After pacifying the generals of Xiying, Deng Ming began to patrol around Jianchang the next day, and what Liu Tichun said to him Deng Ming always remembered in his heart, knowing that if he wanted the Ming army in Sichuan to do something, he had to try to raise a large amount of military rations. The Chengdu Plain is now sparsely populated and has limited grain production, and it seems unlikely that it will be able to provide large quantities of supplies in the short term, so Deng Ming has great hopes for the Sichuan Xingdu Division.

Now, in the dead of night, Deng Ming feels that he is becoming more and more strange, as if he is becoming a stranger to himself. When he left Fengjie, Deng Ming had already felt this change, and said to Wen Anzhi, "Zhongxing Daming, the biggest benefit is me", although he came to his senses afterwards: he is not a real clan, if Daming can really revive his own identity, it will definitely be a big problem. But at the moment of speaking, Deng Ming really thought so in his heart, so he blurted out.

After leaving Fengjie, whether it is Chengdu or Jianchang, the local generals regard him as a clan, although Deng Ming does not admit this, but he is not as desperate as before, in general, his attitude of not admitting and denying it now is more similar to acquiescence; During the journey, Deng Ming felt that he was becoming more and more accustomed to the look up to him by his subordinates.

"It's like being possessed by the ghost of a clan," Deng Ming thought in his heart, and when he took the guards to inspect Jianchang, he was worried about the future of the Ming Dynasty from the bottom of his heart, eager to know the manpower and output of Tuntian, and he was also accustomed to the respectful attitude of the soldiers who received him: "I am obviously an impostor, but now as long as I don't remind myself, I will naturally think from the perspective of the clan and see the problem." Well, I wonder if this is a precursor to getting jīng schizophrenia? ”

At this time, there was no psychiatrist, and no one could diagnose Deng Ming, confirm or relieve his concerns.

After inspecting for a few days, Deng Ming had some understanding of the situation around Jianchang, and after returning to the camp today, he said to his subordinates: "Have you seen it, the people of the Sichuan Xingdu Division, as well as the auxiliary soldiers, basically have no excitement on their faces, and our victory in Kunming is just a good talking point for them, but it does not make them feel very happy. ”

Without waiting for his subordinates to answer, Deng Ming sighed: "Maybe many people will think that it is better for us to lose in their hearts, because the war is still going on, if we are defeated and the Qingyang army surrenders, they will be able to live a peaceful life." ”

No one knew that Wu Sangui had planned to remove or kill all the living people in the vicinity of Jianchang, Deng Ming did not know, let alone ordinary auxiliary soldiers and ordinary people.

"Why did you say that, sir?" Yuan Xiang felt that Deng Ming's feelings were a little depressed, so he was relieved: "There will definitely be no one who wants to vote for Tartars, and even if there is, it is a very small number of scum who have forgotten their ancestors." ”

But Deng Ming shook his head and denied: "I don't think it is necessarily, for many auxiliaries and people, this war has no end in sight, and it is necessary to work hard to farm the land in peacetime, and all the output will be handed over to the army, and when it is not farming, it will be pulled to build the city wall, and it will not be idle all year round, it will not be good to eat, it will not be warm, and it will not be able to marry a wife and have children without savings." Many people may have grown tired of this kind of life, and for them surrendered to the tartar, that is, to shave their heads. Of course, we know that the Tartars are cruel and feel that surrendering is against the righteousness of China, but what do these people who have never left their hometown know about it? When they feel that the rìzi in front of them is already miserable, they will inevitably imagine that maybe it will be better to change the master. ”

Although the guards said that what Deng Ming said was not right, they were not very confident, and Deng Ming pondered for a while: "We need to give more things to the people, not just to keep their hair. ”

Now Deng Ming has no territory, and he does not have a strong lineage of troops, even the food eaten by these guards around him, and the expenses of rì often need to be provided by local generals. Deng Ming was also well aware that this was a normal feudal relationship between the monarch and the courtiers, and these generals met Deng Ming's needs and showed him loyalty, while Deng Ming needed to recognize their feudal interests and ensure that they were rich and noble in the future.

