I heard that some generals on the islands also took their troops to defect to Li Jiucheng. Recently, people have been coming to Zhenjiang Fort and the nearby settlements in Dongjiang to incite officers and soldiers to follow them to fight in Shandong. These people all bring with them a lot of money.
, which made many people blush. They gritted their teeth and followed with swords and guns.
Mao Shisan was also interested in it, but it was hard to say whether he wanted a young man like himself, who was like a reed stick. Besides, he had to cross the sea to Shandong, a place he was unfamiliar with, to fight with the imperial court. Mao Shisan was also worried in his heart.
No bottom line. The most critical problem is that no one can guarantee whether there will be anything to eat on the way from here to join the army. If you starve to death on the way, there is no money to talk about.
The matter of surrendering to the army was put aside for the time being, but eating was an urgent matter when he was hungry. It had been snowing these past few days, and he was supposed to stay in the shed and rest as much as possible, but Mao Shisan was so hungry that he couldn't stand it any longer -
―There is nothing left to eat at home.
Mao Shisan had no parents since he was a child. He was adopted by a fellow villager of his father. The two of them depended on each other. His stepfather had a salary, although it was less than one month a year. Moreover, the forts in Dongjiang Town were in dilapidated condition, and the soldiers had no clothes.
The body is covered, the food is not enough, and it is not much better than the beggars, but it is a land of rice and gold. A stone of rice is not only more expensive than Jiangnan, but also several times or even ten times more expensive than the capital.
A similar situation is the same in border towns. Because embezzlement of military pay has become the main way to grow, the generals do not like the heavy weight and troublesome cashing of grain, rice and cloth, and require the court to transport silver. For the handling officials, the transportation volume is small
A lot of money is more convenient than transporting large pieces of food and cloth.
The influx of large amounts of silver will inevitably cause everything to become more expensive, so soldiers in various border towns seem to have military pay higher than the national average salary, but local prices are several times or even more than ten times the national average.
The situation in Dongjiang is even worse. Not only is there a lot of food in Dongjiang, but the area under its jurisdiction is also a harsh and barren place. The soldiers can't even farm their own land to support themselves. Although the generals can smuggle goods with the Manchus, they collect protection fees and protection fees from smugglers.
They dug ginseng and hunted furs to gain income, but these incomes had nothing to do with the soldiers, but instead increased their burden. In history, Huanglong was beaten and detained by the rebel soldiers, and the trigger was to drive the hungry and cold soldiers to dig ginseng.
After Li Jiucheng's rebellion last year, most of the imperial military pay and merchant goods shipped from Dengzhou were blocked. The soldiers who were already half-starved to death and barely survived became even more miserable. To a certain extent, it inspired a large number of Dongjiang soldiers to cross the sea.
Motivation to join the rebellion.
Those who were strong and dared to take risks ran away, leaving only the old, weak, sick and disabled. Mao Shisan's stepfather was sent on an errand yesterday. At least he had something to eat today, and he might be able to bring back some leftovers when he comes back tomorrow. But Mao Shisan
San is already dizzy with hunger and can't wait for tomorrow.
He dragged his feeble footsteps to the coast. There was no life on the frozen coast, let alone the food he wanted. He felt that he had hallucinated. Not far away, a small boat was approaching him.
As he rowed, his eyes blurred and he fell down, and then he didn't know anything else.
Mao Shisan felt that there was a fire in front of him and wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids were really heavy. But one thing he was sure of was that it was quite warm, even warmer than having a fire at home. People can feel comfortable in a warm environment.
He felt particularly safe. He didn't know if it was an illusion. He felt less hungry and wanted to sleep urgently. He remembered that his stepfather and many people had told him that he should never fall asleep while walking outside in winter. He would fall asleep as soon as he fell asleep.
I can't wake up either.
However, he really didn't have the strength to open his eyes. He thought that he would just die, so he fell asleep again.
When Mao Shisan woke up, he was already lying in the cabin. It turned out that he was not dead, but was rescued by a group of strange short-haired people on the ship.
There was a young man with short hair and a short coat beside him who was busy working. According to him, the "chief" found him fainting on the beach. It was snowing at the time. If it weren't for the chief's kindness, he would have frozen to death on the beach.
.
"You have slept all day and all night, and I have fed you sugar water several times." The little brother said, "Otherwise, you would have died long ago. Just drink a bowl of soup."
He said that he had drunk sugar water, but he had no memory at all, but his body was indeed not as weak as before.
"Come and have a bowl of glutinous rice." The little brother brought a big bowl, which contained more than half a bowl of steaming dough-like stuff. Mao Shisan had not seen serious food for quite some time, so he saw this bowl of glutinous rice.
The saliva seemed to have opened, and even the word "thank you" was choked in my throat, unable to utter any words.
The hot paste in his mouth was real food, and the delicious taste was something he had never tasted before in his life, which made him feel a little relieved. After drinking the paste, he wanted to get up, only to find that it was not that easy.
It's like sleeping in a net.
"Eat a bowl first, and I'll give it to you later. You're very hungry, and it's easy to overeat if you eat too much. Don't get out of bed in a hurry, the chief wants to see you after you take a rest."
