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

Chapter 342
Huang Taiji was satisfied with Kong Youde's formation. Although he didn't know how it was going to be in actual combat, it still looked good on the surface.

Afterwards, Kong Youde and Shi Tingzhu demonstrated the cannons and set up targets. Dozens of Hongyi cannons accompanying the battalion and the General Cannons opened fire one after another. The momentum was earth-shattering.Huang Taiji imagined that Wang Dou's army was crushed under the bombardment of his own artillery, and he couldn't help being fascinated.

After reading it, Huang Taiji ordered to reward the soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, Kong Youde, Shi Tingzhu, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming and others were all presented with carved saddle horses, 100 taels of silver.Niu Luzhangjing, Jialazhangjing, etc. under each banner received horses and silver taels.Each sergeant was rewarded with two pieces of green cloth, and the gunners and medicine craftsmen who inspected and fired the artillery were given two more pieces, and everyone praised them like a tide.

After returning to Shengjing, Huang Taiji summoned a person, and said slowly: "How is Wang Dou in Ming Dynasty?"

The man knelt on the ground and said: "Back to the emperor, the spies in Xuanzhen sent a detailed report that Wang Douji went to Yongning to take up his post, he cultivated the land, suppressed the bandits and divided the land, there was quite a lot of movement."

Huang Taiji narrowed his eyes: "What about Baoan Prefecture, its heavy military factories, military training sites, and grain storage warehouses, have you found out?"

The man said: "Wang Dou strictly enforced Baojia in Baoan Prefecture, and the guards were very strict. The street people vigorously eliminated traitors. The local residents have always hated the Qing Dynasty, and it is very difficult to detect."

Huang Taiji snorted: "You don't have to worry about money in Ermanzi City, you have to spend the money that should be spent, collecting residence newspapers, spying on the secrets of the road, or seeking military positions, and spending a lot of money to win Xuanzhen, Donglu heart to my generation of Qing Dynasty , When it is critical, the internal response to the incident is thought to have been meritorious and Liu Boqiang's effect."

"Wang Dou's every move, false and true feelings, the number of the few, and the courage and cowardice will all be known to me!"

……

In July of the 12th year of Chongzhen, the East Road of Xuanfu Town fell into a strange silence.

Not long after Wang Dou's warning order "Don't say it was unpredictable", the East Road was filled with blood in the blink of an eye.

In the future, when people go out, they will not encounter bandits again?With the strength of the Shun Township Army, the Mongolian Tartars outside the Great Wall must not have the guts to invade, so the East Road is peaceful?

Happiness comes too fast, and it takes a while for the people to get used to it.The officials, generals and gentry also fell silent. It is a good thing that there are no bandits, but Wang Dou stabilized the place in a flash. Whether it is good or bad for them, they need time to observe.

Only Ma Guoxi, the military guard, openly expressed his approval to Wang Dou: "General Dingguo sits on the East Road, the blessings of the people and the blessing of the court!"

In July, the summer grain on the East Road will start to be collected and transported again, and the government will urge strict enforcement. Perhaps only Baoan Prefecture in the entire East Road can afford to pay the summer tax in full.Taxes are getting heavier and officials are greedy. At this time in the past, it was the climax of the common people selling their sons and daughters and their families ruined.

But different from before, the people on the East Road now have a new place to go, which is the new Tunbao established by General Dingguo.The Holy Majesty exempted the new Tunpu from taxes for three years, not to mention the joy of the new military households who will be resettled, even the military households and civilian households in the original cities also fled on a large scale, secretly fleeing into the newly established Tunpu .

For the former generals, officers and gentry on the East Road, Wang Dou used this as a way to draw salary from the bottom of the pot.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, from civil and military officials, vassal princes and eunuchs to juren scholars, there was no one who did not occupy a large amount of land and mines, and all of them did not open shops.For them, it is fashionable to evade state taxes, both in the north and the south, and the world is as black as crows.

It can be said that these people occupy [-]% of the country's wealth. In order to keep their wealth, they invented various theories.The ultimate is the theories of "virtual ruler" and "ruler harm" by Gu Yanwu and others in the late Ming Dynasty.Although Wang Dou expressed admiration for their righteous deeds against the Qing Dynasty, he did not dare to agree with their theoretical thinking.

