The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

Chapter 67 Jinming Post Station

Jinming Post Station was a major station located at the junction of Yanchang County and Fushi County, with 30 to 50 postmen on standby, responsible for connecting the north and south of Yan'an Prefecture.

Upon seeing Li Chengye's group arrive, the people in the post station did not retreat. Several men with bows even stood on the wall, one of whom shouted:

"Where did these soldiers come from? Don't they know this is an imperial post station? At best, they'll be treated as trespassers; at worst, they'll be dealt with as bandits!"

Clearly, seeing that Li Chengye and his men were fully armed, the other side did not suspect them of being rebels, but simply assumed they were some audacious border troops.

Upon hearing this, everyone around Li Chengye laughed, with Luo Dai laughing the loudest.

"Hey, I've already rebelled, so I don't care about the laws of the Ming Dynasty! If you know what's good for you, open the gates and surrender, and I'll spare your lives; if you don't, I'll raze this post station to the ground!"

Upon hearing them call themselves traitors, the people on the wall fell silent, then panicked, whispering among themselves, "What do we do? What do we do?"

After a while, several bags were thrown down from the wall. The sound was dull, like flour.

A head with gray hair peeked out, wearing a black gauze hat; he appeared to be the postmaster of this post station.

He said with a forced smile:

"My lords, this is just a poor post station. We have no food or pay, so there's no need to ruin our harmony. I have a few bags of flour here. Please take them and make some pancakes. Then please be merciful and let us go."

Hearing him say this, Li Chengye felt sorry for him, but the post station had to be destroyed.

Seeing that the other side was not going to run away, he waved his hand, signaling the rear guard to bring out two "Three Generals" cannons.

Although the post station wall was not as thick as the county town wall, it was not something that could be penetrated by a weapon like the Tiger Crouching Cannon.

The people on the post station wall were terrified when they saw the cannons being brought out.

The gunner who fired the cannon was Zhang Yuanwu. Ever since he followed Li Chengye, he had become fascinated with this thing, thinking that it was loud, impressive, and that no one dared to challenge its power. He had been in charge of operating the cannon ever since Zhoujiabao.

A newly trained gunner nearby asked, "Brother Wu, how much propellant should we load?"

Hearing this question from a novice, Zhang Yuanwu was also a little stumped, because he had never fired the Three Generals Cannon before.

Li Chengye had only acquired these two general cannons from an armory in a military settlement in Yan'an after he left the mountains; they hadn't been used in practice yet.

Zhang Yuanwu thought for a moment: "Double the usual amount of explosives for the 'Tiger Crouching Cannon'! Load it!"

"Okay!"

Seeing that the people in the post station were slow to surrender and did not respond, Li Chengye signaled to fire the cannons.

The cannon fire was deafening, but the shells bounced off the wall.

The courier on the wall was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter:

"That thief's cannon is useless! It's completely ineffective!"

Li Chengye was somewhat embarrassed, and Zhang Yuanwu slapped his forehead, realizing that the medicine had been dispensed too little.

He was furious: "Load every last bit of gunpowder into the cannons and fire! Both cannons at once!"

The two cannons roared again, and the shells hit the wall not far away, but blasted a crack in the wall.

Exclamations suddenly erupted from the post station; Li Chengye vaguely heard someone shouting:

"Stop hitting her! You can't hit her anymore!"

Two more shots were fired, and more cracks appeared on the wall.

Not long after, a white flag trembled as it emerged from the wall, and the post station gate opened.

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Li Chengye looked at the twenty or so courier soldiers kneeling on the ground.

"Why didn't you run? You're so stubborn, you had to take those two shots."

The white-haired postmaster in charge remained silent.

A young man in his early twenties standing nearby retorted, "If I run away, I'll lose my job! These days, finding work is so difficult! It's four taels of silver a month, how can I lose my livelihood?"

"Four qian of silver?" Luo Dai scoffed. "According to the imperial regulations, a regular post station worker should be paid six qian of silver a month, right? And this is being reduced to four qian?"

