Duan Xiushi was silent, and suddenly smiled bitterly: "General, Doctor Feng is indeed most worried about you opening up another border provocation and plotting in the river." ”

"Cheng Gong, what do you think of this?" Ma Lan looked at Duan Xiushi with burning eyes.

Duan Xiushi smiled bitterly again and said, "I have also seen the general's piece of music from Doctor Feng. If, as the general said, the river is already turbulent, it is a pity that such an opportunity is missed. - Doctor Feng asked me to come to you in the hope that I would stop you from seeking the land in the river. ”

Ma Lan smiled. This is the advantage of working with young people, at least Duan Xiushi is also inclined to seek the land in the river.

"News of the land in the river, coming soon. When the time comes, Cheng Gong will know that what I said is true or false. ”

Duan Xiushi nodded and said, "What I'm worried about, King Kang and King Mi may not really serve the Tang Dynasty, I'm afraid they just want to use the hands of the Tang Dynasty to drive away the cannibals and monopolize the river." If my Han family's sons and daughters fought a bloody battle on the battlefield, but in the end it was a bamboo basket that was empty, then the general would probably become a laughing stock. ”

Ma Lan smiled and said, "I still prefer these Sogdians to the big cannibals. Of course, if the arrogant guy really dares to have no vassal salute in the future, my Datang Iron Cavalry will definitely step all over the river and take his head! ”

His voice was not high, but it was as cold as ice, Kang Qingqing suddenly remembered the things he had done in the river, and suddenly realized that the man who had accompanied her all these days was a murderous demon general, and he couldn't help but shudder.

When he is gentle, he is like the most perfect lover. He hadn't treated her lightly these days, and she had almost forgotten what a dangerous person he was.

Duan Xiushi glanced at Kang Qingqing and looked at Ma Lan suspiciously.

Ma Lan patted Kang Qingqing's shoulder, and the little girl's body trembled, almost jumping up.

"General, can this bearded girl understand us?" Duan Xiushi's voice suddenly had a hint of murderous intent.

Ma Ling smiled and said: "Chenggong doesn't have to worry, this is the concubine I got in the river, and I am considered a Kangju royal family, and I have understood the Central Plains dialect since I was a child." This is a conspiracy, and I didn't intend to hide it from her. ”

"General, this is inappropriate."

"Chenggong, you and I have been friends for many years, and you should know very well that I am and others. My concubine, is there anything that people can dispose of casually? Ma Luan's voice was not loud, but it was extremely powerful.

"Forget it, you are the general, what can I say." Although Duan Xiushi was dissatisfied, he knew Ma Lan's temperament, glanced at Kang Qingqing's childish face, shook his head and said, "After so many years, you are still like this, you like to play flowers and try these tunes." If you have a big ambition, where can you still maneuver between women like that? General, you have to change this problem! ”

Du Huan pursed his lips: "The eldest husband doesn't have three wives and four concubines, wouldn't it make people laugh." Cheng Gong is waiting for this, and he actually manages the affairs of the general's inner house, which is inevitably too lenient. ”

Seeing Duan Xiushi glaring at Du Huan again, Ma Lan smiled bitterly, and hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Chenggong and I have been friends for many years, and we have always talked like this, so you don't have to mind joining the army." ”

The Guanzhong man Ma Lan is a prodigal, and Duan Xiushi is not wrong to say this. I can't tell this guy that I'm not actually the original Ma Lan, and I should be counted out in two sentences.

Du Huan was not convinced and wanted to speak, Ma Lan had no choice but to glare at him, and the family had to shut up angrily for the prestige of his general.

"Shechen!" Duan Xiushi was not ready to let go of Du Huan, and took a heavy sip. This mouthful of thick phlegm fell on the carpet of the carriage, and Kang Qingqing turned his head slightly, no longer looking at the three of them.

Such words are really ruthless, how can Du Huan be arrogant? got up suddenly but was hit by the roof of the car, his face was red with anger, and he glared at Duan Xiushi fiercely.

Duan Xiushi, a veteran of Anxi, didn't look down on this family very much. The two looked at each other, but they didn't give in to each other.

Seeing that the two were about to fight, Ma Lan couldn't help but feel a big head. Du Huannai is his confidant, Duan Xiushi is a person he admired in his previous life, and it is not easy to offend. Helplessly, he hurriedly changed the topic, took out a Dirkhan from his arms and put it on the low table, and said, "Cheng Gong has seen this thing?" ”

Duan Xiushi no longer paid attention to Du Huan, took the silver coin and looked at it, and said, "This is the silver coin of the white clothes and big food, which circulates among the Hu merchants. I Datang does not use gold and silver as currency, but gold and silver and copper coins and silk can also be exchanged in private. Anxi Hu merchants can basically exchange this kind of thing for copper coins or silk silk. ”

Ma Lan nodded, and said, "Then Cheng Gong knows how the treatment of the Great Eater is treated?" ”

Duan Xiushi pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "This is really not clear. More than 100 years ago, there was a big cannibal named Mokomo, brave and wise, all of them attached to it, opened up thousands of miles, and then prospered on behalf of Persia and became a great power in the West. Because its banner is still white, it is called the White Clothed Great Food, and this silver coin is minted by the White Clothed Great Food, called Dirkhan, and they also mint a gold coin called the Dinar. The wealth gained by the White Clothes in each battle was confiscated and distributed according to different status. It is said that the descendants of Mokomat received the most, and every year tens of thousands of these silver coins, and the soldiers also got their own money. This is the white coat of food, the black coat of food has only been established for a few years, and I have not heard of my own coinage. ”

Duan Xiushi is also a knowledgeable person, but what he said is still old news from the period when the country was founded in white clothes, and at most it can be regarded as a matter of the era of the four major caliphs. Datang's understanding of Dashi, a close neighbor in the West, is so poor. The status of the Celestial Empire made the Tang people proud of all barbarians, even if it was a big country like Dashi or Byzantium, the Tang people did not pay attention to it, and they were not interested in understanding it at all.

