After Su Hao and Han Wen finished talking about political affairs, they went to the back house to visit Han Qian as usual. Han Qian had already heard about the marriage, she was both happy and ashamed, and when she saw Su Hao, she couldn't help but be coquettish, splattered, and angry, so she tossed it all the time, and it was inconvenient to describe these boudoir secrets in detail in this book.

After solving the matter on the side of Huai'an Mansion, Su Hao still had another matter in his heart. The next day, he took Xu Guangzu, Deng Kui, Chen Guanyu and several personal soldiers and drove out of Huai'an City to a small village ten miles south of the city.

As far as the eye can see, there are about forty or fifty houses in this Zhuangzi, most of which look very dilapidated, barely repaired with thatch, yellow mud and other materials, who knows if they can still play a role in sheltering from the rain in the rainy season. The Zhuangzi is surrounded by an earthen wall that encloses the entire Zhuangzi, leaving only one gate leading to the outside.

At the gate of Zhuangzi, there stood two Ming soldiers wearing faded mandarin duck battle jackets, holding spears in one hand, feet shoulder-width apart, and a serious posture of standing guard.

"Who's coming?"

Seeing Su Hao and the others walking towards Zhuangzi, one of the soldiers leveled his spear and asked loudly in the direction of the comer. Su Hao and his entourage were all wearing civilian clothes, and the sentries couldn't see their identities for a while.

"Wouldn't it, in this peaceful and prosperous world, they are so serious about standing guard?" Su Hao muttered quietly.

Chen Guanyu said on the side: "The proprietor, this is the hundred households under the jurisdiction of Zhang Yunlong. I have inquired, and there are very few guards like them that arrange sentries every day. ”

"Yes, there are too few generals who strictly guard their duties like this." Su Hao said with emotion.

After saying this, Su Hao jumped off the horse, took a few steps forward, came to the front of the two sentinels, and replied loudly: "Trouble the two eldest brothers to report to Zhang Yunlong and Zhang Baihu, and say that Su Hao of the survey camp has come to visit." ”

"Survey the camp? Su Hao? The two sentries looked at each other, one of them still pointed his spear at Su Hao and his party, and the other rushed into the Zhuangzi to report the news.

After a while, hurried footsteps sounded in Zhuangzi, and Zhang Yunlong ran out in a hurry with a few people. Seeing the sentry facing Su Hao and the others with a spear, Zhang Yunlong hurriedly shouted: "Bastard, quickly put down the spear, this is Su Qianhu of the Kanyu Camp!" ”

When the sentry heard that the person who came was actually a thousand households, he was so frightened that he hurriedly accepted the spear to apologize, Zhang Yunlong ran to Su Hao, knelt on one knee, and saluted with his fists: "Zhang Yunlong, one hundred households in the south of the city of Huai'an Weizuo Thousand Households, visited Su Qianhu, but he didn't know that Su Qianhu was coming, and he couldn't meet him from afar, so please forgive me." ”

"Zhang Baihu, please get up quickly." Su Hao stepped forward with a smile and hugged each other with his hands, "You and I are brothers who were born and died together, so you don't have to be formal." ”

"Xie Su Qianhu." Zhang Yunlong stood up at this time, he greeted Deng Kui, Xu Guangzu and others successively, and introduced the people behind him to Su Hao, it turned out that these were the two chief flags and several small flags in his hundred households. These general flags and small flags saluted Su Hao, Deng Kui and others respectively, and everyone politely did not mention them.

After introducing each other, Zhang Yunlong looked at Su Hao and his entourage, and asked strangely: "Su Qianhu, are you passing by the office on an errand today?" Is there anything that the last general needs to do? ”

Su Hao shook his head and said, "I'm going to visit you today, and I'll tell you that I still have a lot of work to find out about the location of your hundred households." ”

"Coming to see me?" Zhang Yunlong was a little stunned, and his heart moved for no reason, he stretched out his hand to Zhuangzi, and said, "Since this is the case, then please Su Qianhu, Deng Deputy Qianhu and everyone to sit in our office." ”

Several general flags and small flags came over to lead the horses for Su Hao and the others, and Zhang Yunlong led Su Hao to Zhuangzi, introducing the situation of Zhuangzi to Su Hao all the way.