For now, because of Kunming's victory, these generals did not need to worry about the Manchu attack for the time being, and the prestige that Deng Ming had won before could also give them a glimmer of hope. However, in the future, the speed of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which already owned almost the whole of China, was incomparable to Deng Ming. If the Manchus regained their strength and attacked again, Deng Ming was not very confident in the loyalty of these generals when they saw that the alliance headed by Deng Ming not only had no future but could not guarantee their personal safety, and when the Manchus were desperate and the Manchus promised to pardon them.

This kind of feudal relationship between monarchs and ministers made Deng Ming feel in crisis, but he was powerless to change, not to mention those generals of Xiying who had just met, that is, Liu Yao of Chengdu and Feng Shuangli of Jianchang, Deng Ming could not seize power from them, and even Di Sanxi, who had been the lord, Deng Ming was not good at taking his soldiers - since returning to Jianchang, Di Sanxi hurriedly looked for land and prepared to reclaim more land. This time, Di Sanxi captured a lot of auxiliary soldiers of the Qing army, part of which was paid tribute to Feng Shuangli, and the rest was his personal property, Di Sanxi's soldiers also expanded a lot, and he needed to produce more materials to feed these subordinates.

None of Deng Ming's guards could help him, because although Deng Ming felt that this feudal relationship was very bad and that it was necessary to change it, his men had not seen other social models, and it was impossible for them to come up with any useful ideas for Deng Ming. Yuan Xiang, Liu Jinge, and Liang Qian were always the most knowledgeable people under Deng Ming, and after they saw that Deng Ming was in a hurry, they came up with a solution that was to ask the generals of the Sichuan Xingdu Division to pay taxes and pay tribute, so that Deng Ming could share their output.

Jianchang is surrounded by military tuns. Deng Ming felt that this model was not very good, and now it was a state of war, so the generals everywhere felt that it was natural to adopt the military cantonment model, and in Deng Ming's view, there was no difference between the tunding and the serfs in this kind of military cantonment, and the army took all the output and only gave them life-sustaining rations. Two days ago, Deng Ming also followed Di Sanxi to see his Juntun, and the latter complained that Tunding was all lazy bones, such as those who were responsible for chopping wood, and if they didn't keep an eye on it, they would go up the mountain once a day, and bring back a little errand casually, and would rather lie in the mountains and be lazy than work; Another example is the person in charge of irrigation, someone works when he is watching from the side, and he is lazy on the ridge when he is not watching.

This is a very normal phenomenon in Deng Ming's opinion, and the generals' way of dealing with it is similar, that is, to send a large number of cronies to patrol around, and then torture those who are caught lazy with extremely harsh punishments, so as to make an example of chickens and monkeys. Although this approach can frighten most of the tunding and ensure the output of the military tun, Deng Ming feels that these serf soldiers may not fight the Manchus for the sake of the generals.

After thinking about it again and again, Deng Ming already had an idea in his heart, fortunately, the people in Xiying had only just come to Jianchang, and they had not yet obtained a lot of feudal power, and Deng Ming still had the opportunity to implement a little reform when they first arrived. Now is the earliest Feng Shuangli who came, and he has no foundation in Jianchang, at first he was thinking about welcoming him, and then he was planning to surrender, and he never pocketed all Jianchang's auxiliaries and fields.

"The auxiliary soldiers of the generals of each battalion will naturally return to the generals," Deng Ming did not dare to touch the serfs under the generals, and Deng Ming, who brought the population from Yunnan from the western camp, did not plan to dig them out: "But the people of the Sichuan Xingdu Division cannot be pulled into the camp by the battalions, let alone be killed, and the objects of the three chapters of my covenant are also the people of Sichuan, and the laws of the Ming Dynasty do not exist for them for the time being, and they cannot be forcibly conscripted into soldiers for any reason." ”

Deng Ming decided to inform the generals and all parts of the Sichuan Xingdu Division first, and there were also advantages of retaining the military tun for the time being, and in addition to avoiding fierce opposition from the generals, Deng Ming did not know whether his reform plan would succeed. Although the military cantonment was a kind of hardship for the tunding, at least a considerable amount of military rations could be guaranteed.

