Chapter 16 Chapter Fifteen

Jianglong couldn't sit still any longer, he kept moaning, and ran to the tent to look around from time to time.Until the time when the shadow of the sun was slanting to the west, Gui Yinzi had not yet returned.Jianglong said angrily: "I don't know what good food to eat, and I haven't come back yet! My honor, which is more important than life, was taken away by him!" Suddenly, a weak voice came from outside the tent: "Who snatched it from you?" With a plop, one person fell in.Dugu Jian hurriedly rushed forward to support him, and saw that the man's legs were dripping with blood, and grinning in pain, it turned out to be his master's hermit son!

Dugu Jian said in surprise: "Master, how could you be beaten like this!" Gui Yinzi sighed and said: "Don't mention it! Master originally thought that you won this mighty battle, and the general summoned you, no matter what, you should be rewarded with horses and ribbons, and even if it doesn't work, you should have a good meal. Then you know that you have gone to the army. The general didn't say anything, he immediately ordered me to be dragged to the ground, and beat me with fifty army sticks! Poor master, this old bone is about to be broken!" Jianglong was startled and laughed again: "Didn't we win? Why did we still beat you?"

Gui Yinzi said with a bitter face: "I also struggled to ask. The general said that the military order is like a mountain. If you don't follow the military order to fight privately, it is disobedience. It is a light punishment to hit the fifty army with the stick. If you commit the crime again next time, you will be beheaded to show the public!" Jianglong couldn't bear it any longer, and burst out laughing. Gui Yinzi said angrily: "My old man was beaten like this, you still laugh, do you have a conscience?" Dugu Jian also glared at each other angrily, Jiang Long covered his mouth with all his strength, barely suppressed his laughter, and said, "If you have a conscience, you wouldn't sneak over to receive the reward by yourself, and leave us alone."

Gui Yinzi was so angry that he gasped for a while, unable to speak, Dugu Jian hurriedly pressed his palm to his vest, and breathed his breath away.Wu Qingwei hurriedly took out the golden sore medicine, and carefully applied it to Gui Yinzi's wound.After laughing, the hearts of several people were a little heavy. No one could have imagined that they won a victory with all their efforts, and what they got in exchange was the mighty stick of the Fifty Army. Slowly, Jianglong's stomach rumbled, it was time to eat, but no one had the heart to eat the dinner that was like pig food. Suddenly, a burst of fragrance came, Jianglong was the first to stand up, sniffed vigorously, and murmured: "It smells so good!"

The tent door was pushed open, and a few soldiers walked into the tent like a stream of water, all holding a huge food box in their hands.Opening the lid of the box, there are all kinds of delicacies inside. The soldiers arranged the wine and dishes, bowed and said: "This is a reward from the general." They all retreated out. Several people were a little stunned, not knowing why the general rewarded the food after hitting the military stick.Gui Yinzi smelled the fragrance and got up straight away. Seeing so many delicious foods, his eyes lit up and he shouted: "I got it in exchange for being beaten, you can't eat it!"

As he spoke, he threw his head on the table and started chewing.Jianglong stared at the delicacies, his eyes were straightened, and he murmured: "We can't eat...we can't eat..." He grabbed a plate of food and ate it voraciously. While eating, he muttered: "We can't eat...we can't eat..." Of course, Dugu Jian and the other three did not neglect, each of them took a plate, and gorged themselves .Dozens of dishes, together with a pot of wine and a big bowl of rice, were all eaten clean, and Jianglong couldn't even move. He lay on the ground and murmured to himself: "We can't eat..."

Gui Yinzi had pain in his butt, so he could only lie on the table, holding the last dish.He couldn't eat anymore, so he could only smell it on his nose.After smelling it, he murmured: "Since you reward these things, why do you still beat me?" He always felt that he was wronged by being beaten. Since the five of them were eating, why was he the only one who was punished? Someone outside the tent said: "You feel very wronged, don't you?" The curtain was lifted, and a man walked in, wearing a golden helmet and armor, looking extremely mighty.Gui Yinzi was startled, stood up hastily, and shouted: "General!"

