Shao Xi reached out and grabbed Lao Wu by the back collar and carried him back. He said to himself, "You are so full that you have nothing to do. Why are you joining in the fun?"
The situation in front of me clearly showed that there was a fight and trouble in the tavern. I don’t know what happened. The old guy came up and looked like he was gloating. If he made one of the parties angry, wouldn’t he be causing trouble for himself?
At this time, Wu Qiu'er behind Shao Xi was still dumbfounded and didn't understand what was going on. He just stretched his head to watch the fun.
Fu Biao seemed to have seen some clues. He leaned into Shao Xi's ear and whispered: "Those who were thrown out look like they are all members of the military."
Shao Xi felt a little curious. Although the few who were thrown out were all strong and powerful men, how could Fu Biao tell at a glance that they were from the army?
"Why do you see that? Why are you so sure that they are all members of the military?"
"Wipe your forehead."
"Wiping forehead?"
"Yes! Soldiers in our army all have forehead foreheads tied on their heads. Depending on their rank in the army, the styles and colors of the forehead foreheads are also different.
"As long as they are not armored troops or hussars, ordinary soldiers do not have helmets, so you can recognize the rank of each soldier at a glance on the battlefield. Their identity is identified by the talisman worn on their body, also called an identification plate. .
"The forehead wipes these people wear are all black, and there are no embroidered logos. This shows that they are just ordinary soldiers in the army. They probably drank too much and caused trouble here.
"If this is known to the military envoys watching, let alone them, I am afraid that even the general guarding the Jade Dragon Pass will be in trouble. However, this place is located on the border and there should be no one to control it, so military discipline is so lax."
The military establishment of the Jingyuan Dynasty was a seven-army system, with ten men for one fire, five fires for one team, and eight teams for one battalion. Different battalions were allocated according to different armies. In total, the central army plus the left and right Yu Hou armies and There are four armies on the left and right sides, and the seven armies total more than 20,000 people.
Everyone in the army must wear a forehead mop on their head. Even the armored troops and hussars must wear a forehead mosaic inside their helmets. This is a bit like today's military badge, and it is an important symbol to identify ourselves and the enemy on the battlefield.
Ordinary soldiers, including fire chiefs and captains, only have black foreheads without any special markings, while battalion lieutenants have blue foreheads with the same embroidery mark as the camp flag pattern.
Going up to the next level, the generals all have red foreheads, and the embroidered marks are also different.
As a former captain in the army, Fu Biao naturally knew all these things very well, so he could tell at a glance that the several strong men lying on the ground were all soldiers in the army.
In fact, this is not surprising. How could the military commander come to such a pub to drink?
According to the rules in the military, drinking alcohol is not allowed, but in some places where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, the military superiors turn a blind eye to this.
However, officers above the rank of captain are not allowed to go out to drink. If they want to drink, they can only hide and drink secretly. However, the soldiers below cannot control it even if they want to. Anyway, as long as they don't cause trouble after drinking and don't affect the march, there will be no one there on weekdays. Discipline them.
But if the superiors found out about the drunken brawls and troubles today, they would be in trouble if they were pursued step by step. Therefore, if such soldiers are discovered by officers, they will usually be whipped.
"These five or six strong men were just thrown out of the door. I don't know who they provoked that they shouldn't provoke? Let's go in and take a look."
With that said, Shao Xi and several others walked into this tavern that looked ordinary but was famous in this area.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw several wooden tables and benches lying on the ground. Several strong men dressed in the same clothes as those who were thrown outside the door were gathered around a table, posing as if they were about to take action.
There were two people sitting at the table, a man and a woman. The man was wearing a gray robe, his hair was tied casually behind his neck with a rope, and there was an obvious scar on his face that looked pale and thin.
On the table next to him were a bamboo hat and a long and narrow ring-headed knife with a cowhide scabbard. The handle was just casually wrapped with a rope. Behind the handle was a ring with a thin string tied to it. The chain doesn't look long, it seems to be just for wrapping around the wrist.
Next to him sat a charming woman. This woman was dressed in an exotic dress. It was obvious at a glance that she was not from the Central Plains. She had a scarf on her head, a veil on her face, and decorations on her neck, wrists, and ankles. thing, but there are also a pair of shackles tied around the ankles.
At this time, the woman was neither eating nor drinking, but just sitting quietly. The two people sitting at the table seemed not to care about the several strong men surrounding them.
The man was still drinking from the bowl with a calm demeanor, and the bowl of beef stew on the table was still steaming.
I don’t know what happened in this tavern before? However, it seems that there is some tension at this moment.
Shao Xi took Lao Wu, Sun Lichang and others to a table not far away and sat around it.
The waiters in the tavern were busy cleaning up the overturned tables, chairs and benches. When one of the waiters saw a guest coming, he quickly ran over to greet Shao Xi and others.
"Hey, isn't this Shopkeeper Sun? You are personally leading the caravan out of customs this time?"
