Township Baoqing Tianfu Trading Company, comes to Yongning City to meet Wang Dou, General Dingguo.

A few years later, Lai Mancheng is still so chic, with the same greasy hair and noodles, waving the signature golden fan in his hand.

He grinningly kowtowed to Wang Dou and presented a list of gifts. Wang Dou now forbids his subordinates to accept gifts such as gold, silver and treasures.With Chi Dacheng from the Zhenfu Division watching, and Wang Dou leading by example, all the officials dared not make mistakes.

So Lai Mancheng's gifts are just some ordinary local products.

Wang Dou ordered Xie Yike to accept the gift list, looked at Lai Mancheng and said with a smile: "Treasurer Lai, I see that you have lived a good life these past few years, and you are still so radiant."

Lai Mancheng smiled and said: "Thanks to the general, the villain's life is fine."

Wang Dou asked him to sit down, and Lai Mancheng had a flattered expression on his face. After sitting down respectfully, he asked Wang Douzhao why he came here.

Wang Dou said.

Lai Mancheng asked in surprise, "The general wants to sell the horse?"

He pondered: "I dare not say anything else. If there are horses for sale, everyone will rush to buy them first."

He pointed his fingers: "Rich households everywhere, military leaders, and businessmen everywhere need a lot of horses, sell as many as you can."

He secretly guessed Wang Douzhao's intention for coming here, and his eyes couldn't help but glow with excitement.

Wang Dou asked, "According to your estimate, how much money can a horse sell for?"

Lai Mancheng said: "If it is sold to the folks, a rough estimate is that each horse will not be less than 25 taels of silver."

Wang Dou nodded, what Lai Mancheng said was about the same as his estimated price.

According to relevant historical records, in the early Ming Dynasty, horse prices were divided into top horse, top horse, middle horse, dismount horse, and foal, and were traded in rice silk.The horse is worth five stones of rice, and five pieces of cloth and silk each.The horse is worth four stones of rice, and four pieces of cloth and silk each.The middle horse is worth three stones of rice, and three pieces of cloth and silk each.The dismounted horse is worth two stones of rice, and two pieces of cloth and silk each.A foal is worth one stone per meter and two horses of cloth.

After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, silver was traded, and based on the official market price, a top-quality Mongolian horse cost more than eight taels of silver each.The middle class has more than seven liang, and the low class has more than six liang.Of course, this is only the price in the official market. If it goes to the private sector, the average discount for a horse is 24 taels of silver.Selling to Jiangnan, the horse price is higher.

It would be cheaper for related merchants and powerful merchants to buy horses from the officials. In the fifth year of Longqing, more than 7 horses were easily obtained by officials in three mutual markets in Zhangjiakou, with an average price of 07 taels of silver.Then 859 horses of slightly lower quality were resold to merchants at an average price of 9 taels of silver per horse, and the difference between resells was 35 taels of silver.

These merchants all have backgrounds. Ordinary merchants don't have this kind of treatment, and the price of buying a horse will not be less than twenty taels.

Buying a Mongolian horse can make a profit of fifteen or six taels of silver. Therefore, Taipu Temple, which manages the horse administration, is quite rich. According to historical records, the old treasury of Taipu Temple accumulated silver "several to tens of millions", of which only "borrowed by the Ministry of Household" The silver taels of this temple amounted to more than seven million yuan.

Wang Dou intends to sell more than 1 horses and get 10,000+ taels of silver, but he doesn't want silver, only grain and goods.

Thinking of this, he said with a smile: "Treasurer Lai, your chance to make a fortune has come, and I will decide to sell a large number of horses, and you will sell them."

He glanced at Zhong Rong, the financial secretary sitting quietly beside him, Zhang Gui, the excited civil affairs ambassador, and Tian Changguo, the head of the business department, and said, "Every time you sell a horse, you can get a certain amount of bonus, and I will take a look at it." These aides under your command will assist you."

……

In the battle last year, Wang Dou took back more than [-] horses and mules. After these horses were sent back to Baoan Prefecture, they were fostered in various grasslands in Baoan Prefecture, which brought an extremely heavy burden of grain and fodder to Wang Dou. A portion is also good.

Wang Dou said first that horses and mules should be sold to the soldiers and civilians in Baoan Prefecture first, and the price is favorable, only ten taels, but the number is set at [-] horses, and they will be exchanged with grain and goods at the same value.

