Liu Cheng returned to the table, and his mind was still echoing what Xu Hecheng had said. If he had a little fantasy about the future in his mind at the beginning of the crossing, the fierce battle in the mountain village woke him up like a bucket of cold water: the traverser is also a mortal in the flesh, even if you have great ability, you will die if you encounter a knife, gun and lead bullet, and the protagonist's aura can't stop the bullet. Therefore, he took the opportunity of meritorious service to join the Ming army and wanted to catch soldiers, but after entering the Ming army, he found that the biggest difficulty was not to lead troops to fight, but to get enough money to pay military salaries. "I am in the standard camp directly under Yang He, although I don't have a full salary, and my monthly rations are still guaranteed, but the army that can only eat has no combat effectiveness, but where can I get money?

Liu Cheng was thinking about it, and the shopkeeper had already sent the cooked fish soup. Liu Cheng woke Xu Hecheng up, Xu Hecheng had a bowl of fish soup, and the strength of the wine went a lot, and he asked with a smile: "Brother, you have also been in the army for a while, but are you still used to it?" ”

Liu Cheng remembered the ups and downs of these days, and said with a wry smile: "It's okay!"

"If it's unsatisfactory, you might as well take off that body number to help me, you can take half of this salt business brother, don't dare to say more, there is absolutely no problem with 10,000 taels of silver a year."

Liu Cheng was stunned when he heard this, he thought that Xu Hecheng was talking about wine, but when he looked up, he saw that although the other party's face was full of wine, his eyes were clear, and it was obviously not wine. Different from the crossing just now, Liu Cheng was already very clear about the concept of 10,000 taels of silver at this time, at that time, a stone of 100 meters was only 9 centimeters of silver, and a soldier's annual ration was only 4 stone of white rice, Xu Hecheng was equivalent to taking out a year's ration of nearly 3,000 soldiers to hire himself, and he was also quite moved in his heart, but Liu Cheng still shook his head slightly.

"Are you too little?" Xu Hecheng's eyes widened.

Liu Cheng smiled slightly, but did not directly answer the other party's question, and asked: "Brother Tai has a huge foundation, and there must be many subordinates, right?" “

"Well, there are one or two thousand people in a rough calculation!" Xu Hecheng was not a fool, and immediately understood the meaning of Liu Cheng's words: "Could it be that my brother is afraid that my subordinates will not be convinced?" This is my business, you can rest assured! “

Liu Cheng shook his head: "Although it is a good intention for Brother Tai to hire each other with a lot of money, have you ever thought that the younger brother will enjoy huge profits without an outsider, what will those old people think?" If a gang or even a country wants to prosper, it depends on clear rewards and punishments, Brother Xu, it is not a wise move for you to chill the hearts of so many old people in order to recruit me alone, unless-" Liu Cheng suddenly stopped when he said this.

"Unless what?"

"Unless I'm not joining alone."

"Not as a person? What else could that be? Xu Hecheng was a little confused by Liu Cheng's words, and arched his hand and said, "I want to hear it in detail!" “

"For example, generally speaking, when a person joins a store, he must start from the lowest level of helpers, and work his way up one level at a time, even if this person has the ability, at most he can only rise faster, and he can't be a second shopkeeper or bookkeeper as soon as he enters the store; But if this person is the owner of a certain store and merges with another, then this person will be the second shopkeeper and bookkeeper from the beginning, and no one will gossip, right? “

"That's nature, this person is originally the owner, naturally different!" Xu Hecheng was still a little confused: "But what does this have to do with you?" ”

"Naturally, it has a relationship, if I just promised you that you will be a person, but if I become a general and guerrilla, and I have a few thousand men and horses under my command, then don't say 10,000 taels of silver a month, that is, 100,000 taels I take it, and no one will gossip, right?"

Hearing this, Xu Hecheng finally understood what Liu Cheng meant, he gave a thumbs up and smiled: "It's so courageous, it's okay, then wait until you become a general and guerrilla, but if there is anything I can help, just ask!" Don't be embarrassed, I pondered for a long time about your method of training in the village that time, and found that it was really mysterious, and you also know that the road is not peaceful at the moment, and you don't know how much loss you have lost by this method alone. ”

"Then I'm welcome, the elder brother has a four-wheeled cart for transporting goods, and the younger brother wants to borrow five, and it would be better if there was a carpenter."

