Chapter 17: The Wild Dragon is Dormant, the Deer in the Central Plains are Fat

As the saying goes, it takes three generations to produce a noble family. Shao Quanzhong was born into a Hu family in his previous life. After he became rich, he became a nouveau riche who had no taste in enjoying life.

I have been working hard all my life and have never had the chance to enjoy life. I am still a fool when it comes to appreciating luxury goods.

His understanding of tea is, at best, that it is expensive and fragrant.

A big bowl of tea is more thirst-quenching. What's the point of the Japanese tea ceremony? They spend a lot of time and effort to make a cup of tea that tastes like cat urine but is not enough for one sip. It's just a waste of time.

He saw Le Sen drink a sip of tea and then looked very surprised, which puzzled him. He also took a sip and found it quite delicious. But why was it so delicious? He didn't know.

Seeing Mr. Le saluting him, Zhang Siwen calmly bowed back, still smiling innocently, "I am a poor child from a Miao family who was not wanted by anyone. When I was young, I served the young master of a rich family to study, but was later driven away. I met Brother Shao when I was begging for food."

Shao Quanzhong had already heard about Zhang Ershazi's experience and didn't have any doubts about it.

The two of them went through life and death together on the road of begging. Zhang Siwen was loyal to him and would not have any problems no matter who else had them.

Le Sen seemed to understand. "The wealthy families you served were not just rich. It is impossible for them to be so particular if they are not from a family of noble families."

Seeing Shao Quanzhong's confused face, knowing that the boss he recognized was from a humble background and didn't understand this, he explained to him, "This tea is the raw Pu'er tea of the large-leafed Yunnan tree variety that was picked that year.

The advantage is the strong aroma, the disadvantage is the bitter taste.

This cup of tea is brewed with a small amount of tea, a relatively low water temperature, and a long soaking time, which can greatly reduce the bitterness of the raw Pu'er tea and retain the tea aroma.

There are three levels of tea brewing: brewing tea by looking at the sky, brewing tea by looking at people, and brewing tea by looking at the tea.

To be able to use this technique to brew this cup of raw Pu'er tea has reached the highest level of tea-watching and tea-making. Only aristocratic families would pay attention to such details. "

Le Sen was surprised because in this nest of rough men, there was actually a man from a noble family, which was even more rare than a scholar like him joining the militia.

Shao Quanzhong knew that Zhang Siwen was not stupid at all. In fact, he could read and write and had worked as a tutor in the past.

But Shao Quanzhong didn't care at all. Zhang Ershazi didn't say anything himself, and he didn't intend to find out who he had been a tutor for. Even if he was Xianfeng's tutor, he didn't care, after all, he was his brother now.

Since Zhang Siwen has been driven out to beg for food, he certainly can't rely on the so-called noble family's influence anymore. Love is for whoever he is.

"Report, Lord Wu Wenxi has sent someone to deliver the money and food."

Shao Quanzhong pulled Le Sen and said, "Deputy band leader, come on, help me collect the money and food. Not many of our brothers here know numbers, so you take care of the logistics first."

When Shao Quanzhong met the head servant of the Wu family who was escorting the military pay, he handed the matter over to Le Sen.

As a qualified warlord, he was not as money-minded as Yang Yong and was unwilling to spend time managing money and grain personally.

I don't want to keep any money for myself. Having money to recruit soldiers and equip them is the bottom line. If my neighbors store grain, I store guns. My neighbors are my granary.

I have to spend as much of my time as possible on training. This is my advantage, and no one can help me at the moment.

Shao Quanzhong came to the training ground in the village with his hands behind his back. There was a recruiting table here, and a long queue was lined up in front of the table. Haiqing was checking the able-bodied men recommended by each baojia one by one.

Tian Xing and Hai Qing took turns to be in charge of the recruitment. Seeing his second brother coming over, Tian Xing came over and said, "Second brother, Taizhou is where Yue Wumu once served. There are good soldiers here, almost all of them are qualified. We can recruit 200 people in just one morning."

"If the rest are qualified, don't rush back immediately, leave a record. Two hundred are just the first batch of soldiers in the right battalion. When we have more money, we will definitely recruit more."

"By the way, second brother, I heard that there is a Zhuge Liang who has joined you?"

Shao Quanzhong waved his hand, "Not really. He is a traditional scholar. I know everything he said, but he definitely doesn't know what I know. He doesn't have the ability to surprise me and make up for my shortcomings.

But he is indeed a talent and is available. At this stage, he is qualified to be my assistant.

