Li Meng is twenty years old this year. He comes from Longyou and is considered to be from a prominent and wealthy family.
However, Li Meng's family was a branch, and by the time of Li Meng's father, they had completely declined.
Apart from a surname, there was nothing else of value in the house.
Li Meng was selected into the Sixteen Guards because of his Li family background, and within a year he became a squad leader (i.e., captain).
If he works hard and gives his superiors some money, Li Meng should be able to become a captain before he turns thirty.
Unfortunately, Li Meng's father died early, and his mother remarried, so he lived with his uncle.
His uncle didn't mistreat him, but a nephew is different from a biological son.
While his uncle could spend money to pull strings for his son, Li Meng could only rely on himself.
Even for the wedding, Li Meng relied on his own savings to bring his new wife home.
After getting married and having children, the expenses increase even more.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for Li Meng to save money for his future.
If one could smoothly become a low-ranking military officer in the Sixteen Guards, that would actually be quite good, at least one's whole family would be in the capital.
But soon, things took a turn for the worse—
The crown prince was deposed and instead enfeoffed as the King of Yue, and was ordered to take up his post as soon as possible.
According to the regulations of the imperial court, a prince could have at least eight hundred personal guards when he was enfeoffed.
Helian Jue's original six guards of the Eastern Palace either died or sought better opportunities elsewhere, leaving only three hundred men in the end.
To fill the quota of 800 people, we need to draw people from the Sixteen Guards.
Li Meng had no background or money to pull strings, so he was transferred by the Ministry of War to the Prince of Yue.
This is a bolt from the blue!
Li Meng and his family nearly cried themselves to death.
It was said that he was going to Yuezhou to serve, but in reality, it was no different from being exiled.
But the Ministry of War had issued a transfer order. If he didn't go, it would be considered disobeying orders, and if he was convicted, he would be exiled three thousand miles away!
"It's all exile! Being a guard in the Prince's palace is at least a job, better than being an exile!"
Li Meng had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept his fate.
Entrusting his family to his uncle and colleagues, Li Meng, along with five hundred other unfortunate men like himself, became a guard in the Prince of Yue's palace.
He left the capital and traveled to Yuezhou.
At first, everyone was in low spirits and listlessly drifted through the days.
But soon, Li Meng and his guards discovered that the King of Yue was a good master!
These were all penniless, unemployed, and powerless nobodys, and were not valued during their time in the Sixteen Guards.
They had no horses, no armor, and even their weapons were discarded junk.
After arriving at the side of the King of Yue, the Queen Consort made General Dugu Xiong drool with a pot of braised pork, and cleverly equipped all five hundred old, weak, sick and disabled people with full sets of armor and weapons.
Li Meng put on his gleaming new armor and gripped his incredibly sharp sword. He immediately felt: This is what a soldier should look like!
With weapons and equipment, officers of the rank of squad leader and above were also provided with horses.
These are all top-quality warhorses; in the cattle and horse market, a single horse can cost a hundred catties of copper coins.
The Queen Consort of Yue simply gave them away to the junior military officers for free.
Five hundred people, including Li Meng, finally felt a sense of belonging to the Yue King's Mansion.
Then came the meals.
The two meals a day were changed to three meals a day, and every meal had oil and water. At lunchtime, we could even eat meat!
Meat!
In ordinary households, who can eat meat every day?
Why were these 500 men "reassigned" to the King of Yue? Wasn't it because they were the poorest?
Those who are constantly hungry and poorly fed will naturally become thin and weak, unable to carry even heavy weapons, and thus become the first to be eliminated.
When they came under the command of the King of Yue, they were not only able to eat their fill, but also to eat meat.
In less than half a month, the five hundred soldiers had gained weight.
Most importantly, they received their full pay and rations.
They received every penny without any deductions from the Ministry of War or exploitation by their superiors.
Their food, lodging, clothing, and other necessities were all provided by the Yue King's Mansion, so they didn't need to spend any money at all.
So, on the very day he received his pay and rations, Li Meng found a way to send the items home via the post station.
With good food and drink, no beatings or scoldings, and money to take back to support their families, Li Meng and the other soldiers felt completely at ease.
In fact, it wasn't just them; even the so-called royal guards, the Thousand Bull Guards, couldn't help but feel envious when they saw the treatment the guards of the Prince's Mansion received.
Sensing the envy and jealousy of the Thousand Bull Guards, Li Meng and the others became even more smug.
They felt a sense of belonging to the Yue King's Palace.
They resolutely carried out the orders of the prince and princess.
The prince doesn't manage affairs much, so the Princess Consort of Yue will have them do some chores:
For example, helping to chop wood and modify oxcarts at the very beginning;
For example, when traveling, let them go hunting in the mountains;
After arriving in Yuezhou, they also helped the disaster victims build houses and cultivate fields.
General Mu and the other guards of the Imperial Guards were full of complaints, while Li Meng and the other guards of the Prince's Palace were full of fighting spirit.
The princess said that we should work hard and perform well, and as long as we do well, we can still earn merit and be rewarded!
Moreover, General Helian Chen said that the personal guard would definitely be expanded.
Once new players arrive, the older players can level up.
A squad leader is promoted to platoon leader, a platoon leader is promoted to centurion, a centurion becomes a captain, a colonel, and finally a lieutenant general!
Becoming a Lieutenant General means becoming a true general, bringing glory to one's ancestors, and securing honors for one's wife and children!
The current commander of the Prince's personal guards is Helian Chen, and the promises he makes to the soldiers are incredibly tempting.
The benefits offered by the Princess Consort of Yue were real money, chicken, duck, fish and meat, so Li Meng and others completely submitted to the King and Princess Consort of Yue.
"Squad Leader! Squad Leader Li! Good news! Great news!"
A lowly soldier ran up to Li Meng quickly, and before he could catch his breath, he excitedly said, "His Highness the Prince of Yue has ordered the expansion of the royal guards!"
"Eunuch Duofu said that all able-bodied men, exiled criminals, and even soldiers from Yuezhou are welcome to participate in the selection!"
"As long as you pass the test set by the Princess Consort, you can become a guard of the Prince's Palace."
"Squad Leader Li, didn't you say you have a good neighbor who was exiled to Yuezhou? Why don't you let him give it a try?"
The pawn offered a helpful reminder.
Actually, without his reminder, Li Meng had already written a letter to his former good brother on his first day in Yuezhou.
Li Meng's brother was named Wang Fu, who was his neighbor and came from the Wang clan of Taiyuan.
Like Li Meng, Wang Fu was from a collateral branch of a prominent family, and apart from sharing a surname, his family had no other relatives.
Wang Fu was better than Li Meng; his father had distinguished himself in the army and was promoted to captain.
However, the captain was both his strength and his weakness.
Two years ago, when the army was fighting in the Northwest, the king's father was ordered to go to the Northwest, but suffered a disastrous defeat.
When the matter was investigated later, Wang's father was forced to take the blame for his superior, and his entire family was exiled.
Li Meng had always been concerned about Wang Fu, and since he happened to be in Yuezhou this time, he wrote a letter to Wang Fu in advance.
Wang Fu is about the same age as him and is from a military family, so it shouldn't be a problem for him to pass the entrance exam for the Yue King's mansion.
Once you become a royal guard, not to mention anything else, your monthly salary alone will be 12 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, which is more than 1,000 jin (another unit of dry measure), enough to feed your whole family without worry!
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