Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 237

That face looked like a robot, even though Song Qingshu opened his mouth to veto it as soon as they met, Sun Chuanting still reported in his usual stiff and serious voice.

"Commander, if we don't recruit the Musketeer Team and the Broadsword Team to join, I'm afraid the general will not be able to complete the autumn harvest before the snow falls!"

It can be regarded as a stable begging army. It is rare to usher in a stable autumn harvest this year. It is not a bumper harvest, but it has not been greatly affected by the drought. There are more than 600 hectares of mountain fields, and the dry land is estimated to be able to harvest 40 to [-] tons. Coarse grains such as corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc., [-] tans of peppers, various vegetables, [-] tans of peanuts, and almost [-] tans of wheat and sorghum.

However, most of these things are still buried in the soil!It's a rare autumn harvest year, but there are not enough begging soldiers!

There are more than 4 people in total, the 2000 Musketeers and the elite Song Qingshu are not allowed to be transferred, and the [-] cavalry have to spend half of their time taking care of the horses. In the county, there are only about [-] middle-aged men left to harvest in autumn.

It is said that women also hold up half the sky, but Song Qingshu founded the garment factory, quilt factory, pig farm, soap factory and other workshops, and more than 8000 middle-aged women were robbed. They were all thrown to Sun Chuanting, but when the work was really assigned, Sun Chuanting was dumbfounded to find that he was either old men or old ladies, or half a dozen children.

Can such a labor force plan the earth?

Think about the popular saying in later generations that your mother calls you to go home to harvest wheat, and during the wheat harvest season, the number of guys who are right with each other is doubled. You can imagine how much manpower is needed for the autumn harvest.

It's a pity that while Sun Chuanting was full of urgency, Song Qingshu spread his hands with a smile.

"Mr. Boya, if there are no difficulties, you have to go up, and if you have difficulties, you have to go up! How can I show my trust in you? The musketeers can't move, this is the only standing soldier, if they give up training and go to work Now, what is the difference between them and the guards of the government, how will we deal with the Manchu Tartars in the future, and how to deal with the suppression of the government army?"

What Song Qingshu said was serious, but Sun Chuanting's nose was almost out of breath. Is there such a reason?Make bricks without straw!This year's planting was already late, and it was already November. If we didn't dig out the grain and freeze it, it would be over. If he was so busy, Sun Chuanting would have wanted to dig the ground.

"Okay, the commander-in-chief won't let the general mobilize the musketeers, so it's okay if the general disbands the factory! During this period of time, we don't want to go abroad for trade, and let the female workers return to their hometowns for a month to harvest crops. How about the head office?"

"Hey! Don't stop the factory!"

When Sun Chuanting said this, Song Qingshu couldn't help becoming anxious again, and quickly waved his hands.

"Cao Sanxi, Shi Tianfu and the others have made a plan with me to expand the trade route to Taiyuan and Quwo. Winter is coming soon. The best season for winter clothes sales is to stock up on these two months. If you want to stop work, you will lose at least fifty or sixty thousand taels of silver!"

His face twitched violently, and he stared at Song Qingshu for a long time, and Sun Chuanting, who couldn't bear it, finally lost his temper.

"Marshal, what's the use of asking for so much money? The cloth swept back from Xinzhou is enough for the army to use for five or six years. We don't need to pay the army for begging. The most important thing now is food! If the factory is disbanded, all the manpower will be destroyed. If all are invested in land reclamation, at least 100 million dans of various grains will be earned next year. With these grains, an army of 20 to [-] people can be pulled up. Gold, stone, pearls, jade, and hunger can't satisfy hunger, and cold can't wrap your body. You want so much What is the use?"

"Looking at the history books, there are so many heroes in the past dynasties, which one of them did not rely on persuading farmers and merchants to achieve great things? On the contrary, they are like Xinmang, greedy and insatiable, seizing the wealth of the world for personal gain , Marshal, we must learn from history!"

"Shang Shuyun..."

Sun Chuanting is really a common problem of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty. He spoke so earnestly, citing scriptures and preaching non-stop, and Song Qingshu's head grew a little bit when he heard it. He waved his hand and said, "Stop!"

"Mr. Boya, let me ask you, from the Han Dynasty to our Ming Dynasty, why can't we escape the fate of this huge chaotic world in about 300 years? Every 300 years, we have to rotate a dynasty, and fight for more than ten years. In a few years or even a few decades, the population will not survive to one out of ten, and thousands of villages and thousands of households will grow thorns?"

These words stopped Sun Chuanting from asking again, and after a long pause, he shook his head vaguely and said: "There is a certain amount of energy in the world, and the five virtues are reincarnated. The energy is exhausted, and no manpower can restore it!"

"Please, Mr. Boya, be serious!"

The reincarnation of the five virtues, the number of qi and the destiny of heaven are the core sayings of Confucianism about the relationship between heaven and man. If you change to a Confucian scholar, these two sentences will be regarded as unscrupulous by Song Qingshu, and you must jump up in anger. Fortunately, Sun Chuanting is pragmatic, so he didn't get angry , drooping his head and thinking about it, he said uncertainly again.

"Is it the land annexation mentioned a few days ago?"