In the Ming Dynasty, the guards belonged to the local troops, and the guards made a living from farming in peacetime, and then gathered together when they needed to fight. The guards are hereditary, also known as military households, and the family lives in the guards, and when the veterans are discharged, they are replaced by their sons. The regular number of soldiers in a guard post is 112 people, but the number of family members can be as high as hundreds.

Walking into Zhuangzi, Su Hao saw a typical rural scene, with young men walking past with hoes, old men sitting at the door basking in the sun with squinted eyes, and innocent children playing games. From time to time, someone stepped forward to smile and salute Su Hao and others, Su Hao looked at their faces, feeling familiar, Zhang Yunlong introduced that these people were all soldiers who participated in the battle against the Japanese Kou a few days ago, so they knew Su Hao and Deng Kui, and knew the identities of these people.

"The two who stood guard stayed in the Baihu House that time and did not participate in the war, so they didn't know Su Qianhu's respect, and I asked Su Qianhu to forgive me." Zhang Yunlong explained.

"It's nothing, they're loyal to their duties, what's wrong?" Su Hao said, he pointed to the people on the road, and asked Zhang Yunlong: "Zhang Baihu, do these soldiers in your guard usually practice?" ”

"Of course." Zhang Yunlong said, "I can't control what other Guardians do, the soldiers in my institute must participate in drills every day, swords, spears, bows and crossbows, and everything must not be wasted." ”

"No wonder the people you bring with you can deal with the Japanese in stride. On that day, if you hadn't led people to the back of the palace, Huai Anwei might have died many people. Su Hao said.

Zhang Yunlong's face was a little gloomy, and he said: "Alas, the events of the day really made Su Qianhu see the joke. More than 1,000 soldiers and horses of Huai'anwei, plus more than 1,000 people from Hedao Mansion, were chased by more than 100 Japanese robbers and fled. If it hadn't been for Su Qianhu, I don't know what this battle would have become. ”

"My Da Ming Wei is not just a matter of Huai Anwei. However, it is rare for someone like Zhang Baihu to insist on training soldiers. Su Hao said.

Zhang Yunlong said: "Since you are a soldier, you act like a soldier, and you don't even go to practice all day long, can you still be called a soldier?" It's looked down on for no reason. ”

While speaking, the group had already arrived at Zhang Yunlong's Baihu Ya. It is said that it is a hundred households, but in fact, it is a larger house, like an ancestral hall in the countryside. Like the other houses in Zhuangzi, the walls of this Baihu Ya are broken on all sides, and the light from the outside can be seen in several places.

"Su Qianhu, please sit down, this house is in disrepair and very simple, Su Qianhu smiled." Zhang Yunlong said.

Su Hao was not polite, and sat directly at the top, Xu Guangzu, Deng Kui and others sat down one after another, and Zhang Yunlong and his two general flags sat at the bottom.

"If I don't go there myself, I really can't imagine that a hundred households will be dilapidated to this point, haven't they been repaired for so many years?" Su Hao asked.

Zhang Yunlong smiled bitterly: "How can there be money to repair it, according to the regulations, the repair of the barracks must be allocated by the imperial court." I remember that a mud-walled barracks would be made of five trusses, fifty rafters, a bunch and a half of reedwood, twenty-five nails, 1,500 pounds of tiles, and five pounds of lime. However, I have been this hundred households for more than ten years, and I have not even seen a single stringer. When the house really can't hold up, we have to spend our own money to buy materials to repair it. In the past few years, there have been many natural disasters in Huai'an, and the harvest of the 100 households is not enough to feed these 100 families, so how can there be any spare money to repair the barracks? ”

"So, life in the guard is really quite tight?" Su Hao asked.

