Wife, Don't Be Like This!

Chapter 108 - Song Yan, Save Me Quick

Seeing those several dozen figures, Linghu Rui's heart skipped a beat. He thought that Song Yan had made a move so quickly. But after a closer look, he felt that it didn't seem to be the case.

Those people were all wearing coarse hemp clothes, and they should have gone a long time without washing. Filth had caked onto their clothes in patches. Black rings of dirt could also be seen on their necks, and their hair was messy, like a bird's nest.

Even from a certain distance, Linghu Rui could smell the stench coming from these people.

Damn it, how long has it been since they've bathed?

Linghu Rui was a bit disgusted. Looking at this appearance, they probably weren't the thugs arranged by Song Yan. Then there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Where did you muddy-legs come from? Scram, scram! You dare to block my, your lord's, path? Do you know who we are?"

"We are all students of Xilin Academy. You dare to block us, how many heads do you have?"

These words were incredibly overbearing.

Linghu Rui was not a fool. It was probably just a habit. After all, Xilin Academy was indeed quite famous in the Ning Kingdom.

In the Ning Kingdom, the number one academy should be the White Egret Academy, located far away in Dongling.

Nowadays, there were dozens of officials who had graduated from White Egret Academy and held important positions in the imperial court. They had faintly become a force that could not be underestimated.

The second academy was Xilin Academy.

White Egret Academy followed an elite route; in the vast Ning Kingdom, there was only the one in Dongling.

Xilin Academy was the exact opposite, following the path of 'casting a wide net to catch more fish.' In almost every prefecture of the Ning Kingdom, there was a Xilin Academy. With so many students, some promising ones were bound to emerge.

Perhaps in terms of high-level court officials, it couldn't compare to White Egret Academy, but among the grassroots officials, Xilin Academy graduates were a dime a dozen.

Just like today, publicly criticizing Song Yan and Luo Yuheng could be said to be a small matter.

Sometimes, due to academic disputes, beating up students from other academies also often occurred. And because of the protection of their alumni in the grassroots, often nothing would come of it. Thus, they had gradually developed an arrogant attitude.

In addition, having been thwarted by Song Yan today, he was already full of anger. And the status of scholars in the Ning Kingdom was already extremely high. Linghu Rui's attitude could be considered good. A corpulent head poked out from the carriage in front, and even directly spat at those people.

"Scram!"

"Do you know that in the county towns under the jurisdiction of Song Prefecture, four of the County Magistrates are our senior brothers? Careful, or we'll have you arrested and hung up for a beating?"

It's just that these words seemed to have touched on some taboo. The leader of the refugees' eyelids suddenly twitched, and his pair of eyes became ferocious.

A hand quietly reached behind him.

The slanting sun reflected a cold glint into their eyes. It was a sharp curved saber.

The next instant, he saw the refugee raise his arm with a shua, and the saber came down.

Puchi.

A stream of fresh blood sprayed out from that fat scholar's neck. The thick smell of blood began to spread in the mountain forest.

A round head rolled far away.

In an instant, bursts of screams came from the carriage.

It wasn't until this moment that they finally understood that what they had encountered were not some refugees, but... mountain bandits.

What refugees sought was just money and grain. Unless they were starving, they would absolutely not be so vicious.

……

"Everyone, can you still lift a saber?”

Guerrilla General, recruit three thousand soldiers.

Three thousand men may not sound like much. If he were to just casually go and make do, it would be easy to solve. If he offered the condition of food being included, all sorts of refugees and commoners would probably be bursting at the seams to join.

But that kind of soldier would have no combat effectiveness and was not what Song Yan wanted.

Since he had accepted this Guerrilla General's token, Song Yan would naturally do his best.

And Lei Yi, Lei Zhenghu, Gao Qiao, Ding Dashan, and Xue Qing, these veteran soldiers who had retired from the border army and had seen blood, were absolutely the best choice. Song Yan still understood the difference between soldiers who had seen blood and those who had not.

