Wang Huan couldn't help but say: "The Mongols have been blowing the wind on the grassland for so many years, and Dayuan's bearing has long been blown away by the strong wind, and the only thing left is the desire for profit." The Donglu asked them to pay tribute every year, and these descendants of Genghis Khan inevitably complained, selling some war horses to us, that is, to relieve their hatred and make money, why not? ”

Mi Layin took off the wide-brimmed military hat he was wearing on his head, patted it on his thigh, scattered the sand on it, and said with a little regret: "However, there has been a great drought in Shaanxi in recent years, and the days on the grassland are not easy, and the Mongolian horses are not as good as a year, and the price is ridiculously high. ”

"It doesn't matter if the money is the year before last, I heard that Li Zicheng bought a horse from them, and he wanted thirty taels and one horses, and they were willing to drop it to twenty taels, it should be that the Ming Dynasty was driven to the south in the past two years, and the business road was blocked by the Dongyu, Li Zicheng lost his position and died, and the horses were not cared for, so the price was reduced." Wang Huan stared at the ground cracked by the sun, shook his head and said: "Gansu is in such a depression, presumably the lives of the people are miserable, Master Mi, can the grain shipped this month be distributed?" ”

Mi Layin's face became solemn, put the wide-brimmed hat on his head, and arched his hand to Wang Huan and said: "My lord, the 100,000 stone grain transported from Sichuan has been transported to Ganzhou ten days ago, and the last general will not dare to slack off, and all the money has been distributed, and the people have said, how many years, the court has shouted disaster relief every year, but has never seen the disaster relief food sent down, Lord Wang came, and the unprecedented food was sent to his hands, and he was grateful to the adults, and they all said that the adults were good officials and living Bodhisattvas. ”

After a pause, he added: "These grains, which are specifically distributed by hand, are all local county orders appointed by Lord Meng Zhiyu Meng, and the sons under the command of the last general are only responsible for escort matters, and have not stretched out their hands. ”

Wang Huan looked at his serious appearance, knowing that he was afraid of his own heart, the general army of a town in the late Ming Dynasty was a soil overlord, the original Ming court's pattern of military and civilian division and civilian administration of civil affairs has long ceased to exist, under normal circumstances, similar to this kind of disaster relief food has long fallen into the pockets of warlords, where is there still the people's share, Mi Layin is a Ming military town, of course, it is no exception.

But the grain and grass sent by Wang Huan, Mi Layin did not dare to rub the oil, a method of Wang Huan, he had seen it, Wang Huan did not smile on weekdays, shared weal and woe with his generals, looked very kind, really broke the taboo, touched his bottom line, the implementation of the military law of Kuizhou, that is really unrecognizable. Second, the people of Gansu have been suffering for many years, Mi Layin is a local, and he was born in a bitter haha big soldier, and he has endured many days to get to this day, and he is not as black-hearted as the general Ming generals, who have a conscience, know the suffering of the people, and can't bear to be greedy for relief food.

"That's fine, how many people are left under your hands, after these days of streamlined selection?" Wang Huan said indifferently, since Mi Layin knew the severity, there was no need to beat.

"According to the orders of the adults, the last general will remove the vacancies, eliminate the old and weak, and only pick up the strong and old and sink to stay, and the rest will be put back home, with a total of 8,400 soldiers." Mi Layin searched for numbers in his head, and replied: "Originally, Gansu Town, as one of the nine sides, had a total of five soldiers, thirteen generals, twenty guerrillas, and a total of 50,000 soldiers. ”

As he spoke, Mi Layin looked regretful, as if he was extremely sorry that the number of troops at hand had been drastically reduced so much.

Wang Huan looked into his eyes and asked, "With more than half of the troops missing, does General Mi think it's a good thing or a bad thing?" ”

Mi Layin's body was shocked, and he was furious by him, and hurriedly said: "Of course it's a good thing, it's excellent!" Under the command of the adults, the four battalions of the Wind Forest Volcano are only more than 10,000 people, but they can beat the Tartars several times their own body to the ground, and the final general is deeply regretted. It can be seen that the soldiers are not expensive, Shaanxi was full of thieves in those years, and the number was about 100,000 at every turn, Sun Chuanting's Qin army and Hong Chengchou's Hong army were only more than 10,000 people, but they were invincible in the thief army, and the thieves were like lackeys in a hurry, and they couldn't avoid it. ”

Wang Huan looked at him for a while, then retracted his gaze and said softly: "You can understand, of course it is excellent, my Kuizhou army has become an army, and it is a fine word, and if there is more, it will be indiscriminate, and it will consume food and pay for it!" If you fight a few battles, the combat effectiveness can meet my requirements, and the monthly salary of the soldiers can be the same as that of the Kuizhou soldiers. ”

When Mi Layin heard this, he thought about it for a while, then he was overjoyed, and smiled again: "So, thank you, my lord!" ”

This is a good thing, the soldiers of Gansu Town's salary, according to the military system of the Hongguang Dynasty, the infantry army is only twelve buckets of brown rice a year, and the horse army is twenty-four buckets, this bit of food, converted into silver taels, is pitiful, and often in arrears, the situation of Mao hair Gengyin is very common, even so, it was also deducted and beheaded by the officers, and those who fell into their hands could not even make a living, this situation was an important reason for the low combat effectiveness of the army at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the Kuizhou army, it is simply living in heaven, the soldiers do not ride step by step, the monthly salary is one or two Kuizhou silver, and the bird commander is higher, for one or two or five dollars, and it is paid on time and in full every month, and it is never in arrears, so Mi Layin immediately agreed without thinking.