"That's right, a caravan from outside the entrance came back a few days ago, but what do you want to do?" Xu Hecheng took out a copper coin, made a mark on it with a knife, broke it in half, and handed half of it to Liu Cheng: "You go to Ruifuxiang tomorrow and give this to the shopkeeper in the store, and he will naturally give you the cart and people!" “

"Then thank you, brother!" Liu Cheng arched his hand, his heart was full of joy, he was worried that the training time of these soldiers under him was too short every day, and he was afraid that he would not be able to stand the test if he went into battle.

"My own brother, why say thank you!" Seeing that Liu Cheng's attitude towards himself had changed quite a bit, Xu Hecheng was secretly happy in his heart, and he patted Liu Cheng on the shoulder: "I heard that you had a conflict with a garrison named He Renlong in the army, if you can't stay, you will take off that body barrier, come to me, don't be embarrassed." “

Governor's Palace, Signature Room.

"Fortunately, I didn't lose my life!" Zhao Wende bowed for a long time: "A total of 200,000 salt has been sold, and a total of 102,000 taels of silver have been exchanged. “

"Good, good, good!" Yang He, who was sitting at the top, couldn't help but smile all over his face: "I didn't expect it to go so smoothly, the matter of raising money should be the first credit, and you will be the first on the list of people who will ask for merit in the future!" “

"Thank you, sir!" Zhao Wende's face also had some emotion: "This time there are actually some twists and turns, when the humble position first sold the salt, those big salt merchants just drank tea, but did not pay for it, and it was almost cold!" “

"Oh?" Yang He's brows furrowed: "Are you saying that those old Xi'er didn't make a move?" “

"Exactly!" Zhao Wende's face was also full of anger: "Those old Xi'er said that the annual success has not been good in the past few years, the salt trade is not good, and the government can't sell these salts unless they are discounted." “

"Bastard!" Yang He slapped the table suddenly: "No matter how bad the year is, can you still not eat salt?" It's nothing more than trying to take advantage of people's danger to make a fortune, these insatiable salt rats! ”

"Fortunately, there was a newcomer who mixed up the water, and asked for 15,000 citations in one breath, which drove others, and those old Xi'er saw that the situation was not good and paid for it, but they still only bought 50,000 or 60,000 citations." Speaking of this, Zhao Wende's face was already full of schadenfreude: "In previous years, they were all rounded, and it is estimated that the intestines of these old Xi'er who regret going back are all green!" "Originally, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the sale of a valuable certificate called salt quotation was adopted to control the sale of salt, and first merchants had to buy salt quotation from the government, and then use salt quotation to go to the salt-producing area to buy salt, and transport and sell it. Because the government sold a very large amount of salt, the purchase of salt was actually monopolized by a small number of wealthy businessmen with backgrounds, and the salt trade in the north at that time was often controlled by the people of Shanxi, so Zhao and Yang called them Lao Xi'er.

"Jiansheng, you better be careful, behind these salt merchants are either nobles, or in the palace, or the ministers in the court, you have offended them badly, these people are not good corners."

"Zhao is sitting up straight, what are you afraid of!" Zhao Wende snorted coldly: "These nobles and nobles are so confused, their glory and wealth are all given by the imperial court, but when the country is in danger, they refuse to stretch out their hands, but take the opportunity to make profits." But they don't want to think that the current war in the east is so unbearable, if there is chaos in the northwest and the country is finished, even if they have the wealth of the sky, can they still keep it?

“

"Shut up!" Yang He shouted loudly, he got up and walked to the door, pushed the door and went out to look left and right, only to see two servants standing in the corner of the verandah, before he retracted his head, walked in front of Zhao Wende and said sharply: "Jiansheng, disaster comes from the mouth, if you are not careful, you will not only harm yourself, but also implicate your family and friends." “

"Yes!" Zhao Wende lowered his head and said yes, but his face was still stupid, Yang He looked a little soft-hearted, he also knew that this staff member was quite talented, but his mouth was still a little big on weekdays, and he sighed and said in a relatively gentle tone: "A gentleman wants to be sensitive to things and is reluctant to speak, such as today is an eventful season, it is the time for my generation to read the sages and sages to retain a useful body and do things, not when they are empty words, the late Han Dynasty party Zang is not bad, their intentions can not be described as bad, but not only harm themselves, but also destroy the country." “

"Yes, my lord, I will be cautious in my words and deeds in the future!" Zhao Wende also heard the good intentions in Yang He's words at this time, and his heart was also quite moved.