In the original history, the only scholar of the Tang Dynasty who had been to the Western countries was Du Huan. And Du Huan did not go willingly, but became a prisoner of war after the Battle of Talas and was exiled to Dashi, and it took ten years to return to China by sea, which led to the passing of "Jing Xingji". For more than 100 years, the Tang Dynasty never tried to send people to understand this powerful neighbor, and the only way to send envoys to the Great Food was to join forces to kill the Turgish Khan Sulu.

The arrogance of the Tang people made them indifferent to everything outside the territory. Even Han merchants rarely set foot outside the territory, and the place where there is no Tang military town is completely the world of Hu merchants, and Han merchants basically do not set foot in it.

At the height of the Tang Dynasty, the footprints of Han merchants had reached the distant Jianshui, and later with the abandonment of Broken Leaf Town, the scope of activities of Han merchants shrank rapidly and rapidly, and now it is basically east of the Green Ridge.

Of course, this era is different from later generations, and being a Tang person does have the qualifications of pride. In this era when soldiers were available to vassal states without "vassal courtesy", the Tang people were naturally domineering and proud. Short-sightedness and ignorance can be compensated for by a strong national power.

I felt emotional, but I couldn't say it. Fortunately, I came to this era, and all this is possible to make up for it.

Ma Lan pointed to the silver coin and said with a smile: "What Cheng Gong said is the old yellow calendar." However, the treatment of the big eaters is indeed far superior to that of our Anxi border army. Not to mention that the white-clothed food is dead, there are not many elites in the black-clothed food, and there are less than 100,000 soldiers in the country, and these people are the only troops who receive military salaries. The annual salary of the black-clothed infantry was nine hundred and sixty dirkhans, which is such a silver coin. As for the cavalry, the pay was twice as high as that of the infantry. ”

"So many!" Duan Xiushi's face showed a look of horror, "If that's the case, the income of the Great Eater in a year will be tens or hundreds of dollars!" ”

"That's it!" Ma Lan nodded and said with emotion, "If the salary is so generous, how can the soldiers not have to die!" Look at my Datang again, twenty-five years ago, the government soldiers were on the border, and they were changed every three years, and the soldiers' weapons and horses were all self-prepared, and even the rations were brought by themselves, and the military salary was not at all, and the only benefit was that the rent was exempted.

Due to the collapse of the government military system, 25 years after the opening of the Yuan Dynasty, the government soldiers were no longer issued, and those who were willing to defend the border for a long time were recruited as border troops, and they were allowed to join the army with their families, and they were given houses and land, which was called the Long March athletes. Now most of my Anxi soldiers are athletes. The imperial court rewarded the athletes with only twenty pieces of old silk, how could there ever be a military salary at all!

The border land is barren, the border army is poor, and the output of Tsuneta is not enough to support his family. Xiushi, it has only been a few years since the rise of the black-clothed food, but my Anxi soldiers were defeated by him, and I am afraid it is not accidental. ”

Duan Xiushi twisted the silver coin and nodded slightly.

Du Huan said: "General, the combat power of the big cannibal is not as good as my Anxi athletes, but it is too unfair to be treated like this." ”

"It's not fair." Ma Ling nodded and said softly, "What I mean is that in the future, my Anxi Jian'er will also be given generous treatment, how can I be inferior to a small state in the Tang Dynasty?" Cheng Gong, if I am the master of Anxi in the future, I will not only pay pensions to the war dead, but also pay the athletes on a monthly basis, which may not be comparable with the big cannibal for the time being, but one day I will surpass the big cannibal and become the richest army! ”

"Cheng Gong, at that time, our soldiers will no longer have to worry about their families, and they can just focus on training. At that time, the Anxi Army will become a truly invincible elite division in the world! ”

The army in Chinese history was actually a group of peasants who took up arms, and it had never been professionalized before. During the Tianbao period, the Long March athletes recruited by the local festival envoys were the prototype of the professionalization of the army. Although it caused the division of feudal towns in the Tang Dynasty and the chaos in the Five Dynasties, in Ma Lan's view, this was the correct development direction of the Tang Army.

An army that is detached from agricultural production is a real army. As the elite division of the Huanghuang Tang Dynasty, it should be a professional army that is completely separated from the identity of farmers. Such an army is the iron army that he can rely on when he sets foot in the river.

These thoughts must be openly and honestly expressed to these cronies, so as not to hinder them in the future.

Duan Xiushi looked at Ma Lan and said, "What does the general mean, the future military salary will also come out of this wealth?" ”

"That's nature."

"If that's the case, I'm afraid this wealth won't be enough." Duan Xiushi frowned.

Ma Lan said with a smile: "The black-clothed food can raise an army of 100,000 with silver coins, which shows its wealth. What I need for my Datang Iron Cavalry, I naturally have to use the horizontal knife in my hand to get it! ”