Zhu Nao

In a blink of an eye, the autumn wind was cold, the rice was golden, and the training of the soldiers was temporarily suspended.

Although the Chengdu government provided the soldiers with a very generous military salary, the soldiers were not trained off-duty, otherwise the government's burden of raising soldiers would be too heavy.Zhu Nao opened up several military fields for the soldiers to grow by themselves.As soon as the busy farming seasons of spring and autumn came, the soldiers would go to the fields to work, and when the busy farming season was over, they would return to the school field for training.

In the spring, the land was cultivated by the [-] Shu soldiers recruited by the Chengdu government in the early days. When the autumn harvest came, the army suddenly had [-] new soldiers, and there were more people to help.According to common sense, if you want to maximize efficiency, you should let different soldiers do different things, such as harvesting grain, transporting grain, harvesting wheat ears, milling millet... Different groups of people are busy with division of labor, but in the shortest time Get everything done within a few days.However, perhaps because of sufficient manpower, the officers unexpectedly did not adopt such an arrangement. Instead, they organized all the people into teams of about seven or eight people. Each team was responsible for a field and completed all the autumn harvest work in this field.

This way of distributing work is not like being in the army. Instead, it is like a large family of folks tending the fields together. The division of labor and cooperation is not assigned by the officer, but is all discussed by the people in the team.

And when the results of the unit came out, the whole army was in an uproar.

……

"What?? Why should we be in charge of the same field as them?! I won't do it!!" Kong Ji protested loudly.

The officer who had just announced the squad list glared at him coldly.

This Kong Ji is a thorn in the army. In fact, his personal ability is very outstanding. When a battalion trains together, he can often come out on top.However, he is also one of the most aggressive. The army has issued repeated orders to prohibit fighting, but he has already led the crowd to fight with the newly recruited soldiers twice.

The officer said: "You don't want to do it? Then do you want to go home?"

Kong Ji pouted his neck and said, "Don't keep threatening me with retiring from the army. Let me work, I have nothing to say! But why should I work with Liu Jiajun?"

"Liu Family Army? Where did the Liu Family Army come from?" the officer scolded, "Now everyone is the Shu Army, and they all serve for the Chengdu government. You are trying to alienate the hearts of the army by saying this!"

Kong Ji was not convinced: "I don't care, anyway, I don't work with those gangsters."

The soldiers under Liu Buxing were not from the middle of Sichuan, most of them were from Hunan. They had been stationed in Xiushan in rotation before being brought into Shuzhong by Liu Buxing.

The officer looked at Kong Ji's twisted face and laughed angrily.It stands to reason that it would be fine for such a disobedient prick to be kicked out of the army, but Kong Ji is regarded as his capable subordinate, and he has been training for almost a year, so he is always reluctant.Besides, Kong Ji's mind is not bad, but he is young and energetic, and has a stubborn temper. If he is polished well, he may not be able to become a talent.

So the officer said: "Come with me!"

The two walked aside, there was no one else around, and the officer's tone was no longer so harsh.He asked Kong Ji: "Why don't you want to work with them?"

Kong Ji said disdainfully: "What's the reason? I just hate those gangsters. They're all as weak as chicken cubs, with a bad accent, and they all think they're great because they're veterans."

Before the officer could speak, Kong Ji said again: "This time the distribution forces us to be separated from Jingman. The general wants to take advantage of the autumn harvest to let us shake hands with Jingman? This is simply an ulterior motive! Anyway, let me work Yes, let me and Jing Man get along well, I refuse!"

As Kong Ji said, the distribution this time is not divided by battalion. Instead, Shu soldiers and Xiang soldiers are deliberately mixed together. Almost every group has Shu soldiers and Hunan soldiers, and the number is evenly divided. It's open.Since the expansion of the army, conflicts between the Shu soldiers and the Hunan soldiers have emerged one after another. This time they deliberately assigned people together, obviously with the intention of forcing the two sides to get along and weaken the conflicts.

The officer sneered and said, "So you know the general's intentions, I thought you didn't."

Kong Ji snorted, "I'm not stupid, can't you see that? Why did the general make such arrangements?"

"Why?" The officer's tone was ridiculous, "I ask you, why did you come to be a soldier?"

Kong Ji was taken aback.The soldiers in this barracks signed up to join the army at the beginning, almost all of them came for the generous food and salary.But after staying for a long time, there are many reasons, such as wanting to make contributions, wanting to repay the kindness of the chief, and so on.

