Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 858
Guo Huai'an stood anxiously and nervously at the gate of Haiyan City. He was notified that his wife and children would arrive in Haiyan today, so he asked the head of the post yesterday to ask for a day off.

Of course, the whistle chief readily agreed to his request for leave to pick up his wife and children. He also asked him to take a good bath and put on a clean and tidy military uniform. The batch of soldiers who came to use it.

I hardly slept last night, got up before dawn to fetch water, take a bath, shave and trim my beard, took out the cleanest military uniform and put it on, and brought a bag of yogurt scum for the children.

As soon as it was dawn, I hurried to find the document to borrow a carriage, and the senior men in the army couldn't wait.

"Why haven't you come yet?"

Standing at the gate of the city and waiting for the sun to rise to the climax, but the family members have not yet arrived, everyone is a little anxious.

"Wait a little longer, the notice from above says it will arrive today, so it will definitely arrive."

Guo Huaian is 28 years old this year, but he looks a bit like 38 years old. If he was two years older, he would not be eligible to sign up as a soldier. Frontier camps recruit people under the age of 30 and over 16 years old. After all, the camp is for reclamation. Lord, but still a soldier.

To garrison, cultivate and fight, and defend the frontier, you must be young and strong.

If you are over 30 years old, you can only directly sign up for frontier immigration. Although the conditions are more relaxed, the treatment is naturally not as good as that of the soldiers.

After all, although the garrisons are not as paid as the patrol battalion, and the treatment is not as good as the imperial battalion, at least they have more land in the frontier, and there are some subsidies for training and duty every year. Waiting, more opportunities to make meritorious service and get rewards.

Guo Huaian is very satisfied with the status quo. He is very glad that he has taken that step. Although he is a few years behind others, but fortunately he has caught up.

The three-month training camp in Guang'an and Xining still involved trekking thousands of miles, but it was all worth it after being assigned to camp in Haiyan Triangle City.

Fifty acres of arable land and one hundred acres of grassland have been assigned to him, and he has also obtained the title deed, which is stamped with a bright red seam seal.

The 150 acres of land are all on the Jinyintan prairie near Triangle City, and the land is irrigated. This is also the special treatment for these soldiers. There are patrol and garrison battalions in the province, but the number is not large.

Their treatment is better than that of the soldiers, and they are assigned more fields, but after all, there are not many of them.

In comparison, there are more soldiers stationed in Xihaitun Town, and they enjoy the treatment second only to the imperial and provincial camps. Each person is allocated [-] mu of land, which is irrigated land near the river, and the pastures are also quite good.

These are the land allocated to them, and it belongs to Yongye Land, which is restricted from sale for 30 years, but after 30 years, it will be the complete property right, and it can be disposed of casually.It can be inherited by descendants, or sold and transferred.

For Guo Huai'an, this piece of land is hard-won, and he will never sell it. This is the lifeblood of the Guo family, the foundation of the family.

"The imperial camp is better. Haiyan's garrison has [-] mu of arable land plus [-] mu of pasture. Damn it, it's a proper landlord." Anxiously waiting, a soldier took out his cigarette pouch and took it out. Tobacco rods are filled with shredded tobacco, and they are distributed to companions.

Guo Huai'an and the others waved their hands away, but everyone had their own.

This kind of tobacco pot smokes loose shredded tobacco, which is much cheaper than cigarettes. It is good to smoke a pot while training or working.

Sometimes in the long night, when you miss your family, you can also smoke a pot.

Everyone squatted on the ground and smoked, borrowing fire from each other.

At the gate of Haiyan County, people come and go very lively. Although this is a newly built small county town, there are only four walls built of rammed earth, with four gates and moats, which is quite simple and rough.

But there are cannons on the top of the city, and patrol battalions are stationed at the top of the city gate.

Not far away is a bastion guarding the forbidden army, which is smaller than Haiyan City, but obviously more ferocious. This Haiyan City, one of the two bridgeheads used by the Ming Dynasty to enter and exit Qinghai-Tibet, has also become an exchange market with Qinghai today. An important border market for trade.

On the other side of the pass city, as long as Qinghai herdsmen pass the inspection, they can drive cattle and sheep, carry furs, and even bring caterpillar fungus and mushrooms to trade.

Because of the border trade, Haiyan City is very lively. The streets and alleys in the city are neatly arranged like a chessboard, and are even divided into fur market, tea and salt market, livestock market and so on.

There are also many guild halls, inns, and warehouses in the city, and even some nobles from Mongolian tribes such as Qinghai Heshuote bought houses here and occasionally lived here.

There is also a newly built school in the city, which enrolls many students, and even enrolls for free for the children of Mongolian nobles.

People come and go at the gate of the city, and the horses and horses are like dragons.

It is not surprising that a few soldiers squatted there smoking dry cigarettes. Nowadays, in border towns like Haiyan, Han people in military uniforms can be seen everywhere.

