Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 713

In order to make up for the shortage of soldiers and cannons, Li Xijue suggested at the meeting that in addition to ordering Foshan and other places to "rush to work day and night", other nearby blacksmith shops could also start casting together.In addition, use artillery from the Portuguese.In terms of soldiers, Chaozhou Yong can be recruited, whichever is fierce and dare to fight.It is estimated that at least 1 people can be recruited in half a month.

But Li Fengjie was not interested in his proposal.Although hiring braves is a bit cheaper than recruiting soldiers, it costs a lot to recruit 1 people at once.Moreover, hiring braves from Chaozhou, and then driving to Guangzhou after the recruitment is complete, will cost a lot of travel expenses.Li Fengjie didn't plan to spend this money—Wang Zunde's crusade against Lingao spent a lot of money in the treasury.

Li Fengjie has no objection to hiring Yong - on the contrary, he is very enthusiastic about hiring Yong.Hiring bravery is a lucrative business.Yong Ding is hired on a temporary basis and will be dismissed after the work is over.Therefore, how many people hired Yong actually came to the camp, and how much salary and vegetable salt money each person actually paid had a lot of loopholes to exploit.I don't know how many people have made a lot of money by hiring brave people once.

He insisted on hiring braves locally, to be precise, the Danjia boat people along the Pearl River.They are all residents on the water, relying on water for water, either boatmen or fishermen-very familiar with the Pearl River system.Li Fengjie believes that hiring them to act as water warriors has the advantage of the right time and place.

His other high-sounding reason is: "When the defense is tight, I am afraid that my generation will be tricked into traitors by them, or they will be used to transport goods. It is inevitable to compete for the benefits. It is still necessary to collect and use them. Shui Yong means one less bandit in the ocean."

"This is a plan to draw salary from the bottom of the pot!" Li Fengjie was triumphant, "Traitors and thieves kill each other, use rape to control rape, use poison to fight poison"

Li Fengjie's remarks are both selfish and public.Not all for profit.Because a few days ago, there was news in the Tang newspaper that the thieves were "recruiting traitors on the water" on the islands outside the Pearl River Estuary.Danjia, who has no fixed place to live, is familiar with water, and has a good understanding of the Pearl River system, has become his confidant.

The government has never had an exact number of Danhu and boat people who lived on boats on the Pearl River, but there are probably tens of thousands of them.

Li Xijue couldn't refute his reasoning.Saving money is the most effective reason in any generation.But he still muttered, "The Kun bandits are extremely powerful, and it's hard for a mob to fight against them."

He Chengzong came out to question at this time: Is it true that Chaozhou Yong who was temporarily recruited is not a mob?
Li Xijue was speechless.Don't say that such a temporary hired warrior is a division of the government and the army, what use is it in front of the thieves?Thinking of this, he secretly sighed and stopped talking.

Li Fengjie decided to hire 5000 brave people first.Depending on the situation, another 5000 people will be hired.In this way, there are ten thousand water braves to listen to and use at any time.Shui Yong is better than boats, and he is good at water.Water battles with thieves may not work, but it is okay to set fires, scuttle boats and other harassments.Anyway, Shui Yong was a temporary worker with no establishment, and the cost was very little. A few more casualties would not cause great financial pressure on the Guangdong treasury.

According to the current market situation: each Shuiyong's monthly salary includes two taels of salt and vegetable money, and another one-time payment of two taels of Anjia silver.Give another reward before seeing the battle.

Of course, this amount of money is not paid by the Guangdong treasury. According to the traditional thinking of the government, at this time, the common people should "contribute money and power". Rich people—more precisely, businessmen.

According to the advice of the staff: the cost of hiring braves includes three months of military pay, salt and vegetable money, settlement expenses and various public expenses and miscellaneous items totaling 12 taels. Chaozhou merchants share.The cost and wages of rushing to cast artillery made the smelters in Foshan "repay", with a total of 1 taels.

As for the ships needed by the water warriors and the warships urgently needed by the navy, Li Fengjie also followed this thinking and ordered the ships on the Pearl River to be sealed for use.

In this way, various policies for Guangzhou's defense were implemented in accordance with the policy of "doing more with less money".Everyone has no objection, and they go to deal with it separately.

After the crowd dispersed, Li Fengjie left He Chengzong behind and asked him to handle the "encouragement" matters.

The object of solicitation is of course not the "three merchants"-since they have to pay a large sum of money to hire Yong, things should be done in moderation.The objects of Xinde's solicitation are other industries and landlords and rich people near Guangzhou.According to Li Fengjie's meaning, we have to come up with some meanings. To defend Guangzhou is to protect everyone's life and property. Otherwise, when the thieves come, everyone will be destroyed and nothing will be left.

"My lord!" He Chengzong was puzzled, "Although there is not much money in the treasury, the cost of hiring bravery and making cannons has already been collected by various merchants. If you want to recruit again..." The implication is that the boss, don't be too greedy up.