In addition, it is also necessary to encourage the people to open up wasteland, Deng Ming thought about it, and issued another order: "Any people can go to Jianchang Yamen to register and make a register after reclaiming a piece of wasteland, as long as they continue to plant for ten years and ensure that there is a yield of more than one stone per mu every year, this land will belong to him." ”

"How to ensure the yield of one stone." After seeing Deng Ming's order, Yuan Xiang immediately asked: "If I am a cunning person, after seeing this order from Mr., I will register one hundred and eighty mu in one go, and occupy the land first." ”

"This is easy to do, because the land reclamation is under the protection of our army, so I have to collect one-tenth of the output as a protection fee, that is, for every ten acres of wasteland, I will be given one stone of grain every year. After ten consecutive years, these ten acres of land are his; If ten stone of grain is handed over every year, then the one hundred acres of land registered in ten years will be his. Although Deng Ming did not plan to collect taxes, because he did not have any administrative system in his hands now, if he handed it over to the local generals to do it, he would not be able to supervise it, and it would be difficult for the generals to take the people and land to their military cantonments on the grounds of collecting taxes.

"This protection fee ......" This time it was Li Xinghan who came out to express his objections, he felt that Deng Ming's protection fee was actually a tax, but the protection fee sounded like a bandit's statement.

"It's called protection money," Deng Ming was unmoved, in his opinion, in fact, the feudal dynasty was a particularly large bandit gang, very similar in any way, for example, the relationship between generals and soldiers in the army is very similar to the leader and minions, and the protection fee at least explains the price payable for the collection of this grain: "If a certain family is robbed by bandits, and the Sichuan Xingdu Division does not capture the thieves, does not recover the property, in short, does not fulfill the duty of protecting the people, then the tenth of the grain does not have to be paid." ”

Since Deng Ming insisted, there was nothing to say, but many people thought that the tax was too low, and that the yield per mu should be more than one stone, and even if it was only one stone, one-tenth would be too little—everyone believed that this was a tax. Needless to say, the army took all the land, that is, the land of the self-cultivated farmers, and the miscellaneous ones were counted, and the ones handed over had to account for about half of the harvest, not to mention that after the Chongzhen Dynasty, if there were really things left, so many people would not be able to live and rebel.

"It's not a tax, it's a protection fee, and there's a cost of registering," Deng Ming corrected again, emphasizing: "If you leave more for the people, they will be able to feed their wives and children, be fed and clothed, and be willing to open up more wasteland." ”

After finalizing the order, Deng Ming thought about building his own yamen, and after receiving the grain, the income could be used to recruit soldiers and carry out local administrative construction.

Deng Ming glanced at the guards around him, and finally determined the candidates, that is, Yuan Xiang and Liu Jinge, these two people are definitely not good, but they are desperate and worried about taking them around, for fear that they will not be able to explain to their elders if they make a mistake. The most important thing is that these two people are still relatively high, and they have both learned from their masters, although they don't know much, but they know at least a few words.

"The Son of Heaven is hunting in the south, and the matter is urgent, and General Yuan Xiao is the criminal officer of the Sichuan Xingdu Division; General Liu Xiao served as the criminal officer of the capital and registered the people of the two places. Deng Ming borrowed the name of Wen Anzhi's supervisor and granted the two of them the position, asking them to recruit one or two helpers first, and use Feng Shuangli and Liu Yao's for food and clothing first, and they would not give this face.

The name of the criminal officer is also very important to Deng Ming, the law is the most important means to establish authority, Deng Ming can not compete with the generals for administrative power for the time being, so he plans to get the judicial power first. Deng Ming repeatedly explained to Yuan Xiang that he wanted to appease the people, make the people live as well as possible, and protect them from being oppressed and forcibly conscripted by the army: "If any general wants to kill someone, you have to nod your head, and only if you commit murder is a capital crime, don't let people use this crime to embarrass the people." ”

In the absence of an army, Yuan Xiang's punishment yamen can only rely on the generals to save face if it wants to operate smoothly, these people have just arrived, and the relationship with Deng Ming is still in the honeymoon period, and it is estimated that Yuan Xiang will not be embarrassed, but I don't know what changes will occur after a long time.

