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

Chapter 74 Ambition
On October [-]th, the eighth year of Chongzhen, early in the morning.

Shunxiangbao Teaching Field is located three miles south of the city, covering an area of ​​more than one hectare. The teaching field was built during the Yongle period.The years have passed, and the teaching ground has been dilapidated everywhere.

At this time, the teaching ground was already full of sergeants big and small from Shun Xiangbao.

In the tenth month of the lunar calendar, the weather in northern Daming is already very cold. There is even a little snow falling today. When the north wind blows, it makes people tremble all over.Look at many of the Shunxiangbao soldiers below, although they are all wrapped in thick padded jackets and leather jackets, most of them huddled together, stomping their hands and feet, not looking like a soldier at all.

What is even more depressing is that there are 320 soldiers in Shun Township Fort, but there are 250 people in the field. Except for Xu Luna's team, none of the six team officers has 40 people.Even among these people, half are old and weak, all of them are wearing tattered military uniforms, many of them are yellow and thin, wearing thin military uniforms, shivering in the cold wind, and even the weapons in their hands are rusty. It has not been maintained.

When these people met Wang Dou's gaze, they were all numb, and there was no expression on their faces. In Wang Dou's view, these people were useless.

The only thing that is better is the servants next to the team officers and team officers. There are eleven or two people in each team. Typical mob.

Even the 50 soldiers led by the original Xu Zhongjun's personal general Xu Lu were all servants, and there was no question of formation.These servants, placed in Jingbian Fort, are all unqualified soldiers, and placed in Shunxiang Fort and various guards in Daming, they are already the most important combat force.

On the high platform of the Martial Arts Hall of the teaching ground, Wang Dou glanced at the soldiers of Shunxiangbao, his expression was ugly. The corruption of Shunxiangbao's army was far beyond his expectation. Can these soldiers fight?Wang Dou was deeply suspicious.

Wang Dou was wearing the silver and white iron armor that was taken from the later Jin army, which attracted a lot of attention from the audience. In addition, he was the new defense officer inspecting troops and horses, and there were constant discussions from the audience.Beside him, Lin Daofu and Zhenfu Chi Dacheng also stood standing with their swords.

Chi Dacheng had a stern face, an expression that had remained unchanged for thousands of years.Lin Daofu was wearing an iron armor, making him even taller and burly. At this moment, his face was also ugly, and his eyes glanced at the sergeants in Shunxiang Fort from time to time, and at the same time, he frequently looked at the sergeants in Jingbian Fort.

Those are the good soldiers, all young, stout, and especially well disciplined, they wear armor and stand with their blades in cold weather.

They lined up in six horizontal teams, each with 12 people, no matter from which side they looked, they were in a straight line.Despite the cold weather, the soldiers of Shun Xiangbao shrank their hands and feet. They breathed a thick white breath, but they just remained motionless, letting the snowflakes float on their bodies.

In front of these groups of soldiers, Han Chao and Han Zhong stood in armor, also motionless.Even Xie Yike stood on the side of the soldiers, his face was tense, his expression was too serious.

This kind of military discipline and military appearance made the sergeants of Shun Xiangbao next to him fearful, especially those who had participated in the battle to wipe out the bandits a while ago, their expressions were even more awe-inspiring.

Xu Lu led his team of servants and stood on the right, looking at the Jingbian Fort smokers next to him, he felt very uncomfortable.It took him many years to raise a team of servants with all the strength of the whole fort, but their military strength is far inferior to that of the sergeants who have been trained for a few months in Jingbian Fort. Why doesn't this make him feel deeply Deep frustration?
After watching the audience for a long time, Wang Dou said in a deep voice, "Master Lin, why is the military affairs in the castle so dilapidated?"

Lin Daofu was in charge of the training of the battalion in Shunxiang Fort, and the army was so corrupted that of course Wang Dou asked Lin Daofu.

Lin Daofu clasped his fists and said in a deep voice: "My lord, training soldiers and horses requires money, food and salaries. There is not enough food and rice in the fort, and the officials are also powerless!"

