gnovel Chapter 17 Military Households
Chapter 17 Military Households
For the next few days, Shao Shuyi was very busy.
During the day, he followed Wu Youcai to familiarize himself with the business, and at night he assisted in counting the newly arrived blue and white porcelain. Fortunately, Wang Sheng and the others did not seem to dare to tamper with the porcelain. The blue and white porcelain that was brought in this time was all put into storage normally, categorized and arranged neatly, just waiting for the merchants to come and buy it all. According to the latest data, the total number of blue and white porcelain in stock was 17,020 pieces.
Of course, this is only how it appears on the books. The tens of thousands of celadon artifacts in the previous inventory have not been inventoried. Shao Shuyi brought it up once, but Wang Sheng refused, citing a lack of manpower.
Shao Shuyi never mentioned it a second time.
At the beginning of May, the shopkeeper Wang Sheng sent Wu Youcai to Chuzhou again, supposedly to transport back the second batch of blueware.
As a result, the inventory check was completely put on hold. With the warehouse manager gone, many of the staff had also been transferred away and were now on leave.
Days passed like this. He ate three meals a day, and they were quite good. The anticipated conflict didn't happen. As a result, he found himself becoming somewhat addicted to this relatively comfortable life. He didn't want to change it and felt that things were alright as they were.
Fortunately, he still had his senses.
Standing atop the clouds of history, overlooking the earth and piercing through layers of mist, is the greatest advantage of a time traveler. He knew all that was before him was fleeting, an illusion. Swept up in the tides of history, no one could remain uninvolved.
On the evening of the ninth day of the fifth lunar month, Wang Huadu, who had been missing for a long time, finally reappeared.
Shao Shuyi took a few cakes from the kitchen back to his residence and handed them to Wang Huadu and a young man who had come with him.
"How did you spend the past two weeks?" Shao Shuyi asked, somewhat puzzled.
Wang Huadu, who was eating a pancake, laughed and said nonchalantly, "I stayed at your house at first, but after the food ran out, I went to stay at the house of a woman I liked for ten days."
Shao Shuyi was somewhat impressed. What a talent! Upon closer inspection, you know what? Wang Huadu may be poor, but he's not bad-looking. That makes sense now.
"They're an orphan and a widow, they're already struggling, and you've been staying for ten days. You've eaten up all their savings." The young man who came with him looked at Wang Huadu with considerable dissatisfaction.
Wang Huadu ignored his words and said to Shao Shuyi, "Xiao Hu, this man is someone I met when I was a station clerk. He is Cheng Ji, an archer in the Shizilu Wanhu Office. He is a bit older than you and me, and he is twenty years old this year."
"The Crossroads Ten Thousand Households Office?" This was the second time Shao Shuyi had heard this name.
Wang Huadu seemed to want to explain, saying "These are soldiers from Suzhou," but then fell silent, because he wasn't quite sure either. So he could only give an awkward smile and look at Cheng Ji.
Cheng Jize sized up Shao Shuyi, then shook his head after a moment and said, "Actually, they're just soldiers from Taicang..."
Surprisingly, Cheng Ji's ancestors were actually Han Chinese from Liaodong.
After the Li Tan Rebellion was quelled, Chongxi, a commander of the Zhengxing Wanhu (military commander) from the Donglu Jiu clan of the Khitan, was ordered to lead his troops to garrison Juzhou and build Shizilu City as a military town. From then on, "Shizilu" became the military name of the unit.
Ten years later, the Crossroads Army participated in the war that destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty. After the war, the Mongol army, the scout army, the Han army, and the newly surrendered army stationed in the Southern Song territory were scattered and mixed into thirty-seven units, each assigned to a garrison. The name Crossroads Army was retained, with Pingjiang Road as its defense zone, and its full name was "Zhenshou Pingjiang Shizilu Zhongwanhufu".
The Zhongwanhu Prefecture generally had 5,000 soldiers, plus tens of thousands of men, women, and elderly people who came with the army and relocated. They were distributed among one Zhenfu Post and ten Yiqianhu Posts under its jurisdiction. Each post was named after its original location or the place of origin of the soldiers. They were Zilai, Dongping, Daming, Guangping, Zhengding, Dadu, Hejian New Army, Hejian Old Army, Jinan New Army, and Jinan Old Army Qianhu Posts.
The headquarters of the Dadu Thousand-Household Garrison was located in Suzhou, but the military households were in Taicang. Cheng Ji was a soldier in that unit. Therefore, he was not the "Suzhou soldier" that Governor Wang Hua mentioned.
"So you're military households from Taicang." Shao Shuyi nodded and asked, "How many men are there in the Dadu Wing?"
"The roster lists five hundred, but there are only about three hundred in reality. Most of them are registered military households, weak and unable to fight," Cheng Ji sighed.
"Why?" Shao Shuyi asked like a curious child.
"From the Darughachi and the commanders of ten thousand men down, all the officers are hereditary. After sixty years, how can they fight?" Cheng Ji asked rhetorically.
Shao Shuyi suddenly realized that it was pretty much what he had guessed.
One particularly egregious aspect of the Yuan Dynasty's military system was the hereditary system of officers in the garrison commanderies (usually located in the north) and the thousand-household garrisons. Over time, this system accumulated numerous problems, leaving soldiers destitute and living like slaves or beggars. They were often hungry and cold, and many were heavily indebted to loan sharks. Even selling their children was not enough to repay their debts, leading to a surge in desertions, low morale, and a generally weak fighting capacity.
Cheng Ji was clearly furious about this and couldn't help but say, "Seven years ago, Zhangzhou was in turmoil. The military prefectures of Jianghuai sent troops south to suppress the rebellion. The supply lines at the crossroads were cut off for more than forty days, and countless people fled. Even the commander-in-chief committed suicide. If it weren't for the amnesty, I'm afraid not a single one of them would have returned."
