Please ask me to be the emperor

Don't look at Zhang Shun's vows, as if he had entrusted everything to Xiao Qinhu, Zhang Sanbai and Ma Yingniang. In fact, when the recruitment began, Zhang Shun was present everywhere and only left Xiao Qinhu, Zhang Sanbai and Ma Yingniang. Just as a deputy.

Lushi was a land of poor mountains and harsh waters, and Zhang Shun thought he already had a deep understanding of this. As a result, as soon as the news of the recruitment of soldiers spread, groups of young men came to apply in groups.

The older ones were sixteen or seventeen, the younger ones were twelve or thirteen, and they all came in droves. They all carried guns and arrows, shouting: "We want to eat!"

Zhang Shun disliked that most of them were underage and weak, so he asked Xiao Qinhu to lead people to keep them away. They still refused to leave, just whirring and shouting outside.

What do you think? It turns out that "a half-grown man is a poor man." In ancient times, the emphasis was on having more children and being more blessed. It didn’t matter whether you could afford to raise them or not, just have children.

As a result, when the boy reached the age of 12, 13, 16, 17 or 16, he was still not strong enough, but he could eat as much as two children, and he could not feed them at all.

After the mountain people heard that Zhang Shun was recruiting troops, they sent the extra boys at home over. Firstly, the children have a place to eat, and secondly, the boys in the family can also make a living.

Yes, you heard it right, they call this "making a living". No matter whether you become a bandit or a robber, or you become an officer or a soldier, it is all just to make a living.

As for matters of life and death, they take it very lightly. After all, backcountry areas are not rich in grains and grains. Only furs, medicinal materials, ores and other inedible and drinkable things cannot stop hunger and satiety.

Rather than die of hunger, rather than be mauled to death by wild beasts, rather than fall into a ravine and disappear inexplicably. It's better to have a good time, eat a big bowl of meat, and drink a big bowl of wine, it's not a waste of time for you to come and go to this world!

Adults after the age of eighteen or nineteen have a job, so how can they put down what they are doing and apply for the job? As a result, Zhang Shun was surrounded by such a large group of hundreds of boys. Zhang Shun, who was full of confidence, received a slap in the face at the beginning of recruiting troops.

Just when Zhang Shun was depressed, he never thought that military advisor Song Xiance had "broken through" the siege outside the camp and came to see Zhang Shun.

As soon as Zhang Shung welcomed him in, this guy said: "Congratulations, lord, congratulations, lord, your great cause is accomplished!"

Zhang Shun was puzzled when he heard this and couldn't help asking: "I wonder where the joy comes from?"

Song Xiance laughed loudly, pointed to the door and said, "Happy children!"

Zhang Shun felt bad when he mentioned this, and couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "They are all ineffective children. They are young and weak. They have nothing to do. How can they be recruited as soldiers?"

Song Xiance smiled when he heard this and did not explain. He just said: "I have heard a few prophecies in the past few days, but I don't know what they mean. It wasn't until I came to pay homage to the lord that I understood their meaning!"

"What's the prophecy?" Zhang Shun knew that he was going to pretend to be a ghost again, so he had no choice but to answer.

"Children use bows, spears, and soldiers, and children fight with discipline to win. As long as the children are out of the formation, children will seize the city of Beijing!" Song Xiance shook his head and muttered.

Zhang Shun couldn't laugh or cry when he heard this, that's it? You just make up a jingle about feelings and come here to fool me?

If I had farted just now, I guess you could have made up something like: "There are hills and valleys in the chest, and thunder breaks out on the ground. This is the virtue of King Shun, and the omen will beat the Ming Dynasty!"

When Song Xiance saw Zhang Shun's expression of disapproval, he whispered: "King Shun is a good soldier. Don't you know that morale is the basis for governing the masses? When one man fights alone, the brave one wins; when an army fights alone, the one who is energetic wins. Although this boy's soldier is strong, Not as good as human beings, just hot-blooded, reckless and aggressive.”

"If you are an adult, you have parents and children above you, and you have worries in your heart, and your temperament is mixed. If you are in danger, you will avoid it, and if you are brave, you will retreat, which is of no use. Only this child soldier is the best to fool, he is not afraid of life and death, but Seek merit. If you train a little and use it properly, you will be as powerful as a rainbow and unstoppable!"

When Zhang Shun heard this, he didn't understand why he was using these children as cannon fodder. As a descendant, he had some bottom lines, so he asked in a low voice: "They are all teenagers, how can this happen? If one of them is hurt, how painful will his parents be?"

Song Xiance couldn't help but smile and said: "Although everything my lord does is good, this woman's kindness has never changed. There are billions of people in the world, how many of them can die of old age? Even if they are emperors and generals, they will die well." How many people are there?"

"My lord, do you know how there are so many people in this barren land? They are all farmers elsewhere, but because the court imposes heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes, they cannot afford it. They want to sell the land, but no one buys it. They have to abandon the acres and hide in this deep mountain and old forest. Live in it.”

"If there is even the slightest chance of survival, which parent is willing to let his child come out to make a living on the tip of a knife? But the people here are happy to eat it. In the previous campaign to fight against the Shenanese in the southwest and put down the chaos in Liaodong, the imperial court recruited tens of thousands from the west of Henan." Mao Gourd', they all went to death generously."

"Are they stupid and don't know that they will die? They just accepted the conscription. Firstly, there will be less food for the family. Secondly, there will be some hope. If they die in battle, they will get some compensation; if they perform meritorious service, they will get some rewards. That’s all, that’s all.”

"If the imperial court hadn't recruited Mao Gourd, there would have been many hungry and impoverished people here, and they would have rebelled sooner or later. What's the difference between being slaughtered by the imperial court and joining the rebel army?"

Zhang Shun couldn't help but be stunned for a long time after hearing this. In his previous life, he had mostly heard about the disadvantages of land annexation, and never imagined that large areas of land would be abandoned and fled during the Ming Dynasty.

When Zhang Shun was in Chenzhou, he also saw the situation of people abandoning their land and deserted it. He only thought that this was a very rare case. Didn't he think that it would be so serious in the world?

So, Zhang took the opportunity to ask, "I wonder, sir, why the land was abandoned?"

Seeing that Zhang Shun was evading the important and taking the easy, Song Xiance had no choice but to respond: "I am originally a wandering Taoist priest, with my home all over the world, and often wandering in the east of Henan. I have seen a lot in the past, so I know a little bit about it."

"My Ming Dynasty has grain chiefs and li chiefs. When paying taxes, the amount will be distributed by the grain chiefs and li chiefs. If there are any personal grudges or festivals with them, they will definitely not tolerate them. In addition, the big households are powerful and the small households are small. When paying grain, it is inevitable that there will be discrepancies between the acres of land and the tax paid. In this way, these small households often end up with their families ruined."

"In the Ming Dynasty, taxes have always been levied according to the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book. There have always been fixed quotas for each prefecture, county, township and li. However, if things go on like this, the number of households will be reduced, and the household taxes will be heavy, and the people will have to abandon their fields and flee to the mountains and forests. ”

"If these acres of land are to be sold, the taxes must be paid, otherwise who would be willing to buy them? So, although the people in the world want more, they want less arable land, and the court wants to pay more taxes in arrears, so this is the end of it!"

Although Zhang Shun was a Ming fan in his previous life, he couldn't help but sigh when he heard this: "If this is the case, this Ming Dynasty should be destroyed!"