Ma Fang's matter made Gao Shishi's mind flash: since the chief soldier of Xuanfu is Ma Fang, it can also explain why Cao Gan's gang of Xiangma can travel unhindered in Xuanfu.

You must know that when the Ming Army of the Nine Sides fought against Mongolia, almost all of them insisted on defending, or they fought defensive counterattacks like Qi Jiguang. Only Ma Fang insisted on "riding by horseman", desperately strengthening the cavalry strength under his command, and facing the Mongols with a hard bar, and the effect was actually quite good. Since such a person is in the position of the chief soldier of Xuanfu, Xuanfu is trying his best to buy horses, and even does not hesitate to indulge the horse thieves in Baili Gorge, it is completely reasonable.

However, there is one question that Gao Pragmatic hasn't figured out yet: Ma Fang actually has 3,000 families under his command, and all of them are elite cavalry, how can he afford it? A few decades later, the so-called Guanning Iron Cavalry seems to be less than 10,000, and the money is like flowing water. Could it be that Ma Fang's family is also very rich, or is it greedy and greedy, and he has become a big rat by embezzlement?

He asked tentatively, and after listening to it, Xiao Lori looked at Gao Pragmatic with a caring and mentally handicapped gaze: "Ma Zongrong was born in a slight cold, no matter how greedy he is, he can't afford to raise three thousand elite riders." Of his 3,000 families, only about two or three hundred were his own families, and he was asked to contribute some of the money, and the rest were paid by the imperial court. ”

Gao was stunned for a moment: "The imperial court gave money to the border generals to support their families?" ”

"Isn't that weird?" Xiao Lori looked impatient: "The court doesn't pay for it, where can you afford to raise so many people?" I can't say what the situation of other people's families is, so let's just say that our Liu family is fine. My father has been fighting for so many years, and his own incorruptible land is quite a lot, and there are only more than 300 private families who can afford it, of which the cavalry is not more than 100. But when my father didn't leave his job, there were more than 2,000 people who could be dragged out to fight. If my father raises those more than 2,000 people by himself, our Liu family will have to drink the northwest wind for the whole family in three months! ”

Gao Shi let out a long "oh", and asked again: "Then your father is now dismissed from his post and waiting for investigation, what should I do with those family members before?" Those people should be people who can fight and are used to fighting, and they won't be cheaper than others, right? ”

Xiao Lori said: "If you are directly dismissed, those people will either be taken away by the new chief soldier or disperse on their own." Now my father is fortunately just waiting for the investigation, so for the time being, there is still the imperial court's salary to maintain. She paused, then frowned and said: "But of course this situation is very dangerous, so although my father has no way in the court, he has to come to Beijing to carry out activities, just because he is afraid that this group of people who have been brought out with great difficulty will disperse, and if the court wants to use him again in the future, he will have no one to use, and who will he go to when he loses!" ”

So that's what happened! I said that Liu Xian should obviously be under the management of the Nanjing Military Department, why did he come all the way to Beijing. It seems that it was because he offended the Nanjing garrison, and he thought that he would not be able to settle the matter in Nanjing, so he had to come to Beijing to find a way...... What a chance!

Gao pragmatic thought for a while and asked, "Where did your father's family members come from?" Is it originally a military household that cultivates and raises cheap land, or is it recruited by itself? ”

"This time, those who followed us north were all military households in my family's incorruptible fields, that is, private families, and most of the rest were recruited from all walks of life, and even there were many original Japanese robbers." Little Lori seemed to be familiar with the situation of her own army, and she didn't hesitate to answer at all.

Gao Pragmatic was overjoyed: "You can also recruit at will, even the Japanese Kou?" What he didn't say, what he thought of was Cao Gan's way out.

In fact, this is really a high pragmatic crossing before the lack of understanding, so there is such a surprise. In fact, during the Longwan period, "the generals of each town recruited many people to surrender to the family." ”

For example, Shen Yourong, the general of Denglai, "collected more and surrendered to the Emperor, and the people who dared to die under the curtain"; Man Gui and You Shilu "each have their own Yi Han Ding is very fine"; Liu Wei also has his own "Descending Widows"; You Jixian, the governor of Jizhen, "adopted and reduced to more than 800 people, relying on the elite"; Li Chengliang even adopted many people who were reduced to their families, among which Li Xing, Li Ning, Li Pinghu and others, who later accumulated merit to the deputy general army, turned out to be "from captivity", and among them there was the ancestor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Nurhachi.

By the way, the Mongols accounted for most of the 3,000 elite horses under Ma Fang's command.

As for worrying about the loyalty of these people, that's really a lot of worry - things like nationalism and nationalism are not very fashionable these days, and whoever gives food is the master, this is the last word.

A big reason why in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was that the war was basically a family member, because the family was the commander's private soldier, similar to the commander's servants, and it was completely a relationship of both glory and loss.

Many of the coaches also use these family members as the leaders and backbones of their family members, while the other part of the family members are not the relatives of the boss, but the boss treats them like family, "those who want to get their death and are kind to them like their family." ”

Some of them have followed the boss for more than ten years or even decades, "fighting big and small, and using their lives differently", "food and clothing, hunger and cold, sharing bitterness and happiness, love like father and son, and being guarded like brothers". The long-term family career has formed a kind of "father-son family" relationship between these people and the coach, and they and even the whole family depend on the coach for their own food and clothing, so they have a strong dependence on the coach.

Let's not talk about it far away, isn't Gao Mo one of them? He was recruited by Gao Shishi's uncle Gao Jie when he was in charge of Jiang, and he followed Gao Jie for a long time, and after Gao Jie resigned from the office, he still followed Gao Jie to Xinzheng's hometown, and even after Gao Jie died, he was willing to continue to stay in the Gao family as a member of the Gao family, which is the reason.

"Miss Liu, since you are so familiar with the doorway here, can you tell me about it, will there be a problem with me taking the Bailixia Xiangma as a family member this time?" Gao Pragmatic suddenly became shameless and asked.

Xiao Lori was very satisfied with her pragmatic attitude, and her eyes narrowed into crescent moons: "For your sake, this girl will reluctantly give you some advice: If you are the only one talking to yourself over there, although your identity is special, there are some hidden dangers." But my dad has a handful of them here, and it's a piece of cake for you to take them in. You know why? ”

Gao pragmatic said: It turns out that your little girl likes to wear a high hat, that's easy to do.

At the moment, he said politely: "I am stupid, and I ask the girl to give me advice." ”

Xiao Lori became more and more satisfied, and straightened up Pingchuan's small chest: "Because my father is one of the famous generals in the world, he said that the other party was afraid of his tiger power and took the initiative to vote, and it was too late for the court to be happy, so he didn't care about him to select some capable people from these people." As for why my father didn't choose it himself this time, and left it all to you, it's because after all, my father borrowed your family's family to intimidate them...... And with your family's status in the imperial court, no one will be full of food to pursue this trivial matter. ”

Makes sense, little girl!

Gao pragmatic laughed and arched his hand: "Thank you for your advice, I am grateful." Then the conversation changed: "But we talked for a long time, and you still didn't tell Zaixia, why did you come to Zaixia?" ”

Little Lori let out a "ah" and complained: "It's all your fault!" But there was a gleam in his eyes: "You wrote the training methods of those family members?" ”