The people in Changmao are too talkative and are not suitable for military training.
Ten miles away, Xishan Mao originally had more than 20 households, but now they are fleeing to death and are now completely depopulated.
The mountain road over there is difficult to walk, and there are no other villages nearby, so it is a good place to hide.
After surveying the terrain, Li Zicheng arranged for Liu Zongmin to lead the people to move. Except for Li Zijing who continued to live in Changmao for cover, the others settled in Xishan Mao.
While Liu Zongmin was busy, Li Zicheng led his younger brother, and his nephew led the donkey to carry grain and cloth to Lijia Village, which was more than forty miles away.
That was the place where Li Zicheng was born, and there were still a lot of relatives living there. It was appropriate to help them. He also went to do some business on the way.
At noon, the three of them walked to Huayan Temple next to the Heimou River.
The temple is rich and has more than 300 acres of land irrigated by river valleys.
Li Zicheng used to be a monk here.
His father was afraid that he would not be able to raise a son when he was old, so he sent Li Zicheng to live in Huayan Temple when he was a child. He did not return to secular life until he was twelve years old.
Li Zicheng and the others went to the temple to have a meal, chatted with acquaintances, left a piece of cotton cloth, and set off again.
Passing by a beacon tower, Li Guo saw a young daughter-in-law squatting there to bask in the sun. She blew a rogue whistle and started singing——
"Who is that person on that Ge Liang Liang of Dam Dam?
That is my aunt and her second sister,
My sister, you are on Geliangliang, my brother is in the ditch,
When I saw that girl, my brother waved like this..."
The little daughter-in-law stood up without blushing and sang loudly:
"The buckwheat noodles are lumpy with mutton soup, and the meat sticks to the sheep's chest.
Holding hands, arms, and legs, the closer we get, the better we don’t want to let go.
Keep up with each other life and death..."
The girl sang a few words and then ran down the mountain like the wind.
He knelt down with a plop.
"Brother, give me a bowl of food."
…
No soldier suffers more than the border troops.
The border troops are the soldiers stationed on the nine sides.
Jiubian, the Ming Dynasty established nine major military districts along the Great Wall in order to resist the Mongolian and Jurchen forces. 1 Jiubian is larger. In fact, each area is subdivided into more than a dozen towns, each with a general military officer.
From east to west, they are Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town, Yulin Town, Guyuan Town, Ningxia Town, and Gansu Town.
Five years ago, the head of Liaodong manager Xiong Tingbi appeared in these nine places one by one.
At first, although it was a bit dangerous to fight wars in Jiubian from time to time, "the land of Kuanyanchuan belongs to military camps". It was okay for the border soldiers to live carelessly in their small lives.
It's over now. For example, there are more than 6,000 acres of farmland occupied by the Ai family in Boluo Fort, Xiangshui Fort and other places.
Frontier soldiers became domestic slaves of officers and big landowners.
"Border Army Ballad"——
The soldiers on the frontier are suffering, the soldiers on the frontier are suffering, and I hate myself for being born in the army.
There are several buckets of grain in the warehouse every month, and half of them are muddy and cannot be boiled.
Talking about selling Dendrobium to the department, never did the particles enter the empty cauldron.
The official's private debt was not enough, but there was also loose money coming to purchase grain.
To pay for it, this year all the tiles will be used up and the house will be folded...
The frontier army suffered no more than the Dun army.
Dun Jun, stationed at the beacon tower.
Most of the piers and platforms are in the wilderness, with a height of three to four feet, and soft ladders are used to go up and down. Five people live on each pier. If there is no water, a water cellar is built to store ice in winter and water in summer.
Dunjun and Ye Bushou are both called the two major hard labors.
The source of Dunjun's suffering comes from both the inside and the outside, and the inside is worse than the outside.
Externally, we do not have to face enemy threats all the time. Especially the second and third line piers have been without war for decades.
This is not the case with internal factors.
According to the system, most of the soldiers guarding the pier were the regular troops of the guard station, and they took turns every few months. However, from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it became the norm that the pier troops were not rotated.
Soldiers with skills can be placed in the homes of generals or dignitaries to avoid the pain of going to the pier; those with money can bribe their superiors to buy non-dangerous piers in the belly or side, and even sleep at home without having to go to the pier. .
As for the poor soldiers, they can only stand guard on the piers and platforms year after year and die at the beacon tower.
Therefore, many Dun troops fled.
Later, the imperial court recruited criminals to serve as Dunjun soldiers.
But if there is an emergency military situation, can you expect criminals to warn you? They would have given up their plans and run away.
In the past few years, "when prisoners came in, they would not raise cannons to spread the beacon, and the prisoners would bluff to cover their ears. For example, when Yan'an invaded, the beacon fire did not reach the town, but the sound was heard throughout the province, and the fire was spread quickly." Or? Every time it is delayed, it is because there is no one guarding the pier..."
