Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 584 Flood Pond
Zichuan County.

Baita Township in the south of the county is also known as Nanxiang. The Qing army stationed a Zichuan Camp in Zichuan County, and Baita Township stationed Baita Xun of Zichuan Camp. Above, there are 90 Xun soldiers in total, including 47 city guards and 43 soldiers stationed in each flood pond.

The Xiaofu River flows through Baita Township, and Dongding Mountain stands in the east.

Baita Township is between the river and the mountain.

"Report, Lord Qian, the Ming army, the Ming army is here."

A flood soldier from Dujitang flood rushed to report to Wang Xianzhu, general manager of Baita flood flood, with a panicked face and out of breath.

Wang Xianzhu, the general manager of Baita Xunqian, was making a plan, and it was time to close the salary again. The account had to be settled clearly and carefully.Hearing the report, the hand pulling out the beads also stopped.

"How much?"

"A lot of them. They drove over from Yanshen Town. At least one battalion has been found. There seems to be more behind."

Wang Xianzhu panicked.

"Where are they now?"

"Just entered our Zichuan County."

Wang Xianzhu was so upset that he got up and paced around, not knowing what to do.

As the head of the Green Battalion, he is actually just a small sesame officer. After the Tartars entered the customs, in addition to the Eight Banners, they also reorganized the Han army into the Green Battalion, which was divided into various places. The Green Battalion also divided into soldiers and guards.

The guards are generally served by Yu Ding from the green battalion, and those who are not enough are recruited.

The official positions of the green battalion range from admiral to commander-in-chief, to guerrilla generals, to commander-in-chief of the garrison and so on.

Among them, Mr. Qian is quite special. There is a fifth-rank garrison, Mr. Qian, who belongs to the Governor of Water Transport.There is Zheng Liupin Gate Qian Zong, who belongs to the Eight Banners Infantry Battalion, and there is also Ying Qian Zong, Zheng Liupin, the chief officer of the Green Camp and the First Battalion, and Wei Qian Zong, from Liupin, who transports grain at the guards along the canal.

In addition, there are thousands of external commissioners, only eight grades.

Wang Xianzhu is the chief executive of this foreign committee, a mere eighth rank.

The general manager of Yingqian is in charge of at least 500 people, and he is only in charge of 90 people with only one foreign committee.Those under his command are all guarding the Xuntang soldiers, that is, guards who are a level lower than the green battalion soldiers.

He didn't even have the qualifications to garrison the county seat, so he was stationed in the countryside. He had 47 soldiers under his command, 43 of whom were stationed in the village with him, and [-] were stationed in the seven outer ponds, with only six or seven soldiers in each pond.

The Flood Pond was actually used by the Tatars after they entered the customs. The concept of flood land under the garrison system appeared in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and the Tatars used it. The governor and admiral and the chief soldiers of each town.

In addition to the governor's three bids, the Green Battalion's co-battalions divide the garrison areas into several areas connected to each other, and each area appoints Qian Zong, Ba Zong, foreign committee Qian Zong, and foreign committee Ba ​​Zong to lead troops to garrison.

The place to be stationed is the flood area. In each flood area, a part of the green battalion soldiers will be stationed in the center of the place with the chief officer, and the rest will be stationed in various traffic points, called ponds.

Although the flood pond strengthened the green battalion's control over the occupation of various places, its strength was actually weak.

Wang Xianzhu, an eighth-rank foreign commissioner, was stationed in Baita Township, but he had a total of ninety soldiers under his command.

There are also seven places to guard.

In each pond, there are four garrisons in the few places, eight garrisons in the large ones, and six garrisons in some.

"How is this good?"

"My lord, hurry up and report to the county camp, please let us retreat into the city."

Wang Xianzhu panicked.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, with the county seat as the center, it was generally divided into four townships, east, west, north and south. One township governed the capital, one capital governed several maps, and one map governed several villages.

In Zichuan County, there are four townships in the southeast, northwest, twelve capitals, and 56 maps.

Baita Township is also called Nanxiang, under the jurisdiction of Sandu and Shitu.