Precisely because of this, when he had first discerned the identities of the five men, the thought of recruiting them had arisen in Song Yan's heart. Putting other things aside, just the fact that they had retired from the Liaodong side was enough to ensure that Song Yan wouldn't be completely in the dark when he got to Liaodong.

The five men, including Lei Yi, had clearly not expected Song Yan to suddenly extend an olive branch. For a moment, they were all a little stunned.

Ding Dashan and Lei Zhenghu, the two sturdy men, clearly had some temptation in their eyes.

Lei Yi, Xue Qing, and Gao Qiao's eyes, however, clearly held some hesitation.

This was very normal. After all, going to Liaodong meant not only enduring the bitter cold, but also fighting the Jurchen cavalry. That was a job where you could lose your life at any moment. Even if they greatly admired this youth, Song Yan, they still had to consider it carefully.

Song Yan also knew that if he wanted to recruit them, he couldn't rely solely on goading them. He had to present something sufficient to move their hearts.

"A border army soldier, what is the annual pay and provisions like?" Thus, Song Yan spoke again.

"For an ordinary soldier, it's two taels of silver a month. At the end of the year, there is a reward of one tael of silver, for a total of twenty-five taels."

After a moment's hesitation, Lei Yi slowly replied: "But most of the time, we can't get it. To get even a small half of it in a year is extremely rare."

Although Lei Yi was more cautious than the others, he didn't want to deceive Song Yan.

Twenty-five taels a year. For three thousand men, that's seventy-five thousand taels.

Song Yan couldn't help but grin. Even without counting weapons and armor, just the military pay alone, the two hundred and ten thousand taels of silver on him could only support them for three years.

It wasn't until this moment that Song Yan truly understood what 'a cannon roars, and ten thousand taels of gold are gone' meant.

Originally, he had thought that with two hundred and ten thousand taels of silver, he could be considered a rich man. But now it seemed he was just a poor ghost in the end.

And this was just for three thousand men. What if it were thirty thousand, or three hundred thousand?

Song Yan couldn't help but click his tongue. But he wasn't rebelling, so he didn't need three hundred thousand soldiers.

Of course, Song Yan also understood that a monthly military pay of two taels of silver was on the high side. This was certainly not because the officials above were kind-hearted and wanted to improve the soldiers' treatment; it was most likely just so they could embezzle more from it.

After all, Lei Yi had also said that the actual amount received at the end of the year was less than half, probably to the tune of ten taels of silver.

The excess, plus the pay for ghost soldiers, in one year, just from the Liaodong border defense army, they probably embezzled a million taels from the court.

Thinking this, Song Yan took a deep breath.

"I will also give you two taels of silver a month. If at any time you don't receive the silver, you can leave whenever you want."

"In addition, I will find a way to cancel the wanted order for you as deserters, and restore you from refugees to military household status, or commoner status, so you no longer have to hide."

"Also, I swear, the people who caused the deaths of Great General Dou and General Liang Youde, whether it's those Jurchen barbarians or that bastard Qian Yaozu, I will definitely make them pay the price.”

From the words of Lei Yi and the others, Song Yan could tell that these border soldiers had great respect for the two generals.

As expected, whether it was the military pay or the restoration of their status, although the men were tempted, the reaction was not particularly strong. But after Song Yan expressed that he would avenge the two generals, the eyes of all five men suddenly lit up.

Those pairs of bloodshot eyes were filled with a crazed light.

Exchanging a glance, the five men took a deep breath. The next instant, they all knelt on one knee in the carriage in unison.

“We are willing to be at your excellency's command."

Song Yan hurriedly helped the five men up and let out a long breath. He knew that he had finally taken the most important first step in entering Xinhou County.

Of course, Song Yan's reputation for having eliminated a large number of Wokou probably also had a lot to do with it. If it had been a different civil official, these five men probably wouldn't have believed him no matter what.

After all five men had stood up, Lei Yi said to Song Yan: "I wonder, your excellency..."

"No need to call me 'your excellency'. Just call me Song Yan is fine..."

After thinking for a moment, Lei Yi changed the form of address.

"I wonder what arrangements General Song has for us?"

