Chapter Nineteenth: The Banquet

  The celebratory banquet was held in the small wing of the inner courtyard of the county magistrate's mansion, which made Pang Gang feel a little surprised. In ancient times, the inner courtyard of a large family's residence was mostly inhabited by female relatives, and guests who could be entertained by the host in the inner courtyard were either close relatives or people with high social status. Neither of these applied to Pang Gang and his companions, which left him feeling somewhat surprised.

  Although he said that he had saved Wei Tongnian's concubine, he was able to introduce himself to Song Xing and strive to promote himself to the position of hundred households, it can be said that he has already repaid his own kindness. So why is he still so diligent in entertaining himself? This question has been on Pang Gang's mind for a long time and he couldn't figure it out.

  At this time, Pang Gang, who was sitting at the wine table, was no longer the ordinary soldier wearing a coarse mandarin duck robe. He had already changed into a light green flying bear warrior official uniform, with a black gauze hat, a round collar shirt, and a belt around his waist, wearing white-soled thick boots, this is the dress of an official in the Ming Dynasty. Since Pang Gang put on this official uniform, he knew that this attire had clearly told others that the owner of this outfit was a sixth-grade military officer in the Ming Dynasty, and it was an official who would normally make those peddlers or ordinary people kneel down to address him as "sir". At this moment, Pang Gang couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and satisfaction.

  It's no wonder that so many talented people have been eager to join this class throughout history. Don't you see that even a janitor position in the government sector can attract so many masters and doctoral students to sign up? It's because they know that once they join this class, they will be part of the ruling class.

  At this time, there were only five people at the wine table where Pang Gang was, including Wei Tongnian, Song Xinghe, Pang Gang and two thousand households who accompanied him. More than a dozen people like Da Zhuang Gou Sheng did not have the qualifications to drink with the governor and the commander because of their small official positions, and could only open another table on the side, which also fully reflects the characteristics of the officialdom that cannot be crossed.

  Everyone took their seats, with officials like Song Xinghe and Wei Tongnian present. As a result, everyone was somewhat cautious, not to mention the rough Da Zhuang who didn't dare eat as voraciously as he normally did. Even Li Yuan, a young man with a bit of a temper, was being unusually careful. When Song Xinghe occasionally praised him, the young man's face would light up with delighted surprise.

  After three rounds of wine and five flavors, Song Xinghe slowly asked about the government affairs of Lingshanwei, specifically the tuntian and tunliang of each fortress.

  Song Xing put down his wine cup and looked at Pang Gang and asked: "Pang Baihu, you are now the captain of the Ling Shan Wei, according to reason, you should either be in charge of training soldiers or managing a fort and taking on the duty of tuntian, what do you think?"

  Song Xing asked this, and everyone at the table stopped their chopsticks and looked towards Pang Gang.

  The opportunity for troops like Xiang Wei to go out and fight is very rare, their daily duties are mainly to guard the beacon towers, ensure the safety of residents, and manage the collection of grain within the borders. This is also why Zhu Yuanzhang established the Wei-Suo system in the first place. Unfortunately, the current Wei-Suo system has completely collapsed, and the troops' farmland has become private property for military officers. The more than 2 million troops nationwide not only fail to pay taxes to the court every year but also constantly ask the court for financial support, which is also one of the important reasons for the financial collapse of the Ming Dynasty in its later period.

  Ling Shan Wei is also in charge of three subordinate strongholds, namely Wang Hai Fortress, Qiu Hong Fortress and Qian Ri Fortress. According to the rules, each stronghold should have 120 military households, but the actual effectiveness of these three strongholds has long been lost, and many soldiers have fled, leaving much land abandoned for a long time. Song Xing is well aware of this, and now he asks Pang Gang just to test this newly appointed bailiff.

  The atmosphere in the hall was somewhat silent for a moment, with only Wei Tong looking at the table of generals with a smile that had nothing to do with him.

  Pang Gang thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and said: "Commander-in-Chief, your humble servant is not talented, but I am willing to take orders and be responsible for the garrison at Yizhou, to share worries with you and with the imperial court!"

  "Ah!"

