Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 20 Recruitment
1645/ 5/ 12

Today Zhou Xiancai behaved out of character and waited until dawn before coming out of the bedroom.

Half of this is because we didn’t receive any pigs yesterday, and the other half is because of the leftover scraps from yesterday’s sale.

After returning home yesterday, he brought home the leftover scraps. Although his wife complained that she shouldn't have taken the meat back, she still made some meat porridge.

Perhaps because they hadn’t eaten meat for a long time, the whole family was hungry for most of the night and didn’t calm down until the second half of the night.

"Where is my rope?" Zhou Xiancai asked and started searching again.

"Your son took it."

"Nonsense, you don't care, what am I going to use to lead the pig if I lose it?"

Zhou Xiancai muttered a few words and went out to look for his son.

The pigs he sold were all bought from the people in the city, but recently they were often sold out.

If you ask the reason, it is simple. The rich family offered a high price and he couldn't afford it.

Since the fighting broke out in Jiangbei, grain prices have been rising every day, and pork prices have also risen accordingly.

He had originally thought of raising the price of his own meat, but who would have thought that the meat would not sell after just a few cents increase. There was even a shrew who yelled at him in front of the stall.

God is my witness. Zhou Xiancai only earned fifty or sixty cents from a pig. If his wages for slaughtering the pig were deducted, he would only be left with thirty or forty cents.

The buyer of meat thinks he is selling it too high, while the seller of pigs thinks he is selling it too low. Who can he complain to when he is stuck in the middle?

If we can't harvest any more pigs, we might run out of food in a few days like some people have.

Zhou Xiancai walked out of the house with a sullen face. As soon as he turned around, he saw two men dressed as clerks passing by the alley.

"The Crown Prince has ordered that civilians be recruited to help defend the city. Those who are strong and healthy can sign up at any government office."

"Food and lodging provided, regular salary, 3 dou of grain, and merit rewards and pensions are calculated separately~~~~~!"

"3 dou? Did you hear it right?" Zhou Xiancai pulled his neighbor next to him, obviously not believing his ears.

Since he was born, he had never heard of the government imposing labor service or paying regular wages.

Now the prince not only provides meals, but also gives 3 buckets of rice!
Thinking of this, Zhou Xiancai felt a little hesitant.

Among the neighbors, the Zhou family has always lived the best life. Even though many families have been starving these days, the Zhou family can still eat meat.

But a man who does not plan for the future will inevitably have immediate worries. Now that the Tartars have crossed the river, the price of grain will certainly rise day by day, relying on his income from selling meat.

But helping to defend the city would result in death! If he died, how would the orphans and widows in the family survive?
Zhou Xiancai was so preoccupied that he even forgot to slap the kid when he found him.

Food, defend the city.

Defend the city and get food.

These two words kept lingering in his mind until he woke up when he heard the word "Yangzhou" from a passerby.

If he died while defending the city, his wife at home might still be able to survive, but if the Tartars entered the city, who could survive?

But, alas!

After figuring this out, Zhou Xiancai turned around and headed straight for the nearest government office.

After a while, the tall gate lintel unique to government offices appeared before his eyes. Although he could not see it clearly due to the crowds of people in front of the gate, he could still tell the registration location from the sparseness of the crowd.

Zhou Xiancai picked the one with the fewest people among the dozen or so groups and moved closer. When he squeezed in using his body shape, he saw that there was only a table and a clerk in the middle of the crowd.

"Master Liu, may I ask how to sign up?"

Coincidentally, this clerk named Liu often bought meat from him. Although they were not very close, they could at least talk to each other.

When Liu Shuban heard someone talking to him, he looked up and saw that it was the butcher but he didn't say anything. He only looked up at him after he finished writing. "Name, age, address."

"Zhou Xiancai, No. 28, Cunyi Street, the seventh alley."

"Wait."

Secretary Liu was very efficient. After he finished writing, he said something and then asked other people. After he finished writing a page, he tore half of the page from the notebook and handed it to Zhou Xiancai.

"Take it and go to the military camp in the north of the city."

Zhou Xiancai walked out of the crowd, and the person on that page followed him out. There was suddenly an empty space in front of Liu Shuban's desk, but it was quickly filled by the people behind him.

He rubbed his sore wrist, opened a new page in the notebook and wrote two identical lines of words on both ends.

Ministry of Rites, Xinzhuo, Edition A, page 16.

As soon as Liu Shuban arrived at the government office this morning, a messenger came with a message saying: Your Majesty is on a tour, Zhao Zhilong and Wang Duo colluded with the Tartars to surrender the city and were arrested last night. Now the defense of Yingtian City is under the charge of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, with the assistance of Xu Yinjue, Duke of Wei, Zhu Guobi, Duke of Baoguo, Qian Qianyi, Minister of Rites, and Xu Yu of the Imperial Academy.

He also ordered the clerks of each department to report to the Ministry of War before noon.

Being a clerk in the yamen was naturally different from being an ordinary citizen or a soldier. He could easily tell what had happened last night from these words.

But what does it matter? No matter who is in charge, they are indispensable. No matter who is in charge, they are just officials without rank or status.

What's more, the emperor and the adults have already run away. It's better to have a prince leading them than for everyone to run around like headless flies.

As for whether the prince is real or fake, the Duke and the adults have all acknowledged it. Why should a small official like me worry about it?

When he and others arrived at the Ministry of War, the Crown Prince and all the officials were already there.

I have to say that Your Highness is really efficient!

After giving a brief account of the current situation, he began to arrange work for them.

Your Highness’ meaning is very clear. With the Yangzhou incident in mind, Yingtian must not fall into the hands of the Tartars.

But... forget it, let's just do what the boss says.

This is Secretary Liu’s truest thought.

Afterwards, under the arrangement of the prince, they were divided into two groups.

Some of them went out to announce the orders, while others were responsible for registration at the gates of various government offices. However, His Highness also left a few old men from the Ministry of Revenue and no one knew what they were going to do.

It's strange to say, this prince has never dealt with paperwork, but his arrangements are as steady as those of an experienced official, and he even thought of how to prevent the army from drawing empty salaries.

It was almost noon, and Liu Shuban, who had been busy all morning, felt his stomach rumbling.

Normally they had half an hour for lunch, but with so many people gathered around the table, Secretary Liu suddenly hesitated.

In the past, he would certainly abandon these people to go eat, but now he is in the limelight.

"Forget it. It doesn't matter if we skip a meal. People have two meals a day and no one has died."

He put the filled notebook aside and was about to take a new one when he heard someone in the yamen shouting, "Your Highness has sent someone to bring the meal!"

Your Highness actually thought of this? !

Although these clerks work in the government offices, they cannot take the imperial examinations, which means they have no chance of advancement. In this society, if you think about it in detail, they are not even as good as the children of farmers, and in the eyes of officials, they are as lowly as pigs and dogs.

The prince is so precious that he actually thought about lunch for people like them?
Zhu Cilang naturally had no idea how much of a shock his self-perceived normal behavior would bring to these clerks.

But right now he was busy with a lawsuit, so he had no time to be proud even if he knew this.

(End of this chapter)