Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 438 0433 [Condolences to the people]

During the Anshi Rebellion, An Lushan occupied Luoyang and then divided his troops into three groups to advance.

All the way straight to Guanzhong, all the way east to Suiyang, all the way south to Nanyang.

The Battle of Nanyang was fought with "cannibalism" twice, and the Tang army relied on cannibalism to survive for thirteen months.

No matter before or after the war, Xinye next door was looted, and it was repeatedly looted by the Tang army and rebels.

The Anshi Rebellion ended quickly, and Xinye County, which was born in the early Western Han Dynasty, became a sparsely populated Xinye Town. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the county system was finally restored.

A large number of Nanyang local refugees, as well as refugees from further north, are now resettled around Xinye Town.

[-] soldiers and their families lived and cultivated with these refugees.

"Brother Tong, will you go back to your hometown to visit relatives during the Chinese New Year?" Corporal Chief Jin Rong leaned over and asked.

Tong Ershun said: "I won't go back, I'll stay in Xinye to pick up the property."

Jin Rong was overjoyed: "Can you give me the quota for family visits in that team?"

"Drawing lots," Tong Ershun said, "I will also participate, and if I win, I will give you my spot."

"That's good." Jin Rong was a little disappointed, but still very grateful.

There are [-] people in the team, and there are two quotas for visiting relatives on annual leave. If Tong Ershun is caught, he will give it to him. The chances are still very high.

It was the break time for practice, and the two stood on the school field, looking at the Baihe River in the distance.

Jin Rong said: "Do you want me to take something back?"

Tong Ershun shook his head and said, "There is no one at home."

"How come there is no one at home?" Jin Rong asked curiously.

Tong Ershun grinned and said: "My third brother can write and count. He first worked with Zhu Xianggong, and now he has been released to Chuandong as the master bookkeeper. Hehe, the master bookkeeper who is less than 20 years old. My old father and eldest nephew, too. I was picked up by my third brother to enjoy the blessing."

"That's really promising, Second Brother Tong will also enjoy the blessings in the future!" Jin Rong was not flattering his boss, he was really shocked.

As long as the county magistrate who is less than 20 years old is not a short-lived ghost, he can become a party member through qualifications.

There is another situation that Tong Ershun didn't mention, his younger brother is Zhu Guoxiang's direct disciple - even though he only studied with Zhu Guoxiang for one year.

"There are three brothers in my family. The elder brother followed the Generalissimo to suppress Heifengzhai, and the third younger brother is now an official again," Tong Ershun mocked himself flamboyantly, "I am the most unpromising in the family. I have only been the captain since the war."

Jin Rong couldn't help complaining: "Second brother, if you say that, I don't have the face to be a soldier anymore."

Tong Ershun laughed.

He really has nothing to offer, his eldest brother has passed away, he married his sister-in-law, and the old man in Daming Village takes good care of him.

But those who were village warriors together back then, as long as they didn’t die in battle or become disabled, at worst they would all be promoted to the commander and deputy commander of the [-]th army. There are really few small captains like Tong Ershun.

He was a fire soldier at first, expanded his army after occupying Yangzhou, and finally upgraded to a spearman.Later, the army was expanded several times, but he was still a spearman. With the help of his elder brother's robes, he was promoted to the captain of the mandarin duck team.

Tong Ershun has worked very hard to practice arrows and guns, but he still can't command the team to change formations.

Maybe in a few years, this Jin Rong will surpass him.

Because Jin Rong is the corps leader, and the corps leader must be held by the sword and shield hand, all of them are the elite among the grassroots elites.

The drill lasted until evening, and Tong Ershun returned home with his weapons.

According to the military rules set by Zhu Ming, if there is no war, two-thirds of the year needs to be drilled.But Xinye has to be busy opening up wasteland, and the training time is reduced to half of the whole year.

Tong Ershun only brought his wife and children. Although his sister-in-law remarried to him, the couple are extremely loving and have already given birth to two sons and a daughter.

The wife has to take care of the children and the family has more than 20 mu of land, which cannot be planted in his free time.

So five more refugees were recruited as tenants. This was the obligation of the refugees. Since they were allocated land for free and borrowed grain from the government to make ends meet, they had to share the land of the soldiers as tenants.You must first cultivate the land of soldiers before you can carefully serve your own.

"Captain Tong!"

Before reaching the village entrance, some farmers nodded and bowed in greeting.This man was also a refugee resettled in wasteland. Although he was not Tong Ershun's tenant, he still regarded him as a great figure.

