Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 771
"The Great Wall is thousands of miles long, and the foot of the Great Wall is the hometown.

The Xuanfu Great Wall is a thousand miles long, and all the piers and abutments are heartfelt. "

Xuanfu, Yongning.

Beikoudun, a five-foot-high Yandun stands on Badaling. Because Badaling is in the north of Juyongguan, it is also called Beikoudun. It is not far from the Great Wall. The pier is square, seven meters square, and the east and west sides are each one or three feet wide. The lower city horse road.

It was slightly bright, and pier soldier Zhao Yongsheng blew his whistle to wake up the black dog lying on a corner of the pier.

There are seven pawns and three animals in Beikou pier, a black dog, a white cat and a rooster. Regardless of these three small animals, they are organized and have fixed rations.

Zhao Yongsheng was originally called Zhao Shuanzi, a native of Dushibao in Xuanfu. He raised sheep in Yanshan since he was a child. He belonged to Yu Ding, a military household in the guard. He was drafted into the army when he was in his 20s. He served in the army for several years, but he couldn’t get enough to eat. , and later fled to join the horse bandits outside the mouth, often looting in the vicinity of Xuanfu.

Later, they were besieged by Ming officials and their leaders were killed. They scattered and hid, and later joined the Chuang army. Not long after the Qing army entered the pass, they followed the tribe to the Qing Dynasty and were reorganized into the Green Camp. They went to Shanxi to fight, but the Green Camp It didn't take long for him to receive his salary, and he began to owe his salary, so he simply became a deserter and a bandit again, and was active with a group of people in Yongning, Yanqing.

The Qing army repeatedly encircled and suppressed him, and finally he went to the Taihang Mountains to vote for the Ming army. After going around for many years, he has now become a pawn under the patrol and security battalion of Xuanhua Province.

The seven pier soldiers in Beikou pier are all of similar origin to him.

After touching the head of the black dog, Zhao Yongsheng brought the willow basket, and the black dog jumped into the basket tacitly and sat down. Zhao Yongsheng took the rope and put the basket down on the pier. After waiting for a while, he got up and looked down.

The black dog jumped out of the basket, looked left and right, then trotted up, circled around the pier, and barked three times at Zhao Yongsheng on the pier.

Zhao Yongsheng looked around carefully again, making sure that there was no ambush under the pier, and then he got off the pier, took the bucket pole, and opened the pier gate to fetch water.

Yandun is not big, but it is very important. It is an important part of the defense system of the Great Wall. Yandun is also called beacon tower.Generally, there are four types. Those close to both sides of the Great Wall are edge beacon towers, those extending outside the Great Wall are called belly-external fire beacon towers, and those that extend to the inland prefectures are inner-belly fire beacon towers, arranged along the traffic line It is Kadao Beacon Tower.

Beikou pier is adjacent to the Badaling Great Wall and located in Yandun north of Juyongguan. It is also the most of the four types of pier, square, seven meters square, one foot away from the Great Wall, surrounded by bricks, and five feet high.

Its most important task is to be vigilant and responsible for sending messages.

The northern part of the Ming Dynasty was the most important, and nine important towns were established along the Great Wall. Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Taiyuan Town, Yulin Town, Ningxia Town, Guyuan Town, and Gansu Town were stationed heavily and guarded the Great Wall by division and section. .

Xuanfu Great Wall starts from Yongning Road, Sihaiye Yujing Beitai in the east, connects to the border of Huanghua Road in Gubeikou, and ends in the west to Koutai, Xieyanghe Town, Zhangjiakou, and ends in the border of Pingyuanbao, Xinping Road, Datong, Shanxi. It is [-] long. inside.

Along the side wall of the Great Wall, a large number of smoke piers were also built. If an enemy invades, they will burn smoke during the day and fire at night to rescue each other.

Juyongguan is the most important pass in the west of Beijing, between Yanshan Mountain and Taihang Mountain, guarding important passages.