"Old man, this money is for the last move." Li Fengjie said softly, "Now we are preparing for the war, but what if we lose..."

The words were soft, but the meaning was understood.He Chengzong suddenly woke up.If they are defeated, the Kun bandits will come to the city of Guangzhou.At that time, all they have to do is pay for their quick retreat—how can they do it without a large sum of money?

He Chengzong made a bow: "The student understands."

Li Fengjie nodded slightly: "You go and do it. The reason is not for outsiders."

"Yes Yes."

A sloop, with fully patched sails, sailed slowly into a bend in the river.Standing on the bow of the sailing boat was a middle-aged man with the appearance of a gentleman. Although he pretended to be calm on the surface, anxiety was revealed from time to time in his brows and eyes.

The bend in the river is full of reeds, but there are many orange trees along the bank, hanging many green oranges.Between the orange trees stands dense bamboo fences, as tall as a person, with sharpened tops.

The boat continued to walk inward, turned into a narrow river, and among the lush green orange forests, a tall watchtower emerged from the top of the trees.The watchtowers are made of bricks and are as high as three stories, with strange decorations on the top—these are suspended balconies that are not found in traditional Chinese buildings.

On the balcony, there are several Xiangyongs holding wooden guns, horns, and brass gongs.

The middle-aged man did not watch this rare sight, but paid attention to the landforms on both sides of the river.There are orange trees everywhere along the coast.When the boat reached the end of the river, a stone bridge spanned the two banks.Under the bridge, there is a wooden water gate, which is now open, but a thick iron chain hangs on the river, blocking the boats crossing the bridge.

The bridge is stone and very strong.There is a bridge building on the bridge deck, which was originally open on all sides, but now the side facing the river has been blocked by bricks, stones and wooden boards, and there are small windows for observation and shooting.

The sailboat dropped its sails, and several boatmen worked together to bring down the mast.Ready to cross the bridge hole.

Several township braves stood or squatted at the bridgehead to watch.Seeing the sailboat approaching, someone stood up and slapped the dust and blades of grass off their clothes.

When they saw the two white gauze lanterns with the words "Wanli Jiwei Guangdong Provincial Examination Juren" and "Luo Zhai" hanging on the bow of the boat, everyone left respectfully and stood up straight.This is the return of Master Luo from this town.

A Xiangyong leader looked around and wanted to ask a question.Seeing that Master Luo himself was standing at the bow of the boat, he hurriedly called out to the people on the opposite side to loosen the cables and sink the chain to let the boat pass.

The boatman went down with a few poles, and the boat quietly passed through the bridge hole and entered a pond with stone revetments.There are layers of houses and streets along the coast, only the north is already densely populated with orange groves.Bamboo fences can be seen vaguely.A river flows through the street into a pond, and at the mouth of the river there is a rice pounding workshop, making the sound of pounding rice.

This is Sanliang City, an ordinary town in Dongguan County in the Pearl River Delta. There are more than 600 households, most of whom grow rice. However, like most villages and towns in the Pearl River Delta, this place has also been affected by the wave of the new commodity economy. In addition to growing rice, Liangshi also used more and more land to grow indigo and tobacco.The large orange groves surrounding the town have also brought considerable income to the villagers.During the harvest season, the ships heading to the county town and the market are loaded with agricultural products every day, bringing back rice, salt and various daily necessities.

Although the water surface is not very peaceful recently, this place is not far from the provincial capital. Pirates rarely go so far into the Pearl River to plunder, and some are just small groups of water bandits.Under the organization of the gentry in the town, the people of Sanliang City organized regiment training, built artillery, and built bamboo fences.Although it has been harassed by water bandits several times, there is no damage.

The pond is full of boats, big and small.Here, like most villages and towns, there are almost no land routes, and most of the pedestrian freight depends on waterway transportation.Surrounded by water on all sides, there are river branches, harbors and paddy fields everywhere, just like a small isolated island.The houses in the market town are irregularly adjacent to each other, and the streets are also somewhat crooked.There are three east-west streets and four north-south streets, and there are many small alleys connecting the streets.On the south side of the street is a threshing floor, which doubles as a market.Next to the threshing ground is a large pond.It is equivalent to the port of Sanliang City.

There are two rice shops, three rice shops, a pawn shop, a fishing stall, a wine shop and a dental shop on the street. In addition, there are large and small taverns, restaurants, small inns, tea houses, butcher shops, tofu shops, There are drug stores, grocery stores, blacksmith shops, silk and satin shops, tailor shops, washing and dyeing workshops, lumber shops and ship repair workshops beside the threshing ground...

There are those who talk about drums, sing songs, sing operas, and juggle.Although there is no brothel, there are more than a dozen "private doormen",...on every market day, there is the sound of hawking and singing.The noise was like a great hive, converging into a humming din.

(End of this chapter)