Vow to die at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 23 Collecting Grain from the Gentlemen and Landlords
Although Mr. Zhang agreed, Qiu Tianxing knew that this matter was still difficult to handle. Even if he didn't need to pay the militiamen's military salaries, the military rations had to be supplied, right?
They abandoned their families to serve as soldiers, and stayed in the barracks every day, and the family could no longer take care of them. In case of war, they had to go forward desperately, and they might die in battle.Not to mention paying some military pay, don't you even care about your food?
If Qiu Tianxing asked the militiamen who were about to be reorganized into the standing army to prepare their own food, they would probably have to disband immediately.Therefore, right now this food is really the most important thing.It is related to the life and death of the security team.

However, right now Qiu Tianxing is impoverished and heavily in debt, he can be called a debtor. He even pays for three meals a day against Mr. Zhang every day.Some of the silver seized during the last annihilation of the Tartars will soon be filled into the pension.Moreover, Qiu Tianxing also borrowed some wooden utensils such as spear shafts, blackboards, and sand boards from Zhao Rong's Zhao's workshop on credit, and borrowed many spearheads from Blacksmith Wang's blacksmith's shop on credit.This again owes a lot of money.

Although both Zhao Carpenter and Wang Tiejiang said that these are all supporting the great cause of the anti-Tartar cause, and there is no need to pay.But Qiu Tianxing said that business is business, support is support, and should not be confused.At present, the wooden workshop and the iron shop have just started, with little capital and small scale.If such a heavy burden is carried on the back, it will definitely be detrimental to the development and growth in the future.This is also a loss to Qiu Tianxing's great cause of resisting Tartarism. It is impossible to kill the chicken and take the eggs.Only after the wooden workshop and iron shop grow up, can we ask for some rewards.That is the time for them to make greater contributions to the great cause of the Tartars!Right now, being willing to build weapons for the security regiment on credit is already a great support.

Carpenter Zhao and Blacksmith Wang were very moved by Qiu Tianxing's words.In the past, I saw a lot of officers and soldiers who wanted to take cards and would smash the shop if they were not satisfied, but I have never seen such a well-mannered officer.Invisibly, Zhao Carpenter and Wang Tiejiang got closer to Qiu Tianxing and the security team.

Therefore, Qiu Tianxing's security team now has zero operating funds and negative net assets, and the storage is only some shoddy weapons and some only seized.If you want to use money to buy food, you can't afford it.But without food, the formation of a standing army is a joke, let alone the subsequent establishment of a reserve army.For a grown man, there is no oil or water in his stomach, and he doesn't even have much supplements for vegetables. In the era of purely eating food, he needs at least a catty of rice a day.Coupled with the hard training on weekdays, and marching and fighting in wartime, even two catties of rice can't bear it.If Qiu Tianxing wants to expand the standing army of the security regiment to 1000 people, he will need two thousand catties of rice that day, which is converted into twenty stones in today's unit, and one ton in Qiu Tianxing's previous life.One month is 360 tons, and one year is [-] five tons.This is simply an astronomical figure.

Thinking of this, Qiu Tianxing's forehead swelled and his head ached.Where can I get this food?
In this regard, Mr. Zhang can only cautiously express that he will try his best to distribute some to the villagers.After all, the act of collecting food by the security regiment was also to protect them from being slaughtered by the Tartars and to give them a safe environment.Trust me, they will understand.

"No! We must not apportion to the villagers!"

Qiu Tianxing rejected Mr. Zhang's suggestion.Do you still want to recruit soldiers from among these villagers?It is impossible to conscript troops and food at the same time. What will those militiamen who stay in the barracks and eat food collected from their own homes think?If I ate all the food in the family, the wives and children in the family would have nothing to eat.In this way, the morale of the army will be unstable.

At this moment, due to the large number of new entrants, the lack of prestige, and the immature system, Qiu Tianxing did not dare to take the risk of forcing these staunch supporters of himself to the opposite side of the security group.