If you are familiar with the Ming army, you can also see at a glance that these seemingly similar red military uniforms are actually different. From the differences in the borders of the military uniforms, you can distinguish between imperial guards, provincial defenses, and provincial defenses. Provincial patrol and garrison battalions, garrison soldiers, regiment training soldiers, Baojia militia, etc., and even some naturalized Fan camp soldiers.

"The imperial camp is really well paid. Ordinary soldiers have [-] acres of land and [-] acres of pastures. If they have the rank of non-commissioned officer or sergeant, they can get more."

"Then why don't you say that if you become a lieutenant, it will be even more, even if it is the bottom of the eighth lieutenant, who is only from the ninth rank, you can also become a manor owner here. The eighth school, eighth general and eighth university Not to mention the general."

"We, Haiyan, have only garrisoned an imperial battalion here. Where are the eight generals and the eight great generals? In the entire Xihai Mansion and Xining Mansion, there is not a single great general."

For these newcomers, eight lieutenants and eight schools, these military officers of eighth, ninth, and sixth and seventh ranks are beyond reach, let alone the eight generals and eight generals. The highest officer in their triangular camp is a battalion long.

In the defensive battalion, the battalion commander is a fifth-rank officer, and he is awarded the rank of striker general below the fifth rank. If it is an imperial guard battalion, the battalion commander may also be a ranger general from the fifth rank.

However, the battalion commander of the Provincial Patrol Battalion is only the Zhaowu School of the sixth rank, while the battalion commander of their camp is the Zhenwu School of the sixth rank.

Not only is the rank lower by a few levels, but the real power is not to mention.

The defense battalion is stationed in Haiyan. Not only are there more fields and pastures for the soldiers, but also the battalion commander’s salary is more generous. The monthly silver is 50 taels a month, plus the envoy’s silver, what kind of job allowance, what kind of food, etc., add up to a year There are 2000 silver dollars.

When you become the battalion commander of the Imperial Battalion, you can make a fortune just by this salary, salary and subsidy.

Not to mention those officers of the defense battalion in the border areas, the imperial court directly granted them a large piece of land. The garrison commander of the Haiyan Imperial Battalion allocated [-] mu of arable land and [-] mu of grassland. Such a large piece of land, That made a big manor.

This is Yongye Farm. Even these lands are tax-free for the first few years like everyone else, and they will pay grain in the later period, but there are [-] acres of arable land and [-] acres of grassland.

Anyway, Guo Huai'an and the others are envious to death, this is just a battalion officer, fifth rank only.

Those generals and generals who went up got more points.

Envy is envy, they have no objection.

After all, they are also the beneficiaries of the emperor's policy. These soldiers can also be allocated [-] acres of land and [-] acres of grassland. They are tax-free as in the past few years, and what they pay in the future is not the same as the guards before the Ming Dynasty. Grain grains, but the same tax amount as private households and farmland.

So everyone is very satisfied and full of hope for the future.

Who came here from thousands of miles to farm and guard the border, who didn't want to live a better life, and who would like to break their homes and come here to suffer?

These lands are their greatest reliance, and also the places where they feel most secure.

Compared with these soldiers, the treatment of ordinary immigrants is much worse. For example, the postmen in the post station, they are not bad, and they can each have fifty acres of grassland, but their land is not Yongyetian , but the leased land, which belongs to the post field, can be rented when the postman is a postman, and the rent is very low. In fact, it is paid according to the tax of the people's land. The next postman, a radish and a hole.

It used to be the same in the inland towns, but now the conditions are relaxed for the border towns, and the treatment is more favorable. The Yongye land is directly divided, and the family members accompany the army. If there are many people, they can lease the land again, and the rent is the same as that of the civilian land. The amount of land can be.

You can also reclaim wasteland by yourself. Each household has a limit of [-] mu of reclaimed wasteland. As long as the reclaimed land is not abandoned, this land will be your permanent land in the future.

When ordinary immigrants come here, those who come first can get more land. One person who comes in front can get [-] mu, and those who come later can get [-] mu or even ten mu. Then they have to rent official land, military land, etc., or even You can only cultivate wasteland by yourself, or you can become a herdsman. After all, there are few fields and more pastures here.

However, for some mountainous and poor areas in the inland, or the narrow land with few people in the Central Plains, it is still attractive to those landless peasants.

Landless peasants in the Central Plains either stay in the hinterland and become industrial workers, work in workshops or mines, or become tenants for landlords, and rent the land of landlords. Although these are still guaranteed under the management of the court, they are not as good as their own. It is safer to have a piece of land at home.

"I'm coming!"

While smoking and chatting, Guo Huaian kept paying attention to the road. When he saw a convoy appearing on the road in the distance, he quickly shouted.

The companion soldiers also stood up, looking forward to it.

Several people looked at the long convoy, and before they had time to confirm, they spread their legs and headed over there.

After running several miles at a stretch, Guo Huai'an finally met the convoy. He searched for his wife and children in the convoy, shouting loudly, "Ximei, Ximei!"

Guo Shoufu stood on the roof of the big carriage, his eyes also shuttled among the crowds who came to him.

