C280 Dont want to starve to death (1/2)

Jiang Xiaobai really did not understand. Wasn't this the army? Shouldn't weapons and clothing be distributed by the country?

However, along the way, they passed by three barracks and met over two hundred soldiers. A strange phenomenon made Jiang Xiaobai suspicious — there were only slightly more than half of the people that took out their weapons.

Even at the entrance of the A battalion, an alarm had been issued. Only a third of the people rushing over wore military uniforms, while the other third carried wooden sticks and farm equipment.

This isn't scientific. No matter how many soldiers there are, they should all be equipped with weapons, right?

”Master Bao doesn't know!” Chang Zilong said with a mournful face: ”Bao Zhou is only in the middle counties, and originally, there were allowed to be soldiers under five hundred, but in the past, after the borders were cleared, the number of soldiers increased to a thousand, thus the food rations and weapons were only distributed according to the quota of one thousand, but now we have five thousand!”

A thousand people's food and five thousand people's food was indeed not enough.

Although the imperial government had allocated more than seven thousand mu of land, the previous year there had been a drought. Last year, the locusts had harvested not much more than the seeds.

Ever since Chang Zilong became a Duyu, he had been troubled over the food and drinks of his soldiers. Just last month, he had actually even starved to death.

That was why Chang Zilong decided to take the risk. Using a small amount of new rice to buy more old rice, so that the soldiers wouldn't starve to death in a large area.

As for weapons, there was no need to mention that a quota of 1000 people was only allowed to issue 800 weapons, and they were all defective items that had been eliminated by other forces.

However, buying weapons and equipment was a huge expense. Even the most common steel sabers would cost three taels of silver, a piece of second-hand leather armor would cost ten taels of silver, an ordinary war horse would cost fifty taels of silver, and even a uniform set would cost one to five taels of silver.

Jiang Xiaobai was furious: Since I sent you out, why didn't I give you weapons?

”There are some in the armory, but they won't give them to us because we use Xiang Army.” Chang Zilong sighed: ”We can only look for blacksmiths to fight, but we still need money. ”I don't dare to think too much about swords and sabers. We can only choose to use the spear with the least amount of iron. Two taels, three taels of silver.”

”You want to lead such an army, take such a weapon and attack Yi Zhou City?” Jiang Xiaobai felt that Chang Zilong was lying.

It was impossible for him to not know that Jin Soldier of the Yi Zhou City had been killed. With his courage, how could he possibly carry out such an obvious mission to the death?

”There's no other way!” Chang Zilong's eyes suddenly lit up, his fists clenched tight, and said: ”I have to choose a path to live for the Brothers, and I also have to choose a path to live for my own origin, to bring glory to our Chang Clan!”

”With just you?” Jiang Xiaobai thought that the ass kicked this fellow's head.

”Does the Master Bao look down on me?” Obtaining the chance to catch his breath, Chang Zilong gradually calmed himself down, and said: ”Although the bandits that occupy Yi Zhou City are strong, it's not impossible for our Cantonment Camp to defeat them.”

Jiang Xiaobai could not help but have a whole new level of respect for this fellow. If he had the guts to say such words, he was either a madman or was truly capable.

”Ever since I've become part of the Duyu, I've always desired a war!” Chang Zilong's eyes lit up, and said: ”I divided all the soldiers into three battalions, just for the war.”

According to Chang Zilong, Battalions B, C and C were all weak and sick. Not to mention fighting, they weren't even good at farming. They were only fit to eat and wait for death, so the supply they received was the least.

The C battalion was the most complicated and had the largest number of members. It was mostly composed of soldiers with families, over three thousand of them. These soldiers were mainly responsible for taking care of the farmland and completing the tasks assigned to them by the government.

The most elite was the A battalion, which had less than a thousand members. Chang Zilong had carefully selected all of them, and did not participate in any labour, but instead carried out some simple training.