（0056）

Xu Xingxia said without hesitation: "I'll figure out a way to solve the problem of food." As long as a Tartar arrives, it will be enough for us to take out a Tartar's exploits to buy food. Thirty taels of silver, which can be thousands of catties of grain, should be able to support for a period of time. By the way, I've heard that it is said that the price of grain bought and sold internally is much cheaper than that in the market, is it true? ”

Yu Lijun looked around, his expression was a little strange, and he lowered his voice and said, "My lord, don't listen to their nonsense, it's all fake." ”

Xu Xingxia frowned and said, "Fake? How so? ”

Yu Lijun said in a somewhat bitter tone: "Actually, the stored grain in the institute has long been sold to the market to make money. Now, all the grain stored in the house is old grain that has been recovered, and much of it has become moldy and black. If you want to buy grain from the institute, what you will get will definitely be these old grains that you can't eat at all. The same is true of the grain depots in Weili and the town. ”

"Of course, there is a little bit of good grain, but it is all used to cope with inspections, and it is impossible to sell it. Even if it is sold, the price will definitely be more expensive than the outside. It is completely impossible to expect them to bring the price down. Therefore, if you want to buy food, you should buy it from the market. , there are grain merchants in Ningxia Town, and there will be no shortage of grain. ”

"Moreover, it is better not to reveal the news of buying grain, otherwise someone will be sent from above to come to you and ask you to buy old grain from them. When the time comes, you will be in a dilemma. If you buy it, you will lose money. If you don't buy it, you'll offend your boss again. Deputy Zhang's best skill is this, I don't know how many people have suffered a secret loss. ”

Xu Xingxia frowned. The rot inside the guard system is really incorrigible. In the past, he only occasionally heard that weapons and equipment had been exchanged, and the good ones were sold to others, and the bad ones were kept for himself. Unexpectedly, even the grain is the same. It seems that it is indeed necessary to avoid these disgusting people. It's not that I'm afraid of them, but I really don't want to deal with them. He said slowly: "In addition to grain merchants, are there any other channels for purchasing grain?" ”

Yu Lijun shook his head and said: "The subordinates only know about their transfer of food sales, and the rest is not very clear. The subordinates estimated that if the weapons and equipment were to be transferred from above, the ones that would be sent to us would definitely be rags that could not be used. ”

Xu Xingxia nodded and didn't say anything more. Yu Lijun mentioned the rags, he just cleaned up a lot of them. Swords, guns, swords, halberds, firearms, tiger squat cannons, etc., all of them. All of these weapons and equipment have a common characteristic, that is, they are all useless. The only function of their placement in the horn pier is to furnish and occupy space.

There is no need to know more about the darkness within the army at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Basically, this is already a rotten army, rotten from head to toe. Even if one or two troops are more capable of fighting once in a while, they will not be able to change the overall festering situation. It seems that as the boss of the horn pier, you have to find your own way to get weapons and equipment.

As a matter of fact, the food problem is easy to solve, and it is difficult to solve it if it is not solved. The most important thing is to look at the attitude of the superiors. Ningxia Town has grain, and as long as you have silver, you can buy grain. Compared with other military towns, this is the biggest advantage of Ningxia Town. If it is a poor place like Yansui Town and Gansu Town, it will be bad, you can't buy materials with silver, or you need to buy materials at a price several times higher than others.

Xu Xingxia doesn't need his superiors to allocate extra silver, as long as his superiors can convert all his military skills into silver in a timely manner, he doesn't have to worry about food. The Ningxia Plain was originally a grain-producing area, and as long as there were no major changes, the price of grain could not be high. The price of grain at the time of Chongzhen was only three or four taels of silver per stone.

It should be noted that this grain price refers to the price of coarse grains, that is, the price of corn (including millet, stalks, sticky rice, etc., not corn as Cantonese people say), which is completely different from white rice and white flour. The price of one stone of corn may only be three or four taels of silver, but the price of white rice and white flour will at least double, and may even be more than three times that of coarse grains.

In this year, white rice and white noodles can only be eaten often by rich and noble families. In ordinary people's homes, the main food is still corn. It is that Xu Xingxia's family is developed, and the staple food is also corn, so it is impossible to eat white rice and white noodles every day. Even in the emperor's recipe, corn must be prepared for every meal, as for whether to eat it or not, that's another matter.

