"I already know what you said." Tianqi said in a calm tone, "I have also sent the internal eunuch to urge Zhao to speed up his march. I believe it will be delivered soon."
Hearing this, Zhu Guozhen breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as Guan Ning's elite troops arrive at the Xuan Mansion, even if they cannot immediately wipe out Xuanda's rebels, they will certainly be able to curb their growth, and the guilt of his chief assistant will be alleviated.
Tianqi picked up the tureen with the dragon pattern and took a sip of tea, and then said: "I heard that the food and salary promised to Zhao led by the Ministry of Revenue was never delivered. Does Zhu Aiqing know about this?"
"I have never heard of it," Zhu Guozhen said. "After I return, I will personally go to the Ministry of Household Affairs and give you an explanation."
Tianqi said: "The Liu bandits have occupied Baoan Prefecture. I don't want General Zhao to fail in the campaign to suppress the Liu bandits because of insufficient food and pay. Do you understand?"
"I promise that there will never be any problem with General Zhao's food and salary." Zhu Guozhen assured.
When the army is mobilized in different places, the wages, food and grass for the generals will be provided by the local government, so he only needs to ensure that the wages for the soldiers and horses led by Zhao can be paid out in time.
"Since Aiqing understands, let's go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to urge him!" Tianqi issued an eviction order.
Zhu Guozhen saw that Tianqi didn't like him, so he bowed and said, "I leave."
After saying that, he took a few steps back, turned around and left Qianqing Palace.
Tianqi put down the bowl in his hand, turned to look at Wei Zhongxian, and said, "Daban, do you think Zhao Lidejiao can pacify the Liu thieves in Datong? If not, can you recruit him?"
Sending troops to suppress bandits cost a lot of money and food. Liaodong built the Guanning Defense Line. Every year, the court spent more than two million taels of silver in Liaodong.
The Liu thieves in Datong rebelled, and the imperial court had spent hundreds of thousands of money and food on suppressing the bandits. However, it has not been able to wipe out the Liu thieves in Datong. Instead, the Liu thieves began to capture Xuanfu.
Continuing to fight against the Liu thief will cost the court how much food it will cost. Once the court falls into the quagmire of war in Xuanda, Liaodong and Xuanda will forcefully bring down the court.
Compared with the slave bandits in Liaodong, the Liu bandit in Xuanda was a Han after all. He had been an official in Datong. Once the bandits failed, he wondered whether he could suppress the bandits and stabilize the situation in Xuanda first.
"It's hard for me to say this." Wei Zhongxian said, "I think it's better to take a look at General Zhao's side first. After all, General Zhao also came from Guanning. He has experienced hundreds of battles. Even if Liu Thief occupied Xuanda, After all, they are a group of thieves and bandits, no match for the elite soldiers General Zhao brought from Liaodong."
"Well, you're right. I believe that Zhao Shujiao can destroy the Liu thief in Xuanda." Tianqi said as if to cheer himself up.
The border troops in the four towns of the Ming Dynasty were all defeated by the Datong Liu bandits. As for the local guards, he had no hope. The only ones he could rely on now were the elite Guanning soldiers from Liaodong.
Tianqi said to Gu Bingqian who was standing in front of him: "Gu Aiqing is keeping an eye on the Ministry of Household Affairs for me. I must not be owed anything in the salary of Zhao Lijiao, otherwise I will only ask you."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the ministers will keep an eye on the household department and will never let anyone default on General Zhao's salary." Gu Bingqian assured.
Tianqi nodded and immediately said: "I'm tired, please accompany me to the back hall."
"I excuse myself." Gu Bingqian bowed and saluted.
Wei Zhongxian stepped forward, helped Tianqi up from the dragon couch, and took the maids and eunuchs from Qianqing Palace towards the back hall.
There were two cabinet ministers in the Ministry of Household Affairs who kept an eye on him and promptly distributed the military pay for Zhao's teaching department.
However, although the Ministry of Revenue paid out the full amount, the military pay sent to Datong did not deduct only a small part like Liaodong did. Instead, it was passed by the Ministry of Revenue first according to the previous quota of military pay for Datong.
If Zhao Lijiao could get 70% of the military pay in Liaodong, this time he could only get 50% at most. This is because of the emperor's will and the two cabinet ministers were keeping an eye on it. Otherwise, it would be good to have three achievements.
By the time he received the military pay, Zhao led the army to Yanqing Prefecture, and was only separated from the rebels in Baoan Prefecture by a wooden fort.
"General, the soldiers' pay sent by the imperial court is nearly half less than before. If it continues like this, I'm afraid people will be in panic even before they fight the traitors." Deputy General Zuo Fu came to Zhao's big tent with an ugly face.
Zhao Shujiao frowned and said, "Are you sure half of it is missing and you read it correctly?"
"The general has already been counted twice. If the general doesn't believe me, he can tell if he is talking nonsense just by looking at it himself." Zuo Fu said.
The imperial court sent them from Liaodong to Xuanda to suppress the rebels. They came such a long way, but they didn't even have enough food and salary. This made him very angry. If he had known this, it would be better to stay in Guanning.
Zhao led the teacher and said, "Have you ever asked the officials who escorted the soldiers to see if they might have made a mistake?"
"We have already asked about the military pay for us, and the other party said that it is already a lot. In the past, Xuanda's military pay was a full 10 to 20% less." Zuo Fu said with an ugly face.
After hearing this, Zhao Shujiao cursed loudly: "Damn it, no wonder Xuanda's frontier army couldn't even defeat the Liu thief who was a businessman. In other words, I only get such a small amount of military pay, and I can't even feed the soldiers." When you are full, what can you use to kill the enemy?"
Nearly half of the soldiers' pay has been deducted, especially when the enemy is about to be killed. If only such a small amount of soldiers' pay is used, big trouble will occur.
"General, what do you think we should do?" Zuo Fu asked.
Zhao Lingjiao thought for a while and said: "Soldiers must be paid, otherwise the soldiers will make trouble first before killing the enemy. Let's do this. Tell the generals of each battalion that no one is allowed to withhold soldiers' pay without permission." I will pay them as much as they can, and I will find a way to make up for the shortfall."
"General Mo will inform each battalion to prepare for payment." After Zuo Fu finished speaking, he turned and left the tent.
There will be a battle with Xuanda's rebels soon, and the payment of soldiers cannot be delayed, otherwise the soldiers in the army will not only not kill the enemy with all their heart, but may also secretly stab the general in the back.
Zhao led the army to bring more than 10,000 troops, including auxiliary soldiers and civilians, there were more than 30,000 people.
On the road from Shanhaiguan to Xuanda, people ate horse chews, which cost a lot of money and food every day. Fortunately, the money and food were collected by the local government.
Fortunately, it was the Tianqi Dynasty. Although all the prefectures and counties had money and food, they could still manage to come up with it. If it was the Chongzhen Dynasty, and the officers and soldiers wanted to go from Liaodong to Xuanda to suppress the bandits, they could only collect food and grass from the government while traveling around. Only by plundering the people can the army barely meet the minimum needs.
The commanders of each battalion of the government and army received their due pay and began to pay Hanguan for the troops in the battalion.
Ma Jun received two taels of silver per month, ordinary soldiers received one tael of silver, and some soldiers who committed crimes and guarded the border received only a few cents of silver.
It’s not all money, some food will also be distributed.
However, the army was out and it was inconvenient to carry the food, so all the food was converted into silver. In addition, each battalion commander had to share part of the military salary. In fact, the silver the Ma Army received was only a little more than one tael, and ordinary soldiers could not even get one tael.
Even so, these soldiers from Liaodong received more pay than those from several other border towns.
