Therefore, the generals in Tongzhou City smelled such a smell from afar, and they all gathered up, in the name of celebrating Ji Qingwen's achievements, they came to congratulate them with tea instead of wine, and by the way, they tasted a few bites of the delicacy that is usually rare to eat.

Especially Wu Sangui, I don't know whether it was for the food at the banquet or to repay Ji Qingwen for saving his life, so he simply sat down, ate a mouthful of hot soup and a mouthful of good vegetables, and did not forget to talk about the past of the same group of rotten Confucians in the Liansheng Inn when he entered Beijing to take the exam.

In this way, the generals who were originally gathered around Yuan Chonghuan walked sparsely, making the Chinese army's tent, which should have been very lively, deserted.

Yuan Chonghuan is such a conceited person, he will naturally not be happy to see such a scene, but now is the time for the army to celebrate, and it is a little too inappropriate to forcibly order them back by military law.

But Yuan Chonghuan still felt that his face was a little unbearable, so he had an idea, and simply made the appearance of a corporal Lixian, left the big tent of the Chinese army, and personally ran to Ji Qingwen's station in the name of congratulating his military exploits.

The originally lively camp tent suddenly became quiet with the arrival of Yuan Chonghuan, and Wu Sangui, who was originally sitting next to Ji Qingwen, also got up in a hurry and gave up his seat to his father and uncle's top boss, Yuan Chonghuan.

Yuan Chonghuan saw that everyone saw him as if he had seen the king of Hades, his face became even more ugly, and he slowly sat down, then he reluctantly squeezed out a smile and said: "Lord Ji is worthy of being an official in a paradise like Suzhou, and the taste of the military food brought is much more delicious than that of the bitter cold land in Liaodong. Look at these generals under my command, they are all attracted by good wine and meat. ”

There seemed to be something in his words, and it seemed to be a casual remark, so that Ji Qingwen didn't know whether to take it seriously or not.

Li Yan, who was still beside Ji Qingwen, reacted quickly and interjected: "Inspector Yuan, don't underestimate these military rations, this can be regarded as an overseas flavor!" ”

As he spoke, Li Yan began to gush about these cured meats and fish.

Thanks to Li Yan's profound knowledge and natural eloquence, he vividly described the process of making these foods, so that all the generals present pricked up their ears and listened quietly, planning to concoct this extremely delicious military food according to the method Li Yan said after they returned.

But before Li Yan finished speaking, Yuan Chonghuan interrupted him and asked, "This gentleman is talkative, it seems that he is Master Ji's master, right?" It seems that this master doesn't know much about the rules, how can we have the share of him when we speak? ”

Li Yan is also a scholar, and when he heard Yuan Chonghuan speak like this, his face immediately looked ugly.

Seeing this, Ji Qingwen hurriedly answered: "Inspector Yuan misunderstood. This Li Yan Gongzi is not my master, he was born in a family, and his father was a secretary of the military department, how can he be willing to be my master? He has a relationship with his subordinates who are also teachers and friends, how much knowledge do I have, and Inspector Yuan still doesn't know? I can't even write a piece of music from beginning to end, it's all ghostwritten by Brother Li! ”

There is a deep meaning in Ji Qingwen's words - he clearly told Yuan Chonghuan that Li Yan is also a person who can get in touch with the emperor's will, and there is no good result for offending him!

Yuan Chonghuan is a smart person, and when he heard the meaning, he arched his hand towards Li Yan with a wooden face, said "disrespectful", and then asked: "Lord Ji's regiment training is so elite, it is really unexpected that he can fight against the elite cavalry with foot soldiers. I don't know what kind of training method there is, so let's take it out and consider each other. ”

Ji Qingwen said with a smile: "How do I know what kind of military training?" These regimental exercises were all recruited and trained in accordance with the method of General Qi Jiguang back then. It's just that I have a few dollars in my hand, and I pay more military salaries on weekdays and give more rewards in wartime, and the so-called 'there must be brave men under heavy rewards'. ”

"Oh?" Yuan Chonghuan's eyes narrowed, and he asked, "But I don't know how much silver each of these soldiers under Lord Ji has a reward of silver per month?" ”

There is a reason for what he said, the military salary of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry is notoriously generous in the Ming Dynasty, and it is hard to imagine that anyone can give a higher salary.

So Ji Qingwen was not in a hurry, and replied: "A fixed reward of fifty taels of silver per person per year, if the training is hard or in the event of war, the reward can reach one hundred taels." It's up to them to take it......"

