Bronze door through time and space

Chapter 555: County Lieutenant Borrows Troops
The two men stopped, but Dai Zong could not just leave. After all, the trouble caused by Li Kui had not been settled yet, so he called the people from the gambling house.

Those who can open gambling houses outside the city are all local tycoons with complicated relationships. Naturally, they must know Dean Dai, so the leader endured the pain and came over to bow and said.

"Fortunately, Dean Dai arrived early, otherwise someone would have died."

Dean Dai was an official, so this person naturally did not dare to offend him. However, he felt a little resentful after being beaten for no reason, so he used words to bully him.

"I have some silver here. You can use it to pay for the medicine. If it's not enough, come to the prison to find me." Dai Zong took out a silver ingot and handed it to him, while also giving him a word.

Dai Zong is the chief jailer of the two courts in Jiangzhou. To put it bluntly, he is the leader of the prison, and the prison is where the prisoners are held and made to work, so what he meant was that these local tyrants will sooner or later fall into his hands, so they should not be ungrateful.

Sure enough, the other party immediately calmed down, took the silver with both hands, and thanked him repeatedly.

"Brothers, let's go. Don't let these little things spoil our fun." Dai Zongping said to Li Ji after he had dealt with the matter. He then led the two of them into the city, found a familiar restaurant, and had someone prepare wine, fruits, dishes and vegetables.

"If you're tired of eating from a small bowl, change to a big bowl." Li Kui started yelling as soon as he sat down.

"You bastard, keep quiet and just drink." Dai Zong said helplessly. After all, he was used to Li Kui's temper, but others might not be. Don't offend others for no reason.

"Brother Li, you are a good man. Please give me some good wine in big bowls. Today, I will drink to my heart's content with you two brothers." Li Ji took out a ten-liang silver ingot and threw it to the shopkeeper.

A banquet like this would cost at most one or two taels of silver, so the store owner quickly asked the waiter to bring two jars of homemade wine.

"How can I let my brothers spend money when they are in my place?" Dai Zong became anxious and stretched out his hand to take the silver back and return it to Li Ji, but was pulled back.

"Brother Dai and I hit it off right away. A small amount of silver is nothing to worry about. Let's just drink this bowl of wine." Li Ji picked up the wine bowl and drank it all. Dai Zong shook his head and smiled bitterly, then picked up the wine bowl as well, not talking about the silver anymore. If he continued to talk about it, it would seem that he was not considerate enough and did not treat the other party as a brother.

"What a good alcohol tolerance!" Li Kui couldn't resist when he saw the good wine. He picked up the wine bowl and drank it in one gulp.

"Haha, it's a great honor to meet two brothers today. Shopkeeper, please cut seven or eight pounds of good meat to go with the wine. My brother has a big appetite." Li Ji drank another bowl, smiled and waved to the shopkeeper.

Li Ji paid enough silver, and the shopkeeper didn't waste any words. He selected the best beef and mutton, cut them into large chunks, and served them on the table in a fine lacquer box.

After gambling for most of the day and fighting with others for a while, Li Kui was already extremely hungry. When he saw the meat, he did not even use chopsticks. He just grabbed the meat and started eating. In a short while, two or three pounds of meat was gone. Because he grabbed it carelessly, the rest of the meat in the lacquer box was messed up, making it difficult for others to eat it with their chopsticks. The scene was no different from that of a naughty child eating at a banquet.

"Don't blame me, brother. This guy has no manners at all. There is the Pipa Pavilion Tavern by the river in front. It is an ancient monument of Bai Juyi from the Tang Dynasty. Let him eat here. We can go to the pavilion to have three drinks and enjoy the river view." Dai Zong is not Li Kui. Li Ji spent money to buy wine and meat, but ended up making a mess. He would also be angry if it were him, so he said hurriedly.

"It's okay. Brother Li Kui is a man of true character, a hundred times better than those hypocritical villains." Li Ji picked up the wine bowl and toasted Dai Zong again, saying nonchalantly.

Dai Zong agreed with Li Ji's words.

Li Kui had been with him for quite some time and had caused a lot of trouble, but why didn't Dai Zong get annoyed with him? Instead, he always helped to clean up the mess. It was because he was used to seeing treacherous villains and had to figure out his superiors' thoughts all the time. That's why he liked Li Kui's straightforwardness and true nature the most, because there was no need to guess his thoughts or be on guard against him doing mean things.

The longer you get along with people, the more you like dogs. The same is true for Dai Zong, the prison boss. So when Li Ji said this, he was deeply touched and felt that Dai Zong was also a straightforward person and worthy of close friendship.

After a great feast, Dai Zong arranged a place for Li Ji to stay. He then became drunk and asked someone he knew to help him go back home.

