Late Tang

Li Jing yelled, and all the villagers, old and young, fell silent under the big locust tree.Hundreds of eyes kept watching Li Jing's figure, holding his breath as he stretched his hand into the clay pot, and then stretched his hand back with a clenched fist.

"Open it quickly, have you got it yet?" The surrounding villagers were more anxious than Li Jing, urging loudly beside them.

Li Jing stretched out his clenched fist in front of everyone, and slowly opened it.

"Ah! It's white, I didn't get it!" A burst of exclamations sounded, some of them were happy for Li Jing, celebrating that he was exempted from the errand of being drawn into the army.However, some people sighed in disappointment. After all, although only ten of the 150 eight pebbles in the clay pot were ink-dyed, if Li Jing drew one of the ink-dyed pebbles, they would have an extra point to avoid drawing ink. Chance of Stone going to enlist.

As the morning breeze blew, Li Jing looked at the gray-white pebble in his hand, but secretly felt disappointed in his heart.No one else wanted to be a soldier, but he wanted to, but in the end he couldn't get it.

There was a lot of discussion among the people, but for a while, no one went up to touch the stones to draw lots.

The knife-wielding officer who had been half-closed his eyes under the tree suddenly raised his eyes and looked up and down Li Jing with great interest.

This time, the united soldiers were recruited instead of the official recruits. The united soldiers did not leave the local army for a long time, also known as regiment training, Tuzhen, and Tutuan.It was set up in the Tang Dynasty, and it was widely set up in Wu Zetian.The united soldiers were commanded by regiment training envoys, and at this time in the late Tang Dynasty, most of the regiment training envoys were concurrently served by state governors.

Returning to agriculture in spring and summer, gathering in autumn and winter, this is the united army.

Unity soldiers are drafted into the army by the local government and are not registered in the regular army. During their service, they are given personal food and pickles; they assist the officials of the feudal towns in defending the territory, or cooperate in combat;

Although the imperial court made many detailed regulations on the recruitment and repatriation of the Unity soldiers, by this time, most of the central imperial court's decrees were out of shape.Unity soldiers were originally conscripted by the local government in a certain proportion when the local defense was tight, and they had to be supplied with rations of pickles.And these solidarity soldiers are only responsible for the defense of the local territory, and will not be out of production for a long time.They gather in autumn and winter every year, and return home to farm in spring and summer.But now, everything has changed.The united soldiers were summoned in name, but in fact they already belonged to the nature of mercenaries.Often once they are recruited, they will not be able to return for several years, and even besides assisting in defense, they have to go to the battlefield to fight.

Even in some places, the united soldiers are not as good as the officials under the various feudal towns. The united soldiers have no food and wages when fighting, and are only responsible for basic body food and pickles.Weapons and armor are all self-provided, and the service time is uncertain.They are similar to the Fubing in the early Tang Dynasty, but they don't have the corresponding treatment.This kind of united army has gradually evolved into a kind of military service, and the common people are terrified of this kind of military service.

Applying to go to various feudal towns to serve as officials and health, as well as food and salary, can be regarded as a way to eat.But being a united soldier is free, which is completely similar to hard labor.

The officer has been in the army for many years, and he has been to several villages this time when the conscripts are recruited. Once those people are drawn, they are all terrified, and some even cried bitterly and knelt down and begged for forgiveness.And those who were not drawn were all overjoyed.

Only the young man in front of him was very calm.No one was willing to come forward before, so he took the initiative to step forward to draw lots without any nervousness or worry.When he was lucky enough to miss the draw, he didn't show the slightest bit of excitement.This young man was too calm, and he had the temperament of not changing his face when the mountain collapsed in front of him.Seeing that he is young and strong, with a good temperament, it is said that he is a village tribute who has obtained the qualification of the imperial examination.It would be great if such a person could be recruited, but unfortunately, he didn't get one.

"Next!" Old Village Chief Wang shouted when he saw that no one was coming forward.

"I'm coming!" Wang Xiaoshitou from Wang Tiejiang's house ran forward with excitement, and put his hand into the pot.

"I won the draw. It's ink. I'm going to be a soldier. I won the draw." Wang Xiaoshitou slapped open his palm, and a pitch-black pebble lay in his palm.But he shouted excitedly, as if he had planned to join the army just like Li Jing.

With a lot of thoughts in Li Jing's heart, she returned to her family.The whole family gathered around, excitedly looking at the gray pebble in Li Jing's hand.They don't want Li Jing to draw ink-stained pebbles. Li Jing is the only man left in the family, and if he is drawn to serve as a soldier, what will happen to the family.

Regardless of whether they were willing or unwilling, one after another the villagers stepped forward and took out a stone.

Some people were happy and some were worried. The family who didn't touch the ink-dyed stone laughed happily, and those who got it had a dark complexion and sighed again and again.Li Jing noticed that not only the little stone had drawn an ink-dyed pebble, Wang Liang had also drawn one, and the old village head had also drawn an ink-dyed pebble.

Wang Liang held the black stone with an extremely ugly expression, and he had the idea of ​​swallowing the pebble in one mouthful.Seeing his expression like this, Li Jing suddenly felt much relieved.

The clerk had already registered the ten households who had drawn ink-dyed stones in the register, and said loudly: "The drawing is over. There are 150 and eight households in Wangli Village. Fifteen households will draw one for a total of ten. The ten households of the family immediately packed up their things, and the ten members drawn in the afternoon had to leave for Penglai, the prefecture of Dengzhou. The ugly words come to the fore, and when noon arrives, whichever family draws a member who dares to fail will be hanged for the crime of desertion , the whole family was exiled for three thousand miles."

Several families burst into tears when they heard this, and there was a lot of noise under the communal tree.

"Qu Jing, why are you crying? It is your luck and your good fortune to be drawn into the army. If you really want to kill the enemy and make meritorious service on the battlefield, you will inevitably get rich and get promoted. In addition, every two men need to be equipped with a horse. Horses, donkeys and mules are also acceptable. In addition, you must bring your own weapons and armor. If you don’t have any, you can get them from the barracks after arriving in Penglai, but each person needs to pay [-] yuan for a full set of equipment.”

As soon as these words came out, the people who were drawn to Ding below became even more gloomy.Every family in this village is a farmer, so there is no ready weapon or armor.If you can't get weapons and armor, you have to pay [-] yuan, isn't that terrible.

Several families have already started crying to the official and the old village head.

"Listen to what I have to say, listen to what I have to say." The goat beard scribe tried his best to appease the people, and said with a shattered head, "The higher-ups have already considered this issue, and there is an order from the higher-ups to draw Chu Ding's family, and there is no need to bear other responsibility. All Horses and donkeys, weapons and armor, etc., are shared equally by other households in the village who have not been drawn.”

After finishing this sentence, the other families who were still a little thankful for their luck were also stunned.

Those who are drawn will pay people, and those who are not drawn will be paid.

Wang Li village draws ten people, and needs five horses and donkeys. In addition, if the armor and armor are all converted into money, it will cost 20 yuan.The 20 yuan has to be borne by the remaining 140 or eight households on average, and each family has to bear 350 yuan.

One thousand 350 Wen is not all, and five horses and donkeys have to be added. Even if all donkeys are used, at least one donkey will cost a lot of money.In the early years, when Dou Mi was 2000 Wen, a horse got [-], and a cow got [-].Now a bucket of rice is two hundred dollars. Although there are reasons for the famine and food shortage, the skyrocketing price of rice has also led to the skyrocketing of other prices.Originally, the price of a donkey was only [-] to [-] yuan, but now it has almost tripled, and a donkey is at least [-] yuan.The five donkeys add up to another [-] renminbi, and if they are allocated to each family, an additional [-] renminbi will be added.

More than 500 yuan, most people can still get it out, but the Li family really can't get it out at all.

After being happy for a moment just now, everyone in the Li family fell into a cloud of gloom.

ps: It has finally been changed to a contract status, is there anyone who is willing to tip a dollar or two to support a team?