The entire Datong Military Town had 146,000 hectares of farmland. It was a very large scale. Of course, this was the result of Wanli's nine years of investigation. Originally, there had only been 98,000 hectares, and the rest had been occupied by the generals and local gentry.
Everyone complained that the days of the military households were bitter, but everyone basically ignored this point.
Most people knew that it was bitter, but no one knew exactly how bitter it was.
Many people said that the status of generals was low, but compared to the military households, they were still the upper class of this era.
It was just that compared to the gentry, their social status and the share of social resources were slightly worse.
The military households were existences that lived even more miserable lives than the commoners and tenant farmers. As the Little Duke of the House of Lords, Zhang Weixian had only heard of it, but never seen it.
In the past, when he was in the Education Palace, every time the topic of military households was brought up, the emperor would be noncommittal. This was something that Zhang Weixian remembered very clearly.
Now he saw it. He had seen it with his own eyes what he had only read about in books in the past.
The piece of land in front of Zhang Weixian was more than 10,000 mu. In the entire Datong Prefecture, it was a large piece of farmland.
This piece of land belonged to the Datong Guard, and beside Zhang Weixian was the civil official in charge of distributing the land.
Ceng Shengwu had chosen to start with the abolition of the military household system and change it to a recruitment system.
Starting from this point, giving the military households benefits would allow them to taste the sweetness.
This way, they would believe the words of the imperial court and be willing to make a choice.
If he directly started from the personnel aspect and changed the status of a general to that of a commoner, Ceng Shengwu felt that many people would immediately run away.
In recent years, the number of deserters had increased every year. Every year, there would be countless deserters.
According to the military household system, even if a child of a military household was literate, he would not be able to pass the imperial examinations and obtain scholarly honors because the imperial court's system did not allow it. This cut off the possibility of a military household turning over. In addition, when the father died, the son would inherit the position, making it impossible for the next generation of military households to turn over.
They were in despair. There was no light ahead, and they could only muddle along each day.
Farming to fill their stomachs was actually an extravagant hope for military households. Ordinary farming was split in a ratio of three to seven, and military households would only get three portions, or even two to eight portions in some places.
Of these three portions, they were even deducted by the general. Their lives were comparable to that of pigs and dogs.
In front of Zhang Weixian stood a group of people, all of whom were soldiers.
It was different from the usual martial arts practice. These people were not wearing bright armor, nor were they holding swords or sabers, let alone military postures.
All of them were emaciated and sallow, and they were as thin as a match. The half-grown children even had a big head. They hid behind the adults and looked over timidly.
These people all had military records, which meant that they were soldiers of the Daming Empire. When Zhang Weixian left the capital, he had checked and found that there were more than 760,000 soldiers on the nine sides of the Daming Empire. Now, Zhang Weixian knew that if he said that these were numbers on the books, it would be an insult to the books.
There were a total of 140,000 soldiers in the Great Harmony Guard, but looking at the current situation, there were probably less than 10,000 that could be pulled out to fight.
Zhang Weixian glanced at the commander of the Great Harmony Guard, Zeng Qing, and saw that he was standing awkwardly to the side.
Although Zhang Weixian was angry, he also knew that he could not reprimand Zeng Qing. The entire border army was like this. After all, the imperial court had no money or food for them. They were barely getting by and still had to fight against the Tartars. It was already difficult for them.
A few days ago, after the purge of the imperial stables, the remaining officers were not evil people who drank the blood of soldiers.
Zhang Weixian had personally asked one of the officers. That officer's main job was to pretend to be a soldier. There were only seven hundred of them out of a thousand, and the remaining three hundred did not exist. In other words, they were eating off their pay.
Even now, Zhang Weixian remembered that qianhu's words. To be able to feed these seven hundred people, he had done his best.
When he was taken off his armor, what Zhang Weixian saw was a patched undergarment.
Layer upon layer, the stitches were very thick. He had sewn them himself. As for his wife, she had died a few years ago.
Without money, he could not find another wife. At that time, this qianhu was called Chu Feng. At that time, he cried like a baby.
At that moment, Zhang Weixian stood there, speechless for a long time. He did not know what to say.
This was how these people guarded the Daming's territory. Compared to those scholars who led a befuddled life, they guarded the gates of the Daming's country with knives in their hands.
At that moment, Zhang Weixian felt as if a fire had been lit in his heart.
He was from a family of generals, and his family was the House of Lords. He felt that he had let these people down.
At that moment, Zhang Weixian thought of the Emperor. He thought of the Emperor's silence. Every time he heard about the army, the Emperor's silence would be very long. The sadness in his eyes could not be concealed. At that moment, Zhang Weixian understood. It was guilt!
Guilt could kill!
"Commander Zeng, is everyone here?" Zhang Weixian asked Zeng Qing calmly.
Zeng Qing hurriedly nodded. "Reporting to the Duke, everyone is here. There are a total of 2,100 people!"
