It was drizzling in the sky, like smoke and fog. West Lake in the rain has a unique flavor. The lotus leaves on the lake are standing gracefully, and the shadow of the tower in the distance is looming.
Li Yanxian and the other three were sitting on the boat, enjoying the sight of the lake and eating some snacks from Lin'an Mansion.
Lin Weidao: "Everyone says Jiangnan is good. Only when you really come here do you know what is so good about Jiangnan. This place is really weird, and people who come here are much more lazy."
Tong Yuanqing said with a smile: "We who are soldiers really can't appreciate this West Lake. It's still in the Central Plains, with endless surroundings, and people's minds are broad. This damn place, it rains every now and then, and the Sticky Lake is annoying to me!"
As he spoke, he picked up the wine and drank it in one gulp.
Li Yanxian said: "After quarreling for many days, the reward from the imperial court has finally come down, and it's time for us to go back. Zhi Niang, at first we were harmonious, but the princes in the court thought that we were easy to bully, and wanted to deduct the reward! You have to do it! Only when we lose face do they realize how powerful we are!”
Lin Weidao: "Before I came here, I thought the imperial court was such a great place. I came here to see the world! I never imagined that it was just an embroidered pillow. No money, no official position, what else does the imperial court have? mean?"
Li Yanxian couldn't help but sigh: "We didn't realize it when we were in Xiangyang, but when we got to Xingzai, we realized how well Xiangyang was managed by Commander Jie. The salaries of the officials under Commander Jie didn't sound high, but they were paid in full. , not a penny was missing. Looking at the court again, the Gonggun princes, well, what a life they had. They only had official positions, and they could not even receive one-third of their daily salary. Who fled to Jiangnan? Isn’t the family short of money?”
Lin Wei and Tong Yuanqing listened and nodded together.
Without comparison, you wouldn't know how good it is under Wang Xiaolie's rule. Even though Wang Xiaolie was hungry, he never defaulted on the salary owed to his officials. If it is said to be a thousand guan, then it is really a thousand guans, and there will be no deductions. On the other hand, the imperial court, not to mention issuing full salary, finding that the money is not broken is the emperor's special grace.
After taking a sip of wine, Tong Yuanqing asked Li Yanxian: "Du Tong, do you think the reward given by the imperial court to the commander is high?"
Li Yanxian said: "In terms of official positions, Jieshuai is now second only to Liu Guangshi, Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong, and can be regarded as one of the few generals in the court. However, Jieshuai has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and the court cannot afford it. We can still only let the commander-in-chief raise his own military supplies. From this point of view, he is no better than others. In the end, the imperial court only rewarded two hundred taels of gold and five thousand taels of silver for the great victory in Shaanzhou, which is too little!"
Lin Wei and Tong Yuanqing nodded together. Said: "This court is really poor!"
After many days of deliberation, the ministers in the court still did not dare to underestimate the power of Wang Xiaolie's army of hundreds of thousands. Regardless of whether he wanted to or not, he was granted a high-ranking official position. At this time, he was regarded as a general comparable to Liu Guangshi, Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong in the Song Dynasty, and could be called the four generals.
Wang Xiaolie served as the Jiedu envoy of Shannan East Road, the Xuanfu envoy of Southwest Beijing Road, North Road and South Henan Road. He also knew Henan Prefecture and was the founding father of Xuchang County. Compared with Liu Guangshi, Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong's two-town Jiedu envoys, they were inferior and their official ranks were also lower. But the Xuanfu Third Road has much greater real power.
The states in the Song Dynasty had levels, and the Jiedu states had military ranks. This military rank was the title of the Jiedushi envoy. However, some state capitals did not grant military quotas due to various reasons and continued to use the name of the festival in the Tang Dynasty. Such state capitals include Heyang Sancheng Jiedu in Mengzhou, Jiannan Dongchuan Jiedu in Zizhou, Jiannan Xichuan Jiedu in Chengdu Prefecture, Jingnan Jiedu in Jiangling Prefecture, Hedong Jiedu in Taiyuan Prefecture, and Yangzhou Huainan Jiedu, Shannan West Road Jiedu in Xingyuan Prefecture, and Shannan East Road Jiedu in Xiangyang Prefecture.