"It's not the same anywhere." Zhang Yunlong said, "The health center doesn't have to pay taxes, and it is better than the farmers." However, the population in this shelter is getting bigger and bigger, and this little land can't support so many people, so we usually have to go out to do odd jobs and earn some money to support our families. ”

When Zhang Yunlong said this, the faces of the two general banners also showed sad expressions, as if they supported Zhang Yunlong's words. Su Hao looked at a few of them, and suddenly asked with a smile: "Yunlong, do you want to come to my Kanyu camp to be a soldier and eat food?" ”

Zhang Yunlong looked at Su Hao and asked, "What does Su Qianhu mean by this?" ”

Su Hao said: "My survey camp was originally only a hundred households, and it was only upgraded from the military department to a thousand households before I came to Huai'an. Now there is a great shortage of soldiers in my battalion, especially a lack of soldiers who are capable of fighting. The day before yesterday, Zhang Baihu's martial arts and courage left a deep impression on Su, and Su came today to ask Zhang Baihu if he was interested in coming to my public opinion camp. I don't dare to say anything, within half a year, I can at least give Zhang Baihu the title of deputy thousand. ”

"However, Yunlong is one of the hundred households of Huai'anwei, if you want to switch to Su Qianhu's survey camp, I'm afraid that you will have to pass the Huai'anwei level, right?" Zhang Yunlong hesitated.

Xu Guangzu said: "This is simple, I just go and tell Li Shida about this matter, and ask him for a hundred households, he has no reason to refuse." ”

Zhang Yunlong looked at his two chief flags again and said, "Su Qianhu's good intentions, Yunlong has received it." However, Yunlong and these brothers have been together since childhood, and they want to leave them......"

Su Hao interrupted Zhang Yunlong's words and said, "Zhang Baihu, I haven't finished my words. On that day, what left a deep impression on me, in addition to Zhang Baihu, there were also these soldiers under your command, the so-called strong generals have no weak soldiers, this is the truth. Su came today to recruit troops in your 100 households, and Zhang Baihu thinks that the soldiers are good, you can bring them, for the survey camp, the more the better. ”

"This ......" Zhang Yunlong was speechless, Su Hao's idea was so unexpected that he couldn't make a choice for a while.

"By the way, I haven't asked Zhang Baihu yet, are you willing to come to my public opinion camp?" Su Hao asked.

Zhang Yunlong nodded and said: "Don't hide it from Su Qianhu, since I saw the demeanor of the survey camp that day, Yunlong has been haunted by it, and his heart is very yearning for it. If you want to be a soldier, you have to be in a team like the Survey Battalion, so that you can show your true colors as a man. ”

"If that's the case, then what are you hesitating about?" Su Hao said.

Zhang Yunlong's face turned red, and he said sneering after a while: "If Yunlong is unconcerned, he should follow Su Qianhu and make contributions on the battlefield." Helplessly, Yunlong's family has a high hall and a wife and a child, and when Yunlong leaves, the livelihood of his family is a trouble. ”

"What's the trouble?" Su Hao smiled dumbly, "When you come to my survey camp to be a soldier, you will be paid every month, which is not less than the money you earn from farming." Before enlisting in the army, I will pay a lump sum of money, 10 taels per ordinary soldier, 20 taels for the general flag and small flag, and 50 taels for the silver if Zhang Baihu is willing to come. Your current 100 households are more crowded and less land, and if you get rid of some people, isn't it lighter burden? ”

"Lao Zhang, how can a man revolve around his wife and children all day long, your martial arts, if you come to the Kanyu camp, the future is unlimited. Not to mention anything else, let's go to the lair of a few more widows together, and the court will reward you, and you will be missing the title of a thousand households? You also know the situation of Huai Anwei, if you stay here, this life will be wasted. Deng Kui persuaded on the side.

That night, it was Deng Kui and Zhang Yunlong who led the troops to encircle and suppress the nest of the Japanese Invaders, and the two formed a deep friendship in the battle.

"Jin Hong, Kang Ning, what do you two think?" Zhang Yunlong's eyes fell on the two general banners under him, asking for their opinions, and the look on his face had already revealed his inner thoughts, that is, he had decided to defect to the Kanyu camp.

"I'm willing to follow Zhang Baihu." The two flags replied in unison.