"Brother Zhou, I want to discuss something with you"

At the end of the first day's training, Li* found Zhou Zhengyu who was napping in the room. Zhou Zhengyu is so old that even Li* himself thinks that it is super inhumane to let him participate in the kind of training he designed to engage in strenuous physical exercise every day. Therefore, he acquiesced to the fact that Zhou Zhengyu did not participate in military training. Zhou Zhengyu himself knew this, and privately expressed a corresponding degree of gratitude to Li * for this open-minded attitude, among the officers and soldiers in the team, only Wei Xun was quite dissatisfied with this, but that was a smart person, knowing that Li * did not speak, he could not come out and cause public anger in this matter.

Li * sat opposite Zhou Zhengyu, pondered the words and said: "Brother, that's the case, I want to set up a position of secretary general in our team, and your brother will concurrently serve it, I don't know if your brother is willing to give in......"

Zhou Zhengyu was stunned for a moment: "What is the secretary general?" What is this for? ”

Li * said: "That's right, the secretary is in charge of the whole team's food, logistics, clothing, weapons maintenance, procurement, and financial supervision......"

This series of new terms immediately dazzled Lao Zhou, and he rubbed the little stars flying in front of him and said, "This ...... It's all ...... What is this? ”

"To put it bluntly, it's the big butler of the team...... "Lee* said simply.

"Our team spends thirty-five hangs of money on soldiers' food every month, this is just daily training, long-distance marching or fighting in the future, the money spent will definitely be more, and the team will change weapons in the future, and you can't always hold a wooden stick and shake it around, which also costs money, and it costs an extra amount of quilts and clothes every year, which is not a small amount, and there are some miscellaneous things, including the future Tuntian, which must be managed by a special person, my team officer has to be busy training every day, the time is really not enough, your brother is also familiar with people in Yanzhou, The market is much more thorough than mine, at least I won't be fooled and spend money in vain. I'm not a financial manager in the first place, so I just throw these things to your brother to manage, and I only look at the account books every month, so that I can also relax, and the team can save some money, you see? ”

Zhou Zhengyu looked at Li * and smiled: "Don't hide it from Rong Rong, when I was the officer of the Qiu team, I have always been in charge of the accounts in this team, and I have only been idle since I came to accompany Rong, and I am very familiar with this business." If I can trust my old Zhou, I will return to my old business and take care of these things for my husband......"

After saying this, Li *'s face was hot, and he said with some embarrassment: "Then it will trouble my brother......"

Zhou Zhengyu smiled: "I don't know how much silver money is in stock in our team this year?" The public salary for the year before the arrival of the companion was fifty-five hangs, and the grain was counted separately. But at that time, most of the public salaries were eaten by the officers, and after the escort came, it was no longer called to eat Ding, and the money should be saved, but it cost a lot to repair the barracks, which is a pity, in fact, it is okay to repair five houses, as long as it is past this winter, and five more will be repaired next year, how can it be enough, our team will only have dozens of people, and no matter how many houses can be lived......"

Li * hesitated for a moment, and said: "Except for what has been spent for a while, from now to this moment next year, there are still 448 and 180 yuan left in the team's public funds, and the camp only gives us fifteen stone of grain every month, a total of only about 900 catties, and it is only one catty per person per day, which is not enough at all, and the daily ration of the brothers is more than two catties for a while, which is bought in the market, which is a fixed expense ......."

He raised his head, but found that Zhou Zhengyu's eyes were in a daze, but he didn't seem to hear what he said.

"Brother Zhou—Brother Zhou—"

Zhou Zhengyu came back to his senses at this time, and asked with his mouth wide open: "Escort Rong just said that there is still ...... public funds in the team And also...... How many more? ”

Li * was stunned for a moment, and replied: "There are still more than four hundred and forty-eight hangings......"

"How...... Why...... How can there be so much? Zhou Zhengyu asked blankly.

