After listening to Zhu Ping'an's further explanation of hunger marketing, Liu Mu seemed to understand it, but also seemed not to understand it. He was roughly at a critical point between understanding and not understanding.
Zhu Pingan was not surprised at all. After all, hunger marketing was hundreds of years ahead of this era, so it was not so easy to understand. However, there was a famous saying by a great man that true knowledge comes from practice. After practicing for a while, he gradually understood it. So he smiled and patted Liu Mu's shoulder and whispered, "You will understand everything after a while."
"Well, although I don't quite understand what you mean by hunger marketing, it sounds reasonable. In fact, it doesn't matter if I don't understand it. I will do whatever you say." Liu Mu said with a look of trust.
Seeing the trust on Liu Mu's face, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but feel emotional. It was their luck, and even more so his own luck, to be able to meet Liu Mu and the others. Having them around really helped him a lot.
After Zhu Pingan sighed, he took out two ingots of ten taels of silver from his arms and handed them to Liu Mu, "Brother Mu, we have rested for more than a day since we wiped out the Japanese pirates who entered the city the day before yesterday. It's time to hold a celebration banquet. You take twenty taels of silver and take people to the nearby market to buy a fat pig and a sheep. You can use the remaining money to buy some food. You can also buy a little wine. We will kill pigs and sheep at noon today. With the food sent by the people, our Zhejiang Army will hold a celebration banquet. At the celebration banquet, each person can drink half a bowl of celebration wine. Just taste it lightly, just for the sake of courtesy."
"Yes, sir." Liu Zhuang took the silver, nodded vigorously, turned around and walked away.
"Oh, by the way, you should bring more soldiers, take these 1,500 taels of silver notes, plus the 300 taels from the secret knife wound medicine sold today, and on the way back, go to the bank and exchange them all for small change, preferably about one tael of small change. Before the celebration banquet begins, hold a reward and commendation meeting to pay everyone the promised reward for killing the Japanese."
Zhu Ping'an looked at Liu Mu's back and suddenly slapped his forehead. He had been writing at his desk for too long and almost forgot something important. When he remembered it, he immediately called Liu Mu, took out a stack of silver bills from his arms, counted out two thousand three hundred taels of silver bills, and gave them all to Liu Mu, asking him to go to the money shop to exchange them for small change so that he could give rewards to everyone.
Liu Mu did not take the banknote, but looked up at Zhu Ping'an, hesitated for a moment, and finally could not help but persuade him bitterly, "Sir, you have been worrying about the soldiers' salaries for some time, and running around to raise funds. The court is in arrears with the salary, and the salary for last month has not been allocated until the end of this month. It is already very difficult for you to pay everyone on time. If you don't pay this reward..."
"No, a man without integrity cannot stand! The promised reward must be paid, so as to maintain the morale of the army! In addition, we were indeed worried about the soldiers' pay some time ago, but the day before yesterday we wiped out the Japanese pirates and made a fortune from them. We don't have to worry about the pay in the short term. Of course, even without this windfall, the reward must be paid. This is the principle." Zhu Ping'an patted Liu Mu's shoulder lightly, firmly stuffed the silver note into Liu Mu's hand, and insisted that Liu Mu go to the bank to exchange it for small change.
"As you command, sir!"
Liu Mu admired Zhu Ping'an's persistence and integrity. He looked at Zhu Ping'an with admiration, nodded vigorously, took the banknote with both hands, and felt deeply moved. His son was really a great man! It was their blessing to be able to follow him!
Liu Mu came out of the general's tent and met Liu Dadao who was taking a walk outside to bask in the sun. When Liu Dadao learned that Liu Mu was going out for work, he insisted on going with him. Liu Mu knew that Liu Mu had been recuperating in bed for the past two days and had been wanting to go out for a walk for a long time. Naturally, he didn't want to miss the opportunity now. After thinking about it, he decided to take Liu Dadao with him. Anyway, he had to take a lot of people out, and one more person wouldn't make much difference.
At noon, the aroma of pork and mutton wafted from the Zhejiang Army camp, spreading for miles.
Pork head, braised pork, braised spareribs, stewed pork and mutton, mutton stewed with radish, mutton meatballs... ...
