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

Chapter 75 New Edition
Wang Dou has this ambition to train a strong army of a thousand soldiers next year, but time is running out, Wang Dou can only choose the easiest to train troops for training.

In Wang Dou's plan, these arms must also be assembly line-like, capable of mass production, cheap, and able to withstand consumption, and then use the numbers to pile up all their opponents.Calculating in this way, there are only pikemen and musketeers, plus some appropriate artillery and cavalry.

A musketeer can fight on the battlefield after one month of training, and as long as he has enough training, he can become a sharpshooter within one year.Spearmen can also go to the battlefield after three months of training, and they can become elite soldiers after one year. Just look at the sergeants of Jingbianbao.

Even making lead bullets is far easier than making arrows.When the soldiers were camping, they lit a bonfire, took out an iron cup to melt the lead, clamped it out with bullet pliers, put it in water to cool, and a lead bullet was ready.Especially if there is a mold, lead bullets can be cast in large quantities.

It takes at least three years to train a qualified archer, and there are also extremely strict requirements on the height and arm length of soldiers. In addition, the bow and arrow equipment is expensive, and the cost is really too high.

In fact, in this era, musket technology is far from mature, and hot and cold weapons are mixed. If you have a large number of qualified archers, you can still gain an advantage in the battlefield.In the later seventeenth century, Zheng Chenggong's archers eclipsed the Dutch riflemen with their skilled archery.

However, due to the cost and difficulty of training, the archer was eliminated in the Wang Dou army.There is also the sword and shield hand, which is also extremely difficult to train. A qualified sword and shield hand also needs to be trained for up to a year, which is much slower than the spearman and musketeer, so let's cancel it.

Of course, if there are only musketeers and spearmen in the army, this composition is still very disadvantageous.

Firearms in this era have various defects. Under the psychological pressure of facing the enemy, complex firearm operations are easy to cause mistakes.

There are also many shortcomings of matchlock guns, and they cannot be used in rainy days.A lighted match could easily expose the target, and it was impossible to sneak attack at night.The match was easy to burn out and the operation was complicated, even if Wang Dou improved the gunpowder in the paper tube.Even if there are flintlock guns in the future, there are still many problems.

But there are always advantages and disadvantages in everything, as long as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, it is worth doing!

The production of soldiers on the assembly line of the Ming Dynasty should start with himself, Wang Dou is full of pride!
……

On October 22, the eighth year of Chongzhen, after returning from Huiyao Fort, Wang Dou immediately summoned all the military officers in the fort to discuss affairs in the official meeting hall.

"Master Lin, from today onwards, you will be in charge of the camp and farming affairs in the fort!"

Wang Dou said solemnly to Lin Daofu who was sitting on the left side of his lower head.

After these days of observation, Wang Dou found that Lin Daofu still had a fair heart for everything in the castle, and with his ability, he could be entrusted with important tasks.

Lin Daofu remained silent. After hearing Wang Dou's words, he seemed unable to believe his ears. He was stunned for a moment, then stood up tremblingly, his eyes were red, and his tall body bowed deeply. He got down, choked up and said: "The lower official takes the order, don't worry, the guard, the lower official will definitely do his duty faithfully, and do the things that the adult ordered well!"

Seeing how excited he was, Wang Dou could understand his feelings. After being the third child for ten thousand years, someone finally appreciated him. How could he not be excited?
Wang Dou softly said: "Lord Lin, you don't have to be like this. In terms of seniority, you are my elder brother, and you have rich experience in the castle. Since I was appointed, I have been thinking and trembling day and night, lest I miss the appointment of Lord Cheng. From now on, everyone in the castle I need Master Lin to teach me a lot!"

Lin Daofu was even more grateful for Wang Dou's heartfelt words. He bowed deeply again, and then sat down. His originally dim eyes became sharp again. Sitting on the chair, he seemed to be looking forward to himself.Since then, Lin Daofu's life has been enriched. He is full of energy, and everyone can hear his loud and scolding voices from far away.

Regarding Lin Daofu's promotion, apart from Zhenfu Chi Dacheng who showed a smile on his face and was happy for Lin Daofu, everyone else showed envy, jealousy and disappointment in their eyes.Lin Daofu and Li Shunbao's farming affairs, they are hopeless.

But on the surface, they still congratulated Lin Daofu with all smiles on their faces, and Lin Daofu also accepted everyone's congratulations with a smile on his face.

Wang Doudao: "In addition, Mr. Zhen Fuchi is still in charge of the law and discipline in the military castle, and the rest will perform their own duties!"

Everyone suddenly took orders.

Wang Dou pondered for a while, and said: "From tomorrow onwards, soldiers will be organized in the fort to reclaim the fields and practice military affairs!"