But Badaling is condescending, the terrain is steep, the danger of Juyongguan is not in the pass, but in Badaling, so the Ming Dynasty attaches great importance to Badaling Pass, a small pass city, but it is guarded by heavy troops, and there are many piers around it to ensure nothing goes wrong.

Before Mingmen Tianzi Civil Fortress, there were only more than 70 piers in Xuanfu and Datong. There are 72 piers, 650 piers in the belly, and 54 piers in the town, making a total of 770 and [-] piers, which has doubled several times.

Zhao Yongsheng fetched water with a bucket and sang songs while walking. The black dog opened the way with its tail raised. One person and one dog walked in the mountains in the early morning.

There is water storage in the pier, but not much, so as long as there is no enemy situation, the first thing to do at dawn is to carry water. The seven pier soldiers take turns to carry water to ensure that the water storage in the pier is always full.In winter, snow and ice are stored.Once the enemy attacked, the pier was closed tightly, and it was impossible to get out.

The morning wind carried a biting chill, like a blade scraping across his cheeks. Zhao Yongsheng sang, "The moon outside Yehuling is dark, and the west road of Wanli City is dim. I heard people say that there was a slight frost on the grass head last night when I passed the pier."

The black dog responded by barking.

"Gao Mogao seems to be always away from the pier, the Luanhe River is clear and muddy in the eyes, and the pier is built with more soil to be a hundred feet high, and I can see A Niang leaning on the door."

The way to fetch water is very long, and it takes a long time to carry a load of water back and forth. Passed the bandits, voted for the Chuang army, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and then joined the Ming army. In troubled times, he is like duckweed.

After struggling for ten years in troubled times, he was still just a pawn in the end, but fortunately he was still alive.

Being alive is more important than anything else, and luckier than most people.

He has been a soldier and a thief, and he has eaten many meals, but now the pier soldiers in this provincial camp are treated pretty well. In the past, the frontier soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, pier soldiers and Ye BuShou were the most miserable, and Ye BuShou still had the opportunity to make merit If you are rewarded, pierbing has almost no future.

A group of people forgotten by the empire.

During the reign of Chongzhen, the Dun army fled too much, and later they could only use a large number of criminals to supplement them.

The piers guarding the border of piers have gone through hardships, and they must always be on guard against the threat of enemy surprise attacks. Most of the piers are in those dangerous and remote places.

In addition to the piers, the large piers also have a ten-foot-high wall, a moat outside, a suspension bridge, and more than 30 piers, but most of the piers have only one lonely piers, with seven people and three animals as companions.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, many Dunjun also took their military members to live together. If they didn't pay their wages, they could only open up wasteland and farm land by themselves, hunting and raising chickens, and struggling to survive.

Dunjun had to store five months of timber and grass for the war, and also stored water, so in those years of turmoil, Dunjun who collected firewood and carried water were often taken captive.

Dunjun relied on reclaiming wasteland, farming and hunting, and even weaving net towels to sell money to subsidize their lives.

But the current Dunjun is much better than before. Most of the Dunjun today belong to the provincial battalion. Although the treatment is not as good as that of the imperial battalion, they will not owe wages.

The military uniforms and rations will also be distributed on time. For example, when it was so cold last winter, cotton jackets, cotton hats, cotton clothes, cotton shoes, cotton gloves, and quilts were already distributed.

Dunli even built a unified kang. As long as you store enough firewood, you won't suffer from the cold last winter.The military rations were also sufficient, distributed on time according to the standard, neither adulterated with old rice, moldy rice, sand or dust, nor short of rations, even the rations for the three dogs, cats and chickens were distributed according to the number, without any shortfall.

The military pay of the provincial battalion soldiers is divided into three levels, one or two per month, one or two and one or two, plus three buckets of monthly rice.

Compared with the soldiers of the Imperial Battalion, there is a huge difference, but they are also paid out of nine and six, fifteen monthly pay.

There is no need to deduct payment for daily food and use.

