A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 49
Early the next morning, Wang Dou took the Han and Chao brothers, Gao Shiyin, and Zhong Tiaoyang to Zhoucheng.

Now that the farming is busy and the wasteland is opened up, all the sergeants in the team are going to work, and the training is not successful. Han Chao and Han Zhong have nothing to do, so they went with Wang Dou.

Wang Dou, Han Chao, Han Zhong, and Gao Shiyin all had horses, and Zhong Tiaoyang also borrowed Qi Tianliang's horses for use.

Zhong Tiaoyang already knew about his father, he said to Wang Dou with shame: "My lord, you are worried about my father."

Wang Dou said: "We are all one family, so there is no need to say such polite words."

Baoanzhou City is in the northwest of Jingbian Fort, about a dozen miles away from the Fort. Several people rode away, passing through several Tunpu villages, and soon arrived at the edge of the Sanggan River, which is called the Hun River by the locals. .Here, there is a pontoon bridge called Chuanji Bridge by local people. It was built in the third year of Zhengtong in the Ming Dynasty. After crossing the river and walking five miles east, you will arrive at Baoanzhou City.

Wang Dou and the others arrived at the Chuanji Bridge. It was the time for the summer tax collection. Although it was early in the morning, the bridge was already crowded with people driving ox carts, mule carts, and rickshaws, all loaded with grain. .

After the "one-whip law" of the Ming Dynasty, although the collection of summer taxes and autumn grains has been changed to silver, how can ordinary people have silver in their hands?The grain had to be transported to the state city or other places, and then sold in various rice shops in exchange for silver. Here, the merchants had to accept the low price far below the market price. Even in a good year, the profit was not much. .

After the tax is paid, the next year when the people are starving, they have to buy food from merchants at high prices to satisfy their hunger. At this time, it is the time when people from all over the country flee in poverty and sell their children and daughters.

Zhang Juzheng implemented a whipping method in the past, with the original intention of alleviating the hardships of the people's corvee and grain transportation. Unexpectedly, it has been implemented until now, but it has made the people endure more abuse or exploitation.

Of course, after the "one-whip method", the grain chiefs and village chiefs in various places survived in name only, but at this time, with the limited servants in the states and counties of the Ming Dynasty, it was naturally difficult to collect taxes from the households, and there appeared in various places in the Ming Dynasty. It is a kind of Baotou or Lanhu, which is usually served by local big, wealthy or local powerful people.

Although these people pay taxes on behalf of some people, it is convenient for some people, but obviously, they will not do good things in vain. The layers of exploitation also make many people willing to go to the state city to pay taxes by themselves.At this time, the people's vehicles crowded by the Chuanji Bridge obviously belonged to this category of people.

Seeing the numb expressions of these people, Wang Dou secretly sighed for the suffering of the people's livelihood.Han Zhong and Gao Shiyin next to him were heartless, they just rode on the horse and gave pointers for fun. Seeing the envious looks of some people on the horse, the two were very proud.

After waiting for a long time, when the bridge deck became clearer, Wang Dou and the others rode their horses across the river.

……

The five men ran fast, and soon arrived at the city of Baoanzhou.

Baoanzhou City was originally the site of Baoan Guard City, which was set up in the second year of Yongle.In the 13th year of Yongle, Baoanzhou was placed in the Acropolis, and the prefecture was in the same city.In the second year of Jingtai, the security guard was moved to the new site of Leijia Station, which became the new Baoan Town of Huailai County in later generations.

The city of Baoanzhou in front of us is square, with 140 and 44 steps on Thursday, three feet and five feet high, and the top is three feet thick. In the 490th year of Jiajing, He Qin, the magistrate of the state, and Zhou Yingqi, who was guarding it, were covered with bricks.There is also a moat outside the city, which is two feet and five feet deep.There are also two gates, the south gate and the west gate.At the south gate, there is also a Nanguanbao city, with a circumference of [-] feet, a wall height of three feet and five feet, and a moat depth of two feet and five feet.

There is Zhuolu Mountain in the southwest of Baoanzhou City, Jiming Mountain and Yaoerling in the northwest, and Sanggan River in the south.In the east, there are Dongbali Fort, Liangtian Tunpu, Baoanwei City, Magokkou and other forts.It is an important place to store grain in Xuan Town of Daming Dynasty.

