Qiao Zhiqing stepped forward to help the old man up, sat down under the awning built by the fake foreign devils, and took out the gold sore medicine from his arms to bandage his wounds."
Good young master, don't worry about me, don't waste all these medicines."
The old man was speechless with gratitude, and two lines of muddy tears flowed."
It's okay, old man, why do you still come out to work at such an old age" Qiao Zhiqing asked with concern, and then ordered the fake foreign devil to bring tea and pour it for the old man."
The old man is seventy years old this year, he is full of children and grandchildren, and there are still a few acres of thin fields on the edge of the city, and his life is passable, who would have thought that the Hunan army attacked Anqing last year, and the people in the family were all gone in that war, leaving the old man alone."
As the old man spoke, he became more and more sad and choked up several times.Qiao Zhiqing was very melancholy in his heart after hearing this, and yelled at the river, and the frightened fake foreign devil hurriedly knelt on the ground and asked in horror, "Master, what's wrong with you?"
"Zeng family dog thief, I, Qiao Zhiqing, will want to get rid of you in this life." ”Qiao Zhiqing secretly made a poisonous oath in his heart, he must take Nanjing City before Zeng Guofan, and he must not let the tragedy of Anqing City be staged again.Of course, the fake foreign devil couldn't guess what Qiao Zhiqing was thinking, but he just saw that his face was sunny for a while and dark for a while, and his eyes couldn't help but reveal murderous energy, thinking that Qiao Zhiqing was going to be angry with himself, so he kowtowed his head more diligently.In the afternoon, more and more people who had come home from work gathered and whispered around Qiao Zhiqing.There were even a few young people who were familiar with the old manfu who looked at the fake foreign devil angrily, and wanted to beat him up.Qiao Zhiqing expected that these people must have been holding back their anger and dared not speak out, it happened to be a good opportunity for him to inspire and recruit troops in Anqing City, so he found a table and stood on it and shouted to the people, "Brothers, compatriots, if it weren't for the tea delivered at the dock today, I, Qiao Zhiqing, would not know how difficult everyone's life is, even if I am deducted from my salary on weekdays, I will be beaten and scolded by these dogs, everyone said that we are still willing to live such a life?"
Qiao Zhiqing's shouts spread everywhere in the dock, and hundreds of people had gathered around him, all of them with indignant expressions, raising their hands and shouting loudly, "Unwilling, unwilling." ”"Yes, I don't want to, no one is born like to be bullied by others, and being called like a slave, so do you want to live a dignified life" "Think, think, think. ”The emotions of the people on the dock were completely mobilized by Qiao Zhiqing, and the cheers came and went.Qiao Zhiqing looked around at everyone with a smile, signaled the crowd to calm down, and continued to speak, "Now that our Qing Dynasty is worried about internal and external troubles, it is a good time for our men to make meritorious contributions and make a fortune, I, Qiao Zhiqing, am under the order of Lord Li Hongzhang to prepare for the group exercise, if the brothers believe in me Qiao Zhiqing, follow me Qiao Zhiqing."
I promise my brothers that the monthly salary is at least five taels of silver, and if you go to the battlefield, there will be a greater reward if you win the battle, do you want to do it?"
”"Yes, Master Qiao looks like a good official, and he won't lose us.""
Yes, if you follow Master Qiao as a soldier, you won't have to suffer from it.""
Yes, go as soldiers, let's go together."
There was a lot of talk in the crowd, and after a while, most of the people shouted, "I do, I do."
Qiao Zhiqing nodded with satisfaction, and waited for all the tea to be loaded onto the ironclad boat, then let go of the fake foreign devils, left some broken silver for the old man to settle down, and then took his men and a large group of people back to the church.At this time, it was almost evening, Wang Shumao and Ma Xun also returned with the people, but everyone's faces were unhappy, and they were all surprised to see Qiao Zhiqing return with so many people."
Young master, where did you find so many people," Ma Xun hurriedly ran over and beckoned everyone to register."
What happened to you and Brother Wang, how many soldiers did you and Brother Wang recruit" Ma Xun's face turned red, and he replied dejectedly, "Don't mention it, there are no people in a radius of a hundred miles around Anqing City, and it is not easy to find the village, but there are some old and young women and children inside, I only recruited a few begging people along the way, and I really have no face to see the young master." ”Wang Shumao stood aside without saying a word, panting with his head down.Qiao Zhiqing chuckled lightly and comforted the two of them, "I have guessed your situation, Anqing City has just suffered from war, and it is normal for people to be scarce, don't be discouraged, let's find a way." ”Ma Xun and Wang Shumao nodded, and went down to greet the people.Qiao Zhiqing told Ma Xun and Wang Shumao that all men under the age of 15 and over 40 could not join the army.Everyone was busy until dark, and a total of 130 people were registered, all of whom were young and middle-aged men, and because they had been working hard at the docks for a long time, they were all very strong.The people who were not selected were all sad, Qiao Zhiqing comforted everyone with a smile, and ordered the gang to make a big pot of rice, so that everyone could leave by themselves after eating, and the selected people all stayed after eating, and lined up to wait for Qiao Zhiqing's lecture.Qiao Zhiqing stepped forward with his head held high, unexpectedly bowed to the people, and said loudly, "First of all, thank you for your trust in me Qiao Zhiqing, come to my Qingzi Battalion as a soldier, and I welcome you on behalf of all the old brothers in the Qingzi Battalion." ”All the people were flattered, how could there be an official as Qiao Zhiqing who bowed to him in the past, and his heart suddenly warmed a lot, and they all cheered loudly.Qiao Zhiqing paused, waited for everyone to calm down, and then said, "You may not be used to the feeling of an officer bowing to his subordinates, what I want to say is that in our Qingzi Battalion, this feeling will become a habit in the future.But all the people who join our Qingzi camp are brothers with different surnames who are blessed and share hardships, if anyone dares to bully his brother with his own identity, I, Qiao Zhiqing, will be the first to spare him. ”The people had never been so moved as they were today, and they all cried out with tears in their eyes, "Good, good, good." ”Qiao Zhiqing nodded with satisfaction, and asked Ma Xun to bring someone to carry a box of silver up and open it in front of all the people.Everyone looked at Qiao Zhiqing with stunned expressions.Qiao Zhiqing said with a smile, "I know that many of you are old and young, so I decided to send you a month's worth of money in advance, and everyone took the money home to settle down, and we will gather here early tomorrow morning, and we will officially start military exercises." ”"Lord Qiao is wise, Lord Qiao is wise."
