Transmigrating into a Turbulent Era as a Soldier, Starting with Marrying a Wife

He gave Centurion Xue five strings of cash.

Li Yuan obtained the land deed and business license for the distillery.

From that moment on, the distillery in East Village belonged to Li Yuan.

The distillery wasn't too far from Li Yuan's home, only a few minutes' walk.

The three women in the family were mobilized to clean the distillery inside and out.

All the equipment was carefully washed with clean water.

Around noon, Uncle Stone and Uncle Leopard, along with several mountain people, arrived in pairs, carrying shoulder poles.

They brought Li Yuan five loads of coal and five loads of mountain fruit.

Li Yuan readily paid the two uncles two hundred coins.

The mountain people were happy to receive money.

Uncle Stone patted his chest and said to Li Yuan.

“Nephew, as long as you need it, just have Xiao Xia send a message, and I will deliver as much as you need.”

After seeing off the uncles and mountain people.

Li Yuan began experimenting with the mountain fruit to make wine.

The process was not complicated.

It involved washing the mountain fruit, peeling it, slicing it, and crushing it.

Because Li Yuan couldn't find rock candy or white sugar in the Great Liang Dynasty.

He could only try adding maltose that had been prepared in advance.

Then, the fruit pulp was poured into clean ceramic jars and sealed for fermentation.

This process would take several days.

Li Yuan didn't dare to guarantee success in one go, so he batched the filling.

Each batch used slightly different ratios of mountain fruit and maltose.

He was busy all day long.

The five or six hundred pounds of mountain fruit brought by the mountain people eventually filled over a hundred jars.

As for what kind of wine it would produce.

He could only leave it to time.

After settling the distillery, Li Yuan rested at home for another day.

This day was the day to go with Centurion Xue to the military fortress to receive military equipment.

Although the imperial court required military households to bring their own weapons to war.

The supervising army and the officers in the military fortress knew very well.

These newly registered military households had no surplus wealth and had trouble feeding themselves, so they could not afford weapons.

Therefore, the military fortress would issue some necessary military equipment to the military households first.

To avoid the military households going to the battlefield empty-handed.

At Chenshi hour in the morning, the 25 newly registered military households in East Village gathered at the threshing ground at the village entrance.

Centurion Xue, seeing that everyone had arrived, led everyone to West River Fortress.

East Village was not far from West River Fortress.

They didn't speak along the way.

In less than half an hour, they arrived at West River Fortress.

The last time Li Yuan and the other military households went to West River Fortress, they only wrote their names at the garrison office in the fortress.

Then they were sent to East Village.

The garrison officer of West River Fortress was called Lin Wanshan.

He was a tall and sturdy man.

He was also a rare upright military officer in the army.

The military households who came to receive military equipment this time were not only from East Village.

New military households from various villages under the jurisdiction of West River Fortress also came, with as many as a hundred people on the training ground.

Lin Wanshan first comforted the military households.

Then he asked the military fortress's military commander to take the military households from each village to the military fortress's armory to receive military equipment.

The armory was the department in the military fortress that managed weapons.

Li Yuan and the military households lined up in front of the armory.

Then, they entered one by one, wrote their names in the documents, and received military equipment.

Soon it was Li Yuan's turn.

When the distributed military equipment was in hand, Li Yuan shook his head involuntarily after taking a closer look.

In Li Yuan's opinion, the weapons issued to these military households were really very simple.

Each person was given an iron spearhead with some rust, and they had to go back and find a suitable wooden pole to attach it to.

In addition, each person also had an old iron knife.

Li Yuan pulled it out and looked at it. The blade also had some rust, the scabbard was damaged, and there were many gaps in the blade.

This knife was obviously an old knife that had been used by someone.

According to rumors from people in the fortress, these weapons were all picked up from the battlefield.

What good things could be issued to military households?

After issuing the weapons, it was time to issue protective gear to the military households.

Armor was absolutely not available.

Even in the military fortress, only people at the level of military commander could have a short-bodied lamellar armor to protect themselves.

As for the bottom-level military households like Li Yuan.

Each person was given a felt hat with a red tassel and a thick linen coat.

Fortunately, the quality of these felt hats and linen clothes was still good. At least they could block the wind and keep out the cold.

In addition, some sundries such as leather belts, water bags, and flint were distributed.

The military households put on their coats and felt hats on the spot, tightened their leather belts, and hung the iron knives on their waists.

Standing there, they looked somewhat like soldiers of the Great Liang Dynasty.

Today, in addition to receiving military equipment, it was also to familiarize themselves with the military household regulations.

According to the requirements of the Great Liang military law.

Military households must gather at the military fortress for four days each month to practice combat tactics.

Of course, they had to bring their own rations for these four days.

This naturally made a group of new military households complain.

However, since they had become military households, they had to obey the orders of the military fortress.

If they were absent from three roll calls.

According to military law, they would be beheaded.

In addition, once the Northern Barbarians invaded.

When the military fortress lit the wolf smoke, or when the military order arrived, the military households in each village must be fully armed within half a day and bring their own rations to gather at the military fortress.

Those who failed to do so would still be beheaded.

In addition, there were many similar regulations.

These new military households were all frowning when they heard this.

Military households were different from civilian households. The government gave them houses, fields, and women, and what they wanted was for them to fight on the battlefield.

Sure enough, the government's things were not easy to take.

This time, because Li Yuan was a squad leader, he was also assigned four subordinates.

One of them was a regular soldier, and three were auxiliary soldiers.

Among these four people, two were brothers.

The older brother was a soldier named Cui Yong, who was an honest-looking, tall man.

The younger brother was an auxiliary soldier named Cui Ping, who was not tall and somewhat thin, but very clever.

The other two auxiliary soldiers were actually acquaintances of Li Yuan.

One was Liu Heizi, who lived next door to him.

The other was Uncle Fu, whom he met during the recruitment.

From now on, these four people would be under Li Yuan's management.

They would also be under Li Yuan's command when going to war.

After receiving the military equipment and explaining the military household laws, everyone dispersed.

Some people wanted to buy supplies at the military fortress and wanted to stay longer.

While some people wanted to rush back to the village to work, so they left first.

Li Yuan wanted to connect with his four subordinates.

So Li Yuan hosted a dinner and took the four of them to a tavern in the military fortress for wine.

The four were all happy to hear that Squad Leader Li Yuan was treating.

After entering the tavern, Li Yuan and the others took a table.

Then they asked the boss to bring up the dishes and wine.

Soon, stewed fish from West River, whole roasted goose, and two jars of rice wine were brought to the table.

These kinds of meat and wine were not something that these bottom-level military households could usually eat.

The subordinates were all enjoying it very much.

Li Yuan won the loyalty of his four subordinates with one meal.

After drinking, the four men carried their knives and followed behind Li Yuan.

Each of them looked loyal.

Li Yuan first went to the grain and rice shop in the military fortress.

The price of grain here was 10 to 20% more expensive than in Qingyuan County.

But Li Yuan found that the price of rice bran was even cheaper than in the county, 80 coins per stone.

This stuff was usually used as feed for the large livestock in the fortress.

So the grain and rice shop had a lot of rice bran stored.

Li Yuan spent 800 coins to buy ten stones of rice bran and two stones of miscellaneous grains.

He also hired three wheelbarrow drivers and asked them to send the rice bran and miscellaneous grains to East Village.

Because it was very close, each driver only cost 20 coins.

Li Yuan asked Liu Heizi to escort the cart and send the rice bran he bought to his own distillery.

Liu Heizi quickly agreed and left.