Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 3 West Shoujing City
Two days later, Sun Ba's team returned to Xishoujiang City, a military fort located dozens of miles north of the Yellow River.

The army was disbanded, and the people were given three days off. Sun Ba had to report to Li Liang, the military envoy in Xicheng, especially about the robbery of military resources by the Shannan party Xiangqi and the party family.

Although the strength of the Tiande Army is relatively weak among the towns in the northern land, it is not something that any scattered party clan can bully.

Sun Ba must report this matter to his superiors, and then carry out an impressive revenge - according to Lu Huaizhong's words, "skinned them."

Shao Shude has no time to take care of this for the time being.

The day after the holiday, he brought his little valet Saburo and Li Yixian to the homes of those killed in action.This is his personal habit, not the tradition of the military leaders of this era.

He has never been able to fully adapt to the attitude of being aloof from later generations. Subconsciously, he has always believed that the soldiers are not inferior to him, and everyone is a group of people who warm up in this chaotic world.

Liu Gouer's home is near the southern city wall.The two cottages, with a mix of brick and wood, look pretty good.

Before I came, I learned that Liu Gouer's family moved from Xiazhou. His parents died of illness after they arrived in Xicheng.Now Liu Gouer has died at the hands of the party members, leaving two younger siblings alone. This family is really miserable.

When Shao Shude arrived, the two brothers and sisters were sitting in the yard, looking sad.

He sighed. It seemed that a military officer in the army came home yesterday, and the brothers and sisters already knew the unfortunate news.This solved his problem, because in the face of two underage children, he really didn't know how to speak.

"You..." Shao Shude mulled over his words while motioning for Li Yixian and Saburo to enter the door.

The brothers and sisters clearly knew him, a man who had been here many times, and their eyes became red again when they met.

"You are a liar!" The little girl said with tears in her eyes, "When I took my second brother away, I said that he could come back. Liar!"

"Xiu Niang, don't talk nonsense!" The young man shouted, but the corners of his eyes turned red involuntarily.

Shao Shude was silent.

He vaguely remembered that when he saw that Liu Gouer's family was poor, he didn't eat the last meal, and the two younger siblings were too hungry, so he recruited him into the army.Sun Shijian did not agree, but he agreed after Shao Shude tried his best to persuade him.

Now, I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.Perhaps without the grain and silk that Liu Gouer brought home from the army, the two younger siblings would have starved to death, but Liu Gouer might have survived.

It's just that in today's world, it's not easy to survive.

Xicheng is very small, and there are not many people, and there are less than a thousand families who have reclaimed wasteland in Yuancheng.There are not many big families in the city, and commercial consumption is pitiful, so what kind of work can you have to support yourself and your family?
In troubled times, the easiest thing to betray is not your own life!Liu Gouer sold himself in exchange for a decent life for his younger siblings for three years, which was a fair deal.

Of course, others may think so, but Shao Shude can't.

He has his own moral bottom line from the later generations, and it is impossible for him to negotiate any deals with peace of mind after seeing the death of Pao Ze, who has been with him day and night.Even in troubled times, people are valuable, and people must have humanity. This world is not right, very wrong!
There has never been a moment like now, when facing the sad, blamed, and slightly frightened eyes of young men and women, he strongly wanted to change the world.

Not everyone is born a corrupt official, and not everyone enjoys killing people. This shitty world has forced everyone to be a ghost and a ghost, so I want to live a quiet life People who have lived their whole lives are forced to pick up swords and guns and fight each other. This twisted world must be corrected!
"Have you eaten yet? I brought you hu biscuits." After that, Shao Shude took a wicker basket from Li Yixian's hand, took out a few hu biscuits, and said with a forced smile, "Eat it, it's still hot. ."

The teenager took the Hu Bing, and first handed one to his sister, then took one for himself, and ate it carefully.

"Don't worry, these cakes are all yours." Shao Shude put the cake basket on the small table and said with a smile, "There are still some grains and silks here, you have put them away, don't let outsiders see them."

As soon as he finished speaking, Saburo, who was carrying a lot of things, put down a big bag, while Li Yixian put the silk on the couch in the room.

"There are five buckets of noodles here, you can put them away. Some silk and silk are your eldest brother's reward and comfort. You can exchange them for some money in the future, but remember to hide them." Shao Shude said softly.

Wheat has been grown in Fengzhou since ancient times, with good taste and quality. It was always a tribute to the court before the Middle Tang Dynasty.

Since the Anshi Rebellion, Fengzhou has suffered repeated military disasters, and farmland has been severely deserted.Up to now, due to the lack of people's strength to repair water conservancy facilities, Fengzhou has good land, water sources, and a warm and humid climate, but it has never been able to develop large-scale agriculture, so that grass grows all over the ground and becomes a paradise for cattle, sheep and horses. .

Five buckets of white noodles can make [-] cakes. If you save some food, you can support it for a while.

There were originally 22 bolts of silk, but before the pension was issued, Shao Shude first bought it from his own pocket, and then added a few more silks, making up thirty silks.

To be fair, this is not a small sum of money that can support the two siblings for several years.By that time, the boy had almost grown up, he could support himself, and Liu Gouer could feel at ease under Jiuquan.

However, a pair of young men and women suddenly had such a large amount of money, and it was impossible not to be coveted, so Shao Shude instructed them to put it away and not to be taken away.

