Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 44 Trouble
When a rabbit dies, the fox mourns. They are all from poor families and are from the same clan. Liu Daogui felt a little sympathy for him, but more of it was gloating.

In the final analysis, it was all his own fault. He walked into the edge of the knife.

However, Liu Daogui was worried about Xun Xinzhi's last words. He always felt that there would be some trouble soon.

Huan Hong, Yuan He and Huan Daozhen went hunting, but no one was seen for several days.

Liu Daogui waited and waited but no one showed up, but the accumulated military affairs of the various units of the Central Army piled up at his door.

Lack of winter clothes, hay, food, salt, frostbite medicine, firewood for the winter, in short, everything...

The number of candidates reported to the court by the General of Conquering the Enemy was 5,473, but in reality there were only 2,621.

Almost half of the salary was eaten up.

Of the 2,621 men, 1,327 were in the front.

The three divisions on the left, right and back have only more than 1,200 people in total.

Liu Daogui compiled a list of the things that were missing from the army, wrote it down in a document, and sent it to the official residence of the General of Conquest.

But it was like a stone sinking into the sea, not even a drop of water was splashed.

The weather was getting colder and colder, and dozens of soldiers were blocking the entrance to the military office where the soldiers were enlisted.

"When will this year's winter clothes and food be distributed?"

"Let General Liu come out."

In the cold winter, although there is no rain or snow, the wind is as cold as a knife.

All these people were wearing only a single layer of clothing, their faces were pale and thin, and they were shivering.

"Damn it, if you want to block us, go and block the Zhenglu Sima or the General's Mansion. What's the point of blocking us here?" Liu Zun argued while blocking the door.

"Since the general and the Sima are not here, we must find a soldier to join the army!"

"Isn't there still a chief secretary in the military mansion?"

"They ran away a long time ago!" The soldiers became more and more angry and resentful.

With a crisp "pa" sound, a bright red mark of five fingers appeared on Liu Zun's face.

"Fuck you!"

The scene suddenly became chaotic. Two fists could not beat four hands. He and Liu Zhen were no match for this group of people.

"Stop!" Liu Daogui knew he couldn't escape and had to come out.

The soldiers were not really rebelling. When they saw Liu Daogui coming out, they all stopped and one of them stepped forward and said, "Agui, I am your second uncle!"

Liu Daogui looked at this man and found that he was the second son of the Zhao family from the same neighborhood. According to seniority, Liu Daogui should call him uncle...

His grandfather Liu Jing and Pingyuan prefect Zhao Yi fought their way to Jiangdong together. Later, the two families formed an alliance, and his father Liu Qiao married Zhao Anzong, a daughter of the Zhao family. However, he died of illness not long after giving birth to his elder brother Liu Yu.

At least the Pengcheng Liu family produced a fierce and powerful man named Liu Laozhi, but the Zhao family has been unknown for decades and has completely declined, even worse off than the Liu family.

Zhao Lunzhi is Zhao Anzong's third brother.

"Uncle, please get up. Everyone, get up." Liu Daogui hurried forward to help Zhao Lunzhi up.

Judging from his attire, he should be a Tuber.

"The winter clothes and food supplies have been in arrears for three months. Our brothers are almost freezing to death or starving to death. Do you want to take care of this?" Zhao Lunzhi went straight to the point.

Liu Daogui suddenly realized that the trouble Xun Xinzhi was talking about must be this matter.

Huan Hong, Yuan He, and Huan Daozhen led the vanguard troops out on a hunting patrol, and Xun Xinzhi was nowhere to be seen. It was such a coincidence, as if it had been planned all along...

"Wait a minute, don't be impulsive..." Gao Xun hurried over, hesitating to speak.

Liu Daogui knew what he wanted to say and that this matter was difficult to handle.

The blood and sweat of the soldiers went into the pockets of Huan Hong, Yuan He and Xun Xinzhi.

But Liu Daogui couldn't remain indifferent. Secondly, if something happened to the soldiers in the middle, he would be the one to take the blame.

Corrupt officials, corrupt officials, originally they were responsible for the noble families and carried out the responsibilities and burdens...

This was the prevailing trend of the time, with the sons of the gentry taking pride in occupying high positions and enjoying leisure, and feeling ashamed of fulfilling their duties and doing practical work.

