Li Jing shouted, and the villagers of old and young under the big locust tree suddenly became quiet. Hundreds of eyes were staring at Li Jing's figure, holding his breath and watching him reach into the pottery jar, then clenched his fists and stretched his hand back.

"Open it quickly, have you been drawn?" The villagers around were even more anxious than Li Jing and urged loudly beside him.

Li Jing stretched his clenched fist to everyone and slowly opened it.

"Ah! It's white, I didn't draw it!" A burst of exclamations sounded, some of which were happy for Li Jing, celebrating that he had exempted from the errands from the recruitment of the army. However, some people sighed with disappointment. After all, although only ten of the 158 pebbles in the pottery jar were dyed ink, if Li Jing drew one dyed ink, they would have a little more chance to avoid drawing dyed ink stones to join the army.

The morning breeze blew by, and Li Jing looked at the gray pebble in his hand, but was disappointed in his heart. No one wanted to join the army, but he wanted to go, but he couldn't win.

Everyone was talking, but no one went up to get the stones and draw lots.

The sword-match officer who had been half closed under the tree suddenly raised his eyes and looked up and down with interest.

This time, the united soldiers were recruited rather than the formal official Jian. The united soldiers did not leave the local army that had been produced for a long time, also known as the regiment training, the Tuzhen Town, and the Tuyuan Group. The Tang Dynasty began to set up and was widely set up by the time of Wu Zetian. The united soldiers were led by the regiment training envoy. By this late Tang Dynasty, most regiment training envoys were appointed by the governor of the state.

Returning to farming in spring and summer, and chasing in autumn and winter, this is the unity of the soldiers.

The united soldiers are recruited by local governments and are not registered as regular military membership. During their service, they are given their own personal food and pickles. They assist the officials of the vassal states to defend and cooperate in the country. They do not leave production for a long time and will be deported to their hometowns after the military mission is over.

Although the court made many detailed regulations on the recruitment and repatriation of the Unified Soldiers, at this time, most of the central court's decrees were basically distorted. Unified Soldiers were originally recruited by the local government in a certain proportion when local defense was tight, and they had to provide food and pickles. Moreover, these Unified Soldiers were only responsible for the local defense and were not separated from production for a long time. They gathered in autumn and winter every year, and returned home to farm in spring and summer. However, now everything has changed. The nominal convening of the Unified Soldiers is actually a similar nature to a mercenary. Often, they are not allowed to return for a few years, and even in addition to assisting in defense, they have to go to the battlefield to fight.

In some places, united soldiers were not as good as those of the officials under the various vassal states. Unite soldiers had no food and pay to fight, but were only responsible for basic food and pickles. Weapons and armor were all provided by themselves, and the service time was uncertain. They were similar to the soldiers in the early Tang Dynasty, but they did not have the corresponding treatment of the soldiers. This united soldiers gradually evolved into a kind of military service, and the people were very afraid of this kind of military service.

To be recruited to become officials and officials in various vassal states, and food and wages are a way to eat. However, being a united soldier is free, which is completely similar to hard labor.

The officer was in the army for many years, and he had been to several villages this time. Once the army was drawn, all of them were extremely frightened, and even cried and knelt down to avoid it. Those who failed to draw were also happy.

Only the young man in front of him was very calm. No one was willing to come forward before, so he took the initiative to go forward and draw lots first, without any nervousness and worry. When he was lucky enough to not draw, he did not show any excitement or disobedience. This young man was too calm and had the temperament of not changing his face without changing his face. Judging from his youthful and strong, he was also a village tribute who had obtained the imperial examination qualification. It would be great if such a person could be accepted under his command. It would be a pity that he didn't draw.

"Next!" The village chief Wang Lao shouted with difficulty when he saw no one step forward.

"I'll do it!" Wang Xiaoshitou from Wang Blacksmith's family ran forward with excitement on his face and reached into the pottery jar.

"I've hit it, it's Ranmo. I'm going to join the army, I've hit it." Wang Xiaoshitou spread his hand and a pitch-black pebble lay on his palm. But he shouted excitedly, as if he had already planned to join the army like Li Jing.

Li Jing was full of thoughts and returned to his family. The whole family surrounded him and looked at the gray pebbles in Li Jing's hand excitedly. They didn't want Li Jing to draw the ink-dyeed pebbles. There was only Li Jing, a man left in the family, and he was then pulled out to be a soldier. What should I do with this family?

Whether they were willing or unwilling, one after another came forward and found a stone.

Some people were happy and some were worried. The family that didn't touch the dyed stone laughed happily. When they pulled it, their faces were dark and sighed. Li Jing noticed that not only did the small stone hit the dyed stone, but Wang Liang also drew one, and the old village chief also drew one.

Wang Liang held the black stone and looked extremely ugly, and he had the idea of ​​swallowing the pebbles in one bite. Seeing his expression, Li Jing suddenly felt much more relieved.

The civil servant had already registered the ten families who had drawn the ink-dyed stones and said loudly: "The draw has ended. There are 158 households in Wangli Village, and 15 households in 15 households, and a total of ten children will be drawn. Now, the ten families who were drawn will be packed up immediately. The ten families who were drawn in the afternoon must set off for Penglai, Dengzhou. The ugly words are ahead. When noon arrives, if anyone who has drawn the draw will dare to fail, they will be hanged as a crime of deserter, and the whole family will be exiled for three thousand miles."

Several families suddenly started crying when they heard this, and there was noisy under the community tree.

"Sujing, why are you crying? It's your luck to be a soldier. If you really want to kill the enemy on the battlefield and make meritorious service, you will inevitably get rich and promoted. In addition, every two men must have a horse, no horse, donkey and mule. In addition, you must bring your own weapons and armor. If you don't have one, you can collect it from the barracks after you go to Penglai, but each person will have to pay 20,000 yuan for the full set of equipment."

As soon as these words were said, the people who were drawn below were even more sad. All the families in the village were farmers, so there were no good weapons and armor. If you couldn't take out the weapons and armor, you would have to pay twenty yuan. Isn't this a fatal blow?

Several families had already started crying to the civil servant and the old village chief.

"Listen to me and listen to me and finish my words." The goatee clerk tried his best to appease the people, and said in a panic: "The above had considered this issue, and there was an order on it. If you draw Ding's family, you don't need to bear anything else. All the horses, donkeys, weapons, armor and other equipment are equally borne by the rest of the village."

After saying this, the other families who were a little lucky to have good luck were also stunned.

Those who get it get it get it, and those who don’t get it get it pays.

Wangli Village needs five horses and donkeys to be drawn. In addition, if all armor is converted into money, it will cost 200,000 yuan. The 200,000 yuan will be borne by the remaining 148 households, and each family will have to bear 1,351 yuan.

One thousand three hundred and fifty cents are not all, but five horses and donkeys have to be added. Even if you use all donkeys, a donkey will have to be at least a lot of money. In the early years, when you were fighting rice for twenty cents, a horse would have to be ten thousand and a cow would have to be five thousand. Now, two hundred coins for rice are caused by the famine and shortage of food, but the price of rice has soared, which has also led to the soaring price of other goods. Originally, a donkey had a price of more than one thousand to two thousand, but now it has soared by almost three times, and a donkey would have to be at least six thousand coins. Five donkeys combined for another 30,000 yuan. If you were divided into each company, you would have to add two hundred cents.

It costs more than 1,500 yuan, and most of them can still take it out, but the Li family really can't take it out at all.

After a moment of happiness, everyone in the Li family fell into a cloud of sorrow again.
Chapter completed!