Chapter 753 Loyal ministers and righteous men are blessed by God
Author: Middle-aged paper tiger
The old blind man was an old soldier. Although his beard and hair were gray, his body was still strong.
Moreover, his eyes were big and bright, and he did not appear to have any obvious symptoms, nor did he even blink.
Smoke and dust were rising in the distance. The old blind man saw it immediately and immediately waved the red pennant in his hand to warn.
The reason why he is called an old blind man is actually because he suffers from presbyopia and cannot see things close up clearly, but he still likes to pretend to be a cultured person.
From time to time, he would hold a scripture in his hand that he didn't know where it came from, his eyes would be narrowed to a slit, his hands would be stretched out, and he would shake his head and show off to others.
So the soldiers and catchers of the Inspection Department of the Pu Riverside Fort gave him the nickname "Old Blind Man" to make fun of him.
"Commander, there seem to be quite a few people coming in front of us." After waving the red flag, the old blind man quickly ran to the inspection office along the river behind him to report.
The patrol officer at the Yanhe Fort is a man with a ridged face and a weather-beaten look.
His complexion is dark, and he does not look like a high-ranking imperial official and local bully, but rather like an old farmer working in the fields.
But everyone around the Yanhe Fort knew that Inspector Zhang was very capable.
He is a hero of Helong who entered Luo from Long Dynasty. It is said that he is also the emperor's own family. In the battle of Luoyang, he personally captured the heads of seven Khitan generals. Due to his merits, he was awarded the 45th rank from the eighth rank to the Yilang military rank. After retirement, he was awarded the title of Yanhe Fort.
Inspection Department Inspection.
Inspector Zhang knew why the old blind man was such a loser. The old guy hoped that his youngest son could replace him and continue to be the Changzheng Jianyong of the Yanhebao Inspection Department.
The so-called Long March Jianyong refers to the soldiers who served in the inspection department for a long time during the leisure time compared to the conscripted soldiers.
At present, in Zhang Zhou's inspection department, the soldiers are divided into two types, namely, Changzheng Jianyong and Banshang Yisong.
The number of the former is smaller, but they are generally warriors who have passed the selection of the Inspection Department. A small number of them have even passed the selection of the county martial arts school, and have the titles of bow and crossbow master and spear and stick master.
These people will only retire unless they are selected by a higher-level unit, such as joining the state guard army as a low-level officer, or even entering the Forbidden Army or the pro-army, or they are old like Lao Blind Eye.
The latter are the main soldiers of the Inspection Department. All local men under the management of the Inspection Department will serve in the Inspection Department as banjo yoshi.
Generally, one rotation lasts three months, but during the busy farming season, it is shortened to one rotation every ten and a half days, or even no conscription.
According to the understanding of later generations, serving as a soldier in the Inspection Department is basically equivalent to serving. It must be a hard job and no one would want to come.
But on the contrary, the soldiers of the Inspection Department are very popular. Whenever it is their turn, they are all very happy. As for their bravery in the Long March, they are even more precious.
The reason is that it is beneficial to serve in the Inspection Department.
When I, Saint Zhang, set up inspection departments in various places, I usually choose to locate them at water and land strategic points or important pass points.
Mainly responsible for catching thieves, anti-smuggling, searching, fighting bandits and water bandits in the countryside, and training local young men.
Under normal circumstances, such water and land key points and passes will be prosperous places with heavy traffic.
After the political situation stabilizes and business prospers, the inspection department can also collect commercial taxes with the permission of the county government.
The inspection departments of some important commercial nodes are even directly under the jurisdiction of the Household Department or the Transfer Department.
Just looking at these functions, you can see that there is quite a lot of oil and water involved.
This is an important yamen that integrates police, customs, and tax bureau employees. Although most of the taxes must be paid, even a small amount that is missed is enough for the inspection department to share the profits.
Moreover, this was the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the patrols in various places had just come off the battlefield. There were military-ranked officers who could receive rewards, and they had salaries for their jobs, and they did not yet have a large family to support.
The important thing is that everyone is grateful for the emperor's kindness and wants to do a good job below to repay the saint's promotion.
Therefore, most of the patrol officers can barely abide by the law, and they are still relatively generous to the soldiers below.
Even Banjo Yoshitsune, who served in rotation, was often given three melons and two dates, which was enough to provide him with at least two full meals a day.
As for Long March Jianyong, it is even more cost-effective. The obvious benefit is that it will receive a certain amount of salary. Although it is small, it is still an income. It can also get good profit sharing and subsidies from the small treasury of the Inspection Department.
The potential benefit is that you can hone your martial arts skills with others in the inspection department and adapt to the military environment.