On July 23rd of the seventh year of Chongzhen, five days before Wang Dou came to this world, the Hou Jin army captured Baoan Prefecture.

In view of this, the security of Baoanzhou City in front of us is much more heavily guarded. Dozens of Fran cannons are placed on the city walls, and there are many small copper cannons and small iron cannons.In addition, Wang Dou also saw a few iron cannons of Shenwei Great Generals. The barrels of the cannons were probably three meters long, and the dark muzzles were only facing the outside of the city.

The five Wang Dou came to the Laixun Gate of Nanguanbao City, and they wanted to enter the city from here.

But in front of the suspension bridge, it was crowded with people from various villages who came to transport grain, and a city gate was full.In addition, there were some ragged refugees who wanted to sneak into the city with their families, but the gatekeepers just shouted loudly, not allowing them to enter the city.

There was a lot of noise, seeing this, Wang Dou and the others had no choice but to wait.

At this time, the weather was hot and the sun was out, so they found a few seats in a tea shed near the city gate to have tea.

The old man who ran the tea shed couldn't help hesitating a little when he saw the appearance of several people dressed in military men and the ferocious expressions on their faces.

Gao Shiyin glared and said, "Why, are you afraid that we won't pay you? Have you seen your horses? Do we look like people who can't afford money?"

The old man was even more startled, nodded and bowed down and poured tea for everyone.

Everyone ate two bowls of tea, and seeing that the city gate was open, Wang Dou signaled slightly, Gao Shiyin took out a penny, and slapped it on the table with a "slap", causing the table to almost fall apart, and he said loudly : "Hey, this is money for you, you don't have to change it if you have more."

The old man was overjoyed, but he kept thanking him, and secretly wondered: "I've never seen a military master drink tea and return the money, it's really strange."

……

Wang Dou and the others stood up, Zhong Tiaoyang led the horse for Wang Dou, and they were about to enter the city when a burst of voices suddenly caught their attention.

But not far away, two girls dressed as maids were complaining to the men in coarse clothes in front of them: "I made an appointment with you early in the morning, why are you here now? I almost missed our distinguished guests."

The few men were just screaming, and one of them said: "Grandma, you two have a tight schedule, and you have to rush for fresh food. It is dozens of miles from our Dongling Mountain to here, and we set off before dawn. Yes, you've caught up now, haven't you?"

One of the servant girls said: "Okay, okay, are your mountain apricots fresh?"

The man said: "Grandma, our apricots were picked from the sunny slopes of Dongling Mountain yesterday. Look, how thin the flesh is, and how fresh is the color? Guaranteed to taste a lot The juice is sweet, and I heard from the older generation that eating this apricot has the effects of nourishing the lungs and relieving asthma, promoting body fluid and quenching thirst.

The two servant girls took the man's bamboo basket and looked at it for a while, then said: "Okay, we'll take the apricot, and the money is for you."

He took out a piece of silver and handed it to the man, who took it and said joyfully, "It's so much, thank you two grandmas."

A group of rough-clothed men went happily, talking happily along the way that the trip was not small.

Gao Shiyin's eyes just kept shooting at the two maids, and he said: "I don't know which house these two maids belong to, but they are really beautiful. It would be nice to ask for one to be a mother-in-law."

Han Zhong laughed, "Gao Manzi, if you don't even look at yourself, will these two maids take a fancy to you?"

Gao Shiyin glared and shouted, "They won't be interested in you either."

Wang Dou looked at the two maidservants, the two girls were around sixteen or seventeen, wearing crimson gauze clothes, they were fair and delicate.The girls from the military households in Jingbian Fort and Dongjiazhuang were either thick and dark, or thin. Compared with each other, the two maids were indeed very attractive.

Moreover, although they are maids, they also have a charming temperament. Their master can train such servants, and I don't know which mansion in the state city they are from.

At this moment, a gorgeous chariot drove out of the city gate, and the gatekeepers saw the chariot and horse passing by, all with respectful expressions, and repeatedly drove out the people surrounding the city gate.

