Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Quan Dashan was in the queue, and all his movements were done meticulously.Because at the side, there are adults on guard watching them train.Quan Dashan felt that every time the garrison lord appeared, the commander-in-chief's orders would be three points louder, and even after the recruits made mistakes, the small wooden sticks that the head-in-chief fell on the recruits also became stronger by three points.

Ever since those recruits arrived at Runing Camp and started training, Wu Shigong never spent less than an hour on the training ground every day.There was no way, Wu Shigong felt that the time was too tight, so he wanted to train those recruits as soon as possible.

However, Wu Shigong basically watched the military officers under him training the recruits on the training ground, and would not speak casually.Only when the recruits were resting, Wu Shigong would arrange the kitchen and cook a pot of ginger soup for the recruits to warm them up, in order to show that he, the guard, cared about the recruits.

In fact, after more than two years of training, those military officers already have a mature method on how to train recruits.Wu Shigong is now also arranging some senior military officers and a few literati, and is sorting out the training outline and textbooks for soldiers.

On the training ground today, Wu Shigong watched those recruits train all morning.After lunch, Wu Shigong took a nap for a while in the room that was built separately for the officers beside the barracks.

After taking a nap, Qiongniang came in with a washbasin and helped Wu Shigong wipe his face.Qiongniang's current status is Wu Shigong's personal servant girl, Wu Shigong can't accept her as a concubine now, because if he wants to accept a concubine, he must at least hold a ceremony to marry a concubine, but if he does that, maybe there will be someone I got to know Joanniang.Therefore, for the sake of safety, Wu Shigong had to wait for a while before arranging to accept Qiongniang as a concubine.

In the living room outside, Zheng Zhen had been waiting for Wu Shigong for a long time, and he wanted to discuss with Wu Shigong about buying land and establishing Zhuangzi.During this period of time, Zheng Zhen had gone to many places in Runing Mansion, just waiting for Wu Shigong to decide how to buy the land.

Seeing Wu Shigong coming out, Zheng Zhen cupped his hands and saluted: "Sir, there are many people who want to sell land in Guide Mansion, but the land price is not worth much at all. For those people who are fleeing, just give them three taels of silver per mu. They were willing to sell the land. And the current grain price has exceeded two taels of silver per shi. If you want to buy land, now is indeed a good opportunity."

Zheng Zhen went on to introduce: "However, those lands have basically been abandoned for a year. If the situation is not good next year, there will still be no crops in these fields. And the officials and gentry who buy land from the common people now will not Don’t even count on next year, they are all hoarding land now.”

"Oh?" Wu Shigong asked after listening carefully, "Then is there anyone selling land in the places we need?"

"Right now, a large amount of land is being sold in all parts of Runing Mansion. Even some small landowners can't bear the years of disasters and want to sell their land. And the places designated by the adults to set up Zhuangzi , there are many places for us to choose from.”

"However, there was a severe drought in Henan, and there was no harvest. These officials all understand. But why didn't the land at the fortress of Qianhusuo affect the harvest?"

"This is also due to our overhaul of water conservancy a few years ago. In fact, despite the severe drought, there is still plenty of water in the river. As long as the water conservancy is effectively built, there will be some harvests. This is also the wisdom of the adults at that time! "

Wu Shigong smiled and waved his hands, and said: "Mr. Zheng has won the award. If you want to count the credit, it is also your credit. I have been fighting outside, and the affairs in this field have always been in charge of you, Mr. Zheng."

Zheng Zhen also stroked his beard and laughed.He then said to Wu Shigong: "My lord, if you make a decision, I will immediately arrange the purchase of the land."

Wu Shigong thought for a while, and suddenly, he frowned and thought again.After a while, Wu Shigong said to Zheng Zhen: "Since we have a lot of grain, let's use the grain to buy land. It will be three stones per mu."

"My lord!" Zheng Zhen immediately exclaimed, "The price is too high."

Wu Shigong waved his hands again and said with a smile: "If you don't raise a high price, you will be grabbing land with the local officials and gentry, which will cause some disputes. But in the past few years, the price of grain was only about five yuan per stone. According to this calculation, in fact, we still take advantage of it.”

"Also, give the people who sell the land two choices. One is to buy out the land with three shi of grain per mu. The other is to buy two shi of grain per mu, but these people have to work on the land. They also have to accept our arrangements for labor and military training. However, as long as they give us four shi per mu of grain within ten years, the land will also be returned to them.”

