Chapter 5: Military Household

  As soon as he heard the word "military household", Pang Gang thought of the big flag with the character "Ming" written on it that he saw on the city wall earlier, and finally confirmed which dynasty he had crossed over to. Among the many dynasties in Chinese history, there were many dynasties with the profession of military households, but for military households, the most miserable dynasty was only one, that is, the Ming Dynasty founded by Zhu Yuanzhang!

  One morning, the household registration system was implemented. At that time, people were divided into categories based on their occupations, which can be roughly divided into: civilian households, military households, and artisan households. Among them, civilian households included Confucian households, medical households, etc., military households included school officers, strongmen, archers, and infantrymen, etc., and artisan households were divided into engineering artisans, kitchen servants, tailors, etc. The division of these households was very strict, mainly for the convenience of using people. When going to war, they would gather military households, and when building projects, they would gather artisan households. It seems that there is no problem at first glance, but in fact, the defects are quite large.

  Especially the military household system is a very annoying system. The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, personally stipulated that as long as one became a military household, unless they were specially permitted by the emperor or held the position of Minister of War, no one was allowed to change their registration on their own. For example, if you are a military household, your son must also be a military household. What if you don't have a son? Well, just take a look at your relatives and see if there's a male among them, and pull one in to make up the number. If you don't even have any relatives, it still doesn't count as finished. In short, you must find someone to be a military household, whether by kidnapping or deceiving them onto the street, wherever you go to find them is your own business.

  Compared to civilian households or other occupations, the status of military households was even lower. Officials at all levels, even ordinary clerks, could arbitrarily order soldiers around and deduct their monthly rations. During the Ming dynasty, the phenomenon of military households fleeing was very serious. The Ming government repeatedly sent people to track down escaped soldiers and even specially set up a Military Censorate to handle the affairs of military households fleeing and replenishing troops. After the mid-to-late Ming period, the military household system became increasingly nominal, and recruiting soldiers gradually became an important source of manpower for the Ming official army.

  At this moment, Pang Gang was shocked to hear that the thousand households had actually registered himself as a military household, and his heart suddenly felt like being drenched in ice water.

  But just as Pang Gang was about to open his mouth and refuse, he saw a flash of murderous intent in the eyes of the Qian Hu, which was well concealed, as well as the fierce gaze of the soldiers beside him. In his heart, he clearly understood that if half a word of disobedience escaped from his lips, he would definitely disappear from this world in the next moment.

  Pang Gang quickly made a choice between his military status and his life. He gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, I can register as a military household, but I hope you can return the book that Lord Zhao took away from me. That book was left by my father, and I want to keep it as a memento."

  "Your book?" He Zhengnan furrowed his brow and turned to look at Zhao Daxian.

  Zhao Daxian's mood was clearly not good after being robbed of the precious sword, he turned around and took out the book from the saddle next to him, and was about to throw it at Pang Gang.

  "Slow down, bring the book over and let me take a look!" He Zhengnan walked over, stretched out his hand to receive the book, and carefully flipped through it as if he wanted to flip out a flower. After a while, he indeed didn't find anything and slowly handed it back to Pang Gang.

  "Grass, it turns out this guy is actually a shameless scoundrel. But how did he not notice anything unusual about that book?" Pang Gang couldn't help but feel contempt for the Thousand Households who was so easily deceived, and at the same time, his heart rose to his throat.

  "Hmm, I didn't expect a businessman like you would still read the Analects of Confucius! That's rare!"

  "What's this?!" Pang was taken aback for a moment, how did his "Modern Firearms Encyclopedia" turn into a copy of the Analects?! Was this thousand-household head trying to cover something up for him?! However, this thought only flashed through Pang's mind for a fraction of a second before he dismissed it, it wasn't impossible but it was absolutely not going to happen to someone like him who had no relation to this whatsoever. What on earth was going on here?! Was that book playing some kind of trick on him?!

  "Here, your book is returned to you!" He Zhengnan handed the book back to Pang Gang and immediately ordered: "Someone come and take this...this..."

  "Pang Gang." Pang Gang, who was standing beside him, hastily responded with a "yes".

  "Alright, Bin Baihu, I'll hand Pang Gang over to you! From now on, Pang Gang is your man, you'd better take good care of him!"

  A tall and sturdy military officer immediately walked out from the side, bowed to He Zhengnan and saluted: "Your subordinate obeys orders!"

  He Zhengnan said with a smile, "Zhao Xian-di, you've had a hard journey escorting the grain and fodder on the way back. I've prepared a banquet for you in the mansion, just waiting for your return to welcome you back. Come, come, follow me inside."

  He Zhengnan finished speaking and pulled Zhao Daxian and a dozen or so military officers beside him towards the Qianhu Fu.

  Although Zhao Daxian was dissatisfied with this half-road killer who robbed his "treasured sword" and nominal elder brother, he didn't dare say anything. He turned around and glared at Pang Gang fiercely before following He Zhengnan into the Qianhu Fu.

  "This kid will definitely not let me go." The vigilance in Pang Gang's heart, who had seen this kind of gaze too many times, increased a lot.

  Just as Pang Gang was still deep in thought, a young soldier with a lean build and wearing a worn-out and patched uniform walked over and patted Pang Gang's shoulder. With a tone of disdain and slight mockery, he said: "Kid, follow me and stop staring. You were lucky to have escaped with your life just now, it's already a blessing from your ancestors' graves. Do you think you can still go in there and enjoy the feast? I'll tell you, kid, when you become a hundred-household officer, then you'll have the qualifications to enter the thousand-household mansion for dinner!"

  Pang Gang swallowed his anger and followed the soldier to the east wing of the house. As they walked, he chatted with the soldier and, relying on his previous experience dealing with small merchants and society, soon made the soldier's face look much better, even cracking a smile. He even found out that the soldier's name was Li Yuan, and that he was only seventeen years old this year.

  Pang Gang spat on his face and laughed: "This little brother, can you tell me what day it is today? I'm all confused."

  Li Yuan looked at him with some surprise and said: "Are you out of your mind? Today is April 2nd."

  "Uh, April 2nd?" Pang Gang suddenly felt a sense of temporal disorder, just yesterday when he was knocked into the water it was already June 15th, and now he had somehow returned to April.

  "Ah..." Pang Gang thought for a moment, and casually said: "I remember last year when I was still doing business in Yuezhou Prefecture. Although the business wasn't great at that time, it's much better than this year. There are just too many bandits now."

  "Who says it isn't? Since the third year of Chongzhen, this life has been getting harder and harder to live. Entering this year is even more difficult. This thieving heaven really doesn't let us live." Li Yuan also nodded in agreement.

  "What? Chongzhen!" Pang Gang involuntarily shrieked and was stunned.

  "Really!" The young man looked at this "big surprise" with strange clothes and pale skin, his peer, in surprise, and said strangely: "It was during the Chongzhen years!"

  Pang Gang, who didn't have time to be polite, grabbed Li Yuan's hand and asked urgently: "What year of Chongzhen is it now?"

  "It's now the eighth year of Chongzhen, I said isn't your brain damaged by Zhao Bai?" Li Yuan looked at Pang Gang who was standing still in shock and said with some surprise.

  "In the eighth year of Chongzhen... In the eighth year of Chongzhen..." As soon as Pang Gang muttered these few words, he suddenly felt that his entire body's strength was almost about to leave him...