Emperor Tongzhi's impromptu idea turned the faces of Shen Baozhen and others pale with fright, especially among the officials in Fujian province who were qualified to take over, there was no one who was not sweating!
What were they afraid of? What they were afraid of was the emperor's inspection of the army's logistics. There had just been a riot over military pay in the morning. Three to four hundred recruits were collectively whipped, and then the emperor came in the afternoon.
What should I do if the money I owe is revealed? Not to mention military pay, even the wine and meat dishes that Long Live Lord just rewarded, Fuzhou can't handle it here!
Being poor in Fuzhou is only one aspect. No matter how poor you are, you won’t be short of money for this meal, but you don’t have time!
Each of the 30,000 new troops has one catty of wine, which is 30,000 catties of wine. There are not so many in Fuzhou, and it is too late to allocate them from other state capitals.
Not to mention the meat, eggs and vegetables, even the white rice was temporarily borrowed from the grain merchants in the city!
Fuzhou was in a lean period, and the treasury had a balance of more than 1.7 million yuan at the beginning of the month. As a result, the Yulin New Army borrowed 500,000 yuan for food, clothing, housing and transportation, Mawei Shipyard took away 400,000 yuan, and the remaining 800,000 yuan was taken away by Zuo Zongtang. He was transferred away to use as military expenditure to provide emergency relief.
Now Shen Baozhen still has to borrow money to pay officials!
The more I think about it, the more I am afraid. Since ancient times, it has been a natural thing for military generals to fight and fight with civilian officials to raise funds. Thirty thousand of the emperor's personal troops were stationed in Fujian. If he did not take care of the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the army, then it would be a sin!
Shen Baozhen kept winking at Da Sixi. Fortunately, he had just handed over the money, and Da Sixi quickly made things right for the emperor!
"Long live my lord, look at what time it is. It's completely dark outside. Even if you go out, the soldiers won't be able to rest!"
"Besides, the foreign adults have to go and comfort themselves. They are all drinking in the big tent next door... Do you want me to summon you?"
Emperor Tongzhi's eyes widened: "Gabby! What do I want to do, do you want to talk nonsense? Back off! After a trip to Europa, don't you understand the rules?"
Da Sixi's face turned pale and he knelt on the ground with a thud, "I don't dare, I'm going to slap you..." As he spoke, he slapped himself in the face.
Now no one dared to stop him. The little emperor angrily walked out of the tent, followed by a group of civil and military officials chasing him. Da Sixi was left alone on his knees in the tent and slapped. Zai Chun would never stop until Zai Chun said stop. Dare to stop.
We had just received many young and old gentry and local officials in the large cowhide tent. The air in the narrow space became filthy when there were many people. When we walked outside the wild area, Zai Chun's spirit suddenly lifted.
The cool sea breeze blew in front of him, carrying the smell of fresh grass. Emperor Tongzhi had experienced the industrial pollution in London, and the gray smog made him breathless!
"Okay, okay... the mountains and rivers of my motherland are so relaxing, I can't even breathe!"
The sky above is filled with stars, the Milky Way is as bright as a jade belt stretching across the sky, and the hillside below is filled with countless bonfires as far as the eye can see!
The soldiers chatted in low voices and laughed together in subdued tones, as penetrating as the bass in a symphony. The figure of a soldier next to the fire made Zai Chun extremely at ease.
It's funny to say that Xiao Letian's two close disciples, Xiang Ying and Zai Chun, both have characters that focus on military generals. In fact, these two people have similar personalities and have a militaristic dream in their hearts.
Zai Chun felt depressed when he saw civilian officials, but when he saw the army, especially his own army, he immediately felt refreshed!
Looking at the nearest bonfire, Zai Chun strode over and saw that the person sitting at the center and recording something in a notebook was Xie Ting, the soldier he had just met in the afternoon.
"What are you doing? Haven't you eaten yet?"
The sudden appearance of Emperor Tongzhi frightened more than a dozen soldiers and all stood up, "Salute!" A squad of soldiers saluted the little emperor.