It is better to rob the rich than to rob the poor. Instead of focusing on the poor, it is better to think about the rich.Bitter people can't squeeze out oil and water, but rich people are different, they can squeeze oil out of it.At this time, Qiu Tianxing thought of the group of gentry and landlords dressed in silk and satin that he saw when he entered Laohugou.

So, Qiu Tianxing told Mr. Zhang what he was thinking.

"What? This is not in compliance with the rules! Sir, there are regulations in the country, and the officials and gentry don't pay their food!"

Hearing Qiu Tianxing's thoughts, Mr. Zhang was surprised. He couldn't understand how Qiu Tianxing would think of playing against the gang of gentry and landlords.In the nearly 300 years of the Kingdom, there has never been such a precedent. Only the imperial court benefits these gentry and landlords. How can there be any reason to take money from them?These gentry and landlords are the cornerstone of the dynasty!
For Zhang Lao's idea, Qiu Tianxing scoffed.The destruction of the Ming Dynasty was not so much at the hands of the exiles and tartars, as it was at the hands of these gentry, landlords and scholars.They evade taxes, trying to train their children to obtain fame in order to legally avoid taxes, and in turn they suck the bones of the tenant farmers.The country's finances are beyond its means, so it has to be the idea of ​​the bitter hahas who plan to eat in the ground.As a result, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Once the natural disaster was over, people were displaced everywhere, and finally the situation got out of control.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Tartars ruled the Central Plains.Shave hair and change clothes, most of the gentry and landlords are shy and smiling, and they changed their clothes and took refuge in their new masters. Only a few resisted to the death, trying to keep their Chinese clothes.It can be said that today's gentry and landlords are the cancer of the country, and they cannot fulfill the responsibility of protecting the environment and the people.That being the case, how could Qiu Tianxing be polite to them?

"Mr. Zhang! Which of these landlords is not rich? We don't need to be polite to them! Let's just say that the current situation is tense, and the Tartars will soon come here. Ashes! Time waits for no one, and it will be too late if you don’t act. You tell them that if you want to keep the clothes of your ancestors, you must donate some food to the security team. Be an obedient citizen!"

Qiu Tianxing's tone was very tough, he no longer cared about forcing some people away to strengthen the enemy's strength.Today, the situation is tense, anyway, his behavior of resisting the Tartars is like a mayfly shaking a big tree.It doesn't matter how many more enemies there are. Right now, it's still a problem to get past the enemy's first wave of revenge!Besides, landlords and villagers are not the same.The landlord class is used to enjoying the blessings, and they will definitely compete for benefits when they come here, and they don't want to pay.Therefore, in the future, Qiu Tianxing will mainly rely on the villagers, and the landlord class will only assist him.After all, he didn't have much benefit to these landlords.Therefore, Qiu Tianxing set the tone that he could offend the landlord but not the villagers.He wants to take advantage of this wave of resistance aroused by shaving his hair and making clothes easier to wear to expand his power, otherwise what awaits him is destruction after the wave passes.After the Tartars quelled the surging uprising against the hair-shaving order, most of the people would honestly shave their hair and make clothes easy, and become obedient citizens.At that time, my own life will be difficult, and the great cause of resisting Tartarism will fall into a low ebb.Therefore, Qiu Tianxing is going to give it a go at this time, if he advances, he will live, if he retreats, he will die.

Seeing that Qiu Tianxing had made up his mind, Mr. Zhang had no choice but to agree.After all, the current situation is difficult, and the authority of Qiu Tianxing's leader still has to be maintained.Otherwise, if the hearts of the people are scattered, and the enemy has not yet come, the team may be dispersed.Moreover, Mr. Zhang also had some thoughts in his mind, maybe those gentry and landlords would find out with conscience and support the security team's great cause of resisting Tartarism!

After bidding farewell to Qiu Tianxing, Mr. Zhang went to talk to those people.

(End of this chapter)