Lee* smiled: "This is the extra pay I asked for the brothers at the Lee Observation Office......"

Zhou Zhengyu was stunned for a long time, and suddenly laughed stupidly, laughing and shaking hard twice on the bunk, this sudden strange behavior startled Li *, he couldn't help but shiver, stretched out his hand to grab Zhou Zhengyu and shouted: "Brother Zhou-Brother Zhou-Are you okay?" ”

Zhou Zhengyu smiled breathlessly while shaking his hand again and again, gasping and said, "I...... It's okay...... It's okay...... Ha ha...... Ha ha...... More than 400 hanging ...... More than 400 hanging ...... What can't I do......"

Only then did Li* put his mind at ease, and he smiled bitterly: "I've calculated, I'm afraid that this money won't last until this time next year......"

Zhou Zhengyu's laughter stopped abruptly, staring at Li * like a monster, and only after a while did he ask a complete sentence: "What did you say about this?" More than 400 hanging money can't last a year? Accompany Rong, are you talking nonsense? ”

Li * snapped his fingers and said: "You do the math, now one stone of grain costs 600 yuan, and at least 15 yuan a month must be supplied to the soldiers, that is, the monthly food subsidy is nine yuan, and a year is one hundred and eight yuan." Our team is now short of soldiers, to recruit 50 people and 50 mouths, each person has two catties of grain per day, the whole team has to eat 100 catties of grain every day, and at least 60 catties of grain must be subsidized every day, a month is 30 stones, that is, 18 hangings, a year is 216 hangings, this is only food money, and the accompanying food money is not counted. In addition to these soldiers, we also have to tuntian, and the farmers in tuntian also have to supply people with food this year, which is at least 50 yuan, plus our clothing, weapons, armor and other equipment in the future...... Alas...... When I first observed that I was given a lot of money, I realized that it was not like that when I actually spent it......"

“…… Companion ...... Are you crazy? Zhou Zhengyu was silent for a long time, and such a sentence popped out of his mouth.

"That's not how it counts!" Zhou Zhengyu said to Li * in the same tone as an old grandfather teaching a little grandson, "We also understand this truth to let the soldiers eat well, but in the past, getting food is not like accompanying Rong." 600 yuan for one stone of grain, which is the market price. Every month, when I go to the baggage to carry out the rations, as long as I stuff a penny in the hand of the official who weighs the grain, his scale will be slanted, and two catties of grain will become one catty, so that in a year, I will not spend more than 20 dollars......"

"Let's talk about companion food, we have so much money ourselves, we don't need to go to the baggage camp to receive the companion food and be exploited by those black-hearted cooks, in the Dongcheng vegetable market, one hanging money can buy five hundred big radish, enough for our soldiers to eat for two months, salt is more expensive, don't go to the black market to buy, or go to the baggage camp, as long as you stuff a little money privately for those food, no one will care about us when the whole jar of green salt is moved back." The baggage battalion is in charge of the food of more than 2,000 people in the whole army, and it is not a thing to use up dozens of catties of salt in a month, and those black-hearted food guards are fine, they will deduct the salt back from the food of other battalions, and one team will deduct a little bit, and they will ......not notice it at all."

"Besides, weapons and staffs, they really cost money, but it's not like there's no way at all. As far as I know, there are a lot of good weapons in the treasury of the Jiedu Mansion and the Yanai Command Office, but they don't usually take it out, Gao Yanei and Deputy Zhang make them still point to these things and do business with the Feng family in the northwest. ”

"The armor is a little harder, you can talk about it later. At present, this money can be taken out of ten dollars first, first go to the countryside to collect a hundred chickens, the rooster is not worth the price, we mainly accept hens, the rooster can just collect a few, with these chickens, there is also an empty house, let's raise it. As long as it is well raised, each chicken lays an egg every two days, which is enough for our soldiers to have one egg a day. This egg is a good thing, not only can it be carried for time, but it can also be exchanged for money, an egg can be exchanged for a maximum of five cents, and at least three cents, it is worth it......"

