Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 515: Unexpectedly meeting an old friend in a foreign land

Su Kuan, Sun Er and A Wu immediately set out from Gaoyou County and headed north along the canal.

Because they were marching within the territory of Song, the Dongping Army never thought of concealing their whereabouts, making them very easy to find.

The three of them asked for directions along the way as they moved forward. After arriving at Fanliang County on the second day, Su Kuan actually met an acquaintance.

General of the Jingnan Army, Huang Jie.

"General!"

Huang Jie was drinking tea at a tea stall near the dock, staring at a jar in a daze. Surprised, he turned around and saw Su Kuan, dressed like a farmer. He couldn't help but feel both surprised and delighted: "Su Datou! Why are you here if you're not being a landlord?"

However, when he looked closely, he saw that the man was carrying a package on his back and holding a machete-shaped sword in his hand. There were two companions beside him. He immediately understood: "What's going on? Did you encounter any difficulties?"

Su Kuan bowed, and Awu and Sun Er also bowed at the same time. Then he sat down on the bench very familiarly. Without any hesitation, he picked up the tea bowl and poured a bowl for the two servants before sighing.

Huang Jie saw this and called the owner directly: "What kind of food do you have? Bring us four bowls so we can fill our stomachs first."

As he spoke, Huang Jie took out a handful of copper coins and stuffed them into the shopkeeper's hand.

The shopkeeper, who was about forty years old, hurriedly declined: "I dare not accept money from you, General."

Huang Jie's face turned stern. "Our Jingnan Army is different from those bandit troops. If you don't accept the money, our general will take my life! Hurry and take it. If you are willing, please give us some good food."

The shopkeeper couldn't refuse, so he smiled and said, "We got up so early that we haven't had time to cook anything. All we have is some leftover soup noodles and some mutton offal from last night. I'll heat them up and serve them to you. You can eat them whole and warm yourself up. Is this okay with you, sir?"

"Go, go, go!"

Huang Jie chased the shopkeeper away and then frowned at Su Kuan: "It's spring plowing time, why are you running around?"

"There's no such thing as spring plowing." Su Kuan smiled bitterly and shook his head, explaining the whole story. Huang Jie instantly became angry.

"Don't worry, Zhang Zongguan will definitely make the decision for you! If he doesn't make the decision, I'll go find the commander-in-chief. I don't believe that a meritorious official who hasn't been bullied by the Jin bandits can be bullied by those officials."

As he spoke, Huang Jie continued to curse angrily, and was about to pull out his knife and chop a few times.

I don't know where all this anger comes from.

Huang Jie finally calmed down after the soup noodles were served, and Su Kuan dared to ask, "General, why did you come to Fan Liang?"

Huang Jie sighed and patted the jar beside him. "Du Kang, do you still remember? When the Jin bandits first came to attack Chao County, you won a lucky break and chopped off the heads of four soldiers.

But he fled to Maicheng and was stabbed to death by the Jin thieves. Later, in order to prevent the plague, his body was burned to ashes and placed in a jar.

His hometown is in Fanliang County. I wanted to take advantage of this business trip to bury him, but I found that their village was gone, the ancestral temple was burned down, and his family could not be found.

I had no other choice but to bring him back. If that doesn't work, I'll take him to Shandong and bury him on my land, so he can be my companion in the afterlife."

As he spoke, Huang Jie patted the jar again, as casually as he had patted his friend's shoulder that day.

Su Kuan didn't know what to say. He just bowed to Du Kang's ashes and changed the subject: "General, are you going to follow the Jingnan Army back to Shandong?"

Huang Jie raised his head and said, "That's right. I still have two brothers who can take care of my parents. I gave them all the rewards from this battle, enough to buy some land and shops in Liang County. As for me, I will follow the commander-in-chief to kill the Jin bandits and make great achievements!"

Huang Jie and Su Kuan both belonged to Zhang Xiaoyi's army that defeated the enemy. They suffered the heaviest casualties and made the greatest contributions in the battle of Chao County. Therefore, they received the heaviest rewards and commendations.

For someone like Huang Jie, if he wants to retire after returning to Shandong, it is not a problem to become a county lieutenant.

Su Kuan nodded and lowered his head to eat the soup noodles. He was also very hungry, but he didn't expect Huang Jie to start lecturing again: "You have always been a fool. You have obtained this hundred acres of land, but you have no backing and no clan to support you. Even if you pass this test, what will happen in the future? The county clerks have a hundred ways to deal with you.