The soldiers and civilians in Baoan Prefecture are now past the stage of food and clothing, and need some things to show their identity.It's a pity that General Dingguo has strict control over the land, and there is no need for a small family to build a mansion.

Extravagance and waste are forbidden by General Dingguo.Buying a horse is not bad, it can show your status, just like car owners in later generations.When horses are bought, they can also be used for riding, plowing, and cargo transportation. They are very useful.

Therefore, after the news came out, people from all over Baoanzhou immediately crowded into Lai Mancheng's business to watch. Many people planned to buy one, especially under such a very favorable situation.Due to the large number of people who want to buy and the limited number of horses, it can only be done in the form of lottery.

This also aroused the strong jealousy of the rest of the people, secretly hated that he was not from Baoanzhou, and made the soldiers and civilians of Baoanzhou feel even more ashamed. They were glad that they followed General Dingguo early.Due to the large price difference, in order to prevent resale, Wang Dou set a rule that the military and civilians in Baoan Prefecture prohibited resale within three years.

The horse selling operation was carried out vigorously. Many gentry and wealthy households on the East Road bought horses from Wang Dou, as well as some powerful mine owners, merchant caravans and the like.It was even organized by Lai Mancheng to sell it outside Donglu.Wang Dou didn't accept money, and the buyers were astonished and cursing at the same time, so they had to trade with Wang Dou with goods, such as grain, cloth, coal and iron, and so on.

In particular, mine owners from all over the East Road often exchange coal and iron. Most of these mine owners are worth tens of millions.

Due to the huge market demand in Ming Dynasty, the supply of ironware sales has always been in short supply. Selling ironware is a very profitable industry, so there are countless private wealth.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the ironware franchise, due to backward management, by the late Hongwu period, the private mining industry had already dominated.For the management of iron mines, the Ming Dynasty adopted the method of setting tax licenses and extracting iron tax. The iron used by the imperial court was purchased from the private sector.

However, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, all the mines have been occupied by tyrants, most of them do not pay taxes, and the background is mostly officials from various places, vassal kings and eunuchs, which are very difficult to mess with.Because of their great power, they occupied all the mines that could be mined everywhere, so Wang Dou could only mine and smelt iron in the remote Huiyaobao Mountain.

For these mine owners, one day, Wang Dou will collect taxes from them.

The matter of Wang Dou’s horse sale was aroused. Most of them knew where these horses came from. Selling your own horse is really domineering.

According to their opinion, Wang Dou's income should be shared with them, but he swallowed it all.

Ma Guoxi chuckled, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "General Wang raises funds to farm the fields. This is a good thing, and it is also for the sake of the people."

According to Ma Guoxi, after Wang Dou sold the horses, most of them were used for farmland. In the future, the results of farmland will be largely attributed to him. Why not do it?Regarding Wang Dou's actions, all the members of the court were silent, so why should I be troubled?
Yang Guozhu from Zhencheng also shook his head in disbelief when he heard about it, and said, "General Wang is willing to sell the horse."

In Qianqing Palace, after hearing about Jin Yiwei's return, Emperor Chongzhen paced back and forth for a long time, sighing: "General Wang's loyalty to the country is really rare."

Although Wang Dou has strict control over Baoan Prefecture, when Wang Dou first arrived on Donglu, the area was like a leak, and it was not difficult to obtain information.Hearing that Wang Dou did not hesitate to sell his horses in order to raise funds for farming, Emperor Chongzhen was quite surprised and moved.

The battle last year has become more and more clear. Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei, Wang Dou and others captured a lot of money, and Emperor Chongzhen acquiesced to their gains.It's just different from Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei and others. They hid the silver horses tightly, but Wang Dou was willing to use them to contribute to the court. This heart...

Starting this year, the hundreds of thousands of acres of military land in Baoan Prefecture can already be taxed.In the coming year, the east road will be greatly prosperous, and the hundreds of thousands of new military households will be resettled, how much tax can they collect?Emperor Chongzhen was happy just thinking about it.

Of course, in order not to give this general who was outstanding in training, fighting, and governing affairs a chance to disagree, Emperor Chongzhen decided to let the local officials be more careful.It was the first time that the name of Ma Guoxi, the soldier on the East Road of Xuanfu Town, came into his eyes.

……

The horses captured by Wang Dou continued to be sold, and the grain and goods exchanged for all kinds of goods slowly filled the warehouse.At the same time, the large-scale land reclamation on the East Road is also going on, and it is hoped that some fortresses can be built before the autumn sowing.