Li*'s eyes were also shining, thinking of the taste of eggs, his mouth couldn't help but be a little moist, he had been in this era for almost two years, and he only had one egg to eat every day during the days when he was recuperating, so even for him, a person from the twenty-first century, Zhou Zhengyu's statement was still extremely tempting.

He also interjected: "You might as well buy more chickens, chickens lay eggs and hatch chicks, and then raise them, wouldn't you be able to make a lot of money?" ”

As soon as he spoke, Zhou Zhengyu's head shook as if he had eaten ******: "No...... Not...... It's easy to get chickens to lay eggs, it's too hard to hatch eggs. Not to mention, at present, in Yanzhou, the people who can afford to eat chicken are some dignitaries and famous families, and the price of chickens collected by these people is extremely low, which is not much different from Ming robbery, which ordinary people can afford to eat chicken? Moreover, raising a chicken will cost a lot of food and chicken feed, and our family has a thin foundation and cannot withstand such consumption......"

He thought for a while: "It's just that this tuntian is not easy to do, seeds and manure are easy to say, but it is difficult to find people who farm the land." Besides, the crops are afraid of drought, and the distance from the Yanhe River here is too far, and I have to run for half an hour when I am empty. And we have to guard against locusts in June and July, but these things are not something we can deal with now, and we have to take one step at a time. But I can go fishing and replenish my brothers......"

Li*'s eyes lit up suddenly: "Can you fish in the Yan River?" ”

Zhou Zhengyu smiled: "I've been looking at my greed for the past few days, and I want to make a fishing rod to catch a few to satisfy my hunger, but I haven't done it yet...... Although the people on this mountain are not wealthy, but the fish in the river are fat enough, if this Yanhe River is used well, not to mention feeding one of our teams, I am afraid that more than a dozen teams are enough......"

Li * listened attentively, nodded again and again, he couldn't help but secretly regret in his heart, why didn't he delegate the financial power to Zhou Zhengyu earlier. Not to mention spending a lot of money in vain, but also delaying the season, in a few days, I am afraid that the Yan River will freeze, and when the time comes, it will be much more difficult to break the ice and fish.

But he can't Tuntian, he is still unwilling in his heart, to expand the army in the future, it is impossible not to Tuntian, he thought for a while, and said: "Tomorrow's training will let Shen Chen lead the team, I will go to the city, the matter of the farmer, I still have to discuss it with the observer, he may have any good way to know......

……

Early the next morning, Li* got up and went on the road, descending the mountain, observing the surrounding terrain as he walked, and although he was only a political cadre in his own time, he also received the most basic military command training, and was quite sensitive to the terrain and topography. Fenglin Mountain, even in his own time, is also a very useful natural barrier, when the Northwest Field Army moved to northern Shaanxi, this barrier once effectively prevented Hu Zongnan's Central Army and the Northwest Yinxia Region Ma Jiajun echoing and cooperating with each other, General Peng commanded more than 20,000 people to toss and turn in the middle of this crack, leading Hu Zongnan's nose back and forth mushrooms, and finally ate most of Hu's main force one by one, in this process the Northwest Ma family basically did not pose any major strategic threat to Xiye.

Although the terrain of the Loess Plateau is not dangerous, it is not very conducive to cavalry mobility, and the main reason why the Li family can come and go freely every time the party goes south is not actually by virtue of rapid mobility, but by relying on the Yanzhou Zhangwu army to dare not go out of the city to fight. In terms of the combat effectiveness of the Zhangwu army, basically the array was on the verge of collapse when it heard the sound of the horses' hooves of the Dangxiang cavalry, and this level of army could not pose any actual threat to the Dangxiang people at all, so every time the Dangxiang people invaded the grass valley in the south, they came and went calmly and freely, and it was not that the Dangxiang people were too strong, but that the Zhangwu army was too incompetent......