The young man who took care of him had a very good attitude. It seemed that he was not much different from me in age, but he had an air of competence about him that someone of his age should not have.
"On board the captain's ship, just wait and enjoy the blessings." Finally, the young man gave another mysterious smile. "It's better for everyone to know about it. Be mentally prepared for the situation you will face in the future."
After lunch, Xue Ziliang "met" Mao Shisan. Mao Shisan had never heard of the Kun thief, but this Chief Xue was obviously a high-ranking official on the ship, but he didn't know where he came from. He was an official in the Ming Dynasty
I’ve seen people dressed like this before. The official attire of North Korea is similar to that of the Ming Dynasty. But Chief Xue speaks in serious Chinese, and it is quite similar to the Mandarin of Liaodong. The attire is different from that of the Tatars. Not to mention the head.
There is no Tatar tail. Besides, the Tatars themselves can't even build decent boats, so there is no way they can have such a good boat.
He couldn't figure out where to go. At least he had enough food and clothing on the ship. Not only did he have delicious glutinous rice to satisfy his hunger, but he also had a new set of clothes. Not only did this clothes have no patches, it was close-fitting and warm.
After a few words, he knew that at least Chief Xue was not a bad person. He was very kind and did not put on official airs. Especially after knowing that he was a military household in Dongjiang Town, he seemed quite unfair and said a lot of things about the court. Mao Shisan followed the script.
The standard of time and space can only be regarded as the size of a first-year junior high school student, and his knowledge is even pitiful. If he is coaxed by an old stick like Xue Ziliang with a few good words, he will want to tear his heart out.
"So your family is the military household of Zhenjiang Fort?"
"Back to the Master: I have been living here with my stepfather since Mao Shuai recovered Zhenjiang Fort. I have never been to other places except Lushun Fort."
"Then tell me, what do the military households in Dongjiang do for a living on weekdays? I'm afraid they can't survive on the pay from the court alone."
"Who says it's not the case? We don't have the salary and money in our hands. We say we are military households, but we don't have much land to cultivate. Besides, it is not easy to grow crops in the land of Liaodong. The weather is very cold. In the early years, we relied on the imperial court.
Food is shipped from North Korea, but not much can fall into our hands. On weekdays, we have to rely on fishing and hunting, and digging some wild vegetables, so we can still be half hungry and half full."
"After Mao Shuai was killed by Supervisor Yuan, some people said that Mao Shuai died unjustly. We don't know whether he was unjust or not, but life became more and more difficult day by day. The men were killed here and there, one after another.
Young brother, we are neither servants nor soldiers, so we don’t know what is going on. We just have no money or food. We have to rely on the servants to fight for more than two months. To be honest, if we hadn’t seen a serious person for more than two months,
As for food, even small ones won’t venture out in the winter to look for food.”
"Your place is also close to the Yalu River. I heard that North Korea also hates the Tatars and is a vassal of North Korea. Why don't you go across the river to eat in North Korea? At least you can survive for a while."
"I don't know what I know. Although North Korea is also on guard against the Tatars, it is also on guard against us. It is not easy to grow some food in our land. North Korea has already sent a lot of food, weapons and ships to Dongjiang. If we want them again
Where can they go? They don’t even have enough to eat. In the past few years, hunting and fishing at the border have been in constant conflict. It’s okay for a large group of people to go out, but if a small one is alone, he will be beaten to death if he encounters North Koreans across the river -
―Besides, you have to guard against the Tatars. If you are caught by the Tatars, you will have to shed your skin even if you don't die."
"There seem to be a lot of woods here. Are there any big trees in the woods that can be used to build ships?"
"This is true. When the weather warms up, some people go to the mountains to cut wood, float it along the river to the fort, and then build it into rafts. However, there are too many of these things and they are of no use. Recently, I just heard that more warships are to be built, so they cut them down.
Quite a lot, but the people in Baozi also secretly caught some." At this point, Mao Shisan lowered his voice and said, "I heard that they want to build a ship and go to Li Shuai."
"So, Li Jiucheng's prestige in Dongjiang is not low," Xue Ziliang thought. They still don't know that Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng have been defeated! But this is not surprising. This kind of military family is in a remote place like Zhenjiang Fort.
, how much information can be known?
"Li Shuai used to be the deputy commander-in-chief of Dongjiang, and his prestige is very high here."
"I heard that Governor Huang is now in charge of Dongjiang Town. He is a very loyal minister. Are the sergeants here willing to rebel against Li Jiucheng?"
"I don't know if Governor Huang is a loyal minister. We all just want to have a few good meals. Even after Huang Shuai came, we had nothing to eat. Master, you are my great benefactor. If I hadn't told you earlier,
Already."
"So the military households in Dongjiang still want to eat."
"Who says it's not the case? The Tatars are so cruel that they are worse than pigs and dogs in their hands. But the court doesn't want to see us either - everyone says they dislike us for only paying for food and not fighting - the conscience of heaven and earth, our little
How much rice can a military household get from the imperial court in a year? Even beggars can't send troops to fight." Mao Shisan actually cried out for Qu Lai. (To be continued.)