The story in the General's Mansion was played out in every household in Mucheng, especially those who were unable to go to Longdu because of their marriages, which made them feel even more sad.
When Zhang Xiaowu promulgated the marriage order two years ago, it solved the single problem of a wave of veterans in the army. However, after all, Mucheng is a military city with an extremely imbalanced distribution of men and women. In order to avoid the problem of gender imbalance, Zhang Xiaowu
Allow Mucheng to open more
Several brothels and kilns were opened to solve the problems between men and women. The old soldiers who had married wives were naturally complacent at that time, and the single soldiers could only be jealous of others. Therefore, there are still nearly 15,000 singles in Mucheng, and 8,000 of them are
Many of them are ghost guards.
Unexpectedly, one moment and another, the person who was envied by others now becomes the person who is envied by others. Instead, the single soldiers were given priority to join the Silver Guard and were transferred to Longdu, while the married ones could only continue to stay.
Mucheng served as a frontier soldier.
Some people naturally beat their chests and regretted deeply, others were noncommittal, and even more people had complicated attitudes, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.
The fact that 7,000 ghost guards entered the capital and the silver-clad guards became a top topic of discussion among the people, soldiers and civilians of Mucheng. People not only talked about it for a few days, but also for more than ten years, it was still inseparable from everyone's topic.
Five days later, 7,000 people were selected into the list, and everyone was ready to welcome a new life.
Zhang Xiaowu found Xiao Kai and handed over 250,000 taels of silver to him.
Xiao Kai immediately refused, saying that for three thousand border troops, two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver was indeed too much. Then Xiao Kai also made a calculation, and Zhang Xiaowu was slightly surprised to hear that the military salary of three thousand ghost guards, excluding
The imperial court allocates 10,000 taels of silver to replenish it every year, and consumes 15,000 taels of food and clothing, which means that only 25,000 taels of silver are needed to feed three thousand people every year.
It has been used for ten years.
In addition, according to Guan Xiang's estimate, Mucheng's refined salt business brings a profit of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand taels to Mucheng every year. Since Mucheng encourages commercial circulation, the commercial tax (commercial tax) can bring Mucheng ten thousand taels of silver every year.
income. Therefore, instead of being short of money, Ghost Guard did not know how to spend it. The two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver were left for everyone, and no one could use them.
"So, we can provide you with military salary support, but we live better than you in Saibei." Xiao Kai said with a smile, "We plan to give you some every month. No one wants your life to be too miserable."
Zhang Xiaowu waved his hand and said seriously: "Old Xiao, this is not a matter of money, this is a matter of property ownership. The 700,000 taels of Qinglong military salary is our common property and must be used for the ghost guards. It is not
I, Zhang Xiaowu's personal property, you and I are just the managers of the money, not the users. Now that the Ghost Guard is divided into two, the remaining five hundred thousand taels of silver must also be divided into two. This is everyone's right and everyone's
Benefit."
Xiao Kai thought about it and felt it made sense. He had never thought about things like salary and income before. After all, he was just a deputy general and didn't care about food and clothing at all. He only needed to lead the army well. When he thought about what he was going to do next,
In charge of everyone's food, clothing, housing and transportation, he scratched his head subconsciously and sighed: "I am one-eyed, but I have to take care of so many people. Seriously...I don't have any concept of money."
Zhang Xiaowu said: "I recommend a person, Zhang Tongming. This person is good at calculation and good at using money. You can ask him to help you calculate your income and expenses."
Xiao Kai nodded and said: "Okay." He suddenly remembered the ownership of the property and immediately said: "Then I accept the two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, but you also have to accept my condition. The one we discovered together
There is a salt well, and the refined salt business in the salt well belongs to all of us. You went to Longdu, but the refined salt in the salt well also has half of yours. The ghost guards cannot monopolize it, so in the future, the ghost guards and silver guards will each have half, otherwise the brothers will never
promise."
Zhang Xiaowu originally planned to hand over the salt well to Xiao Kai, but Xiao Kai insisted that Zhang Xiaowu could only accept half of the ownership of the salt well on behalf of Yinyiwei. Later, Zhang Xiaowu also told the brothers about the results of his discussions with Xiao Kai, and everyone immediately expressed their support
, although everyone cares about money, they care more about the friendship together.
In fact, what moved everyone more deeply was Zhang Xiaowu's selflessness and fairness, because the Qinglong Army's military salary was almost entirely used on the ghost guards, and Zhang Xiaowu hardly had to spend it on his own personal expenses. But for other generals, let alone
Money is your own, and the lives of those under you are yours. It is impossible for people to remain unmoved when it comes to money, but those who can restrain their possessiveness in the face of money are truly strong.
Returning to the General's Mansion, Zhang Xiaowu unexpectedly saw his uncle Yuan Shikai coming. The Yuan family learned that Zhang Xiaowu had returned from Longdu, the capital, and sent the eldest grandchild to visit relatives. Zhang Xiaowu immediately wrote a note to him and asked him to take it with him.
Give it to the old lady and tell her that she will go to Yuan's house to visit the old lady tomorrow.
Yuan Shikai took the note but stopped talking.
Zhang Xiaowu said with a smile: "We are relatives, so we can speak directly if we have anything to say."
Yuan Shikai said: "Well...brother-in-law, if you come to Longdu, can you secretly visit an old friend for me? I just want to know how she is doing?"
"What does it have to do with you whether you are a man or a woman?" Zhang Xiaowu asked with a smile.
Yuan Shikai lowered his head and said: "This person is a girl who lives at No. 12 East Third Street, Ruyifang. She is the second young lady of the Lou family, her maiden name is Zi Ling. She and I were... engaged, because the Yuan family
Due to the disaster, the Lou family broke off our engagement. I had met Zi Ling before, and we were together in the big house.
I burned incense in the Buddhist temple, and I was very satisfied with this marriage. Unexpectedly, things in the world are unpredictable, and I didn’t expect that the two of us were destined to be inseparable. Brother-in-law, when you and your sister go to Longdu, you must go and see her for me. If she lives
Then write me a letter. If she is not doing well, can you help her?"
The children of the Yuan family are not eligible for the seven thousand ghost guards to enter the capital. The brothers of the Yuan family have given up on returning to Longdu and are happy that their cousin can follow their husband back to live in Longdu. However, Yuan Shikai is regretful about Miss Lou.
Still can't let go.
Zhang Xiaowu smiled slightly and said to himself that it turned out to be his first girlfriend, and because of the involvement of the Yuan family, Lao Yan was destined to be separated. He comforted: "Okay, this request is simple, what if she is still waiting for you?"
"I..." Yuan Shikai scratched his head and said, "I don't know what to do. Miss Lou is innocent. Alas... I don't know what to do. Brother-in-law, I... just take a look at it for me.
Just take a look."
Zhang Xiaowu shook his head and said: "I will help you kidnap her and throw her back to Saibei. When you two cook the rice and have seven or eight children, we will see if the Lou family still dares not to recognize this marriage."
Yuan Shikai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. If he was kidnapped, he could get the support of the Lou family. The Yuan family would be shameless and wanted to revive the family. He could only wave his thanks and turn around to go back.