The carriage and horses stopped not far from Wang Dou and the others, and a middle-aged man stepped out from the carriage. He had sharp eyes and was dressed in silk clothes. He looked like the steward of a rich family.

He saw two servant girls, called them over, and asked, "Have you two prepared the gift for Miss Ji?"

The two maids responded quickly: "Butler Yang, we have all the gifts ready."

Butler Yang took the bamboo basket from the second daughter's hand, looked inside for a while, and nodded with satisfaction: "The young lady specially urged the young lady to handle this apricot. The two of you can finish it in such a short time, sir. Madame must be happy."

The two servant girls were also very happy when they heard this, and said repeatedly: "This is all thanks to Steward Yang's promotion, and the slaves and servants are all grateful."

Butler Yang nodded and said, "Get ready, the carriages of Young Madam and Miss Ji are about to come out."

At this time, there was already a circle of people around the chariot and horses, Wang Dou and the others became curious when they saw this, instead they were not in a hurry to leave, it would be better to watch the excitement nearby.

Butler Yang just stood proudly with his hands behind his back, his eyes swept towards Wang Dou and the others, he glanced at everyone, snorted, and turned his head away again.

Gao Shiyin said in a low voice: "Look at the chariots and horses, they seem to belong to the residence of Lord Zhizhou..."

At this moment, another beautiful carriage drove out of the city gate, and soon stopped behind the previous one.Steward Yang hurried up with two maids, and respectfully opened the car door, revealing the bamboo curtain inside.

A woman's low voice sounded from inside, and then the bamboo curtain was half rolled up, and two women got out of the car.

One of them was a young woman in her twenties, wearing a scarlet bijia.The other is a girl in the blooming season, about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a loose white light shirt and a thread skirt, with a graceful figure and a graceful figure.

The two girls got out of the car, and the girl saluted generously, saying: "Young Madam Lao gave you such kind hospitality, I am very grateful."

The young woman bowed back and said: "Little lady, go all the way, and send greetings to the adults on behalf of the concubine."

She stretched out her hand to take the bamboo basket handed over by Steward Yang, and said: "These apricots are specially prepared by the concubine for the adults, and I hope the young lady will accept them."

The girl took it in surprise, and laughed: "I didn't expect Young Madam to know what Daddy likes. She really has a heart."

The two girls finally bowed to each other again.

Wang Dou saw that both of them were the best choice for their demeanor and demeanor, especially the girl called Ji Xiaoniang, who was tall and tall, with a delicate face and very flexible eyes.

Looking at this girl, Wang Dou felt amazed. When he came to the Ming Dynasty, it was the first time he saw the beauties in ancient legends. The hibiscus came out of the clear water, and they were carved naturally. The beauties of the so-called cosmetics of later generations were in front of her eyes. Not on a level at all.

Looking at the fabrics of the two women's clothes, they are all high-quality silk and luxurious. I don't know where these two women came from.

Gao Shiyin said in a low voice at the side: "The young lady seems to be in Zhizhou's mansion. I have seen it before. I don't know who that little lady is. She wants to work for the young lady in Zhizhou's mansion."

Wang Dou and the others all looked at Gao Shiyin, expressing admiration for his rich experience.

The young lady Ji got into the carriage, and when the carriage started, she still smiled and waved her hand to the young lady outside the carriage.Under the chariot and horses, Han Zhong and Gao Shiyin looked at her stupidly, drooling all over the floor and still didn't know it. Miss Ji couldn't help being a little funny when she saw Han Zhong and the two of them. Her eyes flowed, and she was immediately full of charm.

When her eyes fell on Wang Dou, Wang Dou nodded to her with a smile.The little lady Ji glanced at Wang Dou in surprise, her eyes were shining, she turned deeply on Wang Dou, and then closed the curtains.

Watching her chariots and horses go away, Wang Dou thought of a poem in his mind: "There are vines in the wild, and there are zero dews. Show off. There is a beautiful person, as gentle as Qingyang. When you meet, you will be happy with your son."

Perhaps a better way to describe the scene.

After the girl's chariot and horse had gone away, Wang Dou saw that Gao Shiyin and Gao Shiyin were still dumbfounded. He patted each of them on the head and said, "Everyone is gone, what are you looking for? Let's go into the city!"

(End of this chapter)