Chapter 348: Old Veteran

Yang Tiejiang's armor is very imposing, entirely black; in shape it resembles Han dynasty Xuan armor and also Tang armor, basically a variant that combines the two.

Its protected area is greater than Han Xuan armor's, with the cape and shoulder guards connected as one piece, the chest and back armor with leg guards as another, fastened by two shoulder straps front and back, worn over the cape and shoulder guards.

But it looks less complicated than Tang armor.

At this moment, Chen Wuji felt sour.

He comes from a military family, but aside from this horizontal knife in his hand, his ancestors left him nothing else.

His whole clan couldn't scrape together a single set of armor.

But Yang Tiejiang and his old comrades all wear armor, and Yang Tiejiang himself wears a general's armor; with his armor on, Old Yang standing there made Chen Wuji instantly feel like a lackey.

Inheritance, this thing, is really important.

"These old fellows in the city each have their livelihoods; gathering them together is not easy, wasting some time. Although I rushed as fast as I could, I still seem a bit late." Yang Tiejiang said apologetically.

"We need to know which place to defend; just give the orders. I've already made clear what these old comrades should say; those unwilling to come I didn't force, and those who came are willing to give me a little face, finally serving as my soldiers—even if they die, they have no regrets, and it's also a reckoning for my younger self."

Chen Wuji shook his head: "Don't let everyone risk their lives for nothing; there's military pay and reward silver. Old Yang, you should also make this clear. I won't talk about empty formalities; I'll talk about the actual: serving as a soldier earns two taels of silver per month, with military merit calculated separately; if one dies in battle, the pension varies by rank, at least five taels."

Yang Tiejiang stared for a moment: "You set the military pay this high?"

"What you do is risk your lives with your necks tied to your waist belts; not raising the pay a bit would be against my conscience. Things like ennobling wives and granting titles to sons are what the court should say—I can't say or give those, only real benefits." Chen Wuji said frankly.

In an era when most commoners earn less than one tael of silver a year, a monthly wage of two taels can be called outrageously high. Aside from the risk of losing one's life, this will surely be the high wages countless people dream of.

Yang Tiejiang glared at Chen Wuji: "Damn, you should have said earlier! With such generous military pay, why am I still shamelessly peddling this old face? Do you know how much spit I've endured convincing this bunch of scoundrels to wear armor? I could wash my face dozens of times a day."

"You think I don't want to help you sooner? I'm too busy—busy enduring the spit of these brats, busy listening to the scoundrels curse my ancestors eighteen generations back, with no time to run over and help you."

Chen Wuji stared, dumbfounded; he really hadn't thought of these.

But actually, this probably can't be entirely blamed on him.

Xu Zengyi and Yang Tiejiang never mentioned that these old veterans could be moved with money, so he never even thought of it.

Xu Zengyi was still there guessing what other thoughts Old Yang might have.

This…

It's simply skewed all the way to his maternal grandmother's house.

"You mean just issuing the pay is enough?" Chen Wuji asked uncertainly.

Yang Tiejiang pointed his arm and shouted at the over a hundred old veterans on the street: "You lot of scoundrels, hurry over and call me grandpa!"

The old veterans looked over, bewildered.

"You all previously pointed at my nose and cursed me, saying I'd again take you to your deaths, and that you'd finally managed to settle down here, establish families and careers, live stably, and didn't want to keep risking your lives with your necks tied to your waist belts; after much persuasion, you finally agreed to set aside your pride and serve as my soldiers one last time!" Yang Tiejiang was furious, his finger jabbing like a steel prod as he bellowed.

"Now I tell you, this kid gives you two taels of silver each month as pay; are you still willing to take up the trade of risking your lives with your necks tied to your waist belts?"

The old veterans' expressions changed instantly, eyes wide, breathing growing heavy.

"Old Yang, no, General Yang, this couldn't just be… empty promises, right? The Western King often promised various rewards before, but how much actually ended up in our hands you know as well." A long-bearded old veteran asked skeptically.

Chen Wuji said timely: "I don't like empty talk. Earlier my army fought the Qiang people in the mountains; in that battle our forces lost over half. The military pay, reward silver, and pensions for fallen officers had just been distributed; the most I recall receiving was one hundred ten taels, and I even led away two sheep."

This person is Chen Baojia; he killed nearly fifty enemies, among them several enemy officers of various ranks.

Officers' reward silver differs from that of ordinary soldiers; after one battle, Chen Baojia directly achieved a modest prosperity.

One hundred taels in today's Yunan countryside is a truly wealthy household.

The old veterans immediately erupted in an uproar.

"There's also reward silver and pension silver? How is this silver awarded?"

"General Chen, how many bandits did the top earner kill? Help us get the inside scoop."

"What nonsense, you still don't believe General Yang? This is definitely true, I'll do it!"

"I heard General Chen comes from the Chen clan; the Chen clan's reputation shouldn't be false."

"I still think it's better to ask clearly beforehand."

……

Yang Tiejiang looked disdainfully at these old veterans: "All shut up, listen to Deputy Commander Chen!"

Chen Wuji heard everyone's concerns in general, then immediately said: "I'll tell you each individually; reward silver and pension silver are given after tallying the battle results, according to merit!"

"As for how much one can get, it's not fixed; officers' and ordinary soldiers' reward silver differ. Like the example I just gave, he killed nearly fifty enemies, among them several relatively valuable officers."

"You can find out about these things by asking any soldier in my army; except the provincial troops, they're not yet considered my followers."

"Is there anything else you're unclear about?"

The old veterans boiled over.

Each one excitedly discussed with those nearby, as if injected with a powerful, terrifying stimulant, making faces red and necks thick.

Yang Tiejiang snorted coldly: "How so? Still not coming over to call me grandpa? Have I mistreated you? Or am I forcibly dragging you to your deaths?"

The old veterans chuckled, indeed shouting "grandpa" in a chaotic mess.

Yang Tiejiang muttered a curse, then turned to Chen Wuji: "You also saw—this is just a bunch of scoundrels; if you'd announced the military pay earlier, I wouldn't have needed to go through all this trouble."

"I don't want them to repeat their mistakes again; this is my little selfishness—that they could survive the trek from the Central Plains here is no easy feat. The situation in Nan Jun is now chaotic; restless minds make people anxious, so I need to look further. But if you have business here, I certainly won't ignore it."

"These people have only ever learned a killing technique in their lives; aside from killing, they can't do anything else well. Now that they're old, they're just learning to farm, to work, to serve others as grandsons—earning that little money is harder than eating shit."