Tiger Guards

Chapter 92 Change of Position
Late night, around four o'clock.

At the entrance of the secret passage, a new team of ten Tiger Guards were patrolling here holding two torches.

I saw more than a hundred Tiger Guards sleeping on the haystack. This ten-man team tried to stay as far away from the haystack as possible when patrolling.

On the haystack, Zhao Ji sat cross-legged in meditation.

Now he no longer needs to hide in the house to activate his skills, he can use them openly in public.

Some of the Tiger Guards around him were still able to maintain a cross-legged sitting position, but most of them had fallen asleep on their backs.

All the long and short weapons were placed beside him, and he was feeling drowsy.

As the sky gradually brightened, Zhao Ji stood up and stretched his muscles. Wearing his armor, he first moved his joints slightly, then raised his legs quickly and practiced a few boxing moves.

Unfortunately, when he used his strength, he still couldn't draw the elusive energy. The energy was like a cloud of smoke, not something that could be finely manipulated like electricity or water.

Han Shu stood up and walked over to ask, "Captain?"

"Prepare breakfast. The imperial envoy will be arriving soon. After the handover is complete, we will select the auxiliary troops."

Zhao Ji put his hands on his hips and looked at the eastern sky. There were no morning clouds, and the dazzling orange sun just hung there, gradually rising higher.

"Here!"

Han Shu agreed, turned around and kicked a few of his friends to wake them up. They were still sleepy and followed Han Shu.

Seeing their movement, the Xiongnu guards on duty not far away also entered the house and woke up Qubei.

Nothing happened during the night, and he walked out feeling much more relaxed and refreshed.

He just ate a lot at night, said hello to Zhao Ji, and went to the toilet.

"Uu~!"

A Tiger Guard came riding up, reined in his horse outside the low wall, dismounted, and trotted over, handing Zhao Ji a scroll of bamboo slips: "Captain, this is a letter from Hu Bingcao."

This was a fellow townsman who had stayed in Wenxi to assist Hu Ban. Seeing that he looked tired, Zhao Ji took the bamboo slips and asked, "How is Hu Bingcao's recruitment going?"

"Yesterday, we learned that the garrison commander had killed all the Baibo bandits. The young and strong people in the village rushed to report this. By nightfall, we had captured 900 people, making a total of 800 prisoners, totaling over 1,700. We will recruit more today, and the number will be 2,000. Hu Bingcao wants to separate the old, weak, and bandit soldiers from the prisoners and use them as laborers, which will eliminate about 400 more people."

"Well, you rest first. I'll send someone else to deliver the message."

"Captain, please send me. I want to go back to my hometown and persuade my relatives and friends to enlist."

The man looked at Zhao Ji eagerly, and Zhao Ji nodded: "Okay, I'll send someone to go with you."

Wenxi County is not far away, only about forty miles away.

Zhao Ji pointed to an empty house and said, "Go and rest first. I'll bring you food later."

"Here!"

The fellow Hu Ben agreed and turned to walk towards the house. When he entered the house, he saw a layer of hay on the ground. There were more than a dozen Hu Ben sleeping there, and there was still a lot of space.

He took off his leather helmet, picked up the water bag and took a sip. Then he walked a few steps, turned around, lay down, and fell asleep.

Zhao Ji found a bundle of firewood and sat down. He untied the string and flipped through the bamboo slips, reading them carefully.

He does not read enough and is unable to break sentences at a glance. He has to break them into sections when reading in order to understand smoothly.

While reading, Jing Chun and Jia Tong came with several team officers; the duo of Wang Qi and Chang Mao were on duty in the second half of the night and had fallen asleep at this moment.

Seeing them approach, Zhao Ji handed them Hu Ban's bamboo slips and said, "Wenxi is recruiting over a thousand auxiliary soldiers, and we will have enough today. Yesterday, Lord Zhao sent troops to Beixiang and has learned of our success. Today, the entire army will march south. Xu Gongming will arrive by noon, and the remaining soldiers can arrive at night."

Jing Chun took the bamboo slips and read them. Jia Tong then asked, "Lord Zhao and Lord Xu have arrived. Do they want our army to join them?"

"Well, then I'll be free to select auxiliary soldiers."

Zhao Ji was somewhat envious of the captured Baibo troops. These people had poor military discipline, but they had seen big scenes.

Even if he cannot use it himself, he cannot let the court reorganize it.

During the reorganization yesterday, priority was given to the county soldiers and the followers of powerful families from Hedong, who came from good families and civilian households. The next priority was the troops who had families to take care of, and the last priority was the refugees who were alone or had nowhere to be found.

As for the sons of the powerful, as expected, they will be divided today, beaten with sticks, and either gold coins will be dropped or evidence of crimes will be revealed to accuse each other.

