Chapter 1116 A Head Is a Small Amount of Money

Zhang Ji sat on the grass next to a forest, stretched his legs hard, and sighed contentedly. Many of the surrounding soldiers were like this, either sitting or lying down with their legs straight.

Cavalrymen all have this problem. Even if they get off the ground, they will still bend their legs involuntarily, so being able to find a place to straighten their legs is a comfortable enjoyment.

Zhang Ji has been very busy these days.

Although Suyi County is not big, it is still difficult to surround and spread the net to catch some scouts who report or conduct detection. Fortunately, most of these scouts and messengers are more stubborn and either go to Chang'an or go to Chang'an. It's heading towards Tongguan, so it's pretty busy.

Zhang Ji divided the 800 men and horses into eight groups, and they hunted around Suyi in rotation, just like a pack of wolves. If they saw a lone person, they would kill them directly. If the opponent appeared in a group, he would summon the people The troops on the side and rear hunt together.

Although this tactic can cut off the sources of information in Suyi, it is very troublesome. If Zhang Ji had not had some experience as a horse thief in Xiliang before, and there were many veterans among his soldiers, it would be difficult for General Fei to complete the expedition to the west. Qian's order was to set up ambushes on both sides of the official road. If the enemy took a detour, there would be no way to attack him.

But the result is just too tiring!

Both humans and horses need rest, and to a certain extent, war horses are worse than humans. In other words, war horses have less endurance than humans and tire more easily.

Generally speaking, as long as a person takes four hours, that is, eight hours of rest, the rest of the time can be spent on activities, whether it is marching or working, most of them can be supported, and under normal intensity, they can still Nothing is too much of a problem.

But for a war horse, eight hours of rest is far from enough. In order to maintain the horse's sufficient physical strength, it needs to be groomed every hour it runs for at least half an hour, so that the war horse can drink some water and eat something. Bean feed, slow breathing, etc., plus the rest time at night, the war horse basically needs six hours a day, which means that half of the time is resting...

Therefore, if you fight for a long time, war horses will tire more easily than humans. Therefore, you must control the intensity of the battle within a limited range, resolve the battle as quickly as possible, and always pay attention to the strength of the war horse, which becomes a The most basic requirement for a cavalry general.

But once on the plains, if there is a large number of cavalry and they can dominate, the control of the battlefield will be completely in the hands of the cavalry.

Zhang Ji didn't understand Fei Qian's order at first, but he killed more than 200 soldiers in scattered killings in the past two days, and he gradually understood it.

The sound of horse hooves could be heard in the distance. A group of cavalrymen who had just returned raised a flag representing their side. Then, under the leadership of the patrolling cavalrymen, they arrived at Zhang Ji's hidden forest.

The leader of the team laughed, then dismounted, untied the four or five heads tied around the horse's neck, and then threw the heads aside in the resentful eyes of a dozen cavalrymen behind him, twisting With a straight face, he shouted to the military judge on the side: "One point! Don't miss the number!"

The head rolled gurglingly on the ground and bounced a few times. Some of the coagulated plasma also scattered during the vibration. Semi-solid purple-black blood flowed out from the broken neck and stained the face of the head. It looks extremely weird.

The cavalry following this man not only rode on his own, but also led three horses with ropes. Then he got off the horse and tied his own and the three newly captured horses to a tree trunk on one side, and then walked to this place. The famous team leader's horse was on one side, and then he reached out to ask for the horse material bag of the team leader.

The team leader glared and shouted: "Little brat, what are you doing?"

The soldier didn't show any fear, he just pushed it back and said, "Of course you can feed the captured horse with your own feed! You can use mine too. Do you think I will be responsible for the capture?"

The team leader immediately laughed, scratched his head with his hand still stained with dried blood, then waved his hand and let the cavalryman untie the bag of horse feed...

Zhang Ji glanced at it and couldn't help laughing and scolding: "Hei Laodao! You still don't change this habit even after you become the leader of the team! You thought it was still time to be a corps leader, but now you have to take everyone with you, don't I'm always thinking about those heads! Look, you probably killed them all by yourself, and you didn't even have a few left for your brothers..."

The man who was called Hei Laodao chuckled and said: "Zhang Xiaowei, you don't know, there are only a few... You said there are still a few left, so my wife and children are still thinking about how many more to add. New clothes or something, if you give a few to this and a few to the west, wouldn't it mean that my mother-in-law has no idea? No, no, at least I can save some money for my mother-in-law first!"

