Chapter 49: Patrol Military System

  Lu Qi was stunned, Tian Yue Miss is his own sister, since childhood engaged to the second son of his father's colleague, married far away in Qingyang County ten years ago. Qingyang County is located northeast of Shizhuang County, although the place where his sister got married is only over a hundred miles away from here, but after his sister got married, she rarely came back, this is also a normal thing, women get married and become someone else's family, often returning to their maiden home will make the husband and elders of the husband's family unhappy.

  "Ning Er, is there something wrong with my sister?" Lu Qi asked in a low voice.

  "It's nothing big, just that I heard Tian Yue only had two daughters with her husband, and then her mother-in-law arranged for Yang Er Gongzi to marry a concubine and take in five more concubines. In the past, Tian Yue would come back once a year, but it's already been three years since she last came back. Last year, she only sent a letter asking about Madame's well-being. Madame is worried that Tian Yue might not be living harmoniously with her husband, and wants you to take some gifts to visit the Yang family and see how things are." Ning Er said softly.

  Lu Qi nodded, understanding that his mother meant for him to go and support his sister, so that her husband's family would look up to her more. In fact, he wasn't very close to his sister; when she got married, he was still a young boy, and at the time, his sister was a dignified young woman who rarely spoke or showed concern for him. Among the women in the Lu household, the one he respected most was his mother, the one he relied on and felt closest to was Ning'er, and the one who warmed his heart the most was his younger sister Xiao Yan.

  "I understand, I'll arrange for the troops to be on guard for the next two days and then I'll find some time to go." Lu Qi said.

  "You'd better go as soon as possible, madam is worried." Ning Er instructed solemnly.

  "What I know, I won't forget." Lu Qi said with a smile, stretching out his hand to hold Ning Er onto the bed, Wei Shuang Er's face turned red as she quietly turned her body away.

  At dawn, Lu Qi stood on the training ground again. Following him, ten orderlies arrived one after another within a short time. As soon as they saw Lu Qi in his official uniform, their eyes revealed excited joy, and they hastily paid their respects and asked questions. Lu Qi explained truthfully that the big men in the county still needed him, but it was hard to say how long he would be needed. He also told the orderlies that from now on, they had the task of patrolling the rural roads.

  After the transmission of the order, 77 people arrived one after another, among whom 27 were late. The reason was that the soldiers and braves had not seen the officials when they reported for duty two days ago, and also heard that the official in charge of them would be dismissed. Seeing that the official military salary promised by the government had been wasted, the soldiers and braves naturally became lazy.

  Lu Qi lost his job first, didn't blame the soldiers who were late or absent, in order to win back their hearts, he publicly promised that the next day he would pay half a month's salary in advance to the soldiers, if 100 soldiers dispersed, he would not take back the prepaid salary. This prepaid salary immediately won over the hearts of the people, and the soldiers were all spirited and threw themselves into training.

  The next day, Lu Qi brought 100 taels of silver to the training ground. The monthly salary of Tang Dynasty officials and soldiers was not high, only two taels of silver per month. Even doing laborious work, one could hardly earn more than three or four strings of copper coins a month. The official army's two taels of silver were considered high wages. What Lu Qi gave to the ten orderlies - 30 taels of silver each - was an astronomical reward.

  Because of the promise to distribute salaries yesterday, today 100 soldiers were present without exception. Lu Qi ordered someone to move a wooden table over and poured the silver onto it. As soon as they saw the silver blocks that were all the same size, the soldiers looked at them in stunned silence.

  "Everyone, I don't want to cheat you, but I also don't want to cheat myself. From the first day I led you, every half month I advance military pay. If you take the military pay, you must obey military orders. Those who think they can't obey, please don't take it. Now, starting from number one, each of you will receive a share of military pay, let's begin."

  When they saw the silver, everyone's eyes lit up. The ten messengers had already divided it among themselves beforehand and had agreed not to tell outsiders, for two reasons: one was that they were afraid of arousing jealousy, and the other was that they were afraid of being accused by the authorities of obtaining it illegally and having it confiscated. Therefore, even after Wang Zhuo questioned them, no one knew about the thirty taels of silver, and those who had received the silver did not want to reveal anything.

  After finishing the soldier's pay, Lu Qi led a hundred soldiers to leave the training ground and arrived at the middle of the country road leading to Wangjiangbao in the county town. At this time, a 20-meter-high wooden sentry tower had been built on the side of the country road, with a total area of 50 square meters, and only one steep bamboo ladder led to the top of the sentry tower.

  "Everyone, this is a beacon tower, used to observe the bandits' tracks on this rural road. Once bandits appear and rob, the guards of the tower must immediately light smoke signals to send warnings."

  The soldiers looked up at the tall and difficult-to-climb beacon tower, and Lu Qi shouted: "Everyone, this official is in charge of patrolling and maintaining order on two rural roads, so there are two beacon towers. From today on, each beacon tower will be guarded by ten soldiers, and 100 soldiers will take turns on duty."