So after a group of people are diverted and dealt with, this group of people will drag everyone down with them.

There's no point in rescuing them now. Let the court officials handle the situation first. In terms of overall quality, these powerful sons are no less capable than the Tiger Guards.

He has no intention of saving the powerful and legitimate families. The court will not release these people before gold coins are revealed... But if gold coins are revealed, how can the court be soft-hearted and let these hidden dangers go?
The only ones who can be saved are the powerful and common people, small clans, and those from poor and good families like the Tiger Guards.

I have read some books, but not much.

Seeing no objections from the two, Zhao Ji said, "Each team will take turns drinking today, but please don't get too drunk. If there's a drunken brawl, handle it yourselves. If it gets to me, I'll punish you severely."

"Here!"

Jing Chun and Jia Tong immediately agreed and let them handle it. It was not to make things difficult for them, but to give them a chance.

If things really get to Zhao Ji, Rui Dan will be a lesson for him.

Retired due to crime?
How could such a good thing happen? Let you go back to take revenge?

The court is in a booming business right now. If you retire and return home because of a crime, your family will beat you to death!
After preparing for half the night, Yang Qi also led more than a hundred people south.

These more than one hundred guards all have families in Anyi and are relatively reliable people.

In the ox cart, Yang Qi asked Pei Mao in detail about Zhao Ji's family affairs. Pei Mao had also asked the servants around him yesterday and had a relatively comprehensive understanding of the matter.

Of course, after knowing that Zhao Lian had Zhao Yan as his uncle, Pei Mao would naturally screen and beautify him.

Thus, Zhao Lian's image began to evolve. He became a man who was persecuted by the Party and fled to Hedong after killing the local tyrants who relied on eunuchs and bullied the local people.

In Hedong, he worked hard, got married, had children, settled down, and did his best to cultivate his children.

He was not caught in the mining and became a subordinate. As a foreigner, he integrated into the local community and escaped the Baibo Rebellion. This is already much better than most local poor and powerful people.

The local wealthy and poor families have richer connections and sources of information, and can avoid disasters, and they also have places to avoid disasters.

Zhao Lian, on the contrary, expanded his family business amidst the chaos, which is already very powerful.

As for Zhao Ji, Pei Mao was not very familiar with him. He had only heard of Zhao Ji's bad reputation. When he was young, he was even so naughty that he was beaten in public by his mother Pei.

But there is really no need to tell this kind of thing.

It's just a rumor in the countryside, how can we verify it?

When the news that Zhao Ji had killed all the generals of Baibo spread to the village, who would dare to tell outsiders about this?

"Juguang, I've interacted with Zhao Zhonglang several times. He's incredibly arrogant, conceited about his prowess, and acts with disrespect. When you meet him, don't pretend to be a village elder. If you anger him, he'll take advantage of the situation and incite you. Once he does something wrong, there's no way to save him."

Yang Qi knew something about Pei Mao, and was afraid that this guy would suppress Zhao Ji in order to show off his status.

If Zhao Ji was on the verge of losing control, he could still be persuaded and appeased with kind words; but with Qubei and the Huns by his side, how could Qubei be willing to hand over such a huge fortune to the court?
"May I ask, Master Ziqi, how much money does the Wei family have hidden?"

Pei Mao naturally agreed, out of genuine curiosity. Pei's family only had a small surplus of savings to make ends meet, and his family was well-known for not keeping any soldiers or annexing other villages.

Even when the Baibo Army crossed the border and marched close to the Pei family, they did not invade the Pei family.

The Pei family had a good reputation in the village and was poor, so there was no need for them to rob.

"I don't know, but at least this much."

Yang Qi was worried that the driver would hear it, so he stretched out his palm and made a five-fingered gesture.

Fifty million?
Pei Mao frowned. Fifty million was not enough to match the Wei family's worth. The Wei family had an extraordinary status in Hedong and was close to the salt lake. They had accumulated fifty million in just a few hundred years. How much did they look down on the Anyi Salt Lake?

Fifty million is not worth Yang Qi coming in person. If it were ten times that, it would be more reasonable.

As the name suggests, a Wuzhu coin should weigh five Zhu.

One Han jin is sixteen liang, and each liang is twenty-four zhu.

The coins are worn. About eighty five-zhu coins make up one Han jin. How heavy would five hundred million five-zhu coins be?

Pei Mao thought deeply about it, and besides being afraid, he could not help but sigh: "The loyalty of the Tiger Guards to the emperor and the country is worth more than hundreds of millions!"

In an instant, he had an idea: how to use this money, the people of Hedong should have more say!
Even though the person sitting opposite him was Yang Qi, Pei Mao was not going to back down.

If this money is not used properly, Hedong will be completely finished.

(End of this chapter)