As a flood area, the township is relatively large.

Baita Township belongs to the mountainous area, and the whole township has only [-] mu of land, which is mainly supported by coal mines and other industries. .

But the earthen wall is thin and low, and it is still possible to close the door to guard against thieves, but it is impossible to defend against the Ming army's imperial camp.

"Hurry up and gather people!"

After Wang Xianzhu panicked for a while, he finally remembered to gather the soldiers.

The servant went to deliver the order.

After half an hour, there were only a dozen people standing sparsely on the playground.

Five of them are his servants, who are usually supported by double wages.

"Anyone else?"

There are usually 47 soldiers stationed in the township, but now only 34 soldiers have come, and [-] soldiers have not yet arrived.

The servant stepped forward and replied, "They are all gone to work outside."

The treatment of the defenders of the Green Camp City is lower than that of the soldiers, let alone the Eight Banners.The infantry in the green battalion received one tael and five taels of silver a month, and if they had horses, it was two taels, and there was also grain.

But when it comes to city guards, it is only one tael of silver a month, plus three buckets of rice.

But even this number is impossible to get.

The green battalion soldiers are generally stationed in a concentrated manner, while the city guards are almost half of the flood pond guards.

City guards are treated the worst.

Wang Xianzhu was originally a guard of the Ming Dynasty, and later became a local battalion soldier, and then surrendered to the Shun, and then surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. He appointed such a foreign commissioner, Qian Zong, and his annual salary was only 40 taels of silver.

It's not as much as a cavalry in the Eight Banners.

It is also a garrison place, and the garrison of Green Camp City is also a place where the family leads the mouth to settle down. The food is three dou per month for each person, and the garrison of the Eight Banners is five dou of rice per mouth per month.

The Eight Banners are counted by mouth. If the family of the garrison Eight Banners has six members, then he actually receives three shi rice a month, and if there are ten people, that is five shi.

As for the guards stationed in Luying City, even if they have a family of six, they still have three buckets of rice, which can't fit five liters.

As for the three buckets of rice, the imperial court always played tricks with them. When the price of food was cheap, they would give them the rice of its own color.For example, food in the Qing-occupied area of ​​Shandong is now expensive, and it costs several taels of silver to a stone. The Tatars give the city guards the silver, but they pay it at one tael to a stone, and three buckets of rice are worth three coins.

But damn, grain is expensive in Shandong now, and at least five or six taels of silver are a stone, which means that for three coins, you can only buy half a bucket of rice.

Wang Xianzhu was a military household for generations, and spent half his life in the military camp.

I take these traitors for granted. The Ming Dynasty used to treat them like this. There were no Eight Banners at that time, but there were also differences between the Ning army, the Beijing camp, the provincial camp, and the soldiers of the guards.

There are policies above, but there are countermeasures below.

A living person cannot be suffocated by urine.

He is the head of a foreign commissioner, although he is only eighth rank, he is still an official, and he has ninety soldiers under his command, so he can still make money.

For example, it is a common practice in the military to eat empty pay.

There are ninety soldiers, Wang Xianzhu directly eats the salary of fifteen soldiers, and the foreign commissioner under him divides the chief officer into fifteen, and ninety soldiers, they will directly eat one-third.

Therefore, of the ninety city guards in Baixiangxun, in fact, only sixty of them came, and the remaining thirty only existed on the roster.

Wang Xianzhu ate fifteen of them, one soldier and one tael of silver, plus three buckets of rice, adding up to 15 taels of silver plus four stones and five grains of rice, which was much better than his own salary of 40 taels of silver a year.

Of course, he will not be satisfied with just eating empty pay.

As a veteran soldier, after the Ming and Qing dynasties, Wang Xianzhu still had a lot of ways to make money, such as renting out some barracks to local businessmen and common people, and collecting the rent into his own pocket.

Another example is the rice given to the soldiers. If the rice is distributed, he will also earn a fortune from it. New rice is exchanged for old rice.

He still dared to secretly sell some of the ordnance issued by the superiors.

