Transmigrating to the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty: Becoming a Great Emperor Through Idlene

Five hundred people pounced on the pots like hungry tigers. The waiter in charge of distributing the food shouted, "Line up! Line up! No food for those who don't line up!"

The scene was chaotic for a moment. Some people were grabbing, some were pushing. Sun Chuanting watched coldly and did not interfere. He wanted to see which of these people were potential talents.

Half an hour later, everyone was squatting on the ground, each with a bowl, drinking porridge. Sun Chuanting walked up to a young man who had helped an elderly miner who had been knocked down while they were queuing.

"What's your name? What did you do before?"

The young man hurriedly put down his bowl and stood up: "Shopkeeper, I am Li Shitou. I used to work in the Shenmu Coal Mine."

"Can you read?"

"I know...I know a few. There was an old accountant at the mine who taught me to write and keep accounts."

Sun Chuanting nodded: "After you finish eating, go and report to Mr. Liu. From now on, you'll be the squad leader, in charge of ten people."

Li Shitou was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed: "Thank you, shopkeeper!"

Sun Chuanting then walked over to another burly man. That man was the most aggressive in grabbing, pushing and shoving three people aside.

"And you? What's your name?"

The burly man said nonchalantly, "Wang Tiezhu, a blacksmith."

"Can you read?"

"What good is literacy? Being able to forge iron is the real skill!"

Sun Chuanting stared at him for three breaths, then said, "Starting today, you will learn ten characters every day. If you can't, you'll miss one meal a day. If you can't learn them in three days, you're out."

Wang Tiezhu's eyes widened: "Why?!"

"Because I'm the manager." Sun Chuanting turned and left, leaving behind the words, "Those who are not satisfied can leave now. The escort agency doesn't tolerate disobedient people."

Wang Tiezhu was so angry that his face turned red, but looking at the people around him drinking porridge from their bowls, and then at the millet porridge in the pot, he finally gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Back in the simple "shopkeeper's room," which was actually just a slightly larger shack, Sun Chuanting unfolded paper and pen to write a secret report to the emperor.

"Your subject, Sun Chuanting, respectfully reports: The Black Wind Ridge camp has just been established, and five hundred men have been recruited, all of them impoverished men from northern Shaanxi. I have already set up the 'Yulin Escort Agency' as a front, but these men are undisciplined and unruly, and eight or nine out of ten are illiterate. The most urgent tasks are, firstly, to train them, and secondly, to educate them..."

He paused to ponder this point.

The emperor's task for him was to establish a foothold in the local area, not to train troops. However, in a place like Shaanxi, where bandits were rampant, military force was indispensable for gaining a foothold. But who would the trained troops listen to? The imperial court, or Sun Chuanting?

He recalled the emperor's words in prison: "What you are building is not an army, but a land reclamation corps."

The emperor desired a new organizational structure: half military, half civilian; half soldier, half farmer. In peacetime, they would cultivate wasteland for self-sufficiency; in wartime, they would defend the borders and protect the people. They would not be under the jurisdiction of the imperial Ministry of War, and would be loyal only to the emperor.

Such organizations did exist historically. The "village militia" of the Song Dynasty and the "garrison" of the early Ming Dynasty were similar in nature. However, they all failed. The village militia became the private armies of landlords, and the garrison is now in a state of decay.

Can he do it?

do not know.

But at least he's doing something.

After writing the secret report, he encrypted it with a code, then put it into a small bamboo tube and handed it to a trusted confidant, saying, "According to the old custom, send it via the post road, exchange it with someone in Taiyuan, and then send it to Beijing station by station."

"Yes."

Not long after his trusted confidant left, a quarrel broke out outside. Sun Chuanting went out to see what was happening and found Wang Tiezhu and Li Shitou arguing.

"Why are you the squad leader? Just because you know a few words?" Wang Tiezhu retorted, sticking out his neck.

Li Shitou blushed and said, "It was...it was arranged by the shopkeeper."

"I refuse! Let's fight if you dare, and whoever wins takes the throne."

A large crowd had gathered around, and everyone was making a fuss. Sun Chuanting observed coldly, without immediately intervening. He wanted to know how Li Shitou would handle the situation.

Li Shitou glanced at Wang Tiezhu, who was a size bigger than him, gritted his teeth, and said, "Fine, let's fight. But let's make it clear first: after the fight, the loser has to learn to read, and the winner... also has to learn to read!"