The officer said: "The army will give you food and salaries; the governor of the Zhu government will govern Shuzhong so that your family can live in peace. Why do you ask me now? You eat the military rations and receive the military salaries! Rely on your family's care in the government You can live a good life! When you fucking plant the fields, why do you water the crops? When you work for others, do you ask why the boss makes you work? This is the army, and it is only natural for you to obey orders !"

Kong Ji was scolded so badly that he lost his voice for a moment.

The officer said again: "Since you know that the general wants you to live in peace, you have repeatedly provoked troubles. Why didn't you dig out the seeds when you planted the land? Who are you against? I am not threatening you, I am sincerely advising you." You, if you don’t follow the rules, don’t be a farmer; if you don’t obey military orders, don’t be a soldier. Get out as soon as possible!”

Kong Ji was stunned for a moment, then pursed his lips guiltily, and stopped talking completely.

The officer asked, "Do you still have any objections?"

After a while, Kong Ji replied in a muffled voice: "No."

The officer said: "Return to the team!"

Before returning to the team, the officer glanced at his subordinates and asked, "Which one of you has any objections?"

In fact, everyone is not happy with this kind of distribution. Who wants to cooperate with others?But Kong Ji was persuaded by the scolding, and others did not dare to speak out if they had opinions.

The officer said: "Then you should work hard. The general has an order that the top [-]% of the troops who have harvested the millet will be rewarded with an extra month's grain and pay."

When the soldiers heard that there was a reward, they cheered up again.

Ever since, the distribution of the autumn harvest was decided in this way.

When the rice in the field is at the end of the ripening period, the best harvest time has come.

=====

Yu Changming and Jia Cong rode on the ridge of the field, and they could see the soldiers busy in the field from a distance.

Autumn harvest is very busy, and the crop harvesting period is very short, only a few days. If all the harvesting work cannot be completed in these few days, the rice will be bombed or eaten by birds, and the wind will blow the grains, affecting the harvest.

However, the soldiers are not quietly busy, on the contrary, the fields are very lively.

All the soldiers in central Shu were singing loudly: "The cold wind blows, the rice is yellow. The golden autumn harvest is full of granaries..."

Farmers always sing songs to cheer up when they are working, otherwise the farm work will inevitably be boring.The songs of each township and county in central Sichuan are actually slightly different, but they are also roughly similar, and everyone can sing them neatly after a few rehearsals.Hundreds of soldiers sang loudly while working, which is not shocking.

After a while, the Shu soldiers sang a song, and the Hunan soldiers immediately joined in.

"Sow seeds in spring, harvest grain in autumn; fields are idle, farmers are busy..."

Their songs are completely different from those of the Shu army, and their accents are also different.Every soldier sang with all his voice, louder than when the Shu soldiers sang just now.

After the Hunan soldiers sang a song, the Shu soldiers picked up again, singing even louder, and the hoarse singing could be heard for miles.

Yu Changming laughed: "Is this fighting songs?"

The army has repeatedly prohibited the two factions from fighting, and right now the soldiers are too busy to quarrel and fight.But the conflict between the two sides is still there, and I don't know where it started, and it turned into a fighting song for the whole army.

Yu Changming couldn't help feeling a little worried.He believes that getting along this time can weaken the conflict between the Shu soldiers and the Hunan soldiers, but he doesn't know how much it can be weakened.

Jia Cong, who was on the side, seemed to see through Yu Changming's worries, and comforted him: "General Yu, don't worry, when you return to the barracks after this busy season, I believe that the discord between the Shu soldiers and the Hunan soldiers will be resolved."

Yu Changming seemed very confident after hearing his words.He couldn't help asking: "Giving them the opportunity to get along and cooperate like this may not completely eliminate the discord, right? After all, they come from different backgrounds, and their ideas of joining the army are also very different. These conflicts are probably extremely difficult to resolve."

We must know that Liu Buxing's intention of leading troops into Shu was to attack Chengdu Mansion, and both sides also went through a period of preparations, and they once regarded each other as enemies.Even if the two armies have now merged into one army, the knot may not be untied.