He said to Feng Dachang, the magistrate, "Mr. Feng, tomorrow you will lead a few clerks in the castle to count the young and strong men in the castle by household, and count all the young and strong men between the ages of 16 and 40!"

Feng Dachang was sitting on the right side, with a smile on his face all the time, he looked like a refined scholar, at this moment he stood up with a smile, cupped his hands and said: "Students take orders, and in a few days, the document will be presented to the adults. superior."

Wang Dou glanced at him and nodded. People say that officials are as slippery as oil, but at least on the surface, Feng Dachang still supports him very much.

Then Wang Dou issued a few more orders, with a determined command and a calm mind.Seeing Wang Dou's orderly manner, everyone in the field showed surprise expressions. This Wang Dou really has two brushes.Previously, everyone saw that he was just patrolling around without any action at all, but now this action is swift and resolute, with a certain power of his own.

In Wang Dou's plan, apart from Jingbian Fort being under his own independent command, Lin Daofu will be handed over to Shunxiang Fort's farming affairs in the future.

And he also plans to abolish all the officers' servants in the future.

Households, the private property of generals, military generals invade the army and pay more to family members than sergeants.One favors another, those abandoned sergeants are not thoughtless robots, they are regarded as waste, how can they have no resentment?These people are often the first to collapse on the battlefield. They create a very bad situation. Even if the servants can fight again, it will not help.

The family system seriously weakened the combat effectiveness of the army.Speaking of which, the treatment of sergeants in Jingbianbao may not be very good. They only eat enough every day, and they don't even have military pay.However, they have the current military capacity and combat strength because of the atmosphere of equal treatment in the army and the system of fair rewards and punishments.

Follow the example above and below, if Wang Dou also becomes a servant, what will his subordinates do if he learns from himself?At that time, everyone in the army will have a lot of servants, and the rest of the sergeants will become useless, and they will go back to the old way of the Ming army and train for nothing.

Of course, the reasons for the formation of the Daming Jiading system are complicated. Without private soldiers, it is easy to be influenced by others, especially the imperial court.

Moreover, the servants are the private property of the officers, and many of them are the servants of the generals. In addition to embezzling the military pay, the officers are the servants who occupy a large number of fields to support themselves.How easy is it to abolish the servants of the officers?This is their lifeline, if you want to break someone's lifeline, they will fight you desperately!
Wang Dou planned to train a new army first, and when the time was right, he would break up those servants and incorporate them all into the army.Before the new army is trained, it is better to maintain the status quo.

First of all, it is possible to lay off all the old and weak with better troops and simpler administration.

Wang Dou glanced at the crowd, and said: "From tomorrow onwards, the army will pay the next month's rations first, and I will also pay the servants according to the rations of the servants. But after the rations are paid, all the old and weak in the army will be paid." Retirement, unless all the young and strong members of each team are replenished, and the quota is full. The standard for young and strong is men over the age of 16 and under 40! Those who are punished will not be negligent!"

"Chi Zhenfu, I will leave it to you to dismiss the old and the weak!"

Chi Dacheng is rigid and serious, and is known as "Chi Paopi" in Shun Township Fort, so leave this annoying job to him.

After listening to Wang Dou's order, the middle-aged man stood up expressionlessly, and just said: "The next official takes orders!"

Then he sat down solemnly.

The rest of the officers looked at each other. They were happy for a while when they heard that Wang Dou was going to pay the rations, but after hearing what Wang Dou said later, they were all stunned. There are more than a dozen people left, how will they live on empty pay and drink the blood of soldiers in the future?

Moreover, the dismissal of the old and the weak is managed by the frightening "Chi Papi". It seems that everyone is in trouble.

Only Xu Lu's eyes were full of smiles. His team of soldiers was all young and strong, and the food and salary for a team of 50 soldiers was quite a lot.

Lin Daofu stood up, clasped his hands to Wang Dou and said: "Your Excellency, the food and payment in the fort can only be used for one month. If the soldiers' rations are paid, there will be no food and rice in the fort!"

Wang Dou said: "Your Majesty Lin, don't worry, I will find a way to save the soldiers from hunger and cold!"

Lin Daofu sat down again, Wang Dou was able to quietly train more than a hundred strong soldiers in Jingbian Fort, he must have his own way!

……

Regardless of the fact that Lin Daofu and Feng Dachang went to count the young and old population in the fort afterwards, the news that Wang Dou was about to pay the soldiers stirred up waves in Shunxiang Fort like a gust of wind.

Many people smiled for the first time when they heard the news. For half a year, not a single grain of rice was distributed in Shun Township Fort. paid.

On October 23, the north wind seemed to be sweeping everything, and the snow was blowing, and it fell to the ground and soon froze into solid ice.But none of this stopped the enthusiasm of the military households in Shun Township Fort. They wrapped their leather jackets and cotton jackets around their bodies, rubbed their hands, breathed out the cold air, and just clustered in front of the Qianhu government hall, each with their own food and other items. .

