Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1340 Mao Thirteen

Section 120 Eight

I heard that some generals on the island also took their troops to join Li Jiucheng. Recently, people have been coming to Zhenjiang Fort and the nearby Dongjiang villages to incite officers and soldiers to go to Shandong to fight. , It made many people red-eyed, and they followed with a knife and gun as soon as they gritted their teeth.

Mao Shisan also moved his mind, but his mind was his own mind, whether he wanted to be a young man like a reed stick or not was a matter of debate.What's more, Mao Shisan had no idea about crossing the sea to Shandong, a place he was not familiar with, to fight the imperial court.The most critical problem is that no one can guarantee that there will be something to eat on the way from here to join the army.If he died of starvation on the way, what money is there to talk about.

Putting aside the matter of joining the army for the time being, it is an imminent thing to eat when you are hungry.It has been snowing for the past few days, and it was supposed to be nestled in the shed as much as possible to rest and rest, but Mao Shisan was so hungry that he couldn't bear it—there was nothing to eat at home.

Mao Shisan had no parents since he was a child, and was adopted by a father's fellow villager.The two depend on each other for life.The stepfather was paid, although it was paid less than a month a year, and the forts in Dongjiang Town were dilapidated, the soldiers were poorly clothed and hungry, and they were not much more than beggars, but they were nothing. The land of salaries.A stone of rice is several times or even ten times more expensive than the capital, not to mention Jiangnan.

The similar situation is the same in the border towns. The generals, because embezzling military pay has become the main way to grow, don't like the heavy and troublesome food, rice and cloth, and ask the court to transport silver.For the handling officials, it is also more convenient to transport much smaller silver than large pieces of grain and cloth.

The influx of a large amount of silver will inevitably make everything expensive, so the soldiers in various border towns seem to be paid higher than the national average wage level, but the local prices are several times or even ten times the national average level.

Dong Jiang's situation is even worse.Dongjiang not only has a lot of food, but the area under its jurisdiction is also a bitter, cold and barren place. Soldiers can't even farm the land to support themselves.Although the generals can earn income by smuggling goods with the Qing Dynasty, collecting protection fees from smugglers, digging ginseng, and hunting furs, these incomes have nothing to do with military households and soldiers, and instead increase their burdens. The trigger for the beating and seizure was to drive the hungry and cold soldiers to dig ginseng.

After Li Jiuzheng's rebellion last year, most of the imperial military pay and merchant goods transported from Dengzhou were blocked. Motivation to join the rebellion.

Those who were strong and dared to take risks all ran away one after another, leaving the old, weak, sick and disabled.Mao Shisan's stepfather was sent on an errand yesterday, so at least he has something to eat today, and maybe he can bring back some leftovers when he comes back tomorrow.But Mao Shisan was already dizzy with hunger, and couldn't wait for tomorrow.

He dragged his footsteps to the coast, and there was no life on the frozen coast, let alone the food he wanted. He felt that he had hallucinated, and a small boat like him was not far away. As soon as he swiped, his eyes blurred and he fell down, and then he didn't know anything.

Mao Shisan only felt that there was a fire in front of his eyes, and wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids were really heavy, but he was sure of one thing, that is, it was quite warm, warmer than being warmed by a fire at home. I feel particularly secure. I don’t know if it’s a hallucination. I feel that I’m not so hungry anymore, and I’m eager to sleep.He remembered that his stepfather and many people had told him that he must not fall asleep while walking outside in winter, because once he fell asleep, he would never wake up again.

However, he really didn't have the strength to open his eyes, and thought he would die, so he fell asleep again.
When Mao Shisan woke up, he was already lying in the cabin. It turned out that he was not dead, but was rescued on board by a group of strange short-haired men.

There was a young man with short hair and a short coat beside him who was busy working. According to him, the "chief" found him fainted at the beach. It was snowing at that time. If the chief hadn't shown kindness, he would have been frozen to death on the beach. .

"You have been sleeping for a day and a night, and I have fed you sugar water several times." The little brother said, "Otherwise you would have died. Drink a bowl of paste."

He said that he drank sugar water, but he didn't have the slightest impression, but his body was indeed not as weak as before.

"Let's drink a bowl of paste." The little brother brought a big bowl, which contained more than half of the steaming hot miscellaneous paste.Mao Shisan hadn't seen serious food for many days, and seeing this bowl of saliva seemed to have opened the gate, he couldn't even utter a thank you word stuck in his throat.

The hot mush that drank into his mouth was real food, and he had never tasted the delicious taste in his life, which also made him feel a little relieved.After drinking it, he wanted to get up, only to find that it was not so easy, he seemed to be sleeping in a net.

"Eat a bowl first, and I'll bring it to you later. You're hungry, and it's easy to hold up if you eat too much. Don't get out of bed in a hurry, and the chief will see you after a rest."

The young man who took care of him had a very good attitude. It seemed that his age was not much different from his own, but there was a sense of competence that he shouldn't have at his age.

