In the dozen or so large houses in the front yard of the post station, several piles of firewood were burning brightly. The dilapidated houses were blown by the biting cold wind from time to time. However, the soldiers guarding Sima Jun were very resourceful and pulled out the straw mats on the beds and hung them up.
They covered the damaged gap and spread thick hay on the ground. Everyone lay on the hay and enjoyed the warm bonfire. They felt very warm and comfortable for a while.
This is a group of veteran soldiers who are used to enjoying themselves. The soldiers who can join the Guards Department have some connections. Riding horses to show off their power is their specialty on weekdays. They rarely go out on official errands. When we set out, everyone was still there.
It was a bit novel. When Privy Du was lecturing, he also said that there would be subsidies, which made the guards who were not selected curse and envy them.
But after several days of sleeping in the open air, these veteran soldiers were all exhausted. The cold wind in the wilderness was like a knife, blowing their pampered skin tight on their faces, which was extremely uncomfortable. The long hours of horseback riding also made their thighs worn out.
Burning pain.
Lying on the hay, everyone took off their pants one after another, dipped their fingers in saliva and spit on the red and swollen areas. It is said that this can relieve the pain; under such circumstances, it is indispensable to point out the thickness and length of each other's lower bodies, and peek at each other and tease each other.
It is also the best medicine to eliminate fatigue; the topic unknowingly turned to the young ladies in the brothels in the capital. Everyone used their imaginations to tease each other's old sweethearts. They didn't know which dirty and ugly old husband was lying under them at the moment.
Moaning politely, this kind of topic brings about mutual abuse and ridicule.
When the atmosphere was getting heated, the door of the house was pushed open with a bang, and a cold wind rushed in, blowing the bonfire wildly. The soldiers were also shivering from the cold, and some people cursed: "Who the fuck?"
You are so wicked, running in and out in the middle of the night, have you lost your soul?"
The person who came in closed the door behind his back, walked out of the shadow with a smile and said: "Zhao Dutou is so angry. He has only been out for a few days and is already full of stuff? Don't worry, go to Luzhou and find a brothel.
Clear the warehouse all at once, it will save you from getting angry all over."
When Zhao Dutou heard the voice, he quickly got up and saluted: "Oh, it turns out to be Commander Long. Look at my eyes, I really should pick them out and feed them to the dog."
When all the soldiers saw that Long Zhen had come in, they all climbed up. Long Zhen laughed and stretched out his hand to take pictures and said: "You all lie down, don't get up. This is your rest time, no need to be polite."
Zhao Dutou hurriedly put a handful of hay beside the bonfire and said: "General Long, sit down quickly and warm yourself by the fire. Why are you up so late? You can't be like us and can't sleep without a girl."
Long Zhen sat down on the grass, stretched out his hand to light the fire and said: "How can I be as passionate as you? I'm almost forty, can I compete with you young men in their twenties and thirties? I'm here to give you some advice.
I've been carrying the money with me for a few days. It's so heavy. I planned to give it to everyone when I arrived in Luzhou, but it happened sooner or later, so I just gave it away."
After saying that, he shouted to the back: "Bring it here." Only then did everyone see clearly that there were two personal guards of Commander Long coming in at the same time. The two men each carried a cloth bag and threw it heavily towards the fire.
.
Long Zhen said: "Zhao Dutou, Fang Dutou, you two come here and share it with everyone. Each of you has five guans, and you two have two guans."
The crowd burst into cheers. Zhao Dutou and Fang Dutou happily came forward and each picked up a cloth bag and distributed it one by one. The soldiers laughed and cheered continuously. Someone said: "Sure enough, there are benefits. Our hard work has not been in vain.
Although the capital city is comfortable, the salary you get is only 800 yuan, which is not enough to go to the brothel to fire two cannons. This time, it doubled all of a sudden."
Another person said: "There is really a lot of money out there. Thanks to Commander Long for giving me and other brothers the opportunity to make a fortune. We should all be filial and respectful to Commander Long."
Other soldiers echoed: "Yes, yes, we can't pretend to be stupid. Each of us will pay fifty cents to honor the commander. When we get to Luzhou, we will teach the commander to find the most beautiful girl to take care of him."
"Yes, yes, yes, find an oiran lady who can play the flute, flute, and flute, and let the conductor enjoy it too."
Everyone burst out laughing, and some people spontaneously stood up and started collecting money.
Unexpectedly, Long Zhen's face turned gloomy, as if he was very unhappy. Upon seeing this, Zhao Dutou leaned into Long Zhen's ear and said, "What's wrong? Is the commander too little? Why don't you call me?"
Let each of them raise a hundred cents."
Long Zhen let out a long sigh, with a look of extreme remorse on his face. Everyone didn't know what was going on, so they all stopped laughing and looked at Long Zhen.
