usatvline Chapter 407 Land Reclamation and Military Settlement
Chapter 407 Land Reclamation and Military Settlement
This imperial edict determined everyone's fate.
Zhu Dadian's prediction of his future was very accurate. He was promoted one rank in honorary title and retained his post as Governor of Shandong. Lin Tianming got his wish and jumped three ranks from Inspector General to Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou. The Guan Ning Army members also received various rewards. Zu Dabi was already the Deputy General of Liaodong. His elder brother, Zu Dashou, was the Commander-in-Chief, but he could not be promoted. He was instead given the title of General Dingguo, a second-rank official. Wu Sangui was promoted from Guerrilla to Assistant General of the Right Vanguard Battalion.
The most frustrated person was Liu Ye. He thought he was a sure thing to become the general, but in the blink of an eye, he was reduced to a deputy general. Although he was also appointed as the governor of Guangzhou, it was just a nominal title, which was far from what he had expected.
"This is equivalent to the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region becoming the deputy commander and political commissar of the military sub-district. The top leader has become a deputy. Isn't that outrageous?"
Inside the Nanyuan Council Hall, Liu Ye complained to Liang Xiaoming.
Liang Xiaoming calmly said, "Calm down, you're not short of a little salary. Besides, what you said is wrong. Even if we set up a military town in Qiongzhou as you envisioned, it would only be the commander of the Hainan Military Sub-district, which is completely different from the Guangzhou Military Region. Don't try to change the subject."
Liu Ye stared at his old partner with wide eyes: "Did I say it was for the salary? Can ten years' salary match the daily turnover of the Bofu Customs? With a higher official position, it will be easier for me to act within the system, and I will be subject to fewer constraints. Do you understand?"
"Alright, alright, how could I not understand? I was just trying to comfort you," Liang Xiaoming advised. "Besides, you went from an unknown military officer in Qiongzhou to a deputy general in Guangdong, and you even have the title of governor of Guangzhou. That's not bad."
Liu Ye sighed, pulled out a piece of paper, and said, "If you include this letter, I really have nothing to complain about. Things are already better than I imagined."
Liang Xiaoming asked, puzzled, "What do you mean? Who gave you this letter?"
"This is a letter sent by my future father-in-law, the newly appointed Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, Lin Tianming. The letter says that if it weren't for the intervention of Grand Secretary Wen Tiren, Emperor Chongzhen would have transferred me to the Shenji Battalion as a common soldier. If that had happened, I would either have obediently gone to the capital to await my death, waiting for those second-generation officials to torture me to death, or I would have had no choice but to disobey the imperial decree and raise the banner of rebellion. In comparison, receiving a reduced reward is a stroke of luck amidst misfortune." Liu Ye said thankfully, "Fortunately, the ten thousand taels of silver arrived in time. Otherwise, if Emperor Chongzhen had pulled this stunt on me, all my plans would have been disrupted. Now is not a good time to openly rebel."
“That’s true.” Liang Xiaoming nodded, then asked, “You didn’t call me here today just to complain, did you? With so many refugees entering the country, you should be extremely busy, not have time to be so sentimental with me.”
"The matter of the starving people has already been arranged. Land reclamation, military settlements, and the allocation of personnel according to their specialties are all planned in advance. We just need to proceed step by step. If I had to be involved in everything, I wouldn't be a competent boss," Liu Ye said. "I called you here today for an arms deal with the Guan Ning Army."
"I've heard about that, is it? They're trading firearms for warhorses?"
“That’s right, but I don’t want to sell our best equipment to those warlords. These people are all vested interests. Even if they don’t directly oppose us in the future, they will never be our allies. So, you have to think of a way to produce some monkey-like versions of these things, but you can’t let them immediately realize that I need warhorses. Right now, the Guan Ning Army is the only reliable channel. We still have to maintain the appearance of harmony.”
