Beiyang new warlord

Years of bloody battles have not brought the slightest change here.

Just in front of the mine where Qi Jiguang recruited soldiers, Mao Jue planted a banner to recruit soldiers. However, standing on the mountainside and looking around, there are desolate mines, dilapidated and low villages, and barren land that can no longer be barren. It tells how hard it is to live here.

Mao Jue shook his head with emotion, while Mao Li brought a kind of superiority from the town's military master in a wealthy area, holding a copper gong, and jingling around the mountain.

"Recruiting soldiers! Enough pay and food! Recruiting soldiers!"

Chapter 176. Chilling Heart

"Recruitment, oh, recruitment"

The sun in more than March hangs in the sky lazily, and the sunlight it shoots is also lukewarm, and it doesn't have the strength to beat the gong. Seeing the teardrops in his eyes, Su Yi was sleeping like a kitten on the other end, leaning on Mao Jue's shoulder, sitting on a chair, while Mao Jue himself was twitching constantly at the corner of his mouth.

It’s not that no one passed by, on the contrary, there was an endless stream of Yiwu people wearing tattered clothes and carrying hoes to dig mines. Now the mines below are still busy, but there is no one who cares about themselves!

Indeed, the price Mao Jue offered was not too high. A monthly salary of one tael of silver and one stone of grain was the general level of the Ming army, and it was even much lower than that of some soldiers. , it is definitely a high-paying industry. If you work so hard for a month, you can't get a few big boys, so why bother?

Is my face so dark?

"Magistrate Zhao, is this really the place where Marshal Qi recruited troops?"

"Back to Marshal Mao, this is really the place where Marshal Qi recruited Qi's army back then!"

There is a proverb in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty, if you are not good, you should be an official in the south of the Yangtze River! The style of writing in the south of the Yangtze River is too prosperous, God knows who has a high-ranking official in Beijing, and the magistrates of the local officials cannot be established at all. The county magistrate Zhao is very suitable for this. The image is chubby, with a pair of mouse whiskers and small round eyes, smiling and complimenting him.

"General! Just return the Qi family army like this! Let's go!"

It can be regarded as stuffing a snot bubble back, rubbing his sleepy eyes, Mao Li couldn't help but clasped his fists impatiently and asked for instructions.

"hold on."

Glancing at the crowd coming and going in the mine, Mao Jue still let out a rough breath in disbelief.

The small wind blew and rose again, and then fell in a daze. A banner recruiting soldiers also floated and fell. The sun also changed from yellow to red, and finally fell heavily on the western mountain. Mao Jue watched thousands of people in tattered clothes. Yiwu mountain people carried hoes and returned exhausted to the dilapidated village where they lived.

Not even one looked at Mao Jue.

In the morning, Mao Jue came here in high spirits, still carrying the roster of recruits, but when he returned, he left alone, and he went back with the roster alone.

"Damn it, I don't believe it anymore!"

In the early morning of the next day, a banner of recruiting troops was hung high on the mine again. Sitting on a stool, Mao Jue gnashed his teeth and roared, holding the gong and Mao Leng with a mournful face, pulling voice, yelling at the busy Yiwu mountain people on the mountain road.

"Recruitment!!!"

But again and again, again and again, Mao Jue was just like the sluts of the later generations, carrying a big banner there for more than three days, and his recruiting roster still didn't have a name filled in. After four days, he finally couldn't take it anymore.

The unlucky Mao Lan was sent over by Mao Jue again, and then recruited troops for him. Mao Jue lazily hid in the Wushang Building, and even dragged County Magistrate Zhao over, and forced him to drink with him.

"Come on, County Magistrate Zhao, please, this thing is called roasted sweet potato, a Western crop, any mountain, forest, barren land can grow, and it grows a large area. We in Liaodong are poor, and we rely on this thing to fill our stomachs. The taste is a bit delicious. , Come on, try it!"

The roasted black sweet potatoes were pushed in front of County Magistrate Zhao. This guy was obviously not a good official, and his brows were furrowed, but after listening to the next few sentences, his small eyes were interested It lit up, and then he peeled away the sweet potato, the scorched and browned melon pulp immediately passed into his nostrils with a fragrance, and after he took a bite, he was interested and put his old face together.

"Master Mao, is it difficult to plant this thing?"

"Master Zhao, you said that the folk customs in this place have changed so quickly? It's only been a few decades, and the Yiwu soldiers who once fought with Marshal Qi don't even have the courage to serve as soldiers and the responsibility to improve their family's situation?"

Before he finished speaking, he had already drank several times. Mao Jue, who was in a state of drunkenness, opened his tongue and complained, and blocked the words of County Magistrate Zhao.

"No, General Mao, how are these sweet potatoes grown?"

"As long as you follow me, Mao, I can't guarantee that everyone will come back alive, but I, Mao Jue, can guarantee that no matter whether you worked hard for me or died for me, you will come back with wealth and honor! Hey, everyone, I would rather You don’t dare to fight even if you are poor, do you?”

"Master Mao, this sweet potato"

"Okay, these last two days! Tomorrow, as many as there are applicants will apply. If they don't fail, if they want to be poor, let them be poor!"

"Lord Mao!"

Just when Mao Jue was drinking madly and turning his glass away, this Zhao man finally couldn't help but stood up abruptly.