Shao Shuyi was speechless. What kind of mess is this?
But that was irrelevant to him; he simply asked, "Do you know martial arts?"
Cheng Ji scrutinized him carefully and asked, "Of the several hundred men in the capital's thousand-household garrison, not many are capable of fighting on the battlefield. I do know a few moves, but—why do you want to learn them?"
"The world is in turmoil, and this is just to protect myself," Shao Shuyi said without hiding anything.
This reason was barely plausible. Cheng Ji was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll teach you once every ten days, and you only need five liters of rice in return. There are people in the unit stealing and selling military equipment; if you want some, I'll find you some cheap."
Before Shao Shuyi could reply, Wang Huadu jumped up and shouted, "Cheng Er, the capital is in such a state, and you're still there?"
Cheng Ji fell silent for a long while before finally saying, "This year, Commander Hao was stationed in Jiading and inspected the military camps. Seeing that the soldiers were exhausted, he went to the provincial capital to request provisions for them..."
"What's the use? Did you even invite them?" Wang Huadu sneered. "Whether they're military households or post households, their lives are getting harder every year, and they've never gotten any better. I think you've lost your mind, still clinging to that lousy military camp."
Cheng Ji only sighed and didn't say anything more.
Shao Shuyi stopped Wang Huadu from making any more sarcastic remarks and then consulted Cheng Ji about other matters.
Hao Wanhu, whose real name was Hao Tianlin, held the official rank of General Guangwei, a fourth-rank general, and commander of the Shizilu Army. His father died in the second year of the Tianli era (1329), and he subsequently succeeded his father as commander of the Shizilu Army. His mother, née Shi, was the granddaughter of Shi Tianze, the Prince of Zhenyang.
According to regulations, each commander of ten thousand households is required to garrison various towns within their defense zone for a period of one year. This year, Hao Tianlin is stationed at the Jinan Old Army Thousand-Household Office in Jiading Prefecture.
The unit closest to the Shizilu Army was the "Zhenjiang Naval Commandery of Changqiao". Originally stationed on Zhenjiang Road, it later moved to Changqiao on Pingjiang Road. It was successively commanded by Ning Yu and his son Ning Juren. It gradually declined and now has few people and ships, existing in name only.
As for the provincial capital Hangzhou, there are four prefectures with ten thousand households each: Zhen Ding (ten thousand households), Yi Du (ten thousand households), Ying Zhou (lower ten thousand households), and Shang Du Xin Jun (lower ten thousand households). On paper, there are twenty thousand soldiers: seven thousand from the upper ten thousand households, five thousand from the middle ten thousand households, and three thousand from the lower ten thousand households.
After learning about these circumstances, Shao Shuyi gained a preliminary understanding of the Yuan army in the Jiangzhe Province.
In short, it was a complete mess.
With low morale, weak combat effectiveness, small numbers, and poor equipment, and most soldiers unable to repay their loans, how the hell can they fight a war?
Thinking about how he had been driven around like a chicken or a dog by these soldiers that day, Shao Shuyi blushed.
But then again, they had weapons, and there were some capable fighters among the hundreds of people. They could easily kill someone as defenseless as me—Cheng Ji must have been in the group that day, right?
"I never imagined the world would come to this." After composing himself and expressing his feelings, Shao Shuyi looked at Cheng Ji and said, "One day's worth of rice for a ten-day teaching assignment, five liters per day, that's acceptable."
"Okay." Cheng Ji readily agreed, saying, "I took some equipment with me out of camp and stored it at your house, so how about—"
"Tomorrow is a day off, and I have nothing to do anyway, so I'll come to my house," Shao Shuyi said. "You can stay at my house for the night."
"Whatever you want," Cheng Ji said indifferently.
Wang Huadu opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.
Shao Shuyi patted him on the shoulder and said, "You're a real pro, so watch and learn more tomorrow and don't miss this opportunity."
After saying that, he handed the ten strings of Zhongtong notes he had received at the beginning of the month to Wang Huadu and instructed him: "Don't walk back, just take a boat. Buy some food and drink along the way, as much as you can."
"You trust me that much?" Wang Huadu asked with a smile.
"Doubting and doubting, is that what a great man does?" Shao Shuyi said nonchalantly.
Of course, this statement is only half true.
The truth is that he is just like that in his personality, and he likes to treat people with sincerity. The false part is that the ten strings of cash are nothing to him, because he can live and eat at the antique shop. Losing it will not affect his life. On the contrary, he can use it to see a person for who he really is, so it is not a loss.
Wang Huadu was somewhat moved upon hearing this. After silently putting away the money, he ate some cakes with Cheng Ji.
After finishing their meal, they said goodbye and left.
Shao Shuyi told them to take the salt and pickles with them, and then went to the shopkeeper Wang Sheng's residence to tell him that they were going home the next day.
"One day off every ten days is fine; I can go home anyway," Wang Sheng agreed, then asked, "What about the two people who just arrived...?"
"He's my neighbor," Shao Shuyi said.
Wang Sheng stared at him for a moment and said, "The world is in a bad state now. You must not associate with bad people. One wrong move and you could lose your life."
"I understand," Shao Shuyi replied quickly.
Wang Sheng nodded and waved for his guest to leave.
Shao Shuyi bowed and left, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.
On the morning of the eleventh day of the fifth lunar month, Shao Shuyi rushed to the kitchen, ate three large bowls of noodles, and then carried two bushels of coarse rice away leisurely.
He found a cargo ship bound for Zhangjing at the dock, gave the boatman a few handfuls of rice, and squeezed aboard.
The journey was uneventful, and soon we could see the iconic Haiyuncang building in Zhangjing in the distance.