For the Datong Wei's military families, today was a joyous day. They had been given land.
Among the many military families, Wang Da's family was the first to receive land deeds. This man in his forties had been crying like a child, but now, he was happily sitting in his home.
Wang Da's family had seven people. His father had passed away long ago, but his mother was still there.
Other than his mother, Wang Da's family also had him and his wife, as well as his two sons and two daughters.
His eldest son was 17 years old this year and had reached the age of marriage. However, it was becoming more and more difficult for a military family to find a wife.
No one was willing to marry off their son to a military family. This was something that everyone knew.
But now, their family had land. His old mother was given five mu of land, his wife was given five mu of land, his eldest son and himself were given ten mu of land, and his two daughters were given five mu of land and three mu of land respectively.
His youngest son was given five mu of land, so the entire family was given 33 mu of land.
This land gave Wang Da hope. Although it wasn't enough for them to live a prosperous life, it was still hope.
His eldest son didn't have to become a military family, and he didn't have to exchange his daughters for his son's marriage.
"Should we sell a few mu of land?"
Wang Da's wife was a woman in her thirties. She had married Wang Da because of the exchange of marriage. These years of hardship had made her look very haggard. She had aged quite a bit, and there were even white hairs on her temples.
Wang Da's eyes were still a bit red as he looked at his wife, Lee. He reached out to hold his wife's hand.
"No need, no need. I heard a few days ago that there are a lot of people hiring people to work outside. Tomorrow, I'll bring Eldest Brother to see if we can find some work and earn some money."
"When the time comes, we'll buy some things for our family. We'll definitely have a good new year."
Lee smiled and nodded. "We don't have cows or horses at home. Although we have land, farming is also a problem!
Eldest Brother is going to get engaged, and we have to build a house for him. Second Brother isn't young anymore. "
Hearing his wife's endless chatter, Wang Da didn't feel annoyed. Instead, he felt that this kind of life was very interesting.
Although the road ahead was difficult, there was hope. These seemingly difficult lives were things that he had never dared to hope for in the past.
Looking at his wife's nagging, Wang laughed and comforted her, "It will be fine, everything will be fine."
At this time, Wang Da's son, Wang Chao, rushed in from outside, gasping for breath.
Looking at his son, Wang Da let go of his wife's hand and said with wide eyes, "Where did you run off to?
Where's your brother?
It's time to eat, don't you know? "
Wang Chao couldn't care less about this. Instead, he said happily, "Dad, do you know what they're talking about outside?
They are talking about recruiting soldiers. The imperial court is going to recruit soldiers! "
Hearing his son's words, Wang Da's expression changed greatly. He stood up in horror and said, "Didn't you say you were going to change our household registration?"
At this moment, Wang Da was really afraid. He had just had a glimmer of hope. If all the things he had said to his wife were to disappear, Wang Da felt as if the sky had collapsed.
If he had never had it, he would not be afraid of losing it. Wang Da was now really afraid of losing it.
Wang Chao hurriedly waved his hand, "Dad, no, it's not like that!"
"It's recruiting soldiers. Right now, the rumors outside are going crazy. It's recruiting soldiers, and it's voluntary. If you want to join the army, the imperial court will give you a settlement fee of ten taels of silver.
If you are chosen, you will be given one tael of silver every month. "
Wang Da looked at his son in disbelief, "Who said this nonsense?"
"The rumors outside are saying that the emperor abolished the military household and gave us land. However, we can't just leave people to defend the city!" Wang Chao excitedly explained, "But the emperor sympathizes with the hardships of the border army, so he took out money to recruit soldiers."
"According to the number of years a soldier has served, the salary will increase. It will increase every year."
Hearing this news, Wang Da was excited. However, he still couldn't believe it and said, "Impossible, right?"
Although he said this, Wang Da couldn't help but be moved. He felt that his son was right. There must be people to defend the city!
If it was really like this, then wouldn't he be able to earn money for his family if he went?
"Father, I want to go!" Wang Chao looked at his father and said.
Wang Da was stunned. He looked at his son and angrily said, "What do you mean you want to go? If you want to go, you have to come with me!"
"Father, don't even think about it!"
Wang Chao saw that his father was angry and took a few steps back before saying, "They said that only those above 16 years old and below 20 years old can go. Father definitely can't go. In our family, only I can go."
Wang Da was silent. After a while, he shook his head, "Son, you can't."
"You are already 17 years old this year. It's time for you to get married. Father can't let you join the army.
Tomorrow, follow father to take a look. They said that there are places to work. Work hard and earn more money. After the new year, they will arrange a marriage for you. "
Wang Chao's attitude was very firm. He shook his head and said, "Father, I want to go and kill the Tartars."
Without waiting for Wang Da to speak, Wang Chao continued, "Our previous Zhao Baihu went to the northwest to kill the Tartars. He made a great contribution and was beheaded three times. The imperial court rewarded him with 120 taels of silver."
"I heard that he was promoted to Vice Thousand Households. Your son also wants to stand out."
Wang Da was silent. He felt that his son should go, but at the same time, he felt that it was inappropriate.
That night, countless people in the Datong Garrison had this kind of vexation.
Who was the one who spread the news of recruiting soldiers?
It was naturally Ceng Shengwu.
