"We northerners should drink alcohol, and it is the strongest liquor. This southern tea is really unappetizing, Ziang! Do you think there is something wrong with this southerner, just a few leaves are still so particular, so cumbersome, I have to rank whether it is good or bad, according to me, it is not as good as the goat milk on our grassland......"

The general shook his head and sighed, feeling a little depressed. Tea in the south is famous, and even the palace is used to entertain envoys from other countries with tea, and what is even more excessive is that it is divided into three, six, nine and so on. What is there to drink in this tea, even the most basic thirst is not enough.

The middle-aged general is the highest-powered town general in Huaishuo Town. Duan Chang joined the army at the age of sixteen, and he has experienced countless battles, which can be said to be a meritorious feat that crawled out of the pile of dead, the reason why he sat in this position, the status of the six towns has plummeted since the imperial court moved the capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang, the imperial court felt that the six towns were no longer important, and his boss felt that there was no future in the town, so he lost the position to Duan Chang, and he ran to Kyoto to develop his own good future. Of course, in terms of Duan Chang's character, he is already very content to sit in the position of this town general.

He has been riding all his life, but he doesn't know the flower world in the south, but he heard people say that the south is rich in tea, how good the tea is, and he couldn't help but be curious in his heart and scraped a little to his military advisor Zhou Ziang, sat on the city wall and got a chair, originally wanted to taste it and enjoy the scenery, but the tea entrance felt bitter and unpalatable, and spit directly on the ground.

Drinking tea has the importance of drinking tea, but also to taste it carefully, a reckless man like Duan Chang drinking tea is simply a tyrannical thing. Therefore, no matter how good the tea is, it is worse than water in his mouth.

Zhou Ziang felt a pity in his heart, and he was distressed, but he couldn't refute it and nodded in response: "What the general said is true!" This tea is something that those weak scholars in the south have nothing to do every day, and northern men like us can't drink it! The general doesn't have to mind, current affairs make people, and for those literati and rioters, they are poor and exquisite! And we are not all the way. ”

"Well said, this is poor and exquisite...... haha" Duan Chang was in a good mood for a while and laughed.

After laughing, Duan Chang looked at Zhou Ziang again and asked, "Ziang, how is the progress of the soldiers I asked you to recruit recently?" ”

"This ...... This ......" Zhou Ziang's face showed embarrassment, he spoke heavily, and he grinded for a long time before saying: "The general is angry, Ziang is not doing things well, what you order, Ziang ......"

"Huh? You just tell me honestly how many soldiers have been recruited, so why bother with it! Duan Chang blew his beard and glared, a little impatient.

"Only ......" Zhou Ziang was really hard to speak, so he could only stretch out a palm and flip it over.

"Five hundred?" Duan Chang was a little disappointed, but then calmed down again and said: "It's not bad to have five hundred, at least you can respond to the old and weak who have retreated!" ”

As an important border town, Huaishuo Town resists the invasion of the Rouran Kingdom, and the number of soldiers in the army must be sufficient. According to the previous configuration, it was at least 10,000 people or more. Basically, every time they come down from the battlefield, there are dead and wounded in battle. As soon as the staffing gap opens, it must be constantly replenished, otherwise after a few battles, the general will become a bare-bones commander with no troops available.

The so-called supplementary soldiers were naturally levied from the towns, and the first and foremost was to select from the criminals and exiles, but none of the young and strong were spared, and of course the old, weak, sick and disabled were not needed. Useless people, how can they kill the enemy if they can't hold a knife. Even if they want to join the army, the military administration department is not willing to accept it, and the military department is not a place to waste food and raise waste, and the daily consumption of food is an astronomical amount.

In the past few years, the border has been peaceful, but there has been less fighting, but some old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers are useless in the army, so they naturally have to be eliminated. If a batch is eliminated, it is natural that new soldiers will have to fill this gap.

Every year, thousands of the old, weak, sick and disabled people of the huge border army have to retire. Naturally, thousands of recruits join every year. And the imperial court does not interfere in the recruitment of new recruits each year, and the local governor can decide for himself. There is no need to report to the imperial court in detail, just report the number of troops to the military department of the imperial court. In order to prevent the generals of the local army from supporting their own troops, there is no limit on the number of people in the imperial court, neither more nor less.

As the highest prefect of Huaishuo Town, Duan Chang has all the decision-making power to recruit new soldiers. Of course, this kind of trivial matter Duan Chang will not work too much, and he will hand it over to his deputy general, Zhou Ziang, every year.

The weather was good today, and he happened to have nothing to do, so Duan Chang asked casually, but he didn't think that Zhou Ziang was spitting out that he naturally felt that there was a problem. However, although the other party's answer was not satisfied, there was no war for him now, and there was no need to rush for a while, just about to breathe a sigh of relief, but Zhou Ziang showed embarrassment, shook his head and said: "General, you misunderstood, it's fifty people!" ”

"What? Fifty people, the residents of the huge Huaishuo Town are more than 100,000 or 200,000, and it took you more than a month to recruit 50 people, are you kidding me! Duan Chang felt that he either heard it wrong or Zhou Ziang was joking with him, but this joke was not funny at all. As the commander of an army, what he cares about most is how many soldiers he has, if there are no soldiers, once Rouran knows the situation and sends troops to attack, tell him what to resist. Even if he is lucky enough to resist and the court investigates it, I am afraid that he will be guilty of dereliction of duty.

"General, I'm not kidding you, it's true that more than fifty people have been recruited for the humble position! It's far from your request......" Zhou Ziang was embarrassed to say, if it wasn't for the disadvantage, how could he be willing to take out his treasured tea leaves and treasure them.

"Bastard! I'm so! Duan Chang's face was extremely ugly, and he suddenly slapped the table and stood up, and the coffee table on the table was thrown off the table and fell to the ground by his big hand for a while, and the tea leaves and tea were spilled on the ground. When the soldiers on the side heard the movement, they couldn't help but look at them in surprise, and they were very strange in their hearts, why did their general be so angry now when he was talking and laughing just now.

However, they also know the general's temper, even if they have doubts in their hearts, they don't dare to come forward to ask, so they don't have to ask for hardship.

"Tell me what's going on? If you don't have a convincing reason today, I will definitely be dealt with by military law! After Duan Chang calmed down, he sat back in his chair again, glaring angrily, and seeing Zhou Ziang's heart, he was empty.

"The general doesn't know, since the emperor moved the capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang, our six towns are far away from the emperor, the imperial court does not pay attention to it, and the military department has directly shortened our food and grass supply, on the other hand, a large number of criminals have been sent here every year in the past to fill the army, but this year I have checked with the political prison department, and now the criminals in the imperial court are either directly executed, or directly detained by those big officials of the imperial court and charged to their own mansions as slaves and maids......"