Chapter 2 (Part 4)

The weather gradually turned colder, and Li Xu's heart became colder day by day. In his heart, the real officers and soldiers should be iron-blooded men like General Luo and Captain Infantry, and they should definitely not be these guys around him who eat and wait for death. Not only did these people not have the ambition to make a name for themselves immediately, but they didn't even have the heart to learn how to hold a sword.

But the disappointment did not affect him to lead the team to patrol the warehouse every day, nor did it affect his mingling with his bosses and colleagues. Liu Hongji taught well that day, if you don't have the power to change reality, you can only force yourself to adapt. Although Huaiyuan Town is not ideal here, it is better than going to other marches to be a small miscellaneous soldier. Besides, although these colleagues around him are lazy and lustful, their hearts are not bad. At least they never buy and sell strongly, and oppress good deeds.

'The march is not the same as the Tiger Horseman's! After nearly half a month of pondering and consulting with Wang Shenjun and other old oilers, Li Xu finally figured out the general situation of the Great Sui military system. According to the tradition since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the soldiers and horses of the country are divided into four categories: the forbidden army, the government army, the border army, and the marching army. Among them, the forbidden army, also known as the inner government, is a place where the descendants of second- to fifth-grade officials can join. The government army and the border army are the standing soldiers and horses of the Great Sui, and the whole family can be exempted from military service after joining. As for the march, it belongs to the temporary team that was pulled up by the imperial court in large-scale foreign operations, usually by the veterans of the government army as the team leader, fire commander and other officers, ordinary soldiers are all forcibly recruited people, armor, weapons and war horses need to be prepared by the temporarily recruited soldiers themselves.

In this expedition, His Majesty the Emperor recruited a total of 1.3 million people, and formed 12 marches with the government army as the backbone, ranging from 50,000 to 300,000 soldiers and horses each. Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, was responsible for preparing grain and grass for all soldiers and horses in Huaiyuan Town, and was not subordinate to any marching army. His Majesty the Emperor specially gave him the post of Inspector of the Treasury of Wupin, with 1,200 men under his jurisdiction, divided into four regiments and twelve brigades. Those who can be fire captains, team leaders, brigade leaders, and captains, almost everyone has their own background behind them.

"To tell you the truth, our brothers are here to mess around for a few days, and by the way, get some credit and go back to give their parents a long face. Don't look at it so badly, you don't smile all day. The Tiger Ben Iron Horse is powerful, and the strength of our Great Sui has only fed more than 5,000 people. Even the emperor was reluctant to bring such a big thing as the emperor's expedition to Goryeo, how delicate you are. Brother, you are in this team, go there, I guess you don't even have the fire chief to do, don't think about it, do it! Wang Senjun comforted Li Xu while persuading him to drink. He was born in the Huainan royal family and has been a big hairpin for generations. It's a pity that I was born in the wrong place. Therefore, he couldn't rely on the shadow of the door to become an official, so he had to accumulate some merits in the army first.

"You have to have fun in life as soon as possible, brother! Fame has been taken immediately since ancient times, and this is true. But if you miss, you will become the head that helps the other party get fame. Look at it, with the help of Tang Gong, are you still worried about underdevelopment? The person who said this was Qi Poning, who was in charge of the sword armor, honor guard, thick clothes, and bedding, and everyone was used to calling him Lao Qi. He was only twenty-five years old, but he looked like he was thirty years old. Like Liu Hongji, after this person was considered an official eunuch, he was awarded the false position of Zuo Xunzhi since he was a child. The family was not prosperous, there were no brothers and sisters, and in order not to die in battle, he took the initiative to join Tang Gong to manage the warehouse for the army.

"To, at least we don't have to worry about food and clothing! It's also convenient to pass on family letters! Qin Ziying stammered and interjected. He is the only seedling of the Qin family on the right side of the ridge, and he writes well, so he was arranged by Li Yuan to do a record in the army. By the way, he also did some chores such as helping low-level officers write letters to their families, helping boring characters such as Wang Yuantong and Qi Poning to write love poems that were specially used when drinking flowers and wine.