Everyone was shocked and stood solemnly.Thinking of this gluttonous and embarrassed appearance being seen by General Li Qiongli, if it is dealt with by military law, I am afraid that everyone will suffer 50 boards.Thinking of this, everyone was uneasy. General Li smiled and nodded to everyone, saying: "You must be suspicious that I beat your master, but I want to reward you with a celebration banquet." Everyone didn't dare to answer, but they couldn't help but have this question in their hearts.General Li sighed: "The battle of military power is a battle in the battle to boost morale before the battle of the army. Although there are only dozens or hundreds of people fighting each other, the morale of the winner is greatly increased, and the loser is depressed. It can almost be controlled. The outcome of the battle. This is why the Jin army was several times stronger than ours, but fled in a panic after the battle of the army, and was defeated by us instead."

Jianglong couldn't help but said: "In this way, we have made a great contribution, why should we be punished?" General Li said: "Have you ever thought about it, what if we lose this battle? If we lose our temper, and our troops are so far behind, how can we survive?" Several people looked at each other in blank dismay, and in retrospect, they were all a little scared.General Li sighed, and said: "At that time, everyone was not afraid of death, they just knew that Jin Guo's dead soldiers were good at continuous field battles, and there was no way to resist, so they just wanted to escape with their whole body and preserve their vitality. Xu Tu will fight decisively in the future. So brave Fighting fiercely is the courage of a man, not the way to use troops in the army. When you come out enthusiastically, do you know that you will win? How much luck is there in this victory? Do you know that once defeated, the five thousand people will only be able to win? I'm afraid that all of you will be buried under the iron spear of the golden army with you."

Those words made everyone sweat profusely.Seeing them like this, General Li smiled, and said: "But you finally won, and greatly increased the momentum of our Song Dynasty. It also made the Jin army fearful and did not dare to press ahead, and bought time for our army. We can be safe When you retreat to Ying City, you will be the first ones. If you have meritorious service, you will be rewarded. This seat will not only reward you with a celebration banquet, but also promote you to be a seventh-rank martial arts man, and temporarily hang your name. After the victory, you will play the Ming Emperor and issue a decree to reward you."

Dugu Jian lived in the deep mountains since he was a child, and he didn't know how high an official he was from the seventh rank Wu Jinglang.Jiang Long and Wu Qingwei looked down upon them a little. The general nodded and smiled, and said: "From now on, I will serve the imperial court loyally, and I will not treat you badly." Saying goodbye to everyone, he left the tent. Only then did Gui Yinzi put down the dish, and said joyfully, "Disciple, you are now an official!" Jianglong said disdainfully: "This little official is not even enough to step on his feet, why do you still care so much!" Gui Yinzi said leisurely: "Although officials are small, they are always different from soldiers. From now on, if the men in black want to find us again, it must not be so easy! Do you think I have an official addiction?" The five of them had enough to eat and drink, and became officials again. Except for the calm expression on the face of Li Ba, everyone else was more or less happy.The next day, some soldiers came over and picked up several Wu Jinglangs to rest in the mansion.At this time, the army had already entered the city of Ying, and Wu Jinglang's official residence was the expropriation of a wealthy family's partial house.The rich man was quite afraid of officials, so he hurriedly served him with good wine and good food.Gui Yinzi was very satisfied with this kind of life, and wanted to live in Yingcheng all the time, not going anywhere. The rich man had a fat boy named Huzi, who was chubby as his name suggests.Seeing so many people living in the house, I was a little scared at first, but couldn't bear the curiosity after all. When Dugu Jian was practicing martial arts, he came out tentatively and asked, "Big brother, what are you doing?" Dugu Jian smiled and said, "I'm practicing martial arts." Hu Zi blinked his big eyes and said, "Xi Wu? What are you doing?" Dugu Jiandao: "Practicing martial arts can strengthen your body and serve the country, and when bad guys come, you can beat them." Huzi nodded half-understanding, and said, "I also want to practice martial arts, and I also want to beat bad people!" Dugu Jian made him laugh, and said: "Okay, I happen to have a golden boy sword technique that I can teach you." Huzi was overjoyed and said, "Brother, wait a minute, I'll get my sword!" Dugu Jian was a little surprised, this child looks only seven or eight years old, does he have a sword?Thinking of this, I can't help but feel a sinking heart, people in troubled times are not as good as dogs, even such a young child knows how to wield swords.Hu Zi ran away quickly, and then came back quickly, Dugu Jian couldn't help laughing. ——He held a sword in his hand, but it was a mahogany sword with a few strange symbols drawn on it. The tip of the sword was black, as if it had been scorched by fire.Seeing Dugu Jian's contempt, Hu Zi was a little unhappy, pouted and said, "This is the Seven Star Sword I stole from Taoist Zhang, it can cut even monsters and ghosts!" Dugu Jian laughed and said, "Can you kill ghosts and ghosts? Then the devils in the Kingdom of Jin must have seen the wind and fled." As he spoke, he picked up some rough sword techniques to teach him.Huzi is extremely clever, and he can learn it as soon as he learns it.He has a strong body, he practiced sword very hard, he was out of breath after a while, but he still refused to rest, whenever there was something he didn't understand, he would pull Dugu Jian and insisted on asking, which caused Dugu Jian to make a fuss Can't do it.The two were playing around when they suddenly heard a rough voice: "The tax is collected! Father Wang, hurry up and pay the tax!" Father Wang is Hu Zi's father. Hearing this, he ran out of the room in a hurry, and said with a smile on his face, "The horse tax was collected the day before yesterday, and the battle armor tax was collected yesterday. Why are you collecting tax again today?" The tax official sneered and said, "Today is the sword tax! If you don't buy all the swords and horses, how can you fight for you? But how can you defend the people? Three taels of silver!" Father Wang said with a frowning face: "It's not that I don't want to pay. The tax is paid once a day, and each time is more than once. I really can't afford it." The tax official sighed: "Do you think I am willing to persecute you? General Li just said something. The Jin army has already reached Xiangyang Mansion, and they have already chased to the city. It is they who fought the enemy bravely and killed the pursuers Yes. But they also lost a lot. The military supplies are almost empty. If they can’t make up, they can only withdraw from the city of Ying and go to the next city. Father Wang, you know! Kill back! If we don’t hurry up and keep General Li, once they leave, the Jin Kingdom’s army will come, will there be a way for us to survive? To spend money to eliminate disasters, it’s not someone who robbed us of our money today, we sent it over , to save his life! Father Wang, you still want to drive more." Father Wang's eyebrows almost came together, and he sighed: "Brother Yao, what you said is all right. But three liang of silver... three liang of silver! That's almost all of my property!" The tax official said in amazement: "Although your brother is not very rich, he has always had enough food and clothing. Why can't he even take out three liang of silver?" Father Wang said with a sad face: "In just two or