Zhao Heng looked at the sun and it was past noon, and shouted to Zhang Guozhu: "Zhang Guozhu, rest for fifteen minutes now, and then have lunch!"

Lunch? Zhang Hongsi was surprised when he heard this word. Since it is lunch, it means that these people eat three meals a day. You must know that in the Ming Dynasty, most people only ate twice a day, and only some wealthy landlords only had three meals a day. Could it be that

The Zhao family already has enough money to give these servants three meals a day?

"Brother Zhao, Mencius said that you should eat in the morning and in the evening. Why do you have three meals a day here, Brother Zhao?"

Zhao Heng didn't understand what "eating" meant, but he also understood that it meant two meals a day, morning and evening. Zhao Heng explained with a smile: "Brother Xian, these servants train very hard every day. If they can't eat enough, they will be injured."

They have lost their health, so I decided to let them eat three meals a day to maintain their physical strength!”

Zhang Hongsi has also seen military households training, but those guys spend three days fishing and two days drying nets. Even if they encounter a big competition, they will try all kinds of tricks to fool them. How about giving them three meals?

"Brother Zhao, do you servants train every day?"

"Yes, I wake up every morning and run six miles to warm up, then have breakfast, practice formation and military posture in the morning, rest for half an hour after lunch, practice military style boxing and formation in the afternoon, and study half an hour after dinner in the evening

Time to sleep!"

Zhang Hongsi became interested when he heard that they still had to study, and asked with a smile: "Brother Zhao, are you still teaching them how to read?"

Seeing Zhao Heng nodding, Zhang Hongsi asked again: "Brother Zhao, why do you want them to be literate? Do you want them to take the scholar exam?"

Zhang Hongsi was a little funny after saying this. The only purpose of these soldiers is to fight, because fighting can help them get promoted and make a fortune. If they all go to study, who will come to serve as soldiers and eat food? Are you saying that Zhao Heng is not a scholar himself?

, you can teach them to read by knowing only a few words at most? It’s really hilarious!

Hearing Zhang Hongsi's teasing, Zhao Hengdao didn't care much. He said: "Of course I ask them to study not because I want them to get fame, but because I want them to understand the principles of life and let them know why they are fighting! Who they are fighting for!

This is better than those guards in the imperial court who spend their whole life as soldiers and eat food. They can serve as soldiers for anyone just to eat. They can surrender to the bandits or the Jurchens in the north. I don't want my soldiers to have such no moral bottom line.

!”

Zhao Heng's casual words pointed out the key to the situation at that time. Why did Li Zicheng fail to achieve anything in the early stage of the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty? After more than ten years of turmoil, he was just a rogue bandit, but no intellectuals were willing to help him. Why did the Manchus in Liaodong

The reason why they couldn't be eradicated after repeated campaigns was also because the merchants in the north had no moral bottom line. When the Manchus were about to be killed by economic sanctions, they gave a large amount of blood transfusions to the Manchus for their own personal gain. Only then could the Manchus turn around.

Make it to the end.

Of course, this does not mean that all scholars are good and are good officials who serve the country and the people, but compared to those military generals who surrendered and the unscrupulous businessmen who transfused blood for the enemy, these scholars have a much higher moral level, at least they have reached the level of

In the late Southern Ming Dynasty, some intellectuals who saw no hope of restoring the country would still sacrifice themselves for the country.

After Zhang Hongsi listened to Zhao Heng's explanation, the ridicule on his face disappeared immediately. After a long time, Zhang Hongsi nodded slowly and said: "Brother Zhao is absolutely right. During the Denglai Rebellion in Shandong, if the rebel general Kong Youde

Even if you have a little bit of loyalty and patriotism, you won’t cross the sea and join the Tartars!”

Rebellion in Denglai

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Although the previous Qing army defeated the imperial army many times in field battles, due to the lack of siege tools, the Ming Dynasty relied on a series of strong fortresses built by Sun Chengzong in the Western Liaoning Corridor to secure Liaodong.

However, after Kong Youde surrendered, he brought advanced tactics and artillery to the Qing army, which turned the Ningjin defense line built by the imperial court at a cost of tens of millions of taels of silver into useless paper. Several fortified cities in the Western Liaoning Corridor were successively breached by the Qing army's artillery, causing the imperial court to

The defense line has retreated again and again, and now it can only rely on Shanhaiguan, the last line of defense, to maintain the dignity of the Ming Empire.

"Brother Zhao, I understand your painstaking efforts, but these..." After Zhang Hongsi finished speaking, he looked at the servants sitting on the ground and said, "Can these people do it?"

Zhang Hongsi didn't believe in these guys who were refugees half a month ago, and Zhang Hongsi didn't believe that Zhao Heng could teach these refugees anything about loyalty and patriotism. However, Zhao Heng didn't bother to explain, and instead told Zhang

The Hongsi siblings brought into a shed.

This shed was the canteen of the New Army, filled with more than a dozen long tables. At this time, the cook in the canteen was cooking, and the aroma of meat penetrated Zhang Hongsi's nostrils.

Zhang Hongsi did not expect that Zhao Heng would be so generous as to feed these refugees meat.

“Brother Zhao, what dish did you cook for lunch? It’s so delicious!”

Zhao Heng smiled slightly: "We cook all-meat dishes every ten days, and today it happens to be braised pork. Later, the two brothers can taste the skills of the military cook!"

Although the Zhang family were landowners, they were not big landowners, so the Zhang family could not eat meat every day. When Zhang Hongsi heard that Zhao Heng was done, he quickly nodded his head.

