Chapter 144 Countermeasures
"I have no money!" Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu, rolled his eyes and said to Chen Shibo, the governor of Sichuan, "'The prince of the feudal lord is eating his salary and not doing anything'! Chen Aiqing, you keep the money in the provincial treasury yourself, but you come to me to ask for money. This What kind of truth is this?"
Chen Shibo replied with a sad face: "Thank you for your thousand years. Silver is used for flood control, disaster relief, road construction, warehouse building, and troop deployment... It is spent like water, and the provincial treasury only has 50,000 to 60,000 taels of silver." The number is over. I really don’t dare to move anymore!”
"Then Chen Qing's family is here to take the idea of being an orphan? Don't you know how to teach the people to get more gifts? For these many people, one point for each person, isn't it eighty-nine thousand taels, two or three points for each person, I'm afraid it's just a few One hundred thousand taels?" Zhu Zhishu said angrily.
"Thanks to Thousand Years Old." The person who spoke was the new censor Liu Ziqi who succeeded Tu Jichun. "Just after the great disaster, the people couldn't support themselves with their own land. Now they are all relying on wild vegetables to survive. It's impossible to get another copper coin. . These are what I have seen with my own eyes, and I dare not deceive them. I heard that there is a poem among the people: "I carry a basket in the morning, and I bring a basket back in the evening. My fingers are about to drip blood, and it helps the immediate emergency." I ask you to be clear and discerning* !”
"Lord Liu, I have heard the poem you recited. But you only recited half of it. There are four more sentences at the end, right? Thousand years old, I will fill in those few sentences for Mr. Liu: 'Is there no millet in the official warehouse? Every grain is hidden. Pearls. If not a single grain comes out of the barn, there will be a bunch of rats in the barn! 'Mr. Liu, do I remember the next few sentences correctly?" Chen Shibo continued, almost in tears, "Qiansui! Listen to these next few sentences! This Not only is it disrespectful, it is just like firewood, Chitose! Mr. Liu dare not read it all out, so I will risk it! At this time, our people in Shu are in dire straits. If we continue to push, I am afraid that big changes will happen at the elbow of my arm!"
Zhu Zhishu was angry and slapped the dragon chair hard: "The people are in dire straits? Whose business is it to encourage farmers and mulberry trees to prosper? Whose business is it to educate the herdsmen? Whose business is it to defend the land and defend against enemies? Why don't you put these important responsibilities alone?" "
Hearing Chen Shibo say all the things he didn't dare to say, Liu Ziqi's face turned red and he felt a little ashamed: Although the censor is of low rank, he has a different status and patrols the place on behalf of the Holy Emperor! A local official dared to offend Yan Zhijian, so what did he have to fear? At worst, let the King of Shu file a complaint to the Zongren Mansion! Thinking of this, he simply gave up and said, "Chitose! Mr. Chen is right. I have checked and found that there are more than 134,000 hectares of civilian farmland in Sichuan Province. In the year before last, when there was no disaster, a total of 1.03 million hectares of tax and grain were paid. Shi Youqi. The floods the year before last destroyed about 50,000 hectares of farmland and displaced millions of victims. Last year, 65% of the land was still paid. So far this year, all Wangzhuang's land has been reclaimed and more than 70% of the military settlements have been restored. However, the civilian farmland has still been restored. Less than half, but the land tax has actually been collected by nearly 40%! Chitose, you must not think about the folk land tax anymore! I am by no means alarmist. If you force the people again, you may not need to beware of the Zhang thief invading the government, and our own people will be in chaos. Get up!"
"Liu Ziqi is innocent!" Zhu Zhishu, who was furious after being robbed, called out Liu Yushi's full name in anger, "Don't threaten Yu Gu with such things!"
The ministers fell to the ground to plead guilty, and the inspector Shen Jishan (named Zhiyan) kowtowed and said: "Thousands of years old. I really dare not lie. The two orders of Huayang and Chengdu are both there. You will know if you ask Qiansui."
Because the official position was too low, the two magistrates who were almost kneeling at the entrance of the palace said in unison: "You are a thousand years old, it is absolutely true. I will never dare to deceive you."
Looking at the officials kneeling on the ground in front of him, the King of Shu felt a little hesitant: "Okay, okay. Go back and take a thousand taels. This is the support given to me by the court, but you asked for it after a few words. You can figure it out for yourselves." Isn't it unreasonable?" He patted the dragon chair again as he spoke, "This is the King of Shu's chair given by Taizu. Here, it is inlaid with some gold. If anyone says there is not enough silver, just come and take it!"