Sergeants have to carry out basic drills, and at least have enough coarse food every day, otherwise they will be weak and weak, even if they run around the teaching field a few times, they will easily become exhausted and faint.If you want to increase the amount of training, you need to add some meat every day, otherwise you will soon urinate blood and die.

Shun Township Fortress is in ruins, money and food are exhausted, Lin Daofu is indeed a clever woman who can't cook without rice.

Wang Dou said: "Why are there so few officers and troops in the fort?"

Lin Daofu said in a deep voice: "My lord, the military households in the castle are constantly fleeing. The officers have to support their own servants, and the subordinates are helpless!"

The Daming border town guards are divided into seven parts for farming and three parts for city guards, which are called military officers and troops.After the guards' grain was collected, part of it was handed over, and part of it was used to support the officers in the fort and these officers and troops.The rest are miscellaneous officers and garrison troops who are doing labor and farming.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the troops stationed in the army can almost fully meet the needs of the entire army, so the soldiers are strong and the soldiers are at ease.However, after the year of Xuande, a large number of guard troops fled, and a large number of garrison troops were conscripted into the garrison army, and the original farm land was transferred to Yu Ding for farming.Things have changed over time. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it was common for the main army to fill up the army, and Yu Ding set up the garrison.

At this time, the officers and soldiers of the various guards continued to flee in large numbers, not to mention that the rest were mostly superficial. It was rare to practice for a few days a year, and their minds were only busy with their own small houses and fields.Even if there are young and strong, they are reluctant to serve as the main army, but let the old and weak in the family replace them.

Moreover, in order to support their own servants, the officers not only withheld food and pay, but also encouraged the existence of this phenomenon, so that they could take advantage of it to eat empty pay.

After all, there are only two words: grain and salary.

After listening to Lin Daofu's words, Wang Dou had been pondering all the time. After he asked the soldiers of Shun Township Castle to perform formations and martial arts again, he had no expression on his face, but said to Lin Daofu: "Master Lin, you pass on the order, starting tomorrow , I will inspect the castles under my rule!"

……

From October [-]th, Wang Dou asked Han Chao to lead the team of night guards to follow, and Han Zhong led several teams of soldiers to stay in the fort.He took the Lin Daofu of Shun Township Fort, Fu Chi Dacheng, and Xu Lu and others, braved the severe cold, and inspected each of his subordinate forts one after another.

In addition to the two military forts of Dongjiazhuang and Huiyaobao, Shunxiang Fort also has eleven forts including Zhouzhuang, Huzhuang, Chafangbao, and Yizhuang.Among them, Ganzhuang Fort, Yagou Fort, Shiweng Fort, and Chadao Fort belong to the jurisdiction of Fort Huiyao.

Regardless of the hard work of the chiefs and officers of the villages, according to what Wang Dou saw, the conditions of the villages were very bad. The farmland was abandoned, the cattle were thin and weak, a large number of households in the villages fled, and there were fewer young and old.Seeing these situations, Wang Dou couldn't help frowning.

On October [-]th, Wang Dou led a group of people to the Fort of Huiyao. Chang Zhengwei, the management team officer of Fort Huiyao, and Zhong Dayong, the team officer, greeted Wang Dou and his party respectfully.

The terrain of Huiyaobao is important, it is located on the main road of Qianhusuo, Mashuikou and Baoanzhou in Meiyu.The perimeter of the fort is 260 mile and 50 steps, without bricks. There are [-] guards led by a team officer, and there are four piers under its jurisdiction.

There is only one street and a few alleys in the fort, and there are dozens of military households. Perhaps it is because Huiyao Fort is located in the hilly and mountainous area in the middle of Baoan Prefecture, and there is less cultivated land. Zhuang is still poor.

The so-called main street is just a wider dirt road, full of potholes, and on both sides of the street are mostly mud houses, thatched huts and other dilapidated buildings, and most of the people walking on the road are ragged, men and women shivering from the cold.There are only two shops in the fort, selling some commodities such as grain, rice and groceries.