Long Zhen slowly raised his head and said in a dry voice: "Brothers, I, Long Zhen, am incompetent."
"Master Commander, where do you start with these words?" Everyone looked at each other, not understanding what they meant.
"Do you think this five-month salary is one month's salary? This is three months' salary." Long Zhen said weakly.
"What?"
"What?"
"You're kidding, three months?"
"Less than those in the capital?"
"What kind of useless job is this?"
"That is, what do you think of this man? Are you being bullied by a mule or a horse?"
The soldiers were shouting and cursing as if they were in a rage. Some excitedly threw their paychecks on the ground, yelled and cursed and gave up their jobs. The crowd was excited for a while.
Long Zhen calmly waited for the shouting and scolding to subside for a while, then stood up and picked up all the strings of copper coins dropped on the ground, blew off the dust on them, removed the grass clippings on them, and put them into the arms of the soldiers. Then he straightened up.
Standing by the fire and looking around, everyone looked at him silently, knowing that he had something to say, and they also wanted to hear Long Zhen's explanation.
"Brothers, don't be upset, please listen to me. Originally, the amount of salary that the Privy Council told me on this trip was the same every month. After the errand is over, I will return to Beijing and receive a subsidy of 500 yuan. Calculating, it is exactly the same amount every month.
Five; but tonight the special envoy asked me to have a drink and talk, and then gave me the salary. When I counted, it turned out that five hundred coins were missing every month. I was willing to give up, so I reasoned with him. Who knows, he said, the five hundred coins were missing.
The money of one hundred coins was given as a meeting gift for the brothers to show their respect to him. He told me not to say anything, just take it and give it to everyone."
Long Zhen's tone was deep and he looked extremely sad and angry.
"What the hell is this bird food envoy? Let him do this job himself."
"That's right, who among us knows him as a raw food envoy and a shabby official, and he's here to show his respect to me. Let's go back to the capital and let him handle this job himself."
Long Zhen stretched out his hand to stop everyone and said: "Brothers, don't be impulsive. What will happen if you go back to the capital? This is the emperor's mission. If you just leave like this without completing the mission, you will be caught and beheaded by the Privy Council. For these few
One hundred articles, is it worth it?”
Someone loudly said: "Commander Long, why don't you argue with reason? You brought our brothers out of Beijing, so of course we listen to you. You should have a good talk with that haggard bird envoy and give him
Let him click on the colors to see."
Long Zhen said angrily: "Do you think I didn't say anything? I almost started a fight with him, but do you know who he is? He is a person highly recommended by Master Yan Shu, the third envoy. Even when beating a dog, it depends on the owner. We
On impulse, how can I do business after returning to the capital?"
Zhao Dutou said: "Can't we swallow this tone like this? Five hundred coins per person, three months is a consistent five, and our two hundred brothers are three hundred coins. This thief is really dark-minded.
He has deducted so much from us just by raising his hand, cao. He is nainai, this money is enough to buy coffins for his whole family."
Long Zhen said: "No wonder he rushed to go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to collect his salary. I was supposed to handle all these things, but he ran away like crazy. It turned out to be just for this."
Fang Du raised his head and said loudly: "Tell me, let's go back to Beijing together. The law will not punish everyone. Let's make everything clear to the Privy Council. Deduction of military pay is a serious crime. I don't believe that no one can cure him with Yan Shu's support."
Everyone said: "That's right, let's go together, are you afraid of him? Let's keep it to ourselves."
Long Zhen spread his hands and said, "Where's the evidence? There's evidence."
Fang Dutou said: "Isn't this money evidence?"
Long Zhen said disdainfully: "This is also considered evidence. If people say you spent the money and messed around again, do you still have any thoughts in your head?"
Zhao Dutou said: "Commander Long, didn't you write down the amount when you received the money?"
Long Zhen said: "This guy's drinking capacity is astonishing. He drank more than a dozen glasses of wine and I signed the note in a daze. When I looked at it later, I realized that the amount was the amount that should be handed out."
Everyone paused, wanting to scold but not daring to scold, they stomped their feet because they were holding back.
Fang Dutou said: "Brothers, it's not Long Dutou's fault. Think about it, even if Long Dutou is sober, the thief is so majestic that he wants to command the envoy to sign. How can he not sign?"
Everyone was silent, and the official level was overwhelming. The commander-in-chief was here to assist the special envoy Su on his errands. This special envoy was personally appointed by the emperor. This was not someone who could be offended casually.
"Are we just going to suffer the consequences of being dumb and unable to swallow it?" Everyone jumped in anger, but there was nothing they could do.
Long Zhen said: "Brothers, do you really think of this?"
Everyone said one after another: "Is it still false? We can't let this kid bully us."
Long Zhen said: "If you brothers really want to think of this, I have a solution."
Everyone hurriedly gathered around and listened to where Long's true plan came from.dd