People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 497 You Should Not Be in the Fields, You Should Be Flying Over the Ocean
Wang Bi did not expect such a good thing to happen. It is estimated that at the beginning they did not think that the court would have such a way to help them.

Of course, those who already had titles of marquis and duke would not care about such a small amount of tax revenue from Sanfuzi.

But for ordinary soldiers, they left their homes and careers and came to such a faraway place. It would be a shame if they could not be given a stable return.

If this is the case, how can I explain it to them? Should I tell the soldiers under my command to just be patient and that the court will reward them in the future, but not this time?

It is indeed a bit cruel to say this. Although Wang Bi and his men are generals and commanders and have fought for so many years, they know very well that some people will never come back once they go to the battlefield.

Even though the weapons of the Ming Dynasty are so powerful now, everyone can still see the danger.

It is precisely for this reason that they did not dare to guarantee that everyone would come back alive. Even though the 5,000 navy went out and easily captured the Majapahit Kingdom this time, more than 100 people were sacrificed.

It is difficult to equate the advancement of weapons with the indifference of war, especially when fighting in an unfamiliar environment. Their soldiers were strong enough that they could annihilate the enemy's 50,000 to 60,000 troops with only 100 casualties out of 5,000 troops. They were able to defeat the enemy without fighting and successfully captured the entire Majapahit Kingdom.

In fact, the current Majapahit Kingdom is no less wealthy than Srivijaya. It has now been incorporated into Srivijaya to form a unified region ruled by the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that it is very worthy of development.

As long as this place develops well, everyone can get a good harvest in the future.

Wang Bi, such a strong man, also had tears in his eyes. He looked at Xia Yuanji, and then, under the surprised gazes of many people, he walked up to Xia Yuanji and bowed deeply.

"Master Xia, we misunderstood you before. We have been saying this all along. You are being stingy by not giving us the land.

In my heart, I even had a lot of complaints about the Duke of Ming, but now I know that you and the Duke had already thought of everything for us.

You are right. If we were really asked to manage such a large territory by ourselves, we really don't have the ability to do so.

Maybe in the first one or two years you can make a little money by exploiting the local people, but soon you will have to pay a greater price for suppressing them.

There is even a possibility that they will be punished by the imperial court for forcing the local people to rebel.”

When these words were spoken, many generals lowered their heads, because such things had happened to them before when they were fighting.

They thought that if they defeated them, they could treat the captives and local people with impunity.

Unexpectedly, the local people were not easy to deal with. Although they surrendered on the surface, they immediately launched a rebellion when they found the Ming army so brutal, and also implicated other chieftain tribes.

So when they, who had suffered losses, thought of what Xia Yuanji said, they immediately understood what Xia Yuanji meant.

That’s true. We can’t go on like this. If we continue like this, we and others will be the ones who suffer.

The method Xia Yuanji and Chen Han mentioned is the most practical one. The local people themselves participate in planting, and the Ming Dynasty is in charge of implementing national policies. The people can also get a share of the taxes paid when they harvest the grain. What a good idea that is.

After everyone finished speaking, Xia Yuanji asked Lan Yu to gather the 5,000 naval officers and soldiers stationed there.

Xia Yuanji had been in Sanfuqi for five or six days and had not yet met the naval officers and soldiers.

When he arrived at the training ground, he saw the naval officers and soldiers standing upright. Their uniforms were very clean and tidy. Their high morale showed that they were a very capable army.

At the same time, we see them polishing each rifle to a shine, taking care of it as if it were their second life. This shows how much they cherish this firearm that has brought them countless glory.

Only by cherishing your weapon can you truly fight to the death on the battlefield.

Because if Chen Han were here, he would be able to see one thing that was once recorded in history.

In the late Qing Dynasty, although the Beiyang Fleet was deployed, its military discipline was quite poor.

There is even a rumor that a foreign journalist saw the sailors on the Beiyang Fleet's ships hanging their clothes on the barrels of their cannons, and concluded that the navy would definitely fail, and that was indeed what happened later.

This is a detail that shows the discipline of this army.

An army without discipline cannot fight a war.

At this moment, Xia Yuanji was standing on a temporary platform. Looking down, he saw five thousand naval soldiers standing upright. Everyone looked at Xia Yuanji on the stage and Lan Yu, Wang Bi and others beside him with firm eyes.