Zhang Weixian nodded. There were 2,100 people here, and Zeng Qing's personal guard only had 5,600 people.
The people in front of him made up half of the army. The other half were Zeng Qing's personal guards, who relied on them to fight.
This was still good. If it were those commanders who had been captured, they would only have 1,000 men to fight.
Zhang Weixian knew that 2,100 people didn't just represent 2,100 people, but 2,100 households, 2,100 families.
The main obligation of a military household was to send a man to serve as a soldier in the guard station. This man was called a regular soldier, and the other children were called surplus soldiers. When a regular soldier went to the guard station, at least one surplus soldier had to accompany him to help him make a living.
Regular soldiers serving in the City Guards Institution had to bring their wives with them so that they could settle down and have children. Everyone here had their own families.
Although the personal guards were treated better, their families also had to farm. It was just that they were not summoned this time.
This was the border army, and it was the world's number one army, Datong Town.
What about other places?
What about the guard stations?
Zhang Weixian didn't dare to think about it. He was afraid that he would be out of breath.
"Let their respective baihu bring out their own people!" Zhang Weixian didn't say anything else. He just gave a simple order.
Although these people looked miserable, they all had their own places to belong to. After all, they had their own household registration.
It was just that they were more like tenants now. You belonged to him, you belonged to him, and the people who rented the fields to them were the Daming officers.
"Yes, Little Duke!" Zeng Qing nodded and then began to let his men divide the people.
It was a little cold in the northwest today. Zhang Weixian looked at the military households below. Many of them were still wearing unlined clothes. They were shivering from the cold, and his eyes couldn't help but turn red.
Looking up at the slightly gloomy sky, Zhang Weixian's heart was very violent. He wanted to kill someone now.
The people were quickly divided. Zhang Weixian directly said to his personal guards behind him, "Go, send one person from each baihu to help them explain."
"Yes, Little Duke!" The personal guards behind Zhang Weixian quickly dispersed. Their expressions were also very ugly.
Zeng Qing's baihu had been trained on how to explain the distribution of land and the change of household registration to their subordinates.
Zhang Weixian did this because he was afraid that someone would play tricks. To many officers, this was cutting off their source of income.
However, at this moment, Zhang Weixian was looking forward to someone coming out to cause trouble. He really wanted to kill someone. His hand tightly pressed on the sword that the Emperor had given him.
More than two thousand people were divided into more than twenty groups. The baihu had already begun to explain.
Zhang Weixian quietly walked to the back of the group and quietly listened to the baihu's explanation. He wanted to personally experience the feelings of these military households.
"The Emperor has already given the order to distribute land to everyone. Do you see these lands?"
The baihu of the group that Zhang Weixian was standing with was a bearded man. His face was very rough, and he spoke very loudly. His Guanzhong accent was very strong. Having been in Datong for so many days, Zhang Weixian could understand most of it.
The bearded man pointed to the surrounding fields and said, "Each family will be given a piece of land. Every male above the age of sixteen will be given ten mu of land. Females will have five mu of land. Males below the age of sixteen will have five mu of land. Females will have three mu of land."
"In the future, these fields will not be used to collect grain. They will only be used to pay land taxes."
Everyone looked at each other. Many of them could not believe it. Some of them trembled and asked, "Sir, is this true?"
"Of course it's true. This is the Emperor's imperial edict. Do you think I would dare to falsify it? I don't have that many heads to behead!"
The bearded baihu said with a smile, "In the future, you will be like ordinary people. The court will give you land deeds."
"Children can study, take the imperial examinations, and become officials. Good times are here."
It wasn't clear who cried first, but it was followed by a series of cries. A group of emaciated soldiers cried loudly at this moment. They cried themselves hoarse, as if their hearts and lungs were going to burst out of their chests.
The crying was contagious. When everyone understood what was going on, the entire field was filled with crying.
When Zhang Weixian saw this scene, he gave a look to a person not far away. That person immediately understood and shouted, "Long live the Emperor!
Long live the Emperor! "
Therefore, amidst the heart-wrenching cries, the shouts of "Long live the Emperor" shook the sky.
When Zhang Weixian saw this scene, his mood improved. He believed that these people would not forget this day and these things for the rest of their lives. With these people as soldiers, they would be able to form a strong army.
At that moment, Zhang Weixian had an urge to stay here.
He would select soldiers, train them, and build them into a strong army in the Northwest.
There was no need for Zhang Weixian to participate in the rest of the matters. They measured the land, issued the land deeds, and registered with the Tax Department. The entire process was smooth and orderly.
However, Zhang Weixian still left his men behind to keep an eye on them, in case someone tried to play tricks.
Zhang Weixian knew that he was not popular in the Northwest, but he did not care.
He was the heir to the Duke of the House of Lords and the favorite of the Emperor. He did not care what others thought of him. His heart had never been so firm.