The pure ones are leisurely, noble and essential. The turbid ones are complicated, busy and tiring.

This is how it came about that there are no commoners in the upper class and no gentry in the lower class.

Liu Yi is a living example.

Whenever Xun Xinzhi opened his mouth, the people below him would be in trouble.

"Since you have come to me, I will not turn a blind eye." Liu Daogui did not say anything definite. Since trouble has come, there is no way to avoid it.

"Don't be perfunctory when joining the army!"

"Do you have any other choice besides trusting me?" Liu Daogui looked at everyone without fear.

These soldiers' families are in Guangling and their clans are in Jingkou. If there is unrest, they will all be implicated.

Secondly, the common people from poor families generally had a hard time in those days, and their hatred was transferred to the northern barbarians. The soldiers were used to hard lives, and their endurance also increased.

He would rather suffer himself than be an enemy of the imperial court.

No matter how hard the soldiers' lives were, they were still given a few acres of military land, and when they compared themselves with the common people and refugees, they felt mentally balanced.

In Liu Daogui's view, the entire Jin Dynasty was divided into five classes: the emperor and the nobles stood at the top, the lower-class gentry and the Jiangzuo nobles ranked second, the poor families with land and soldiers ranked third, and the common people and refugees ranked in the bottom two classes. The last three classes were actually the objects of slavery and exploitation...

Liu Daogui bet that these soldiers would not dare to act rashly for the sake of their families and the few acres of land.

"Okay, we'll trust General Liu for once. Please let us know how long it will take for winter clothes and food to arrive. We can wait, but my wife and children at home can't!"

There was a hint of threat in the soldier's words.

Liu Daogui was not easily intimidated. "You all know that I'm new in this position, so I need to clarify the whole story. Trust me, there's no need to say more. I will definitely give you an explanation."

Zhao Lunzhi shouted, "We are all neighbors from Jingkou. If we can't trust the military government, we can trust the Liu family of Pengcheng!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the hostility in everyone's eyes faded a lot.

"It's not that we have trouble joining the army, but our families are really struggling..."

"Don't worry, I will find a way to solve this problem." Liu Daogui also knew this difficulty. Two years ago, his family was in financial difficulty and he had to run around everywhere.

"Then take your leave."

This group of veterans were very particular, and some of them even came to apologize to Liu Zun and Liu Zhen, "Brother, I'm sorry for offending you..."

Liu Daogui asked Liu Zhen to take out a few hundred coins and give them to Zhao Lunzhi, asking him to buy some winter clothes and exchange them for some food.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Lun was extremely loyal. "My brothers are crying out for hunger and cold, but I am well fed and warm. How can I face others? Let's die together, let's live together!"

After saying that, he turned around and caught up with his comrades, leaving without looking back.

Liu Daogui looked at their backs and felt inexplicably depressed. Even though they had become poor, the Northern Army had not lost its backbone.

"Food and fodder for more than a thousand people is not a small amount. It can save them temporarily, but not forever."

"They've already come to my door. You can't hide from them even if you try."

Xun Xinzhi should have known about the arrears of winter clothes and food long ago and deliberately threw it to Liu Daogui.

The way these people eat is extremely ugly.

But from another perspective, this trouble is actually an opportunity. If you want to be the boss and win people's hearts, you must be able to take on responsibilities.

These soldiers are all veterans of the Northern Palace. If I can win their hearts, who in the General Zhenglu’s Palace would dare to mess with me?

Sometimes Liu Daogui really suspected that Huan Hong, Yuan He, and Xun Xinzhi, who were from the aristocratic families, were out of their minds. They didn't even know how to win over such a group of old soldiers from the Northern Palace.

But on second thought, it's perfectly normal.

The nobles and the commoners were from two different worlds. In their eyes, soldiers were no different from livestock...

Huan Hong already had a group of elite soldiers at his disposal, so he didn't care about the other soldiers.

"Do you have a solution?" Gao Xun's face was full of worry.

Liu Daogui spread his hands and said, "When a car reaches the mountain, there will always be a way out. When a boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally straighten out. We must believe that there is always a way out."

Gao Xun was stunned. "This statement... is profound and profound!"

(End of this chapter)