Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 62: A Private Visit to Li Shanchang

Rebellion involves one's life and property, so even Qin Li has to investigate it in advance. Dingyuan Li naturally would not make a rash bet.

So Li Xu asked Li Shanchang, who was known for his virtue in his family, to go to the rebel's rule in disguise to visit and see what the situation was like under Lu Jin's rule.

Just when Qin Li, the chief clerk of Chao County, brought his two brothers and Jin Chaoxing into Chao County, Li Shanchang also came to Lu Jin's territory with his long-time attendant.

He came from Dingyuan, and the first place he arrived at was of course Liang County.

Li Shanchang is now 37 years old. He wears a coarse linen robe, has a long beard, a Taoist bun, and rides a donkey. He looks like a middle-aged teacher.

When we arrived at the outskirts of Liang County, the wheat planted in the farmlands at the beginning of the month had already sprouted, and many farmers were watering the fields for the first time.

The sparse green in the wheat fields is the farmers' hope for the coming year. As long as there are no more natural disasters or wars, and the government is still willing to provide relief, they can still barely get by.

The most difficult thing is how to survive the lean period before the wheat harvest next year.

If the food supply really ran out before the wheat harvest, we would probably have no choice but to cut the young crops and cook them to eat, and then flee the famine or wait to starve to death.

Li Shanchang was standing on the official road, observing the situation of the farmlands on both sides. Just then, a group of men, old and young, some carrying loads on their shoulders, some carrying bamboo baskets, came rushing over from the direction of the county town with a joyful look on their faces.

Seeing this, Li Shanchang quickly stopped everyone and asked.

"My fellow countrymen, is there any happy event in Liang County? Why do you all look so happy?"

The old man in the front saw that he looked like a scholar, so he said with a little respect, "General Lu of the rebel army is a good man. He drove away the Tartars and burned the IOU of the government. From now on, the usury of the government will be written off."

Someone else added.

"Marshal Lu is still recruiting people to work. Liang County didn't have a city wall before, but now Marshal Lu wants to build a city. As long as you work, each person will be given two liters of rice per day, and you can take home a bushel of rice after working for half a month. We have all received food and are going home."

Everyone had a happy look on their faces, and the loads they were carrying and the bamboo baskets on their backs were obviously filled with food.

Li Shanchang was quite surprised and asked, "Two liters a day, is that enough?"

"Enough, of course. The rebel commander Lu is also short of people. All the rebel soldiers with red scarves on their arms bring food here, and then we hire some country women to cook. We don't pay them, but we provide them with meals every day.

"My wife cooks for me, how could there be less?"

Li Shanchang immediately extracted useful information from it. Lu Jin was building city defenses with work-for-relief, and it seemed that he did not have many civil servants under him. It turned out that matters like building the city were actually under the jurisdiction of the army.

So he asked again, "Is the food distributed enough? Can you let me take a look?"

One of them immediately opened the backpack and said, "It's definitely enough. I watched it carefully when I settled the bill, and I made sure no one took less."

Li Shanchang grabbed a handful, looked at it in his palm and put it back.

“They’re all Chen rice?”

The villager didn't care. "Old rice can be eaten. It's good enough that the government is willing to give you grain to relieve famine. Why are you so greedy?"

Li Shanchang laughed when he heard this. The common people actually spoke up for the government. Of course, this was the government of the rebels.

After a pause, he asked again, "After you send the food back, do you still need to build the city?"

The old man sighed, "Building a city and giving food, how can there be so many good things? After the city is built, I am afraid there will be nothing to do. I heard that Marshal Lu has other plans, and I don't know what else he wants to build. Anyway, as long as you give us food, we will go and take a look."

The young man at the side also nodded and said, "That's right. If we eat a meal outside, we can have an extra meal at home. If we can bring some rice back home, we won't have to worry about not being able to wait until next summer's harvest. As long as the Marshal wants us to work, we will definitely go."

Li Shanchang stroked his beard and nodded, watching a group of villagers leave, and formed a general impression of Lu Jin.

Providing work-for-relief, building city defenses, providing relief to the people, and abolishing the Yuan court's usury tyranny are all good things. I just don't know how long Marshal Lu can last if he continues to use the food like this.

When recruiting corvée labor normally, the government usually only provides food, which is enough to allow you to eat your fill, and it is good enough if you don’t have to bring your own food.

Lu Jin actually distributed two liters of rice per person, but he originally wanted to give each person three liters of rice, so that the young and strong laborers could take home one liter after eating their fill. But Bao Heng firmly disagreed, and finally decided on a dou of rice for half a month, which made Bao Heng very painful.