In the next few days, Li Ji, Dai Zong and Li Kui traveled around the city to enjoy the river view. He had no shortage of money, and he learned about the personalities of the two men from his master, so their relationship became increasingly close, like close friends.

However, all good things must come to an end. After another three or five days, Li Ji knew that it was almost time, so he said goodbye to the two men and gave Li Kui ten taels of silver before leaving, saying that he just lent it to him and would pay it back when he had more money. In fact, everyone knew that the money would be thrown into the gambling house soon, but it also left people with the impression of being generous and magnanimous. Li Kui was fine, he didn't have the brains, and he only stayed in the prison gambling house. Dai Zong was different. He had a wide network of contacts and was often on business trips. If he was willing to help spread the word, the name of Li Ji, the quick sword chaser of Shaohua Mountain, would spread at an unimaginable speed.

Of course, Li Ji did this not for himself, but for his master.

After knowing the master's identity as an immortal, the wealth and fame in the world could no longer blind his eyes. Even though he was a small figure, he knew that as long as he clung to the master's thigh, he would reap the rewards sooner or later.

And he knows how to choose better than smart people, because his thoughts are not that complicated and he does not demand too much.

After many twists and turns, Yan Xu returned to Shijiazhuang again. Fortunately, Mr. Shi had not died of his illness. Instead, because of practicing Tai Chi every day and taking some of the qi-replenishing and vital energy-replenishing pills made by Shi Taigong, he became more and more energetic, and was on the verge of becoming the god of war in the park.

After taking Shi Taigong's pulse and regulating his body, Yan Xu wanted to return to Shaohua Mountain, but was stopped by Shi Taigong because there was something he needed to decide on.

"Huayin County wants to borrow troops from Shaohua Mountain?" Yan Xu's expression suddenly became strange. He thought to himself that he had underestimated the darkness and shamelessness of the officialdom. Officials borrowed troops from bandits. Such a thing could happen.

"In recent years, there has been unrest in various places. Many restless people have gone up the mountains to gather and rob places. Although there are no big thieves in Huayin County, the county magistrate is afraid of being implicated by neighboring counties or encountering large groups of bandits, so he strictly orders the county lieutenant to reorganize the troops." Speaking of this, Shi Taigong couldn't help shaking his head.

Because of the bizarre military system of the Song Dynasty, the imperial guards, which were the regular army, could not be mobilized by others. The garrison troops, which were the garrison troops of each state, could not be mobilized by a mere county magistrate, so the counties were mostly composed of local soldiers.

Last time, the county lieutenant brought three to four hundred soldiers and horses. In fact, except for dozens of yamen runners and constables, most of them were young and strong men transferred from various villages. They didn't even have complete weapons and armor, so how could they have combat effectiveness?

Even if the county lieutenant really had hundreds of elite soldiers at his disposal, he would not have just left without saying a word, because he had no confidence at all.

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Of course the main reason is lack of money.

The county's annual tax revenue is limited, just the right amount, not too much or too little. Thinking of using the surplus to train troops is like a dream.

So there are only three ways: one is to apply, two is to increase taxes, and three is to donate money.

Applying is like asking for money from your superiors, and the result is predictable, either it will be rejected or you will be scolded.

Increasing taxes means adding burdens to the people. The problem is that if we are not careful, public resentment will arise. If it provokes civil unrest, it will be fatal.

The third is to ask local landlords and wealthy families to donate money. This is worse than adding more burdens to the common people because it is too offensive. Once the support of these people is lost, the county magistrate can only be a mascot.

Now all the pressure is on the county lieutenant. I don’t know if it’s because Shao Huashan left too deep an impression on him, or because Shao Huashan has been too honest all along, so he came up with this idea.

Although he said he was borrowing troops, the county lieutenant actually wanted to recruit them and take the troops from Shaohua Mountain into his possession. After all, with the righteousness of the imperial court on the side, how many people would be willing to be thieves when they could be soldiers?

In fact, this is also an old tradition of the Song Dynasty. Whenever there are refugees everywhere and the world is in turmoil, it is time for the imperial court to expand its army.

The young and strong among the rioters were incorporated into the imperial guards, and the rest were settled in various places as family units as garrison troops. In this way, without the young and strong, there would not be many people, and naturally there would be no chaos.

However, this also led to the court's military organization becoming increasingly bloated and huge. Not only did military expenditures rise sharply, but the combat effectiveness also dropped frighteningly. Although there seemed to be millions of troops covering the sky, in fact, only one in a hundred could actually be said to have combat effectiveness.

"Since he wants to borrow soldiers, then lend them to him." Yan Xu was not worried about the county lieutenant's tactics. Shi Jin and several other leaders were not worthy of being bribed, and their soldiers were recruited systematically. What could he use to recruit them?

(End of this chapter)