The monthly rations for the sergeants of the Daming Guard, the horse army was given two stones of rice per month, the general banner of the infantry army was given five dou of rice for one stone per month, the small flag was given two buckets of rice for one stone per month, and the sergeants were given one stone of rice per month. Yes, half of those who farm the fields will be given.The sergeant's monthly salt is two catties for those with a family, and one catty for those without.

Monthly grain can be exchanged for silver, and one stone of rice can be exchanged for one tael of silver, but now that rice is expensive and silver is cheap, everyone is willing to receive rice.There are also the servants of the various teams in Shunxiangbao, who are paid one tael of silver per month, five dou of natural rice, and Wang Dou one by one.

Wang Dou moved a chair and sat under a big banyan tree. He personally called the names according to the military register, and handed out the food badges to each sergeant.Every soldier who received the food was very grateful, and their families were also beaming when they watched from behind.

Han Chao stood beside Wang Dou, and he just watched quietly. At this time, Wang Dou was calling an old soldier. The old soldier was probably 60 years old when he came up, with gray hair and beard. fight?
Wang Dou handed over the food tablet to him, the old soldier laughed with his mouth open, his front teeth were long gone.

Han Chao suddenly asked him: "Who do you eat and work for?"

The old soldier cracked his mouth and said with a smile: "The little one eats Mr. Wang's food, and the whole family of the villain will work for Mr. Wang!"

Hearing what he said, Han Chao nodded and stopped asking.

Lin Daofu and Zhenfu Chi Dacheng next to each other looked at each other, and Wang Dou just smiled.

After all the rations and salaries of the soldiers were distributed, the warehouse in Shun Township Fort was empty. While everyone was watching what Wang Dou would do, a few days later, grain trucks entered the fort and filled the warehouse again, enough to make the warehouse full. Everyone eats it for two months.

Everyone was amazed, as expected, the new lord of defense had a plan. For a while, everyone in Shun Township Fort was at ease. It seemed that in the future they could live a good life like the military households of Jingbian Fort. In the air, for the first time, there was a burst of anger.

In just a few days, Wang Dou's prestige in the fort increased rapidly. Now that he was walking on the street, many military households cheered at him: "My lord, my lord!"

……

On October 25th, the eighth year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou mobilized the military households in the fort to carry out a general cleaning. They cleaned everything inside and outside the houses, up and down the streets, and ditches, and finally swept out dozens of cars of large garbage.Looking at the rubbish, everyone was surprised. They didn't expect there to be so much rubbish around them.

After the general cleaning, all parts of the castle were clean, especially the bluestone slabs of the three main streets, with some water sprinkled on them, making them look more refreshed.Although all the military households are still dressed in shabby clothes, their temperament has obviously changed when walking on the street. Shunxiang Fort has a tendency to quickly become a larger version of Jingbian Fort.

On this day, the official Feng Dachang also came with Lin Daofu and brought the statistical documents of the young men in the castle. Behind Feng Dachang was Wang Dou's uncle Zhong Zhengxian.

Feng Dachang came into the hall, with a springy smile on his face, three long beards, well-groomed clothes and hair, obviously he is a person who pays attention to appearance.

He gracefully bowed to Wang Dou, then bowed his hands to Lin Daofu, and then smiled at Wang Dou: "My lord, the document has been counted. There are 310 and 410 households in the fort, including craftsmen. , with a population of 630, 570. Among them, there are 55 males, 780 five adults, and 710 minors. Seven women are 72, five strong women are 430, and young girls are [-]. According to statistics, there are [-] young and strong men in the castle. Seven mouths!"

Wang Dou snorted, took the document and looked through it carefully. A few days ago, Lin Daofu told himself that there were 350 or seven households in the fort, and some of them were obviously deserted.

Wang Dou looked through it carefully, and found that Feng Dachang was very careful in his work. The age of each household, role in the army, men and women, Cheng Ding, etc. were all noted on the website. All the conditions were clear at a glance, and he was a very capable person.

After watching for a while, Wang Dou sighed: "There are still fewer households in the castle!"

Lin Daofu stood beside him and said: "Military households everywhere are fleeing, and Shunbao is no exception!"

Wang Dou nodded, and carefully looked through the manual.

While Wang Dou was watching carefully, Feng Dachang just watched Wang Dou's face carefully.

After a long time, Wang Dou closed the Chinese book in his hand, and he said to Feng Dachang with satisfaction: "Mr. Feng is able to do things well, and I, Wang Dou, will be rewarded for every meritorious service. You will receive double salary this month."