When it came to this, all the officials had no choice but to bow down and resign, and stumbled out dejectedly.
Sun Jie was sitting in the Central Army Commander's tent. However, today's Commander-in-Chief seemed to have completely lost the heroic spirit of the past, as if the chair was suddenly covered with spikes - because, Chen Shibo and Liu Ziqi They actually ran to Dingyuan hand in hand, and dragged Wen Xiangli, the magistrate of Dingyuan, into the military tent without letting Sun Jie go to the county government to see him!
The Ming Dynasty relied on literature to control the military. The unwritten convention in the officialdom is that the status of the second-rank general soldier is roughly the same as that of the fourth-rank prefect. Well, actually it is a little lower. The governor of a province and the inspector representing the emperor personally visited a young man. Deputy Commander-in-Chief, no wonder Sun Jie was at a loss for a moment.
After listening to the two of them pouring out their grievances, Sun Jie calmed down for a moment and said with clasped fists: "My lords, please be at ease. We will soon be in trouble. As long as the food and fodder for our sons can be provided, how much money does our ministry have?" Your Excellency, you don’t have to be too embarrassed. The sons and gentlemen all heard what the general said. After wiping out the traitor Zhang, the general should go directly to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households to write it off. When the time comes, I would like you all to sign and be a witness."
Chen and Liu were startled when they heard this. They looked at each other and left their seats. They bowed and thanked Sun Jie. Wen Xiangli followed naturally. Sun Jie was so frightened that Sun Jie jumped up and hurried away, shouting: "Sir, adults." If you can’t do it, I’ll kill the last general!”
No wonder the two of you were so moved. Although the Ming dynasty used culture to control military affairs, Sun Jie's statement was really surprising. According to convention, although soldiers serve the imperial court, the imperial court will always deduct their pay through various means such as assessment of soldiers. After the withholding is over, it doesn’t count, but when it comes to arrears, the civil servants at all levels will go through the process again... For example, if you lead an army of ten thousand (don’t worry about whether it is true or not), and the soldiers and generals will have an average of 2 taels of silver per person per month, Sixty thousand taels should be paid in three months. The imperial court slowly handed over 40,000 taels, and the other 20,000 taels were owed first. In the end, it would be great if the leading generals could get 20,000 taels. Generals at all levels also need money - so they can only find a way out of these 20,000 liang! As for whether the six taels of silver that the soldiers can theoretically get to support their families will turn into more than a dozen copper plates, or whether they will have no copper plates at all, whether their wives, children and children will chew the bark of trees or drink the wind and eat the soil... no one will care about that. Heart! Dare you talk nonsense? Send another gang of cannon fodder to kill you!
Therefore, a countermeasure naturally emerged in the military: I usually tolerate it, but when you use me, to suppress bandits, quell chaos, etc., stop talking nonsense and pay for it! Pay the arrears first. The exact amount can be negotiated. The approximate amount is about 50% to 60% of the total amount owed. Then starting from today, I will pay full wages - if I deduct it at this time, don't blame me for what I did. Then, when you really want to set off, you must give a reward before setting out. If you don't give a reward, you won't leave. The closer you are to the enemy, the more troubles you will make about rewards. At this time, the general's prestige in the army will be tested: the chaos that can be suppressed will be smaller, and the rebellion that cannot be suppressed is often heard of. Of course, the general will take this opportunity to make a big profit for himself. There are more cases. And Sun Jie is a guest here, which means he has to pay twice - he has come all the way to defend you from the enemy and save your life. If you commit the crime of wealth again, you deserve to die!
Sun Jiajun is the trump card of the Ming Dynasty. He has been a holy family for two hundred years and will not be in arrears of pay. But when we arrived in Sichuan Province, it was the emperor's order to deal with the She'an Incident in the past, and the military pay was the responsibility of the imperial court. However, the suppression of the Zhang Bandits was 100% Sichuan Province's business, and Sichuan Province had to pay for it itself. Chen Shibo didn't even have enough money to recruit militiamen. How could he afford to raise more than 10,000 regular troops? Moreover, I don’t know how long the battle will last. Every day it is delayed, it is estimated to cost tens of thousands of taels of silver!