  "Everyone, the responsibility of guarding the outpost is great and also extremely dangerous. If bandits want to rob on the rural roads, the first thing they need to do is destroy this outpost. Therefore, I remind you all that if you want to stay alive, don't be negligent in your duties. This official doesn't require each of you to keep your eyes wide open, but rather divide into five groups of two people each and take turns keeping watch in different directions. This requirement isn't difficult. If this official finds someone being negligent during inspection, the person on duty will receive five military rods, while others will receive two military rods."

  The soldiers nodded in agreement, and Lu Qi continued solemnly: "I also want to tell you some things that you should be vigilant about. Firstly, when there are ten people on duty, they must not gamble; those who do will be punished with ten military clubs. Secondly, strangers are not allowed to approach the sentry post. If you want to risk your lives, you can warmly interact with the approaching person. From my experience in the army, many sentries were killed by women, beggars, and even children who approached them. I'll only tell you one secret to staying alive: anyone who approaches the sentry post despite warnings will be shot with arrows, and I'll take responsibility for it. Remember, don't let your carelessness cause your loved ones to lose their livelihood."

  These words were full of human touch, and the brave soldiers who listened to them were deeply moved. Many people shouted loudly to remember the teachings of their superiors, and under the collective emotions, everyone was even more respectful of Lu Qi.

  "Alright, Du Meng, today you will lead the three squads of soldiers to stand guard at this outpost." Lu Qi gave orders solemnly. The three soldiers were a saber shield soldier, a long spear soldier and an archer.

  "Yes, General Zu's military order." Du Meng responded loudly.

  Lu Qi Zheng said: "Du Meng, I won't say more unnecessary words. Let me tell you again, the bandits are ruthless and cruel. If you want to keep your life, be more careful and vigilant."

  "Don't worry, sir. Even if I'm going to take a dump, I'll first check if there's anyone within 100 meters." Du Meng's crude and loud guarantee made many of the soldiers burst out laughing.

  "Alright, up to the watchtower!" Lu Qi and his voice said, Du Meng immediately nodded nine soldiers out of the column, after saluting Lu Qi, he led nine people to climb up the watchtower.

  Lu Qi took 90 soldiers to Dongliu Township Road and ordered a messenger soldier to take 9 soldiers to guard the platform. Then, he led 80 soldiers to the training ground for exercises. This time, no leave was given during the exercise. Lu Qi announced that there would be a reward of 50 taels for this task of patrolling outside the city. After receiving it, he distributed all of it to the soldiers, letting them focus on training and resting at the training ground. When the beacon fire is lit, they will immediately go out to support. The soldiers were overjoyed when they heard that there was money to be earned from this task and stayed behind to train with peace of mind.

  More than half a month has passed, and Lu Qi has been personally supervising the training of the soldiers in the school grounds every day to strengthen their combat effectiveness. He strictly trained ten messengers, teaching them to ride horses and charge with knives to cut grass targets. Du Meng accepted it the fastest, riding into the group of grass targets, his long knife cutting left and right, cutting off 19 grass target heads at once. His mounted combat strength has approached that of Lu Qi, thanks to his solid martial arts foundation. Lu Qi, seeing his bravery, appointed Du Meng as a cavalry lieutenant, responsible for military affairs when Lu Qi was not present.

  During military training, Lu Qi took four orderlies to patrol the countryside every day at 4 am. Every time he went on patrol, he brought fruit and food to comfort the soldiers on duty at the sentry post, instructing them not to buy food to eat around the sentry post. The soldiers were grateful for his teachings and conscientiously kept watch.

  Because of the four rural roads setting up beacons and garrisoning soldiers, the people in the city and countryside have become more stable, and trade between the city and countryside has begun to increase greatly. However, the measure of setting up beacon towers has recently offended County Lieutenant Zhao, because when County Lieutenant Zhao went out of the city on business, he passed by the Dongliu Township beacon tower and ordered his subordinates to command the soldiers at the beacon tower to come down and ask questions and pay their respects.

  The soldier on the watchtower bravely refused to come down and warned County Lieutenant Zhao that if he came closer, he would shoot arrows. County Lieutenant Zhao got angry and intentionally went closer, and as a result, the watchtower really shot arrows, almost injuring County Lieutenant Zhao. County Lieutenant Zhao was furious and reported it to the county magistrate, demanding severe punishment for the soldier who disobeyed orders. Wang Zhubu found out and sent someone to reprimand Lu Qi.

  Lu Qi met the person sent by Wang Zhu Bo in the school field, listened to the reprimand and didn't say anything, ordered the troops to line up, and publicly rewarded the ten soldiers with one yuan each in front of the visitor. He also sternly declared that if these ten people disobeyed his military orders and left their posts, they would not be rewarded with one yuan today, but instead would be severely punished with ten military clubs. The visitor looked gloomy and left.