The corpse of a Tartar is worth thirty taels of silver, which can buy ten stone of coarse grain, which is about equivalent to more than 1,800 catties. According to the calculation of two catties of coarse grain consumed per person per day, the establishment of 40 people in Niujiaodun can also last for more than 20 days. Killing a Tartar in a month, Xu Xingxia believes that there is no problem at all, unless the Tartar will never attack Ningxia Town again. Obviously, this is simply not possible. In other words, there is no need to worry about the merits of the war.

However, if the Ox Horn Pier kills the Tartar and does not exchange it for silver, trouble will come. Once the military exploits cannot be realized, Xu Xingxia will have no source of silver for the time being. The appearance of raw silk takes at least a year. Will this happen? Of course it's possible. Maybe the boss thinks that Niu Jiaodun is too showy, his eyes are red, and he refuses to give out so many rewards. Or, there is no money left at the top.

However, if such a situation really occurs, Xu Xingxia has no need to worry. When the time comes, it is estimated that the soldiers below will not be far from rebellion. Desperately killed the Tartars, but they couldn't get the rewarded silver, and it would be strange if they didn't rise up and rebel. It is 100% certain that if you have the courage to kill the Tartars, you will definitely have the courage to rebel.

At that time, as long as Xu Xingxia incites a little, someone will definitely jump out to rebel, as long as he kills a few big officials and copies a few rich people's families, the silver will come in vain. As for the grain, it was directly confiscated from the homes of large households. In the final analysis, it's still the same sentence, those who are barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes, who is afraid of whom? If you're not afraid of our rebellion, you won't detain our military exploits, right? See what the consequences will be!

As they spoke, the two had already returned from outside, going up the stairs to the third floor. The third floor was occupied only by the four officers of the army, and the area was relatively empty. As an officer, there is no need to sleep in a Chase bunk, everyone has their own room. The third has a total of six rooms, three on each side of the north and south. The area of these rooms is still relatively large, about the size of the standard rooms of five-star hotels in later generations. Of course, there is no furniture inside. After all, Niujiaodun is not his home, and no one will move too many things over.

The wooden planks on the third floor, which used to be very dirty, looked much cleaner after being cleaned. In the middle of the third floor, there is also a table of eight immortals, which is relatively new in appearance. Around the table of eight immortals, there are four benches. On the top of the table of the Eight Immortals, there is a large white teapot with several white teacups next to it. This table of eight immortals is a tool for the officers to hold meetings. Basically, it is also the whole horn pier, the strongest furniture, heavy, as if made of fine nanmu.

"Lord Hyakunho."

"Pacify your lord."

Zhang Quanfu and Gao Meng were packing up their things, and when they saw the two of them coming up, they hurriedly stood up and saluted. Zhang Quanfu also took the initiative to pour tea for the two and invited the two to sit down.

Xu Xingxia waved his hand to let Gao Meng and Zhang Quanfu sit down, picked up a cup of coarse tea by himself, raised his head and drank it all. Of course, there will be no good tea leaves in Niujiaodun, and they are all spring equinox teas picked by the military households themselves. The so-called spring equinox tea is to go to Helan Mountain to pick the buds of various plants at the spring equinox every year, come back to dry, and make tea. Such coarse tea has no other taste, but it is strong enough to refresh and durable enough to be brewed several times.

After a cup of coarse tea, Xu Xingxia felt that his mouth was bitter, and his spirit really rose. He put down the teacup, licked his lips that were more bitter than eating Coptis chinensis, gestured to invite the three of them to sit down, and he sat down with him, and said calmly: "In the future, Niu Jiaodun is the four of us working together, and please support everyone." ”

The trio hurriedly expressed their full support. Following Xu Xingxia to kill the Tartars, that is a great benefit, of course they support from the heart. Nothing is more tempting than tangible benefits. This is completely different from supporting Chen Hai. In the past, they supported Chen Hai only because of the restrictions of military regulations, but what Xu Xingxia gave them was tangible benefits.

