The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 288 The Hearts of Military Families: Bitter Yet Sweet.

The banquet at the General's Mansion, which the whole city was eagerly anticipating, had not yet begun.

The families of the second batch of vanguard battalion members arrived.

It took them more than a month to travel in the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

I've suffered enough.

Not a single military family member could still smile after leaving Heping Pass.

Life in the border town wasn't exactly great either.

But it really isn't as bad as the sandstorms in the Seven Guards of Kansai!
The average person ate half a jin of sand on the way from Guazhouwei!
Because the military families traveled at night before reaching Hamiwei, they naturally missed the opportunity to appreciate the snow-capped mountains and the oasis of Hamiwei.

They arrived at the camp in complete darkness.

Despite their fatigue from the journey, they immediately grabbed the quartermasters of the vanguard battalion who were receiving them and inquired about the situation of the vanguard battalion.

All they knew was to go fight the Hu people.

When did you go?
How long will this war last?

The military families just wanted to know the truth.

Quartermaster: Obey all orders and keep all actions strictly confidential.

However, there are some things we have to face.

Soon, a list of the dead was painstakingly produced.

As the quartermaster solemnly read out the names of those who had perished, one by one, they were honored with their heroic sacrifice.

More than 1,800 military dependents: A bolt from the blue!
died?

So many people have died in just two months!

That's a living, breathing human life!

The military families were caught off guard.

There were also those with strong personalities and quick tempers, grabbing several quartermasters by the collars, their words flying out like firecrackers:
"Boy, who is this 'Zhao Dajiao' you just mentioned? Tell me, that's not Ang's son's name! There are several 'Zhao Dajiao' in the Vanguard Battalion! Tell me, tell me now!"

"I'm going to tear your mouth apart, teach you to lie, teach you to lie! My son is a cat, he has nine lives!"

"Huh? Ang's son said last night that he would take good care of Ang, how could he be dead?"

"Your Majesty, please don't faint!"

"."

Several poor military officers covered their heads with their hands, neither dodging nor flinching, letting the group of elderly women pull them along, crying and screaming at the top of their lungs.

They can understand.

I can really understand it.

Although they were all military households, it was truly rare to see a war in a border town where thousands of people died.

Even knowing that their son had joined the vanguard battalion, most people were not mentally prepared for their son to die so soon.

It really happened to me.

It's still difficult to accept.

Cry, cry.

The family members bid their brothers farewell one last time with tears.

Afterwards, the more than 1,800 earthenware urns containing ashes were returned to their families.

In addition, there are the relics left behind by these people.

The quartermaster, leading the group of over 1,800 military dependents, led them to a room in the camp. Pointing to large boxes labeled with names of the dependents, he addressed them:

"General Gan once said that the lives of the vanguard battalion brothers are very valuable! Although she can't bring all the brothers back alive every time she goes to the battlefield, she can guarantee that one person joining the vanguard battalion can support three generations!"

"Hiccup!"

The young woman, who had just been sobbing, covered her mouth.

Was she hallucinating?
The old woman, weathered by time, opened her cloudy, red eyes, which were already dry from tears.

All the families of the martyrs stared blankly at the quartermaster who had just spoken.

At this moment, she no longer had time to grieve for her dead son or husband.

The quartermaster understood everyone's feelings and continued, "This contains all the belongings that the brothers earned for their families before their heroic sacrifice, and another part was subsidized by General Gan and the surviving brothers!"
In addition to what the brothers earned themselves, the Vanguard Battalion also provides pensions.

These pensions were based on regulations set by General Gan: each household could receive one hundred sheep! Live, large-tailed Hu sheep weighing over one hundred jin.

This regulation applies to every fallen brother of the Vanguard Battalion.

For families who don't want to raise sheep, the camp will buy them back at the market price, which is currently one tael and five mace of silver per sheep.

Regarding housing! The houses in Hami City now belong to the Angmen and can be chosen by the families of the martyrs first! However, since the number of houses in the city is limited, we will have to ask everyone to squeeze in for a while.

General Xiong has given orders that once the elite Hu troops are defeated, Hami City will be expanded. Within two years, every military household will be allocated a large courtyard!

Lastly, there's land! Hamiwei has no shortage of water, and new immigrants will be required to cultivate the land immediately upon arrival; each person is assigned ten mu (approximately 0.67 hectares). Military households pay 50% of their taxes, while martyrs' families only need to pay 20% for ten years!

"Wow"

The military families were in an uproar.

The boxes were all sealed, so you couldn't see what was inside.

But the idea of ​​compensation for the deceased caught their attention first.

The usual price in the border town was around fifteen taels, and General Zhao paid for it out of his own pocket.

How much did the vanguard battalion give?

One hundred sheep?
A fat sheep weighing over 100 pounds!
Selling them to the main camp for 1.5 taels each?
They're not stupid!
The youngest son in the family isn't old enough to join the army, so he can become a shepherd.

A mother sheep gave birth to a lamb.

The life of sheep is endless!

They heard about the house and the land too.

The vanguard battalion's boys were all from ordinary military households, whose families lived in various villages and fortresses near the five major military posts.

Military families dream of living in the city!
My long-cherished wish has been fulfilled today thanks to my deceased son!

As for making three or five families squeeze into one courtyard, what's so difficult about that!
If each person is allocated ten acres of land, and the land only pays 20% of the grain tax for ten years, who wouldn't want that?
Before coming here, I had heard that the land in Hamiwei was particularly suitable for growing melons, and that selling them back to the interior would bring in another income.

I wouldn't know unless I counted.

Upon calculation, it really does have everything!

Tears, where are the tears now?

All of it, mixed with surprise, was swallowed down.

It's no wonder people are cold-hearted.

For the families of soldiers stationed on the border, life is not easy.

The dead must eventually make way for the living!
To put it even more harshly.

The surviving son previously worked at the border garrison, and perhaps even after a lifetime of service in the military camp, he still couldn't earn enough for the family to afford a courtyard house and a hundred sheep in the city.

The women rallied.

Some people started asking the quartermasters about the situation of the hundred sheep given as compensation, and where in Hami Guard they could graze.

They learned that these sheep were now being raised in the garrison by wounded soldiers, and that they could collect them at any time after they were settled.

As for the grazing area.

Beneath the snow-capped mountains, grasslands stretch as far as the eye can see.

Now that they knew everything they needed to know, the military families finally felt much lighter.

After that, these 1,800-plus households were led by several quartermasters to choose their houses.

The military dependents whose sons were still alive and well were both relieved and worried.

The quartermaster chief stayed behind to tell everyone some good news:

"The Vanguard Battalion has recently made another great contribution. General Xiong is rewarding the ten men who made the first contribution with ten cows and one hundred sheep each! In addition, everyone in the Vanguard Battalion will receive a Hu horse and fifty taels of silver!"

"Good good!"

"Good lad, he deserves to be in the vanguard battalion!"

"Heavens! General Gan is truly a living god of wealth."

"Ang'er has made something of himself! He has cows, sheep, and horses—all the livestock in the Ang family are now available!"

(End of this chapter)