People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 78 I pay, you die!
The warm spring breeze blew over, neither hot nor cold, making people feel very comfortable. However, such a beautiful season could not dispel the solemn atmosphere on the top of Pinggu City.

At this time, the soldiers on the city wall all looked nervous and excited. They were nervous because they knew that the Yellow Turbans would attack soon, and they were excited because of the things placed in the inner city.

When they looked back, they could see open boxes filling the streets and piled up into small hills, and the things inside made everyone's eyes pop out.

There were not only grains, salt and sugar, but also jade and precious beads. The strings of five-zhu coins were piled up and overflowed, scattering all over the ground.

The soldiers on the city walls were either retainers of powerful families or conscripted common people. They had never seen such a scene before. Once they turned around, they could not take their eyes away and wished they could throw themselves into the city.

If there weren't many tall warriors in full armor guarding the place, I'm afraid the order here would be difficult to maintain.

It was not until a group of generals in armor, followed by elite soldiers, rode on horses on the side street that everyone's attention was diverted.

When the soldiers on the city wall saw the leader among them, they all lowered their heads in awe. That was Zhang Chun, the head of the Zhang family in Pinggu.

To the local common people like them, the heads of aristocratic families are even more terrifying than the officials in the imperial court. The officials can only oppress the common people at most, while the powerful heads of aristocratic families can actually decide their life and death.

But today, in addition to awe, the way they looked at Zhang Chun was also full of eagerness.

Although they were of low status, they were smart. They understood at a glance what it meant to display so many wealth and materials before the war. Of course, they were looking forward to Zhang Chun confirming this guess.

Under everyone's gaze, Zhang Chun and a group of generals climbed to the top of the city wall.

He first glanced at the land in the distance. There was no sight of the Yellow Turban bandits yet, but according to the marching time, they would be almost there.

After taking a deep breath, Zhang Chun turned around and, under the watchful eyes of everyone, pointed at the piles of wealth.

"Have you seen these things?" Zhang Chun's majestic and cold voice rang out.

And there was no need for an answer, because everyone's eyes were fixed there, and their expressions became more and more excited.

I don't know how many people began to swallow their saliva at this moment. They had already begun to fantasize about the beautiful dream of being overwhelmed by these riches.

In fact, their guess was correct. This was the property that Zhang Chun used to reward them.

Zhang Chun glanced around at the people's reactions, then laughed: "I have only one request for you, that is to defend this place. As long as you can do it, I will reward you generously!"

At this point, Zhang Chun did not wait for the soldiers to react, and stretched out a finger: "As long as you hold on for one day, I will reward each of you 20 coins!"

When these words were spoken, the soldiers' eyes lit up. This was indeed good for them.

If the common people of the Han Dynasty averaged out their income from all the food and work they earned in a year, their daily income would be as little as five cents and as much as ten cents.

Even when there is war or famine and food is in short supply, ordinary people cannot enjoy the benefits of the market, and their lives may even become worse.

Because it is unlikely that ordinary people will have surplus food. They themselves do not have enough to eat, and often they even have to rely on borrowing or buying food to survive. The more expensive the food is, the more miserable they are.

Any daily income is precious to them.

Now, if they could hold on for one day, they could earn twenty coins, which they thought was quite good.

Zhang Chun's next words came soon: "If you can hold on for three days, I will increase the reward to 100 coins!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole city was in an uproar, and their eyes suddenly turned red. A hundred coins for three days, this was much more exciting than the previous twenty coins a day.

They almost knelt down and shouted at the general's benevolence. But Zhang Chun hadn't finished speaking yet. He smiled and said, "If you can hold out for six days, the reward will be raised to five hundred coins!"

All of a sudden, all the soldiers' chests heaved, they gasped for breath, and their eyes became a little dazed.

The increase in the limit is getting bigger and bigger, which makes them more and more excited.

Money can move people's hearts, and such a huge reward is enough to make them fight to the death. The lives of the common people are so cheap.

The soldiers thought that this was the end, but some of them were still unwilling to give up. They secretly looked at Zhang Chun, hoping that Zhang Chun would take the next step.

Perhaps it was a sign from heaven, they really saw Zhang Chun's mouth curl up, then he waved his hand violently, followed by a loud shout.

"If you can hold out for ten days, I'll give you a thousand coins!"

When this voice fell, there was a dead silence on the city wall. The soldiers' eyes were all red. This number made them unable to stand steadily, and some of them almost fell off the city wall.

This number was like a thunderbolt, which stunned them.

This is a thousand dollars, a thousand dollars!

As long as you can hold on for these ten days, it will be almost equivalent to half a year!
They were really going crazy. They felt hot all over and really wanted to fight the Yellow Turbans for three hundred rounds right away.

Soon, they all shouted in unison, and the words "General's righteousness" echoed on the city wall for a long time. The atmosphere was no longer solemn and depressing as before, but became hot and restless.

Seeing this effect, Zhang Chun and other generals looked at each other and smiled in tacit understanding.

The aristocratic families are indeed rich, but they are not suckers. They will naturally pay the money, but the question is whether the soldiers will live to receive it.

If the battle really lasts for a long time, there is no telling how many soldiers will be killed or injured. Naturally, there is no need to pay the money if people die.

Moreover, let alone fighting for ten days, the other two counties are only so far away. According to Zhang Chun's estimation, with normal marching, reinforcements from the two counties will arrive in less than six days.

This is also why the reward from the third to the sixth day jumped so high all of a sudden, because that was originally a target that the soldiers could not reach, not to mention the thousand coins for the following ten days.

The bigger the pie in the sky, the better. Otherwise, how can we motivate the soldiers to fight hard until the sixth day?

"The army's morale is good. This general wants to see if that evil Taoist can break through the city in one day!"

Seeing the soldiers on the city wall roaring like energetic monkeys under the stimulation of money, Zhang Chun stroked his beard slowly and smiled.

Then he looked at the young scholar standing beside him with an approving look.

"It is all thanks to Zitai's policy of rewarding bravery, otherwise this battle would have been much more difficult. Zitai is only a young man but he is so smart, I think he will achieve great things in the future."

The Zitai he mentioned was named Tian Chou, and was also a member of the Youzhou noble family.

During this interaction between the noble families, when he was a guest at Zhang's house, it happened to be a critical moment, so he made these suggestions. Now the results are outstanding and naturally everyone is amazed.

However, Tian Chou said that it was a boast, and then pointed to the distance and said solemnly: "General, you'd better prepare to defend against the enemy first."

Everyone looked over and saw a black line appearing on the ground in the distance.
(End of this chapter)