They were well-disciplined and their weapons were clean.

It can be seen that the usual training must not be bad.

From this we can also see that Lan Yu was very capable of leading troops in battle and had strict military discipline. Such an army could better maintain their combat effectiveness. Such a commander is worthy of admiration.

Xia Yuanji looked at the soldiers below and felt deep admiration in his heart.

At the same time, they feel it is natural for them to achieve such achievements.

Only such soldiers can achieve such a glorious victory, and only such soldiers can truly represent the style of the Ming Dynasty.

It would be a shame if we didn't treat these soldiers well.

Although these soldiers might not necessarily fight for that little bit of so-called reward, even Xia Yuanji felt that it was a bit too much if they were not given enough rewards and were not allowed to truly feel the court's attention to them.

Therefore, he now fully agrees with these soldiers and the reward plan proposed by Chen Han.

In his eyes now, these soldiers are the people who should be treated most favorably in the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Han even treats the officials with preferential treatment, let alone the soldiers who are fighting outside for the prestige of the Ming Dynasty. If he doesn't treat them with preferential treatment, he would be really cold-blooded.

It is for this reason that when Xia Yuanji thinks of this now, he is even more supportive of this policy.

So he stood on the high platform, looked at the five thousand soldiers below and said the first words.

"Since I came to Sanfuqi and saw the military appearance of the navy, I truly believe that my Ming Dynasty will be invincible in the world."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present was immediately excited. This sentence carries a lot of weight.

Because the Ming Dynasty was just founded not long ago, many of its armies are very powerful.

For example, the three guards of Doyan who fought to the death with the Mongols in the north.

There are also the cavalry led by Prince of Yan Zhu Di and the 100,000 cavalry led by Prince of Liao Zhu Zhi.

In addition, the soldiers under the command of the generals in each border town are all very powerful.

However, no one expected that after Xia Yuanji arrived in Sanfuqi, he would directly say that their military appearance made Xia Yuanji see their extremely strong combat effectiveness.

In this regard, they are flattered.

Lan Yu was standing by, and after hearing Xia Yuanji's words, he felt a sense of honor.

Although he had led troops in battles and served as a commander for a long time, after each successful battle, not many people would talk about how great he, Lan Yu, was, but rather about how great the army of the Ming Dynasty was.

Of course, he himself reflected on this later and thought that it was probably because he was not a good person, so many people were unwilling to acknowledge him even though they knew his achievements.

But now he finally got the respect he deserved from Xia Yuanji and Chen Han.

This moment was an incomparable honor for him.

After Lan Yu finished speaking, he immediately said again: "Not every soldier can leave his family and career behind and stay thousands of miles away from home and still maintain such a strong fighting capacity.

I see even more possibilities in you.

In the future, our Ming Dynasty will not only conquer a small country like Sanfuqi, nor will it only establish its own base on this road. We can also establish our territory in the entire Nanyang.

You should believe that with the sophisticated weapons in your hands, we Ming should be able to achieve even greater results."

When Xia Yuanji said this, Lan Yu couldn't help but look at the local officials of Sanfuzi who were listening on the side.

The reason why Xia Yuanji called them over this time was very clear, he wanted to let you see our peerless military posture.

I want to show you whether you, the Sanfuqi, have the ability to resist.

Although Xia Yuanji was a pure civil servant, after arriving in Sanfuqi, he actually showed a bit of the courage of a commander.

Or perhaps it could be said that when he confronted the pirate Chen Zuyi in Guangdong, he had already begun to think like a real commander.

He was more than just a civil servant.

What is even more difficult to imagine is that, because of everything he saw when he was the governor of Guangdong, he knew very well that to be the highest official in a place, one must have some military acumen and some means.

Especially during the time he had been working with Chen Han on reforms, he had seen too many examples of this.

Because they lack dominance, many people below them are very resistant to reform.

They all think sanctimoniously that they are so great, and they all think that a scholar like you can do nothing, so they don't take you seriously at all.

It was for this reason that he learned this: If you don’t have any aura or any means, how can others be afraid of you?

Especially when he came to Srivijaya, he wanted to be the governor here and develop the Ming Dynasty's first overseas colony here.

If I fail to achieve a successful outcome, I will not only fail to live up to Chen Han's trust in me, but will also be committing a huge blasphemy to the reforms I insist on.

