Jia Ke and He Tong came to the flower hall, Jia Ke asked He Tong to sit down, He Tong humbled several times, and Jia Ke insisted on inviting him to take a seat. He Tong postponed it, but only then did he become the first minister, and Jia Ke accompanied the prime minister.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, the two continued to talk about the empty salary of the officials.

He Tong said to Jia Ke with drunkenness: "Now there is a general in Xuanfu Town who does not eat empty salary?" If you don't eat empty salaries, how can you live on the money given by the imperial court? ”

Jia Ke was born in the public waiting house, and since he crossed over, although he has never been rich, he has never worried about money. has been a thousand households in Kaiping Town for this time, and he doesn't know much about his own Yulu, these are all in charge of Lanxiang.

So he asked curiously: "Isn't the money given by the imperial court enough to support the family?" It's unlikely. ”

He Tong glanced at him contemptuously, "General Jia, you are still young, and you were born in a public waiting family, and you don't know anything about the world. I'm talking about it now that it's a good sounding officer, do you know how much I have in a year? ”

Without waiting for Jia Ke to answer, he said angrily: "My annual income adds up to more than three hundred taels, how can I live if I don't eat empty salary?" For this bit of silver, I can only get eight floors. The rest of the households are pumped. ”

He Tong seemed to be very angry, and continued: "I still have to pay some money up and down, and I also have to raise some personal soldiers, our side is not like the mainland, those civil officials and old men can also make a fuss about fire consumption, they are a magistrate, and they can get a few thousand taels a year." What can we do if we are poor soldiers and don't eat empty salaries? ”

Jia Ke was taken aback when he heard his words, and he didn't expect that the current government had been corrupted to such an extent.

Jia Ke hurriedly asked again: "Brother He, but I am in Kaiping Town, and there is no arrears of salary. What's going on here? ”

"What's going on, some of the officials and men of those household departments are still sober, and all the officers and soldiers on the front line of the nine-sided important town are fully paid, and they are also afraid of the Tatars. If you don't have enough to eat, how can you give them their lives to guard the front line. Your Kaiping town is the first line against the Tatars, so you can pay in full. He Tong said drunkenly.

"Is this situation just our Xuanfu Town, or does it exist in the Nine Sides?"

"Where can it be different, in my estimation, our Xuanfu Town said that there are 80,000 horses, and it is really 50,000 to be good. This is not bad for us, but when we go to the area of Yulin, Shaanxi, I am afraid that the actual number of soldiers we have is only half of the book. ”

Jia Ke was really frightened this time, he didn't expect the number of soldiers to be so big, no wonder Wang Tao didn't dare to come to support last time, according to this situation, Wang Tao just brought all the soldiers and horses, and it didn't help.

He Tong said to him mysteriously: "Do you know why those leading generals are so active in drawing soldiers for you this time? ”

"Why?"

He Tong squinted his eyes and said, "This time I sent you soldiers, and the imperial court will inevitably let them recruit them again, and it would be good if they could recruit half of the soldiers." When the time comes, they will be able to vacate a lot of soldiers, and each soldier will be paid a year, and he will get at least twenty taels of silver for food and clothing plus weapon maintenance, how can they not be red-eyed. ”

Jia Ke listened to his words, and couldn't help but be silent, thinking that in the future, the current emperor Chan is in the new emperor, and after the death of the emperor, the new emperor will vigorously rectify the rule of officials, it seems that it is not unreasonable, if the court is not rectified, I am afraid that it will be hollowed out, once there is a war, I am afraid there will be no soldiers to fight.

Jia Ke and He Tong both had their own thoughts, and they both got drunk before they knew it.

When Jia Ke woke up the next day, he found that he was lying on the bed, and all the clothes on his body had changed.

Jia Ke pressed his temples, and the headache after the hangover made him not frown.

At this moment, Lan Xiang came in from outside and saw Jia Ke wake up. Hurriedly poured a bowl of tea from the side and handed it to Jia Ke.