By this time, all the soldiers outside had finished their rest and the food was ready. Under the leadership of the platoon leader, the soldiers lined up in five columns and walked into the dining hall singing "Brother."

Zhao Heng taught them how to sing, and the songs were naturally the same military songs that were often sung in the army in later generations. Now these soldiers were singing about returning from target practice. The cheerful lyrics reached Zhang Side's ears, and Zhang Side asked curiously: "Brother Zhao, what is this?"

Why haven’t you heard the song?"

Zhang Side is not a country girl who cannot read a word. Although her knowledge is not as high as that of her father and brother, she is definitely not inferior to Zhang Hongsi in front of her. Zhang Side is proficient in all kinds of music scores, but there is no tune like this in any southern or northern tune.

Of course Zhao Heng couldn't tell her that this was a piece from later generations, so he had to say: "I made it up myself!"

Hearing that Zhao Heng could actually compose a piece of music, Zhang Side admired him: "Brother Zhao is indeed a genius. This piece is very cheerful and has a strong rhythm, so it is suitable for these soldiers!"

When he heard his fiancée praising him, Zhao Heng said without shame: "This is just one song. In addition to this one, I have also compiled many other songs. I will definitely study it with my good brother when I have the opportunity!"

Zhao Heng didn't know that his words might misunderstand Zhang Side. Studying music with his wife in ancient times was called harmony of harp and harp. Although it was not a dirty word, it had an ambiguous meaning. So Zhang Side's face changed when he heard what Zhao Heng said.

Yihong lowered his head and stopped talking.

Zhao Heng was still wondering why this little girl always blushed. At this time, the soldiers had already sat down and the cook began to serve the food.

The meals in the army are very simple and straightforward, a bowl of braised pork, a bowl of cabbage soup, and a large bowl of steamed buns.

Zhao Heng originally had meals with the five platoon leaders, but now he had to accompany Zhang

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Hongsi sister and brother, so the cook served the three of them a meal alone.

Zhao Heng saw the steamed buns on the table and said with a smile: "Two worthy brothers, my soldiers are all from Shandong. They like pasta. Wait until I ask the cook to replace it with rice!"

Zhang Hongsi originally wanted to eat a few pieces of braised pork to satisfy his appetite, but he backed down when he saw the braised pork in the basin. The pieces of meat inside were half the size of a fist, and Zhang Hongsi really couldn't eat them.

However, these braised pork looks very good. Zhao Heng specifically told them that the ingredients must be sufficient when cooking, so the cook added a lot of soy sauce and salt to the meat. The color of the meat is golden and shiny, and it looks really crystal clear, which is amazing.

I can't help but salivate.

At this time, the rice arrived. Zhao Heng served Zhang Hongsi a bowl and said, "Xian brother, eat it quickly while it's hot. It won't taste good when it's cold!"

Zhang Hongsi nodded, picked up a smaller piece of braised pork with chopsticks, took a bite and tasted it carefully. Although the piece of meat looked fat, it was fat but not greasy in the mouth because of the added sugar.

The delicate taste and slightly sweet taste are really beautiful.

Zhang Hongsi ate the meat in two mouthfuls, and then praised: "Brother Zhao, this meat is really good, it's really delicious!"

Zhang Hongsi enjoyed the meal, but it was very difficult for Zhang Side. She was a girl, how could she chew like Zhang Hongsi without caring about her image. Therefore, although Zhang Side also wanted to take a bite of braised pork, he was very depressed because he could not eat it.

At this time, Zhao Heng saw the beauty's difficulty, and quickly and considerately took a clean chopstick, carefully divided a piece of braised pork into small pieces, put it in Zhang Side's bowl, and then said softly: "Brother, this is convenient

Got it!"

Seeing Zhao Lang being so gentle to him, Zhang Side was very happy. The Ming Dynasty was a patriarchal society, and men were very dignified at home. Zhang Side's father, Zhang Wenming, did not share meat with his wife and children at home, and he did not even smile on weekdays.

.So when Zhang Side saw Zhao Heng treating him so carefully, he immediately felt very sweet in his heart.

When Zhao Heng saw Zhang Side so handsome, he felt really itchy in his heart. If Zhang Hongsi hadn't been the light bulb in front of him, Zhao Heng would have loved to hold Zhang Side in his arms and feel pity for him. But that was absolutely not possible now. Zhao Heng could only curse Zhang Hongsi secretly in his heart.

I didn't know what was going on, so I asked gently: "Brother, please eat slowly and drink some soup to smoothen things over!"

Zhang Side blushed and said, "Thank you, Brother Zhao, for your concern!"

Zhang Hongsi was really bored when he saw the tired look of these two people, so he couldn't help but ask: "Brother Zhao, when we came over just now, we saw a strange thing called a steam engine over there at the brick kiln. What is it for?"

Zhao Heng's mind was now on Zhang Side, and he replied casually: "Oh, you are talking about the steam engine in the brick factory. That is the power engine built by my grandfather, used to make bricks!"

Zhang Hongsi couldn't understand why so many bricks were made and asked: "Brother Zhao, what is the use of making so many bricks?"

"Of course it has many uses. Bricks are needed to build houses and factories. They are also needed to build roads. There are many places where bricks are needed!"

"Brother Zhao, what is a factory?"

Zhao Heng was admiring the beauty, but Zhang Hongsi interrupted. Zhao Heng had no choice but to answer patiently: "A factory is a factory that produces various things, such as a steel factory that produces steel, a cement factory that produces cement, and a factory that produces sugar.

Wait for the sugar factory! I will take you to see it when I have the chance!"
Chapter completed!