Because of this, he deliberately called all the local civil and military officials of Sanfuqi to come for the military parade. Sure enough, after the local civil and military officials of Sanfuqi heard the words translated by the translator, everyone's expression was very ugly, and it can be said that their faces were pale.

These guys are as shrewd as foxes. How could they not see what Xia Yuanji's purpose was? It was just to show his power.

Because although the place of Srivijaya had just been captured by the Ming Dynasty, it was captured only after Srivijaya took the initiative to seek help from the Ming Dynasty navy to fight against Majapahit.

Therefore, most of the local officials in Srivijaya were very dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty's colonial rule.

This kind of dissatisfaction was not expressed openly, but secretly these people must have planned how to drive the Ming Dynasty away.

For this reason, Xia Yuanji understood very well after arriving in Sanfuqi that to deal with these people, it was not just through suppression by force, but also to let them see with their own eyes the power of the Ming Dynasty.

These 5,000 navy soldiers cannot represent the entire strength of the Ming Dynasty, but just showing the tip of the iceberg is enough to shock them.

Only in this way can I help myself to stay here in the future.

Only in this way will the local civil and military officials of Sanfuqi be sufficiently afraid.

This is very necessary for carrying out one's work.

Besides, Xia Yuanji also has to let these people see that if you want to resist, you can come and see if you have the ability to do so.

The expressions on the faces of every local official in Sanfuqi were twisted to the extreme. Some of them were even gritting their teeth in anger, and shouting in their hearts that it was too much, really too much.

Is this necessary?

It is said that the Ming Dynasty was a country of etiquette, but what about this kind of aggressive attitude that is taking advantage of others' misfortune?
Some local generals even snorted, "See, see, we have already warned those who want to seek help from the Ming Dynasty not to believe that the Ming Dynasty is just helping you defeat the Majapahit Kingdom.

Will they let go of this piece of fat meat of ours? They could easily defeat Majapahit, and we are right next to them, will they be able to resist taking a bite? Now it is just as we said. "

Although he spoke very quietly, when the officials present heard it, everyone's face turned colorful.

Someone had indeed warned us before that if we continued to do so, we would inevitably suffer backlash. Since the Ming Dynasty was so powerful and so majestic on the sea, why didn't they just annex your country and govern it themselves?

At first those officials said it was impossible, they only had a few thousand navy men, and as long as we cut off their food supply, they would have no choice but to obey us.

But they never expected that the food and money brought by the Ming Dynasty was enough to support them in destroying the Majapahit Kingdom.

The speed of the destruction was so fast that the Sanfuqi's strategy of cutting off the food supply was completely useless, and even their plan was discovered and they were captured in one fell swoop. Even their prime minister was directly defeated.

In that respect, it was a complete failure.

But those civil officials still maintained a proud look on their faces, meaning that even if it was us who committed the evil, wasn't it because you military generals were too incompetent?
This expression and look immediately angered those generals.

Originally in Sanfuzhi, the status of military generals was not particularly high, because after the civil officials came to power, they suppressed the military generals. They were always afraid that once the military generals came to power, they would impact the entire country and even rebel.

So they suppressed these generals everywhere, which was the same as the Central Plains dynasty.

But once they were on the verge of life and death, they all relied on these generals to turn the tide.

However, many military commanders knew very well that if those soldiers had not been trained regularly and were not familiar with battle formations, they would not be able to fight on the battlefield. Even if they went to the battlefield, they would only die.

But how could those civil servants think so much?
They only know that as a general of the country, you must pay the price of blood and life to help the court quell rebellions, quell external wars, and defend the court.

As for how we treated you before, please don't bother about it.

This is the naive idea of ​​the civil officials. Military generals are human beings with emotions. It is impossible for them to fight to the death for the so-called fate of the country.

Because of this, the civil and military officials in their country were actually very discordant.

Seeing the civil servants looking at them like that, some military generals wanted to draw their swords and kill the civil servants who showed such expressions right on the stands.

Lan Yu, Wang Bi and other generals on the opposite side wanted to laugh when they saw this scene.

It can be seen that these people are really cowardly. Even now that things have come to this point, they are still fighting among themselves.

Seeing them like this, Lan Yu even felt more confident in ruling this group of people.

