Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 702 Going Down the Mountain
Luyang Guannan.

A group of men and horses were marching on the ancient mountain road. Li Baoquan, who had been promoted to the head of the post, rode a horse and walked in the team fully armed, and his post sentry was also marching fully armed.

Marching in this steep mountain, no one dares to be careless. Although fully armed marching will affect the speed and increase the burden, there is no big mistake in being careful.

Deputy sentinel Zhao Xiaolou came from the front on horseback.

"Chief post, Daguanling is ahead."

There is a Daguanzhai on Daguanling, which is the destination of their trip. After the first battle in Zhangqiu, although Li Baoquan, Zhao Xiaolou and others were promoted, they did not encounter any battles again.

After their Shence Army was reorganized into the first town, they were stationed in Shandong.

This time they also dispatched some accompanying troops for the Western Expedition. After the emperor moved from Luoyang to Luyang Pass, they assisted in receiving the mission to leave Luyang Pass and enter Nanzhao County to clean up the local bandit villages first.

"The village is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and there is only one road in the west. The village is located on a mountain cover facing east from west, high in the west and low in the east. It is about ten acres in size. Surrounded by rivers on three sides, the mountains are steep and difficult to climb. There is a stone wall about seven feet wide and eight feet high, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack."

"The owner of Daguanzhai is surnamed Guo, a gentry in Nanyang, and has a reputation for raising people. Most of the villages are his clansmen and tenants. There are only a few hundred people, but it is different from the nearby Erguanzhai and Huanggouzhai. Seven or eight villages Form an alliance and agree to mutual protection."

"The Tartars attacked before, but they didn't take it. Later, they agreed to pay food and money in summer and autumn, and the Tartars gave them the name of regiment training, and they lived in peace."

Li Baoquan followed the emperor all the way from Shandong. After crossing the old Yellow River, he also saw the strength of the earthen villages on the Henan side of Shandong. He also saw the depression of the Central Plains and the famine of the people.

"You disclosed our identity in the past, and the emperor's imperial camp didn't work?"

The emperor led the imperial camp all the way, and wherever the imperial camp went, he immediately wiped out local thieves and bandits, recruited local villages, etc., and asked them to disperse the villages and return to farming, restore local peace, and restore production order.

"Speaking of which, I read the emperor's imperial decree to the village, but they didn't even let in the gate of the village. They stood on the wall of the village and pointed bows, arrows and muskets at me. They didn't listen at all."

"Since you don't listen to good words, you can only use a knife." Li Baoquan didn't think much of such a village.

Call the messenger and order to speed up the march.

Their sentry team has three rows under its jurisdiction, each row has three teams, and each team has 12 people.The post also has a team directly under it, including a cooking team, a messenger team, and a fire team.

As the first soldiers of the First Association of the First Township of the Ming Dynasty, they played glory in Zhangqiu and won the sentry flag inscribed by the emperor himself, and there was a firebird on it as their sentry flag.A lot of people were lost in Zhangqiu, and they had already been fully replenished.

Now there are more than 100 people in Yishao, all in armor, and the infantry are all new-style bird guns. In each of the three teams, there is a fire team, six with three heavy bird guns, and six with three-door tiger squats.

Their whistle fire team is also equipped with two small Francophones.

There are also three people and six horses in the herald team.

Li Baoquan was the head of the seventh whistle, and Zhao Xiaolou also became the deputy of the eighth whistle.They also have a civil post from the seventh deputy, one from the eighth secretary, and a post sergeant (non-military officer), three platoon leaders from the nine ranks, three from the ninth platoon deputy, and so on.

The organization is sound, the equipment is excellent, and the soldiers are all well-trained veterans.

Compared with the bloody battle in Zhangqiu, it was a shotgun exchange, with more than 100 sentry soldiers and dozens of auxiliary soldiers.

The orderly and trumpeter sounded the trumpet to speed up the march.

Zhao Xiaolou and the chief sergeant rode on their horses, and continued to explore the road ahead with a few riders.

Soon, the whole sentry arrived at the foot of Daguanling.

The village has long been mobilized, guarding the wall, closing the gate, and facing each other with swords and guns.

This time Zhang Qilun, the deputy of the civil post, came forward. He was also from Shandong. Unlike Li Baoquan and the others, he was a son of an official. To the first town, Li Baoquan and the others served as deputy whistle officers.

His deputy is one level higher than that of Zhao Xiaolou. The two have different responsibilities. Zhang Qilun is mainly in charge of civilian work, but also in charge of recording merits and military discipline. There is also a master sergeant as an assistant, who is in charge of training, which is equivalent to the instructor.

Zhang Qilun is worthy of being a scholar, and he has also studied in the martial arts hall. He dismounted directly, and came to the front of the village empty-handed, and then shouted into the village, and even directly called out the name of the village owner Guo Baoqing. During these years of turmoil, how did he maintain the stability of one side and rescue many people and so on.

"Master Guo was admitted to Juren for his merits. I don't only have the fame of a scholar, but I also have to call him a senior. I wonder if I can be admitted to the village?"

Guo Baoqing is very old, with gray beard and hair.

Looking at the small 200 people who lined up in front of the village, especially the scene where they are all in armor, there are many birds and guns, and they are pulling artillery, I feel very disturbed.

After chatting with Zhang Qilun for a while, he also referred to him as a little friend.

Someone put down a willow basket and dragged Zhang Qilun into the stockade alone.

After entering the stronghold, Zhang Qilun also straight to the point explained the purpose of his visit, and said that today's saints are benevolent, rejuvenating the Ming Dynasty, and the various benevolent policies implemented in the recovered land.

The sage also admired Guo Baoqing, a virtuous country gentleman who set up a stronghold to guard the border and keep the people safe.