"Thank you, brothers, I'm just asking. The reason why I mentioned Tiger Ben Iron Rider was because there was an old friend who was a captain over there! Li Xu raised his wine glass, took a big sip of it, and said.

It is convenient to pass on the family letter, which he is deeply touched. Tang Gong was considerate of his subordinates, and always turned a blind eye to some fake public and private behaviors, so the family letters of low-level officers were always conveniently taken by the official documents of the official government, and the post guards passed them through the official posts. In this way, it only takes two or three days to deliver the letter from Huaiyuan Town to Shanggu County. And Yi County is the seat of Shanggu County, and now the county order is very polite to the Li family.

The reason why the county order was polite to the Li family was that Tang Gong personally wrote a letter to the county guard, telling him that Li Xu was recruited by himself as a son of a good family. In the past, the choice to abandon school and engage in business was a secret official duty in the army. Now that the official business is over, the identity is also changed back to the county guard. Lord County Shou felt that things were strange, and carefully asked the messenger sent by Tang Gong, only to know that the Li family in Shanggu and the Li family on the right side of the ridge were actually the same clan, and now Tang Gong had recognized Li Xu, the nephew, and specially left him to experience in the army.

Since he is the nephew of Tang Gong, it is naturally impossible to really go into business. Since he has already been a captain in the army and may continue to rise up, it is naturally impossible to be a deserter. The county guard and the county commander are all officials, and such a little reasoning is not difficult for them. So in less than half a day, Li Xu's affairs were all satisfactorily resolved. As a local parent, the county magistrate also wrote a four-character comment on character and learning, and handed it over to the next writer to give to Tang Gong, which was regarded as his recommendation to the virtuous people of the county.

After getting the news of their son, Li Xu's parents also quickly asked someone to bring a letter to their family. The two old men did not ask much in the letter about the reason why their son suddenly left Su Sibu and the daughter-in-law who arrived soon disappeared. just told Li Xu that everything was fine at home, and the property brought by the two trustees was received in full. The eldest brother of Changfang heard that Li Xu had a career, and specially invited the old Li Mao to participate in the affairs of the clan. This time, his father Li Mao didn't have to pay more incense money, but like other Changfang brothers and uncles, he could share a share of the incense money handed over by the younger generations every year.

"Tang Gong has the grace of knowing you, and you will repay it with all your might. Don't think about your parents at home, earnestly! At the end of the letter, the old father Li Mao repeated it again. Whenever he saw these words, Li Xu remembered the figure of his parents when they were preparing their bags for themselves under the oil lamp last autumn, tying up the package over and over again, and opening it again and again, lest they forget something important.......

For Tang Gong's great kindness, Li Xu has long engraved it in his heart. Although he was not deeply involved in the world, he also knew what Tang Gong's handwritten letters meant to an ordinary peasant family in the countryside. If it weren't for Tang Gong's letter, the county magistrate would not have noticed his "talent". If it weren't for the fact that he heard that he had become a team leader, the uncles and uncles of the clan elders would not have remembered the fact that their father Li Mao was too old and should have enjoyed the support of his younger generations.

"The first twenty years look at the father and respect the son, and the second twenty years look at the son and respect the father!" Li Xu was patrolling the barracks after the first snowfall, thinking about the words of Uncle Nine when he came out of the fortress last year. These inadvertently said, the words of the country's wish to get rid of the scum have all been fulfilled. Even for the sake of his father's respect, he had to continue to persevere in this cold barracks.

However, Uncle Jiu, who once taught him many life truths in the most simple language, has no news. Li Xu sent a second letter to his father, but his father's reply did not mention Sun Jiu.