Xia Yuanji pretended not to notice their expressions and continued, "The Ming Dynasty is now thriving and needs to attack from all sides. From now on, you will be stationed at the forefront.

I also want to tell you something here, the Ming Dynasty will definitely send more naval forces in the future, which means you will have more competitors.

Today you have occupied Srivijaya and helped Srivijaya defeat Majapahit, so that this island is finally no longer involved in disputes and our Ming Dynasty finally has a solid overseas colony.

Your reward is that this area will be divided into areas.

Within this area, all taxes collected will be divided with the imperial court in a 2:8 ratio.

In other words, the imperial court will take 80% of the taxes, and the remaining 20% ​​will be distributed to you. As for how these regions will be divided, it will take some time.

But I have to tell you one thing here, no matter what kind of soldier you are, no matter what your status is, in every area you occupy in the future, there will be a piece of land tax that will be yours.

Bendu also wants to make it clear here that you cannot directly manage the occupied area, but you will have a share of all the taxes in this area.

Some people may feel a little disappointed when they say this, and they think it is most reassuring to hold the land in their own hands. "

As soon as these words were spoken, some people in the audience began to murmur.

"When I was in my hometown, I hoped to have a piece of land in my hands and in my heart. This is indeed the case."

"But in such a far place, if I have my own land and have to manage it myself, I'm afraid I won't have the time."

"That's right, we don't have time to care about it."

"Then we have to listen to what the governor has to say. He will definitely not let us suffer any loss."

"Yes, as soon as the governor arrived in Sanfuqi, he had already shocked all the officials of Sanfuqi. He must be on the side of the Duke and our people of the Ming Dynasty."

"I also believe that the governor is not that kind of person, otherwise our commander-in-chief and the generals would not be so calm."

Everyone looked at Lan Yu and Wang Bi standing beside them, as well as the many generals behind them.

Everyone looks very happy at this moment, which means they will definitely not be harmed.

So everyone was waiting for Xia Yuanji to speak.

At this time, Xia Yuanji did not speak like a cultured person in a literary manner. Instead, he used the simplest words to tell the naval officers and soldiers present the most complicated situation.

He thought very clearly that in the future this group of naval pilots would most likely stay in the local area and help train the newly recruited naval officers.

And they also want to expand this colony, so they need soldiers with rich experience in fighting in Southeast Asia.

Therefore, arrangements for them must be put first. If we keep a civil servant's distance from them and remain arrogant, how are we going to communicate with them in the future?
So Xia Yuanji is definitely not the kind of person who reads books of sages and then speaks in a lot of rhetoric. What he says is quite down-to-earth.

“I know what you were talking about just now. What I want to tell you is that your mission is to lead the troops to fight. From now on, every one of you, even if you are a soldier, will have to train the naval officers and soldiers sent from the Ming Dynasty.

Any one of you will be promoted from a soldier to a sergeant, a squad leader, a centurion or even a commander.

Do you want to work in the fields all your life? Or do you want someone to help you farm, just like the hired farmers in Ming Dynasty? "

As soon as these words came out, all the naval officers and soldiers present felt a little more hopeful.

Of course, they want to be an official. Who doesn't want to be a sergeant, a squad leader, or a centurion? Does everyone want to be a soldier?

Although this achievement was a collective one and everyone received rewards, not many were promoted.

After all, after a big war, if everyone gets promoted, there will be no more soldiers in the future.

They understood it very well. After all, they were commanded by people above the rank of centurion, and they were just executors.

However, if the navy sent from the Ming Dynasty is trained by them in the future, they will of course be upgraded from veterans to instructors.

In this way, it is really possible to make them officers in one go, and everyone's faces were filled with surprise.

Now they finally understood why they couldn't be allowed to manage the lands themselves. Just as Xia Yuanji said, if they were allowed to manage them, how would they have time to train other people?

This immediately painted a very big pie for them, and of course this pie will come true.

In the future, there will indeed be countless navy soldiers coming from the Ming Dynasty to train new recruits, and it will be the responsibility of these veterans.

It is inevitable that these veterans will be upgraded from soldiers to instructors and then to officers.

“So I am telling you here, don’t limit yourself to the fields. The fields are only the guarantee of your future life, not your everything.

All of you should be high up on the sea to chase pirates, to chase the wind and waves, to chase the passion that a man should chase."

……

(End of this chapter)