"My lord!" Zheng Zhen exclaimed again: "Don't all those common people choose the second type? Then, my lord, you will suffer too much."

Zheng Zhen knew in his heart that in the minds of the people of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the land was simply their lifeblood.It's not that they have reached the point where they really can't survive, they absolutely refuse to sell the land.

And Wu Shigong gave them an option to take back the land.How can this prevent the hearts of the people who sell the land?Besides, within the ten years set by Wu Shigong, the interest rate for repaying two shi of grain for four shi of grain was very low. Compared with the loan sharks at that time, Wu Shigong's interest was simply an interest-free loan.

"It is to ask them to choose the second type. Only when they are organized, can they build water conservancy projects; only when they are trained in the military, can the army have a reserve source of soldiers. Relatively speaking, how much food can be harvested from these fields? It should be the last consideration. After all, I really need food, so why not let Tang Liu go to Huguang to buy it?"

Zheng Zhen nodded, he understood Wu Shigong's meaning, so he said to Wu Shigong: "The villain will leave immediately. Earlier, he built some water conservancy and irrigated more fields."

In fact, from the beginning to the end, Wu Shigong never thought about what to do with these lands ten years later.According to Wu Shigong's estimation, after ten years, the world must be in chaos.

At that time, the army will fight to the death, and the people will be precarious, and the land that cannot be brought will be of no use at all. It is better to hold food in hand to make people feel at ease.

In addition, Wu Shigong and Xue Yongli also discovered that if recruits go to battle after not training for more than half a year, it is simply a joke with the recruits' lives.Wu Shigong adopted the police policy.The safety of every soldier is very important to Wu Shigong.If this problem is to be solved, it is imperative that recruits receive some basic military training before they are recruited.

So regarding this issue, Wu Shigong also discussed with Deng Qifan and Xue Yongli several times. In the end, it was Deng Qifan who dug out the method of farming from the pile of old friends' papers.That is to say, those reserve soldiers are farming in peacetime and fighting in wartime.

Therefore, Wu Shigong bought the land this time for farming purposes.But now Wu Shigong adopts this method, and there is another beauty.Those people who are farming on the land, they still hope to take the land back to their own homes.If there was a war, they wouldn't fight for their land?

Of course, Wu Shigong would also distribute the land forcibly occupied in the mountainous area of ​​Runing Prefecture to his own slaves for farming.Now among Wu Shigong's domestic slaves, Wu Shigong has also designated three levels for them.

The lowest level of domestic slaves, doing rough work, the daily rations are just enough to survive starvation, and they basically have no human freedom.These domestic slaves are basically the bandits and their families captured by Wu Shigong in the suppression of bandits.And every year, among the lowest class slaves, there are always some who are not very obedient and will be selected by Wu Shigong to be executed.

However, those lowest-ranking domestic slaves are not hopeless. As long as they work for two years, they will be promoted to ordinary domestic slaves.Of course, good performance will shorten the time.

As for ordinary domestic slaves, Wu Shigong not only allowed them to have enough food, but also allowed them to own some wealth.The personal freedom of ordinary domestic slaves is a little bigger.But in the same way, those who perform poorly among ordinary house slaves will also be reduced to the lowest class of house slaves.

However, if ordinary house slaves worked for Wu Shigong for five years, they would be converted into servants.Wu Shigong will distribute land to those families. Of course, the ownership of these lands belongs to Wu Shigong, and Wu Shigong only collects about [-]% of the land rent on those lands.However, all males among ordinary domestic slaves must undergo military training.

In addition, there is a shortcut for ordinary domestic slaves to become servants.That is, someone in the family was recruited as Wu Shigong's soldier.Now Wu Shigong's ordinary domestic slaves are mainly the rioters from the Holy Spirit Society that he captured.Also, as long as the military households of Tao Xin's Thousand Households Office did not join Wu Shigong's army, they would also enjoy this treatment.

Of course, at the higher level, there are stewards, housekeepers and other levels, but this is not something that ordinary house slaves can climb.

The craftsmen and clerks in workshops such as Yang Goudan’s blacksmith workshop, the clerks in the commercial firm, and those who teach and the doctors trained in Zhizhi, if they were originally Wu Shigong’s slaves, they would all enjoy the servant’s benefits. treatment.

Therefore, Wu Shigong formed a hierarchy among the domestic slaves, just like the army.And officers like Xue Yongli and Deng Qifan's staff have actually vaguely formed a noble class.However, this class is not completely closed. In theory, as long as one works hard, it is possible to rise from the lowest level of domestic slaves to this noble class.