Qin straight road leads to the north of Yulin and the later generations of Suiyuan, the rich Hetao grassland was originally a piece of paradise, since the Tang Dynasty Zhenguan four years after the Dingxiang campaign commanded by Li Jing, here has been the Tang Army's natural horse farm, but also the Tang Dynasty people's day and night rest home, since the rise of the Khitan, this land began to be repeatedly threatened by military disasters, and the rise of the party has accelerated this process. Today, dozens or even hundreds of displaced people pass by here every day, some of them cross the Yanhe River south to the east of Fenglin Mountain and go south to Yanchang County, and some turn along the road to the foot of the mountain to the county seat of Fushi.

Gradually Li* and a group of displaced people who were helping the old and the young, carried with them large and small burdens, all of them haggard and tired, most of the old people were carrying a stick, and the women were carrying their children in their arms or on their backs.

Most of these ancient children were large and small, and they were malnourished.

While walking, Li * chatted with an old man: "Grandpa, where did you come from?" ”

"Linzhou...... Passing the Soldiers...... There was a war, the house was burned, the village was destroyed, and I ran to Lak......"

"Linzhou?" Li * was stunned, but he didn't expect this batch of refugees to run over from the territory of the Yang family, he was stunned for a while, and then asked, "Which family is fighting with which family?" ”

"I don't know...... Soldiers...... The Yang family's soldiers...... The Soldier ...... of the Folding Family The soldiers of Hedong...... It's all over, the house burned...... The village was ruined...... I can't get by......"

Li * felt a sense of compassion in his heart, this is an era of so-called success and ten thousand bones, and the Yang family general, who became famous in the world, is just a soldier of a warlord in the eyes of these ordinary people, these soldiers are no different, they will only kill the people, burn the village, will only destroy, and will only bring death and disaster to most good people. It is no wonder that in the eyes of these people, whether it is the Yang family, the Zhe family, or the Northern Han soldiers, there is no difference.

Maybe Guo Jiabing in the Central Plains is better, Li * comforted himself in his heart......

A doll about three or four years old cried, and it was useless for the mother to soothe her, and it seemed that she was a little hungry......

Without hesitation, Li took out the cake he had brought with him for lunch from his bosom, broke a piece and handed it to the doll, and the mother looked at his military uniform with wariness, hesitated for a while, but took it and handed it to the doll, but did not even say the least thank you.

In this era, the army, which is supposed to be the state apparatus of protecting the country and the people, has become the most crazy killing machine, the wars between feudal towns, wars between countries, wars between nations, these wars are of different natures, but one thing is the same, in these wars, it is often not the soldiers who die in large numbers, but the unarmed ordinary people who have no ability to protect themselves.

The brutality of these wars was far from what could have been imagined in his own time, and in the more than 60 years from the Huangchao Incident in the late Tang Dynasty to the establishment of the Song Dynasty, 90 percent of China's 50 million people were killed. Most of these people were not slaughtered in the southward movement of the Khitan or the expansion of the party, they were slaughtered by the one hundred and seven feudal towns that stood on the land of China, by the five dynasties that took turns to sit in the village and take turns to be the monkey, by the ten countries that tore the whole of China apart, and by these people who should have been counted as "their own people".

Li* was a little glad that he had come to this era when the history of the five dynasties was nearing the end, not the dark age of fifty years ago, when both the rebels and the official army had to rely on human flesh to replace military rations.

Before I knew it, the surrounding refugees had gathered, their eyes red and staring at the remaining piece of bread in Li*'s hand.

Lee*'s expression became solemn, and he reached out and pulled the short knife out of its sheath, and the bright light of the knife pierced the hungry crowd around him with panic.

Lee* raised his knife in one hand and the remaining half of the cake in the other, and said slowly but firmly: "This cake is for you—but only for the dolls......"