time travel system

Chapter 259

Chapter 2 Eighty

Jiang Xiaobai really doesn't understand, isn't this the army, shouldn't weapons and clothing be issued by the state?
But along the way, after passing through three barracks and meeting more than 200 soldiers, a strange phenomenon made Jiang Xiaobai suspicious—only a little more than half of them were holding weapons.

Even at the gate of Jiazi Battalion, the alarm had been clearly issued, and only one-third of the people who rushed over were wearing military uniforms, and the other third were holding sticks and farm tools.

This is unscientific, no matter how miscellaneous the soldiers are, the weapons and equipment should be fully equipped, right?
"Master Bao doesn't know something!" Chang Zilong said with a mournful face: "Baozhou is only a middle county, and originally only allowed to have less than 1000 side soldiers. It was only after the frontier pass that the number of side soldiers was expanded to 5000. Weapons are only distributed according to the quota of [-] people, but we have [-] people now!"

It is indeed not enough for 1000 people to feed 5000 people.

Although the imperial court allocated more than 7000 mu of land, the drought the year before last and the locust infestation last year made the harvest not much more than the seeds.

Ever since Chang Zilong became Marquis of Du Yu, he has been troubled by the eating and drinking of the soldiers. Just last month, there was even a case of people starving to death.

There was really no other way, so Chang Zilong decided to take the risk and exchange a small amount of new rice for more old rice, so as to keep the soldiers from starving to death on a large scale.

As for weapons, let alone, there are only 1000 weapons allocated to the quota of [-] people, and they are all defective products eliminated by other troops. Let alone going into battle, many weapons will break if touched hard.

But buying weapons and equipment is a huge expense. A common iron knife costs three taels of silver, a second-hand leather armor costs ten taels of silver, an ordinary war horse costs fifty taels of silver, and even a set of military uniform costs It costs one or two five silver coins.

Jiang Xiaobai was furious: "Since you are sent to fight, why don't you give you weapons?"

"There are some in the arsenal, but they won't be given to us, because we are Xiangjun." Chang Zilong sighed, "We can only find a blacksmith to fight, but that also costs money. We don't dare to think about swords, we can only choose Use the spear with the least amount of iron, two taels of silver and three spear points."

"You just want to take such an army and weapons to attack Yizhou City?" Jiang Xiaobai felt that Chang Zilong was lying.

It is impossible for him not to know that all the golden soldiers in Yizhou City have been killed. With his courage, is it possible to carry out such a mission that is obviously to die?

"No way!" Chang Zilong's eyes suddenly lit up, his hands clenched into fists, and he said, "I have to live for my brothers, and I have to do something for myself, so that we can glorify our Chang family!"

"It's up to you?" Jiang Xiaobai thought that this guy's head was kicked by a donkey.

"Master Bao, do you look down on me?" Chang Zilong gradually calmed down after taking a breather, and said, "Although the bandits occupying Yizhou City are formidable, it's not impossible for our Xiang Bing to defeat them."

Jiang Xiaobai couldn't help but look at this guy with admiration. If he had the guts to say such a thing, he was either crazy or really capable.

"Ever since the day I became Marquis of this capital, I have longed for a war!" Chang Zilong said with his eyes shining brightly, "I divided all the soldiers into three battalions just to prepare for the war. "

According to Chang Zilong, the three battalions A, B, and C of the Xiang Bing, and the C battalion are all old, weak, sick, and disabled. Let alone fighting, they are not good at farming. least.

The C-word battalion has the most complex composition and the largest number of people. Most of them are composed of those with family members. The number exceeds 3000. These people are mainly responsible for looking after the farmland and completing the labor tasks assigned by the government. In fact, it is a combination of workers and farmers. body.

The most elite is the Jiazi Battalion, with less than 1000 people. They are all carefully selected by Chang Zilong. They do not participate in labor, and they usually do some simple training.

Their supply is also the most abundant, basically everyone has military uniforms and weapons, and when the people in the C-word battalion are hungry, they can still maintain seventy-eight percent full.

"This is my elite, they are all hungry wolves!" Chang Zilong said confidently: "There are only three hundred bandits in Yizhou City, and we have three times as many bandits as them. If we get the starting fee It is not impossible to replace them with weapons that are convenient for them to capture Yizhou!"

The plan is good. Even if Chang Zilong is a corrupt official, he can be regarded as a corrupt official with ideals.

Jiang Xiaobai asked: "Haven't you ever thought about what to do if the attack fails and even leads to the destruction of the entire army?"

"I have to take a gamble!" Chang Zilong said, "If I win, I will be promoted, and the brothers from Jiazi Battalion will become frontier soldiers, and they will be able to eat their fill. If I lose... one thousand less With only one person to eat, the people in Camp C and Camp B can barely make it through to the autumn harvest."

Although he ranked promotion first, his words were not unreasonable.

Jiang Xiaobai was a little moved. If what he said was true, then he seemed to have made a mistake in destroying the new rice for the old rice.

After all, human life is the most important thing. Between eating well and not starving to death, there is no way to choose the latter.

But isn’t food just money, isn’t weapon just money, isn’t military uniform just money?

And the money is here with Jiang Xiaobai, is it still a matter?

"Chang Zilong, how much money do you need in total?"

Chang Zilong was stunned, stared at Jiang Xiaobai for a while, and said with a wry smile: "If you want to be equipped with the same equipment as the Forbidden Army, you need at least 3 taels of silver. But I don't need much, as long as they can fight. Change clothes, that is about 2000 taels."

2000 taels of silver to arm an army of 1000 people is estimated to be a set of clothes for each person and a spear.

Jiang Xiaobai suddenly had a bold idea in his mind, I want to control this army, and I want to take them to Yizhou City.

Only in this way can the process of the war be controlled and the two sides will not suffer heavy casualties.

"If..." Jiang Xiaobai organized his vocabulary, trying to express himself as clearly as possible.

Just at this time, a soldier came to the door and asked: "My lord, the meal is ready!"

"Hahaha, bring it up, I want to get drunk with Master Bao!" Chang Zilong knew that Jiang Xiaobai couldn't let him go out, and he was a bachelor, so he shouted, "Take the jar of wine that I have treasured for three years. Come up!"

Soon, the wine and dishes were served, a large pot of cabbage with boiled white meat, and a large pot of patted cucumbers.

The supreme commander of a 5000-strong army entertained distinguished guests with such "luxury" meals. It seems that what he said was right, the Xiang barracks were almost poor and crazy.

"Master Bao, please take a seat!" Chang Zilong patted open the clay seal, poured wine and said, "To tell you the truth, this is the last piece of meat in the camp. If this were in my house, it would definitely be eight big for Master Bao." Bowl, twelve small butterflies, chicken, duck, fish, everything, that taste..."

Jiang Xiaobai was so panicked that he was speechless.

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(End of this chapter)