Each dish served on the table had a strong military flavor. The meat was in large pieces and the bowls were very big, which fully satisfied people's ideal of eating large pieces of meat and drinking large bowls of wine, making people unable to help but salivate.
Tables filled with wine, meat and delicious food were arranged in the shape of a "U" around the temporary training ground.
There is an empty space in the middle of the U-shape formed by the tables.
"Hey, it's time for the celebration banquet. Look at the table, it's full of delicious food. Just smelling the food makes my mouth water."
"Wow, see? There's still wine. When can we take our seats? I'm so greedy that I can't stand it any more."
"Hey, I followed Brother Liu to the market to buy vegetables. The ingredients for our celebration banquet alone cost a full twenty taels of silver. We bought a pig, a sheep, and two large carts of vegetables. Let me tell you, the pig we bought weighed a full three hundred taels. It was a big fat pig."
As the food and wine were served, the Zhejiang Army soldiers, led by officers of all levels, came to the parade ground. Looking at the tables of delicious food and smelling the aroma of wine and meat, the soldiers drooled.
"Haha, all the dishes are served. Everyone, please take your seats in groups of five." Zhu Ping'an, surrounded by Liu Mu and others, walked into the open space in the middle of the U-shaped area and said to the soldiers with a smile.
"Thank you, sir." The soldiers thanked him and couldn't wait to take their seats under the leadership of the sergeant.
"Today's dinner is a belated celebration banquet, celebrating the victory of our Zhejiang Army in annihilating the Japanese pirates in Shangyu the day before yesterday. At that time, the Japanese pirates surrounded Yingtian City, and tens of thousands of Yingtian City defenders held their ground. It was our Zhejiang Army that stepped forward to drive out and annihilate the Japanese pirates. You are all great, and today's celebration banquet is what you deserve."
After all the soldiers took their seats, Zhu Ping'an looked at everyone with approval and spoke loudly.
"It's all thanks to the adults' good leadership."
"If you hadn't anticipated the enemy and made plans in advance, we would have been in trouble, not to mention wiping out the pirates..."
A group of soldiers spoke up one after another, all praising Zhu Ping'an highly.
"Haha, the credit is yours, no need to be polite. Oh, by the way, today's celebration banquet is an exception and you can drink, but each person can only drink half a bowl of wine at most. If you drink more than that, you will be severely punished. The squad leaders of each squad must take the responsibility of supervision and put an end to excessive drinking in their squad."
Zhu Pingan smiled.
"Oh, what a pity, with such delicious food, I can only drink half a bowl of wine..."
"Half a bowl of wine is not enough to fill the gaps between my teeth."
Hearing that they could only drink half a bowl of wine, many soldiers couldn't help but lament.
"Alcohol is prohibited in the military camp. Today is the celebration banquet. Your Excellency can make an exception and let us drink half a bowl of celebratory wine. We should be content."
"That's right, it's good to have some to drink."
Some people were more open-minded and gave contented advice.
"Before the celebration banquet begins, please have some tea with everyone." Zhu Ping'an said to everyone with a smile, and then clapped his hands.
Pah pah.
Along with the applause, everyone saw eight soldiers, in groups of four, carrying two heavy boxes, walking past the crowd and into the open space in the middle of the U-shaped figure.
"Open it." Zhu Pingan said.
The eight soldiers responded by opening the box, and suddenly there was a dazzling white light...
"Oh, my eyes are almost blinded by so much silver..."
"That's a lot of silver."
All the soldiers screamed at once.
"When our Zhejiang Army was first established, I promised you that you would be rewarded 30 taels of silver for each Japanese pirate killed. The day before yesterday, our Zhejiang Army killed 57 Japanese pirates in Shangyu. There was a reward of 30 taels of silver for each Japanese pirate killed, which is 1,710 taels of silver. Now, I will fulfill my promise. The 1,710 taels of silver in these two boxes will be distributed to you all." Zhu Ping'an pointed to the two boxes and said to the soldiers.
"Long live!"
"Long live His Excellency!"
Upon hearing this, all the soldiers were already excited even before drinking.