When Yu Liang returned home, he told his mother and wife about joining the army. His father almost beat him up, and he persuaded his mother and wife to join the army. He was later persuaded to join the army as a military officer, and finally he was forgiven.
Then he began to encourage the villagers to join the army, and he never tired of talking about the benefits of becoming a soldier in the village army. Because if he didn't find some people to join, he couldn't be a student of ten generals, and if he was a small soldier, he couldn't do his job at home.
The situation was not bad. It was difficult to recruit people for the Kaifeng Prefecture branch because the villagers didn't know about it. The villagers were illiterate and rarely went to the city. What's more, the county officials didn't implement the imperial decree well.
In the village of Zhangzhuang, the Zhang family originally had five sons, but now there are only three left. The oldest is already in his early thirties and all are bachelors.
A family of five was having dinner in the yard and discussing what the Yu family had said.
Although it was a courtyard, it only had a shabby earthen wall and no door. It was already dark, and several people were holding coarse bowls in the courtyard. There was still some light, but the house was pitch black, and there was no lamp oil.
The second and fourth brothers have died while repairing the Yellow River. Now, besides Old Man Zhang, there are three other men.
Old man Zhang took a sip of the vegetable soup and said:
The old woman with disheveled white hair hurriedly said: If you want to fight for your life in the battlefield, swords and guns will not show your eyes.
The third brother said: It’s better than repairing the Yellow River every year, and we don’t need to carry rations.
The eldest brother said weakly: There is still a lot of money to burn and bury after death
Each family member spoke a word, and then fell silent.
Zhang Da was wearing tattered clothes and his hair was tied on top of his head with a hemp rope. He was very thin, but because of his strong bones, he looked actually very big and sturdy.
He finished a bowl of vegetable soup, leaving a thin layer of rice in the bowl, then stood up and walked over to Lao Wu, who was squatting on the doorstep holding a bowl in his hand without saying a word. Lao Wu was only twelve years old. Zhang Da poured the rice in the bowl into Lao Wu's bowl.
Lao Wu swallowed his saliva and said quickly: "Brother, you eat, you eat."
Zhang Da turned around and went into the house to put the bowl down.
After a while, the third brother also poured the remaining rice into the youngest brother's bowl, and said with a smile: "Little boy, it's time for you to eat. Fifth brother, grow up and find a wife in the future, so that our Zhang family can continue the incense."
The fifth brother wiped his eyes and said: If I can find a wife, I will let her serve the eldest and third brothers as well.
When the old woman heard this, she spat and cursed: "You are talking nonsense!"
Zhang Da walked out of the house and said with a hum: I'm going to find Mr. Yu, I'm going to join the army.
Zhang San said: Brother, let me go, you are good at farming.
Zhang Dadao: The third brother is still young, maybe he can find a wife. If I die, you can use the money given by the government to marry a wife, and just wrap me in a straw mat and bury me.
Just then, the two younger brothers suddenly burst into tears.
Cry your ass off, Zhang cursed, "Didn't the second and fourth brothers get buried the same way? They're already dead, why waste money on them?"
Zhang Da said something to his parents and went out to Yu's house. The third brother followed him without saying a word.
When they arrived at Yu Liang's house and entered the main room of the tile-roofed house, there were still two men talking to Yu Liang. Zhang Da and Lao San stood against the wall at the door without saying a word. The two brothers moved at the same time, put their hands in their tattered sleeves, and stood there with their necks locked.
Yu Liang looked over and asked casually: What are you two doing
Zhang Dadao: Just do that job. Yu Shusheng said so at the village.
Yu Liangdao: Join the Army
Hum. Zhang Da snorted.
Yu Liangdao: Your two brothers from Zhang's family
Zhang Dadao: I’ll go, and he’ll come and see.
The third brother said: I’ll go too.
Yu Liang's tone was slightly more polite, and he asked again: "Have you eaten?"
Unexpectedly, at this moment, the old man Yu next to him coughed twice. Zhang Da turned his head and took a look, and said: I'll eat it.
Yu Liang picked up the pen and wrote for a while, then looked up and said: Then go back and prepare, and leave with me in three days.
Zhang Da asked in confusion.
Yu Liang said: Once I report it, your Zhang family will become a military household. As long as someone is in the military, the whole family will be exempt from corvée labor.
The two of them joined the army without thinking, and when they talked about it, my mother cried again. But the whole family said that they had already joined the army and did not dare to regret it, for fear of being arrested and punished by the government.
Three days later, Yu Liang had gathered a dozen men and led them to the county on foot. A green-robed official received them and took them to the government courtyard for dinner.
It's actually white rice
A group of people, with shining eyes, sat down at the table, picked up their chopsticks and started eating. No one said a word. The only sounds on the table were the collision of chopsticks and bowls and the rustling of chewing.
Some of the eaters were quick and soon were licking the bottom of their bowls.
At this moment, a burst of crying was heard. When everyone turned around, they saw the third son of the Zhang family crying loudly. Zhang Da was annoyed and said: "Why are you crying? Isn't it shameful?"
Zhang San choked up and said: I eat white rice, my parents are drinking vegetable leaf soup
Zhang Da's expression was gloomy for a moment, and he said: Eat quickly, this is not the family's ration, and it saves them some.
Everyone kept silent.
The county government distributed wheat cakes for a few days, which were packed in cloth bags. Then Yu Liang and another leading man led the people to Kaifeng Prefecture. The crowd was very dull in the first two days, but soon, because everyone had enough food every day and didn't feel tired, the atmosphere became more lively.
When they arrived at the camp outside Tokyo, they saw wheelbarrows carrying food on the road, with the words "Taicang" written on the sacks. When they saw so much food, they felt more at ease.
The commander personally received Yu Liang and his dozen men. Seeing that they were all young and strong men, he was very happy. He immediately appointed Yu Liang as the first commander of the right regiment and the third team of the right capital, and arranged for a dozen more people to complete the team for him.
Then, a large cart of clothes came over, with a flag on it that read: Shen Chen Li Weaving Factory.
The man in the long robe who was escorting the goods clasped his fists and said: This batch of military uniforms is a gift from Mrs. Shen, I hope the General will accept them.
The commander's face was broken with laughter: Shen Chen Li Merchants are righteous and do not care about money, they are worthy of being righteous merchants
No, no, the man in the robe said politely.
The commander waved his hand and said, "Go to the river to fetch water and boil it for bathing. Wash yourself and put on the clothes." Then his eyes stayed on Zhang Da's tattered clothes and frowned. "Clothes like this should be changed and thrown away quickly. We are not beggars."
In addition to clothes, each person had a helmet; there was no armor or weapons.
After everyone took a shower and changed into military uniforms, the camp was noisy and there were bursts of laughter from time to time. Everyone was very happy. Because the military uniforms were so beautiful.
The leather on the shoulders looks like shoulder armor; the wrists are also leather. The gray linen is solid and smooth, well made, with dense and neat stitching. The large placket on the chest is like a breastplate, with a green tuft on the waist and a leather belt; the linen pants on the lower body are slightly lighter in color, and the color of the whole set is very layered. The thousand-layer sole boots are also very comfortable to wear.
The commander also laughed and said: I heard that the clothes made by Shen, Chen and Li weaving factories are all for the rich and powerful, and their works are really impressive.
Zhang Da opened his eyes wide, looked at his third brother, turned back and forth twice, and said with two "tsk tsk" sounds: Damn, no wonder they say clothes make the man, horses make the saddle, third brother is like this, there is no worry about not being able to find a wife
The two men straightened their backs and were full of energy after their meal, talking non-stop.
The third brother said: If you knew that Congwu was so good, you should have come earlier.
Ten days later, the Kaifeng Prefecture had recruited all the troops. The commander did not train them, but just asked them to line up and told them that they were going to the Jiangnan camp.
Tokyo is the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, but it has to go to the south of the Yangtze River. No one knows why, but most of them are honest farmers. They are very obedient. They have food to eat every day and will go wherever they are told to go.
Soon, good things came. Not only did they provide meals, but they also gave money.
Each person was given one copper coin and a piece of cloth as resettlement fee. The commander said that they could not go home for a while, and they would go to the battlefield directly after training; they were given a few days to go home and send resettlement fee, and then they set out to the south.
The commander said several times that they must come back. All the people have been registered. If they do not obey military orders within three years, deserters will be beaten with 50 sticks and exiled 3,000 miles.
If you take the imperial court's goodies and want to escape, it is a serious crime
The third brother below muttered: Who wants to run away? I eat dry food every time, and I won’t leave even if you chase me.
A few days later, the two brothers Zhang Da and others returned to Zhangzhuang with money. It was like a dream that they had not seen each other for more than half a month. They had transformed themselves and returned home in glory.
Every household in the village came out to watch. Zhang Da held his head high. He was asked by acquaintances at once, but he couldn't answer them all. He kept saying: "The emperor gave it to me." They were eating imperial grain. Yu Shusheng said that the words "Taicang" were written on the grain bag. The emperor took it from his own granary.
When the people heard the emperor's words, they all looked at them in awe. The Zhang brothers suddenly became the emperor's guards.
The broken courtyard of their house was even more crowded with people. The third brother went into the house to give his resettlement fee to his mother, but Zhang Da looked at the fifth brother calmly, and deliberately shook the copper coins in the money bag in front of everyone, and even opened the cloth to look at it. He also deliberately said loudly: The emperor has issued an imperial decree, we have made merit, and we will not be given cloth, but silk, gold and silver.
The crowd was shocked.
As for the risk of forging an imperial edict, Zhang Da was not aware of it yet. Besides, who in this village knew about the emperor's affairs
Zhang Daxue imitated the generals in the military camp, clasped his fists and said: "The government treats the soldiers well, how dare we not die for them?"
When the skinny old man Zhang, dressed in rags, spoke to his neighbors, his tone had changed unconsciously, and he sounded like a respected village elder. Everyone was also very polite, calling him Mr. Zhang.
Zhang Da noticed that the young wives and daughters-in-law in the crowd all had red cheeks when they looked at him. Less than half a month later, he felt as if he had been reborn.
I'm sorry everyone, I've been delayed these two days because of some things I had to do and I've been feeling guilty.