Just when Tang Ning seemed bored and worried about how to pass the remaining dozens of days of the main mission, a piece of good news suddenly detonated in Lane Village, that is, there was an army regiment that was going to rest in Lane Village for a week.

The army regiments of the British mainland are divided into two kinds: the recruitment militia regiment and the guard regiment, the latter is stationed in the capital to protect the royal family, the former is scattered throughout the country, supported by the locality, and will only assemble in the capital London or near some other port in wartime, waiting to be on the ship to go on the expedition, and the town of Meriton, which is only more than 20 miles away from London, is one of the distribution centers where the various militia regiments of the British Army often hang out.

The arrival of this army regiment can not only inject a breath of vitality into the peaceful and almost boring village of Lane, but also enable the villagers to get a part of the income, because this army regiment is going to overseas battlefields, so this week's rest is their last indulgence, to the front line, it is difficult to say whether they live or die, so the consumption power of these soldiers and officers is very large.

For example, Downing met a handsome and extremely talkative young officer in the bar, and when he was drunk, the officer William suddenly asked Downing: "By the way, Mr. Linde, since you are so interested in the army, do you want to join the army?" ”

Tang Ning hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No, no, my body will definitely not be a soldier." ”

William said disapprerovingly: "Oh, with your identity as Mr. Linde, how can you be a big soldier, you must be an officer!" ”

And Downing thought William was joking: "Officer? This is not realistic, how can anyone go directly and become an officer. ”

"How is it unrealistic? If you have money, you can do it! As he spoke, William patted his chest: "I won't tell you, I'm a lieutenant who bought it for money, and it's only five hundred pounds, how about it, it's cheap, right?" ”

"This is because you have connections in the army and know big people, right?" Downing guessed.

William shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter, as long as you have money, you can buy it, and it's still clearly priced, regardless of rank and position." Then he added: "But artillery is an exception." ”

After some understanding, Tang Ning realized that the reason why artillery officers can't spend money to buy it is because artillery officers must know how to calculate ballistics, otherwise it is easy to bomb friendly troops, so laymen really can't do it. But that's just the beginning, and artillery officers will have to pay just as much money to get promoted, because your competitors will also have ballistic calculations......

"Is there no one to care about this kind of thing so publicly?" Tang Ning asked puzzled.

"Don't worry, there is absolutely no one to care, now even His Majesty the Emperor and the Prime Minister have to spend money to buy him a position if they want to promote someone, not a paper order, so you don't have to worry about anything." William patted his chest and reassured.

In fact, this is the foundation that Downing did not understand the British Army at that time, the lobster soldiers in this period were really rotten, and the sources of soldiers were basically "social scum" who were discriminated against, including bankrupt farmers, urban poor, unemployed vagrants, criminals, gangsters, etc.

The vagrants who roamed the towns all day long, the drunkards who drank in the bars, and the slums and criminals became the best source of soldiers for the army. Because the rulers of various countries believe that these inferior people who do not do their jobs properly cannot create wealth for the country, but are an unstable factor that affects social order, it is better to recruit them into the army on the spot than to keep them as traitors in society, which can be regarded as giving them a legitimate job, and winning glory for the country if they are killed.

Of course, not all arms are so bad, Britain's navy is very strong, and because Britain is an island country, if you can't beat his navy, you won't have a chance to fight his army, so it doesn't matter if the army is bad, and the strength of the armies of other European countries at that time is not very good.

Although Tang Ning was a little moved by what William said, he still didn't agree directly, but shirked to go back and think about it, although William, who received the benefits of Bentley, was anxious, but he didn't dare to urge too much on the surface, so as not to be seen by Tang Ning as a flaw.

After returning home, Elizabeth saw that Tang Ning looked worried, so she asked a few curious questions, and after hearing Tang Ning's description, she decisively persuaded: "Cousin, this man named William is not a good person, don't let him be deceived." ”

Then he explained: "I heard my father talk about this kind of thing before, many army officers, they can also sell the official hats they bought on their heads, relying on the difference between the two transactions to make huge profits, the price of military ranks and official positions at all levels will fluctuate violently with the market situation, for example, a regiment is about to be sent to some Pacific desert island to station, then the price of officers in this regiment will plummet immediately." And if this regiment is to be transferred to a prosperous place like the capital London, the gold content of the officer's position in this regiment will naturally appreciate accordingly.

Seeing the benefits, some shrewd fellows began to resell officer posts like reselling futures, and with the help of their inside information, they continued to buy and sell majors and captains one by one, turning officer positions into investment and wealth management products like stocks and securities...... At the height of this kind of trading, there was even an underground exchange for officers' positions, or "official exchanges" for short"

It took a long time for Tangning to digest this strange officer system, and then suddenly realized: "Oh, I see, this William just wanted to sell his lieutenant to me because he didn't want to go out to fight, so he could reduce his losses, right?" ”

Elizabeth nodded and replied, "That's right, that's what happened. And if I'm not mistaken, this William spent money to buy an officer's position, most likely not to seek development in the military circles, but to have a decent status as a lieutenant in the social arena, to be able to attract the attention of those ladies and ladies in a dazzling military uniform, so as to marry a beautiful rich lady, which is how one of my aunts was deceived back then. ”

"Well, I see, Isa, thank you so much this time." Tang Ning thanked him very earnestly.

Knowing this, Downing naturally wouldn't give William any more chance, and after spending the last dozens of days in a state of confusion and extreme boredom, Downing finally returned to the real world, but what he never expected was that a woman he had almost forgotten came to him.