Don't say that this is the germ of ancient Chinese democratic thought. Their subtext is that the emperor stands aside, the world is ruled by scholars, and the inevitable development of the scholar class to the top.

Yes, according to the system of Ming Dynasty, it can be developed to the point of "virtual emperor", the emperor only serves as the spiritual leader.From the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial power was extremely weakened, and the system of the Ming Dynasty was not much different from that of the "Xu Jun".

There is only one problem here. The army and the government always have to spend, but the civil and military bureaucrats, scholars, warriors, and businessmen who occupy [-]% of the country's wealth are unwilling to pay taxes. What should we do?Of course, it can only be pressed on the ordinary owner farmers.

In Wang Dou's view, such a country will only perish faster if they only account for [-]% of the country's wealth to deal with the huge expenditure of the whole country.

Especially in the late Ming Dynasty, the rich were exempted from taxes and the poor paid taxes, which can be described as a vicious circle.It turns out that there are a lot of people everywhere, and although the refugees are everywhere, no matter it is Xuanfu Town or other military towns, prefectures and counties, there are always a lot of tenants and military households farming for the officers and gentry, and they can sit safely on the Diaoyutai.

However, as soon as Wang Douxin's fortress came out, the soldiers occupied by the officers and men, and the tenants under the names of the squires, they had their own eyes and minds, and they knew which place was more beneficial to them.Compared with the hard work, which can only barely survive, or even lack of food and clothing, the three-year tax exemption in Xintunpu is too tempting for them to divide the land in the future.

When Wang Dou set up fortresses in Baoanwei City, Huailai, and Yanqing, military officers, gentry, tenant farmers, and military households fled to the interior intermittently.At first they took it lightly, but towards July this mass flight reached its peak.All the officers and gentry panicked.

Even if you occupy a large amount of land, if no one cultivates it, what is the difference from wasteland?
Wang Dou's move...

……

Jinghu Fort is the later Baihe Fort of Yongning. It is located 31 miles northwest of Yongning City, facing Yinshan Mountain in the north, and facing the river in the east, west and south.

Not far outside the fortress are the various ministries of Mongolia outside the Great Wall. If the enemy outside the Great Wall enters the east route, there are two feasible routes, which are quite important.Therefore, in the 29th year of Jiajing, an earthen fortress was built to guard it, and in the first year of Chongqing, it was covered with bricks. There are 53 steps in the Tuesday, and the height is three feet and two feet.

Song Jiaxuan was currently guarding Jinghu Fort. In his mansion in the fort, a large group of generals had quietly gathered today, including Chen Enchong, guarding Yanqing Prefecture, Huang Changyi, guarding Huailai, Chen Qinluan, guarding Zhougou Fort, Fort Black Hanling defends Ding Fangming, Fort Liu Bin defends Guo Cairong and others.

Everyone in the room was depressed for a long time, Huang Changyi, Huailai's garrison, sighed: "I thought I wanted to spend money and be filial, but I didn't expect General Dingguo to resort to such a strategy of dredging salary from the bottom of the pot."

Chen Enchong, the garrison of Yanqing Prefecture, said with a gloomy face, "In the past two months, many tenants and military households under my name have fled. I saw that the fields have been desolate like this. In the past, I could find some refugees to cultivate, but now the refugees who entered the East Road, their eyes are blind." Staring at the various fortresses, I don’t want to come to rent seeds at all.”

Huang Changyi said with a bitter face, "Me too. I just watched them flee into the fortresses. How could I dare to rush in and take people after eating their hearts and minds? It seems useless to occupy those fields."

"One more thing."

Song Jiaxuan, the garrison of Jinghu Fort, said in a muffled voice: "I heard the rumor that General Dingguo will approve the sergeants of all the generals. Only one soldier will be paid a salary, and the old and weak will not be counted. In the future, they will pretend to be paid and take advantage of it." Soldiers can't do it anymore."

Huang Changyi was startled: "Song Shoubei, is what you said true?"