When he heard someone calling Ximei, he hurriedly looked over, and there was a somewhat familiar figure standing there among the crowd on the side of the road, but he was wearing a red military uniform, very clean, and he looked very tall. I didn't recognize that this was my elder brother who used to dig in the same mine. He used to be always dark.

"Third brother, here, I'm Shoufu, and my sister-in-law is also in this car."

He took off his hat and waved it at him.

Mao Ximei, who was huddled in the carriage, also heard her husband calling her, and excitedly said to the other women and children in the car, "My man called me, and my man is here to pick me up."

"Brother, stop the car, my man is here." She hurriedly shouted to the driver driving ahead.

The coachman stopped the carriage happily.

Guo Shoufu jumped directly from the high roof of the car and opened the door for Mao Ximei. Guo Huai'an also squeezed in front of the car. Seeing his wife with three children, he couldn't close his mouth excitedly. Here we are, waiting all morning."

The eldest daughter shrank behind her mother with some fear, tightly pulling on her mother's clothes, as if she didn't recognize her father who was so neatly dressed.

"Sister Yao, come to Dad quickly,"

The girl didn't dare to go forward, Guo Huaian quickly took out the yogurt residue from his arms, "Here, this is delicious."

"Don't recognize your father?"

At this time, the girl seemed to finally realize, "Father."

Guo Huaian picked up his daughter and turned her around a few times before putting her down, and stuffed a yogurt scum into her mouth, which tasted like yogurt, was hard, but had a sweet taste in her mouth.

He hugged the other two children and kissed them for a while, and then he went to hold his wife's hand. Mao shrank back in embarrassment, but Guo Huai'an stepped forward and hugged her up, and turned around a few times, which angered Mao. His face was flushed and he kept patting his husband.

"I'm so ashamed, let me down."

After the excited reunion, Guo Huai'an came up to greet Guo Shoufu, and Mao was beside her husband excitedly and happily, and kept talking about Guo Shoufu's care along the way.

"Thank you so much, your sister-in-law has never traveled far before, thanks to your care."

"What's the third brother doing with this kind word? I used to go to your house for lunch in the mine, and my sister-in-law would always help me mend my clothes. When the mine collapsed that time, without you, third brother, I would have died a long time ago."

On the road.

People came to pick up people everywhere, including imperial battalion soldiers, patrol battalions, town soldiers, post soldiers, officials, immigrants, etc. The imperial court encouraged soldiers and officials stationed in border areas to bring their families. There are many real preferential policies, such as settling down bank, allocating land and land, and free elementary school for children.

For military officials who have not married wives, the imperial court will help them marry wives. If they marry in their hometown, the imperial court will also help them bring their wives.

The purpose is to allow these frontier officers, soldiers and officials to guard the frontier with peace of mind, settle down and take root in a down-to-earth way, those meritorious generals are treated better, each can be assigned a lot of fields, and they can all become landlords of the frontier land, and be able to stabilize the frontier land. develop.

The emperor has always said that to the soldiers who followed him to fight the world, you will not fail me, and I will not betray you.

Why is there no objection to the imperial court’s continuous expansion of territory over the years, why there is still such great passion and motivation, and there is so much support? First of all, the military can enjoy very real dividends in this expansion, and the land manor , into a frontier lord.

Many ordinary people also enjoyed the dividends of expanding the frontier, moved the border land, divided the land and granted the land, and became self-cultivated farmers or even small landlords. Many wealthy and powerful households in the Central Plains also followed the imperial army to do business and trade in the frontier, and even opened mines and smelting, and also made a lot of money. Its benefit.

From the court to the soldiers, to the common people, and then to the merchants, landlords and gentry, the vast majority of people can benefit from it, and when the imperial court's frontier campaign has been going smoothly, it is naturally a feast for the whole people.

"walk home."

Guo Huaian excitedly said to his wife and children.

Mao Ximei was bumpy and tired along the way, nervous and restless, all of which were swept away after seeing her husband, and she had a backbone and a backbone to rely on.

Home, the word from her husband made her feel even more warm.

"Well, go home."

The child had hard yogurt scum in his mouth, and was jumping happily while eating this kind of snack that he had never eaten before.

Guo Yongfu helped move the luggage to the carriage, and the people who waited for the Sanjiao camp finally found their families. Everyone packed their luggage, and then went to Haiyan City to register and report with laughter all the way, and then took The official documents stamped by the yamen sang songs together and went to camp in Triangle City.

There, is their new home.

Sitting in the carriage, Mrs. Mao said to the wives and children of the other soldiers, "Thanks to Saint Hong En, we are finally reunited."

"Thank you saint." The women shouted heartily together.

Guo Huai'an, who was walking beside the carriage, also shouted loudly, "Thank you saint!"

"God bless my emperor!"

"Look, there are deer!"

Among the golden flowers on Jinyintan, a group of deer suddenly appeared, and they were frightened and jumped away.

Honeysuckle and silver flowers are auspicious, and deer are also auspicious. Everyone thinks that seeing a deer is a good omen, and there are more laughter and laughter.

(End of this chapter)