"It's Mo San, the bean harvest is the best." Tong Ershun held his head high, as if he was inspecting his territory.

There is also a battalion commander, two captains, a deputy commander and several sentry commanders and deputy sentries in the village. Tong Ershun's military position is not high, but he has a good relationship with the battalion commander. They are veterans who came out of Daming Village together!

Looking at the golden soybean fields outside the village, Tong Ershun recalled the days when he reclaimed wasteland in Daming Village.

There are many young and strong soldiers in Daming Township, and some are even civil servants. After they moved out, the population of Daming Township dropped by more than half, and Zhu Guoxiang had to recruit unemployed or displaced persons to enrich himself.

All of Tong Ershun's property in Daming Village has been given to the government to replace it with wasteland on the Xinye side, and subsidies for reclamation are given per mu.

"The head of the family is back!" His wife, Feng Shi, said happily.

"I'm back." Tong Ershun smiled all over his face. He could indeed be in charge of his family now, and he was no longer that poor boy who cultivated a few acres of wasteland.

"Daddy, Daddy!"

The children also ran over one after another. Tong Ershun smiled and picked up his daughter and put her on her neck to play horse riding.

The next day, Tong Ershun took his wife and children to collect beans without a weapon.

Several tenants respected him very much. When they met on the way, they all bent down to greet him, and then gave way to him to go first.

In addition to the unequal relationship between landlords and tenants, there was also the fact that Tong Ershun's family had few people, so he usually did not interfere with the tenant fields and was very generous when collecting rent.Unlike some soldiers who pretended to be too plain when collecting rent, they insisted on grabbing a handful more beans.

The tenants went to work in the fields, while Tong Ershun harvested the crops he had cultivated himself.

Not only the wife is harvesting, but the children who are a few years old are also helping to pick up the scattered beans.

"Daddy, this is a piece of shit!" the eldest son shouted excitedly.

His wife, Feng Shi, immediately shouted: "Pick a leaf quickly, wrap the dog shit and take it home!"

Tong Ershun laughed and went back with the freshly harvested beans, which had to be dried for a day or two before they could be threshed with a flail.

When he came to the field again, he saw hundreds of people coming on horseback.

Zhu Ming now has no shortage of southwest horses. There are hundreds of personal guard musketeers, and everyone has a mount. They can march quickly and can be regarded as mounted infantry.

But these southwestern horses were left over from the light cavalry, so they were better than donkeys, and they were even about the same height as donkeys.

"Grand Marshal?"

Tong Ershun thought he had read it wrong, rubbed his eyes, it was indeed the Marshal's flag, he immediately threw down his scythe, ran to the side of the road and stood up.

In the nearby fields, all the soldiers put down their farm work and stood beside the road.

Wherever Zhu Ming passed, the soldiers held their heads high, raised their left arms and clenched their fists on their chests.

The farmers didn't know what happened. Some stood in a daze and watched, while others ran over and knelt down to greet them.

Zhu Ming helped a farmer up, and asked others to stand up as well, and asked with a pleasant face, "What's your name? Where did you come from?"

The farmer shrank and replied, "My name is Zhou Xiu, and my hometown is in Yangdi County."

Zhu Ming knew the reason and asked, "Yangzhai belongs to Yingchang Mansion, so it's almost next to Xinzheng. How did you escape to Xinye to reclaim wasteland?"

Zhou Xiu looked miserable, and began to tell her story: "Originally, my family also had more than [-] mu of Susukida, and I could read a few big characters. But when the harvest was not good due to severe drought, I had to pay land tax and free husband's money. All the food was robbed by the officials, so the whole family had to flee the famine. First to Yingchang Mansion, then to Xinzheng, my parents starved to death, and my elder brother was conscripted by the government to serve as a Xiang army."

"My sister-in-law stayed in Xinzheng with my elder brother. I took my wife, children and nephew to continue fleeing famine. I was so hungry that I was dying halfway, so I ganged up as thieves and rebelled with a king. When the officers and soldiers came, the team broke up. My nephew and my little daughter Also lost."

"Anyway, we have traveled a lot, and now there are only three left in the family of nine. I don't know if my brother and sister-in-law are still alive."

Zhu Ming sighed and said, "Oh, it's not easy to live with a foolish ruler and corrupt officials who abuse the people."