One dou is equal to ten liters. According to Lu Jin's plan, he gave one liter more every day, which means he would have one dou in ten days. Bao Heng gave one dou every fifteen days, which was actually not much less, but it greatly won the hearts of the people.

The food is consumed a little too quickly.

Fortunately, the city construction project was very fast. If the rammed earth city wall was not covered with bricks, it could be built in less than two months.

Leaving the countryside and continuing along the official road, Li Shanchang and his attendants soon arrived at the county seat of Liang County, where the city wall was still being raised.

The newly built city wall is about four meters high. The soil was dug from the moat nearby. The river was dug here and the city was built directly with the soil. It is close and there is no need to run too far.

Moreover, Liang County was built along the natural river channel, with Chushui River next to it. Once the city wall is built, the Chushui River can be diverted into the moat, making it impregnable.

On the construction site, many soldiers with red scarves on their arms were patrolling and supervising, and on the parade ground not far away, there were soldiers training.

Li Shanchang found a tea stall selling sesame cakes and sat down. He drank tea while observing and listening to the conversations of people around him to collect intelligence.

Stationed in Liang County is Zhu Liangzu's Fifth Regiment, with Liao Yongzhong as the deputy commander. The current training outline focuses on the large spear formation. The Mandarin Duck Formation only retains the Liangyi Formation and the Sancai Small Formation, which are only used in street fighting. There is also a three-person assassination technique during field assaults.

In a head-on confrontation, the main force is currently a large spear formation with 50 people in each platoon, but the shortage of weapons and armor still exists.

Although the main force is the heavy infantry spear phalanx, Lu Jin still requires that if conditions permit, each soldier should prepare a secondary weapon, such as a waist knife, an axe, or a bone sword. It would be best if everyone has a small shield, which does not need to be too big and can be carried on the body.

As for armor, there was none at all. They could only equip themselves with some large wooden shields to protect against arrows. In addition, each person could be equipped with a bamboo hat.

Luzhou did inherit the technology of making paper armor from the Song Dynasty, but paper armor is almost disposable. Based on the principle that having it is better than having it, Lu Jin also asked craftsmen to make some. Once they were made, they were stored and people did not dare to use them at other times for fear that they would go bad.

The bow and arrow are also bullshit. The composite bow of tendon, horn and wood of this era would take at least a year to make, and the materials are extremely hard to find. A wooden bow frame is easy to find, but where can you find ox horn and ox tendon brocade?

As for arrows, Lu Jin inquired carefully with the craftsmen and checked the information from the Luzhou government office. He came to a reliable conclusion that the cost of an arrow in ancient times was roughly equivalent to the average daily wage of the urban population.

Assuming you earn 3000 per month, the cost of an arrow is about , which is an outrageous price.

It would be faster to make muskets and bullets. It takes at least one month to make a musket, but a bow takes a year.

The materials for a musket only require wood and iron, which are at least easier to find than cow horns and tendons.

It is hard to say which one is more expensive, bullets or arrows, but bullets consist of gunpowder and pellets, and the manufacturing process is definitely simpler than that of arrows.

In general, Lu Jin's Shengwu Army is still very poor in terms of equipment. Bows and arrows and iron armor are basically captured. They can currently produce their own spears and wooden shields. As for the rest, they can only wait until they take over the iron mine.

However, his enemies were not very good either. Take Kang Maocai for example. He was also a privately-funded militia. Although he could get some equipment from the arsenals in various parts of the imperial court, he did not have much obvious advantage over Lu Jin.

Li Shanchang was not very good at military affairs, so he could not fight in a war, but as long as he had soldiers and generals, he could stabilize people's hearts and guard the house and the city.

He couldn't understand Lu Jin's army, he only knew that the soldiers were trained in neat formations and there was no fear on their faces. He thought that an army that could win battles one after another must be good.

However, a passerby who was drinking tea nearby talked about Zhu Liangzu's origins, which surprised Li Shanchang very much. This marshal appointed by the Tartars and the commander-in-chief of the Lu'an official army was actually conquered by Lu Jin, which made him feel quite outrageous.

After leaving Liang County and arriving at Luzhou City, Li Shanchang saw the broken victory notice at the city gate, which stated how Zhu Liangzu helped to deceive the city and handed over Lu'an. He could not help laughing out loud.

"This Marshal Lu is a wonderful man."

When he arrived at the city gate, the guard looked him up and down, "What are you doing? Where are you from? What are you doing in the city? Why haven't I seen you before?"

Li Shanchang spoke immediately after hearing this.

"I am from Dingyuan, my family is poor. I heard that the people in Luzhou are living and working in peace and contentment under the rule of Marshal Lu, so I want to find a way to make a living. I have studied and worked as a private school teacher. I wonder if there is a shortage of teachers in the city?"

There is one more chapter

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(End of this chapter)