The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 540 Loyalty Fortress

The rogues broke Lin County and defeated the Six Thousand Sichuan Army led by General Deng Qi. The prestige of the six thousand Sichuan Army was greatly shocked, and a large number of people and food supplements were obtained in this basin, and the momentum was huge.

Relying on the favorable terrain of the continuous mountains at the southern foot of the Taihang Mountains, they continued to attack the prefectures and counties north of the Yellow River in Henan, and the speed of snowballing development was astonishing.

The rogues have lost Wang Jiayin, Wang Jiayun, Zijin Liang Wang's own use and other thieves' bones. Today's chief executive should be Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang, Ge Liyan He Yilong, Lao Hui Ma Shouying, Cao Cao Luo Rucai, and the eight kings Zhang Xianzhong and others.

Li Zicheng is not yet Chuang Wang, but Gao Yingxiang's follower and one of Gao Yingxiang's capable generals, nicknamed "Chuang Jiang".Zhang Xianzhong's current strength ranking is not high, not as good as Gao Yingxiang, Ge Liyan, Lao Huihui, Luo Rucai and so on.

There are hundreds of thousands of rogues who are numerous and powerful, and the officers and soldiers in the interior are often unable to figure out the truth and lose sight of the other.

The leading thieves who fought well went to Hanoi, the prefectural city of Huaiqing, Jiyuan, Xiuwu and other counties to plunder, and at one point approached Huojia County, which was less than [-] miles away from Weihui Fucheng, where Lu Wangfu was located.

King Lu was startled, and immediately sent [-] miles to the capital to send an emergency memorial, asking the governor of Henan to be stationed in Weihui Mansion to command the suppression of bandits, and asking the emperor to order Dongping Hou to lead the "Red Banner Army" to station in Weihui City.

Seeing that millions of acres of fertile land will be harvested, half of the grain will be left to the villagers and farmers, and Huang Han will still be able to get half of the harvest.

Being able to solve a large amount of food to save the hungry people on the spot is definitely an addition, and the effect is self-evident. Next, it will appear calm to deal with the hundreds of thousands of refugees abandoned by the rogues.

The cash captured by the bandits has reached 10,000+ taels, and the value of other precious metals, jewelry, and goods is no less than this amount. Huang Han has already settled taxes and land rents with the prince and landlord with silver, so he can get half of the grain in net storage.

The coal mines in this area are rich, and there are many small coal mines near Houjiazhuang. Thanks to the "Red Banner Army" who bought them at a reasonable price, all the mines resumed production.

During this time, all the nearby brick and tile kilns were working at full capacity. Under the guidance of dozens of craftsmen sent by Tiger Cave City, more than a dozen brick kilns, cement kilns, and lime kilns were also completed and put into operation.

Refugees are everywhere, there is a shortage of food and not least of labor, in this chaotic world, who would be stupid enough to build a new house?
It is impossible for Houjiazhuang to sell a large amount of fired bricks, tiles, cement, and lime. Huang Han did not expect these labor-intensive industries to make money in the past few years, all for the purpose of providing tens of thousands of jobs.

Because most of the refugees did not have overnight food, the "Red Banner Army" promised to get paid on the same day they worked, and they could choose to get food, copper coins, or silver for convenience.

If there is a way to survive, no one minds labor. The refugees flock to them. Even the elderly, women, and children over ten years old strive to save more food and money for more work.

Gradually, the refugees adapted to the management model of the "Red Banner Army" and knew how to obey the orders of the Shichang, the 300-man squad leader, the [-]-man squadron leader, and the [-]-man team leader who were promoted due to their outstanding work performance.

Under the relatively fair management of the "Red Banner Army", remuneration according to work has become a practice.

Breaking bricks, crushing limestone, moving bricks, digging coal, quarrying, etc. are all piecework workers. The refugees also showed their ingenuity in fighting for more pay as a family unit.

They are reasonably matched so that strong labor, women, the elderly, and children can maximize efficiency.

The mass-produced bricks, tiles, cement, and lime will of course come in handy.

Not only Houjiazhuang is under construction, but the bastion "Loyalty Fort" covering an area of ​​less than one square kilometer is growing taller every day. The excavated moat and the canal that runs through the bastion have been completed, and the excavated soil has become fired bricks. Raw materials for tiles and filling of city walls.

"Loyalty Fort" will become the base camp of "Red Banner Army" in northern Henan, never give up here!
Many buildings in the castle are under intensive construction. The first important thing is to build barrel-type granaries, and the second is to build deep-processing potato and sweet potato vermicelli and vermicelli workshops in advance, and of course winemaking workshops.

After autumn, when these workshops are put into production, they need to further process as many potatoes and sweet potatoes as possible, so as not to waste potatoes and sweet potatoes because they are not easy to transport, and turn them into vermicelli, vermicelli and spirits, which will never freeze or rot.

Huang Han knew that it was not easy for the common people, there was a lot of food here, and I don't know how many people were staring at it, maybe the officials and generals who thought it was no good would deliberately let the exiles cross the defense zone to plunder Houjiazhuang.

Civilian and military generals are smart. In history, there have been too many generals who intentionally followed the bandits and slaves and refused to attack. They followed behind to pick up leaks, and often obtained a lot of gold and silver treasures and food without losing any troops.

The "Red Banner Army" was stationed in Houjiazhuang, and only by having their own place in Houye Town can the fruits of labor be prevented from being wasted.

As long as the refugees who stayed here this year for reclamation see with their own eyes that Marquis Dongping has fulfilled his promise, and they can really get half of the harvested grain, their trust in the "Red Banner Army" will be completely different.

Being able to not go hungry these days is the greatest happiness, and being able to be protected from being harmed by bandits and officers and soldiers, this place is heaven.

In winter, the refugees who got the land to cultivate were organized to take up the ash pole spears to receive military training, and it was easy to form a consensus by advocating that all the people are soldiers in order to defend their vested interests.

In the spring of next year, there will be more than [-] rural armed forces united around the core of the "Red Banner Army" left behind, and more than [-] civilians who can stab with white wax pole spears. If you reach this strength, you will not be afraid of harassing bandits and officials. .

In the future, a virtuous circle will be formed. The nearby landlords and old fortunes will find that the armed forces here are strong, and there will be an endless stream of people who bring their families to Houjiazhuang and "Loyalty Fort" to hide from the military disaster. After the formation of the market, it will naturally invigorate the economy and attract more people to come. .

As the population increases, the self-defense forces will of course increase. More civilians will participate in military training, and the area covered will also expand. It is very possible to guard the southern gate of Henan leading to North Zhili and the sea, without mentioning the expansion of power across the Yellow River.

King Lu is Chongzhen's cousin, and it is not too much for him to ask the governor and the "Red Banner Army" to guard the country.

Chongzhen still cares more about his relatives, as long as they don't challenge the imperial power, they will basically respond to their requests.

He really ordered Xuan Mo, governor of Henan, to go to Weihui Mansion to command nearby, and Lu Xiangsheng, who had just been appointed governor of Yunyang not long ago, led the Tianxiong Army into Henan to participate in the suppression of bandits, and ordered Marquis Dongping to ensure that the prince was safe and sound.

(End of this chapter)