Of course, as long as he doesn't go out, he will come to see the two brothers and sisters every three or five times.If some local ruffians winked, they shouldn't come to try his knife.

After talking with the brothers and sisters for a while, and seeing that they were a little calmer, Shao Shude got up and said goodbye.

When he came to the door, he touched his pocket, took out a small bag, took out the more than 20 coins left in it, stuffed it into the boy's hand, and said, "Treasure it, I will come here often."

"Can I join the army with you in the future?" the boy suddenly asked loudly.

"I don't want it anymore." Shao Shude, who had just walked outside the gate, paused and said.After all, he walked away without looking back.Saburo and Li Yixian looked at each other and flashed away.

Before I came, I had already made an agreement with a disabled veteran on this street and asked him to help take care of it.Liu Gouer also asked him to help with the funeral.

The old soldier was good, and he felt pity for the situation of the two brothers and sisters, so he agreed, and let Shao Shude go to his mind.

After leaving Liu Gou'er's house, Shao Shude went to the homes of the five dead soldiers one by one. After comforting them, another family gave them a few pieces of silk before returning to the barracks at Hejindu in the evening.

After a day full of negative energy, Shao Shude was not in the mood to do anything else. After eating two cakes, he was ready to sleep.

Who would have guessed that Li Yanling would come over again. Seeing that Shao Shude was ready to rest, after hesitating for a while, he cautiously said, "Leader of the team..."

"They're all old brothers in the same team, what's the point of life. Come in and sit down, what's the matter?"

"Leader of the team, it should have been the right to give pensions to soldiers today. But..." After thinking about it, Li Yanling said, "The cost is still a bit high. The two years have not been peaceful, and the business travel has been reduced a lot, and the money to keep the allowance is also getting better. I paid less. After the leader of the team paid the silk money today, there were only twelve pieces of silk and three pieces of money left in the account. The leader of the team is young and has no family. This life is not easy!"

The so-called Shou Jin money is actually a favor fee given by the merchants to and from the Yellow River ferry.

This is an unspoken rule, and dozens of people up and down Hejin Ferry all have a share.A few years ago, when commerce was still prosperous, a large number of Lingwu, Xia Sui and local merchants crossed the Yellow River here, went north through the Langshan Jimingsai, and returned to the grasslands.

For example, the caravan of Li Zhengyi's family, a big businessman in Fengzhou, often leaves here.Every time it is a big car and a small car, the goods are piled up, and I really make a lot of money.

Naturally, the Shoujin soldiers also got a lot of benefits. Shao Shude was the leader of the team, and he got a lot more than the average person.Therefore, this is actually a fat shortage, and Sun Shi will be able to give him this key position, which shows his love.

Shao Shude doesn't have a family and doesn't value money that much.Apart from the daily filial piety to Sun Ten General, he had nothing to spend on food and accommodation in the barracks, so he kept the money in his account and let Li Yanling, the oldest and most stable in the team, help manage it.

A year ago, Shao Shude discussed with a few fire chiefs in the team, and everyone took out some of the allowance money to buy some food and meat for the soldiers, so that everyone could strengthen their training, and the five-day exercise was changed to three-day exercise.

Everyone agreed, so Shao Shude took the lead and got the job done. It has been a year since then, and the results have been remarkable.

The last time the whole army held a parade, Shao Shude and his team advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, and their orders were consistent, which was praised by Li Jian, the defense history.

And Shao Shude in the shooting competition, wearing armor and pulling a bow at sixty paces away, hit seven of the eight arrows, shocked four, and won the first place.According to the gossip, Li Liang, the bright-faced military envoy of Xicheng, has planned to promote Shao Shude as a lieutenant general to encourage the soldiers to practice their skills.

Aside from Shao Shude, a freak with his own travel benefits, if others want to improve their own level, they still have to practice hard day after day.As the amount of training goes up, nutrition naturally has to keep up. This is the original intention of Shao Shude and others.

Everyone pays together and trains the soldiers. Isn't it all their own capital in the future?

"Leader of the team, say something." Seeing that Shao Shude was a little absent-minded, Li Yanling became anxious.

He had no interest in fighting wars. He had no choice but to join the army back then. He had to eat food, but he was very good at things like money and food, so Shao Shude entrusted him with many common affairs in order to free himself from the complicated management work. Come out and focus on training your soldiers.

"Isn't there still money in the account?" Shao Shude laughed, and then said in a serious tone: "It's reasonable to pay for the soldiers. How long will the money and food from the superiors be enough for their families? Famous generals in ancient times, especially the military spirit. On weekdays If you don’t pay attention, fool the soldiers, and don’t help them solve practical difficulties, they will fool you when they go to battle. I will treat the 50 people in my team as brothers and sisters. If anyone has difficulties, I will never speak. There is no other word. In the past few years, there have been seven or eight battles, big and small, tell me, Lao Li, but there is a brother who fled in battle?"

"How can this matter be generalized..." Li Yanling was about to persuade, but heard the noise outside the door.

"Unfortunately, the beggars will not be able to fight. Li Guochang and his son want to join the two towns, and the imperial court has ordered them, and our Tiande army will also be dispatched. It's really bad luck." Lu Huaizhong's loud voice sounded, and everyone's heart trembled.

Are you going to fight again?
(End of this chapter)