Zhang Biao looked at the beaten Huang Maoguan and knew that things were out of control.
The army of Zhenwu Camp was trained by local regiments to train rural soldiers from the time of recruitment. Most of the soldiers in the camp were fellow villagers with Zhang Biao, and some were even relatives.
Knowing that things were getting out of hand, Zhang Biao simply calmed down, waved his arms and said, "It's Huang Maoguan who embezzled military pay and enriched his own pocket! Let's go to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to ask for an explanation!"
Zhang Biao understood that things had reached this point, and he would definitely die if he returned to the camp obediently.
The only option is to make the matter bigger, so that the court may still recruit people.
Zhang Biao also knew that things were like this, and there was no way to end it peacefully. He simply took the soldiers and went further to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to continue his journey of asking for wages.
Lu Er was worthy of being a spy of Jinyiwei, and his business ability was outstanding. He quickly found out the situation, and then returned to Hubu Street to report to Su Ze.
"You said that the Zhenwu Camp mutinied and killed Huang Maoguan, the Minister of War who was organizing military rations, and now the Zhenwu Camp soldiers have gone to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion?"
Su Ze heard the news from Lu Er's reply, and Fang Wanghai was shocked when he heard the news.
The Governor's Office of the Fifth Army is the nominally highest military commanding office and the direct superior of Zhenwu Camp.
Now the Grand Governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion is Linhuai Marquis Li Tingzhu.
Several families around Fang Wanghai were all officials working in Nanjing's Liubu Jiuqing Yamen. When they heard the news about the mutiny in Zhenwu Camp, they all changed their minds.
Mutiny often happens in border towns, and it is not a rare thing.
But Nanjing was the vice-capital of the Ming Dynasty, and a minister of the Ming Dynasty was killed. This matter was not so easy to suppress.
Although this matter has little to do with the Ministry of Revenue, Fang Wanghai still said anxiously: "This matter is getting serious! No, we must convene the six ministries as soon as possible to discuss it!"
Just as Fang Wanghai finished speaking, he saw a young eunuch rushing to Hubu Street. He shouted to Fang Wanghai:
"Shilang Fang! Shilang Fang is well!"
Su Ze asked someone to bring the little eunuch. The little eunuch knelt down to Fang Wanghai and said:
"Shilang Fang, I am a servant of Eunuch He in the garrison. Eunuch He asks all ministers to evacuate the imperial city as soon as possible!"
The Imperial City of Nanjing later became the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty.
Although the capital was moved, the imperial city still remained as the emperor's palace.
The palace outside the imperial city is the Liubu Yamen of Nanjing, where Fang Wanghai usually works.
The garrison mansion is the residence of the garrison eunuch of Nanjing. The garrison eunuch, the governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, and the Minister of War of Nanjing together form the three giants of Nanjing's military. The garrison eunuch also has soldiers under his command. He summoned the ministers to withdraw from the imperial city, which can be regarded as a response. That's right.
The imperial city originally had city walls, and the guarding eunuchs also had soldiers. All the officials present looked at Fang Wanghai.
Fang Wanghai calmed down and asked:
"Where are the family members?"
"Eunuch He said that there are empty houses in the inner city where the family can be accommodated."
Hearing this, Fang Wanghai was naturally relieved. If Zhenwu Camp really mutinied, the solid imperial city would definitely be safer.
Fang Wanghai said to Su Ze: "Rulin, please organize the servants of each house to escort everyone to the imperial city."
"Obey!"
Su Ze tied up his Confucian shirt and tied a scarf on his forehead.
Among his bodyguards were soldiers from the Changning Guard, and Su Ze quickly promoted them to small flags leading the troops.
"The family members of each government are gathered here. The servants of each government all tied their headscarves and gathered immediately by roll call."
Su Ze's Art of War skill has also reached Level 8, and his charm is now as high as 13 points.
Although his level 5 passive skill of Art of War has no bonus, Su Ze also has the passive skill [Eloquence].
[Purple Passive - Zhang Liang's Strategy: When formulating a strategic plan, military skills +2, intelligence +5. 】
After the servants from each government gathered at the entrance of the alley, Su Ze immediately gave a brief speech.
After the speech, the [Eloquence] skill takes effect.
[Purple Passive - Incitement: After completing a short inflammatory lecture, charm +5, military skills +3 within one day]
Su Ze's charm has reached 18 points of 13+5. These servants looked at Su Ze with eyes full of reverence.
Su Ze immediately said: "After we are escorted to the imperial city, each person will be rewarded with one tael of silver!"
Hearing that there was a reward, the morale of the servants was even higher. Su Ze's art of war skills had also reached Lv8+3. He quickly placed the stronger ones among the servants at the front, letting the honest ones guard the women, and then dispersed the clever ones. Scouts, hand these people over to Lu Er and let them investigate the situation.
Under the leadership of Su Ze, more ministers' families gradually joined the team. By the time Su Ze brought people to the imperial city, the team had reached five to six hundred people.