Wang Tiezhu was stunned: "Why?"

"Because the manager said that everyone in the escort agency must be literate!"

Li Shitou shouted, "If you can't read, how will you find your way? How will you keep accounts? How... how will you write letters home?"

What struck Wang Tiezhu's weak spot was that last sentence. His elderly mother had been separated from him during the famine, and her fate was unknown.

"I..." Wang Tiezhu's momentum weakened.

"How about this," Li Shitou suggested, "we'll compete in three things: fighting, you'll definitely win; recognizing characters, I'll definitely win; and one more thing, let's compete...digging. Let's see who can dig the most in half an hour. Best two out of three, how about that?"

Wang Tiezhu's eyes lit up: "Okay!"

As expected, in the fight, Wang Tiezhu knocked Li Shitou down with three punches. In recognizing characters, Li Shitou recognized thirty, while Wang Tiezhu only recognized his own name. In digging… the two were evenly matched.

"It's a tie, one to one." Li Shitou rubbed his bruised eyes. "The last game is a draw. Boss, what do you suggest we do?"

Everyone was looking at Sun Chuanting.

Sun Chuanting walked between the two and slowly said, "If it's a fight, Wang Tiezhu wins. If it's literacy, Li Shitou wins. If it's digging, it's a draw. Therefore, Wang Tiezhu will be the combat captain, managing ten men, responsible for guarding and patrolling. Li Shitou will be the clerk captain, also managing ten men, responsible for bookkeeping, literacy, and relaying orders."

He looked at everyone and said, "In the Yulin Escort Agency, fighting isn't the only skill. Literacy, accounting, and farming are all abilities. Starting today, everyone must learn five characters every day. There will be an assessment in a month. The top ten who learn the most characters will have meat with every meal."

"There's meat?!" The crowd stirred.

In Shaanxi, meat is a luxury. Most people haven't eaten meat for six months.

"Yes, there's meat." Sun Chuanting raised his voice, "But there's one condition: you must teach the characters you know to people who don't. Each person who teaches ten people gets a pound of meat; each person who teaches a hundred people gets ten pounds of meat, plus a new pair of shoes!"

Everyone was excited. New shoes! In Shaanxi, many people wore straw sandals, or even went barefoot. A pair of cloth shoes could be exchanged for three bushels of millet.

"Does the shopkeeper keep his word?"

"I mean it," Sun Chuanting said. "But let's make one thing clear first: anyone who dares to shirk their duties or cheat their superiors will not only get no meat, but they'll also be fired! The Yulin Escort Agency doesn't keep useless people!"

The crowd fell silent. Five hundred pairs of eyes were fixed on Sun Chuanting, their gazes holding a different kind of intensity.

In addition to the craving for food, there is also a longing for the future.

Sun Chuanting breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The first step has been taken.

Although it was only five hundred people, and it was only a small security escort agency.

But a single spark can start a prairie fire.

He looked up at the hazy sky. February in Shaanxi was still very cold. The distant mountains rose and fell, resembling a crouching giant beast.

A seed was sown on a barren piece of land.

Whether it can sprout and grow depends not only on fate but also on human effort.

Five days later, the secret report arrived in Beijing. Emperor Chongzhen read it and replied: "First and foremost, literacy; second, discipline; and lastly, fighting. The teaching materials will be sent later. Also: Appropriate relief can be provided to nearby disaster victims under the guise of a security escort agency."

After finishing writing, he thought for a moment and added another sentence:

"Take care, Sun Qing. With you here, the people of Shaanxi have hope."

This isn't a secret code; it's the truth.

He handed the letter to Wang Chengen: "Send it out through the fastest channels. Also, send over the simplified version of the Thousand Character Classic that I had Johann Adam Schall von Bell compiled, along with the basics of mathematics."

"Yes."

After Wang Chengen withdrew, Chongzhen walked to the front of the map and looked at the location of Shaanxi.

Yan'an Prefecture, Yulin Guard, Black Wind Ridge.

A tiny dot.

But right now, at this very moment, five hundred people are learning to read, learning discipline, learning... how to survive.

that's enough.

He turned around and looked out the window.

Beijing in February is still very cold.

But something has already quietly sprouted in the cold.