Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 362
Outside Jiangsu city.

A branch of the Ming army came together.

Shen Youlong, governor and governor of Jiangsu, Wu Yi, governor of water transport and envoy of salt transport, Chen Zilong, chief envoy of Jiangsu, Gu Yanwu, Su Song's branch patrol, and other leading battalions or regiments came.

The bank of the frozen canal is like a lively temple fair.

It even became a hot marriage market. Countless people came here with their teenage girls. The Marquis of Jingnan and the admiral Wang Xiang of Jiangsu and Zhejiang had announced to the people that they would marry for the soldiers.

The emperor is willing to give out ten taels of silver as a gift for the soldiers, because of the current situation, now an additional shiliang is added as a gift.This condition is very attractive to the people in the south of the Yangtze River.

If it was placed a year or two ago, the people in Jiangnan would have dismissed such a condition. Jiangnan is rich in the world, what is ten taels of silver enough for?
Even if an ordinary landlord's family gets married, it may cost hundreds of taels of silver, and the average family is far more than ten taels.

Marrying a wife and daughter has become a huge burden for the people in the south of the Yangtze River. Those who marry have to pay high gifts, build a house and furniture for the wedding, etc., and marry a daughter. stay home.

But time has changed and things have changed. Now the situation is not as good as before. The soldiers are in chaos, and the wealthy Jiangnan water town has become a battlefield. Jiangnan is corrupt, and the people are also facing famine.

At this time, ten taels of silver and one stone grain, that's a big deal.

Not to mention, the current situation is chaotic, if the daughter can marry a soldier of the imperial camp, then wouldn't she have a guarantee in the future.

Don't you see that many landlords and gentry gentlemen also sent the daughters of their own concubines and servants. In the past, even if they were the daughters of concubines and servants, those gentry and gentlemen would never want to marry a stinking soldier, but It's different now.

The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are now pigs and leeks, being harvested and slaughtered at will.

The Ming army married soldiers for their wives. This is a policy that His Majesty insisted on. It is not only a welfare for the soldiers, but also the cornerstone of long-term stability.

If you want to build an army that can fight and dare to fight, you must first have enough soldiers and wages to train. In addition, you must let them live with dignity, let them have a career, wives and children, fields and houses, and social status. .

Of course, not every soldier can get this benefit, and there are conditions and restrictions.

There are several rigid rules, at least they must be second-class soldiers, and for example, those with long military experience and high military merits are given priority.

This is also to motivate soldiers to work hard.

There are [-] soldiers in Yongwei Town, and [-] soldiers in other Habayashi, Zhongsu, and Navy Zhenyuan towns. In addition, there are [-] provincial battalions in four towns in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In addition to local regiment training, there are many soldiers.

But now, except for the four towns in the right wing of the imperial camp, the other armies still lack a lot of staff.

But if the right wing is full of soldiers, there will be [-] soldiers, and there are tens of thousands more in the auxiliary army regiment. If everyone is really required to marry, even if one person is ten taels of silver, it is not a small number. Dowry subsidies, etc.

Only in batches.

The conditions announced by Wang Chuangzi were very good. Many poor people even came for that one stone of grain, and many gentry came to gain ties with the Ming army so that they could regain their backing.

Countless girls were sent to the barracks.

The officials at the Liangtai on the right side of the imperial camp were so busy that they couldn't keep up.

In addition to registering the daughters and younger sisters sent by these warm-hearted people, they also had to arrange for them to go through preliminary medical examinations, etc., and marry the camp guards. Of course, they couldn't be careless.

There are several basic hard conditions, such as a minimum height of 150 feet [-] ([-]), an age of [-] to [-] is preferred, and it is best to be in good health without disabilities.

After being screened and inspected one after another, these sent girls are sent to a temporary women's camp. There will be special women who will be responsible for giving them some precautions for blind dates and marriages, and even arranging for them to take baths, deworming and so on.

In addition to these, the Liangtai is also responsible for purchasing all kinds of materials, food, cloth, etc. from the nearby people on the spot. Although the army also carries them, those that can be collected locally must not be let go.

Buy according to price, fair trade.

This also attracted countless common people and traders, including unsalable goods and some idle items at home, and they were even forced to replace some belongings with what they needed to tide over the difficulties.

Inadvertently, outside the city of Suzhou, it became a lively market, not only limited to the army buying supplies from the common people, but also a big market for the common people to trade and exchange.

Some handicraft merchants and craftsmen also took the opportunity to set up stalls here and resume their old jobs.

Repairing pots and pans, treating diseases and healing wounds, blacksmithing, selling firewood, cutting clothes and making shoes, it is a lively scene.

In just a few days, Liangtai reported to Wang Chuangzi that 3000 young girls had passed the screening and were registered and sent to the women's camp.

"It seems that our soldiers in the imperial camp are very popular."

Wang Chuangzi is very satisfied. He is also very busy these days. He personally besieged Suzhou City and divided his troops to fight other places. He strictly abided by His Majesty's imperial decree. Solve the Qing army on Su Song's side.

Starting from Zhenjiang, the two prefectures and counties of Changzhen basically waited and surrendered. There were basically no Qing troops in the two places. The emptiness, the only few soldiers were basically transferred to Zhenjiang, Jiangning and other places.