On the other side, Zhang Biao led the Zhenwu Camp soldiers to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.
The Marquis of Linhuai, Li Tingzhu, was only restored to his title during the Jiajing period. He was considered the most reliable among the nobles in Nanjing.
Poor Linhuai Marquis, he lived in the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army day and night and did not dare to slack off at all, but he did not expect that such a thing would happen.
The soldiers of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion were wearing armor and guarding the gate.
After Li Tingzhu got the news, he quickly raised the hall and summoned his generals. However, when he saw that there were only a few generals under his command, he looked around and asked:
"Where is the Duke of Wei? Where is the Duke of Wei?"
The nominal head coach of Zhenwu Camp is Wei Guogong Xu Pengju. Such a big thing happened and Xu Pengju was not here.
The more Li Tingzhu thought about it, the more he became afraid. If something happened to Wei Guogong, he, the chief governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, would be in trouble.
At this time, a general whispered: "Grand Governor, I know where the Duke of Wei may be."
Li Tingzhu was overjoyed and asked quickly: "Where?"
"Qin Huai... I will go find him right now!"
All the generals present were holding back their laughter. Li Tingzhu said with a dark face: "Go and find him quickly!"
The general quickly went out from the back door of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, and Li Tingzhu let out a long sigh.
As the vice-capital of the empire, Nanjing certainly could not be garrisoned by only a few thousand people like Zhenwu Camp.
In addition to Zhenwu Camp, there are Nanjing Left Guards and Right Guards in Nanjing City, and there are also Camp Guards under the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.
However, there was a mutiny in Zhenwu Camp, and Li Tingzhu ordered his men to mobilize troops into the town with tiger talisman tokens to suppress them, but he was unable to mobilize even a single troop.
The reason is naturally very simple. The Ming army's lack of pay did not only happen in Zhenwu Camp.
The blood-stealing of soldiers in these armies is even more serious, and the soldiers are naturally unwilling to send troops to suppress Zhenwu Camp for the sake of the official.
Moreover, the Zhenwu Camp itself is the most capable unit near Nanjing. The combat effectiveness of other battalion guards is similar to that of the Yanping Guards, so they dare not send troops at all, okay?
Nowadays, those who guard the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army and the Imperial City of Nanjing are all servants of nobles and ministers. These have much higher combat effectiveness than the Nanjing guards.
Although the combat effectiveness is not bad, the number of people is not large after all. It would be good if these people can hold on. Li Tingzhu now has a terrible headache.
"Grand Governor!"
As expected, misfortunes never come singly. A soldier rushed into Mingtanghui and reported:
"Grand Governor! Zhenwu Camp killed Huang Shilang of the Ministry of War! He has come to the Governor's Mansion!"
Everyone present was scared to death. One of the lieutenants said: "Grand Governor! The Fifth Army Governor's Mansion cannot be defended! We'd better withdraw from the imperial city!"
Li Tingzhu hesitated, but soon he no longer hesitated, because he soon saw the embarrassed Wei Guogong Xu Pengju rushing into the Mingtang of the Governor's Mansion.
All they saw was Xu Pengju's hair was disheveled and there was blood on his face, and everyone quickly gathered around him.
The Duke of Wei of the Ming Dynasty said with a tearful voice:
"These rebels! I asked them to go back to camp to pay their dues, but those thieves actually knocked off my jade crown! If my subordinates hadn't risked their lives to save me, I would have been beaten to death by these rebels!"
Li Tingzhu looked at the Duke of Wei, who was still wearing colorful silk clothes and didn't know which boat he just got off.
With the smell of rouge and wine mixed with his body, he walked up to the mutinous soldiers in Zhenwu Camp drunk and ordered them to return to the camp to die.
You only got knocked off the jade crown, you are already very lucky, okay?
Didn't he see that the unfortunate Minister Huang of the Ministry of War had been beaten to death!
Seeing this, Li Tingzhu also knew that it was useless to negotiate with the rebels on his own. He immediately said:
"Let's go! Go to the Imperial City!"
A group of people hurriedly rushed out from the back door and escorted the Duke and Lord of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion towards the imperial city.
By the time we arrived at the Imperial City, it was already dark.
At this time, Li Tingzhu finally saw the Nanjing garrison eunuch He Su. The two looked at each other in silence and sighed heavily.
Then he looked around and saw that all the dignitaries and officials in Nanjing City were gathered in the imperial city.
Eunuch He, the Nanjing garrison eunuch, looked around and finally saw Fang Wanghai in the crowd.
He walked over and pulled Fang Wanghai, pinched the drake's voice and said:
"This time we still have to rely on Mr. Fang, the God of Wealth, to suppress the rebellion."
Everyone looked at Fang Wanghai, who smiled bitterly.
The mutiny was caused by the lack of food, salary and regular money in the Ministry of War, so naturally it would cost money to solve the mutiny.
Now the only one who can mobilize money is him, the minister in charge of Nanjing's household department.
Su Ze stood behind Fang Wanghai, quietly observing everyone present.
Fang Wanghai said with a sad face:
"The Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing also has no money. Only the Chaoguan Hall in Huguan, Suzhou still has a sum of money, less than 30,000 taels."
He Su sighed heavily and faced Fang Wanghai. He knew that the capital was also short of money now. The money received by the Nanjing Household Department was sent to the capital as soon as possible. Fang Wanghai was willing to promise the 30,000 taels of silver. It is already the largest sum of money that he can use within his scope of authority.
This time, he, the garrison eunuch, was also responsible for the mutiny in Zhenwu Camp. He Suan sighed and said:
"With these 30,000 taels of silver, the situation can be calmed down a bit, but someone still needs to talk to these Qiu Ba."
Eunuch He looked around and saw that both Li Tingzhu, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, and Xu Pengju, the Commander-in-Chief of Zhenwu Camp, all took a step back.
However, there was still a civil and military force who stood up.
The civil servant is Li Sui, the minister of the Ministry of War, and the general is Liu Shiyan of the Cheng family, a distinguished nobleman who has always been at odds with the Duke of Wei.
"Supervisor He, I am willing to negotiate with Zhenwu Camp!"
Li Sui and Liu Shiyan glanced at each other, and they both saw surprise in each other's eyes.
Eunuch He was overjoyed. With these two people negotiating with the people from Zhenwu Camp, they might be able to suppress the situation. He quickly said to them:
"Please have a good talk with these soldiers. The original military pay and regular silver will be replenished. The imperial court is willing to give 30,000 taels of silver as long as Zhenwu Camp returns to the barracks!"
Li Sui and Liu Shiyan each sat on the basket, lowered it from the wall of the imperial city, and began peace talks with the soldier representatives of Zhenwu Camp.
Su Ze looked on with cold eyes, only to hear Li Sui first shout out the slogan of appeasement, and then Liu Shiyan shouted:
"The imperial court is willing to pay one hundred thousand taels of silver to recruit Yin, as long as everyone returns to the military camp!"
Su Ze glanced at Fang Wanghai, who just sighed. This sincere uncle was also eager to make meritorious deeds and wrote a bad check for one hundred thousand taels. When the matter was over, he would most likely repudiate the bill.
Su Ze whispered to Fang Wanghai: "Father-in-law, this matter is very important. I should go to Xuguan to escort the silver to Nanjing and to the military camp."
Fang Wanghai also nodded and said, "Yes, yes, Rulin, you must deliver the silver to the soldiers yourself, and you cannot leave it to others."
"understand!"
"Father-in-law, what about the other thing?"
"I'll mention it to them."
Sure enough, after Liu Shiyan shouted out one hundred thousand taels of silver, the Zhenwu Camp soldiers also hesitated.
There are only three thousand people in Zhenwu camp. One hundred thousand taels of silver is allocated to one person, which is more than thirty taels of silver.
For ordinary soldiers, this is already a considerable sum of money.
Moreover, Li Sui shouted the words to pardon the entire army, and those soldiers who were not determined in the first place began to leave the imperial city.
Although Zhang Biao and other generals were unwilling to do so, they did not have the weapons to attack the city and could not take the imperial city with their bare hands, so they had to retreat with the soldiers.
Everyone in the imperial city finally breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Zhenwuying was not a fool. They returned to the camp outside the city and stayed there.
Five days later, Su Ze escorted 30,000 taels of silver shipped from Huguan, Suzhou, plus a truck transporting military rations into Zhenwu Camp.
The soldiers opened the camp gate, and Liu Shiyan, the sincere uncle, immediately led his generals to take over the entire Zhenwu Camp.
Liu Shiyan immediately broke the contract after entering the military camp and began to search for the low-level officers who led the mutiny with his cronies.
However, they searched the military camp but found no trace of Zhang Biao and his group, and when they asked the soldiers, they all said they didn't know where they were going.
Liu Shiyan left bitterly.
The next day, Fang Wanghai, the Minister of Household Affairs, wrote an inscription. Because of the mutiny in Zhenwu Camp, he requested the imperial court to set up a martial arts hall in Nanjing and send lecturers to teach military ethics to the soldiers.
In June, the imperial decree from the capital was finally delivered to Nanjing.
The Duke of Wei, Xu Pengju, was removed from his position as commander of Zhenwu Camp and ordered to go home and live leisurely.
Linhuai Marquis Li Tingzhu and the guarding eunuch were each fined one year's salary.
Zhenwu Camp was dismantled, half were transferred to Liaodong to guard the border, and the other half went south to Guangfu to fight against the Japanese.
He also ordered the establishment of a martial arts lecture hall in Nanjing, with professors from the Nanjing Imperial College serving as lecturers to teach soldiers the ethics of serving as soldiers.
Because they had to deal with Qiu Ba, professors at the Nanjing Imperial College were reluctant to go to the military camp to give lectures.
Only Li Zhi from the Imperial College often visited the military camp, and Su Ze, a student from the Imperial College, also "assisted" Li Zhi in giving lectures.
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(End of chapter)
