Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Cong Ridge Guards Begin to Change
For the first time in ten years, the soldiers who guarded Congling felt a sense of crisis. In the past, everyone lived the same life and received the same military pay, and no one had to laugh at anyone.
But starting from today, Li Shouzhuo used a way to make money, and began to divide and widen the gap between them. The diligent bird catches the worm, and the capable person can naturally make money, while those who are content with the status quo and do not want to make progress
For those who are struggling, just stay on the line of food and clothing.
The selection competition was held on the hillside outside the city. The cavalrymen all changed to wooden swords, and the jumping soldiers also changed to wooden swords and wooden shields. The crossbowmen not only tested their swordsmanship, but also their arrow skills.
technique.
Li Siye was very leisurely. He stood on the city wall and watched the competition, and ordered Tian Zhen and Fujimu to act as referees.
Although these people usually neglect training, when it comes to money, all of them showed their true strength. They tried their best like a desperate man, and finally decided on the nineteen winners. The person who led the team was naturally Li Siye.
Appoint Tian Zhen to take charge.
Li Siye was very satisfied with the selected personnel and stood in front of everyone and said: "This method is good. Next time there is an escort mission, we will also use the competition method to select. Only those with skills can make money, and the fittest will survive."
The soldiers couldn't help but secretly complain. Those with poor kung fu would be at a disadvantage now. If they continue to follow Li Siye's selection method, they might not even be able to drink soup, let alone eat meat.
Li Siye observed the changes in everyone's expressions and continued: "Those who are not selected should not be discouraged. Practice your martial arts and strive to be able to select them when the next business comes."
The matter of escorting the caravan was settled in this way, but something went wrong about the person leading the way. Tian Zhen himself was opposed to this matter.
Although he was vulgar, he still pretended to be loyal and upright, so he refused to allow Li Siye to lead the caravan.
He, Tian Zhen, came to Anxi to be rewarded for his meritorious services, not to escort swordsmen, so he said he was different and did not seek to conspire with each other.
…
Li Siye stood in his building, put his hands behind his back and asked: "Why did you drop the chain for me at the critical moment?"
"This is not my fault. This matter is beyond my acceptance. You know who I am. Tian Zhen came to Qixi to serve as a soldier to make achievements, not to make money for you as a guard."
Tian Zhen closed his eyes and was speechless. Li Siye asked him with a smile: "Do you still remember the content of our bet?"
"What content?"
"If these people change their decadence and take the initiative to participate in training and improve their martial arts, you can't complain. You can do whatever I ask you to do. You won't get rich by breaking your promise on this bet."
Tian Zhen patted her knees and said, "Of course not! But have they changed now? Have you ever seen them change?"
Li Siye shook his head mysteriously: "We'll see you tomorrow morning."
In the early morning of the next day, Li Siye ordered Teng Mu to ring a gong on the top of the city to call for a training camp. The more than 100 soldiers captured in Congling, except for the 20 people who participated in the escort mission and were preparing, all the others arrived at the city at the first time.
Outside the school grounds.
Without waiting for Li Siye's order, they began training to capture and kill each other. They competed with each other on their sword skills and spear skills. Some people trained crossbows to shoot at targets. Looking at this kind of hasty behavior, they have ambitions to become fat in one day.
Ambition.
Li Siye looked back at Tian Zhen, who was standing by blankly, and said with a grin: "Don't forget your bet, prepare to lead a team to escort the caravan immediately."
Tian Zhen let out a long sigh, his big round eyes full of resentment. He didn't say anything and immediately went back to pack the package.
…
Li Siye called Yu Gou over and asked him to organize a dozen fire-head troops to fry noodles overnight, then add mutton oil to the pot and stir-fry.
While the cooks were stirring the fried noodles, they shook their heads and said, "Can this thing be eaten after it's fried?"
"Whatever, we will do whatever the superiors tell us to do."
Yu Gou walked back and forth around the pot, put his hands behind his back and said proudly: "What do you know? The biscuits made from this fried noodles can be stored for a month."
"It can't be stored for a month, right? Even the dry food we steam can't be stored for twenty days."
There is something even more magical than this. Li Siye ordered people to cut two pieces of mutton into meat strips, rub them back and forth in fried Sichuan peppercorns and green salt. After the meat strips were salted and tasted, they turned reddish brown, and then ordered people to
The fish are dried in a cool place without sunlight. He claims that these things can be stored for more than a year.
The soldiers looked at the cured meats curiously all day long and couldn't believe what Shou Zhuo said. If they could really preserve it for a year, they immediately asked Li Shou for a method and taught their wives how to make some bacon.
In the afternoon, the Persian caravan set off. Li Siye stood on the city wall and watched from afar. Twenty Tang soldiers, wearing clothes made of cow and sheep skins and dressed as swordsmen, escorted the caravan out of the city.
If you observe carefully, it is not difficult to find that they are disguised as Tang troops. However, those wandering in the desert are just sand bandits and caravans from various countries. Most people will not really get to the bottom of it.
His behavior did involve risks, but in Li Siye's view, this risk was completely proportional to what he gained.
This escort of the food caravan gave him a total of 210,000 gold coins worth of food. Excluding the 120,000 spent on hiring the soldiers, the total money he received was 90,000 yuan.
He knows that the money in his hands is just waste and must be used to continue to create wealth.
He put up a sign outside the thatched hall of the Shouchou Ambassador's Mansion and hired everyone from Congling Shouchou to reclaim the wasteland for fifty cents per acre.
The undulating highlands of Congling are very fertile. The springs flowing from the mountain glaciers formed the Tuduo River and flowed into the Kara Lake. The place where he organized farmland was on both sides of the Tuduo River, preparing to plant cotton and other crops.
Cold-resistant plants.
Cotton has now appeared in Anxi, but it has not been promoted on a large scale, especially in the Central Plains. The fabrics people can choose are either kudzu or silk. Poor people cannot afford to wear silk, and the Tang Dynasty also continued the legal status regulations
Some lowly people cannot wear silk.
The comfort of kudzu fabric is extremely poor. Even if it is a highly processed hemp fabric, its ability to withstand severe cold is far inferior to that of cotton fiber and animal fur. Clothes made of kudzu will become hard and unwearable after being worn for a period of time.
, it needs to be pounded soft with a mallet, which has become a necessary task for the people in the Central Plains after nightfall. Li Bai wrote in "Midnight Wu Song": Chang'an is full of moon, and the sound of thousands of households pounding clothes. What does it mean for thousands of households to pound clothes?
, doesn’t it mean that only a few people in Chang’an can afford to wear silk, while most people still wear kudzu?
Silk can indeed keep people warm, but the only drawback is that it is too expensive and has become a symbol of distinction between nobles and common people. Li Siye believed that he needed to promote cotton so that poor and lower-middle peasants in the vast areas of the Central Plains could wear warmer and cheaper cotton.
Clothing, of course, brings with it a lot of wealth and becomes one's political capital in the future.
Of course, these things can only be done in hiding. He is just a small Congling guard now. Some of the extraordinary things he has done, once discovered and noticed by others, are likely to become stepping stones for others.