Sister Li Xiu felt bitter in her heart, she swallowed tears in her stomach, and interrupted: "Where are you? Where are the Jurchens, have they left?"
When asked this, Xiaoni quickly wiped away her tears and said: "Jianlu is all dead. Brother Jing killed them all and avenged us all."
Sister Li Xiu felt that she heard wrongly, frowned slightly, and asked in confusion: "What did you say, I didn't hear clearly."
Xiaoni organized her thoughts and began to tell. Although she was not a storyteller and did not have any thrilling adjectives, the whole story was basically correct.
Li Xiucheng nodded repeatedly, and after Xiaoni finished speaking, he added: "Sister, Brother Dajing has taken people to the manor. He wants to grab food and come back to take everyone home."
Go home?! Sister Li Xiu's eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed again.
Where is home? Besides, it’s so far away, how can we walk safely and peacefully?
"Everyone has packed up and is waiting for Brother Jing and the others to come back." Xiaoni's eyes were shining, full of confidence in Guo Dajing.
Sister Li Xiu looked at the two children who were full of expectations, thought about it, and the desire to survive came to her heart. The younger brother still needs her, and she has to hold on even if one of her hands is missing.
"Come, help me sit up." Sister Li Xiu does not live for herself, but for the last seedling of the Li family.
The two children, one on the left and one on the right, helped Sister Li Xiu sit up. Sister Li Xiu was panting to relieve the dizziness caused by physical weakness, and a layer of sweat formed on her forehead.
Xiaoni suddenly thought of something, took out two pills from her body, held them to Sister Li Xiu, and said, "This is what Brother Jing left behind. He said it was a miracle medicine and asked me to feed it to you in the middle of the night."
Miracle medicine?! Sister Li Xiu took the pill, looked at it, put it in her mouth, bit it into pieces and swallowed it.
It's so painful! Sister Li Xiu grinned and quickly took the water bowl handed over by Xiao Ni. She took a few sips before taking the medicine.
"Is there any more broth?" Sister Li Xiu asked.
Eat more and drink more. You will have more strength when you set off. You can't take care of your little brother, but don't drag him down.
……………………
In the manor, there were noisy voices, clumsy footsteps, and a tense and busy scene.
Horses, carts, and sledges were all put to use; food, bedding, furs and other items were carried on people's backs and loaded upwards.
"Too much." Guo Dajing walked to Zhao Qingshan, pointed at it, and reminded him worriedly.
Now, he regretted a little. When searching inside, he should have stored more things in the space.
It's not that he is selfish, just for the sake of monopoly. If he saves more here, the villagers will have less burden when they are on their way, and they can go faster.
Zhao Qingshan has already put on a fur coat and a fur hat, which should be very warm.
Regarding Guo Dajing's reminder, he shook his head helplessly and said: "Everyone was forced to come here and is almost destitute. These things may seem cumbersome, but in the ice and snow, they are life-saving things."
After a pause, he comforted himself and said: "Forget it, wait a little longer. When they can't pretend anymore, they will stop."
Guo Dajing smiled bitterly and thought it made sense. He also kept a lot of things for personal use, so he shouldn't be strict with others.
After thinking for a while, Guo Dajing also walked into the inner courtyard. Idle time is idle, and the space must be used to a limited extent. Take what you can, maybe it will be useful in the future!
Inside the courtyard, the houses were all in shambles, and the villagers were walking back and forth, carrying and hugging him, not forgetting to say hello to Guo Dajing.
Awe and fear are the two most common emotions. After these two major events, everyone knows that Guo Dajing is fierce and brave, or cruel.
More than a dozen Jianlu, who were fierce and murderous, were all killed by Guo Dajing alone. This shows that Guo Dajing was even more vicious than Jianlu, and he also killed without blinking an eye.
"Brother Dajing, do you want this?"
"Brother Jing, please wear this leather jacket!"
In response to the enthusiasm of the villagers, Guo Dajing smiled and waved his hands. He kept what he needed and had no need to ask for what others had.
Guo Dajing didn't want the things that others thought highly of, but they were discarded "trash", so Guo Dajing secretly collected some of them.
Like a rag picker, Guo Dajing himself felt very embarrassed and disgraced. Could it be that this was the process of God giving him a great responsibility? Or could it be said that it was a test?
"Dajing." A rough greeting interrupted Guo Dajing's random thoughts.
It turned out to be Zhou Qing, who was already neatly dressed, replaced his shotgun with a cannon, and his energy and spirit changed. He really had a military temperament.
Not only is his temperament different, Zhou Qing also searches for different things from others. What he is looking for is dead heads.
Here, I will briefly explain the regulations of the most simple and crude military merit in the Ming Dynasty: the first merit (head merit).
In the tenth year of Jiajing, the first meritorious service system was officially introduced. The rules at that time were that if a prisoner was captured alive, he could be rewarded with 30 taels of silver; if he took a head, he could be rewarded with 20 taels of silver.
This is very scientific, because living people can speak, and you can tell whether it is true or false by asking, but it is difficult for a dead person to speak out if he is wronged.
Originally, with institutional standards, which were quite scientific, they should be able to operate and develop normally.
However, the emperor set the standards for top achievements, but the soldiers below tried every means to deceive the superiors and deceive the subordinates to cause trouble.
The disadvantages of buying credit, pretending to be credited, giving credit to others, cheating on credit, and combining credit with credit have arisen from this and become so widespread that it is difficult to control them.
There is no need to go into details about the specific operations. Anyway, military functions are made out of nothing, and it is not uncommon for fellow villagers' heads to be exchanged for money.
The gradual decline of the Ming Dynasty's army's combat effectiveness is directly related to these shortcomings. Those who work hard will not get the rewards they deserve, while those who do not work hard will enjoy the rewards. Who will continue to fight with their heads high?
Therefore, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the morale of the army continued to deteriorate. On the battlefield, it was often "snatching heads when the wind was going well, and betraying teammates when the wind was going", and incentives for first achievements often failed to have the desired effect.
However, the first-gong system was not abolished, and civil servants continued to make changes, hoping to improve it and prevent loopholes from being exploited. Although the actual effect was minimal, it continued until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
Let’s talk about the reward standards of the first merit system. From high to low, they are: Beilu (50 taels), Dongyi (30 taels), Xifan (20 taels), and Liu bandits (10 taels).
In the middle and late period of Wanli, the Jurchens in the Northeast became powerful, and the reward for capturing and killing "Dongyi", also known as "Jianlu", also increased, reaching 50 taels.
In other words, if Guo Dajing could exchange his head for a reward of silver, he would be able to get more than five, six or seven hundred taels after ten levels, making him a proper little rich man.
Of course, this is theoretical, and there are still many things to pay attention to in the actual operation, so it is not that simple and easy.
But Zhou Qing is a soldier and knows the relevant standards and rules very well. This is not only a silver reward, but also a promotion!
Because the first skill system also stipulates: if one person captures/kills one person/bead, he will be promoted to one level, and to three people/benefit, he will be promoted to level three; if two people capture/behead one person/benefit together, the leader will be promoted to one level, to three people/benefit.