Traditionally, the selection of junior officers of the Guard Army, as well as the Forbidden Army and the Pro-Army Army, were mostly selected from the Long March brave men of the Inspection Department.
Therefore, many Long March warriors would choose to rent the 40 acres of Dingkou field under their name to their brothers and uncles for farming, and then join the inspection department to hone their martial arts, waiting to soar into the country's economic and political army.
Even if you can't fly anymore, you can still save a lot of money by serving for ten or eight years. This is a very good way out for an adult man who comes from a rural background.
Moreover, in this era where the atmosphere is quite martial, an adult who cannot even become a sworn servant is basically like a disabled person. There is a high probability of being bullied, looked down upon, and beaten.
Correspondingly, if you can be selected to become a brave warrior in the Long March, it is a symbol of status!
When you got home, Ye Niang praised you with a smile on your face. Your brothers, sister-in-law, and brothers and sisters all regard you as their backbone.
When the family wants to decide something, or when there is a conflict between two families in the family, you will be the judge.
There is a conflict with a foreign tribe, or a conflict between several villages. If you step forward and tell your identity, the person on the other side will be frightened and start to be reasonable.
When worshiping ancestors, you and the elders in your family line up in front. The unsatisfactory brothers in the family only deserve to see your back and butt.
Your family can divide the largest piece of pork belly after ancestor worship. When dividing the white silk cloth for ancestor worship, your family should choose first.
When farming is busy, your family will use the plowing cattle first, and when it is time to irrigate, your family's fields will be irrigated first. When paying taxes, the magistrates and officials in the county government will not dare to go in and out in big and small buckets, and they will trick you in the weighing.
You can sit at the head of the banquet, and others eat wild boar and rabbit meat. You eat oily, fat lamb, and big chunks of fat white pork meat.
If a beautiful young widow from a certain family has lost her husband, and she wants to keep her family property and not be ruined by other men, she is willing to follow you even if she has no status, just for protection.
All the Changzheng Jianyong in Yanhe Fort have such benefits. Even an old man like the old blind man who is almost fifty years old has a sweetheart who is almost thirty years younger than him.
This treatment is actually almost better than that of scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, no! It should be said that it is better than that of ordinary old scholars.
Because the Long March was strong and brave, Zhang Zhou's Long March was able to solve problems with his fists and sticks that the old scholar could not solve with his words in the countryside.
This kind of special treatment is the biggest reason why the old blind man at this age is still diligently practicing sticks, trying to please his superiors, and fighting hard for the annual assessment, and is unwilling to move even after death.
It was also the biggest motivation for the six members of his family to tighten their belts and choose to let his youngest son quit his job and practice martial arts.
As you can tell from the name, Yanhe Fort is located on the riverside. It is located on the north bank of the Yellow River and guards the famous Baima Crossing. After passing Yanhe Fort, only a mile or two away is the Yellow River Floating Bridge of Baima Crossing.
Therefore, Yanhe Fort is not only a station for the inspection department, but also a small fortress. Its function is to provide warning and inspection functions for the Huazhou Central Guards guarding Baima Crossing.
After all, it is still too expensive to have thousands of people stationed at a ferry like Baimadu all year round.
Therefore, Yanhebao needs to be used as a nail in the front. Only when their warning signal comes, the Huazhou Central Guard will start mobilizing.
Inspector Zhang brushed away the old blind man's flattering face. He was on the fort wall, observing the approaching team. There were no flags, there were not many people, and there seemed to be a large car following behind.
However, Inspector Zhang was secretly wary. As a veteran of the Zhang family who returned to the rebel army, he was very experienced in the smoke and dust caused by horses.
The huge plume of smoke and dust just now obviously requires at least two to three hundred riders to bring it up, but this time it will happen with only thirty or forty riders, and the gap is too big.
Inspector Zhang looked back and saw that there were nine Changzheng Jianyong in the Yanhe Fort, and even him, there were a total of ten who could fight.
Banjo Yi followed one hundred and twenty men, but these were only brave men and not soldiers.
If we defend the two or three-meter-high fort wall along the river, it will definitely be fine, but if we pull it out to fight, it won't work. As for the Huazhou central defender, it will take at least two-quarters of an hour to get over.
No wonder Inspector Zhang was so vigilant. In addition to repeated orders from the military supervisor of Huazhou Prefecture, when the saint set out from Baimadu to fight the Khitans and Liu Zhiyuan, he also dismounted his horse and told him with a smile that he should guard this road.
The way home.
Therefore, from then on, Inspector Zhang felt that he had a heavy responsibility, and even saints relied on him, so he took it very seriously.
