for free? Too little?
Shen Tingyang was stunned for a moment, and quickly took a few more gold leaves from his steward, wanting to give them to Ren Yizhou again.
Ren Yizhou waved his hand quickly and said with a wry smile: "Si Ye, don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm a low-ranking official, but I can't take it..."
What? Can't take it?
Shen Tingyang was startled. He had never encountered an upright official before. Su Guansheng, who came from Dengzhou with him, was an upright official. But Su Guansheng is a civil servant, and this person in front of him is a royal guard... wearing a flying fish suit! How can you, a Jinyiwei official, not pay for it? How scary is this? Did he commit adultery?
"This superior officer..." Shen Tingyang was a little unsure, "Shen did not commit any crime, right?"
"No, no..." Ren Yizhou shook his head repeatedly, "No one is allowed to take the money from the Shachuan Gang that Master Qiantose has taken care of!" As he said that, he made a beheading gesture, "Whoever wants to take it will be beheaded. ! So I really don’t dare to take your money!”
"Ah...want to behead?" There were beads of sweat on Shen Tingyang's forehead.
To be beheaded with your own money...what does this mean? Is it really a crime? Who did the Shachuan Gang provoke? The Shachuan Gang is very loyal to the imperial court. Now that Beijing has been occupied by thieves, serious officials are rushing to surrender, but the Shachuan Gang has come to rescue us regardless of danger. What a good honest businessman, why can't he even bribe? Gave it?
Now that bribery is no longer allowed, how will we do business in the future? Even if I can do it, I still don’t feel at ease!
Not to mention the power of the Shen family of the Shachuan Gang, even the eldest brother Zheng Yiguan of the 18th century was such a powerful force, with no less than 20,000 naval officers and soldiers under his command, and dozens of semi-Chinese and semi-Western warships. Don’t you also make offerings to the masters in Beijing and Nanjing every year? It’s not because I’m afraid of anyone, it’s because being harmonious brings wealth, and when we have money, we make money together. Everyone has to make money, so the business can last for a long time!
"Mr. Shen, don't worry," Ren Yizhou cupped his hands and made a solemn gesture, "Please come with me... Master Qiantose has been looking forward to you for a long time. Don't keep Master Qiantose waiting."
Zhu Cixiang was indeed waiting a little impatiently. Tianjin Wei was still close to Beijing. Zhu Cixiang did not dare to stay here for a long time. Even to wait for Wu Sangui, he had to retreat to Dagu to feel at ease. Therefore, he specially ordered Qianhu Ren Yizhou, the Jinyi Guard guarding the dock, to bring Shen Tingyang to meet him as soon as he saw him.
The order not to accept bribes from Shen Tingyang was also given by Zhu Cixiang himself at that time. And he not only explained the matter to Ren Yizhou, but also to Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Cao Youyi, the military commander of the Grand Marshal's Mansion, Wu Xiang, the commander of the military and political guards, Huang Dabao, the eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremony, Bingbi, and Pan Shuchen, the eunuch of the imperial horse eunuch. The dignitaries in the East Palace system explained one by one - Shen Tingyang, this "fat pig" is protected by this palace, and no one of you is allowed to touch it!
When Shen Tingyang followed Ren Yizhou to the Generalissimo's Mansion, Zhu Cihong was talking to the candidate officers of the Overcoming Army.
This work started this morning. Four candidates for division commanders and four candidates for division deputy generals have been met, and the division commanders and deputy generals of the left and right divisions of the Nanyang Army have been selected.
Among them, Zuo Shishishuai was a steward of the Wu family. He was a Liaodong man named Wang Beard. He was in his forties, tall and tall, and had been a martial arts scholar.
The deputy general of the right division is Wang Qi, another old subordinate of Zhu Cixiang. Of course, using Wang Qi, who was born in the East Palace, and Ding Wangbeard, the steward of the Wu family, to work together is to add some sand. It’s not that you can’t trust anyone, but that you must firmly grasp the new army to overcome difficulties.
The commander-in-chief of the right division is Li Ruolian, and the deputy-general is Wang Zhou. Neither of these two people are from Wu Xiang, but there are still many Wu troops in the right division they control.
In addition to the East Palace guards and officers from the Wu family's family members, the officer corps of the New Army also includes the Beijing Camp, Tianjin Zhenjun, Tianjin Xunbiao, Tongzhou Xunbiao, two Cao Jiading (Cao Huachun and Cao Youyi), Dahan General and An officer from the Pure Army.
Wu Xiang, Wu Sanfu and Cao Youyi followed Zhu Cixiang's instructions and selected eight division-level candidates, 32 associate-level candidates, 128 battalion-level candidates and 512 flag-level candidates. A total of There were six hundred and eighty people. Zhu Cixiang first selected 340 people from them to serve as the core officers of the Second Division, Eighth Association, Thirty-second Battalion, and One Hundred and Twenty-eight Banners of the New Army to overcome difficulties.