It seems that the waiter in this tavern is familiar with Sun Lichang. It is not surprising when you think about it. Sun Lichang should have led a caravan to the Western Regions more than once. Naturally, this is not his first time here. It is normal for the waiter in the tavern to know him. .
"Yes! This time I personally led the caravan out of customs. I don't know when I will be able to come back this time. What happened just now?"
The clerk looked back and replied with a cheerful face: "Hey! It's all a trivial matter. How many times do we not get into fights in this store? Just get used to it."
"They are all men in the army. After drinking some wine, they always have to dispel the alcohol. But today they seem to have encountered a tough problem. The young master's skills are not weak. I am afraid that these military masters will not be able to win today. It’s cheap.”
When Shao Xi heard this, he was like, good guy! The guys in this tavern are all used to it. Are fights so casual here?
It’s true that the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and no one cares about running wild. Isn’t there a local government to maintain local law and order?
"Brother, do you think there are a lot of fights in your store every day? Don't you think there are no local government officials to take care of it? Doesn't everything like this disrupt the king's laws?"
The guy smiled after hearing this, with a nonchalant expression on his face. He even seemed to think that what Shao Xi just asked was a bit ridiculous.
"Is this the first time this guest has come to the local area? He must know very little about our place! The Yulong Town under the Yulong Pass is originally a gathering place for business travelers. Where are there any government officials?
"On weekdays, it is the military men of the Zhenxi Army who maintain the stability of this place. No matter you are a business traveler or a person in the Jianghu, even if you are a gangster, horse bandit or mountain bandit, you must be honest when you get here.
"No one cares about you when you drink and fight, but if you dare to kill people, steal goods, steal, cheat, or kidnap people here, and you are caught by the military lord in the city, you will never leave this place alive.
"So the local customs are naturally strong. As long as you don't break the rules here, you can solve everything by yourself. As long as no lives are caused, no one will care."
Shao Xi nodded after hearing this. What this guy said is quite good. Yulong Pass is a desolate and remote place, and the jurisdiction of each state is not small. Even if this is under the jurisdiction of a certain county, such a desolate place must be beyond the reach of the government. , local security can only be maintained by garrisoning troops.
But how do generals in the army know how to govern a place? The so-called management is just extensive. As long as there is no big rebellion or turmoil, the garrison generals are too lazy to intervene, and naturally they will form their own local rules similar to those in the Jianghu.
It seems that as long as they don't seriously violate the laws of the Jingyuan Dynasty, no one will care about petty troubles. But Shao Xi didn't understand why a bunch of big men from the army were surrounding the two people at that table. ? Could it be that these two men committed something?
So Shao Xi pointed to the table and asked the waiter: "Why are the military lords surrounding them? Could it be that they broke the local rules and committed something, and the military lords want to take them back?"
The waiter glanced back at the man and woman at the table, turned back and smiled and said to Shao Xi: "When these two people came, the military masters were drinking here. When they saw the woman's feet shackled, they thought It was the young man who kidnapped the woman from outside the customs and decided that he was a human trafficker.
"Although this kind of thing is forbidden here many times, as long as you bump into a military man, you will naturally ask a few questions, and if you are willing to pay some money, you will turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye.
"After all, many of the gentlemen in our customs like this exotic woman. Many of them bought her into their mansions and made her a dancer or a slave, and some even took her as a concubine.
"But it seems that this young master is unwilling to pay the money, so the military masters are going to take him back for questioning. Who knows that this young master's martial arts is so good? It seems that these military masters are going to return empty-handed today. "
Shao Xi said in his heart, I'll wipe it! Is this okay?
As long as the traffickers are willing to pay, the soldiers can ignore them. Is this how the local garrison maintains local stability?
Isn't this just nonsense? How is this different from thieves who block the road?
Thinking of this, Shao Xi couldn't help but ask the clerk again: "Didn't it say that you can't kill people, steal, cheat, or abduct people here? Why is it okay to just give money? Don't the generals stationed here just ignore it?"
"Care? Why care? The Western Army in this town is stationed at Yulong Pass all year round. The pay of the troops in the DPRK and China is often delayed again and again. There is no pay in the army. Who will be responsible for the mutiny of the soldiers? Let these military lords in the army come out to make some money. It is also for the stability of this place.
"If not, I'm afraid the Zhenxi Army will be in chaos first. After all, is it not the trouble caused by the officials in the court? If they were less greedy, the Zhenxi Army would not be without pay. .
"Although these military lords come to our place from time to time to eat and drink for free, we locals don't think there is anything wrong. If the soldiers guarding the border at the front cannot eat and drink enough, we are afraid that we will not even open this small shop. Don’t go down.”
The boy's words made Shao Xi speechless. He didn't expect that the Western Army was guarding Yulong Pass, but there were still people in the court who dared to be greedy and default on military pay? This matter will need to be investigated in the future.
However, Shao Xi did not intend to stand by and watch what was happening in front of him.
