Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 519

"Didn't this corn come from Huizhou?" Wang Jiao wondered after eating two mouthfuls of sticky corn porridge.

"What are you thinking about?" Bai Wulang scolded with a smile, and said, "Huizhou is so far away, how do you get it here? This is Yanzhou millet, which was brought from the big river. But it is really good, and it is sold in Shanzhou. It can be sold for more than a hundred dollars."

Shanzhou was hit by a disaster last year.According to the national law, where floods, droughts, insects, and frosts are disasters, part of the tax will be exempted if the damage is more than four, all taxes will be exempted if the damage is more than six, and even taxation will be exempted if the damage is more than seven.

Wang Jiao didn't know what the disaster situation in Shanzhou was like. Anyway, it was inevitable, but the price of food rose sharply.On the way here, he even saw many people drying mulberries in the sun and putting them away after being exposed to the sun. Every household in Shanguo has dozens of mulberry trees. Dried mulberries and dates are the main source of food when the grain harvest is not good.

There are three children in Shiragoro's family, all of whom are small and greedy.Secretly trade the corn at home for mulberries and dates, which is a relatively bad exchange.After he found out, he didn't say much. As a sergeant, he received 24 hu grains a year for his family to eat, and he often had a few hu left over.It's not easy in a disaster year, so please help if you can.

There was a commotion outside the door.

The two listened carefully, and it turned out that there was a convoy of merchants passing by, going north to cross the river and head for Pinglu.

Bai Wulang's wife, Mrs. Qu, hurried into the house, took a bundle of miscellaneous silk, and hurried out again.

Bai Goro raised his head, hesitated to speak, and finally said nothing.

When I received the reward last year, I received ten bolts of silk alone. The six members of the family shared eight feet for making clothes, shoes, scarves, etc., that is, two bolts, and the remaining eight bolts were not used at all.It's nothing to exchange for things that are needed at home.

However, seeing that he was incorporated into the Baoyi Army and seemed to be stationed in Shanguo all the time, he began to think about buying a house.

At present, he knows that there are two families nearby who are selling their houses.One is relatively simple, with only one room. The east and west sides are 26 feet and 2 inches, and the north and south are 4 feet and [-] inches. In addition to some things in the house, the seller asks for [-] dendrobium, [-] buckets and [-] millet.But this house is too small, not suitable for his family, rather suitable for an unmarried person like Wang Jiao.

The other place is much larger, with several rooms, and the asking price is 68 dendrobiums and 4 buckets, and the corn and wheat are half and half.

This price is not small money for him, but it is not unaffordable either.According to the grain price in Shanzhou, [-] yuan per coin can buy more than seven dendrobiums of millet. Last year, in addition to ten bolts of silk, I also received several coins as rewards. The annual income is more than enough to buy this house, and there is still leftovers. Not a lot.

Wang Jiao glanced at Bai Wulang, and said, "Don't buy that house, maybe one day you will have to change the place again. It won't be sold at that time, so the money will be thrown away."

"This..." Bai Wulang was a little hesitant when he heard the words, and said, "What rumors did you hear?"

"How can there be any rumors!" Wang Jiao hesitated for a while, but still said: "The last time I met Jin San from Wulan County, he was a cavalry soldier in the Heyuan Army, and he said that the Baoyi Army was not pleasing to the commander. You still have to act. Jin San is quite accurate in what he says, and everything will happen. I don’t think it’s unreasonable.”

"It makes sense." Bai Wulang sighed and said, "What is Li Fan? He can also be a Jiedushi? I see, the commander-in-chief will not give up until he has exhausted all his capital. It's just a burden for us." gone."

Wang Jiao ate corn porridge and mutton in silence, without speaking.

"But you should buy it or you have to buy it." Bai Wulang patted his thigh and said, "You have to come back after the war, right? I like Xijin, it's better than Huizhou. Besides, it's not expensive, so you can buy it if you buy it." Let’s go. My Dalang’s body is weak, so I’m afraid he won’t be able to become a martial artist, so I’ll leave it to him in the future and let him take root in Shanzhou.”

"Not expensive"!Well, Great Tang Wufu, that's how arrogant he is.