"When you get on the chief's boat, just wait for your happiness." Finally, the young man gave another mysterious smile. "It's better for everyone to know. Be mentally prepared for the situation you will face in the future."

After lunch, Xue Ziliang "received" Mao Shisan. Mao Shisan had never heard of the Kun Bandit, but Chief Xue was obviously a senior official on the ship, but he didn't know where he came from.He has seen officials in Ming Dynasty before, and they don't dress like this. The official clothes of North Korea are similar to that of Ming Dynasty.But the words spoken by Chief Xue are serious Chinese, and they are quite similar to Liaodong Mandarin.The dress is different from that of Tartars.What's more, there is no Tartar tail on the head.Besides, the Tartars themselves can't even build a decent boat, and there will never be such a good boat.

He couldn't figure out the way, but he had at least enough food and clothing on the boat. Not only did he have delicious mush to satisfy his hunger, but he also changed into a new suit of clothes. Not only did the clothes have no patches, but they were close-fitting and warm.

After a few words, he knew that Chief Xue was at least not a bad person.He is very kind and doesn't put on official airs, especially after knowing that he is a military household in Dongjiang Town, he seems quite aggrieved and has said a lot about the court.According to the standards of this time and space, Mao Shisan can only be regarded as the size of a first-year junior high school student, and his knowledge is even more pitiful. If he coaxes this old stick Xue Ziliang with a few good words, he can't wait to take his heart out.

"So your family is a military household in Zhenjiang Fort?"

"Return to Master: The young one has lived here with his stepfather since Mao Shuai took over Zhenjiang Fort, and has never been to other places except Lushun Fort."

"Then tell me, what do the military households in Dongjiang rely on for a living? I'm afraid they can't live on the court's salary alone."

"Who says it's not? The salary does not fall into our hands. It is said that we are military households, but we don't have much land to cultivate. Besides, it is not easy to grow crops in the land in Liaodong. It is very cold. In the early years, we relied on the imperial court. We brought food from Korea and North Korea, but not much can fall into our hands, and we still have to rely on fishing and hunting, digging some wild vegetables on weekdays, and we can always be half-starved and half-satisfied."

"After Mao Shuai was killed by Yuan Dushi, some people said that Mao Shuai died unjustly. We don't know whether he was wronged or not, but the days became more and more difficult every day. After killing the men, many people died one after another. Brother, we are neither servants nor soldiers, and we don’t know what’s going on. We just have no money and no food. If we have any food, we are tight to the servants of the soldiers. To tell you the truth, if it weren’t for the fact that we haven’t seen any serious food for more than two months , the small ones will not venture out in winter to find food."

"You are also close to the Yalu River. I heard that North Korea hates Tartars to the bone, and they are vassals of North Korea. Why don't you go across the river to North Korea to eat? At least you can survive for a while."

"Master doesn't know that although North Korea is also guarding against the Tartars, it is also guarding against us. It is not easy to grow some food in our territory. North Korea has already provided Dongjiang with a lot of food, weapons and ships. If they want them Where are they willing to go? They can’t get enough to eat. In the past few years, there have been constant conflicts just hunting and fishing at the border. ―Besides, you have to guard against the Tartars, if you want to be captured by the Tartars, you have to peel off your skin if you don't die."

"There seem to be a lot of woods here. Are there any big trees in the woods that can be used to build ships?"

"It's true. When the weather is warmer, some people will go to the mountains to cut wood, float along the river to Baozi, and then tie them into rafts. However, there are too many of these things, and they are not needed. Recently, I just heard that more warships will be built. There are quite a few, but the people in the fort also secretly fished some." Having said this, Mao Shisan lowered his voice, "I heard that they are going to build a ship to vote for Li Shuai."

"So, Li Jiuzheng's prestige in Dongjiang is not low." Xue Ziliang thought that they didn't know that Kong Youde and Li Jiuzheng were defeated!But it's not surprising, how much information can this kind of military son know in such a remote place as Zhenjiang Fort?

"Li Shuai used to be the deputy commander of Dongjiang, and his prestige is very high here."

"I heard that Dongjiang Town is now occupied by Governor Huang. He is a loyal minister, but the soldiers here are still willing to rebel against Li Jiuzheng?"

"Whether Dudu Huang is a loyal minister or not, I don't know. The younger ones just want to eat a few meals—there is nothing to eat after Huang Shuai comes. Master, you are my great benefactor. If it weren't for the younger ones, I would have explained it to you." gone."

"So the military households in Dongjiang still want to eat for a bite."

"Who says it's not? The Tartars are too cruel. They are worse than pigs and dogs in their hands. But the court doesn't want to see us--everyone says they dislike us for only taking food and not fighting--the conscience of heaven and earth, our little How much rice can a military household eat from the imperial court in a year? A beggar can't send troops to fight." Mao Shisan actually called Qu.

(End of this chapter)