“You have quite a few demands.” Liang Xiaoming pondered. “Mountain cannons are easy to handle. Just like we fooled Zheng Zhilong back then, we can just get some cast iron cannons. They’ll easily explode after a dozen or so shots. Rifles are a bit tricky. The barrels are made of low-carbon steel, which is relatively soft. If we tamper with the materials, they’ll deform and explode after only a couple of shots. Even a fool could see there’s something wrong. How about changing the firing mechanism? Let’s change the flintlock musket into a matchlock musket.”
"I'm afraid that won't work. When we face Li Jiucheng, the Guan Ning Army has already figured out the characteristic of rifles firing in rapid succession. If they get their hands on the guns, the rate of fire will drop from three shots per minute to one shot per minute, which will reduce the rate of fire by three times. They will definitely come after us."
"We can't tamper with the barrel material, and we can't change the firing mechanism... I've got it! We'll change the bayonet material; no one will be able to tell."
Liu Ye thought for a moment, "You mean, modify the bayonet to be both hard and brittle, making it easy to break?"
“That’s right. Our bayonets use a carburizing process. The outer layer is made of high-carbon steel with high hardness, and the inner core is made of low-carbon steel with high flexibility, which ensures that they are hard enough but will not break easily.” Liang Xiaoming explained, “The bayonets given to the Guan Ning Army are made of high-carbon steel directly. The outer layer is extremely hard, but it is very brittle and will break easily when bayoneting.”
"I see..." Liu Ye thought for a moment, "It's a compromise, at least it prevents the Guan Ning Army's musketeers from becoming an all-around unit capable of both long and short range attacks, basically just an enhanced version of a musket. Let's do it this way."
That night, Liu Ye held Ling Xi'er in his arms as they lay on the bed. Looking at her beautiful face, he said gently, "Xi'er, our meeting was truly incredible. Perhaps it was a blessing from heaven that allowed me to find you."
"Do you regret following me?"
"No regrets." Ling Xi'er said with a happy expression.
Liu Ye felt a burning sensation in his lower abdomen. He rolled over and pinned Ling Xi'er beneath him, reaching out to peel off her undergarments. He chuckled and said, "Xi'er, come and discuss life with your master."
Liu Ye quickly stripped Ling Xi'er naked and pounced on her like a hungry tiger. Ling Xi'er pretended to resist, and the two rolled around in a ball.
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The following day, in the hilly areas south of Lingao, large-scale land reclamation by immigrants was in full swing.
The deception that had terrified the starving people of Shandong ultimately failed to materialize, and the government fulfilled all its promises. Every migrant who survived to reach Lingao received five taels of silver as a resettlement allowance and a certain amount of rations to ensure they wouldn't starve before they could cultivate the land and harvest the crops. Three people could share one ox; although they had no ownership, only the right to use it, this greatly improved the efficiency of land reclamation and cultivation. The surrounding Li ethnic minority inhabitants had been dispersed, either migrating to more remote mountains and forests or dying under the swords and spears of government soldiers. What remained for the migrants were plains irrigated by the Wenlan River and hills with ample rainfall.
All the manpower in Qiongzhou Camp was devoted to this migration and land reclamation movement. According to the original plan, the plains that were easy to cultivate were given to the older migrants, who formed new villages according to clan and other relationships; the hilly areas that were more difficult to cultivate were designated as military settlements, and strong young men were incorporated into the military regardless of their wishes. They opened up large terraced fields on the hillsides, but these fields did not belong to them, but to Qiongzhou Camp.
Ancient farmers' attachment to the land was deeply ingrained. Initially, the able-bodied men couldn't fully accept this arrangement. Most of them longed to cultivate a few acres of fertile land, living a simple life of farming, tending their fields, and enjoying the comforts of family life. The fact that the fertile land they painstakingly reclaimed didn't belong to them, but rather to the "government land," was disheartening. However, the Qiongzhou garrison quickly changed their minds. The able-bodied men received their first month's pay, which was paid according to the standards for privates in the regular army. No taxes to pay for farming, plus a salary—the young men were immediately overjoyed; it seemed like a good deal after all.