A long-looking guy next to him was untying some of the silk ribbons on his side armor, and then he reached inside to scratch the itch or lice. Hearing Hei Laodao's words, he raised his head and said with a smile: "Hei Lao Dao." Knife! How does the newly married woman taste? Is it good?"

Hei Laodao laughed a few times and said nothing, but it could be seen from his expression that he was quite satisfied and proud.

Another team leader was laying dry grass cloth on the horse's back, and then re-mounting the saddle. He was lowering his head and tying the leather straps on the saddle. Hearing this, he couldn't help but raise his head and laughed and said: "Aha! You don't know. , I live next door to Hei Laodao, I know best! That day, General Zhengxi held a merit ceremony outside the city, and Hei Laodao caught a good one. His waist and butt were as round as a bucket! Tsk! Take a look! You know it’s easy to have a baby! Let me tell you, that night..."

When Hei Laodao heard this, he rushed over and covered the leader's mouth.

The team leader hid while shouting with a smile: "Haha! What a guy! Our dog didn't stop barking all night!"

Those on the side who were listening with their ears pricked up all started laughing.

There was also a good guy shouting: "Hei Laodao, I heard that he brought you a little kid? Whose surname is it?"

Hei Laodao pulled his neck and said: "If you follow me, you will take my last name!"

Because it was not easy to give birth and raise children in the Han Dynasty. In fact, the concepts and attitudes of the Han people in the Han Dynasty towards children are not much different from those of the Hu people. Whoever follows them will raise them. If they have food, they are their fathers...

It's not a derogatory term, but in this era, as the most basic people, it is already very difficult for them to have something to eat and survive. Whether it is one's own bloodline is actually not the most important thing for the Han Dynasty people who have the concept of ancestor sacrifice. But after one's death, there are still people who can light a stick of incense and burn some paper money for oneself. The most important thing is to pass on your surname.

Everyone was laughing and joking, but Zhang Ji just smiled and ignored them. Originally, this was for repairs, and also to relax the tense nerves of the soldiers. Otherwise, they would be decapitating people with weapons every day, and they would be bloody and depressed.

This has always been the case in the army. Although the compatriots who fight together are older and younger, they are all like brothers to each other. It doesn't matter what they tease each other on weekdays, and they even have quarrels over some things. There are some who fight, but as long as they are on the battlefield, they are still trustworthy comrades, brothers who are willing to risk their lives. Even if there are some small festivals on weekdays, they are ignored.

Because in this era, these perhaps vulgar men all understand a very simple truth. In the battle formation, if you don’t save others today, then when you need help from others, no one will come to save you...

The only person who didn't take part in teasing Hei Laodao didn't laugh. Instead, he still had a sullen face and meticulously squatted in front of the person's head on the ground, the military judge who was inspecting it.

Originally, the military laws of the Han Dynasty were formulated following the former Qin Dynasty. The so-called merit of the head is the most important merit in the army. There are specialized personnel for such tasks as counting heads. Only those who are above the armor and soldiers can be considered serious. The heads of hundreds of people, and the rest that look like servants, like working civilians, are not counted at all.

It is a pity that in the late Han Dynasty, as the Xiongnu left, the credit of this head was probably to suppress these vulgar warriors who had risen rapidly because of their military exploits, or maybe because of the extremely embarrassment of finances, which had reached the point where they could no longer support it. Gradually the power of the head was cancelled.

In addition, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sold civilian titles on a large scale, which caused the title to depreciate a lot for this reason. As a result, the martial and fierce spirit passed down from the former Qin Dynasty gradually disappeared...

The reward for killing is no longer distributed to every soldier, but is nominally given to the entire army. In fact, it is equivalent to being given to the generals who command the troops, rather than to the soldiers who are actually facing death.

Such a result naturally leads to the fact that soldiers at the lowest level do not have enough motivation to go to the battlefield to win the wealth and status of their families.

Therefore, by the time of Emperor Han Ling of the Han Dynasty, the source of soldiers gradually changed to the recruitment system, and the brave ones were all private warriors raised by the gentry. The era when all the people practiced martial arts seemed to be gradually passing away.

Fei lurked and moved north to fight against the Xiongnu Xianbei. In order to cultivate more families with military merit, and to facilitate the creation of more elite military families, and in order to win over the morale of the military, he re-linked beheadings with military merit, and the former Qin and Han Dynasties The original military merit system was reused...

"No armor, but horses..." The military judge who had examined the heads and kept them stood up, pushed the two heads to the side with his feet, and said, "But there are only three horses, which can only be counted as three heads! Hei Laodao, if there is no problem, I will count!"