Song Yan then sat down again and handed the box that Wei Liang had brought to Lei Yi. Inside was ten thousand 'gold'.

"First, you all go find a place to fill your stomachs and change your clothes."

Then he took out a packet of silver fragments from his bosom and placed it on top of the box.

"There should be many people like you who were scattered from the border army, right? Help me find these people. If they are willing to come to my side, the conditions are the same."

This was the fastest way to raise a team.

Even if the numbers were insufficient, as long as he had these veteran soldiers to lead, even new recruits could be quickly shaped into a force.

The five men, including Lei Yi, got out of the carriage at this time.

According to Lei Yi, there were indeed many others from their batch of border soldiers who were still alive. It was just that their military registrations had all been canceled by Qian Yaozu.

They were originally from military households; once their military registration was gone, they became refugees. Being a refugee had many inconveniences, so most of them were hiding in the mountains and wilds.

He didn't need to worry that Lei Yi and the others would run away with the money. For Song Yan, this was at most a hundred or so taels of silver. It was just a small sum. Even if they took it, it could be considered sponsoring these old soldiers, a good deed.

Song Yan didn't think he was a good person, but he had always respected soldiers. Thinking back, if not for his nearsightedness in his past life, he probably would have had a chance to be a soldier too.

After the five men had left, Song Yan was alone in the carriage. He closed his eyes and pondered. He had to think of some ways to get some money.

Tea? Strong spirits?

White sugar? Refined salt?

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Steel?

One thought after another appeared in his mind. The last one, 'steel,' was erased by Song Yan.

In this era, salt and iron were allowed to be privately managed. With Luo Yuheng's status, it wouldn't be a difficult matter to get a few licenses.

Salt was fine, but iron was different.

The ironware smelted according to the knowledge in his mind would be far superior in quality to others. But the quality of iron weapons represented the advantage his own army would have against foreign tribes and the other countries of the Central Plains. If high-strength steel were to become widespread, this advantage would be gone.

Before he could figure out a new, more powerful weapon, steel could not become widespread.

As for what kind of troops these three thousand soldiers should be trained into, Song Yan already had a plan in his heart.

Cavalry was naturally the best, but he had no horses.

Excellent, strong horses were expensive in themselves, and they also required special channels to obtain, which was not easy.

Therefore, Song Yan planned to train these three thousand men into heavy infantry.

Soldiers clad in heavy armor, although still at a disadvantage when facing cavalry, would at least have some ability to fight back. At the very least, the bows and arrows and curved sabers commonly used by the Jurchens, when striking heavy armor, would be about the same as scratching an itch.

As for weapons, considering they had to face the Jurchen cavalry, the ‘modao’ was naturally the most suitable…

But the ‘modao’ weighed ten to fifteen kg. Wanting to wield it required an extremely high level of physical fitness. Ordinary soldiers simply couldn't use it, which was quite a pity.

Pondering like this along the way, because he wanted to rush back to Ningping early, he had taken a small path. He had originally thought he could save about half a shichen (1 hour) of time, but the carriage suddenly stopped.

Song Yan's body swayed, and he also woke up from his thoughts. He sniffed the air, and his brow immediately furrowed. A smell of blood was drifting in the air.

He could even hear bursts of muffled groans and screams. The sounds were inexplicably familiar. Because his younger sister-in-law was in the other carriage, there was nothing to worry about. Song Yan poked his head out of the window.

Just a casual glance, and he saw a pile of corpses lying scattered on the small path not far ahead, all dressed as scholars.

Their bodies seemed to have been pierced by some sharp weapon. Some unlucky ones even had their heads chopped off, and fresh blood had sprayed all over the ground.

There were still two people alive, but their situation was not good either. Their white scholar's robes were stained with patches of scarlet plum blossoms. Surrounding the two were dozens of mountain bandits, each holding a rusty chopper in their hand.

One of them had already raised his chopper high.

Just as it was about to chop down, one of the scholars lying on the ground happened to meet Song Yan's eyes.

In an instant, his gaze suddenly lit up, as if he had grasped hope in a desperate situation. He screamed shrilly.

"Song Yan, save me quick!”