Song Jiaxuan said: "I heard the rumors. But it's not surprising to see what Wang Dou did in Baoan Prefecture."

The old army in Bao'an Prefecture has already been reorganized, and none of the generals can have private soldiers.For the generals on the East Road, the means they have obtained wealth for hundreds of years are embezzling military salaries, occupying farmland, accepting bribes, and seizing slaves.

For military generals from all parts of the Ming Dynasty, it is common to pretend to be paid. There are 1 soldiers on the military register, but the actual number may only be 2000.The false military pay fell into their pockets, and they had to deduct the military pay of the 2000 men. Many generals deliberately allowed the soldiers to flee in order to falsely receive more military pay.

Not to mention the occupation of garrison land, the increasing destruction of the military garrison in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was the result of the wanton occupation of garrison land by military officers of all sizes.They became big local landlords, and the former military households became their tenants.Should accept grain, put the whole body out of the way.

Accepting bribes is even more common. The promotion of junior officers depends on the wishes of the superior officers. To seek promotion, the superior officers must be bribed.The relevant price varies depending on the military position.Soldiers "buying leisure" money is also the regular income of officials. Each soldier pays some money, so he can do nothing about it and just do other jobs.

Needless to say, the generals built houses, managed the farmland, and transported private goods were all done by enlisted soldiers.If you are in charge of any equipment warehouse, it will be a rich vacancy for embezzlement and utilization.

If Wang Dou rectifies the army, it means that the various sources of income of the officials will be lost, and this will kill them.

Song Jiaxuan's expression was terrifying: "Not only that, but I also heard that General Dingguo will strictly check the border and prohibit the smuggling of goods outside the Great Wall. At that time..."

At this time, even Chen Qinluan defending Goubao on Thursday, Ding Fangming defending Heihanlingbao, and Guo Cairong defending Liu Binbao were all moved.

Their castles are located in various important places on the east road frontier. Their main source of income is accepting bribes from merchants and escorting them out of the country, earning a lot of benefits from it, and even participating in smuggling.If Wang Dou strictly checks the border and prohibits smuggling...

Chen Enchong, the garrison of Yanqing Prefecture, laughed sadly: "If it is true that what Song Shoubei said, Wang Dou did this, it would cut off countless people's wealth. Does he still want to stay on the East Road? Now, which official in the territory, Gentlemen, businessmen, who didn’t make any money by transporting goods outside the Great Wall? It’s just the many big men in the town…”

He chuckled: "I'll wait and see what happens, and when Wang Dou is in a state of desperation in the future, I will add another flame..."

When he said this, everyone in the room immediately felt relieved and laughed.

Smuggling to the frontier can be said to be a collective disadvantage of the towns on the nine borders. The more powerful the generals of the towns are, the more rampant the merchant groups controlled by the clan will be.Smuggling goods and taking advantage of them is almost what most officials and generals do.

The same is true of many guarding eunuchs. The then governor of Xuanfu Town, Shen Xi, and the guarding eunuch Wang Kun, both of them and their subordinates were heavily bribed by the "Northern captives". Fired the cannon and let it go", and Deng Xizhao, the eunuch who was in Jizhou, was impeached for "received the gift of the enemy's camel horse, and actually communicated with the enemy, and lost the feudal border."

Putting it on the East Road, Zhang Guowei, the former general of the East Road who is now promoted to deputy commander, is the original local snake. Many shops are opened by his family's children, and Song Jiaxuan and others are his confidantes.Wang Dou wanted to strictly check the border and prohibit private trade, but Zhang Guowei was the first to refuse.

There is also the Guwang Mansion in the town, and there are also a large number of field shops on the East Road.

Under the pressure and conspiracy of the turbulent tide, I am afraid that Wang Dou will not know how he will die in the future.

Chen Enchong even said to Song Jiaxuan: "Song Shoubei is deeply dependent on Zhang Junmen, should he be active? I heard that Guo Tongpan is quite dissatisfied with Wang Dou's domineering..."

He laughed sinisterly.

Song Jiaxuan also laughed loudly: "It's been a long time since I got close to Zhang Junmen, so I should take a good walk around."

(End of this chapter)