Jia Cong smiled slightly, and said, "General Yu, as far as I can see, the Shu soldiers and the Hunan soldiers discriminate and hate each other, not for other reasons, but because the two sides don't understand each other. As for other conflicts... it's true. Discord comes first, and then conflicts. But since they are all raised by their parents, what about the Shu people? What about the Hunan people? What about recruiting soldiers? "

Although Zhu Nao incorporated Liu Buxing's soldiers and horses into the Shu army, due to the different training progress of the soldiers and horses of the two sides, it was also difficult to establish the bond between soldiers and soldiers, and could not be easily broken. Therefore, he did not break the organizational system of the battalion. The soldiers were incorporated into the Shu army with battalions as their organizational system.Therefore, before the autumn harvest, the Shu soldiers and the Hunan soldiers did not actually get along closely.

Yu Changming was slightly taken aback.He heard from both Zhu Nao and Wei Yue that Jia Cong is very intelligent and thorough, and he understands human nature.He had never heard what Jia Cong said just now.

Discord first, then conflict?When I first heard this, I thought it was ridiculous.How can it be possible for people to be at odds first, and then have all kinds of contradictions that lead to the discord?Isn't there all kinds of contradictions before the two sides lead to discord?

But when you calm down and think about it carefully, there is some truth to it.Let’s talk about himself, if he likes or hates a person, he likes or hates it first, and then gradually adds many reasons for his likes and dislikes.On the contrary, if he likes a person, even if there are many contradictions between them, he will not hate that person because of these contradictions.

I don't know how many rounds of fighting songs have already sounded in the field.The young soldiers were full of energy, and they sang louder and louder after doing such heavy work, as if they were tireless.

Listening to different ballads, Yu Changming gradually felt some fun, and a smile appeared on his face.

"I hope it's as Staff Jia said." With a sigh of emotion, he continued to inspect the front on horseback.

……

On a rice field, Kong Ji was desperately cutting the rice. While cutting, he looked back from time to time.Not far behind him, a soldier named Lu Feng was harvesting the wheat field at the fastest speed just like him.

Na Lufeng used to be Liu Buxing's subordinate, and also had a violent temper.He and Kong Ji had conflicts for a long time. The two just had a fight not long ago, and they were both punished.This time the officer did it intentionally and arranged the two of them in the same field.

When enemies meet, they are extremely jealous.However, no one wanted to be punished again, let alone be expelled from the army. The two temper tantrums endured it for the time being, ignored each other, and only did their own work.Sometimes there is a tacit understanding between enemies. There is no communication between these two people, and somehow they have a tacit understanding of who can cut rice faster.

In a blink of an eye, the rice they had cut was already as high as the hill.

The rest of the team were tired, so they went to the side to rest, drink some water, and eat something.

"Kong Ji, are you taking a break?" Kong Ji's companion greeted him.

Kong Ji shouted without raising his head: "I'm not tired!"

Lu Feng's companion also called him: "A Feng, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Lu Feng also didn't look up: "No need!"

The others were helpless, so they stopped calling them.

In fact, Kong Ji and Lu Feng are not not tired, but just trying to be brave.No one was reconciled to losing the wind, gritted their teeth and continued to work hard.

When dusk approached, Lu Feng finally took the lead and couldn't bear it anymore.He dropped his scythe and collapsed into the wheat field, panting.

Kong Ji glanced in the direction where Lu Feng was, and sneered loudly on purpose: "Sure enough, the ones raised by the trash are also trash."

Several Hunan soldiers in the same team were furious: "What are you talking about? What are you recruits?"

Several Shu soldiers also stood up to prevent Kong Ji from being alone.

Seeing that the two parties were about to quarrel again, fortunately there were still reasonable people in the team, and hurriedly persuaded: "It's okay, okay, who wants to be deducted half a year's salary? Don't say a few words."

Thinking about the punishment for violating military orders, everyone's anger was suppressed, and a war that hadn't started was temporarily suspended.

After a day's work, the pile of rice harvested by Kong Ji was obviously higher than that of others. He was so proud that he went back to rest proudly.

It's a pity that Kong Ji was not able to be proud for too long, and his arrogance was suppressed early the next morning - early in the morning, his back hurt so badly that he almost couldn't even get out of bed.

He had worked hard and vigorously all day yesterday, but his waist had never been straightened. How could his body bear it?After sleeping, even the flesh and bones rebelled, protesting his overreaching.

A gong sounded outside, telling the soldiers to get up and prepare to go out to work.

Kong Ji gritted his teeth and got off the bed without complaining of pain.But his limping posture quickly attracted the attention of his companions.

"Kong Ji, what's wrong with you? Are you injured?"

At this time Lu Feng happened to walk by them.Kong Ji immediately gritted his teeth and said, "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Lu Feng glanced at him and went out coldly.