three days, I have paid more than two hundred taels of taxes in various names, but where... where..." He entered the room with a sigh and took out a small cloth bag.Huzi rushed over, grabbed the cloth bag and shouted, "No! Daddy, this is my money for clothes, don't give it to him!" Father Wang said: "Good boy, let's buy clothes in the New Year." Huzi cried, "No! This is my money!" Father Wang said angrily: "If the tiger is disobedient, Daddy won't like it!" He grabbed the cloth bag and grabbed it hard, throwing the tiger off, the muscles on his face contorted, and finally handed the cloth bag into the hands of the tax official .Huzi was so sad that he sat on the ground and cried for a while.The tax official also had a look of unbearable expression on his face, but he could only sigh, shook his head and left. Dugu Jian gritted his teeth, turned around suddenly and walked out.What he rushed to was the largest mansion in the city, which had been conscripted as the mansion of General Li at this time. Dugujian came to the door, cupped his hands and said: "The last general, Dugujian, has something important to see General Li." The guarding soldier blocked him and said, "The general is resting, please come back tomorrow." Dugu Jiandao: "Brother please inform me, the last general has something very important." The guard sneered and said, "You are a Wu Jinglang, how important is it? Go away quickly, so as not to be served by the military law!" Dugu Jian blushed and couldn't help arguing with the guard.A master walked out of the commander's mansion and shouted sharply: "Who is making noise, don't you want to live?" The guard hurriedly put on a smile and said: "Master Hao, he is a stern kid, let's drive him away immediately." Master Hao glanced sideways, his expression changed, he cupped his hands and said: "It turns out that he is the Dugu hero who stood up in front of the battle! I'm sorry, I hope the hero will forgive me." He turned to the guards, immediately changed his face, and said sharply: "You don't even know the hero Dugu, do you still want to live?" The guards immediately fell silent, and Master Hao's face was as warm as a spring breeze when he turned his face again. He laughed and said, "Does Dugu hero want to meet the commander in chief? This way please!" Dugu Jian felt a little sorry, wanted to say something, but was dragged into the hall by Mr. Hao in a gust of wind.I saw General Li standing in the center of the hall, which was filled with large boxes filled with gold, silver and jewels.Seeing Dugu Jian come in, General Li sighed softly: "You came just in time, tell me, what are these?" Dugu Jian felt a little unhappy in his heart, and said casually: "These are people's fat and people's ointment!" General Li laughed loudly and said: "That's right! These are the property that Li plundered from this city. If you say that it is the people's fat, it is very reasonable." He looked serious and said: "You know, I Looking at these things, what do you see?" Dugu Jian didn't answer, he didn't know what General Li wanted to say.The general's eyes shot brightly, and he said in a deep voice: "What I saw were 100,000 weapons and 5,000 iron horses. They are our well-equipped and well-stocked elite soldiers. It is our victory in the battle of Yingcheng. It is our pursuit of victory. The grand occasion of recovering thousands of miles of rivers and mountains!" There was a frenzy in his eyes: "Do you know that my army had won consecutive victories and repelled the Jin army for fifty miles. However, due to lack of logistics and lack of supplies, it was defeated by the Jin army. There are only 5,000 people left! 5,000 people with scars! But 5,000 people are all elite soldiers who can stand against hundreds of people. Think about it, if these 5,000 people are trained and replaced with sharp weapons, the fat War horse, who in the world can stop it? At that time, I will lead my children to drink horses in the Yellow River." He was full of beard and hair, full of pride.Dugu Jian's blood couldn't help boiling up. The general held his hand and said: "So you must stay and show your might for me!" Dugu Jian nodded hastily, he really had no reason to refuse. ——What a pleasure it is to restore rivers and mountains! General Li said: "Okay, now tell me why you came to see me." Dugu Jian looked at the gold and silver all over the floor, hesitantly said: "I wanted to ask the general to reduce the tax..." The general said: "Do you know what is the most important thing in troubled times?" Dugu Jian shook his head, and the general's voice was a little heavy: "It's to survive. I tax them so heavily to ensure that they can survive. You have seen the prestige of the Golden Army, it is not a journey of loneliness They are able to resist. Their numbers are several times that of ours. If the equipment is not good enough, our army will only be destroyed. Under the overthrow of the nest, how can there be no eggs? Then what is the use of gold and silver? You must remember that war There are only two words, that is iron and blood. The kindness of a woman can make you happy for a while, but it will definitely lead to huge disasters." Dugu Jian lowered his head, deeply ashamed of his short-sightedness.He whispered: "I see, I misunderstood the meaning of the general." General Li smiled tolerantly and said: "It's okay to misunderstand me, the most important thing is to serve the country loyally!"