"Master Mao, before the apocalypse, southern soldiers were everywhere, and the three major campaigns, never had our Zhejiang soldiers shed their blood to enter the city, but these years, you have fought in the north, and you have seen our Zhejiang soldiers several times. Do you know why? "

"Ah! Why?"

These days, aren't the entangled ones entangled in this matter?He was a little sober from the wine, Mao Jue stiffened his neck in annoyance, but this Zhao guy seemed to be drinking too much, patting the table and shouting.

"The imperial court did it! It's chilling! Lord Mao, you keep talking about the Qi family army. Do you know what happened to the Qi family army?"

With a slap on his thigh, County Magistrate Zhao slumped back on the chair, panting and shouting.

"I was killed, not by the Japanese pirates, not by the slaves, not by the Mongols, but by our own people! They all fell under the butcher knife of your Liao soldiers!"

"What?"

Mao Jue widened his eyes in disbelief.

The era of Qi Jiguang's Qi Family Army can be regarded as a dreamlike era in the Ming Dynasty. This army has strict discipline and is brave in combat, especially with outstanding combat skills and extremely high combat effectiveness. It won't give up its position, it's a copy of Yue's army, but this army is not without weaknesses. Qi Jiguang's ability to maintain such combat power depends on money.

At the very beginning, the military pay of the Qi family army was equal to that of other troops in the Ming Dynasty. However, they were rewarded for their meritorious service and punished for their deeds! A Japanese pirate’s head was a real 30 taels of silver! Never in arrears, that’s why the Jiajing Japanese rebels fought so hard. After a long time, Qi Jiguang was able to calm down, and after Qi Jiguang was promoted to the governor of Ji Town, the Yiwu soldiers who had been brought to the north officially became high-paying professional soldiers. At that time, the annual salary of the northern soldiers was 18 to 43 taels. The southern soldiers from the north were paid as much as [-] taels a year.

But they are indeed worth the price. In the first year of Wanli, the little prince of the Northern Man and Dong Huli invaded, and Qi Jiguang defeated the invading Beitar, and even captured Dong Huli's brother Dong Changtu alive, forcing the northern chieftain to take more than [-] people with him. People went to Ji Town to plead guilty and kept peace in northern Xinjiang for decades.

But this high salary also led to the tragedy of the Qi family army. In an era of enlightenment, prosperity and fairness, this army would be an invincible sword for the imperial court. However, this is an era of civil servants in power and factions. Later, Qi Jiguang was transferred to the General Army of Guangdong. Three years later, he was framed and dismissed from office. He returned to his hometown and died of illness. This Qi family army suddenly became a child without a mother.

But even so, this sword was not buried. In the Wanli Korean War, Li Chao's "Records of Xuanzu of Joseon" recorded this southern soldier in this way.

"Nan soldiers kept going forward regardless of life and death, Wu Weizhong's contribution is the highest!"

"Guerrilla Wu Weizhong led the Southern Army to attack the Mudanfeng Cave in Mead, and his troops fought with great strength, causing many casualties."

And the "Mr. Biwu Posthumous Manuscript" written by Li Shifa, a Korean, also recorded in this way: "Vice President Wu Weizhong, a native of Yiwu County, Jinhua Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, attacked Pyongyang in the battle of Kuiji, and he made the most achievements first!"

But such a meritorious army, not only did not get the reward it deserved, but it ushered in an unprecedented massacre. On October 23, the 23rd year of Wanli, Wang Bao, the commander-in-chief of Ji Town, called the Sanxie South Barracks in the school grounds. Killed more than [-] people, and conspired to cause rebellion, which is known as the Jizhou mutiny in the [-]rd year of Wanli!

The death of more than 300 people did not even stir up any waves for the imperial court, which was swayed by the party and government, but it hurt the hearts of the people forever. Before that, in the Yiwu area of ​​Jiangsu, Zhejiang, brave and powerful people joined the army in the north to serve the country It is a fashion, but after this incident, this kind of southern mercenary almost came to an abrupt end, leaving a small part in the north, and in the subsequent battle of Shenyang during the apocalypse, more than 3000 white soldiers and more than [-] southern mercenaries The soldiers were surrounded by Nurhachi in Liaohe, and the whole army was wiped out in a bloody battle. After that, there was no such well-trained voice of southern soldiers in the history books.

"General Mao, although these are not recorded in the local chronicles, they are passed on by word of mouth from the veterans who returned from the north. Some of them are still alive. Under such circumstances, is it possible for Yiwu people to apply? Mining at home, although poor, is good or bad. Earning a little money makes me feel at ease, and I can make a living by farming a little land, but I can go to Beizhen to serve as a soldier? If I don’t get any money, I’m still dying! Who can apply for it?”

Magistrate Zhao's drunkenness was getting higher and higher, but Mao Jue's drunkenness couldn't help waking up, he tilted his head, his audience was filled with righteous indignation, he could feel that in that bloody day, facing What kind of grievance, anger, and despair should be in the heart of the Qi family army and Zhejiang soldiers who are in the same robe and gun? My family did not return with wealth and honor, but it ended in such an ending. How wronged are these Yiwu folks? despair.

"This ghost world!"

I also have to thank Chongzhen, who opposed Wei Zhongxian and put the Jinyiwei on the ground. If the Jinyiwei was in the Jiajing Wanli period, they would have to pick up officials and send them to prison for such a slander of the government.

However, after feeling for a long time, the county magistrate Zhao is still a good official, and he smiled with a shy face.