In other words, the new military division and below are all organized into a four-four organization. One division governs four associations, one association governs four battalions, one battalion governs four banners, one banner governs four teams, one team governs four corps, and one corps includes Five soldiers including the corps commander. Excluding directly affiliated units and officers at all levels, the full strength of the new army in the first division is 5,120 people, and the two divisions have 10,240 people. Together with the 340 officers and directly-affiliated troops at all levels, the total number of the two divisions is approximately 13,000 to 13,000.
Of course we can gather the number of people. Tianjin Wei is an important military town, and it is also an important water transport town. There are many poor military children and laborers who rely on water transport. Zhu Cixiang still had a lot of gold and silver he brought out from Beijing. In Tianjin Wei, he confiscated the homes of four corrupt officials, Yuan Zong, Jin Bin, Lou Guangxian, and Yang Weihan, and gained hundreds of thousands of taels. There is still more than four million taels of silver in Zhu Cihong's hands.
Soldiers are gathered with pay, and if Zhu Cixiang can pay him, he can certainly recruit soldiers. However, he did not open the recruitment, only to complete the establishment of one army, two divisions, and 16,000 people (a cavalry association is directly under the military level, so the total strength is 16,000).
This means that another three to four thousand people will be recruited on Tianjin Wei's side. However, the treatment cannot be compared with the soldiers who followed Zhu Cihong before the bloody battle on Ximen Street in Tianjin. There is no settling-in allowance of ten taels of silver, just a monthly salary. The soldiers at the lowest level were paid one tael and five cents of silver per month, eighteen taels a year, and they were given fifty acres of fertile land after arriving in the south of the Yangtze River... This treatment was not too low, so as soon as the recruitment notice was posted, there was a lot of excitement. Ding Zhuang from Shao Tianjin Acropolis applied for the army.
But what can be gathered together is just heads, so don't think about combat effectiveness. It would be nice to be reliable and able to scare internal and external enemies.
In addition to recruiting soldiers, Zhu Cixiang also paid a lot of money to recruit craftsmen, because Tianjin Wei was an important military industry town with many craftsmen, including some with outstanding craftsmanship. Zhu Cixiang focused on recruiting blacksmiths, and also used musket-making thorns to assess the skill of the craftsmen-anyone who could make muskets and bird muskets according to the requirements could be installed in squads of dove fire muskets and bird muskets (Zhu Cixiang's army currently has 300 squadrons of dove fire muskets and bird muskets). The craftsmen who made the thorns on more than two hundred usable bird guns can be hired, and they will also receive a settling-in allowance of 10 taels of silver and a monthly salary of 3 taels of silver. After arriving in Nanjing, they will also be given a house, but the peasants will not be given. land.
When Zuo Zuo came to report, Zhu Cihong had just finished meeting a candidate for brigade general. When he heard that Shen Tingyang had arrived, he immediately summoned him.
…
"My dear, I am the Secretary of the Imperial Academy, Shen Tingyang, the manager of shipping and Liaodong payroll affairs. I would like to pay my respects to the Crown Prince Qiantai."
Zhu Cixiang looked at the "red-top businessman" who was kneeling in front of the audience. He looked like that after putting on his official uniform.
"Stand flat, please sit down." Zhu Cixiang said with a smile.
The person who carried the embroidered pier to Shen Tingyang was Huang Dabao's godson, named Huang Xiaobao. He was only seventeen years old this year. His height and body shape were somewhat similar to Zhu Cixiang's, and his face shape was similar to Huang Dabao's, with a round, doughy face. Son.
Shen Tingyang didn't dare to sit down in a big way, so he sat half-assed, holding his knees with his hands, looking like a primary school student meeting the principal.
"Shen Tingyang, how much did you spend to buy the Imperial College?" Zhu Cixi asked warmly.
Shen Tingyang was startled and was about to kneel down again. Zhu Cixiang quickly stopped him, "Don't kneel down, keep sitting! I'm just asking, and I don't want to pursue anything."
"My lord, my lord..." Shen Tingyang didn't know how to answer. Of course he bought his official position... How else could an Imperial College student be able to hold his current official position? And his Imperial College students also paid for it. Otherwise, as the chief rudder, he could enter the Nanjing Imperial College without spending any money?
Zhu Cihong picked up a copy of the decree and asked Huang Anshun to hand it to Shen Tingyang.
"Tingyang," Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Although our Ming Dynasty has a system of 'righteous officials', 'righteous officials' are just a status and cannot hold actual duties. And you are not a 'righteous official', but an imperial official." I must have spent a lot of money to enter the official career and now be able to work as a secretary. This palace will not tolerate such things as selling one's official position and getting a title!"
Do you really want to ask questions?
Shen Tingyang felt so wronged! Although he spent money to buy an official position, he did not take corruption or bribery when serving. At most, he monopolized Beiyang maritime trade and smuggled to evade taxes... However, he completed all the tasks assigned by the court to the best!
Because he was particularly capable of doing things, Emperor Chongzhen also said: If an official is like Shen Tingyang, how can the world be so difficult to govern?
Why should we be punished now?
Is there any justice?