When he got to the field, Kong Ji still wanted to work as he did yesterday.However, every time he moved his waist, it hurt like someone had hit him with a hammer.He gritted his teeth and persisted for a day, but the grain heap he cut in the end was incomparable to that of yesterday, becoming the least in the team.

He thought it would be good to go back to rest at night, but he didn't expect the nightmare to officially start after dark at night.

——Because of being brave for two consecutive days, on the second night, his back injury broke out completely.His whole back was in a burning pain, how could he sleep?

After the dead of night, all the people in the tent were fast asleep, and there were snores on both sides.Only Kong Ji kept turning over, taking a breath from time to time, trying to find a posture that would make him feel less uncomfortable.

I don't know how long it took, when Kong Ji turned over again, a black figure not far from him suddenly sat up "bass", and scolded: "Did you eat the top? Don't let people sleep well?"

Kong Ji recognized Lu Feng's voice, sat up with force, and scolded back unceremoniously: "I like to turn around, it's none of your business?"

Lu Feng said: "I've been tired all day, and I don't let people take a good rest. I just heard you chattering there. Are you making trouble on purpose so that others can't sleep?"

Kong Ji said: "Do you like to sleep or not, which military law stipulates that I cannot turn over while sleeping?"

The two of you talk to each other, and neither of them is willing to give in. The more noisy, the more ugly, and the more noisy, the more angry.The other people in the tent fell asleep because of the hard work during the day, and no one was woken up by them.

At the end of the quarrel, Kong Ji rushed forward angrily and said, "Do you want to fight?"

Lu Feng immediately said: "Come on, I'm afraid of you? It just happened that there was no winner last time, this time I will see if I will beat you to the teeth."

Kong Ji said: "Let's go, let's compete outside the tent. It's just dark and no one is around, so don't complain to the officer if you lose!"

Lu Feng got up and went out, Kong Ji gritted his teeth and followed.However, it was so dark that he couldn't see his fingers, Kong Ji had just stepped out of the tent when he accidentally kicked a stone under his feet, and was tripped and fell to the ground.

This stumbling was no small matter, I don't know where he was involved, his waist seemed to be torn apart by life.He groaned in pain and lay on the ground for a long time, unable to get up.

When Lu Feng heard the sound, he knew what was going on. He gloated and said, "How about it? Aren't you going to fight? You won't be unable to stand up, will you? Then fight or not?"

Kong Ji was in so much pain that he had no time to talk to him.

Lu Feng said again: "Did you hurt your waist yesterday? Don't you always think that you are better than us military households? It's only a day or two of work. We are all fine. Why can't you do it?" ?”

Kong Ji was sweating coldly and said stubbornly: "Nonsense. Although I am stronger than you, I am also a human body, can't I get hurt?"

As soon as he said this, the other side suddenly fell silent.

Lu Feng didn't know what was wrong with him, he was stunned for a while, his mind seemed empty and chaotic.It seemed that he didn't realize that the other party was also born with flesh before hearing this sentence - did the other party also have flesh?

After an unknown amount of time, Lu Feng knelt down beside Kong Ji in the dark: "Hey, are you okay?"

Kong Ji took a breath and said, "It's very good. You wait for me slowly, I'll get up and beat you right away."

Lu Feng was stunned for a moment, then he gave a "chi" smile, and then sighed for no reason.

After a while, Kong Ji felt a hand touch his body, and couldn't help struggling in shock: "What do you want to do?"

Lu Feng held him down and said, "Don't move. I have learned the technique of pressing the thorns. Let me see where you are hurt."

Kong Ji was in so much pain that he couldn't struggle, so he could only let him press.With the moonlight, Lu Feng could barely see the general idea, and according to Kong Ji's inhalation and struggling strength, he roughly figured out Kong Ji's injury.

"No bones should be injured." Lu Feng said, "I'll press the acupuncture points and meridians for you first, and tomorrow you can go to the military doctor for some herbal compresses, and you will be fine after a few days of treatment."

Kong Ji scolded: "Let go of me, you don't need to pretend to be kind."

Lu Feng sneered, and directly rubbed and pressed Kong Ji, making Kong Ji cry for his father and mother within a few strokes.

After he finished pressing it thoroughly, Kong Ji was already on the verge of death.Lu Feng clapped his hands and got up: "I'll go back to sleep first. Climb back by yourself." After speaking, he left Kong Ji alone and went back to the tent by himself.