Zhou Xiu said: "Thanks to Mr. Jinglue and the Generalissimo, when we arrived in Xinye, the government distributed grain and harvested beans in summer. The government really didn't send anyone to collect taxes, and didn't urge me to return the grain. The second season of beans is coming again. I have harvested it, and this year is finally over. The government is very benevolent, and when the land is ripe, I will pay back the grain owed, and I promise not to default on the land tax."

A soldier laughed and said, "Zhou Zhou Lang, this is the Generalissimo!"

Zhou Xiu was startled, extremely excited, and immediately knelt down and shouted: "Your Highness, Generalissimo, I thank you for your life!"

The nearby peasants also knelt down again. The previous kneeling was purely to see that Ju Ming was very majestic, and he must be a high-ranking official.Kneeling down now is from the heart, without the Zhu family father and son, many of them would starve to death.

"Get up quickly," Zhu Ming helped several of them himself, and said to Zhou Xiu, "It's good to farm. When I go to the Central Plains, maybe you can find your brother and sister-in-law."

Zhou Xiu quickly said: "I must be good at farming, and I will also plant the land of the military master who is tenanted!"

Zhu Ming patted him on the shoulder and said a few words of encouragement.

Zhou Xiu felt that his body had become lighter by a few kilograms, and the Generalissimo was so kind and kind to him.What a good official, he will definitely be a good emperor in the future.

Ju Ming continued to move forward, chatting with farmers along the way and chatting with soldiers when he met them.

"Generalissimo, I'm Ershun." When it was Tong Ershun's turn, he said cheerfully, "The old lady is holding a birthday banquet, and I helped carry the table!"

Ju Ming suddenly felt cordial and asked, "Are you from Daming Village?"

Tong Ershun said: "It's Daming Village, my family went there very early. My elder brother is Tong Shun, and he went to Heifeng Village together with Generalissimo."

"You said Tong Shun, but I have the impression that he is Zhang Guangdao's soldier, and he even took a detour to surprise the back mountain of Heifengzhai." Zhu Ming immediately remembered.

Tong Ershun was both happy and depressed: "The Generalissimo still remembers my brother, but unfortunately he was killed by the government. All the officials in the county government should be killed."

The clerks and archers in Xixiang County did kill more than a dozen, and the remaining 30 people were assigned to do hard labor.Whoever made them offend the veterans of Daming Village, or even Zhu Ming himself, but Bai Chongwu interceded, and those who were not deeply involved were not investigated.

Zhu Ming sighed and asked, "Don't talk about these old things, what is your current military position?"

Tong Ershun immediately lowered his head and said with difficulty, "I am still the captain."

"Practice well, don't embarrass your brother!" Zhu Ming was speechless.

"I must practice hard!" Tong Ershun blushed with embarrassment.

Zhu Ming turned around and saw that the farmers had followed him. He immediately ordered, "Tell them to go back to harvest the beans. Don't delay the farming time."

Zhu Ming didn't continue to ask people for questioning, and went forward with his personal guard musketeers.

The soldiers and peasants spontaneously knelt down and watched the generalissimo leave.When he was far away, he stood up and talked to each other. They all felt that they had a good face, and they had actually had close contact with the Generalissimo.

This can be boasted for a lifetime, and in the future, when you go shopping in the town, you can also brag with the merchants there.

Especially someone like Zhou Xiu, who had spoken to the generalissimo and could continue to brag about it until the day he died and closed his eyes.

"Captain Tong, the Generalissimo doesn't put on airs, and he talks very kindly to us little people. Is the same with Mr. Tong Ershun?" Everyone surrounded Tong Ershun.

Tong Ershun turned his nostrils to the sky: "Of course, Mr. Zhu went to the fields himself to teach the common people how to grow crops."

"Do you need to be taught how to farm?" The villagers thought he was lying.

Tong Ershun said: "Really, the crops harvested by the farmers taught by Mr. Zhu himself must be better. It is said in Yangzhou that Mr. Jinglue met immortals overseas, and his method of land is actually a fairy method. You may have never seen corn and sweet potatoes. When the wasteland is ripe, the land that is not suitable for growing wheat and rice will be mixed with corn and sweet potatoes. Then you will know what fairy food is!"

Everyone didn't care about harvesting the beans anymore, and continued to inquire about the gossip of Zhu's father and son. Tong Ershun finished what he knew, and made up the rest for fun.

In his description, the Zhu family father and son are no different from immortals descending to earth.

Moreover, many villagers really believed it.

(End of this chapter)