Generally speaking, conferring these special festivals is considered an honor among military governors. But this is just a habit, not a formal level. Wang Xiaolie had been stationed in Xiangyang before and was awarded the title of Shannan Dongdao Jiedu, which was regarded as the imperial court's recognition of him.
There were also many local envoys in the Song Dynasty, such as Xuanfu envoys, Zhizhi envoys, Zhaofu envoys, Zhenfu envoys, etc. The one with the highest status and the most power was the Xuanfu envoy, followed by the Recruitment envoy, and then the Zhizhi envoy. In the last years of Jianyan, the power of the Zhizhi envoys was restricted, and they were only in charge of military affairs. However, Wang Xiaolie had a special status and had been managing the place in the name of Zhizhishi. Changing the title to Xuanfu envoy actually expanded his power.
After repeated consideration, the court still believed that Wang Xiaolie's military strength should not be underestimated and gave him a higher official position.
Under Wang Xiaolie, Li Yanxian was granted the title of Observation Envoy, Shao Ling and Niu Gao were granted the title of Defense Envoy, Zhang Yin, Xie Linong, Cao Zhiyan, Shao Xing, and Li Xing were granted the title of Regiment Training Envoy, and under their command, Yuan Ji and others were granted the title of Inspector.
When Wang Xiaolie reported to the court, Qianjia and Dutong were originally of the same rank. The court discussed it and felt that it was too absurd for the commander-in-chief to be of the same rank as Qiao Xi. To take care of Wang Xiaolie and his face, Qiao Xi was only one rank lower than the commander-in-chief.
The other officers, such as Lin Wei and Tong Yuanqing, were all Yaojun officials. The imperial court's request for reward in Wang Xiao's hunting newspaper was only slightly adjusted.
However, in the first few days after arriving, Li Yanxian and others met with officials from the Central Government and were very disappointed with them. In the face of a big victory, he always cares about the reward, showing a petty attitude. No matter how high-ranking the officials were, they no longer felt excited.
Li Yanxian said: "The current troops in the imperial court, if not counted as commanders, are only a little more than 100,000. But what I saw in Lin'an is that the officials are not well-off, and everyone is not satisfied with their salary. Not to mention, if you get it, There are still many expenses, and if the official position is lower, life will be difficult. Now think about it, it is not easy for the commander to support an army of 100,000 people with the territory of twenty states, and to keep everyone fed and clothed!"
Lin Weidao: "It's not just that! There is a lack of talents under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief, and many states and counties can only be governed by officials. But no matter what official he is, his salary has never been owed. Alas, it is not easy to do this. "
Speaking of this matter, the three of them couldn't help but sigh.
If you hadn't been to La'an Mansion, you wouldn't have known that Wang Xiaolie had done such an amazing thing. When there are more than 20 states, we can support an army of 100,000. After raising a large army, the taxes on the people were still very low, and the people were extremely prosperous. Compared with other places, Xiangyang is like heaven.
Tong Yuanqing said: "Although the so-called Liangyuan is good, it is not the home of long-term love. This misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River does seem to have a unique charm. But for us, it is better to go back early. Baba just made a trip, but he got a few Official position doesn’t mean much.”
Li Yanxian couldn't help laughing after hearing this. Including myself, everyone came here to perform meritorious deeds and thought about what rewards they would get. Who would have thought that this court would be so shabby. It's nothing more than shabby, but I don't know it yet, and I still want to deprive myself of my official position.
Lin Weidao: "When I came to Lin'an Mansion this time, I also learned a few words. People in the industry often say that if you get an official position, you will kill people and set fires and be punished; if you want to get rich, you will rush to the industry to sell wine and vinegar. They also have a saying As the saying goes, there are no shortcuts to official career, and admiral's tricks are just tricks. Compared with those who are engaged in bandits, those of us who fight life and death on the front line, our official positions are not higher than them, and our money is not as much as them. It is not depressing! Alas! , everything we experienced with Jieshuai was a good thing. I still thought that the whole world was like this. When I actually saw it, it really made people shake their heads!"
Li Yanxian nodded and said: "Yes. The world is like this, people really don't know what to do."
I thought that I was from a humble background and devoted myself to the country without caring about personal life or death. I didn't expect to see the imperial court, which was so disappointing.