The whole province knew that the Mongols had invaded, but no beacons were lit anywhere and no one reported the news.
The criminals were unreliable. Afterwards, the Dun army, which was not attacking key areas, began to recruit local people.
"In winter, men are taller, and in summer, women are taller."
Men have to work to earn money to support their families, so they have no time to guard the throne.
Dunjun originally had monthly rations, but who will pay them to you these days? It’s hard to allocate them once, but there are other things such as torch money, confinement money, free money, holiday money, etc. to deduct.
As for winter clothing, "...the flag troops are guarding the border in Yuanbian. They were given fur coats and fur hats before, but they have been damaged over time. Please give them again."
The officials suggested that the Yansui Zhendun Army should be rewarded with a fur coat every two years. The emperor agreed in principle: "The Yulin Dun Dun officers and soldiers and Luo soldiers saw that they were serving the imperial bandits, and ordered the garrison governor to observe their hard work and reward their hard work. , not the norm.”
The result is just a choice of rewards, not a set rule.
Ordinary soldiers may not be given winter clothes even once every ten years.
Bi Maokang had previously been ordered to inspect the towns of Yansui and Guyuan, and also mentioned the hardships of guarding the piers.
Everyone knows how hard it is, so the people will run away too.
So there were draggers and mouth guards to guard the pier.
"... There are several thatched houses, and his parents and wives were born here, gathered here, and buried here. All the songs, funerals, and beacons were learned by children, and there is no difference. Once the police are heard, the songs will be passed on, and the common people will not Something went wrong..."
"Not only guard the border, but also defend your own home, so as to avoid the disadvantages of running away."
The Dunhu family made Dunyuan their home and dug up wasteland around it. It was not easy for those who had brought their family with them to escape, and they had to guard it until they died of old age.
Just like the pier in front of Li Zicheng, the stone tablet states:
There were five troops guarding the pier.
Mouth: one is Liu Feng's wife, the Li family, one is Ding Hai's wife, the Liu family, one is Li Liang's wife, the Tao family, one is Yang Wenbin's wife, the Jin family, and one is Ma Ming's wife, the Shi family.
Firearms: One hook cannon, three Yum guns, forty lead pieces, one fireweed, fifty lines of fire...
Utensils: One yellow flag, one pair of bangles, three knives, three sets of bows, thirty arrows, one soft ladder, five firewood piles, five stoves, and twenty pounding stones.
Furniture: five pots, five jars, ten bowls, and ten pairs of chopsticks.
Mizhi County stonemason Cao Dengyun and Cao Xiaoer built the monument
May 20, the thirty-eighth year of Wanli
This is one of the 785 beacon towers in Yulin Town.
The loess on the high hill is flying, and the lonely military households guarding the mound have been stationed year after year.
Twenty years ago, five families were sent to guard the pier, but now there are only two families with three people left. As for the original muskets, cannons, bows and arrows, they are all gone.
…
"Brother, give me a bowl of food."
The disheveled woman tore open her rags.
Li Zijing, Li Guo turned his back hurriedly.
The woman took two steps on her knees and kowtowed to Li Zicheng, "Brother, if you do well, I will give you a bowl of food. I will make cows and horses to repay you."
At this time, another woman came out of the cave, holding a wooden stick and stumbling around.
Suddenly, her body tilted and she rolled down the hillside.
"Aunt Shijia!"
The woman screamed and ran over quickly.
"Aunt! Aunt!"
"Miao, Miao, baby, baby can't survive..."
The woman was shocked when she heard this and ran back to the cave dwelling screaming.
Aunt Shi took a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes.
Li Zicheng stepped forward and touched the carotid artery, shook his head and stood up.
As he sighed, a heartbreaking shout suddenly came from the cave, "Gouzi! Gouzi!"
By the time Li Zicheng rushed into the cave, the woman had already collapsed beside the stove and made no sound.
The shabby quilt with exposed black cotton wool on the kang was pushed aside, and a two or three-year-old baby wearing single clothes was lying upright, with his mouth slightly open and his face blue.
The military households guarding the pier were thus extinct.
Even though the three young people passing by were used to seeing life and death, they couldn't help but shed tears at this situation.
"Oh my God! You are blind! There is no way for you to survive!"
Li Guo couldn't get up from his knees and burst into tears.
Li Zijing squatted by the kang, wiping tears with his sleeves.
Li Zicheng looked around but couldn't find any digging tools.
After he carried the body of the old woman down the slope back to the cave, the two men calmed down and followed Li Zicheng to move rocks and earth to seal the entrance of the cave.
Let's use the kiln as a tomb.
A red sun hung in the sky, reflecting the collapse of half of the pier, which was indescribably desolate.
The strong wind blew up the loess all over the fields, confusing people's eyes.
Li Zicheng rubbed his eyes and waved, "Let's go!" This chapter has been completed!