"Everyone sit down, everyone sit down... Have a class meeting? Let me take a look at your record book... Company Commander Xie Ting? Are you the company commander? Not bad, you have more than a hundred brothers with you!"
When you open the leather-covered notebook, you will find very clumsy Chinese characters inside. They are not beautiful at all but they can definitely be understood by you.
No need to ask, this is the officer who became an instant master in the military literacy class!
"Report to Your Majesty! I am recording the name of the soldier with the best performance in today's exercise. The first placer in three consecutive exercises can record a first-level meritorious service..."
"Here is also the family situation of each soldier, including population, land, and health... Brothers who are too poor, we will pool some money to buy some rice and noodles for their families to help!"
The more Zai Chun looked at it, the more serious his face became, and his heart felt bittersweet!
What is gratifying is that a soldier who could not read a word was able to write after being exposed to the disease in the army! Moreover, the entire imperial guard system is very rigorous, and the skills learned in Ryukyu have not been lost. Ma Ming and others are really attentive.
A very important system of Xiao Letian's new army is the regular class meeting system. Summary and reflection meetings are held almost every day. Whether fighting or not fighting, the army can understand the thoughts and emotions of every soldier.
This is a very clever and terrifying military management idea. The commander of an army of tens of thousands of people can know the mental state of every soldier under his command if he is willing.
This is a huge advantage that the army in the medieval era did not have!
Not lost, Ma Ming, Na Sanbao and others have memorized all the military rules developed by Ryukyu recruits! Moreover, Emperor Tongzhi was also glad that he placed his army in Fuzhou and in Wuyi Mountain.
Of course, this place is poor and backward, but it is precisely because of poverty that it can maintain the purity of the army. If the Yulin New Army were sent to Beijing and Jiangnan, it would have been completely corroded in the past few years.
There are still rules in the territory that Zuo Zongtang has managed!
It's good to be happy, but the situation of the soldiers' families recorded in the back of the notebook is heart-wrenching!
There are families where the only child has gone out to serve as a soldier, there are families where the father is lame, the mother is blind, and the sister is a widow. More than half of the soldiers have no permanent property at home, not to mention paddy fields and dry fields, not even an acre of hillside land.
I heard from Xie Ting that during those few months when spring was lean, his company alone raised food for 16 soldiers, and their families couldn't even open the pot!
After closing the notebook, Emperor Tongzhi handed it back to Xie Ting without saying anything.
I looked up at the military pot. The flames under the pot were already very small. The red charcoal fire was licking the bottom of the pot, and a strong aroma of rice and meat wafted out.
"You haven't started dinner yet? Let me see what's delicious..." After speaking, Emperor Tongzhi opened the pot, and with just this move, Shen Baozhen and the others' hearts jumped to their throats.
The white mist filled the air, and Zai Chun blinked and looked around, only to see a pot full of sausage rice!
Under the iron pot is boiled white rice, with more than a dozen sausages spread on top. At this moment, the fat of the sausages has penetrated into the rice grains, and the aroma of meat and rice comes to your nose.
"Haha, there is meat to eat! I remember there is also reward wine?"
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Xie Ting quickly opened an empty shell box, which contained several bottles of rice wine in clay bottles. Zai Chun took a sip of the milky white and turbid rice wine, which was the cheapest rice wine.
Shen Baozhen quickly said, "The rice wine here is pretty good, not too strong, but rich in rice aroma..."
Zai Chun smiled lightly and put down the wine glass without saying anything, "Give me a small bowl of rice...forget it, I'll serve it myself!"
Emperor Tongzhi grabbed the shovel and lunch box from Ma Ming's hand, dug a piece from the ground and stuffed it into the lunch box.
He won the prize after taking two bites with bamboo chopsticks, and after a crunching sound, his molars hit the gravel!
A group of soldiers were watching around him. The little emperor had to keep up his pro-military attitude! This drama needs to be done enough!
I can't bear it! Emperor Tongzhi was so cruel that he swallowed that mouthful of gritty rice!
