"Yes, thanks to the master! I thought I was going to be dragged down and cut down! The other soldier looked terrified.

"Phew! Can't speak! Call your lord! Du Gu kicked the soldier's buttocks: "Our master is now an official, and he is a dignified lord of a hundred households!" ”

"Yes, yes, Lord Hyakho!" The eyes of several soldiers showed envy, and they all knelt down and kowtowed to Liu Cheng, which startled Liu Cheng. Du Gu got up from the ground and said with a smile: "The adults have been promoted, and the little ones have begged for a wine money and a good celebration!" “

"How big is that hundred households?" For the official system of the Ming Dynasty, he was still blinded, Du Gu and others hurriedly answered for Liu Cheng in a word, it turned out that these hundred households were the smallest in the Ming Dynasty health system The chief of the hundred households in the guard, is six products, in charge of one hundred military households, and will select commanders at all levels from the officers of the guard station when the war comes. It seems that this official position is not high, but the important thing is that this is a world position, which means that if the descendants of Liu Cheng do not need to start from ordinary soldiers in the army, they will directly become a hundred households. For an ordinary soldier of the Ming army, 100 households is a peak of power that takes several generations to climb.

"The little one doesn't know anything!" Du Gu saw that Liu Cheng was in a good mood at this time, so he asked in a low voice: "As far as the villain knows, this He Renlong is not afraid of death in battle, and his personality is very violent, and he has read books for a few years, and the previous governors and governors all value him a lot!" My lord, how did you get Governor Yang to side with us?

“

"Actually, it's nothing!" Liu Cheng smiled: "As far as I know, there is a famine all over Shaanxi now, and the people are in turmoil, and there is another matter of yours, and this Governor Yang must be very busy." He is the biggest official in Shaanxi, but there is still the Son of Heaven in Beijing who can control him. Beijing is thousands of miles away from here, and the Son of Heaven does not have long clairvoyance, and it all depends on what is written on the official recital below. If this Governor Yang wants to be promoted, it depends on what is written on this fold and how it is written! “

"Oh, then you mean that Governor Yang saved us in order to be promoted?" Dugu asked.

"Yes, what is the situation in Shaanxi now is one thing, but what is written on the fold and how to write it depends on Governor Yang. Since he wants to repay the merits, he can't kill all of us who have meritorious deeds, right? ”

"But the Son of Heaven doesn't know who made this contribution? Why didn't Governor Yang kill a few of us and give all the credit to the head of the Nahe people? ”

"First, the uncle and nephew of the Du family have already spoken for us, and secondly, you look at the appearance of He Renlong, if you have this more merit, I am afraid that it will be even worse, if you are the governor of Yang, are you willing to credit this credit to the head of He Renlong?"

Du Gu recalled the appearance of He Renlong pulling out a knife and kicking people on the city tower, and instinctively shook his head. Liu Cheng sighed and said: "Actually, I was only six or seven points sure just now, but at this time, we can't help but fight!" ”

As he was talking, a high-pitched voice came from outside: "Someone no, summoned by the Governor!" ”

The people in the courtyard were stunned for a moment, Liu Cheng saw that the eyes of several of his subordinates showed disbelief, and then the voice outside became impatient: "Don't open the door yet, Lord Yang will summon you!" ”

"It's coming, it's coming!" This time, everyone heard clearly, Du Gu's reaction was the fastest, he quickly ran to open the door, and hurriedly bowed and saluted: "The little ones didn't think of the military call, and they thought they had heard a mistake, and they invited Haihan!" ”

"The beheaded thief is with the army!" There was a young man standing outside the door, with a small hat in a green coat, his expression was quite arrogant, he sneered, and arched his hand towards Liu Cheng: "Come with me, don't let the military gate wait for a long time!" ”

"Please wait, I'll be right there!" Liu Cheng answered, and went to the back room, the man's face became more and more difficult to see, and after a while, Liu Cheng came out again, took out the silver from his arms and offered it with both hands: "Big brother has worked hard, take this point to buy some tea and drink, please forgive me for the neglect!" ”

The young man weighed it a little, about two taels, and immediately had a smile on his face, and his thumb was cocked: "Liu Baihu is really a good person, he knows things very well, and he must be prosperous in official luck, and within ten years, he will also become a general and a general soldier." ”

"I've borrowed your good words!" Liu Cheng also arched his hand: "But can the eldest brother mention something, what kind of dispatch did Governor Yang send to the villain, and the villain is a little prepared." ”