"In the past, thieves ran rampant in the Central Plains, and the Tartars entered the pass and invaded the south. The place was not stable. Guo Gong and other local sages stood up to build villages and gather the people. This is not only to protect themselves but also to protect the neighbors. Now that the imperial army has come, the place must restore peace, so Your Majesty hopes that all the villages will be able to disperse and return to farming.

Although this village is very dangerous, it is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and the village is only about ten acres of land. It is very inconvenient for everyone to live here. In the future, you don't have to worry about Tartars or bandits. These are all imperial court soldiers and horses Responsible.

Everyone can return home with peace of mind, and the imperial court will also send officials to restore the local government offices. The previous tax arrears will be exempted, and Nanyang will also be exempted from land rent this year.

The new officials and local sages like Mr. Guo will clean up the land together, and take back all the old official land and unowned land to the government, and then sell them to the common people at a lower price. Everyone, hurry up and plant in the autumn.
In addition, His Majesty has decreed to transport grain, salt, cloth, etc. from Jiangnan and other places to relieve the victims, and to issue interest-free and low-interest young crop loans to the victims to help rebuild their homes and resume production. "

For old country gentry like Guo Baoqing, Zhang Qilun told him that the emperor recruited them to go to the Holy House, and the Ministry of Officials would conduct an assessment, and then appoint them according to their talents.

If you don't want to be an official due to old age or physical reasons, you will also be awarded Sanjie.

In short, the imperial court did not forget them and attached great importance to them.

Even rebuilding local team training in the future may have to rely on their reputation and so on.

There are a lot of good words, but the core is to open the village to welcome the master of the king, and to disperse the village to return to the peasants. Don't keep the village for self-defense, let alone arm yourself.

After the gentry dispersed their villages, the common people formed a Baojia and established a township regiment. They could keep some weapons in the county government and township offices, and the gentry themselves could keep some self-defense weapons such as knives, guns, bows and arrows.

However, horses, armors, shields, crossbows, and cannons can no longer be owned. After the imperial court confiscates them, they will give some discounted compensation.

Depending on the situation, these stockades were either handed over to the army for garrison, or handed over to the local area as regiment training camps, or converted into post stations, or directly demolished, or converted into villages, etc.

Outside the cottage.

Li Baoquan was wearing armor, a burqa, and holding a blunderbuss in his hand, standing outside the village.

The sun was very strong and very hot, but everyone still insisted on formation.

The whole army of 200 people stood upright, putting a lot of pressure on the guards on the village.

Guo Baoqing chatted with Zhang Qilun for a while, and finally invited him to one side for tea, and then went to the other side to discuss with his children and clansmen.

"Do you think it's credible?"

"In the past few years, I have heard a lot of rumors about Emperor Shaotian. Although they are all rumors, it is true that Jiangnan and other places have settled down in just a few years. Not only have they not had wars, there has been no famine. Emperor Shaotian's Northern Expedition , it would be even more invincible, and the Tatars would abandon Huguang, and even Beijing and leave the customs.”

Everyone you speak my word.

Guo Baoqing stroked his beard, "I don't think these are the most important things, but since Emperor Shaotian raised his troops, he has indeed practiced a lot of benevolent government. Since Chongzhen, the world has been in chaos, and now there is finally a sage king. Back then, thieves and others were rampant. In the Central Plains, I led my tribe to build a stronghold here, and it has been more than ten years. We have been attacked, harassed, and even blackmailed by thieves, Tartars, and local bandits. Young and strong died in the battle to defend the village. How many people were attacked and killed when they were farming outside?
Even how many newborn children died young due to lack of medical care and food?
After all, this place is not a place for a long time. Now that Deputy Zhang Shao said something, I feel that it is time to leave here and return home. "

Everyone in the Guo family is also tired of life here. Although the cottage is dangerous, the place is small and it is just a hiding place. Usually, they have to go down to the cottage to reclaim wasteland and cultivate land, but the land in the mountains is not fertile and lacks water, etc. , and the production is also limited. For more than ten years, I have been sitting on nothing, and I have often been extorted and robbed. Life is miserable.

"Go down the mountain!"

After Zhang Qilun drank a cup of tea, Guo Baoqing finally appeared again.

"We are willing to obey the will of the sage, and return to the farming villages, all under the imperial court's arrangement!"

Zhang Qilun got up happily, "Then please let the village master open the gate first, and let our sentry brothers come in first to avoid the sun and drink some water, and then we will take a good count of the population and weapons in the village, how about it?"

"That's what it should be. I'll just ask someone to open the door."

The gate of the village finally opened.

Li Baoquan, Zhao Xiaolou and others in cotton armor and cotton helmets were a little dizzy from the sun. Song En, the platoon leader in the same team, even proposed several times to fire two cannonballs to remind the people in the village.

Zhang Qilun and Guo Baoqing walked out of the stockade together.

"Chief post, it's settled, let's take the brothers into the village."

Li Baoquan wiped the sweat from his face, and gave Zhang Qilun a thumbs up, "It's still a common skill of our scholars, Xiaolou, learn more."

Zhao Xiaolou laughed and said, "Well, Deputy Zhao Shao's mouth is better than our two hundred soldiers."

Guo Baoqing came over and said polite words, while asking people to make tea and cook quickly.

"Killing two pigs, today is a happy day, let's celebrate."

Li Baoquan also hurriedly said to Zhao Xiaolou, "Let the auxiliary soldiers bring the dried meat, dried fish and kelp to eat together!" After speaking, he called the platoon leader Song En, "Platoon leader Song will bring a row of people Stand guard here, and from now on, the defense of Daguanling Village will be entrusted to you."

"Yes, Captain."

Seeing this, Guo Baoqing pondered for a while, and then called his son.

"Remove the guards and hand over to Platoon Leader Song."

(End of this chapter)