I don't know who shouted in the crowd, and everyone shouted.Qiao Zhiqing smiled and waved his hand, asking Ma Xun to hand out the money one by one according to the names on the roster.At this time, Wang Shumao had some concerns and admonished Qiao Zhiqing, "The owner, these silver were snatched by the brothers with their lives, aren't you afraid that these people will not come tomorrow after taking the silver" Qiao Zhiqing smiled confidently and made a bet with Wang Shumao, "Brother Wang, let's make a bet, if there is one less person for these people tomorrow, you can drink wine for a month at will, if they all come, there are many of them, you will quit drinking for a month, how about this" "Deal, the owner can't regret it" Wang Shumao laughed stupidly, for the sake of drinking, Qiao Zhiqing reminded him along the way."
Of course I don't regret it, it's hard for a gentleman to chase after him."
Qiao Zhiqing shrugged his shoulders confidently, no one understands what a soldier needs better than Qiao Zhiqing, one is military salary, but what is more comfortable than military salary is dignity.After the people had finished receiving their salaries and silver, Qiao Zhiqing, Wang Shumao, and Ma Xun worked out the staffing, drill regulations, and military regulations and discipline of the Qingzi battalion overnight.Qiao Zhiqing did not follow the old system of the Hunan Army, but made some changes in combination with the principle of the "three-three system" of the modern army.The "Qingzi Battalion" is divided into four levels, battalion, sentry, wing, and team.There shall be one battalion commander and two deputy battalion commanders.The battalion is divided into four posts, each of which has a sentry commander and a deputy sentry chief.The post is divided into three wings, and each wing has a wing leader and a deputy wing leader.The wing is divided into three teams, each team has a captain, a deputy captain, and ten soldiers.The drill regulations were carried out in full accordance with the methods of modern infantry, with formation drills first, followed by tactical tactics and physical drills.Military regulations and military discipline have been sorted out in five ways, those who burn and kill looters, those who kill women, those who retreat from battle, those who disobey military orders, and those who embezzle war spoils.After the three of them finished discussing, they each went back to the tent and took a nap, Qiao Zhiqing slept alone on the bed, his right eyelid jumped, tossing and turning and couldn't sleep.suddenly remembered that she hadn't seen Yan Yuting for a day, and she didn't know what this little girl was busy with, so she didn't come over to pester herself.As the sky was about to dawn, Qiao Zhiqing's chest suddenly tightened, and he secretly screamed, "Oops, something happened." ”A carp stood up, put on his clothes and ran towards the second floor of the church, and when he arrived at the door of Yan Yuting's room, he pushed the door in without thinking."
Ah, there are thieves."
There was an exclamation from the room, and Qiao Zhiqing hurriedly went to bed and blocked her mouth."
ShhhhQiao Zhiqing whispered to comfort the woman on the bed, and took out the fire on his chest to light the kerosene lamp in the room.Under the illumination of the kerosene lamp, Qiao Zhiqing saw clearly that it was Yan Yuting who he was thinking about lying on the bed, and he saw her sitting naked and stunned, as if she had not recovered from the panic just now.Qiao Zhiqing stared at Yan Yuting with a faster heartbeat, although he had teased Yan Yuting a few times before, but he was only through his clothes, and he had never been so naked as today.The little girl's complexion was extremely white, as if she had been soaked in milk.Although her little white rabbit has just grown, it is full of elasticity, plump and cute, and there are two small cherries on it, which are so tender that people can't help but want to gently hold it in their mouths.Yan Yuting was stunned for a long time at Qiao Zhiqing, and then she reacted, and hurriedly pulled up the quilt to cover her body."
Brother Qiao, what are you doing, you almost scared me to death in the middle of the night."
Yan Yuting muttered and complained, not knowing whether she was shy or angry, her little face turned red."
It's okay, I haven't seen you for a day, I thought you were lost."
Qiao Zhiqing breathed a sigh of relief, sat down on the edge of the bed with his back to Yan Yuting, and rubbed his eyebrows, maybe he was too stressed and too anxious."
Brother Qiao, I knew you had me in your heart."
When Yan Yuting heard Qiao Zhiqing say this, her heart was as sweet as honey, and her face was even more happy, hiding in the quilt and giggling."
Oh, by the way, what about your sister Li, why didn't I see her living with you" Qiao Zhiqing suddenly remembered that this was in Li Wei'er's room.Yan Yuting was stunned for a moment, and recalled, "You reminded me when you said this, Sister Li went out at noon, saying that she was going to the street to buy some pen, ink and paper to teach me to paint, I waited until the night and didn't see her, and I fell asleep alone." ”Qiao Zhiqing chuckled in his heart and secretly screamed a few times, "It's broken, it's broken, something must have happened." ”: