So the two of them had been praying these past few days that Samuel Howard was all right. Although both of them had received twenty strokes of the military rod from Henry Howard and were having some trouble moving around, they still insisted on coming every day to inquire about Samuel Howard's condition. Otherwise, if anything happened to Samuel Howard, their own prospects would become bleak from then on.

Speaking of "jiading" (household retainers), this term appeared more frequently in the late Ming period. For example, during the 21st year of the Wanli reign, in the Korean campaign, the great general Li Rusong, not wanting others to share in his achievements, secretly led two thousand jiading to participate in the Battle of Bichiguan. Generally speaking, jiading began to appear in the early Wanli period of the Ming dynasty; before that, there were only personal guards protecting the commanding general.

Jiading could be recruited, drawn from the military garrisons, or be the sons of commanders. They were all trusted confidants of their masters. Compared to ordinary military households, they enjoyed better treatment. If a jiading died, there was compensation; if disabled, the master would provide for them in old age. They were well-equipped, received priority in pay, and sometimes the master would even withhold or embezzle the pay of other soldiers to support these jiading.

They shared in the honor and disgrace of their master. On the battlefield, generals were usually reluctant to send them into combat, but once they did, these men were always the main fighting force.

However, raising jiading was not easy. It required a lot of silver on a regular basis. In a poor place like Wuzhaibao, even with Henry Howard withholding the rations and pay of other soldiers and doing his utmost, he could only support about fifty jiading, plus fewer than ten personal guards.

Samuel Howard told Brian Howard to go ahead, then stopped in his tracks. The two boys came over timidly. Seeing Samuel Howard looking lively and full of energy, completely recovered, both of their eyes lit up with joy.

Little William sneaked up to Samuel Howard, carefully scrutinized him for a while, and then, still a bit in disbelief, whispered, "Young master, you... you really are all right?"

Samuel Howard gave a grunt, "I'm fine now, you don't need to worry." He had a good impression of these two boys. In Samuel Howard's previous memories, they had always been diligent and had earned his trust. This incident couldn't be blamed on them. Besides, now that he had come to the Ming dynasty, he still needed some trusted confidants, and these two were just right for the job.

Little William let out a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and said, "That's good, that's good. Young master, you don't know how worried I was these past few days."

David James grinned widely at the side and said, "I told you there was nothing to worry about. The young master is blessed and protected by heaven; he was bound to be fine. Xiao Lu just wouldn't believe me."

Little William rolled his eyes at him, "Yeah, yeah, you're amazing, all right?"

David James looked even more pleased, grinning so wide his eyes disappeared.

Samuel Howard, who was even taller than David James, noticed that the two of them seemed to be moving with some difficulty, so he said, "I heard you two were punished by my father. Are you all right now?"

David James replied with a silly smile, "It's nothing, young master, don't worry. Just twenty strokes of the rod, that's all. I was walking around just fine the same day. As long as nothing happens to you, young master, even if the old master beats me a few more times, what does it matter?"

Little William also hurried to express his loyalty.

Samuel Howard patted each of them on the shoulder, making them both grimace in pain. He said, "You two brats, at least you have a conscience. All right, go eat first. After you finish, I still have some things to take care of." With that, he walked off.

David James and Little William quickly followed.

……

The Howard family’s "qianhu" residence was not much different from the ordinary siheyuan (courtyard houses) in Shanxi. If it were in a place like Taiyuan, it would only count as the home of an average landlord at the time, but within the Wuzhaibao garrison city, it was already the best house around.

Among the nine border towns, Shanxi was always poor, and Wuzhaibao was not an important strategic location in the Shanben garrison, so there were even fewer ways to make money. Naturally, the whole of Wuzhaibao was far from prosperous.

Still, Henry Howard was the qianhu of Wuzhaibao, a hereditary position passed down for generations. For a hundred years, most of the good farmland here had been occupied by the Howard family. Plus, at the time, it was common in the garrisons to withhold soldiers' rations and pay. So, the Howard family lived the life of an ordinary landlord, and the family could often eat fish and meat. As for the ordinary military households...

As he walked toward the main hall in the north wing, Samuel Howard looked around with great interest. Although he had memories of these scenes, seeing them with his own eyes gave him an indescribable feeling—a sense of historical depth, you could say.

When he entered the main hall of the north wing, the room was full of people; all the family members of the qianhu residence were there. The big table was already covered with food and wine, and several children were making a racket. Unlike later times, although people in northern Ming households commonly used heated brick beds (kang), meals were still eaten at the big table in the main hall, not on small tables moved onto the kang.

Samuel Howard took a look—the dishes were quite plentiful. On the large, pieced-together table were big platters of roast pork, fat chicken, roast goose and duck, grilled lamb, steamed and fried fish, pork sausages, large and small stuffed intestines, kidney with fat, and other meat dishes. There were also some seasonal vegetables, along with wine jugs and cups, filling the big table to the brim.

On a low table nearby was a big bucket of steaming hot noodle soup. Generally speaking, in the Ming dynasty, rice was the staple food for southerners, while northerners mainly ate wheat noodles. Especially in the Shaanxi and Shanxi regions, noodles and sorghum were the main staples.