Chapter 6 New Military Household Registration

  It can't be said that Pang Gang's mental endurance is too poor, nor can it be said that Comrade Pang Gang's mental quality is unqualified. He was simply shocked by the news he had just received.

  Although he saw the "Ming" flag flying on the city wall before entering the city, he also vaguely guessed the current dynasty. Okay, it's the Ming Dynasty, as long as it's not those last few years of that era, the situation is not too bad. But reality is cruel, when he heard the words of Chongzhen 8 from Li Yuan's mouth, the little hope in his heart was crushed by the ruthless hammer.

  For some reason, Pang Gang's history grades in college were not bad. He clearly understood that the Chongzhen period of the late Ming Dynasty was a dynasty where people could hardly survive, and the common people had to sell their children for food. This was an era with corrupt officials and bandits inside, Manchu invaders outside, and in between, there was the notorious rebel leader Li Zicheng constantly undermining the Great Ming Dynasty. This was also an era where people almost couldn't make a living.

  Now, Comrade Pang Gang suddenly found himself back in such an era, and the depression in his heart can be imagined. Although Pang Gang had seen many crossing stories on websites like Tie Xue Chinese and Starting Point before, and even envied the scenes where the protagonists crossed over and killed all around them, but when it came to himself, he was not so calm.

  "Big brother...... This is the late Ming dynasty, not the prosperous Tang Dynasty, nor the Northern Song Dynasty when talented scholars emerged. This era is very dangerous. Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Huang Taiji and Dorgon are all not easy to deal with."

  "Hey....hey....what's wrong with you!" a voice shouted loudly in Pang Gang's ear.

  Pang Gang slowly came to, and saw a pale and thin face hovering in front of him due to years of malnutrition. His stiff body slowly began to move.

  "Are you okay? If so, let's go with me!" Looking at his companion whose face suddenly turned pale, Li Yuan impatiently patted Pang Gang's shoulder, indicating for him to follow him.

  Next, Pang Gang followed the young man in a daze to a row of dilapidated thatched cottages and pushed open the door to enter first.

  When Pang followed him into the pitch-black room, a pungent smell mixed with foot odor, sweat and some unknown smells hit his nose. The smell was so strong that it immediately made Pang's eyes roll back in their sockets.

  It was Li Yuan, this young man who had long been accustomed to this smell. After entering the house and standing still, he turned around and said to Pang Gang: "Alright, from now on you'll live here, you'll live with these two."

  Enduring the pungent smell, Pang slowly got used to the light in the house and began to look around. This was a small house of only over ten square meters, with nothing inside except for a long kang (a traditional Chinese bed) and two men lying lazily on it, their faces so dirty that their age could not be discerned, wearing tattered clothes, looking at him with some curiosity.

  "After listening to Li Yuan's words, Pang Gang asked with some curiosity: "What about you? Don't you live here?"

  "I? Of course, I'm going back home to live! This ghost place is unbearable for me!" Li Yuan disdainfully shook his head and said to the two men on the bed: "Dazhuang, Gourou, this is the new military household assigned to our hundred households. From now on, you will be brothers who eat from the same pot with him. You take care of him."

  "What? New recruits to the new military household?" Two voices of surprise rang out at the same time, and two dark-skinned men who were originally lounging lazily on the bed suddenly cried out in unison.

  "It's really strange that there are still people joining the army these days!" exclaimed a disheveled-haired man sitting on the left. "There are indeed many strange things in this world, and one of them is that someone as refined and cultured as you would actually want to join the army."

  Pang Gang helplessly took a look at himself, and his wheat-colored skin couldn't be said to be fair, but compared to these two... uh, it was indeed quite "white"!

  Li Yuan didn't want to stay here any longer, impatiently saying: "Alright, you all get to know each other yourselves, I'm going home, my dad is still waiting for me at home!"

  "Hey, don't you live here?" Pang Gang asked in a puzzled tone.

  "My home is just up ahead, of course I'll be staying at home."

  Li Yuan said and quickly walked out of the door without looking back, it seems that the smell in the house is still very deadly, even this native boy can't bear it.

  Li Yuan walked away, and the two brothers who were originally lounging on the bed came over curiously to chat with Pang Gang.

  Pang Gang relied on his years of eloquence to quickly become familiar with these two young men who were still relatively simple-minded, and in less than half a short time, he had already turned out the situation at Weizuo, and Su Tong also had a general understanding of the situation at Lingshanwei.

  Lingshanwei belongs to the territory of Qingzhou Prefecture, which is also within Shandong Province. To its left lies the famous port city of Qingdao in later times, but at that time Qingdao was just a small and unknown fishing port. Lingshanwei was first established during the Zhengde period, initially set up to defend against pirates and Japanese invaders, and has now been around for over 100 years.

  Inside the fortress there are main streets and alleys, and in addition to residential buildings, there are temples, archways, wells and other living facilities. In addition, Ling Mountain Fortress also has barracks, military granaries, stables and other important military facilities. Inside the fortress, there is a palace responsible for military equipment - the Military Equipment Bureau, as well as the Divine Machine Warehouse which specializes in collecting firearms, and the Gunpowder Bureau. Several hundred meters outside the fortress, there is a drill ground for soldiers to practice, and an Opera Hall for officers to command and rest.

  All the officials, including one Wei commander, one deputy commander, ten battalion commanders, and two garrison commanders, totaling 13 personnel; 1,120 flag soldiers, responsible for the surrounding forts and nine beacon towers.

  At first glance, the things in the Wei Suo seem to be quite lively, but in reality, it's a mess. In name, there are 1,120 soldiers on the register of the flag army, including family members, totaling over 5,400 people. However, in recent years, military households have fled severely, and military officers have also taken an attitude of indifference towards fleeing military households in order to eat empty salaries. At this time, there are actually less than 500 soldiers in the Wei Suo, plus family members, no more than 2,000 people. Because the military officers in the Wei Suo hold all the military fields, these military households have actually become private tenant farmers of the military officers.

  "So this whole compound is for people like us who don't have a family or a house?"

  "Of course," said Da Zhuang with a wry smile, "anyone who has any means would not live here. Only those of us who have nothing can make do with this place."

  Pang was speechless after hearing this, can he still live in such a day?

  "Alright, you all stop chatting. Ah, Zhangzi, I see you look so clean and your clothes are quite strange but I reckon they're not cheap either. You must have never suffered before. Now come with us to dig for wild vegetables, otherwise we'll go hungry tonight."

  "What... dig up vegetables?" Our comrade Pang Gang was a bit stunned when he heard this, "Does the top not care about food?"

  "Who's going to feed you?" After hearing Pang Gang's words, Da Zhuang and Gou Lai couldn't help but sneer in unison. "You're not He Qianhu's own son, why should he support you? If you want to eat, go find your own food!"

  "Good grief, isn't it a matter of course for soldiers to be fed? If being a soldier means having to eat on one's own, then it's no wonder the Ming dynasty is doomed!" Pang Gang was left speechless once again, and let out another sigh of discontent.

  "Let's go!" Gou Sheng handed him a sickle and said, "Hurry up and dig, otherwise there will be nothing to eat tonight."