In a shop in the south of Yangzhou City, seven or eight tables were full of people, all of whom were veterans of the New Army who had returned to Yangzhou to train recruits and were now on leave.

Thanks to the end of the war, the entire area south of the Huai River was able to carry out farming, trade, and economic production normally, and even because of the presence of the army, many commercial needs continued to grow.

More than 10,000 troops were stationed near Yangzhou City, including their families, more than 30,000 people ate and drank Lazar, and the monthly salary of nearly 20,000 taels of silver was paid down every month.

After all, it is very rare for soldiers who do not disturb the people, have military salaries, and pay back money for buying things, and there are so many at once, which is simply an eye-opener for the people of Yangzhou Mansion.

Moreover, with the launch of various workshops with soldiers' families as the main labor force, the cigarettes, alcohol, and cotton cloth produced by these workshops quickly occupied a large market share with extremely high quality, and also enriched the material life of soldiers.

If we want to have a strong army, we can't just rely on spiritual construction, but we have to combine it with material supplies.

"Damn, Lao Tzu obviously said that he wanted to stay on the front line, but he still sent Lao Tzu back to Yangzhou to train the army, but Xue Lao Er's guy ran to Huaibei by himself." The more Zhang Hong spoke, the more angry he became, and he poured a bowl of wine violently, and his neck was already red.

"The concubine has the arrangement of the concubine, and didn't Master Zhang promise to tell you about his daughter-in-law?" Zhuang Lidong gloated on the side and said with a smile, Zhang Hong has never had much of a fight, but now although he is a battalion officer, he still has a hot fight with his subordinates.

Of course, the capture of Liu Liangzuo, coupled with the night attack on the north bank of the Huai River, as a pioneer, Zhuang Lidong, Zhang Dong, Chen Yu, Huang Fa and others, who have made great contributions, are now also promoted. is the lowest yellow hair, and he is already the captain of the squad.

After all, the yellow hair cut off the heads of many green battalion soldiers, but not enough of the heads of the tartars, those of them who attacked the green battalion military barracks, killed enough people, but the heads of the green battalion soldiers were not very valuable.

"But, Mr. Zhang is a scholar, what he introduced, maybe it's that kind of lady, people don't necessarily like you. It's really not good, I see that Lao Zhang bought one directly in Yangzhou, I heard that now Huaibei has just been plagued by Tartars, and many people have fled to Huainan here, and the girl is cheap. Zhuang Lidong continued.

What he said seems a bit strange in modern times, but at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was civilized enough. And the girl who bought it is naturally a maid and housework, serving people. As for Fuzheng, it is basically impossible, at most it is to be a concubine. Unless it's the kind of person who looks really outstanding and has good means.

"That's right, Brother Hong, although the Tartars have been temporarily repulsed now, I heard that there are still hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and some are fighting. We're not in a hurry either. When the time comes, when there is a war, you can earn a few hundred taels more in reward. ”

Zhang Dong is also not big or small, at this time he took a sip of wine, and said loosely: "As for Brother Hong's military salary and official position, are you still afraid that you will not have a daughter-in-law?" I see that those girls are just squeezing their heads, and they also want to enter Brother Hong's door, marry eighteen people, and then build a big courtyard with three entrances, and have thirty or forty sons. ”

These officers who were slender men more than a year ago are all ordinary people, most of their ancestors have been farming farmers for generations, in their concepts, marrying a wife and having children, inheriting incense is the biggest thing in life, if you can become a member of the imperial court and build a big house to live in, it is simply a glorious ancestor!

However, Zhou Shixian has always tried his best to ensure the supply of materials for the army, and has also paid great attention to military discipline, military law, and ideological education, which makes the new army under his command not have the arrogance of other armies of this era.

Although Zhang Dong doesn't speak much on weekdays, but this is said to Zhang Hong's heart, when he heard it, he instantly became happy, and couldn't help nodding.

Moreover, Zhuang Lidong is right, after all, with his monthly salary, not to mention far, in this world, let alone buying one maid, even if you buy three, there is no problem at all.

"It's really the same thing, but you have to bring new recruits, and you practice and practice every day, and Lao Tzu always feels uncomfortable in his heart. With this group of recruits, they are stupid to death, where is the front line comfortable! Zhang Hong still couldn't help but complain.

"Lao Zhang, don't complain anymore, listen to the arrangement of the colt with peace of mind. Anyway, I think it will take several years to drive the Tartars back to the outside of the gate. ”

Zhuang Lidong said, suddenly lowered his voice, and whispered: "I heard the wind, it seems that the relationship between the horse and the saint is not harmonious now, and I don't know what to do in the future!" ”

"And this?" As soon as these words came out, he was like a stuffy gourd on the side, almost all of them were eating meat, and the yellow hair, who had not said anything, suddenly became interested.

