Tai Su was panicking, so without thinking, he immediately followed Cun Zhao's method and ordered him to send someone to his house to bring 1,500 taels of silver first and use it as a reward for the soldiers.
After Cun Zhao got the money, he gathered all the soldiers together, bursting into tears, and stated that his treasury had no money left, and it was difficult to prepare the reward at the moment, so the old emperor's uncle had to allocate some money first and give part of it temporarily to show his sincerity; As for those that have not been received, they are temporarily in arrears and will be made up in the future.
Many sergeants were moved when they saw their commander begging like this. They were still willing to push the envelope even further. They each held their hands in their hands and were willing to obey orders. Cun Zhao was so happy that he first rewarded those who were the most violent and the first to cause trouble, and recognized them as the heroes who eradicated the traitorous party. Therefore, after being rewarded for a while and receiving such an honor, I naturally had no complaints. But those who didn't get the reward felt aggrieved, but seeing that the matter didn't arouse any criticism, they didn't dare to speak out and went back to the barracks sullenly.
This news was quickly reported to Niu Yuan. He suddenly felt that there was an opportunity, so he sent someone to borrow the list of prohibited soldiers from the army in the name of "due to the chaos and fear of missing out, we should re-count the soldiers." Ask the officers of each team to bring the whole team and come to Zhongshu Province in turn to meet him.
Niu Yuan asked them one by one about the rewards. The sergeants did not dare to hide anything and answered them all with the truth. For the teams that had received rewards, he just said a few words and sent them out; for those who had not received rewards, he asked the secretary to bring out the large boxes of gold and silver he had prepared and distributed them to them, and he tried to win over them in every possible way. He said: "Although the two officials have made a guarantee, the world is in trouble now. Who can think of what will happen in the future? If I lose a sum of money from you because of this, Niu will feel guilty in his heart. So I will make up for it in advance." This will avoid any trouble."
After receiving the gift, the sergeants all burst into tears of gratitude, fell to their knees, sobbing, and refused to leave for a long time. Niu Yuan persuaded them with persuasive words before sending them out of the hall.
The next morning, Niu Yuan continued to go to the hall to do the counting. He opened a copy of the name list as if nothing had happened, preparing to call Hong Lizhen to preside over the matter with him.
"Feng Xiang."
Before Niu Yuan could speak, he looked up and saw Hong Lisan had arrived in a hurry and was saluting at the foot of the steps.
"I haven't called you yet, why are you here?"
"Sir," Hong Lisan strode up, "an officer named Zhang Tian just led his soldiers and shouted in front of the gate, asking why he hadn't arrived yet. He looked ferocious and extremely restless. I'm afraid of violating the law. I don't dare to make a decision without knowing what the Prime Minister wants, so I just asked them to wait outside for now while I come to ask for your opinion."
After hearing this, Niu Yuan quickly lowered his head to search, and immediately found him under the names outlined in red pen. He sneered and said, "I was about to give him a reward. Can he still lose his temper after seeing the money? Just call him forward." Come!"
"The villain Zhang Tian leads his troops to see the prime minister!"
"You can speak more quietly." Niu Yuan put down the list, slowly raised his head, and took a look at him. He was tall and sturdy, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He had some rough bumps on his face and a deep red line. scar.
"I'm sorry, it's the villain who's being presumptuous." Zhang Tian bowed and said.
"Sooner or later it will be your turn, why are you in such a hurry?" Niu Yuan asked accusingly, "Besides, if I don't give it to you, your family will still give it to you."
Zhang Tian bit his withered lips and said angrily: "Sir, I see that Cun Sijin is just trying to calm down the situation. Now that the limelight has passed, what else does it have to do with us? But this was what we had agreed to before, and the commander didn't give it. I’ll come to you to ask for it.”
Niu Yuan clapped his hands and laughed: "What a straight-tempered general! Deputy Hong joined the government and brought them money, five taels each!"
Hong Lisan accepted the order, stood up, went into the back room and dragged out a large wooden box, placed it in front of them, pushed it hard with both hands, and revealed countless shining silver, neatly arranged.
Zhang Tian's eyes were glazed over. He desperately pushed aside the soldiers beside him, walked over first, and stretched out his hand to take it.
"Wait a minute." Niu Yuan suddenly grabbed his wrist and looked at him coldly.
Zhang Tian looked at him in astonishment: "Feng Xiang...can't I take it?"
"Of course you can take it. But since you are willing to tell the truth and you are a man, I would actually like to give you more. How about this, you and your subordinates each get twenty taels, and I will give you all the money in the box. How about that?"
"Two, twenty taels..." Zhang Tian murmured these two numbers, then turned his head, stared at Niu Yuan in surprise, knelt down in an instant, and kept kowtowing, his voice getting louder and louder. Coming louder and louder.
"General Zhang, calm down!" Niu Yuan hugged him and saw that his head was turning blue.
"Serve the Prime Minister!" he shouted loudly, and couldn't help but shed tears. "Since I was in the army, I have been beaten and scolded by superior officers at every turn, and I have been strictly restricted by military regulations. I have never been at ease. I have never received such a favor. Call me How to repay your benefactor! Zhang Tian is willing to fight to the death for his benefactor!"
Hearing the word 'die force', Niu Yuan felt relieved. He looked at the soldiers behind him again. Their eyes also showed gratitude and reverence, and at the same time, they could see a mass of unknown anger.
Niu Yuan was meditating with his hands behind his back. He walked slowly from the desk to the steps, then walked back to the door of the back room from the steps. He walked around the sergeants before he stopped and pressed his hand tightly. He took off the jade belt around his waist.
"Then I have something big to do... I wonder if you can help me."
"Tell me what you want!" Zhang Tian moved his knees and crawled in front of him, "My brothers and I are willing to go to the mountains of swords and the sea of fire for you!"
Niu Yuan suddenly turned around and looked at everyone with affectionate eyes.
"We are willing to obey the commander and serve as the prime minister!" The soldiers also responded to his expectations with words.
"Now that the imperial power is declining, and the prince is unworthy, he creates chaos in the East Palace, separates the court, and wants to fight against Duke Liu. Duke Liu is an important minister of the country, how can he be humiliated by such suspicion? If these people become princes, the country will perish! If you don’t hold the prince accountable and become more virtuous, your majesty’s great cause will fall overnight! If the princes plan to help the country with their own officials, they will choose a day to launch an attack, kill Cunzhao and others, and threaten the prince! If this happens, Your merits are enough to cover all the ministers, grant you the title of marquis and reward you with titles, and obtain one hundred thousand gold and silver from the treasury. Isn't it easy?"
Zhang Tian was suddenly startled, and a few drops of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He pondered for a moment, then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, gritted his teeth and said, "I have hated Cunzhao for a long time. If you can kill him today, I can do anything you ask me!"
The soldiers had been following Zhang Tian for a long time, and were used to being arrogant and arrogant. They were not afraid of doing such a treasonous act. They were silent for a moment, and then they all expressed their approval. Niu Yuan was overjoyed and made detailed plans with them.
