Chapter 10 10 Corruption

Father Wei brought back all the soldiers of the Hundred Households, all beards and tails. At night, Wei Guangde's family naturally wanted to have a good meal, which could be regarded as a blessing for Father Wei.

In fact, this is also the first time that Mr. Wei has received such a mission, and he might really be sent to the battlefield.

Fortunately, it was just a false alarm in the end.

"Dad, after you left, I was really worried that there would be fewer and fewer people on the road."

At the dinner table, Wei Lao and Wei Wencai naturally had wine and food. Wei Guangde was a little young, so he didn't get wine.

Although he is an official from a hundred households, Wei Guangde's family does not usually drink.

Because the wine of this era is mainly rice wine.

Making rice wine requires a large amount of grain. Although the Ming Dynasty has been at peace for a long time, grain is still an important material for the empire. When used to make wine, the price of wine is naturally not cheap.

Wei Guangde knew that some wine was sealed in the backyard. It was local bottled wine, and it was also a somewhat famous one.

Although he was young, Wei Guangde was allowed to take a sip. It was sour and sweet. It was obviously not the white wine he had drank in later generations. Judging from the color, he guessed it was rice wine.

In later generations, rice wine is actually rare, and what everyone drinks on the table is either beer or liquor.

The taste is bland, but the taste is okay, at least it's not spicy.

No wonder he opened a jar directly. He could drink even one jar of this wine.

Of course, this was what Wei Guangde was thinking in his heart, but he didn't say it out loud.

He could only curl his lips as he watched Father Wei and his eldest brother changing glasses from glass to glass until the glasses were dry. They were drinking very enthusiastically.

"What you said is actually what I was worried about at the beginning, but fortunately our ship did not enter the canal and stopped at Zhenjiang."

At this time, seeing that everyone in the family was there, Father Wei began to tell about their experience of going out this time.

"We set out overnight to Senhusho, and were taken to the dock to wait for the boat. When the boat arrived in the afternoon, we set off directly."

Father Wei took another sip of wine before saying.

"It's that simple. Didn't I hear that if you go out to fight, you will be given a salary, and the previous military pay will also be paid."

Wei Wencai heard this and suddenly interjected.

"Just listen to Li Er and the others. There is such a rule."

Father Wei nodded, "I said at that time that the money was in Yingtian Mansion and would be distributed when it arrived. We also had to replenish weapons and armor. Our southern troops wore much less armor than the frontier troops. I said that I would ask Yingtian Weapons Bureau to replenish it. When the time comes, The money will also be added.”

"Did you post it later?"

When Wei Wencai heard about the silver, he naturally became energetic.

Father Wei did not answer immediately, but sighed, raised his head and looked at the roof at 45 degrees, and after a long time he said: "Do you know why this expedition was in such a hurry?

I didn't know until we got to the ship that people from the Nanjing War Department came, almost escorting the commander to the ship, and they didn't give us any time to delay at all.

When I got on the boat and heard my uncle say this, I was scared to death. Don’t laugh. "

When Father Wei said this, everyone in the room was laughing from ear to ear except for himself.

"What's so funny about this? I didn't even dare to tell the people below about this news. The higher-ups urged me so urgently, you can imagine what the fight was like in Beijing?"

At this point, Father Wei shook his head again.

"What happened next? Was my brother scared to death?"

When Wei Wu heard the news about his brother, he immediately started joking.

"He had been scared to pee before, but by then he no longer had the urge to pee."

At this time, Father Wei also joked and continued, "After we passed Yingtian, we didn't say anything about replenishing armor and weapons or issuing silver. A few sailors started making trouble there, and they were all suppressed. .

Did you know? This time we took the water route and didn't even stop the boat at night, so we were smeared and scared to death.

Fortunately, I only went ashore to repair it when I arrived at Zhenjiang. I was given money there and replenished some weapons. I didn't see any of the armor I was talking about. "

"How much money was given?"

Wei Wencai asked again.

"Five hundred taels."

Father Wei stretched out his hand and said.

"That's it?"

When Wei Wencai heard that he had only been given five hundred taels of silver, he immediately raised his voice and said, naturally it was too little.

"What's the matter? It's still too little."

Of course, Father Wei didn't like to hear what his eldest son said.

"The five hundred taels I have received are the most among all the 100 households, because the people from my guard are all young and strong.

The men from the Ministry of War were also very thieves. They conducted on-site inspections at the Zhenjiang Wharf, and several hundred households were beaten up at the Houjun Qianhu Station.

If it hadn't been for this dispatch, I wouldn't have imagined what kind of damage they would have done to the guard station.

In the rear army and the left army, there were a few guards who had too many people to flee, and they all pulled boys of thirteen or fourteen and old men in their fifties or sixties onto the boat, alas..."

"What are those people doing here? Aren't they going to die?"

Wei Wu also frowned at this moment.

In the Ming Dynasty, the average life expectancy was relatively low, and work and life were also very tiring. Basically, people had no more work to do when they were almost fifty. Going to the battlefield at the age of sixty was really no different from dying.

"Normally our Jiujiang Guards has a full strength of more than 5,000 people. Just like this, we only have more than 3,000 people on board, and only more than 2,000 young people, which is less than half of the number."

At this point, Father Wei looked at his eldest son, "For things like this, you have to remember that the military households below don't ask for much, as long as they have something to eat.

If they take a little less, they can survive. For things like this, even if they go to the battlefield, the chance of survival is greater, right? At least you still have people under your command."

Wei Wencai nodded, and understood why Father Wei had to give some food to the military households every year in recent years. Those food could at least keep them from starving to death.

And for them, the little they gave out was just to earn less money.

But at this time, Father Wei also curled his lips, looked at Wei Guangde again, and said earnestly: "Guangde, your brother is useless. Master Sun said that he was smart and had a chance to pass the imperial examination. Alas."

"Dad, why are you talking about this?"

Wei Guangde was confused, not knowing why Father Wei suddenly brought the topic to him, why his brother was useless, and he was fine.

"Do you know how much I signed and sealed for 500 taels of silver?"

Old man Wei did not delay and said directly: "The silver on the note is 1,200 taels, but I only got 500 taels, and 50 sets of armor. I didn't see any of them."

"What? The 700 taels of silver were taken by them?"

Wei Wencai said in surprise at this time. In the past, he could get 50%, so he should have been given 600 taels of silver. "The armor was also taken by them?"

"What do you think? Otherwise, why did I expect you to be able to stand out and pass the imperial examination?"

Old man Wei said leisurely.