"Old blind man, please take a few people over to investigate!" Inspector Zhang pointed at the harmless knight coming from a distance and said to the old blind man.
The old blind man was originally a soldier of Wei Boya. It is said that he took part in the rebellion that forced the Later Dynasty Zhuangmiao to Xingjiaomen.
Wei Bo Ya Bing sounds prestigious, but generally few of them have long lives.
Those who can live to the age of the old blind man are all selected from among the rare ones, otherwise they would have died in some gutter.
As soon as he heard what Inspector Zhang said, he immediately realized something was wrong, "Commander, is there something wrong with these people?"
Inspector Zhang did not answer, but nodded. Of course, he would only ask the old blind man to check if there was a problem.
Because although the old blind man is still strong and can pass the annual assessment, he only passes by the sidelines. Compared with the other Long March warriors, his combat effectiveness is far behind.
If there really is a thief, losing him will not greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the fort.
Hearing this, the old blind man silently put on his not-so-fine cowhide armor and a leather jacket. Then he picked up a long gun, a horizontal knife slung across his body, and a few Banshang Yisong.
Bao ran over.
Inspector Zhang also started to put on his armor and notified Changzheng Jianyong who was on duty and resting in the fort through a semaphore to come and assemble.
After a while, the old blind man led the twenty or thirty riders over, waving the green flag symbolizing safety all the way, but Inspector Zhang's heart suddenly rose to his throat.
Because although the old blind man waved the green flag and looked relaxed, the direction he ran towards was not the main entrance, but to a haystack on the wall beside the main entrance. In this haystack, there was a Fuyuan Crossbow hidden.
The old blind man still had the same flattering smile. He nodded and bowed and said to the strong man standing behind the iron tower: "Your Majesty, please let me make a report and open the fort gate."
The strong man from the Iron Tower carefully looked around and found nothing wrong, so he snorted softly from his nostrils and nodded nonchalantly, portraying the arrogance of the elite of the Forbidden Army to the fullest.
The old blind man stood under the fort wall, looking up at Inspector Zhang above, "Commander, you said that you are a member of the Zhang family of Longtongue and can talk to saints. Is that true?"
Inspector Zhang nodded. In fact, he didn't know whether he was a bloodline of the Zhang family, but the elders in the family had always called themselves that.
In fact, it is really possible that he was. Later gene sequencing showed that among the Zhang surnames in Gansu, Shaanxi, and Shanxi provinces, a branch with a high frequency of distribution spread from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the outbreak of the Zhang surname in the late Tang Dynasty. It was one of the most common Zhang surnames in the north.
branch, there is a high probability that they are descendants of the Long Tongue Zhang family in Shazhou.
Come to think of it, Zhang Yichao served his country loyally and was a national hero. Although he was likely to die, the Zhang family of Dragon Tongue eventually multiplied into later generations, and there are at least dozens or millions of people.
The old blind man saw a smile of relief on his face when he saw Inspector Zhang admitting that his youngest son was only fifteen years old, and he was still a little short of being able to survive the selection of brave men for the Long March.
When the old blind man mentioned this matter to Inspector Zhang in the past, Inspector Zhang criticized him.
"If you want your stupid son to pass the selection of bravery in the Long March, you have to ask the emperor for favors. What great achievements have you made that deserve my shame for you?"
With a smile on his face, the old blind man suddenly turned around and pierced the strong man behind the iron tower with the spear in his hand.
This shot was so accurate that it hit the armored man's neck directly, and blood immediately spurted out.
The strong man from the iron tower roared twice, and fell down from his horse before he could raise his hand. The old blind man shouted loudly, "Zhao Zaili rebelled, these are the remnants of the Silver Spear City in the past!"
Zhang Xinjing immediately jumped up. He uncovered the Fuyuan crossbow that was covered by the haystacks. The two strong men next to him followed him and immediately strung up the big crossbow.
As soon as it was fired, it directly pierced a strong man, and the arrow that penetrated the body even pinned a strong man and the horse behind him to the ground.
The old blind man was howling, holding a spear and blocking the gate of the fort along the river. The surroundings were full of panicked travelers. The knights on the opposite side shot five or six arrows at him, but the old blind man did not move.
A knight came forward, and the old blind man burst out with great fighting power. He held a spear and knocked the knight over with a sharp thrust.
Under the setting sun, the blood was so dazzling that the old blind man stood upright, covered in blood, and roared like a beast.
He cooperated with the large crossbows and powerful bows on the fort, which frightened the remaining dozen knights and did not dare to come up to grab the door. It was not until the gate of the fort along the river was finally closed that they fell headlong into the dust.