"Hehe, where do I know what the master means." The man sold a pass: "But when I came, I saw that the master was in a good mood, it shouldn't be a bad thing!" ”

Liu Cheng fell to the ground in his heart when he heard this, so he went all the way with the servant. When the two came to the courtyard where Yang He lived, the servant instructed, "Liu Baihu will wait here, and I will go in and pass the word." ”

Liu Cheng hurriedly responded, and when the servant entered the door, Liu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and began to observe the surrounding environment, only to see two healthy servants in green clothes standing outside the courtyard gate with their hands down, and from time to time there were maids holding dishes, pots and cups in and out, but they couldn't even hear a cough, not like a military fortress like Tongguan City, but like in the manor of the Jiangnan family.

"It seems that Yang Hemo is not entertaining someone, why is he summoning me at this time?" Liu Cheng secretly thought, there was still a deep uneasiness hidden in his heart, the feeling of the blade passing over his neck was too terrible, and the sudden official rank of a hundred households could not bring a sense of security, after all, from the experience of the Du family's uncle and nephew, it could be seen that if he changed places, I am afraid there would be no better results. Thinking of this, Liu Cheng couldn't help but begin to regret why he didn't agree to Xu Hecheng's request, and joined the cult of the Hongyang Sect of Lao Shizi, the danger of losing his head was much smaller.

"Liu Baihu, please come with me!" A voice interrupted Liu Cheng's thoughts, he hurriedly squeezed a smile on his face, followed the servant in green clothes through the two courtyards, came to the door and stood still, the servant coughed lowly, and said in a deep voice: "Master, Liu Baihu is here." “

"Well, come in!" There was a slightly dry voice in the room, it was Yang He. The servant in green clothes lifted the door curtain for Liu Cheng, and Liu Cheng came in the door, only to see Yang He wearing a wide robe in green clothes, with a Dongpo scarf wrapped around his head, leaning on the Luohan bed, dressed casually, and two fifteen or sixteen-year-old beautiful maids beside him, one beating his legs for him, and the other holding a spit pot.

"Sure enough, it's a rotten exploiting class!" Liu Cheng bowed down and bowed down while slandering: "Villain Liu Cheng see Lord Governor!" “

"Get up!" Yang He made a false gesture: "Now it's not an official, so I won't talk about those false courtesies, Tao'er, take a seat for Liu Baihu!" “

"Yes!" The thumpering servant responded, turned around and moved a round stool to Liu Cheng, and gently brushed it twice on the stool surface, blessed Liu Cheng, and said softly: "Please sit down!" “

As the saying goes, "After three years in the army, I saw that the sows were all double eyelids", since the crossing, the adult women Liu Cheng saw were basically unkempt, and suddenly saw a beautiful little girl talking to herself softly and slowly, and the whole body was already half crispy, and subconsciously replied: "Please sit down!" Seeing this, the servant covered her mouth and smiled, blushed and took a few steps back, and returned to Yang He's side.

Only then did Liu Cheng realize that he had made a joke, his face suddenly turned red, Yang He on the Luohan bed turned his head slightly, coughed lowly, and spit in the spit pot, pretending not to see Liu Cheng's embarrassment. When the maidservant girl holding the spit pot took a handkerchief and wiped Yang He's mouth, he smiled and said, "Liu Baihu, can you still live in that house?" ”

Liu Chengdeng stood up suddenly, bowed down and said, "Yes, yes, thank you for your inquiry!" “

"Hmm!" Yang He nodded: "Do you know who the person who pulled out his sword on the city tower today to kill you?" “

"I heard that it's General Long He!" Liu Cheng replied cautiously.

"Yes, so do you know why he killed you?"

"This villain doesn't know!" Liu Cheng pretended to know nothing, and he felt that it would be better to expose his hole cards less in front of Yang He.

"The Qian Zong who framed you at the pass and was killed by you is his nephew, do you now understand why He Shen is going to kill you?"

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for your impartiality!" Liu Cheng hurriedly got up and thanked him.

"You don't have to thank me! I'm doing this because you're a talent. Yang He took a sip of tea: "You can lead hundreds of villagers to defeat more than a hundred well-armed rebels, but you have only a few casualties, but not ordinary people can do it." Now that we are in troubled times, the country is in trouble both internally and externally, and we need talents like you, if you want to thank me, you can serve the court and kill a few more thieves! “

"Yes!" Although Liu Cheng knew very well that what the other party said was not all the truth, he also felt that Yang He had a considerable part of sincerity at this time, no matter what the other party's starting point was, but the old man in front of him did save his life and was his benefactor.