"I heard from the people on General Xue's side, saying that when he was in the capital before, the horse was not trained in military warfare, until one day, the horse dreamed that the Nine Dragons were outside the palace, and then the next day it suddenly opened its mind, and that night, many people in the palace even saw the sky change. I'm afraid it's the old gods who have descended to earth! ”

"I said it!"

Zhang Hong listened, "snapped" and slapped the table, as if he had discovered something extraordinary: "At the beginning, Lao Tzu felt strange, you said, the horse is just a doll and a half, how can you hold a group of our veteran ruffians, it turns out that there are immortals to help!" ”

"I'm right!"

Zhuang Lidong's gossip was affirmed, and the more he talked, the more excited he became: "Therefore, the Holy One seems to want to disobey the Mandate of Heaven, and now he is stumbling on the horses everywhere, so what kind of peace negotiation is made by the Holy One." ”

"Disobeying the mandate of heaven, and such a thing?" Chen Yu looked incredulous.

"Let's not talk about the matter of the saint and the horse, in case we commit a taboo and have our heads cut off, it will be too wronged." Yellow hair is still timid after all.

"Yes, yes, let's not talk about this kind of thing, if you really get your head cut off because of this, it won't be worth it." Zhuang Lidong also reacted at this time, if this matter is investigated, he will not be able to escape from provoking the topic.

"Zhang Dong, don't patronize and eat meat, do you have any plans? When will you marry a daughter-in-law, you have received a bounty of fifty taels of silver this time, and you can build a large courtyard, and there is still a little left. Zhang Hong knocked on the table and asked.

"Ah......" Zhang Dong has been busy eating, at this time his mouth has been stuffed with meat, and his speech is not clear, when he heard Zhang Hong call him, he hurriedly swallowed it, and almost choked, chewed for a while, and drank another sip of wine before he eased up.

"I don't have any plans, I just want to be a soldier all the time, it's best to make more contributions, become a hundred generals as soon as possible, and then ...... Marry a few more daughters-in-law and have several sons to carry on the lineage...... It's not interesting to go back to farming, maybe you'll be bullied again, so it's better to be a soldier in the army. ”

Zhang Dong rushed the fastest in this battle and killed the most people, and he could kill two of the Tartars in the Green Camp Army. However, Zhou Shixian's head of the Tartar is far from being as generous as Chongzhen's original reward of twenty or thirty taels of silver.

However, although he doesn't like to talk, he also has his own ideas, compared with farming under heavy oppression, Zhang Dong feels that being a soldier is completely turning over, not only with high status, good food, but also military salary. The most important thing is that he is now the flag commander, leading more than 30 recruits.

"That's true, if you become a hundred generals, when the time comes, you will directly transfer to the general of the garrison in the county, and you will be comfortable for the rest of your life!" Zhuang Lidong agreed.

Zhuang Lidong actually thought the same way, and he had already inquired a lot of news, how to operate, and how much silver to send. After all, the battle will be fought one day.

"However, I heard that now the horse was originally going to give us land directly, but it seems that he was persuaded by those civil officials in the court, so he didn't give us a share of it. We are working hard, what are we for! Zhuang Lidong, the master of the gossip, looked left and right, and then muttered cautiously.

"It's those civil officials again, fuck, Lao Tzu heard from the former soldiers, the most hateful thing is these guys, more hateful than Tartar!" Zhang Hong's face was ruddy at this time, as if he was already drunk, but he still instinctively hated.

These veterans of the Ming Dynasty in the army, the most hated are naturally those civil officials and the so-called eunuchs who supervised the army, when they were not under Zhou Shixian, most of the anger they received and the military training they were deducted also came from these people.

"If you don't have more land, how can you recruit good soldiers? We have lost so many soldiers and horses this time, and we are ready to deal with the large-scale attack of the Tartars, so we have to recruit 20,000 or 30,000 new soldiers, as well as local garrisons! Chen Yu listened to it and was a little puzzled.

"More than 20,000 or 30,000, at least 40,000 starts, I heard that the horse has received enough military salaries this time, and the army will be greatly expanded, and the army will be expanded for Huang Degong, Gao Jie, and Liu Zeqing, and it is estimated that it will really expand by then, and you will have to recruit 50,000 or 60,000 recruits...... " Zhang Hong was already drunk, and these things should not have been said much.

However, most of this is gossip, and Zhou Shixian did not announce a comprehensive recruitment plan, but only issued tasks to various states and counties through Shi Kefa's military department. Many officers guess based on the number of veterans deployed.

After several battles, these former recruits have now grown into veterans and gained the confidence to defeat the Qing army, especially most of them, who have not experienced repeated defeats of the Ming army.

This is crucial, psychological superiority, strong morale, and combat effectiveness can be superior. After all, in this era, relying on hand-to-hand combat is still the most critical point to defeat the enemy.