"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"
"Boom, boom, boom!"
In the next few days, Gu Sinian and more than 200 people under his command began to repair the city wall, working non-stop from morning to night every day.
As Zeng Lingchuan said before, when civilians arrive at the front line, they can only do hard labor.
Those who progressed slowly or were a little lazy would be whipped by the camp soldiers, and the city was always filled with beatings and scoldings.
Those soldiers in the camp were all arrogant and felt they were superior to others. They never looked down on these country warriors and scolded them for being a thief.
The vast majority of people swallow their anger and dare not speak out.
Rumors spread wildly in the city that the main force of the Yan army had arrived at the front line, but until this time, the frontier army was still repairing the city defenses. From this alone, it can be seen that the frontier army's armaments were weak and there was a big problem.
All this is far from what Gu Sinian expected from the beginning. No wonder he has been bullied by Bei Yan.
This Youtun city is nominally a military town, and most of the city is occupied by Changziying troops and local warriors from various places, but in fact there are also people who have settled there.
Wherever there are people, there is demand. There are wine shops, teahouses, gambling shops, and flower shops. Those who dare to do business in such places are brave. Of course, there are many opportunities to make money.
There is even a black market that sells shady things, such as things taken from military camps...
Gu Sinian also roughly figured out the details of Zhang Baihu. He was said to be a Baihu, but in fact he had only a dozen serious soldiers, but he was in charge of many civilians.
In Zeng Lingchuan's words, this person must be a well-connected person. He got into the military camp and got a not-so-minor official position. If he was lucky, he could make some money.
"It's time to eat, it's time to eat!"
"Brothers, come and eat quickly!"
At the call of the cook, everyone stopped what they were doing and rushed forward clamoring for food.
But when they picked up their jobs, everyone's face darkened.
The clear soup in the bowl is not watery, and there is no trace of oily smell. There are a few wild cauliflower floating on the water surface, and there are a few rice grains at the bottom of the bowl. This is a bowl of porridge.
Everyone also has a black and hard steamed bun, which is considered the staple food. Even this steamed bun is only provided for one meal a day and is gone after eating.
"Damn it, how can we eat this!"
The blacksmith with the biggest appetite finally couldn't help but cursed:
"I have to do such heavy work every day and only get such a small amount of food. I am starving to death!"
"Even ten bowls of this wild vegetable porridge won't help! Damn it!"
"Didn't we promise that we would have a full meal at every meal? You haven't even had a full meal here, so why are you lying to us?"
"I won't do it! I won't do it if I don't have food to eat!"
"Yes, quit!"
The blacksmith was not the only one who was dissatisfied, because this kind of food was not only available for a day or two, but also for seven or eight days in a row. Everyone was starving and skinny.
To put it bluntly, aren't many people going to the front just to make a living? Why do you work if you don't even have enough to eat?
Everyone looked at the cook with angry eyes. The cook who followed him from Fengchuan County trembled and said with a grimace:
"Master Baihu gave me so much grain, and I even dug the wild vegetables myself, so I couldn't do anything!"
Qin Xi looked at Gu Sinian worriedly and said:
"It's not okay to go on like this. None of our bodies are made of iron. If we don't eat one meal, we'll get hungry.
Besides, everyone is doing physical work. Some brothers have been starving and fainting in the past two days, so they have to think of a way. "
Qin Xi felt helpless. He had brought his brothers down the mountain to follow Gu Sinian in order to earn military merit and pursue a better future. But now everyone could not even eat enough to eat, and there were more and more complaints in the team.
If this continues, problems will arise sooner or later.
Zeng Lingchuan lowered his voice and said:
"Sir, it stands to reason that the food allocated to us should not be so small. I see that the soldiers in the camp are well fed. I guess the food has been withheld by Zhang Lan."
"Detained?"
Gu Sinian frowned and said:
"Why are you depriving us of food for no reason?"
As a veteran, Wu Xiang curled his lips disdainfully:
"It's not that simple. You just eat military rations and sell them for money. We have seen this kind of thing many times.
To put it bluntly, the official level is overwhelming. We are local braves and are insignificant. How much food can be divided depends on Zhang Lan's mouth. "
"Brothers are right, it's a fool's errand for us to get enough food. Most of it is in the hands of hundreds of households~"
A sudden sound reached everyone's ears, and Bai Yan, whom he met at the city gate a few days ago, slowly walked into the crowd.
Gu Sinian has met Bai Yan several times these days. He was told that he used to be a government official in Jin County and signed up to come to the front line. The leader of the team in Jin County all ran back as soon as they arrived in Youtun City.
Bai Yan, who had some prestige and practiced some martial arts, became the boss with his fists.
Gu Sinian motioned most of the people to disperse with his eyes, and then said meaningfully:
"Brother Bai seems to know a lot of things~"
"Brother Gu has just arrived and is not familiar with things in the military camp."
Bai Yan smiled casually:
“We rural warriors can’t stand on the stage and don’t get enough military rations.
Everyone is the same. "
"Damn it, you actually played this trick!"
The blacksmith was furious: "I'm going to beat him up to vent my anger!"
"sit down!"
Gu Sinian shouted coldly:
"This is a military camp. Hundreds of households were beaten. Do you want to lose your head?"
Bai Yan echoed:
"You'd better listen to Brother Gu. In a place like this, just offending anyone can kill you. Human life is worthless."
The blacksmith pouted, a little unconvinced, but still sat down, dejected.
Gu Sinian raised his head and looked into the distance, and said meaningfully:
"Brother Bai, your people seem to have better food than us?