Yuan Xiang was very confident, it didn't take long for Deng Ming to be entrusted with such a heavy task, which made this young man very excited, he felt that it was more difficult at first, and when the grain was collected a few times, the Yamen had the funds to recruit manpower, and he would be able to fight against the generals from all walks of life, he assured Deng Ming: "At most, three years, the end of the general will be able to have a small success." ”

"Three years, alas," Deng Ming shook his head again when he heard this: "I don't know if the Tartar will give me three years." ”

Liu Jinge's work is similar to that of Yuan Xiang, both of which are tools used by Deng Ming to meddle in the localities, but there are no ordinary people in Chengdu now, and even if there are, they are hiding in the mountains, and there is no way to find out the people without funds, and without the people's yamen, of course, there can be no funds.

"Doesn't Jianchang have 40,000 auxiliaries?" Deng Ming did not intend to let Feng Shuangli swallow this batch of manpower alone, although the king of Qingyang was the first to come to Jianchang, but the foundation was also unstable, he was preparing to meet the car of the son of Yongli at the beginning, and at that time he thought that the imperial court and the king of Jin would arrive later, so naturally there would be no attempt to collect all the auxiliary soldiers for himself; Later, the Jianchang army was busy surrendering, and did not have the time and mind to control these people.

"The prince of Qingyang is loyal to the country, has made outstanding achievements, and is actually a pillar of the country......" Deng Ming continued to use the excuse of "the Son of Heaven hunts in the south and is in a hurry to follow power", and with a stroke of the pen, he still appointed Feng Shuangli to supervise the military affairs of the Sichuan Xingdu Division in the name of the Inspector Wen, and control the various departments of the Xiying. Of course, Deng Ming, the 40,000 auxiliary soldiers, couldn't all go, and on the evening when he returned to Jianchang, Deng Ming went to bargain with Admiral Feng of the Gongzhong State, and finally added 5 to the 40,000 auxiliary soldiers, Feng Shuangli and Deng Ming, each took 20,000.

After dividing up Liu Wenxiu's inheritance, Feng Shuangli also asked Deng Ming to write an order to officially give him ownership of the 20,000 auxiliary soldiers. Feng Shuangli carefully put away Deng Ming's handwriting, with this credential, he felt that he was the rightful master of the 20,000 auxiliary soldiers, and the other Xiying generals couldn't force him to spit it out again even if they had any ideas.

Now Deng Ming is in the eyes of these generals in Xiying, his status is similar to that of the prison country, in the past, these auxiliaries and military tuns were owned by the state, of course, they were the legal property of the prison country, and now with the property transfer certificate written by Deng Ming, then Feng Shuangli will naturally not have a "thief" name on his head. It's just that Feng Shuangli didn't know that Deng Ming was an imposter at all, and theoretically his paper proved worthless. Feng Shuangli, who was happy in his heart, agreed to Deng Ming's other requests, and swore that he would do his best to cooperate with Yuan Xiang's yamen's work.

After tasting the sweetness, Deng Ming painted a scoop with a gourd and began to use the ownership of Juntun to buy other Xiying generals. The 40,000 auxiliaries were originally in charge of the military camp to Feng Shuangli, and the rest was given to the newcomers by Deng Ming, and the auxiliaries brought by themselves were used to cultivate, and like Feng Shuangli, these generals were full of joy and carefully collected the letter of proof of property transfer written by Deng Ming—no one suspected that Deng Ming was illegally stealing the property of the Son of Yongli.

As for the 20,000 auxiliary soldiers in hand, Deng Ming restored them all to the status of ordinary people, and the wasteland opening order was also effective for them, Deng Ming planned to mobilize some people to go to Chengdu to open up the wasteland, if they felt dangerous, then they could also go to the Leshan area. But there is no need to worry about this, even if they all stay in Sichuan and do not leave, as long as Yuan Xiang's yamen has income, Deng Ming can allocate some to Liu Jinge, and at the same time arrange for more people to go to the western Sichuan Plain to resume production.

"It will take at least three years, and it will take two years to see results." Deng Ming needed a lot of money to gather the people hiding in the mountains, to restore production, to build and train his own troops, but it was not certain whether the Manchus would give him such time.

After letting the two young men, Yuan Xiang and Liu Jinge, sit in the position of the criminal officer, Deng Ming prepared to return to Fengjie to report to Wen Anzhi in order to obtain his approval of his various appointments and arrangements.