At the Governor's Yamen.
Ceng Shengwu sat at the table with some irritation. Ever since the distribution of the fields had begun, Ceng Shengwu had been very busy. Fortunately, with the little duke's management, there had been a lot less messy matters.
However, there were still a lot of things to do. After all, he still had to make preparations for the recruitment of soldiers.
At this time, Zhang Weixian walked in from outside. He was travel-worn. The past two days had made him unbearably tired.
However, he was in a very good mood. Seeing those soldiers crying tears of joy, Zhang Weixian felt very satisfied.
"Official Ceng, are you still busy?"
Zhang Weixian looked at Ceng Shengwu and said with a smile, "This won't do. It's already mealtime, and Official Ceng still hasn't eaten. It won't do for your body to tire out. Eat first!"
Ceng Shengwu glanced at Zhang Weixian and smiled helplessly. However, he was indeed hungry.
Ceng Shengwu followed Zhang Weixian to the back. The dishes were quickly served, and Ceng Shengwu didn't stand on ceremony. He began to eat with Zhang Weixian.
However, the two of them were people of status. Although they were very hungry, they still ate in a very refined manner.
After the meal, the servants removed the leftovers and replaced them with hot tea. Only then did the two of them sit down to drink tea and chat.
"The distribution of land is progressing very smoothly. The next step is to abolish the military records and recruit soldiers. Does Official Ceng have any ideas?"
Zhang Weixian looked at Ceng Shengwu and asked with a smile. In reality, he had already written a memorial to the capital. He wanted to stay in the northwest to train the soldiers.
Glancing at Zhang Weixian, Ceng Shengwu smiled and said, "I'll have to discuss this with Commander Ma and the others!"
Changing the military household system to the recruitment system, there were a lot of things to do and there were a lot of things to do.
The first point was to determine the number of soldiers to be recruited. It was impossible to maintain the current number of soldiers, and the imperial court couldn't afford it.
According to the current establishment of Datong Town, there were 140,000 people. If each person was given a settlement allowance of 10 taels, that would be 1.4 million taels.
If each person was given a salary of one tael a month, that would be 140,000 taels a month, or 1.68 million taels a year. Adding the 1.4 million for the settlement allowance, that would be close to 3 million taels. This didn't even include warhorses, rations, and other military necessities.
Even if one didn't include the settlement allowance, the imperial court would need to spend 2 million taels a year to maintain the troops in the northwest. This was too much for the imperial court, and the burden was too heavy. And this was only one military town in Datong Town. Daming had nine sides.
It was necessary to reduce the size of the army. In reality, Ceng Shengwu had also found out that the number of soldiers in the entire Xuan University was only 60% of the number on the books.
After deducting the shortfall in salary, it was only about 50%.
The 70,000 regular soldiers were enough to deal with the Xuan University defense line. If Walla was taken into account, then the 50,000 regular soldiers would be enough.
50,000 people, a settlement allowance of 500,000 taels, a monthly salary of five taels, and 500,000 taels a year. If this was in the past, it would have been unimaginable, but now, it wasn't a big problem.
With the current equipment of Xuan University, if they were all gathered together, it would be enough to turn these 50,000 people into the elite of the elite.
The reduction in the number of people meant that many areas needed to be reduced, such as the number of forts, the distribution of troops, and the stationing of troops. Everything had to be changed. This was a systematic and large project, and it was very troublesome.
Zhang Weixian saw that Ceng Shengwu wasn't willing to talk more with him, so he said with a smile, "I have already written to the Emperor to stay in the northwest to participate in the military reform."
Ceng Shengwu froze. He had originally thought that Zhang Weixian would return to the capital after intimidating the people. He hadn't expected that he would stay in Xuan University to participate in the military reform.
However, after thinking about it, it was understandable. This little duke had been running all over Xuan University these past few days.
As for whether or not Zhang Weixian could stay, Ceng Shengwu wasn't worried at all. Who was this person?
The little duke of the House of Lords, the favorite of the Emperor. Anyone could see that the Emperor had the intention of cultivating Zhang Weixian. Perhaps in a few years, this little duke would become the top person in the military.
Now, people were saying that this little duke was the leader of the young and vigorous faction of the military.
This young and vigorous faction was different from the previous Honours and generals of the military office of the five armies. Most of them came from the Education Palace, and some came from the Imperial Martial Arts Lecture Hall.
These people were younger, more aggressive, and dared to fight.
Other than Zhang Weixian, there was also the Little Marquis Wu Weiying of the Marquis of Gongshun's household, the young uncle of the Count of Xining's household, Liu Wei, the son of the left admiral Liu Xian of the five armies, and Ma Dong, the son of the already deceased right admiral Ma Fang.
Other than being young, these people also had a very obvious label on them. They were the new generation of generals that the Emperor had cultivated.
Ceng Shengwu also knew that his Emperor often compared himself to Emperor Wu of Han. This was very similar to Emperor Wu of Han. In order to expel the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of Han had also cultivated many famous generals, such as the famous Wei Qing and the famous Huo Qubing. In Ceng Shengwu's view, his Emperor probably treated Zhang Weixian as Wei Qing.
Under these circumstances, if he requested to stay in the northwest, would the Emperor not allow it?