Another young man with a Hebei accent sneered: "This wine is a good thing, if it weren't for you, a big official, we wouldn't be able to drink it once a year." ”

Alcohol was taboo in the army, Zhang Ru inspected the nine sides, and specially asked people to buy hundreds of jars of fine wine to work for the army.

In the eyes of those dignitaries and nobles in the capital, this kind of liquor that burns the throat and has a headache after drinking it is really not a long time. But for the soldiers of the border army, this wine is already a rare delicacy.

Zhang Ru took a bite of muntjac meat, and his mouth was indistinct: "What big officials are not big officials, they are all brothers of the border army, if you want to compliment me like this again, this wine will not be able to drink." ”

"Medium." The middle-aged man with a Henan accent smiled and said: "We can't talk in a crepe, what do you say, you can't be angry." What's your name? Look at your young age riding a tall horse, and the power of your family is not low! ”

It's not just women who gossip, when there is no war at the border gate, except for training, other times are boring, and these men who are wearing stinky sweat all the time are also extremely gossipy.

Zhang Ru smiled: "You can just call me Huzi, the old man at home has some ability, so let's hang around under the guise of his old man." No, I was thrown to Jizhen by the old man to study, I was not happy at first, but after I came, I felt that it was better to pass the border and get along with a group of bloody gentlemen, which was much more interesting than facing those old ladies like rotten Confucianism. ”

The young Hebei man frowned slightly: "You can't say that, those adults are all well-read poetry and books, they are more powerful than us, and they understand much more reason." ”

The honest Henan man put one hand on the young man's hand: "Yes, yes! Not all scholars are rotten Confucians, those who really read are for the sake of our people. ”

The smile was a heartfelt smile, simple and clean, without any utilitarian intentions in it.

Zhang Ru, who had already sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere, took the initiative to change the topic: "According to what my brother said, your life should be good!" ”

The honest middle-aged man smiled and said very proudly: "No, we are all selected from the major border towns on the nine sides, and there are more than 80,000 brothers in Ji Town, as long as they are the main soldiers, they have seen blood on the battlefield." When the son can put us under the root of the imperial city today, it is to trust us. Not to mention anything else, Jizhen's military salary is hundreds of thousands of taels more than Datong and Liaodong every year, but the number of people is not as good as Datong and Liaodong, just because of us old soldiers. ”

Zhang Ru's heart jumped, and he followed the middle-aged man's words and said, "Oh, could it be that your military salary is much higher than theirs?" ”

The middle-aged man didn't think he was talking at all, and he didn't think there was anything to say about it, so he talked eloquently: "It's not that our military salary is higher than that of the other brothers in Jiubian, it's just that we are all veterans for the rest of our lives, and it is not easy to survive."

In terms of combat effectiveness, there are 3,000 old soldiers in Jizhen, and they can top 5,000 Datong soldiers. In terms of military merits, the military merits of our veterans add up, I am afraid that they can be compared to our old man Xu, who founded the Ming Dynasty.

The hundreds of thousands of taels of military salaries were not all used to pay military salaries, and most of them still had to be invested in the repair of the city and the addition of defense facilities in the passes.

In this way, we, the big-headed soldiers, were stunned to have one or two more silver a month than our brothers in other towns. ”

"Oh, there is no greed for military salaries in the army?" Zhang Ru asked intentionally or unintentionally.

Before the middle-aged man could speak, the young man had already preemptively spoke: "I said that this lord will not be sent by the imperial court to find out if someone is greedy for military salaries, right?" The adults of the general army have no money to spare, this is something that more than 80,000 brothers in Jizhen know, don't the adults on the court know about it? ”

These words are already full of hostility.

Zhang Ru said seriously: "First, I really wasn't sent from above to check the army's salary, but it is very likely that I will stay in the border army in the future, so I have to ask about the situation." Second, I admire Mr. Li's personality very much, and I won't make any trouble out of nothing. ”

The young man complained, "That's the best." ”

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Don't be angry, this kid is just straighter, and there are not too many major problems." If you want to say that someone dares to be greedy for ink in this military salary, I Lao He believes it, but if you want to say that who dares to be greedy for the silver that the soldiers exchanged for their lives in Jizhen, I don't believe it when I kill Lao He.

Adults are young, I'm afraid they don't know about General Li's brother's greed for military salaries, if they knew about it, adults wouldn't have asked this question. ”

Zhang Ru raised his eyebrows and said, "I want to hear about it." ”

The middle-aged man lowered his voice and said, "The younger brother of our Lord General Soldier, that is a hero who has the same merits as Lord General Soldier. One of the two brothers is the chief soldier and the other is the deputy chief soldier, which can be called the two tigers of the Li family.

At that time, Duoyan Sanwei was in turmoil, and Jianyu took the opportunity to launch an attack on Liaodong Town. At that time, it was not Lord Wu who was the chief soldier of Liaodong, and there were not so many people in Liaodong as there are now.

