Chapter 73: The beacon is everywhere (on the shelves tomorrow)
Lu Xiao's appointment finally came down, the commander of the Jinyi Guards. He also held another official position, Bingbei Dao.
The full name of this official position is to organize troops and prepare roads. It is a comprehensive official position responsible for local troops, money, food, and farming. It evolved from the regiment training envoys in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and had the rights and responsibilities to train troops.
Naturally, the ministers in the DPRK started to impeach wildly. But no matter how they impeached, it was of no use. Moreover, Apocalypse's methods were not comparable to those of Chongzhen later. Even though he had countless black materials in his hands, he still
A group of subordinates can be blackmailed.
After leaking some information without leaving any trace, Wei Zhongxian, as a qualified loyal dog, immediately struck out forcefully and dragged several courtiers into Zhao Prison. After being severely tortured, they collaborated with the enemy and treason, confiscated their homes and exterminated their clans, and started to provide one-stop services.
The key is that this time all the evidence is true. Apocalypse also showed some evidence in the court, and the sound of the entire court suddenly became much quieter. Obviously, the group of human beings had understood the emperor's meaning and shut up.
Talked a lot.
The key is that up to now, Lu Xiao has only served as the commander of the Jinyi Guards and added a soldier. He has not actually interfered with the rights in the court. Moreover, since he took charge of the Jinyi Guards, the number of people who went to Zhao Prison has been significantly reduced.
A lot.
Under such comparison, all the courtiers felt that Lu Xiao was actually pretty good.
It can only be said that sometimes many things cannot stand comparison.
However, the calm in the court did not bring substantial changes to the Ming Dynasty. There were successive years of drought in the north, and natural and man-made disasters took turns. Countless lower-class people finally lost their last chance of survival. Therefore, turmoil broke out.
Peasant riots first broke out in northern Shaanxi, and soon became a prairie fire. Initially, Wang Jiayin and Wang Ziyong from Fugu rioted, and they occupied Huanglong Mountain. Then Wang Zuogai of Yichuan, Gao Yingxiang of Ansai, Zhang Cunmeng of Luochuan,
Monk Wang of Yanchuan, Daliang Wang of Hannan and others responded, and the flames of struggle spread throughout Shaanxi.
At this time, in Yinzhou, Shaanxi, a small place also called Mizhi County, a low-level civil servant from the Ming Dynasty lost his job. This man's name was Li Zicheng, a horseman at the Ming Dynasty post station. Because he lost an official document (it is also said that
He lost his horse), was fired from his job, lost his job and returned home.
Without a job, there is no money. So, the debt owed to the Juren master was repaid, and he was sued to the Yamen. On one side was the Juren, and on the other was an unemployed low-level civil servant. The county magistrate immediately arrested him and tortured him, basically
Prepare to take his life.
However, Li Zicheng was usually very loyal. He had a group of poor buddies. After some discussion, these guys rescued Li Zicheng. After Li Zicheng came out, it was still impossible for him to have money to repay his debts. So he thought of a wonderful idea.
Attention. If you kill the creditor, you won’t have to pay back the debt?
Li Zicheng, who had strong execution ability, did whatever he thought of. Soon after, he killed the creditor and successfully eliminated the debt. Li Zicheng, who had settled the debt, was very proud at first. But after returning home, he found that his wife had committed adultery with a gangster from the same village.
.
Li Zicheng broke through the defense on the spot and killed his wife along with him. With two lives behind him, he could no longer hide. With the government pursuing him, Li Zicheng had no choice but to join the army.
But joining the Ming Army at this time is actually similar to joining the National Army in 1949.
Li Zicheng joined the army originally just to have a good meal. But after he went there, he discovered that soldiers had not enough food to eat, not just chaff.
When it comes to military pay, it’s not that there is none, it’s just that they can’t get it into their hands. The superiors are corrupt and exploited at all levels. Except for the general’s personal soldiers, the soldiers below are no different from beggars.
Li Zicheng, with his bad temper, naturally couldn't bear this kind of treatment and simply turned against him.
Lu Xiao has actually been paying attention to the news in Shaanxi. It's not that he hasn't thought about killing Li Zicheng in advance. But it doesn't make sense to think about it. In the late Ming Dynasty, if you killed a Li Zicheng, Zhang Zicheng, Guo Zicheng, and Zhao Zicheng would come out.
In the seventh year of the Apocalypse alone, there were dozens of large and small uprisings across the country.
Some have been suppressed, and some are still on the move. Others have already conquered the city and become a certain climate.
This is a tragedy caused by the entire era, and it cannot be made up for by killing one or two people. Of course, the more important thing is that most of Lu Xiao's energy is actually placed in Liaodong.
Over the years, he has cultivated a lot of trustworthy people. But basically they were sent to Liaodong to collect all kinds of information against the Tatars. For Lu Xiao, the civil strife in the Central Plains was the struggle of the people in the Central Plains.
He doesn't have that much energy to take care of these things.
Only after personally participating in this general trend of the world did he realize that manpower is sometimes scarce. Even though he is now serving as the command room of the Jinyi Guards and concurrently serving as the military commander. He is deeply trusted by the emperor and has memories of his previous life. However,
Facing the situation in the Ming Dynasty, I still feel that it is a confusing mess.
Therefore, after making some choices, Lu Xiao finally realized that he could not solve all the problems. Therefore, he concentrated his energy on Liaodong. He was responsible for solving external conflicts. As for internal conflicts, it depends on the sky.
The wars are raging all over the country, creating countless no-man's land and countless refugees. These refugees are a huge hidden danger to public security everywhere. Because everyone knows that these people are refugees today. But they may not be able to wait until tomorrow. That day
At night, when someone raised their arms, they immediately turned into bandits.
As for the selling of children and daughters, it was even more common. In this environment, Lu Xiao sent a lot of people and began to take in some young adults and even teenagers in the surrounding area.
This winter is a life-and-death hurdle for countless refugees. When the first snow falls, dozens of people die of cold and starvation every day in the capital city.
You must know that this is the capital. In the towns surrounding the capital, and even further north, the lives of the refugees are only worth half a piece of steamed bun.
Under such circumstances, Lu Xiao recruited thousands of young adults at a very small cost. And the price was only two meals a day.
This can be regarded as some preparations for rebuilding the Qi family army. What Lu Xiao wants to build is a professional army. The kind that is completely free from work and devotes all its energy to fighting full-time. Every person who is pulled out will be a killing machine with absolute strength.
military.
A completely decommissioned army is actually a huge burden for a dynasty. A simple question is, if a soldier is completely decommissioned, will his family also need support from the country? Otherwise, if this labor force is lost,
His family might starve to death.
Therefore, to feed 10,000 retired soldiers is not only to feed these 10,000 people, but also to support 10,000 families. This makes the cost increase several times.
At the same time, after the soldiers are completely off the job, logistical work such as camps, weapons and equipment, horses, etc. will need to be handled by a large and professional team. This is another huge expense.
The sum of these expenses would put tremendous pressure on a dynasty in ancient times when productivity was insufficient. Therefore, soldiers who were completely off-duty were rarely seen in ancient times.
Lu Xiao actually recruited soldiers at this time to avoid the burden of his family. All these soldiers were refugees who were bought separately. Their families were either dead or separated. Without the attachment of family, building this army would be
Can greatly reduce expenses.
But even so, the money and food reserves in Lu Xiao's hands could only be used to maintain their basic survival. Fortunately, as time went by, this difficult winter finally passed.
Lu Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief with the arrival of spring. The pigs he had raised for a long time could finally be killed.
The first wave started with the Fan family, one of the eight major Shanxi merchants.