……

In the early morning of the next day, Kong Ji was awakened by the sound of the gong, and was about to get up in a daze, but the pain in his back made him completely awake when he moved.He immediately heard what happened last night, and hurriedly turned his head to look in the direction where Lu Feng was.Lu Feng didn't look at him, and directly opened the curtain and went out.

Kong Ji rubbed his waist.When Lu Feng pressed him last night, he was in so much pain that he almost passed out, thinking that Lu Feng was deliberately taking revenge.But when Lu Feng finished pressing, he felt the pain relieved a lot, and fell asleep smoothly after returning to the tent.Although it still hurts right now, compared to yesterday's burning pain, it has eased a lot.

He looked at the direction where Lu Feng was going out, feeling a little confused in his heart.

……

Fearing that Kong Ji's injury would worsen, the soldiers in the same account reported to the military doctor on Kong Ji's behalf. The military doctor prescribed some herbal medicine for him, and allowed him to rest for two days until he recovered from his injury before working again.

At night Kong Ji was resting in the tent, when the curtain was lifted and someone came back.He looked up, and it was Lu Feng who came back first.

The two looked at each other, they were both stunned for a moment, and they looked away in embarrassment at the same time.

However, after Lu Feng came into the tent, the rest of the people disappeared, and no one came back for a while.

The atmosphere in the tent must be awkward and dull. After a long time, Kong Ji broke the silence and hummed: "Have you really learned the art of pressing the bridge?"

Lu Feng gave him a sideways glance, and didn't bother to answer.

Kong Ji curled his lips and said in a low voice: "I didn't expect you to have some skills. It seems that the soldiers brought out by Liu Fei are not so useless."

Lu Feng immediately retorted: "There are so many things you didn't expect."

Kong Ji was startled, and asked, "For example?"

He was suddenly a little curious about what else Lu Feng could do.Before that, he only knew that although the soldiers led by Liu Buxing claimed to have been trained for many years, their quality was not as good as that of recruits like them.So he always felt that the Hunan soldiers were worthless waste.This is the first time he has become interested and curious about Hunan soldiers.

Lu Feng didn't expect him to ask, and was also slightly surprised.

At this moment, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and the rest of the soldiers finally returned.The two immediately looked away awkwardly, pretending nothing happened.

But without realizing it, the atmosphere in the tent has become different from the past.

=====

A few days later, the rice in the field had already been harvested.

The soldiers cut off the ears of rice and crushed them with walking poles.After the millet is successfully threshed, it will start to raise the field.

Yu Changming and Jia Cong went to inspect the threshing ground and saw soldiers gathering in groups, forming a circle with wooden shovels in their hands, constantly shoveling up the rice grains.The heavier grains fell where they were, while the mixed straw was blown away by the wind.This is the last step of harvesting. After the rice is cleared, the rice can be collected in the barn and become a reserve army ration.

The soldiers were still singing loudly while working.This song Yu Changming is very familiar with, it is a song that they like to sing when farmers in central Sichuan are working.

He couldn't help being startled: the autumn harvest is almost over, do soldiers from Shu and Hunan still compete with each other in this way?

However, the singing voice was loud and resounded through the audience.He took a closer look and found that it was Shu soldiers and Hunan soldiers singing in unison!

After singing a Shu song, the crowd didn't stop, and then another Hunan song.It was still sung by soldiers from both sides.Having been together for so long, fighting songs for so long, they have learned each other's songs.

Yu Changming was stunned for a moment, and the corners of his lips curled into a smile.

"Staff Jia, let's go."

Jia Cong also responded with a smile, and continued to check with him.

=====

When Jing Zhe walked into the mansion, Zhu Nao had just finished approving the last official document at hand.He pushed all the papers aside.

Jing Zhe said: "Young Master, why did you come to me?"

Zhu Nao said: "You go back and order a few people, pack your things, and accompany me to Chengdu."

Jing Zhe was startled: "Leaving Chengdu? Are you going back to Langzhou?"

Zhu Nao shook his head: "I've been in central Shu from Langzhou to Chengdu, and haven't visited the north yet. I'm going to visit northern Shu first, and I can go to Guanzhong by the way."

Jingzhe: "...!!!"

He turned pale with shock: "Young master is going to Guanzhong?!"

Zhu Nao smiled and said, "I want to go and see what's going on in Guanzhong."

He has been in Chengdu for more than a year, and now the political situation has stabilized, and various government affairs will be greatly reduced after the autumn harvest, which can be handed over to Xu Yu for temporary management.It's time to put down the stall and go out to have a look.