Is there any way? Also give us some pointers. "
The walls that these two groups of people were responsible for repairing were next to each other, and they usually didn't look up or down, otherwise they wouldn't see each other. When Gu Sinian made a fuss, Bai Yan heard the noise and came over.
Gu Si discovered two days ago that Bai Yan's group had more rice in their bowls than they did.
"Ahem."
Bai Yan said softly:
"To tell you the truth, Brother Gu, how much food we can give out and whether the brothers can eat depends on whether you can satisfy the adults of the hundred households."
Gu Sinian was so smart and asked:
"That means we can get food as long as we open up Zhang Baihu's joint?"
"Yes."
Bai Yan said one more sentence intentionally or unintentionally:
"We, as adults from a hundred households, love money~
Brother Gu can figure out the rest by himself. "
"Love money?"
Gu Sinian narrowed his eyes slightly and had an idea in his mind. He picked up the porridge bowl and took a big gulp:
"Thank you, Brother Bai, for reminding me!"
"You're welcome."
Bai Yan smiled and said:
"Let's help each other~"
…
"See Lord Hundred Houses!"
In the barracks, Gu Sinian bowed to Zhang Lan respectfully.
Zhang Lan was half-lying on the chair, with his eyelids narrowed to just a slit, and he said casually:
"Well, it's you. Do you have anything to do with me?"
"Ahem."
Gu Sinian said as tactfully as possible:
"I would like to ask Lord Baihu to allocate more military rations to me."
"Military rations?"
Zhang Lan's brows suddenly wrinkled:
"Aren't you all given the military rations that should be distributed? Why do you still need them?
No, no, leave quickly. "
"It's enough, but it's too little."
Gu Sinian smiled bitterly and said:
"Brothers are doing strenuous work. How can you have the strength to work if you don't have enough to eat? I've been starving a lot these days. Could you please give me more food?"
"What are you talking about?"
Zhang Lan said dissatisfied:
"The distribution of military rations in the camp has its own set number. It's good to have food to eat. Why are there so many complaints?
Is it possible that the capital is deliberately deducting money from you? "
Seeing that this guy was about to get angry, Gu Sinian hurried forward and stuffed some broken silver into Zhang Lan's hand:
"Sir, don't be angry. We don't mean it. This is just a small thought, but I hope you will accept it.
Everyone in the camp said that the adults of Baihu were considerate and kind-hearted. We brothers were really hungry and had no choice but to come and talk to the adults. "
"Well, I didn't expect you to be a clever person. You are Dianshi after all, haha."
Zhang Lan raised his eyelids and stuffed a few taels of silver into his pocket without any courtesy:
"You're right, I've always been compassionate and considerate, and we can discuss anything.
Hahaha. "
After receiving the money, Zhang Lan's face suddenly changed and he was smiling.
But Gu Sinian's heart was bleeding. He left Fengchuan County with a total of ten taels of silver, and he gave away five taels in this move.
Five taels, even if you use it to buy food, you have to buy a lot.
And what aggrieved Gu Sinian the most was that the food should have been theirs, but they had to be bribed with money.
Even so, Gu Sinian still forced out a flattering smile:
"That's right, who in the camp doesn't know about Master Baihu's reputation?
So you see, can we be accommodating about food so that the brothers can have enough to eat? "
"Hmm~"
Zhang Lan pretended to think for a while:
“This matter is not that easy to handle.
But since you are so thoughtful, I will help you.
Go back, there will definitely be more military rations next time! "
Gu Sinian was overjoyed:
"Then I'll thank you sir first!"
…
"Coming, coming, the food is coming!"
"Haha, that's a lot!"
"Finally we have food!"
In the kitchen, blacksmith Qin Xi and others were smiling happily, carrying bag after bag of food into the house. The food delivered this time was more than twice as much as before.
The hungry blacksmith couldn't wait to start cooking now and eat three big bowls first.
Gu Sinian smiled. Although it cost money, it was worth it as long as it kept the brothers fed!
But when he thought of Zhang Lan's greedy eyes, Gu Sinian felt sick all over.
Looking at the grain bags piled up in the corner, the blacksmith excitedly opened the bag at the edge and picked up the rice inside, wanting to see the quality of the rice first.
The smiles on everyone's faces stopped abruptly at this moment.
The blacksmith's generous palm was only half filled with grains of rice, and the other half was filled with gravel and sand, which made it feel uncomfortable to touch.
"This this?"
The blacksmith was stunned.
Qin Xi's expression suddenly changed, he quickly stepped forward and greeted everyone:
"Open the grain bags and take a look!"
"Stab, stab, stab~"
"Look!"
"There's sand in the rice, damn it!"
"These are the same, all mixed with sand and gravel!"
All grain bags are half rice and half miscellaneous, without exception.
In other words, it looks like the grain bags have doubled, but in fact the grain allocated to them has barely increased.
What a joy!
Even Zeng Lingchuan, who has a relatively good temper, was very angry:
“Damn it, you just took the money and didn’t do anything, you’re playing tricks on us!
Offal! "
"I knew he was not a good bird!"
Qin Xi's face turned red:
"If I had known this, I wouldn't have given him the money even if I had thrown it away! You bastard!"
"Brother Nian, what should I do?"
"Why don't you go find him!"
Everyone looked at Gu Sinian, and the crowd was excited.
"Don't be impulsive! Try not to be harsh in the military camp."
Gu Sinian grabbed a handful of grains with a gloomy face and said coldly:
"Zhang Lan, right? Baihu, right?
Let’s settle this dispute! "