As soon as he said this, he attracted the envy of a group of Liaodong generals.

Yuan Chonghuan said with a skeptical tone: "Lord Ji is not talking about it, right? If I look at you like this, your five hundred elite soldiers will spend 50,000 taels of silver every year. I'm afraid this doesn't include the cost of weapons, right? ”

Ji Qingwen smiled: "Of course not." The wolf's swords, shields, and the like are not worth much, and the swords in their hands are all of the highest grade bought from Japan, and they are worth ten taels of silver a mouthful; The muskets are also Western-style goods, and they cost thirty taels of silver each, and sometimes they can't be bought......"

Yuan Chonghuan listened to Ji Qingwen's words and words, and really believed Ji Qingwen's words, so he asked again: "So...... How much is that tank worth? ”

Ji Qingwen smiled and stretched out five fingers: "About 50,000 taels of silver......"

"Humph!" Yuan Chonghuan sneered, "Lord Ji, this is a bit alarmist, right? What kind of chariot costs 50,000 taels of silver? ”

"My chariot is worth 50,000 taels. There were four guns on the car, each worth 10,000 taels, and four guns were 40,000 taels. The car itself is worth more than 10,000 taels of silver, and the cost of this chariot is a total of 50,000 taels of silver. Ji Qingwen said with a smile.

This chariot played an important role in the battle with Huang Taiji, which Yuan Chonghuan saw with his own eyes; But if he really wanted to say that the car was worth 50,000 taels of silver, he would be skeptical.

So Yuan Chonghuan thought about it for a moment and said, "So, Lord Ji spent 150,000 taels of silver a year to raise these 500 regimental training soldiers?" ”

Ji Qingwen smiled "hehe": "Who told me to be rich?" ”

"Hahaha!" Yuan Chonghuan suddenly laughed, "Lord Ji is really generous. You see, my Liaodong feeds tens of thousands of soldiers, but it is only about 1.5 million taels of silver; Coupled with all the expenses of grain, grass, ordnance, city repair, wear and tear, etc., it was only about five million taels - among them, the superintendent raised 1.5 million taels by himself, Lord Ji found 400,000 taels of silver from Jiangnan, and the royal palaces of the clan paid 1 million taels in the name of military training, and the rest were supplied by the household military department, which was already overstretched. I didn't expect that such a lot of silver, put it here by Lord Ji, could only raise 10,000 soldiers and horses if it died. Lord Ji, these sergeants, are they not heavenly soldiers? ”

After saying that, Yuan Chonghuan looked up to the sky again and laughed.

His laughter was full of malice, which made everyone present feel embarrassed. But the majesty of his Inspector Yuan is here, so the generals under his command can only laugh dryly.

After laughing for a while, Yuan Chonghuan suddenly turned his head and asked an official dressed as a civil official: "Lord Lu, before this, this superintendent screened the soldiers and horses of the king of the world, and only Lord Ji's Suzhou weaving regiment training and your 'Tianxiong soldiers' could be eye-catching. Could it be that Lord Lu is also a rich man? ”

Ji Qingwen looked at the "Lord Lu", but saw that this person was slender, fair-skinned, and dressed as a scholar, and it was Lu Xiangsheng, the prefect of the Daimyo Mansion of Beizhili.

I saw Lu Xiangsheng first arch his hand to Yuan Chonghuan, and then said: "The soldiers under the lower officials were recruited only after they heard that there were police officers in the Beijing division last month, and the current military expenses are all paid by the treasury money accumulated in the Daimyo's mansion over the years. It seems that after the Manchurian Tartars were expelled from the Central Plains, the lower officials also had to dismiss the soldiers, leaving only a few backbones to appease the place......"

It is very rare for Lu Xiangsheng to be able to say such non-offending words in a moment.

But he changed his words and said, "But now is not the time to think about this kind of thing. The lower officials have something unclear, and they also ask Inspector Yuan to give advice. ”

Yuan Chonghuan replied casually: "Don't dare, I don't know what Lord Lu is puzzled about?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng frowned and said: "What I want to ask is that although Huang Taiji and Daishan suffered defeat today, their vitality has not been damaged, I don't know what their plans are next?" Has Inspector Yuan considered this matter? ”

As soon as he said this, all the generals were dumbfounded and looked at the coach Yuan Chonghuan.