They took the cities with ease.

Qing officials in several county towns tried to resist, but they were tied up by their subordinates in the middle of the night, and some of them were beaten into the yamen by the gentry leaders in the city first.

Only the two cities resisted stubbornly, but the people in those places, led by officials and gentry, were vulnerable to the attack of the imperial camp. They were originally county towns, and there were no soldiers to defend them. Attacked the city.

Once the soldiers entered the city, there was no fighting spirit in the city.

The Jiangnan area around Taihu Lake can be said to be a piece of meat that has been stewed for a long time. The Ming army has raided it several times before, and there are Wu Yi, Shen Youlong and other local armies that have been developing. It has been out of the control of the Qing court, and the remaining towns in prefectures and counties have basically been infiltrated like a sieve.

The details of the Qing army, where the magistrates and county magistrates came from, what their roots were in the past, the relationship between the subordinate officials and the gentry, etc., have long been familiarized.

Now that the Ming army has returned, everything is going very smoothly.

Just follow the vine.

Even some county magistrates, canon historians, etc. have already returned to the Ming secretly. As long as there is an attack from here, they will immediately raise the flag to fight back.

This is really like the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves.

If it hadn't been for the extreme cold in the twelfth lunar month of winter and the weather restrictions on marching, Wang Chuangzi's right wing of the imperial camp would have been fiercer, and the rivers and lakes would have been frozen, greatly slowing down his speed.

The main problem facing Wang Chuangzi today is not the Qing army in the Susong area, nor the Qing army in western Zhejiang. The real Qing army in the Taihu Lake area is actually just the more than 6000 Manchurian soldiers scattered in Suzhou and Songjiang. and Hangzhou.

The rest of the green battalion of the Qing army, especially the green battalion in western Zhejiang, was known as the nemesis of the Ming army and the elite of the green battalion of the Qing army. In fact, they were all from our own people.

Zheng Jiwu, Duke of Chaoyong, the admiral of Zhejiang, and Zhu Dagang, the commander-in-chief of Jiaxing, Marquis of Haiyan, are all of our own.

Even Li Yuchun, the governor of Zhejiang who claimed to be invincible in sweeping Zhejiang, and Pan Yinglou, the governor of Zhejiang, were actually controlled by the Ming army.

The main problem Wang Chuangzi is facing now is how to gain a firm foothold in the south of the Yangtze River for a long time, and how to stabilize the main forces of the four towns in the right wing of the imperial camp and the four towns in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

How to solve the military needs of the [-] soldiers in the eight towns on the spot is a big problem.

After this round of mopping up, it is necessary to start a new tax system in accordance with the reforms in eastern Zhejiang, divide the land into acres, combine the land into one, re-impose commercial tax, levy likin, salt tax reform, etc.

Only when these things are clarified and implemented, can Jiangsu and Zhejiang be able to support the 1 soldiers and more than [-] auxiliary soldiers, as well as the sound local regiment training and militia, so that the Qing army will have no chance to take it back in the future.

Chuangzi, the king of war, is not afraid, but these things give him a headache.

It's better to marry the soldiers, it's just a matter of paying money.

Shen Wenzhong, the military supervisor of the right wing, is more experienced, "Eastern Zhejiang has long been established, and now the implementation is smooth, we can follow suit."

"Now that we have swept all over the country, the first task is to clean up the remnants of the Tartars, and then take advantage of the winter to organize the local area to clear the land, sort out the acres, conduct a census of household registration, organize the people to rescue the famine, mobilize food for work relief, and arrange for the people to clear the land. Water conservancy, clean up the river to avoid floods next year, etc.”

"There is one more thing, which is also very important, that is, after clearing out the returned official land and military farmland, etc., it must be arranged to be sold to the soldiers immediately."

Selling land to soldiers instead of directly dividing it is a system established in Yanzhou.

Although it is said to be for sale, the price will not be very high. This is quite a benefit for the soldiers, and it also allows installment repayment with low interest.

"Soldiers who have married wives can give priority to buying land. Each soldier can only buy [-] acres. After that, he can buy another [-] acres every year, and he can buy up to [-] acres of welfare land."

Wang Chuangzi waved his hand, "Grandfather Lao Shen is responsible for these troublesome things, and I will be in charge of fighting and thinking about how to take Suzhou City down."

Shen Wenzhong smiled.

"The key to the city of Suzhou is the [-] Manchurian soldiers, but the most important figure is the Tu Guobao who is acting as the governor of Suzhou and admiral Cao Jiang. This man is also an old acquaintance of ours, and he can be outwitted without a strong attack."

Wang Chuangzi squeezed his chin, "We have to beware of Songjiang's Hetuo, he still has [-] Manchurian soldiers who will come at any time, which place do you think we choose to entertain them?"

"This Marquis can ask Governor Shen and Governor Wu for advice. They are familiar with the place and may have good suggestions."

is talking.

Shen Wenzhong's Chinese army came in and sent a letter.

After reading it, he smiled and said, "Tu Guobao wants to visit us."

Wang Chuangzi smiled, "It seems that this national treasure is indeed what the rumors say. If so, let him come directly to our barracks tonight to meet and talk."

"See if he has the guts and sincerity."

(End of this chapter)