The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 703

Later, when everyone learned that they came to help the Ming army transport food, grass and luggage, not only food, but also winter clothes, and even a tael of silver a month, the original labor service has become a fat job!
"Brother Er Niu, why don't we go back." A young man in his twenties looked at the faintly visible Yangtze River, and said timidly to the dark man beside him, "One tael of silver is a lot, but after all It's a war, if the Tartars come up, we may not be able to escape..."

The swarthy man waved his hands and said, "When did Brother Erniu ever hurt you? We are helping the Dragon Guards move food and grass. With the Dragon Guards heavenly soldiers in front, the Tartars will definitely not hurt a single hair of us!"

"I know about the Dragon Guards..." The young man was still a little hesitant, "Tell me, if you really want to move some food and grass, you won't let us fight the Tartars, will you?"

The muscular middle-aged man next to him couldn't stand it anymore, and gave him a blank look, "Even if we want to fight the Tartars, we won't frown! Did you forget how many people were killed when the Tartars entered the village last year? Those who were robbed women, how many have come back so far..."

Five or six people who went with them all echoed, "Yes, give me a knife, I really want to kill a few of his tartars!"

"That's right, didn't you listen to Master Missionary? Without the country, how can we keep our little family?"

"Gengmao, you are not as courageous as a chicken..."

The young man named Geng Mao blushed and murmured: "I am..."

Brother Erniu smiled when he saw this, and whispered in his ear: "Gengmao, all the men in our village have gone to help the army transport food, if you run back by yourself, you will definitely be laughed at by the whole village in the future. Let's see which girl is willing to marry you."

"Who, who said I'm going back?!"

A few people walked while talking, and finally arrived near Dantu at noon. Looking from afar, they saw grain, grass, and luggage piled up into mountains by the river.Crowds of people either passed by the pontoon bridge in the river, or ferryed in small boats, transporting supplies to the opposite bank continuously.

They came spontaneously, so they were not led by Li Zheng. They had just walked a hundred steps by the river before they were stopped by soldiers in black uniforms.

"What are you doing?!"

The middle-aged man hurried forward and said, "Master Jun, we want to come and help the army."

"Ah, go back, there are enough people."

"Go back? Is that enough?" Several people were taken aback for a moment. Didn't they say they want 10,000+ people? How could they not want it?
"Master Jun, you are accommodating..."

When they said this, they all felt a little strange. It was the first time they heard that they were rushing to do hard labor.

The soldier of the Ming army hadn't spoken yet, but he heard someone shouting not far away: "My lord, we have traveled more than 100 miles to help the army clean up the tartars. You can't let us go back!"

They turned their heads and saw seventeen or eighteen people arguing around an official.The official said helplessly: "To tell you the truth, the imperial court originally wanted to expropriate 25 civilians, but now more than 28 have come, and we can't take any more."

Those people seemed anxious, "My lord, I don't want the one tael of silver, so I can just help with the work?"

"Yes, I only work. I came from Shandong as a refugee, and the Tartars killed my mother. I must watch the army go back to Shandong!"

"My lord, please, we may work!"

"Yeah, don't let us go back..."

The official hesitated again and again, sighed and said: "Okay, I'll ask Mr. Huo, you wait here."

Hearing the words, several people from Gengmao's side looked at each other, and immediately stepped forward under the leadership of the middle-aged man, "My lord, we don't want money anymore, let us keep it too..."

On the north bank of the Yangtze River.

In the old Jiangkou, the Ming army garrisoned the grain camp.

"It turned out to be General Ying. Mr. Zhao is over there supervising the construction of the new treasury. The next official will go and call him back."

After the household official left, the adjutant next to Ying Tianxiang looked at the [-]-foot-square earth mound not far away, and couldn't help sighing: "General, this place was a wasteland more than ten days ago, but now it is quite rich. The scale and speed are astonishing."

Ying Tianxiang nodded and said: "It doesn't stop here, I heard that the first camp three miles away is almost completed, and the second camp three miles away has also started construction."

In response to Dorgon's strategy of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness, the Ming army stationed grain and grass in Jiujiangkou, and then built a temporary camp every three miles, and built a large stronghold every thirty miles, stretching for more than [-] miles, leading directly to the south bank of the Huaihe River.

During wartime, thousands of civilians will be stationed in each camp, carrying food, grass and luggage to the next stronghold every day, so as to ensure the continuous supply of front-line military supplies.

In fact, according to the current situation of the thousands of miles of white land from Yangzhou to the Huaihe River, it is almost impossible for Jianlu to launch an attack on the Ming army's logistics line-their own logistics can't keep up first.However, in order to deal with possible sneak attacks by small groups, earth barriers were built in each stronghold.

After a while, Mr. Wailang Zhao, a member of the Southern Zhiqing Bureau of the Ministry of Finance who was in charge of the life of the people, came into the tent, first saluted Ying Tianxiang, and then said anxiously: "General Ying, I don't know if the matter reported by the lower official yesterday is acceptable or not. Additional allocation?"

But Ying Tianxiang asked back: "Master Zhao, I just allocated one hundred thousand shi grains and rice to you at the end of last month, why did they run out in less than 20 days?"

Mr. Zhao said helplessly: "The general doesn't know, the number of civilian husbands recruited from various places is said to be 25, but then many people came to help transport food and build camps.

"Most of these people don't need wages, and it's not easy for lower officials to drive them away. Now nearly 30 strong people have gathered on both sides of the Yangtze River. These tens of thousands of people have to take care of their food, so the grain and rice are consumed quickly... ..."

"No wonder the camp was built so quickly. There are too many people." He said to Mr. Zhao, "I will report to the Holy Majesty to allocate food to you as soon as possible."

"There is General Lao Ying, and the lower officials are very grateful."

……

Nanjing Forbidden City.

Zhu Linming looked at Ying Tianxiang's memorial, but secretly worried.

All of a sudden, there are tens of thousands more mouths. Although it is more beneficial to the army's Northern Expedition, after all, the preparations for the Northern Expedition will be completed earlier, and the logistics after the war will be more assured.But buying more food requires money, and counting the days, the first month's wages of the villagers are about to be paid, this time it is 25 taels!

He first sent a letter to Zhang Canghai, asking him to use the last 6 taels of silver in the treasury to buy food. I also collected nearly 6 taels.

Then he asked Ma Wensheng to call Huang Zongxi, the new Minister of Commerce.

Huang Shangshu entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation, saluted first, and said, "I don't know what orders the Holy Majesty has for summoning the ministers?"

"Ah, I asked you to contact the rich and powerful families in Jiangnan at the beginning of the month. How did you go?"

"Back to the emperor, there are already eighteen families interested in this, but... I don't know how much money they are willing to give."

Zhu Linmin nodded. After all, although there are a large number of properties as collateral, it is not appropriate to force the loan, otherwise the little credit that the court has just established will be destroyed immediately.

He ordered: "You do your best. If it is really difficult to get enough money, you can sell the Longnan Steel Plant and Xianshi Fen business, and you can sell it for at least 20 taels."

Huang Zongxi knew that these were the emperor's private property, so he couldn't help being moved, and bowed in response, "I'll do it now, my lord."

After he left the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Zhu Linmei frowned and looked north, anxiously saying in her heart, judging by the time, it should be almost the same, but she doesn't know when the ocean caravan will come back. The dilemma will be solved immediately...

　Thanks: Zhang Jinzhi for his generous reward!I am so grateful, thank you!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)