The best building in the fort is the hundred-household government hall. Chang Zhengwei and Zhong Dayong couldn't bring out any good things to entertain them, so they killed a pig to greet these big shots from Shunxiang Fort.

Wang Dou didn't pay much attention to the respect and flattery of the two, especially Zhong Dayong's flowery smile. He just asked Chang Zhengwei, "Master Chang, I heard that there is an iron mine near Huiyao Castle?"

The Huiyao Township of later generations is the famous hometown of grapes and apricots in Zhuolu County, and the territory is also rich in water resources, but Wang Dou is most concerned about the iron mines in the territory that can be used to make weapons and armor.

Chang Zhengwei pondered and said: "There is one. It is located in Koujiagou. It is still an ocher mine. Its quality is quite outstanding, but it is inconvenient to mine. Only some villagers go there to dig some ore for use. It is popular among people on weekdays!"

Ocher ore is hematite, which is mostly reddish brown in shape.

After hearing Chang Zhengwei's words, Wang Dou felt happy, and he said, "Take me there to have a look!"

……

After returning from Koujiagou, Wang Dou was in a happier mood. According to the estimates of his entourage, the local hematite reserves in Koujiagou were nearly 200 million tons, with an iron content of 30.00% to [-]%. It can meet Wang Dou's needs.

Mining is somewhat inconvenient, but Wang Dou, as the owner of a school, can still smelt a large amount of steel as long as he deploys manpower and has enough money and food.

Afterwards, he was in a good mood, and accompanied by Chang Zhengwei and others, he visited Huangyang Mountain in the northwest of Huiyaobao. Huangyang Mountain was the forest park of Zhuolu County in later generations.The forests here are evergreen and lush all the year round, and wild animals such as roe deer and badger can be seen everywhere.Not far from Huangyang Mountain, there is also Dongling Mountain.There are jagged rocks on the mountain, beautiful scenery, and a large number of trees and grasslands.It is an excellent base for raising horses and collecting herbs in the future.

After Tian Wangdou inspected Shunxiang Fort and Huiyao Fort these days, he estimated that there are [-] to [-] mu of arable land in the territory, and this is a piece of land that is completely up to him. Looking at the beautiful scenery on the mountain, Wang Pride surged in Dou's heart, he was able to manage Jingbian Fort well under extremely difficult conditions, and he could also manage the entire Shunxiang Fort well, gaining his foothold in the world.

Calculate next June, the Qing soldiers will enter the bandits, time is running out.

On May 27th of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji sent Azig to command the Eight Banners with 17 troops to attack the Ming Dynasty.On June 820, Azige's soldiers entered Xifengkou, Dushikou and other places in three routes, and met in Yanqing Prefecture, which is next to Baoan Prefecture.On September [-]th, Azige heard that [-] people and animals from the Ming Dynasty were captured, and Chao Pichang, the general of the Ming Dynasty, was captured alive.

This is a large-scale invasion, and time is running out, especially in Bao'an Prefecture, which is an important food storage place in Xuanfu Town. The Qing soldiers will definitely send troops to plunder at that time, and the Qing soldiers who will appear under Shunxiang Fort How many people will there be? 1000 people, or 1 people?

Whether it is a bandit or a barbarian, Wang Dou hates them from the bottom of his heart and looks down on them from the bottom of his heart!No matter in the past, present, or future, I will never consider the idea of ​​surrendering from the bandits. If the soldiers approach the city, the worst is to die in a vigorous battle. I would rather die than die!

How can you accept your fate willingly?Ever since I came into this world, I have been working hard, from a penniless soldier to the current position of defense officer, all by myself, even at the last moment, Wang Dou will not give up.

Wang Dou is ambitious, and plans to build a strong army of thousands of people before the arrival of the Qing army next year. If there is not enough money and food, go for it!Right now in the troubled times of the Ming Dynasty, bandits are all over the place, killing them, one can reassure the people, and the other can support the army, if they don't die, it's my turn to die.

Looking in the direction of Koujiagou, Wang Dou exhaled, his future should start here.

(End of this chapter)