The soldiers who came out from Suyi to report the news generally did not wear armor in order to reduce the burden on their horses, run faster, and run longer distances. As for the two extra heads, it was not these two. It was not the soldiers, but these two who were shot at the beginning, and then the horses they were riding ran away. After killing the three people behind them, it was a bit difficult to find the horses. Not here...

"Hey! Bad luck! OK, that's it!"

Hei Laodao stepped forward and kicked the two worthless heads aside. Then he lowered his head, stretched out his hand and pulled out a hemp rope from his neck, and then took off the two strings that he was wearing close to his body. A small thin piece of copper was handed to the military judge together with the hemp rope.

The copper sheets are all products of Huang's workshop. The thin sheets forged by hydraulic power can be regarded as Feiqian's unique military soldier nameplate system.

Although it was inevitable that he was a little unhappy, he didn't say anything more. Hei Laodao also knew that it was not that the military judge wanted to embarrass him, but that military law was military law. If he could make a discount and negotiate, it would become a business, not military law.

Seeing that Hei Laodao also agreed, the military judge took the two copper pieces tied with hemp rope from Hei Laodao, then pushed aside the copper piece with Hei Laodao's personal information and took another one. For a small copper piece, use a knife to add a new three-level head skill to the copper piece.

According to the military merit system currently implemented by Feiqian, an ordinary recruit can be converted into a regular soldier by beheading a soldier, that is, the enemy's armored soldier, and military rations and military pay will no longer be given at a discount.

If it is the third level of beheading, you can exchange it for the first level of military merit, or you can change the position of a corps commander in the army, or you can exchange it for money and items, etc. Of course, the higher you go, the higher the beheading level required to advance. The higher the quantity. For example, if Hei Laodao has reached the level of team leader, basically speaking, the merits of level three beheadings cannot help him improve his level. It is just that, as he said, he can exchange some money to subsidize his marriage. Just for mother-in-law's use.

The military merit title is linked to the number of land tax exemptions and exemptions in the family. The land tax paid for ordinary fields and military merit fields is basically twice the difference. Therefore, these families who have been allocated some fields will naturally never forget these heads. This Everyone knew what was going on, so when Hei Laodao personally killed the scout and obtained the head instead of giving it to his subordinates, he was naturally slightly despised by his soldiers. This was the reason why.

The team rate also counts the head level, but the head level of the commander and the leader further up are no longer counted, but the number of heads of the entire team is mainly used to calculate the individual's merit.

If Xiao Bing gets a few heads, he can relieve a huge burden on his family, and he can reduce some of the land tax. But if Hei Laodao gets these heads, he can only exchange them for money...

After the military judge finished carving the marks, in front of Hei Laodao, he took out the bamboo slips used in the army to record meritorious deeds and added Hei Laodao's records to it. This completed the overall process.

"Okay, chop off the head and bury it."

The military judge returned the bronze medal to Hei Laodao, then called his men, pointed at the head and said, then turned to Hei Laodao and everyone, and shouted loudly, "Say it again, you can only cut it after the war." Beheaded! Those who behead their heads in battle, and those who snatch their heads, will be whipped for thirty times at first! Anyone else will be beheaded immediately!"

"I know, I know, it's annoying to shout every time..." Hei Laodao muttered quietly as he took the bronze medal and put it around his neck.

The military judge was expressionless and said to Hei Laodao with a straight face: "If you don't tell me, I will behead someone if something happens. If it were you, would you tell me?"

Hei Laodao laughed twice, then turned around and shouted again: "Everyone has heard it! The heads were cut off after the war! Those who cut off their heads during the battle and those who snatched their heads were all beginners. Ten! Repeat offenders will be beheaded!"

Seeing Hei Laodao like this, the military judge's stern face relaxed slightly.

Hei Laodao sat next to Zhang Ji and looked at the copper piece happily for a while, then stuffed it back into his collar. He turned to Zhang Ji and said, "Captain...these scattered pieces are not enough." Gap between teeth, when will we have a serious fight?"

Zhang Ji squinted his eyes and said lazily while basking in the warm winter sun: "Want to make a big deal? Let's make an agreement first. If there is really going to be a war, you kid will still miss the point by staring at the head. I’ll be the first to chop you down!”

"Hey, how can this be possible? Don't worry, Colonel!" Hei Laodao smiled slightly awkwardly.

Zhang Ji hummed, and then said slowly: "That's about it, it's just for the past two days... Don't ask, you will know then... Go and take your brother to take care of yourself, and stay up in the open space in the forest. There is hot soup, go drink some, and then rest. In three hours, it will be your turn to watch the night..."