With our current situation, it's good enough to have some educated people come to invest, and we can't be too picky.

What I need most is a chief of staff who understands modern military affairs, not Liu Bowen or Yao Guangxiao. But people like that have very high standards, and it’s hard to find them now.”

"Boss Shao, when you recruit soldiers, you can't leave me, your brother, behind."

Zhang Siwen drove a donkey cart from Shunyi all the way to the town, and his childhood friend Song Laosan jumped off the cart. "Welcome, welcome."

Shao Quanzhong went up to Song Laosan and hugged his neck and waist, "If you come to help me, you will be indispensable as a captain."

Song Laosan didn't care about his official rank, he came here sincerely to help Shao Quanzhong.

The standard organization of the Qing army was that there were fourteen people in a tent, three tents in a platoon, and three platoons in a team. The team leader had to manage more than one hundred people.

Shao Quanzhong only recruited 200 people in total, divided into two teams, with 100 people in each team, which did not meet the standard establishment.

Shao Quanzhong is preparing to serve as the captain of the first team himself, and Song Laosan, the captain of the second team, will be in charge of half of Shao Quanzhong's soldiers. Only true confidants can enjoy this treatment, and currently he has more power than the deputy regiment commander.

As for the six hundred hooligans in the left camp under the command of Tian Xing, Shao Quanzhong did not count them as his own soldiers.

For the time being, we will keep them with 600 taels of silver a month to avoid rash layoffs or they will rebel against us.

"Captain, the military pay and food sent by Lord Wu have been counted and received. There are 25,000 taels of silver, which is enough for 800 people to eat for a month. They have been loaded into the warehouse."

Shao Quanzhong looked calm while listening to the report, but Tian Xing next to him was extremely shocked. How could there be so many?
Le Sen continued to report the details, "Originally, there were only 20,000 taels seized from Yang Yong's private residence.

When Lord Wu heard that you had spent a lot of money to recruit good families to form a standing army, he thought you were a good person to be the head of the regiment, so he allocated the 20,000 taels of training funds he had in his hands to you all at once."

As the minister in charge of the militia, Wu Wenxi had been in charge of the militia funds that had been collected and solicited for a long time.

Because he couldn't stand Yang Yong's domineering behavior, he kept the money in his hand and didn't give it to Yang Yong.

"That's 40,000 taels. In addition, the Wen family took the lead, and the gentry of the whole state donated enthusiastically, raising a total of 10,000 taels, of which Madam Wen herself donated 2,000 taels.

Fifty thousand taels of silver, half of which Lord Wu left for us to purchase long-term logistics and food supplies, and the other half has already arrived."

Our Qing Dynasty's GDP ranked first in the world, five times that of Britain.

However, the annual tax revenue of the Qing Dynasty was 40 million taels, while that of Britain was 140 million taels. What does this mean? The gentry of the Qing Dynasty had too much money in their hands, but it was confiscated.

The militia organized by Yang Yong was not well organized, and the gentry were not enthusiastic about donating money, so Yang Yong could only exploit the people.

As soon as Shao Quanzhong came to power, he recruited standing troops with high salaries. The gentry saw hope and thought that if the Taiping Rebellion came, this could really save their lives, so they were willing to pay the money.

After receiving the 25,000 taels of silver, Tian Xing was convinced that he really did not understand the officialdom.

By noon, two hundred soldiers had been recruited.

Two hundred men stood there in a line. Although their formation was as uneven as that of the left camp, each of them had a sincere face and were all decent, honest and good people.

It doesn't mean that all honest and good people can fight in wars, but they will first abide by military discipline and implement the will of their superiors. This is the difference between regular troops and bandits.

Shao Quanzhong ordered, "Let's go eat first, and we'll pay you in the afternoon."

Le Sen successfully completed his first mission and was quite pleased with himself.

I am the only educated person in this group, and I am indispensable. No matter how powerful the group leader is, he is still a rough guy...

Le Sen went to the kitchen to eat with his hands behind his back. Passing by Shao's house, he saw Zhang Siwen posting a new couplet written by Shao Quanzhong on the door.

Oh wow, there is no need for a scholar like me to write the door couplets myself. I would like to see the group leader’s handwriting.

To his surprise, Shao Quanzhong, who called himself a rough man, had a vigorous and timeless handwriting, not inferior to his own as a scholar, and with an edge that could penetrate the paper.

After reading the content again, Le Sen was stunned and immediately repositioned himself.

The couplet consists of ten characters: "The dragons in the wild are hibernating, and the deer in the Central Plains are getting fat."

(End of this chapter)

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