Zhao Yongsheng's various troops have been fed for ten years, which is the best treatment. Even if they just paid the salary of the Tartars, the deduction of this fee and that money is actually the same old way. It is good to get half of it in the end.

What's more, the padded jacket on this body is really brand new, and they also have wool felt blankets.

Zhao Yongsheng is one of the seven pier soldiers, and he belongs to the pier's deputy, so he gets a monthly salary of one or two. He usually gets six qian for half the salary, and pays back three months during the New Year's Eve. Pension money.

For the future, he is still looking forward to it, and he has been a pier soldier for half a year, and he is gradually getting used to the life here. Although he is a bit lonely, but close to the Yilu Avenue, he can often see passing cars and horses, even on sunny days. Climbing the nearby mountain, you can also see the city of Beijing to the east.

Zhao Guerzilla, who came to patrol the border two days ago, rewarded them with some bacon and sausages, and told him the good news that he has been registered, and the higher-ups will start arranging for him to send a wife, and it will be as late as January Then in March, this matter will have a result, and a wife will be sent to him at that time.

Zhao Shen will let him work hard, and when the time comes, he will be promoted to a non-commissioned officer, or even promoted to Dadun to take up a post. At that time, he will be able to receive salary subsidies and even grant land.

There is no one in Zhao Yongsheng's family, and the salary for the past six months has been paid on a monthly basis. He has saved six silver dollars for half the salary every month, and has already saved more than three yuan.

It took an hour to go back and forth, and finally picked up the water. Today he was very lucky, the black dog kept barking halfway, and found a deer trapped by the trap they set.

Although the deer was a little skinny at this time, no matter how thin it was, it still weighed dozens of catties. He happily tied the deer on his back, and then carried the water back to the pier.

"Come and see, I caught a deer and came back. I quickly boiled water and started a fire. I'm going to eat deer now, so I'm going to eat meat."

Inside the pier, Zhang Huaizhong, whose real name is Zhang Mazi, is a young man in his twenties, and he has seen him carrying a deer from a long time ago.

The gate of the pier opened, and Wang Yongxiang, the head of the pier, came out with several other pier soldiers, and his wife also came out to watch the fun.

"Just as we were about to go out to dig the ground, Zhang Mazi said that you brought a deer back. We didn't believe it, we didn't expect it to be true."

Beikoudun is a small pier, with only seven pier soldiers, and only pier chief Wang Yongxiang has a wife.

Since Jiajing, the pressure on the frontier defense has been severe. In order to prevent soldiers from escaping and to share the pressure of military pay, the Ming Dynasty gradually adopted a policy of granting Dunjun the land to cultivate by themselves, and allowing Dunjun to take his wives and children to defend.

However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the suffering of Dunjun became more and more serious, and they fled continuously.

But now the Shaotian Dynasty has resumed the guards of the Great Wall and Fengdun, mainly with the provincial battalions stationed, on the one hand, there is enough food and food, and on the other hand, some systems of the imperial camp are also implemented, such as paying half the salary at ordinary times, and reissuing it on New Year's Day The three-month payment, the three-month payment is retained, and the imperial court makes up for another three months. The fifteen-month payment system is implemented in a year, with nine payments and six deposits.

At the same time, the imperial court was also responsible for helping non-commissioned officers and officers in the provincial camp to marry wives.At the same time, the land around Dunbao was drawn out as Duntian, which was handed over to them to farm and cultivate, and Dunjun was allowed to take his wife to live in Dunli to guard and cultivate the fields together.

On the other hand, the battalions of the pier army, the fort, the Great Wall, and the city are also rotated every year. The conscripts will be discharged from the army without being promoted to non-commissioned officers in three years, and those who can stay will naturally be promoted to non-commissioned officers. Military pay, etc.

This can avoid the long-term rotation of the pier army as in the late Ming Dynasty, and even rare promotions, bullying by superiors, and even being enslaved.