Let's not talk about anything else. I'll give you a household registration and make you a tax collector. If you can't collect the tax, I'll use your land to pay off the debt. What can you do?"

Su Kuan lowered his head and slurped his soup noodles, while Awu and Sun Er looked up in shock.

They really had never seen the methods used by these clerks.

"General, are we...are we just going to become bandits?" Ah Wu said indignantly. "There are two options. One is to find a backer, any wealthy family, landlord, or county magistrate will do, and bring our land and property to join the army." Huang Jie held up a thick finger. "The second option is to follow the Jingnan Army back to Shandong like I did. Then we'll have Liu Dalang, the Jingnan Army, as our support. Who would dare to take our land away for nothing?"

Sun Er hesitated. "Let's not even talk about how much land we, who haven't been in the Jingnan Army, can get. Spring plowing is coming soon. When can we return to Shandong? Will it be too late?"

Huang Jie shook his head and said, "What are you thinking? We soldiers will definitely be fighting in the army. We can only rent out our land and collect some rent. When we get married and have children, we can farm the land ourselves."

Alas, those Shandong soldiers are still living comfortably, with brothers and parents at home to support them, and they receive their military pay and rewards on a daily basis, and they can send some money home, which is the proper way to live.

When any business is first established, it will face a problem, that is, poverty.

Specifically speaking, there is no money to recruit soldiers.

What should I do?

Recruit land soldiers and use the conquered land to motivate the soldiers.

The land was distributed equally and the conquered land was used to resettle the people.

Commonly known as: land reform.

From the Zhou Dynasty's expansion of territory and enfeoffment of princes to the iron army sweeping across the world in modern times, they all relied on this tactic.

Of course, on the other hand, every time China has been in turmoil, there have been major problems with the land system.

If one wants to maintain such a large army by recruiting soldiers alone, even mountains of gold and silver will not be able to withstand such a hassle.

Although the Loyal Army made a lot of money by looting the supplies collected by the Jin Kingdom, they could not just sit back and enjoy the food. In addition to maintaining an annual salary of about 40 strings of cash for each soldier, they needed to use land as compensation.

Because the State of Song did not suppress annexation, it could only rely on recruiting soldiers to maintain its large army. In theory, each soldier would receive a military salary reward of 100 strings of cash per year.

But this is only in theory. It is a sin to have such a huge amount of money fall into the hands of soldiers!

Who in the court wouldn’t want to make a fortune from this?

If so much food and wages had actually been spent on the army, Wanyan Yong should be selling his ass in Lin'an now!

Therefore, Song State was not the place for military men at all; Shandong was the place where they could display their talents.

Even with all the benefits of returning to Shandong, Su Kuan still felt hesitant. After taking two bites of his soup noodles, he changed the subject again: "General, you said you had official business. Could it be that another Jin bandit has crossed the river? Are we going into battle again?"

"Not really." This wasn't a secret, so Huang Jie didn't hide it. "After General Zhang sorted out the Dongping Army, he felt that the army was too short of medical officers and clerks, so he sent General Dulangjun to provide support. This time, I will accompany General Zheng to escort Doctor Xu and his men north."

"It's just right. You guys are also going to look for Manager Zhang. We came here by boat and can give you a ride."

Let's talk. The four of them quickly finished their meal. Huang Jie threw another copper coin to the store owner as a tip, then took the urn and took the three of them onto the ship.

"Commander Zheng."

Huang Jie first confessed his crime to the commander Zheng Yiqi, and then pointed at the other three people and explained the situation.

Zheng Yiqi joined the Jingnan Army only after the recovery of Dongcai Shi. However, he was originally a middle-level military officer in Haozhou. He was literate and had good martial arts skills, so he was a captain of 50 people at the beginning. After fighting several battles, he accumulated merits and was promoted to the position of commander. Now he was assigned to the enemy army that suffered heavy casualties and obeyed the command of Li Xiu.

Since we are fellow Lianghuai natives, many things will be easy to discuss.

Zheng Yiqi understood even more clearly the tactics of the local tyrants and clerks, and immediately nodded in agreement.

However, these three people cannot mix with the main army. They can only stay in the cabin at the rear and not walk around. A clerk will come to register them soon, and a medical officer will also check their bodies to prevent them from bringing any infectious diseases.

Huang Jie agreed loudly, and then brought the other three to the cabin: "Stay here and don't run around."

After a while, the ship completed the supply and slowly began to move.

(End of this chapter)