After the hardships, the country's situation declined day by day, but the income of the warriors rose in a straight line. He was a big soldier, and his income was several times that of a small official in the yamen.

Su and Dai Nahui, according to the system, have an army of 12500 people, and a year's reward of silk and silk is 15 horses, 12 horses per capita.

In addition, this army also has [-] gold and silver saddle bridles each, [-] pieces of brocade, [-] pieces of colored silk, [-] pieces of crimson silk silk, [-] pieces of color Luo, brocade robes for men and women, silver pots and vases, and brocade mattresses. There are fixed numbers of high-level physical rewards such as purple satin mattresses and purple silk mattresses, which are used to additionally reward outstanding individuals.

This is a reward in kind, as well as money and food!
The money that Datang spent on a warrior may be many times that of a single sergeant in ancient times.

As the saying goes: "If the army has no money, the soldiers will not come; if the army has no rewards, the soldiers will not go. Under the fragrant bait, there must be fish hanging; under the heavy reward, there must be a dead husband. If a husband does not have money, how can he marry people?" My heart!"

This is the value of Datang Wufu, if you give me enough money, I will fight for my life.

Of course, the above is the imperial court's regulations. According to their own circumstances, some feudal towns may have more than this, and some may have less—but it can't be too much, or you will be hacked to death!
However, as the economy gradually declined, by the end of the Five Dynasties, this standard had dropped too much.In the Northern Song Dynasty, the various food and property obtained by the imperial guards with higher incomes in a year were converted into the income of the soldiers in the late Tang Dynasty, which was probably only enough to offset their food gifts, which was only a little more than one-third of the income of the soldiers in the Tang Dynasty. .

140 million big soldiers turned from Wu Fu to Qiu Ba.

After Wang Jiao and Bai Wulang finished eating, they went out for a stroll.

Listening to the chatter of the people around, I learned that the caravan came from Ganzhou and was going to Hedong and Hebei to do business.

Both Wang and Bai are from Huining County, Huizhou. After joining the army for a few years, their knowledge has greatly improved. They know that Liangzhou is to the west of the Xinquan Army in Huizhou, and Ganzhou is to the west of Liangzhou. They belong to the Uighurs. territory.

how?Didn't the Uighurs in Ganzhou like to plunder merchants before?Are you now a business traveler?Don't do the business of robbery?
There are quite a lot of people around the merchant, but mainly the family members of the sergeants are buying.The merchants also knew that they were rich, and kept bragging about the goods they had brought in poor Mandarin.

Wang Jiao looked at it, and suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

In Huizhou Township back then, the merchants in the Zhao family caravan were also wagging their lips like this.

I don't know what my grandparents are doing?How are the siblings?
Grandpa got injured all over his body when he was young, would he still have a dull pain in rainy days?
The merchants are still bragging about it, but Wang Jiao's thoughts have drifted to what seems to be a very distant time.

That year, as a young man, he was famous in the township of Huizhou, galloping and shooting, hitting four or five out of ten.

That year, the father and son followed Captain Sun of the Xinquan Army to dig out the outpost of the Tubo people, and he was scolded miserably as a fledgling.

So many years have passed!

"There is an order from the soldiers and horse envoys, you will return to the camp within two days and prepare to set off!" A horse galloped from a distance, and sent "bad news" to everyone with his broken voice.

Bai Wulang yelled: "Every time I come here, nothing good happens."

Wang Jiao didn't think much of it, exchanging his life for money was originally the fate of a martial artist, so there was nothing to say.

Compared with a small life, it is more difficult to accept not being able to stand out.

This time, it shouldn't be a change of defense, it's probably about seeing a battle.As for the target of the attack, there is actually only one: Mianchi County, Henan Province.

On July 25, three thousand sergeants assembled in the Weijin barracks.

After the names were counted according to the book, the whole army set out and headed for Xiao County.

Wang Jianji was riding a steed horse, and was complaining to his staff non-stop: "The commander-in-chief is stationed in the river, and the five armies of Heyuan, Jishi, Tielin, Zhenwu, and Tianxiong have been reorganized, and five soldiers have been missing all of a sudden. There is a large army that can fight, so why fight? The Tianzhu Army, the Baoyi Army, the Shunyi Army, and the Yicong Army Hengshandu, only 3 people, cannot be fully mobilized yet, and they are going to scratch the Bian Army again."

