Chapter 187 Datong Old Camp
"Could it be that General Sun is willing to send people to help us transport these supplies to the grassland?" Wang An said excitedly.

If your caravan is protected by the army, then you don't have to worry about your safety on the grassland.

Although Wang An compared the carriage and horse companies and thugs to being as cowardly as mice, they didn't even dare to go to the grassland.

But in fact, he himself knew that there were countless forces on the grassland, and they were treacherous and changeable, and most of them had ambiguous attitudes towards the Ming court.

They may be allies today, but it is common for them to turn around and plunder the border tomorrow.

Just like Lin Danhan, he always represents.

However, under Wang An's expectant gaze, Sun Zushou smiled and shook his head, saying, "In order to avoid giving others a reason to criticize him, the emperor deliberately found an excuse to pay tribute, and sent the "reward" directly from the capital to Ligdan Khan. The war horses he got back in exchange were probably kept in Datong Prefecture under another excuse."

"But if our Datong Prefecture directly sends troops to escort you to find Ligdan Khan, the other eight border military towns will inevitably criticize us, so it is impossible to send troops directly."

Wang An immediately hung his head in dejection, and said dejectedly: "Since General Sun is unwilling to send troops to escort us, why are you teasing me for no reason..."

Sun Zushou smiled again and said, "Although I cannot send soldiers to escort you directly, I have not forbidden you to recruit local men to escort you!"

"Master Sun, what you mean is..." Wang An was halfway through his words when he suddenly realized something and smiled slyly, thanking him: "Then I feel relieved. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Master Sun, for your generosity!"

Sun Zushou was slightly embarrassed when he heard this, but he still managed to hold back and said, "But since it's a job, then... wages still need to be paid."

Wang An was stunned and despised this man in his heart. On the surface, he looked bold and rough, but it turned out that he was a person who drank the blood of soldiers to no end.

The military system at the end of the Ming Dynasty was divided into two types: border troops and inland garrisons.

The officers and generals of the border troops sucked the blood of their soldiers mainly by withholding food and wages, eating up the empty salaries, and reselling weapons and armor.

As for the hereditary officers such as thousand-household and hundred-household officers in the inland garrisons, their food and salary standards were low to begin with, and because there had been no wars for many years, they rarely had replenishment of equipment.

Of course, they cannot make money by withholding soldiers’ pay and reselling military equipment like the border troops do.

To put it bluntly, the military pay of the garrison soldiers was only a small amount of silver. Even if all of it was deducted and not a single cent was paid out, they would not make any money. As for reselling military equipment, it was nonsense. Just a few rotten spears and torn cotton armor would be thrown on the side of the road and no one would pick them up.

Don’t these despicable military officers engage in corruption? The answer is of course no, they have their own ways of making money.

In addition to the well-known land annexation in later generations and using these military households as private slaves to farm for them, some extremely bizarre professions also emerged.

That's "Gunjie"!
The so-called military intermediary can also be understood as a military agent, which is a kind of intermediary.

Whenever wealthy families in various places suddenly needed a large number of manpower, such as during busy farming season, weddings, house building, etc., as long as they suddenly needed a large number of laborers, they would find these military agents and spend money to hire military households from the officers of these garrisons.

The hired military households could only receive very little compensation, and most of it fell into the hands of the garrison officers.

It’s very similar to some vocational and technical colleges in later generations, where students pay money to work for the school.

This was also the fundamental reason why Wang An despised Sun Zushou when he heard that he could hire border troops to serve as guards and transport personnel for him. Because border troops have many more ways to make money than inland guards, but Sun Zushou was greedy and wanted to use the soldiers as his slaves.

However, despite his contempt, Wang An could only convince himself to adapt to the local customs. On the surface, he said with a smile: "Of course, how can I let my brothers work in vain!"

Sun Zushou didn't know whether he could see what Wang An was thinking. After receiving Wang An's affirmative answer, he happily ordered the generals around him: "Quick, call all of Lao Ying's brothers over to let Manager Wang choose!"

Wang An was stunned when he heard this, and his impression of Sun Zushou dropped again.

When many people in the back room mention the old camp, they will think of Li Zicheng’s old camp soldiers.

Because these so-called old camps were what Li Zicheng relied on to dominate the world. They were all veterans who had been wandering around for many years and had followed Li Zhicheng to burn, kill and loot everywhere. Their combat effectiveness was quite strong.

However, the word "Laoying" is not unique to Li Zicheng. In a broad sense, it refers to a place where the army is stationed for a long time, or an area where bandits and robbers are entrenched.

In a narrow sense, it can also refer to the old, weak, sick and disabled people who were eliminated from the army.

For example, during the Battle of Tumu, when the Oirat army was at the gates of Beijing, Yu Qian "requested to select 100,000 strong soldiers from various camps and divide them into ten camps for training."

Soldiers who can fight are selected from the three major camps and gathered together for training. As for the old, weak, sick and disabled who are left, they are still settled in the original camp. These old and weak are called the old camp.

It is not difficult to guess that the old camp brothers mentioned by Sun Zushou were mostly the old and weak in Datong Prefecture, or the old subordinates who followed them from Liaodong.

Because of old age or injuries, they can no longer fight as bravely as they did when they were young. Although Man Gui is a rough man, he is still quite loyal.

Therefore, they should not have been abandoned, and the old camp should have been specially built to accommodate them.

As expected, not long after, a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people arrived at the door of the warehouse.

Wang An took a closer look and was immediately speechless.

The people in front of him were either elderly with gray beards or missing limbs and needed crutches to walk. What was even more bizarre was that Wang An even saw a few blind people, groping their way to the warehouse with the help of their comrades.

When these people arrived one after another, they filled up a large area and created a great atmosphere.

Wang An sucked his teeth and said with some toothache: "Master Sun, I don't mean anything else, but these brothers seem to have difficulty walking. This trip to the grassland is dangerous and I feel a little guilty for letting everyone follow me to take risks."

Sun Zushou was rough, but not stupid. He could tell Wang An's disdain immediately after hearing what he said. He sighed and said a little embarrassedly, "Boss Wang, even though they are missing limbs, they were all first-class heroes in the war. Even if they are missing limbs now, if they meet the Tartars, they can still bite a few to death with their teeth!"

"Not only can it be used as a guard, it can also be used as a driver!"

Wang An narrowed one eye and raised half of his mouth corner. He wanted Sun Zushou to earn the money, but he didn't dare to joke about his own life. He was very conflicted for a while.

(End of this chapter)