  Everyone looked at Pang Gang with strange eyes after hearing this. In the garrison, the officer in charge of farming was always doing a thankless job. If your crops were good, it was what you should do, but if they were not good, the superior would punish you. Therefore, no one had ever been willing to take on the task of farming. Now that Pang Gang had volunteered to be in charge of farming, everyone couldn't help but feel surprised.

  Song Xing asked with some surprise, "Oh, Pang Baihu, why do you want to take on the task of tuntian? Don't you know that this is a tough job, and others are trying to avoid it?"

  At this moment, the side hall was silent, facing the gaze of the crowd, Pang Gang's back couldn't help but secrete a thin layer of cold sweat. He voluntarily asked to be in charge of the garrison's farmland, and naturally, he had his reasons. Since he made up his mind to make a big move in the Ming dynasty, he made a rough plan, and the first condition of this plan was that he must have his own base, that is, a place that could provide him with food, supplies, and troops.

  In later generations, Pang Gang had also read some cross-talks. The protagonists in them were all, without exception, able to overthrow the Wei family or local officials with just one crossing, and then start a land revolution by mobilizing the military and dividing up the land. At that time, Comrade Pang Gang was indeed excited and enthusiastic about it. However, when he personally came to this era, he discovered how stupid the people who wrote such nonsense were. They simply treated all Ming dynasty officials as fools. Rebel? If rebelling was so easy, the Ming dynasty would have been overthrown countless times. Even Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were just bandits who took advantage of the Ming dynasty's focus on the Liaodong front line to develop and expand in the hinterland after nearly a decade of hard work, eventually overthrowing the Ming dynasty and capturing the capital.

  Although many "bricklayers" in later generations scolded the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, saying that he was stingy and unkind, impatient, suspicious, and had no discernment, which led to the downfall of the great Ming Empire. However, Pang Gang has a different view. He believes that no matter how incompetent Chongzhen was, during the time when Li Zicheng's rebels were most rampant and besieged the capital, he never considered recalling the tens of thousands of elite border troops stationed at Shanhai Pass to defend against the Manchu invasion, nor did he think of escaping to Jinling to prolong his life. Instead, he chose to hang himself on Coal Mountain. He fulfilled the oath of the Ming emperors: "The Son of Heaven guards the country gate, and the king dies for the altar." Just for this point, he is ten times stronger than those "bricklayers" who only know how to look at money in later generations.

  And what about those peasant uprising leaders like Li Zicheng who were revered by some "elites" in later generations? What did they do? History tells us that after the so-called peasant uprisings entered Beijing, they looted the people's money and property, with the upper echelons only concerned with seizing land, making money, and playing with women. When Li Zicheng ordered them to march to Shanhai Pass to fight against the Qing dynasty, those "righteous" peasant uprising armies actually brought the women they had plundered along to the front lines to resist the enemy, which made the originally four-day journey take eight days. This is one of the most absurd things in the world. Later, they were killed by Li Zicheng and the Qing dynasty, sacrificing the last powerful armed force that could resist the invasion of China. It can be said that these wandering bandits, represented by Li Zicheng, buried the last bit of vitality of the Chinese nation. This led to later generations lamenting, "After the fall of the Ming dynasty, there is no more China; after the collapse of the Great Wall, there is no more Huaxia."

  Now Pang Tong heard Song Xinghe's question, he was thinking about how to answer. He couldn't say: Oh, boss, I'm asking for a fief now in order to create my own base, and when the world is in chaos after a few years, brothers will establish their own doors and work alone.

  But fortunately, Pang Gang suddenly thought of a sentence that Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had once said. After thinking for a moment, he slowly opened his mouth and said these words...

  Thank you to the following brothers for their rewards: Enemy of Japan, Xinjiang - Sharp Sword, Qiantang Scenic Spot, Black Iron, Invincible Huang Shao, Fashionable Ashura, Crazy Guitar, Fried Dumplings, Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves, My Doorstep, Absolute Zero 001, Crazy Yu Shao, Most Beloved Lü Fengxian, hongye4465, Look Left Silent, Blue Light Wind, az19930723. Originally, Ah Ding should have sent out the thank you message earlier, but it was written in the chapter's afterword and the system didn't send it out. Now Ah Ding is making up for it, thanks everyone!

  Also, I'm shamelessly asking for recommendations and bookmarks!