However, Sun Jie said that he did not want any of this. From now on, he would go directly to the Ministry of War and Household Affairs Department for verification, and the Sichuan Province would provide a certificate. Although he was deeply trusted by the Holy Spirit and had this ability, after all, he had no friendship before. This was a huge favor. So you two can't help but be sincerely moved.
In order to explain the military situation, and also to cover up the embarrassment, Sun Jie pulled several people to the map of northern Sichuan and pointed at it, saying: "Masters, please take a look. As long as these three places can be defended for three days each, oh, two days, the general He may not be talented, but he can protect Sichuan Province from worries." As he spoke, Sun Jie pointed to the first place, "General Geng Qing, our lords, ordered that all the defenders of Tongchuan Prefecture, Ding Zhuang, come out of Yanting to defend. I heard that Thief Zhang is He used his waist card to pretend to be reinforcements and deceived Nanjinguan and Baoning South Gate. The general analyzed that most of the thieves came from Xiaotongshui. In addition, according to the general's horse exploration report, Liubianyi's camp was still I, the flag of the Ming Dynasty, are so close to the thieves, but both sides are getting along peacefully. The two situations taken together, the general will conclude that the defenders of Liubianyi are unreliable! If Zhang thief abandons the city and flees, the biggest threat is from Liubianyi Here it invades Yanting to the west. Then it either rushes south along the Zitong River to shoot floods, or continues westward to threaten the prefecture capital (today's Santai County), then along the Zhongjiang River to harass Deyang and Hanzhou (today's Guanghan), or rushes north to Mian. Prefecture (today's Mianyang)... This is what the general is most worried about. What the general is afraid of is Zhang's thief fleeing directly to the west without fighting the general. In that case, the thieves' troops are still motivated and their fighting strength will still be relatively strong. Therefore, guard Yanting. Waiting for the general to catch up is the first priority!"
After hearing this, several civil servants admired Sun Jie from the bottom of their hearts: they were in their own hometown but knew nothing about the situation of Liubianyi's thieves. This young deputy commander had only arrived for a few days, and such a secret was at hand. However, the Sun family’s art of war is serious!
Sun Jie pointed to the second place and said: "The next place is Zitong in Baoning Prefecture. The general has visited it, but the thieves have not gone there. Please send people to set up defenses and dig more trenches to stop the thieves as much as possible. It will take some time. If Zhang thief escapes in this direction, he must be driven out of Baoning Mansion by our army. By then, the thief will be bitten hard, and the pressure of guarding Zitong will be less than that of Yanting. It won't be too late. The third place is Qinglinkou to the north of Zitong. The two places are similar. They are just the possible escape directions of Zhang's thieves after being defeated by the final general. Moreover, the further north the distance becomes, the more frightened the thieves will be, and the defenders' The pressure will also be smaller. Therefore, of these three places, the most important place is Yanting."
Several civil servants nodded frequently after hearing this, thinking to themselves: Deputy Commander Sun only emphasized blocking Thief Zhang's escape route, but he did not mention any concern about the outcome of the battle with Thief Zhang. It was obvious that he had a plan in mind, and he was really a great hero. !
Most of my worries were relieved.
At the end, Sun Jie said: "General, I would like to ask you all for your full help. The first is food. After I establish a northward stronghold, I can send out troops to fight against thieves. If there is a lack of food, I can only hold on and the army will have difficulty maneuvering. The second is people. Finally Five thousand civilians will be needed to help build a marching supply station. Once completed, they can directly attack the thieves' nest. The third is boats. The most likely possibility for Zhang Thief is to flee north along the Jialing River. They will definitely collect all the boats along the way, and maybe there will be more from time to time. Light some fire boats and put them down along the river to block our army's pursuit. Ships that will be damaged in the end will not be supplied. If there are fewer ships, we can't divide our troops and rush forward, so we need to prepare more in advance. In addition," Sun Jie pondered for a moment, "we also need to Please tell the imperial court that Shaanxi Province, especially Hanzhong Mansion, must be on strict alert." After saying that, Sun Jie smiled bitterly and said, "The general has no right to mobilize the troops and horses of Shaanxi Province..."
Several officials understood the implication of Sun Jie's words, but while they patted their chests and took care of everything, they didn't take it seriously - it was no longer Sichuan Province's business!
*This poem was actually written by Yang En and was published in "Gongchang Mansion Chronicles". Yang En, named Yongqing, also known as Fengchi, was born in Longxi.
[It seems that I have two Yangs. I only wrote half of it yesterday and will make up for it today. Welcome to forward, thank you for the recommendation vote support. 】