"But you still have a problem!" Yang He made a gesture, and the two maidservants were blessed, then packed up their belongings and withdrew from the house, leaving only Liu Cheng and Yang He in the house.

"He Shen will have a grudge against you to kill your nephew, his official position is far above you, it is very simple to find a reason to kill you, I'm okay here, if I leave office, I'm afraid you will be annoyed!"

"Oops, I guess there's some trouble coming!" As a project manager who has been moving in the gap between Party A and the construction team for many years, Liu Cheng is too familiar with Yang He's set, first show favor, then point out the situation you are facing, and finally give a way out, forcing the other party to accept his task under harsh conditions, he doesn't think Yang He will care so much about the life and death of a thousand presidents. But now that I'm under the fence, I have to close my eyes and jump into it knowing that there is a pit in front of me.

"I didn't expect it to be General He's nephew! Besides, among the chaotic soldiers, hey, it's all to blame for the Tartar men, who were shot and wounded, why did they shoot to death. Liu Cheng pretended to be annoyed and complained loudly.

"Don't be too anxious, you are now in my standard camp, and General He will not dare to do anything to you." Yang He smiled slightly: "In fact, as long as you make a few more contributions, and become a capital division and guerrilla, you will be able to lead a single one, although General He is still higher than you, there is no way to take you!" “

When Liu Cheng heard this, he hurriedly knelt on the ground, pretending to be grateful: "Please also ask the boss to show the villain a clear way." ”

"Liu Baihu, please get up!" Yang He stepped forward to help Liu Cheng up: "As far as I know, there are only more than 100 rebels with Du Ruhu, but the rebels who mutined in Liangxiang at that time are still wandering around, if you can appease and pacify them, it will be a great benefit to the country, the people and yourself!" ”

"Sure enough, there is no good thing, dare to wait for Lao Tzu here!" Liu Cheng couldn't help but sneer, and still had to squeeze out a smile on his face: "Thank you Lord Governor for mentioning it, but my lord, you have many soldiers and generals under your command, why do you let the villain go?" Liu Cheng knew that this matter was extremely dangerous, and he couldn't care so much when he spoke. However, to Liu Cheng's surprise, Yang He did not show obvious disrespect to Liu Cheng's words, but patiently explained that in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang imitated the previous dynasty in the military system and adopted a world military system called "Stacking Army": that is, a large number of people are divided into military households, and they serve in the army from generation to generation. Ming Taizu was very proud of this military system, and claimed to be "raising millions of soldiers, not wasting a grain of rice for the people!" But as time went by, the status of the low-level military households became lower and lower, and by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, they had actually become serfs of the officers and free labor of the government, and the military households fled one after another, and the rosters on the military registers in the governor's mansion of the five armies were just some empty names.

Therefore, by the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the army had actually changed to a conscription system, and even if soldiers were recruited from military households, they had to pay salaries. However, due to the financial difficulties at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was very normal for even a field army like a major town on the nine sides to be in arrears for two to three years, except for a few generals' personal soldiers, most of the soldiers had to support themselves and their families by cultivating the land, doing small business, and becoming handicraftsmen, but as long as there was no large-scale military operation, all this could barely be maintained. Three years after Chongzhen, the incident of King Qinwang of the Northwest Army of Jin Pobian pierced this layer of window paper, and the general soldiers of each town had to draw the most effective part of the army from his subordinates to Beijing, and once these troops mutinied, Yang He, as the governor of the three sides, had to use the remaining farmers, handicraftsmen and traders to deal with the original elite soldiers. Unlike the high-ranking Emperor Chongzhen, Yang He, who is the governor of the three sides, is very aware of this, which is also the reason why he advocates appeasement, and it is needless to say that if he loses, even if he wins, he must first come up with money to pay for the army's promotion fee and salt and vegetable silver to make up for the arrears; The army that has been in arrears for a long time will plunder everywhere to compensate for the losses, which will provoke more popular uprisings; The defeated rebels will scatter and flee, and these scattered soldiers will become the core and military backbone of countless displaced people in the northwest, making the northwest people's rebellion even more extensive.