Liaodong was in an emergency, and the military department urgently transferred more than 30,000 people from Jizhen to help Liaodong. But nearly 20,000 of the 30,000 sons in Jizhen also died, and only more than 13,000 of the 20,000 people were able to recover their bodies.

The imperial court issued a pension of 600,000 taels of silver, which was done by the deputy chief soldier.

The pensions of those brothers who recovered their bodies were distributed, and the pensions of those who did not find their bodies were withheld by the deputy commander-in-chief.

The deputy chief soldier is also very kind, after all, the people below will inevitably produce one or two guys who eat empty salaries, and he is also thinking about the court.

Unexpectedly, this matter was somehow sued to the chief soldier, and the chief soldier was angry and ordered the deputy chief soldier to take him to the White Tiger Festival Hall. After civilizing the situation, he didn't listen to the explanation of the deputy chief soldier, and forced the deputy chief soldier to move out all the remaining more than 200,000 taels of silver.

In front of the officers and soldiers of the whole army, he cut off the head of the deputy chief soldier, and then carried his brother's head into Beijing to face the saint. His Majesty was magnanimous and did not hold him accountable, but there were ministers in the court who attacked the chief soldier, but they were all suppressed by His Majesty.

As soon as this incident passed, no one in the entire Ji Town dared to be greedy for military salaries, and no one dared to eat military salaries. ”

Hearing him say this, Zhang Ru had a little more understanding of Li Ming, and on the surface, this chief soldier of Jizhen seemed to be a lord who did not recognize his six relatives for loyalty.

He couldn't help but ask again: "Brother knows so much, could it be." ”

The middle-aged man said proudly: "I miss your brother and me, but I am also the one who followed the chief soldier through the south and the north back then, and I was injured, and that one was not obtained from fighting." These things have passed, and there is nothing to say, anyway, our chief soldier is a good person, if you dare to have any crooked thoughts, you have to ask our more than 80,000 brothers in Jizhen if they agree. ”

The middle-aged man who had already drunk a lot of spirits spoke a lot, and even the young man with a Hebei accent came over again: "We have seen a lot of big officials like you, and you have good bones, but if you put it in the border town for a few years, you don't know what it will look like." I said brother, you should go back and tell your old man, don't have anything to do, stuff your son into the palace of the king of Hades, the Ming Dynasty has been a hundred years old, and there are no less than 10 million hot-blooded sons and daughters who have joined the army, and how many are still alive now? ”

The middle-aged man nodded and said, "This is reasonable, for the sake of you giving us wine, my brother told you so much." Ordinary people come, it's nothing more than pretending to take a look, not to mention sitting together and drinking, it's difficult for them to talk to us a few more words. You're not bad, cool, and you smell a little bloody, but you're too young. Also, don't keep talking about how literati are in the future, the same rice raises a hundred kinds of people, and there are miscellaneous pieces of blood in the millions of border troops in the Ming Dynasty, not to mention that there are a few miscellaneous pieces among so many literati.

If you offend our martial arts, you will be beaten on the spot at most, and if you offend some guys with honey-bellied swords, you may lose your head. ”

Zhang Ru lifted the wine jar and took a sip: "Brother's kindness, I can save it." ”

The literati rule the country, the military generals Anbang, and each guard his post.

It's just that Zhang Ru came to the era of the Ming Dynasty and saw too many literati without backbone, so he couldn't help but have a contempt for literati.

Of course, these words of contempt for literati, if the teacher Cui Gong is still alive, he will never dare to say nonsense.

The old master is strict and upright, if he hears these words of his disciple, he will have to ask the ruler to beat people.

Cui Gong's father and son are both literary and martial, both of them are existences that can eat Zhang Ru to death, and if one of them comes out, all of Zhang Ru's arrogance can disappear.

The more and more wine was drunk, many soldiers fell asleep soundly, and Zhang Ru was still accompanying two massive drunkards to keep drinking.

All three of them were a little delirious, and some of their words were out of bounds.

If it were usual, Zhang Ru asked who Li Ming would stand on if His Majesty died, and these border soldiers who were in the blood and fire would definitely give him a big roll of the eyes.

But in the case of drinking, the old soldier from Henan was stunned and said categorically that as long as His Majesty chooses an heir, the chief soldier will definitely unswervingly support the new monarch.

After Zhang Ru left the next day, the soldiers who were drunk still did not get up, and in the next half month, Zhang Ru walked non-stop through the nineteen passes, and at each pass, he personally went into battle and drank water and wine with the group of border soldiers all night.

When he saw Li Ming again, he already had an understanding of the soldiers and horses in Jizhen in his heart, and at the same time had a certain understanding of Li Ming, the chief soldier of Jizhen.

Seeing the Governor of the Nine Sides, whose face was much paler, Li Ming was surprised: "Why is the Governor in bad spirits?" ”

Zhang Ru took Li Ming's hand and went straight to the White Tiger Festival Hall: "Time is pressing, I won't be in Jizhen for long, let's go, I have something to talk to you about." ”

Li Ming, who was confused, didn't know what medicine was sold in Zhang Ru's gourd, and after being dragged into the White Tiger Festival Hall, he was still at a loss.