Then he helped Jia Ke up and leaned on himself, and gently massaged his head with both hands. Jia Ke held the tea bowl, and leaned on the warm jade fragrance behind him. And Lan Xiang hugged Jia Ke from behind and massaged him, as if he didn't know that there was a big defense between men and women.

When the two were ambiguous, Qiao Lian came in from outside with a food box. At a glance, I saw that something was wrong with the two of them. Qiao Lian is also a smart person, and she knows that she can't blame Jia Ke, so as if she didn't see it, she said to Jia Ke with a smile: "It's time for Uncle to eat, I drank so much wine yesterday, and if I don't eat anything in the morning, beware of stomach discomfort." ”

Jia Ke was a little embarrassed when he saw Qiaolian coming in, and said embarrassedly: "I'll get up now, where did you put my clothes?" ”

Lan Xiang hurriedly said: "Yesterday, the uncle was drunk and vomited everywhere, and a few of us changed the clothes for the uncle." As he spoke, he took out new clothes from the cabinet next to him and placed them beside him.

Jia Ke hurriedly took it and dressed neatly. Lan Xiang walked on the side to help Jia Ke sort out his clothes, and at the same time helped him button up, and he was very busy.

Qiao Lian wanted to go up to help but couldn't intervene, and her eyes were burning when she saw how angry they were.

And Jia Ke was completely let go at this time, and he didn't care about Lan Xiang's performance at all, and let him work on himself.

As soon as Jia Ke got dressed, Chuncao came in with hot water, put the hot water on the shelf, prepared the wet towel, and let Jia Ke wash.

Jia Ke washed his face and sat down at the table to prepare for breakfast. Qiao Lian hurriedly went up to open the food box and put things out the same, and this morning she ate "water surface". The side dishes are 10 melon eggplant, spiced tempeh, sweet garlic, and soy sauce-soaked peppers, garlic sauce, and a large bowl of pork marinade, as well as three or four delicate stir-fries.

Jia Ke personally poured the marinade, poured garlic vinegar, only three chops and two swallows, it was a bowl, Jia Ke only cared about drinking yesterday, he was really a little hungry, so he ate two or three bowls again, and then stopped.

When Jia Ke was eating, the three women in the house had a fierce confrontation with their eyes. First, Qiao Lian gestured to Chuncao with her eyes, first looked at Lan Xiang Nunu, and then glanced at Lan Xiang a few times.

As soon as Chuncao saw Qiaolian's eyes, she understood what she meant, she was angry in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face, she just glanced at Lan Xiang contemptuously, as if she saw something dirty.

And Lan Xiang's disdainful eyes at them not only did not get angry, but puffed up her chest arrogantly. With a smile on his lips, he didn't even look at them.

After Jia Ke finished eating, he felt that the atmosphere in the room was a little strange, and knew that it might be caused by what he had done in the morning, but he didn't know how to resolve this war between women, and besides, he didn't take it to heart, as long as they didn't make trouble, let them go.

So he made an excuse and said to them: "I'm going to see if Commander He has woken up?" With that, he went out of the house.

After Jia Ke left, Lan Xiang beckoned the little girl outside to come in and clean up Jia Ke's leftovers. Chuncao and Qiaolian didn't go out to do their own things as usual.

After the little girl went out, Qiao Lian couldn't help it at first, and said mockingly: "In our house, some people pretend to be dignified and generous on the surface. In fact, it is more sassy than anyone else. It's still a daughter, I'm sorry. ”

Lan Xiang didn't seem to take her words seriously, with a smile on her face that had never disappeared, she said softly: "You are not young anymore, why are you still so naïve?" Those of us were born to serve the master, the uncle wants it, don't you take the initiative to lean in? I don't have the ability, don't blame her for being the first. ”

Qiaolian is usually sharp-tongued, but she can't say a word blocked by her gentle words.