Many pier soldiers died of old age, sickness and hunger in this kind of long-term arrears of food and salary, unable to be promoted, and being oppressed and enslaved by the superiors, and were even forced to flee or even rebel.

Dunchang's wife was also issued in the army. Wang Yongxiang, an old bachelor in his 40s, is also an old bachelor and veteran. Now times are turning around. He is a small leader of seven Dunjun. Also lined up to get a wife.

His wife, Mrs. Liu, was originally a citizen of Zhili, in her 30s. It is said that she married a good family before, but it was very miserable when her family was destroyed and taken away by bandits during the war disaster. After being rescued by the court, she introduced it to Lao Wang. , but he was still honest and strong, so he agreed, and now living with the army in this pier is not bad.

There is a large living room in Dunli, which is divided into two and a half rooms. The outer half room is occupied by Dun Jun, the inner half room is occupied by Dun Chang and his wife, and the other half room is used for occasional overnight stays. Those who live in have a kang.

In addition, there are also kitchens, pots and stoves, water tanks, dishes, planting fire, cattle and horse manure, salt vegetables and the like.

For this piece of equipment, there are seven bird guns, one nine-headed bird big gun, one small iron cannon, and some shells, lead and gunpowder.

Seven waist knives and seven bayonets each, and seven pairs of cotton armor and cotton helmets.

Three white flags, three lanterns, two large wooden clappers, three flagpoles, three pairs of good ropes, and sixty fireweeds...
The materials and equipment are quite sufficient, and they are replenished regularly. The land they reclaimed and planted by themselves is also an additional subsidy.

Apart from being a bit remote and lonely, there is nothing bad about it, and there is no need to deduct any torch money, spare money, gift money, confinement money, etc.

Of course, since they were stationed here at Beikoudun, they haven’t encountered any warnings or enemy situation, and they haven’t seen half of the Mongol Tartars and Jianzhou Tartars, let alone any bandits and rebels. Those passing by are just business travelers passing by on the road far down the mountain during the day.

Because of a deer that fell into the trap, Beikou Dun became lively early in the morning, and everyone was not in a hurry to go outside to pick up rocks and open up wasteland. Except for Mazi who was on duty on the pier, he did not dare to take half a step away. The dogs, chickens, and cats all gathered below and were very happy.

Kill the deer and let the blood out, skin the deer and remove the bones.

The best venison is smoked and air-dried, and eaten later. Today, the internal organs are washed out, and the head, feet, and bones are added to stew in a pot for a good tooth sacrifice.

Dunjun can usually eat enough, but it is rare to eat meat once, and there is not much oil in his stomach, especially in this early spring season, he is greedy.

Everyone praised the deputy pier for good luck.

Zhao Yongsheng praised the black dog as a blessing, and after peeling off the deer skin, he directly gave it a piece of deer liver as a reward.

Mrs. Liu lit the fire swiftly, and at the same time asked the pier to dig some green onions and coriander for backup.

Liu Mazi on the pier suddenly shouted down, "Someone is coming. The imperial cavalry from Badaling Pass City are carrying red flags. Get ready to meet them."

Both Juyongguan and Badalingguan were garrisoned by imperial battalions, and they were provincial patrol and garrison battalions affiliated to Xuanhua Province. They were not in a system, but they were stationed adjacent to each other and often dealt with each other.What's more, the imperial camp is naturally higher than them, not to mention that the imperial camps at Juyongguan and Badaling Pass are still the imperial guards in the South Yamen of Gyeonggi Province.

Wang Yongxiang hurriedly intervened, "Let's take this deer to the kitchen and let my mother-in-law deal with it. Everyone quickly put on armor and shotguns. Don't let the guards see our jokes."

"Wang Tou, what are they doing here this early in the morning? Could it be that they saw us carrying a deer back with binoculars on the Guancheng, and they came here to rub the deer meat?" Dun Jun Yang Wanshan laughed. .

(End of this chapter)