"Good!" Yang He nodded and smiled: "Since the silver has arrived, I will send it and send troops as soon as possible, I hope that Yan'an will be in time!" ”

Yan'an

In fact, although the defender of the city lost all the strongholds outside the city, the displaced people on the besieging side did not attack violently, and the disparity in numbers was huge, and the defender did not dare to go out of the city, so Yan'an showed a wonderful calm in the eyes of the typhoon.

In the recital of the court officials, the peasant army at that time was divided into two parts: border thieves and thieves, the so-called border thieves were mainly composed of deserters in the border areas, rebels, half-soldiers and half-bandits, and Mongolian horse thieves on the steppe. The thieves are composed of tax evasion peasants and bandits in the interior, their numbers are large, but their military skills are relatively weak, but they are familiar with the local situation, usually the border thieves are the military backbone of the peasant army, the front, and the thieves are the guides, infantry, and auxiliaries of the former, obviously the status of the former is higher than the latter. And at the bottom are like locusts

A large number of desperate hungry people, who followed the peasant army, relied on the residue left behind to survive. In the eyes of the leaders of the peasant army, these people were cannon fodder to fill the trenches, barricades to escape, cheap prostitutes for the soldiers to vent their desires, and rations when necessary. As in all class societies, those who were lower in the peasant army dreamed of climbing upwards, the hungry eager to take up a wooden spear and become a bandit, the thief wanted a horse to become a thief, the thief wanted to become a petty leader, and the temporary occupant of this miniature social pyramid was Shen Yikui, the former Northwest frontier soldier whose real name was no longer known.

The old camp of the peasant army was established on Jialing Mountain, that is, the famous Yan'an Revolutionary Holy Land Pagoda Mountain, on that famous Tang Dynasty pagoda, the lookout post of the peasant army could overlook the entire Yan'an city. As with most of the social organization of human society, the class nature was clearly reflected in the camps of the peasant army: the leaders and their guards occupied the best places—the temples on the top of the mountain and on the sunny slopes, while the cavalry occupied the Yanhe River at the bottom of the mountain, the majority of the infantry were on the slopes farther away from the river, and the displaced people were in the most dangerous places—near the city of Yan'an and on both sides of the official road leading to the south, where they could be attacked by the officers and troops at any time.

The Zen room is as warm as spring, and the ingenious design of the earth dragon ensures the temperature while also allowing the smoke from coal combustion to never enter the house. More than a dozen men of different shapes sat around the house, their positions were arranged according to their strength and fame, due to the relationship of time, the top of the peasant army had not yet had time to form a complete system, "if there is advantage, it will be combined, and if it is not profitable, it will be divided" is their supreme law.

"Ahem!" A man in his forties coughed twice: "Since everyone doesn't speak, let's be a top boy if I don't get muddy!" Do you go south to enter Guanzhong or gnaw Yan'an and cross the river to Shanxi? ”

"What are you going to Shanxi for? We can't get used to the vinegar smell of Lao Xi'er! A black-faced man in his early thirties shook his head like a rattle: "As soon as I heard that I was going to cross the Yellow River, the babies under my two-faced bare hands had to run away, no, no!" “

In order to prevent the officials and soldiers from retaliating against their relatives who stayed in their hometowns, the leaders of these peasant armies appeared in the history books with various nicknames, such as Breaking the Sky, Not Sticking to the Mud, Big Red Wolf, Eight Kings, etc., and the vast majority of them did not leave too many traces in history. For them, walking thirty miles to catch up with the second set is to go far away, and going to the county seat is to boast to the whole village about half a year, and Shanxi east of the Yellow River is no different from an alien planet, and many people even have the idea of waiting to survive the winter to go home to farm.

"I think going to Shanxi is a good way out!" A man in his twenties said, the sun came in through the window, shining on his face, towering cheekbones, two highland red on his cheeks like most people in the northwest, a pair of eyes in the deep sunken eye sockets looked extraordinarily bright, and the two thick eyebrows that were locked looked very serious, but they were not frightening, but gave people a feeling of trust.