On the [-]th day, Ma Guoxi, a soldier in charge, rushed to Yongning City to hold a ceremony for the construction of a new fort with Wang Dou. Together with Wang Dou, he and Wang Dou wielded a hoe and picked half an acre of land in one go, although he was out of breath from exhaustion. Feeling discouraged, his old face flushed, and he persisted in the end, making Wang Dou's evaluation of this old bureaucrat even higher.

While Zhang Gui's Civil Affairs Department was busy farming, he also collected various agricultural books and studied how to increase the yield of cultivated land.

Five days later, Wang Dou suddenly remembered that Xu Guangqi's "Nongzheng Quanshu" should be published at the beginning of the month. , planting, pastoral care, manufacturing, and famine management, etc. twelve chapters.Summarizing and retaining the essence of ancient Chinese agricultural technology, this book is extremely important.

Therefore, after Wen Daxing, the ambassador of the intelligence department, was summoned by Wang Dou to speak, he quickly dispatched a clever Yebushou to go to the south of the Yangtze River to obtain the booklet.At the same time, he will also bring back volumes such as "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Complete Book" and "Jingyue Complete Book", both of which were also compiled in May.

"Wuzhong Water Conservancy Complete Book" was written by Zhang Guowei, the governor of Yingtian. It draws the general water conservancy maps of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang and other prefectures, as well as 53 pictures of water types in the prefectures and counties of each prefecture. important information.

"Jingyue Quanshu" is even more incredible. It was compiled by Zhang Jiebin. The book has 64 volumes. It can be said to be a comprehensive medical masterpiece.After the book is copied, even if a plague occurs in the future, there will be an effective cure.

During these times, Wang Dou paid attention to the recruiting of the bandits, the reclamation of fields, and the maintenance of roads. It can be said that he was very busy.

The land in the East Road is afraid that it will not be able to resettle the people. Although Wang Dou has the idea of ​​​​managing all kinds of land outside the Great Wall, at present, there are still many places where people use manpower in the East Road.For example, repairing the internal roads.

If you want to get rich, you need to build roads first. The benefits of building roads are endless. Although the official post stations of Ming Dynasty are abolished, the related private post post system is flourishing, just like this Civil Information Bureau.

This private profit-making organization was first established in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty by businessmen from Ningbo, and it prospered in various parts of the Ming Dynasty as early as the middle of the Ming Dynasty.The business of sending letters, goods, handling exchange, etc. is extremely prosperous, and it has not weakened because of the troubled times.

Wang Dou plans to develop related industries on the East Road after the road is built, and the road construction requires a lot of manpower, which can provide a bowl of food for the people of the East Road.It also weakened the diversion of the population into Baoan Prefecture. Although Wang Dou vigorously controlled it, he was afraid that if the plague spread to Baoan Prefecture, the loss would be huge.

When Wang Dou was busy, the time quickly entered May, and on this day, Ma Guoxi, the military preparation officer, suddenly asked Wang Dou to discuss matters.

When Wang Dou came to Huailai City, Ma Guoxi took out a residence report and said to Wang Dou worriedly, "Zhang Xianzhong has rebelled again. This rebel has surrendered and then rebelled. He has no idea what loyalty is."

Wang Dou took the residence newspaper silently, which clearly stated that on the ninth day of May, Zhang Xianzhong, who was recruited, raised the rebellion flag again in Gucheng, killed Ruan Zhitian, the magistrate of Gucheng, and burned the government office.At the same time, Luo Rucai led four battalions from Fangxian County, and the two joined forces to conquer the county, killed Hao Jingchun, the county magistrate, and went to Yunxi, Baokang and other places.Soon, the Fifth Battalion of Huideng Xiang, stationed in Junzhou, also rebelled.

The mansion newspaper was written in black and white, which was shocking. In fact, Wang Dou had read the mansion newspaper in Yongning City, and knew about these things that happened in history.He had already forgotten whether Zhang Xianzhong and others surrendered and rebelled eight times or nine times.Perhaps, for them, rebelling, surrendering, rebelling, and surrendering is a kind of fun and a profession!

Seeing Ma Guoxi sighing, Wang Dou didn't know what he was thinking.

On the day he returned to Yongning City, Wang Dou sent another night to the south of the Yangtze River to find some talents who could grind lenses, which would be used as artillery mirrors and telescopes in the future.At the same time, some Yebushou were ordered to go to the capital to see if they could get some drawings of artillery and the cannon-casting craftsmen came back.

(End of this chapter)