Xu Xingxia nodded and said bluntly: "If you say anything superfluous, I won't say anything." I believe that everyone will follow me sincerely, kill the Tartars together, make meritorious contributions together, and receive rewards together. Starting tomorrow, the troops will start training. My training intensity, maybe a lot, has to feed everyone. Therefore, three meals, steamed bread and rice must be enough, and some meat must be added in the middle. ”

Hearing that he was eating meat, Gao Meng's eyes suddenly lit up. His greatest wish is probably to eat a meal of braised pork. It's a pity that in Niujiaodun, that's impossible. In the past ten years, there seems to be no meat on the horn pier. No way, who is willing to pay for meat? With such a little silver, it's not enough to buy coarse grains!

Yu Lijun said a little worriedly: "Lord Baihu, my subordinates are bold and outspoken, and you also know that everyone eats meat, which is quite fierce." With the current ability of Niujiaodun, it is quite good to ensure that the steamed bread and rice are full. ”

Gao Meng immediately consciously licked his lips. It seems that the hope of eating meat is definitely gone. There's no way, they don't know the bottom of the horn pier. Where can I have the money to eat meat? Unless it's your own money. But if you pay for it yourself, it's not interesting. Why don't you go home and eat with your family?

Xu Xingxia nodded and said slowly: "I know this, everyone wants to eat meat, and it must be no problem to eat half a catty at a meal, the cost is indeed very large." However, if the training is intense and there is no meat, it will definitely not work. I think about it this way, beef, mutton, and pork are too expensive, and we really can't afford to eat them. Horse meat is cheaper, so let's eat horse meat. There are not many of us, and it should be about the same as spending five dollars a day to buy horse meat. In fact, at the beginning, everyone may eat meat more fiercely, and the amount of food is relatively large, but in the future, it will definitely slowly decrease. ”

Yu Lijun calculated carefully and nodded silently. Horse meat is generally only twenty or thirty yuan a catty, five dollars of silver, and you can buy more than ten catties. Niu Jiaodun these people, one pound of meat per person a day is enough. It seems that this meal is still acceptable. After pondering for a while, Yu Lijun said cautiously: "What if the number of people increases in the future?" ”

Xu Xingxia said calmly: "It doesn't matter, no matter how many people there are, our food standards are basically the same." The specific data, you have to master. I estimate that after three months, the food standard will be set at half a catty of meat per person per day, and the steamed rice will be enough, so it should be about the same. ”

After Yu Lijun calculated carefully, he was obviously a little hesitant. Numbers are beautiful, but they are difficult to achieve. Why? I don't have any cash! Except for 300 catties of coarse grain, there is nothing else! It's on credit, then it's impossible to give credit every day, the boss who sells meat, and he's not a fool, if you don't have cash, others won't take care of you.

Xu Xingxia took out a small cloth bag from his arms, put it in the middle of the Eight Immortals table, and said calmly: "This is one hundred taels of silver, you take it first and prepare various expenses." Later, when you kill the Tartars and get the reward, everyone will think of a way to make up for this number. Maybe it's okay if you don't make it up, and it's like I invite my brothers to a big meal for a few months. ”

Yu Lijun hurriedly said: "If you don't make it up, then how can you do it?" ”

Zhang Quanfu and Gao Meng also hurriedly stood up and said that they couldn't do this.

Xu Xingxia's eyes swept over the faces of the three of them, and said gently: "I'm not short of money now." ”

Yu Lijun hesitated for a moment, looked at Gao Meng and Zhang Quanfu, and finally accepted the silver two. That's right, the current Xu Xingxia is indeed not short of money. The reward for each tartar was thirty taels of silver, and he killed more than thirty in total, and the silver he received was more than one thousand taels. Such a net worth, even in a thousand households, can be regarded as a countable family.

What's even more enviable is that if there are still Tartars in the future, it will definitely be Xu Xingxia who has won the most military merits. With his archery skills, as long as he is not killed by the Tartars, he can get the heads of twenty or thirty Tartars in one battle, and there is no problem at all. In other words, after a battle, you can get a few hundred taels of silver. With such an income, he took the initiative to take out a hundred taels of silver as an advance, and it was not difficult at all.

However, this feeling made Yu Lijun feel a little uncomfortable. The main reason is that once Xu Xingxia is asked to pay, it means that they may become Xu Xingxia's family members, and they are no longer simple military households. Take Xu Xingxia's, eat Xu Xingxia's, use Xu Xingxia's, isn't Xu Xingxia's family?

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