This level of salary is more than what his pro-soldier battalion gets, of course.

"However, the distribution of the salary is distributed by the people of the Quartermaster Department of the Kuizhou Army, and when it is distributed, it is named according to the head, and if there is one less, you are the only one who asks." Wang Huan said again: "This is the rule, I hope you are careful." ”

Mi Layin agreed again, he knew that since he had taken refuge in Wang Huan, he had to follow his rules, this young and old uncle, he couldn't rub sand in his eyes at all, he was shrewd and strong, and he didn't want to play the trick of standing up on his own mountain and fiefdom as the king in the Ming army, the military merits of the Kuizhou army were very generous, as long as he fought bravely, he would not get any less than the black money obtained by exploiting the blood of the soldiers before.

While the two were talking, they turned off the official road, galloped into a small road, and after turning a few more corners, they saw a Zhuangzi earthen wall in a col surrounded by several hills.

The earthen wall is very high, it is expected that the trench of the building, it seems that the precautions are very strict, when the cavalry approaches, the sound of the gong on the watchtower is heard far away, the people in the Zhuangzi shout, many figures shake up on the earthen wall, and those with guns and sticks are like facing the great enemy.

Mi Layin's subordinates divided out two people, approached on horseback, and said a few words to the people on the wall, and the people in the Zhuangzi also saw Wang Huan's banner, and then the bangzi sounded, Zhuangzi opened the door of the village, put down the squeaky suspension bridge, and the people inside beat the gongs and drums to welcome out, and there was an excited and joyful voice: "It's the general soldier of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Lord Wang, is here, everyone come out to greet it!" ”。

Wang Huan waited for the horse to enter the village, and found that all the people in the village were ****, bowed to the side of the road, looked at Wang Huan with awe and gratitude eyes, and there were the leading figures in the village, kneeling and handing over tea, saying thanks, some older people, and even kowtowed with tears, just to thank Wang Huan for his kindness in sending grain, and when the grain was distributed, the local officials had already told them that these grains were bought by Lord Wang, the general soldier of Sichuan and Shaanxi, with his own silver.

Mi Layin and other local generals stood aside with a little embarrassment, and such a grand welcome scene seemed to have nothing to do with them.

One of Milayin's personal generals muttered dissatisfiedly, "What is this? My general is the landlord here, and an outsider is still so arrogant. ”

He said it quietly, but it was heard by Mi Layin, and the Hui man immediately stared at the bull's eye, stared at this Qin Sui viciously, waved his hand and slapped him, and beat the Qin Sui in a circle.

"You know what? Talk nonsense again, beware of Ben cutting off your head! Mi Layin roared in a low voice, wanting to kick again, but he was afraid that Wang Huan would pay attention, so he had to suppress it: "Those who win the hearts of the people win the world, our future future is all hung on Lord Wang, if you annoy the adults, I can't spare you first!" ”

Kissing like a chilling cicada, covering his cheeks and retreating to the side, Mi Layin turned back angrily, turned his face into a smile, and happily stepped forward a few steps to accompany Wang Huan, like a follower, following Wang Huan step by step.

……

Eight days later, twenty miles outside Jiayu Pass, in a long-abandoned earthen fort of the Ming army, there is a fairly complete earthen house, which is probably the housing of the Ming army commander who guarded here in those years.

Inside and outside the earthen fort, two people with obviously different colors of clothes and armor stood on both sides, each guarding an exit, looking at each other with unkind eyes, their hands pressed on the hilt of the knife at their waists, and they looked like they would draw their knives against each other if they didn't agree with each other.

In the earthen house, a faint fragrance of tea permeates, a small earthen teapot is steaming on a charcoal stove, and the tea leaves obtained from the **** in the pot are churning on the water surface, from the perspective of the tea ceremony, it is a good time to taste it.

Wang Huan stretched out a hand, took two coarse porcelain teacups from a tattered low table beside him, picked up the teapot, and poured two cups of tea.

He drank one of his own, and the other handed it to a big man sitting across from him who was staring at him with wide eyes.

The Han had a broad face, a wide forehead, slender eyes, and high cheekbones, and the characteristics of the Mongols were very obvious.

"Bentar Khan, please drink a cup of tea to relieve fatigue and go to the heat." Wang Huan said with a smile: "We Han people have an old saying, everything is food first. It's never too late to drink a glass of water and get down to business. ”

The Mongolian man hesitated for a moment, rolled his eyelids and looked at Wang Huan and then at the teacup, and finally took the teacup, made a gesture of false respect, and drank it all.

"You Han people just enjoy it, this tea is much better than the brick tea we drink." He smashed his mouth, touched his chin and said, "Lord Wang, you are the first general of the Ming Dynasty to invite me to tea, I hope you are not the last Ming Dynasty official to invite me to tea." ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Wang Huan didn't care at all, and smiled and refilled Bental's glass.

"Isn't that obvious?" Bental Khan, the Zasak branch of the Mongolian Khalkha tribe, narrowed his already slender eyes, as if two lines grew under his eyebrows: "You emperors have been killed by the Qing Dynasty several times, guarding the southern part of the country, which is not as vast as our steppe. Your situation, in the language of our steppes, is like that of an eagle in captivity, no matter how powerful its wings are, unable to soar into the sky. ”

Wang Huan smiled, took a sip of tea, and said, "Bentar Khan, you are wrong, we are not eagles, we are lions, and no one can imprison us."

(End of chapter)