"I guess Uncle Mazi didn't get things done!" Li Xu predicted privately. He wanted to find an opportunity to talk to Jiancheng and see if Tang Gong could ask about Sun Jiu. As a result, as soon as this plan was proposed to Liu Hongji, it was vetoed by the other party.

"Don't mention Sun Jiu again, and don't tell anyone that you learned archery from him, it is estimated that he is in big trouble!" Liu Hongji cautiously closed the doors and windows and solemnly advised.

"Trouble?" Li Xu exclaimed in surprise. This incident was originally caused by the local officials' bullying of others, and he had already paid for it, admitted his mistakes, and entrusted others, could it be that the officials in Sun Jiu's hometown hated him so deeply?

"You stupid boy, didn't you see the expressions on the faces of Tang Gong and Brother Jiancheng when you talked about your mentorship that day?" Liu Hongji was so angry that he gave Li Xu a chisel on his head and asked in a low voice.

"Tang Gong once paid attention to my teacher?" Li Xuhu thought suspiciously. After thinking about it for a while, he woke up to the fact that it was more than a month ago, when he had just met Tang Gong. At that time, the other party asked who he learned archery from, and he said three people. Tang Gong insisted that his master was from the Jiangnan Wang family, as if he was afraid that he would be involved with Uncle Jiu.

"Remember, your mentor is an unknown old man from the Jiangnan royal family. It has nothing to do with Sun Anzu! Liu Hongji took Li Xu's shoulders and said word by word. If you don't want to ruin your future and don't want to implicate your family, you have to say that. Tang Gong has been an official for generations, and he has a wide range of contacts in the court, so the trouble that can make him frown is definitely not small! ”

"Hmm!" Li Xu nodded in agreement. He was very impressed by Liu Hongji's wisdom in dealing with people. Since the other party taught like this, there was no reason for him not to appreciate it.

A few days later, in the mouth of Qi Po, who was in the treasury and joined the army, Li Xu heard a rumor. A few months ago, Wang Bo, a native of Changbai Mountain (Zhangqiu, Shandong), was unwilling to join the army and led a group of people to rebel. The rebels made up a military song, which was widely circulated

"Changbai Mountain is a former Zhishilang, pure red Luo Mian back crotch. The long lance invades the sky and a half, and the wheel knife shines in the sun. Go up the mountain to eat roe deer, and go down the mountain to eat cattle and sheep. Suddenly, when he heard the arrival of the official army, he raised his knife and swung forward. For example, if Liaodong dies, how can he be injured by beheading......"

"These thieves are also living happily!" Qi Poning obviously drank too much, and praised it rebelliously.

"This is not absolute, a few months ago, a guy surnamed Sun in Qinghe killed the county order to rebel......" Wang Yuantong, who joined the army, hugged a boiled shoulder, and said while gnawing: "Guess what the name he gave himself, hehe......" Wang Yuantong looked at everyone triumphantly, as if he had picked five hundred hanging money, "I can't guess it, hehe, touch, touch the sheep!" The prince who stole sheep! ”

"Touch the sheep!" Everyone burst into laughter, and the wine in their mouths spurted everywhere.

"Alas, alas, laughing, laughing at me. This, this thief is really funny, laugh, laugh at me! Qin Ziying, the recorder, was lying on the edge of the window, laughing and pounding the wall of the restaurant.

"Touch the sheep!" Li Xu sighed secretly, walked to Qin Ziying's side, and stretched out his hand to push open the window.

The north wind whistled in with snowflakes, making his upper and lower teeth chatter.

"Uncle Nine didn't steal other people's sheep," Li Xu silently told himself, "absolutely not!" ”。

Note 1: Sun Anzu, a native of Qinghe at the end of the Sui Dynasty (the ancient city of Hebei). In the seventh year of the great cause, his hometown was flooded, and he was exempted from military service. The government did not allow it, so they arrested his wife and children and forced him. Before he been, his wife and children starved to death. An Zu was angry and killed the official and rebelled, calling himself a sheep.