The staff was very embarrassed and could only reply: "Proprietor, there are still more than 1 Tibetans."

"Fan people are not that stupid. So many people died in Mianchi County. Now it's a matter of whether they want to fight bloody battles or not."

"If Zhe Zongben launched an offensive in Tang and Deng Sui, it might change the overall situation. Proprietor, did the Economic and Strategic Envoy talk about the alliance between the two armies?"

"Don't expect to break the sect." Wang Jianji sneered, and said, "He brought nine thousand Fengxiang soldiers to the south, and now there are more than [-] of them. What about rectifying the army. Moreover, Tang and Deng followed the three prefectures. We did not bring them down, but the newly established feudal towns after the division of Shannan Dongdao. The internal relationship is complicated. Can Zhezong be sorted out in a year? I think it is enough. He can guard Tang Deng Sui well, and it would be good not to be defeated. Rather than relying on Zhe Zongben, it is better to place hope on Er Zhu and Shi Pu, they are fighting against Bian thieves with real knives and guns."

"My lord, when it comes to Er Zhu and Shi Pu, I heard that Mr. Feng was shut down in Qingzhou. Is this true or not?"

"Actually, I don't know very well. It's all hearsay." Wang Jianji said: "Wang Shifan opened a school in Qingzhou, recruited Confucian scholars, hung around with Confucian scholars all day long, and ignored military affairs. Domineering and unruly, contemptuous of the emperor, not the way of a minister. I wonder, where did this loyal minister come from? His late father, Wang Jingwu, also accepted Huang Chao's false post back then, and he was also the military envoy of the mutiny. , the son suddenly became a loyal minister? It must be pretending."

Hearing the words, the staff sighed: "Wang Shifan is so stupid! He only wants to protect the environment and the people, but in this world, isn't it delusional? Once Zhu Quanzhong breaks through Erzhu, he will march into Ziqing. How can Wang Shifan, a refined scholar, defeat jackals?" Tiger?"

He has also heard about Wang Shifan.The young man succeeds to the throne, wisely kills the government general Lu Hong who is about to rebel, and puts down Zhang Chan who is separatist in Dizhou. His performance is remarkable.

But after finishing these, he immediately let Nanshan go.He is obsessed with Confucianism, talks with a group of Confucian scholars, and has a collection of thousands of books at home. In fact, he is somewhat similar to Zhao Kuangning from Shannan Dongdao. The two should become confidants.

"Wang Shifan is still afraid in his heart." Wang Jianji saw it very accurately: "I am afraid that I can't beat Zhu Quanzhong, so I dare not offend him at all. After all, our commander-in-chief is far away, so he swears twice to show his loyalty and hopes that Zhu Quanzhong will be defeated." If you are loyal and happy, don't go and beat him."

"After the commander-in-chief occupies Hezhong this time, he can attack Zhu Quanzhong and people like Wang Shifan. He will definitely not dare to talk nonsense in the future." The staff laughed.

"It's impossible to attack on a large scale. How many troops can be deployed on Zhiguan Road? How many troops can be deployed on Mianchi Road in Xin'an? Let's talk about large-scale attack after we have waded through this mountainous area someday." Wang Jian and I thought of a unit of Tibetan troops passing by from Shanzhou yesterday, mainly composed of Hewei Qiang people and Qingtang Tubo, with a total of [-] households. They should have been sent to defend the area around Dawu City.

I heard that there was also a group of Fan soldiers from Hexi on the road, mainly Liang and Gan Zahu, with a total of [-] households.

The commander-in-chief's Fan soldiers are really exciting to use. Sooner or later, Mianchi County will be submerged by the vast ocean of Fan people.

Wave after wave, as if juggling, there is no end, you never know how much he can take out.

On July 28, [-] sergeants from the left wing of the Baoyi Army arrived in Xiao County. At this time, news came from the front: Shuangqiao Village had been captured, and the horns of the Bian Army had been broken.

Well, without anyone's reminder, Wang Jianji also knew that it was time for the pampered martial artist to work hard.

(End of this chapter)