Feng Dachang was overjoyed, he bowed his hands and thanked Wang Dou, and then said with a smile: "Speaking of which, Mr. Zhong also contributed a lot to this statistics booklet, he can be regarded as the right arm of the students."

"Oh." Wang Dou was a little surprised, he didn't expect his uncle to be praised like this by Feng Dachang.

Feng Dachang explained a few words with a smile. It turns out that although Zhong Zhengxian is lazy, he is very good at counting and quite accomplished in logic.This time the statistics booklet is indeed a lot of effort, and the notes of each household are his proposals.

Being praised by Feng Dachang like this, Zhong Zhengxian couldn't help but feel elated, and he also said a few words modestly: "This is all because Mr. Feng has a good leadership, so how can Zhong have any credit?"

Wang Dou smiled and said, "Mr. Zhong will also add two buckets of rice this month."

In front of a formal official, Wang Dou treats Zhong Zhengxian as business-like.In the past, when Zhong Tiaoyang was by his side, he always called himself an adult, and he never dared to consider himself a relative of Wang Dou.It's just that Zhong Zhengxian lacked some awareness.

Zhong Zhengxian smiled and thanked happily.

Wang Dou said to Feng Dachang again: "From now on, I have to ask Mr. Feng to worry about the documents in the castle."

Feng Dachang cupped his hands with a smile and said: "My lord is serious. It is a student's honor to be able to serve my lord."

……

After the population records of Shun Township Fort were counted, Wang Dou asked Lin Daofu to select some old and weak men and women in the fort to reclaim wasteland.

The fields in the original forts were already dying, Wang Dou didn't expect the original chiefs and officers to manage the forts well.The current Shunxiang Fort and the fields of its subordinate forts all involve the interests of a large number of military officers and powerful men. Wang Dou has no time to waste time with them, so he plans to open up new fields and re-plan the garrison fields of Shunxiang Fort.In each fort, if there are talents, they can be slowly absorbed into the fort in the future.

Along the perimeter of Shunxiang Fort, there is a lot of wasteland that can be reclaimed. Although it is freezing cold now, before the surface freezes hard, organize people to plow cattle and reclaim part of the land first.Wang Dou told Lin Daofu to go ahead with the rations needed to cultivate the fields, and he would think of a way.

In the first stage, Wang Dou planned to reclaim [-] mu of land, drill irrigation wells according to the method of Jingbian Fort, and divide the fields into households. First, each of the [-] households in the fort will be allocated [-] mu of land.As for whether these fields should be paid to the higher authorities in the future, Wang Dou will go to Zhoucheng for activities. The integrity officer Xu Zucheng thinks highly of himself, and Zhang Gui, the governor of Zhoucheng, is also familiar with him. The policy of not paying grain every year.

Everyone has heard more or less about what happened in Jingbian Fort, and everyone is envious.At this time, Shunxiang Fort also needs to open up wasteland and reclaim fields like Jingbian Fort, and build irrigation wells. It is also heard that working can make people full, and in the future there will be fields for farming and cattle.For a while, everyone was scrambling to be the first, just turning around Lin Daofu, hoping to choose themselves to work.

Wang Dou handed over the farming work to Lin Daofu, and Han Chao and Han Zhong brothers took charge of the training of the new army for the time being.

October 26th, eighth year of Chongzhen.

The wind was even worse that day, and the 430 seven young and strong people in the fort braved the severe cold and gathered in the teaching field outside the fort.

These people are all young men from 16 to 40 years old. In the future, Wang Dou will train all of them into the new army.

According to the rules of Jingbian Fort, after they become an army, they can eat enough every day, but there is no military salary, and the future food and salary will be obtained from the war.Their families can be allocated [-] mu of land, cattle and farm tools, etc., and they will be exempted from grain for the first year.In this regard, Wang Dou will go to Zhoucheng for activities as soon as possible.

These men will become full-time soldiers, and their wives and children will work in the fields.Wang Dou didn't have time for them to farm and practice. After a few months of training, Wang Dou would take them out to suppress bandits and use some of the captured money to support these people.

Next to these hundreds of males, there are still some former sergeants of Shunxiang Fort, only a little over 100 left.

Zhenfu Chi Daguo was indeed ruthless. After he dismissed the old and the weak, the number of soldiers in the sixth team of Shunxiangbao, except for Xu Luna's team, basically remained the same. There are several people, all of them are their servants.

The team officer led ten soldiers and became a captain, and the team officer led several soldiers and became a corps leader.

They can't help it, the young and strong population is hard to find, especially when Shun Xiangbao needs to reclaim new fields, each new army's family can be allocated [-] acres of land, and they will be exempted from grain in the first year, and in the second and third years. Only one or two buckets of food was collected, which was too attractive to them, and no one was willing to join the old army.

Looking at the few people around them, the team officers couldn't help complaining in private.

(End of this chapter)