For example, the above requires archers and musketeers to practice at least [-] days a year, and a shotgun soldier to have at least [-] rounds of live ammunition a year.

This meant that it was necessary to practice once every three or four days, but in fact Wang Xianzhu and the others didn't have any practice at all, and the musketeers seldom fired their guns.

Because the gunpowder used by the musketeers and archers for their real arrows has to be paid for by the soldiers themselves. of silver, who would?

So try not to practice unless checked by the above.

It not only saves ammunition expenses, but also secretly sells ammunition for money, and increases income.

With [-] soldiers in his hand, Wang Xianzhu, the foreign commissioner, is doing well anyway. He can even get a lot of land in Baita Township. Usually, he doesn't even need to hire long-term tenant workers. Bring your own soldiers to cultivate, and earn a fortune from the field.

He also opened a pawnshop in the countryside and a grain store.

He even lent loans to his soldiers.

The ordinary city guards under him don't have the opportunity to go around for money like he does. One tael of silver a month, three buckets of rice, and they still can't get it.

Because according to the regulations of the Ministry of War, the soldiers of the Qing army had to pay money to support the war horses. All soldiers had to deduct money from their friends, and each soldier had to deduct money according to their rank. The infantry also deducted five cents a month.

The most damning thing is that everyone pays money to buy horses for the court, and if there is any surplus, they will not be refunded, but will be handed over to the Ministry of Households.

Then, what's even more exaggerated is that if the horse that everyone bought with money dies within three years of being unusable, they have to pay a sum of money to pay for it. Eight taels of compensation for three years.

In addition to deducting money from friends and paying piles of money, these poor green camp guards have to pay for their daily vegetables, winter and summer clothes, and equipment, saddles and bridles.

So these city guards are very pitiful, deducting everything from east to west. In leap years, the No. 13 months' salary has to be paid by themselves. It is called construction fee, and a sum is deducted from the soldiers' salary. Come down, and finally use it to pay this leap month's salary.

Usually, if the weapons and armor are broken, you have to pay for the repair, you have to pay for the horses, you have to pay for the horses, you have to pay for the dead horses, you have to deduct the money in leap months, you have to deduct the money for the food you usually eat, and you have to pay for the military uniforms. money.

Arrows, gunpowder, etc. consumed during training also have to be paid for by themselves.

In addition, the officers always have a way, and then give you a deduction.

The result is that he will end up serving as a soldier for the imperial court, and he may have to pay money. Even if he doesn't pay, how can he support his family with the little money and food left?
Therefore, soldiers often have to borrow money from officials when encountering some problems, such as family illness, etc., which requires interest, which is very high.

You have to pay back what you borrow.

Therefore, soldiers usually can only find ways to go out to earn some extra money. Some go to help others with farming, some go to sell some goods, and some people act as guards or mortgages for others. They also work as bandits and robbers secretly, or smuggle and sell.

Anyway, there is no way to force it.

In the Ming Dynasty before, they also relied on this kind of survival.

Every chicken has its own way of peeing.

So even though Zichuan is close to the Ming-controlled area, the soldiers in Baita Xuntang usually go to do their own private work.

Of the 13 people who came, five of them were Wang Xianzhu's servants. Wang Xianzhu had to pay them a subsidy out of his own pocket so that they could follow him with peace of mind.

The remaining eight people were actually not real soldiers under his command. They were either old guys or teenagers. They were all Xun soldiers who asked their family members to come over to replace them after they went to do private work on their own.

In fact, Wang Xianzhu is very clear about this kind of thing.

But at this time, seeing that the Ming army was about to kill him, but he only had these few soldiers assembled, and his face was blue with anger.

But a servant shouted there, "My lord, the Ming army is coming to invade, and there are many soldiers and horses. Shall we hurry up and give some rewards to boost morale?"

"Yes, then let's quickly withdraw to the county seat!"

Another humanely said, "The Ming army came to attack in a big way, just the three hundred people in our county? It's not enough to put people's teeth in. If you ask me, let's flee to Dongding Mountain as soon as possible, or run directly to Jinan!"

"Just surrender the Ming army!"

(End of this chapter)