"The annexation of land is only an appearance, and the internal reason is the expansion of the population. Just like our Ming Dynasty, at the beginning of the founding of the country, the population was only about 2000 million after the struggle of heroes from all walks of life. There are still large areas of unowned wasteland in the world. After several major cases of the Emperor Taizu, our Ming Dynasty’s national power is still rising steadily, and after the Battle of Jingnan, we can still support Chengzu’s 50 troops to conquer Mongolia in five times.”

"But now, the household registration of the Ming Dynasty has reached tens of millions, plus the hermits, family members, slaves, and escaped households. There are [-] million people, ten times that at the beginning of the founding of the country. It should be getting stronger and stronger. Why is it getting weaker and weaker?" , can’t even calm down a small Donghu?”

Song Qingshu kept asking rhetorical questions, confused Sun Chuanting's question again, he hesitated for a long time, and finally answered with difficulty: "Could it be, could it be that there is not enough land in the world? Not enough to support such a large population?"

"So, no matter how wise the emperor is, no matter how clean the court is, and land annexation can be suppressed, then after another 100 years, we will still enter a chaotic world? This kind of reincarnation disaster is inevitable?"

have to!Once he told Sun Chuanting that he was hopeless, and hearing his trembling voice, Song Qingshu finally turned back to the topic helplessly.

"That's why I, the commander-in-chief, must vigorously develop business!"

"Actually, our land produces a lot. The food we produce can feed a population of 20 million or [-] million. What is lacking is not food, but the number of farming occupations. The arable land in the world is divided up. , the impoverished poor have nothing to live on, they can't survive, and of course they will rebel!"

"In all dynasties, China has regarded commerce as a cheap industry, but they don't know that agriculture is the body of the country, and industry and commerce are the blood of the country! We have a severe drought in the north, but the food in the south of the Yangtze River is rich in crops, and the five lakes are cooked. The world is full of food. What is lacking is communication. The business between the two places, you see, now I have earned enough money, and in the future, I will open up the trade routes in the south of the Yangtze River, and sell a large amount of grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the north. This will solve the livelihood problems of a large number of people, and at the same time, the poor in the south of the Yangtze River will also get It’s affordable, and then use food as payment, then mass-produce soap, ready-made clothes and other commodities, and then sell them back to the south of the Yangtze River, not only feeding a large number of people in vain, but also solving the problem of famine, isn’t it safer than cultivating a few acres of Susukida?”

"This is called industry saving the country!"

It was a serious social problem in the late Ming Dynasty, Song Qingshu only listed one of them, and it was like this, and Sun Chuanting's eyes were blinded, and he couldn't recover for a long time. They rose to the national level, and after a long time of stunned in the doorway at the entrance of the village, Sun Chuanting cupped his fists at Song Qingshu in a daze.

"The words of the commander-in-chief, passed on to the court to go back and think about it!"

It can be regarded as sending this guy away, and Song Qingshu was relieved. He got on his horse and planned to run away, but before he had gone far, Sun Chuanting caught up with him again, his face full of rage, this refined scholar-bureaucrat couldn't help it The beard opened and scolded his mother.

"Marshal, no matter how big your grand plan is, the food will freeze to death in the ground, but it is very close at hand. Sun is such a clever woman who can't cook without rice! If you don't solve this manpower problem today, I'm sorry, Marshal. Just beat Sun to death, and save him from starving to death next year!"

"This……"

His forehead was full of sweat again, while scratching his head sadly, Song Qingshu slandered in his heart, Emperor Chongzhen gave you a month's military salary and asked you to pull out a hundred thousand troops, how did you survive, why can't you come to Lao Tzu?
But what Sun Chuanting said is true, who would have thought that so much wasteland could be seen in one breath, the spring planting time is long, and the autumn harvest is waiting for no one!In desperation, he couldn't help turning his head to look at the barracks behind him.

If it's not possible, how about sending these soldiers to cut rice and plan potatoes?Didn't the legions of the Roman Empire also have some non-military missions from time to time?
However, before Song Qingshu could make up his mind, suddenly a fat man from the bottom of the mountain, supported by two servants, trotted up panting.

"Marshal, let's go, something big happened!"

Seeing Shi Tianfu running with sweat on his forehead, Song Qingshu couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat. How come moths come here as soon as the autumn harvest season comes?
…………

Along the Hutuo River, not far from Sun Chuanting’s village, a puff of black smoke rose up the plains, much earlier than Song Qingshu’s planting. The wheat and sorghum in the sky of these landlords had already been harvested, but this time Stacks of wheat and stalks were burnt into coke along with the house, and the whole rather grand courtyard was burnt black. At the gate of the courtyard, there were more than a dozen women and children in sackcloth and mourning, crying loudly there.

There were quite a few people around, including powerful landlords from neighboring villages and old peasants from the same village, all of whom sighed.

"Here comes the handsome man! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

Zhou Yuji let out a yelp with that Northeast flavor, and immediately frightened the crowd watching the excitement to scatter away, their minds were confused, Song Qingshu walked in through the path he had cleared, and when he saw him, a few crying people followed him. Like tears, all the women surrounded him, hugged his thigh and began to wail.

"Master! You have to decide for us!"

(End of this chapter)