"Huh?" The young courier was taken aback and turned to the postmaster beside him. "Old Qian! I thought you were able to send grain home every month because you received a reward from passing officials. Turns out, you're the one who deducted our wages!"

Upon hearing this, the kneeling postmen began to stir.

The old postmaster, Qian, spat and said, "Pah! Who embezzled your pay? May they be struck by lightning! Did I want to intercept it? It's just that the post station's expenses are insufficient! You all know that Gangu Post Station is on a major north-south route, and how many of the officials and clerks who come and go are paid in full?"

You all know that the imperial court has been shortchanging us on the amount of silver allocated in the past two years. If some of it weren't taken from everyone's monthly salary, this post station would have gone out of business long ago!

You think they only confiscated yours? I didn't get everything either!

Hearing this, some people's arrogance subsided slightly, but the stubborn young man still wouldn't let it go: "Then how much did you shortchange me?"

This time, the postmaster hesitated before saying, "It's two coins too."

"We get six coins a month, you get one tael and two qian. How can deducting two coins from you be the same as deducting two coins from us?"

The young man was furious.

Li Chengye, who was listening nearby, said to the postmaster, "That makes sense. If you take one tael and two qian, deducting two qian is not much; if they take six qian, deducting two qian means a third is gone. They earn more, so they should bear more. It's fair to deduct proportionally."

This remark was met with agreement from the couriers.

At this point, someone said dejectedly, "What's the use of saying all this now? The post station is about to disappear, and we'll all be starving!"

Li Chengye looked at the young man: "Four qian of silver a month is barely enough for you to feed yourself. Can you support your family?"

The courier smiled bitterly and said, "It's hard to get a full meal. But I work at the post station and deliver goods frequently, so I can usually get a meal and save some rations to take home to my parents."

Li Chengye said, "How about this, are there any of you willing to come with me? I can't guarantee much money, but I'll give you eight qian of silver a month, how about that? You'll be well-fed in the army, and I won't charge you for any food you eat. You can send all eight qian of silver home."

The courier's eyes lit up: "Really?"

"Really?" Li Chengye nodded. "As long as you live, your monthly salary will be paid without fail; even if you die in battle, I guarantee your family will receive a pension. What do you say?"

The couriers looked at each other, but no one spoke.

Although their income is not high, they currently have a legitimate job within the Ming Dynasty's system. Suddenly switching to rebellion and becoming bandits is quite a leap.

After a while, someone finally spoke up.

He looked to be about thirty years old, rather short, with a tanned complexion and bowlegs. Li Chengye knew that Mongolians on the grasslands often had this leg shape because they rode horses from a young age.

The man said, "Old Qian is a scoundrel, but he's not entirely evil either. The silver the court issues is just not enough. Even if they issue six qian of silver, it won't be enough to buy food for my family of four."

Last month, my parents sent my sister to another family to be raised as a child bride in order to save her life.

The price of rice has gone up again this month. A liter of rice costs one qian of silver. Six qian of silver can't even buy a dou of rice.

This little bit of rice isn't even enough for my whole family to have one bowl of thin porridge a day; we simply can't survive.

He paused, looked at Li Chengye, and continued, "I don't want your money. As long as you can provide us with grain according to the salary during the reign of Emperor Taizu, I will work for you."

During the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, a post station worker received an average monthly salary of one and a half shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, enough to support a family of four.

Without much thought, Li Chengye replied, "Okay, I'll send it to you according to this."

With this leader, seven or eight other couriers responded, and the young courier who started it all decided to join as well.

When no one else stepped forward, Li Chengye looked at the middle-aged courier who had spoken first and asked:

"What's your name?"

"Cao Xianchong".

"From now on, you will be my captain of the cavalry. As long as I live, I will make sure your family doesn't go hungry."

Li Chengye then took away all the stored grain, horses, and other usable items from the post station, and then set it on fire.

Finally, seeing that although Old Man Qian was unfair, he was not a truly evil person, the old man left him the two bags of grain that he had thrown over the wall earlier.

Li Chengye recruited these couriers because they were familiar with the roads and skilled in horsemanship. They could serve as scouts and guides, and although they lacked combat experience, they would surely be of great use in the future.