Thief Emperor

Chapter 672: Happy to Hear About War
Officials from the five states of Jingxiang have basically been in place. Since there are enough people, it is only a matter of time to sort out the land and population.

Moreover, Li Yun's brother-in-law Xue Shou has already taken office as the Jingxiang Surveillance Commissioner. With him in this position, it is unlikely that there will be any changes in Jingxiang.

Li Yun only stayed in Jingzhou City for one night. The next morning, he got up early, changed into a simple dark spring shirt, and left Jingzhou City.

Zhang Sui also got up early. Seeing Li Yun was about to go out, he hurriedly limped after him. Li Yun walked to the door of his residence, looked back at him, and laughed dumbly: "It's been hard for you to travel these days. Now that we have finally arrived in Jingzhou, you should rest for a few days first. You don't have to follow me."

Zhang Sui quickly bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I am fine. Wherever Your Majesty goes, I will go."

Mr. Li smiled and said, "It's not a big occasion, so I'll just call you superior. I'll probably be staying in the army for the next few days, so you don't have to follow me."

At this point, Li Yun paused and continued, "If you must follow me, take a rest for a day and come to the military camp to find me tomorrow. Although official business is important, it is not good to hurt your body."

He smiled and said, "Otherwise, Du Shouyi will blame me for exhausting his disciples."

Zhang Sui took a deep breath, bowed and said, "I obey your command."

Li Yun then left his residence with his hands behind his back. Outside the residence, Yang Xi, Su Zhan and others had already prepared a mount for Li Yun and had been waiting for him for a while.

At this time, if Li Yun was going out to do something, he would usually take a carriage, but now that he was going to the military camp, it was naturally better to ride a horse. After getting on the horse, Li Yun looked at Yang Xi and asked, "How are the preparations going?"

Yang Xi's eyes were bloodshot. It was obvious that he probably didn't sleep when Li Yun was resting last night. Hearing Li Yun's question, he quickly said, "Reporting to the superior, the Jingzhou government has been preparing for a month. When my subordinates went to communicate yesterday, it went quite smoothly. Now most of the livestock are on the way to the military camp."

"Most of the chefs in Jingzhou have been invited to the military camp."

Li Yun nodded and said with a smile: "Well done, let's get going."

After saying that, Li Yun swiftly mounted his horse, and with a group of personal guards, he galloped out of Jingzhou City and soon arrived at the Jiangdong Army’s garrison outside Jingzhou City.

When Yang Min led the Jingnan Army to defend the city, he lived in the city. However, the number of Jiangdong Army was too large, and Li Yun had strict military discipline, and there were people from the Inspection Office to maintain discipline. In order to prevent chaos, Su Sheng still led his troops to station outside the city.

Looking up, I saw an endless stretch of military camps that stretched as far as the eye could see.

In the Jiangdong army, Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng's troops originally had more people. In the Battle of Jingzhou and Xiangzhou last year, Zhao Cheng's side fought smoothly in Xiangzhou, but the battle in Jingzhou was quite difficult.

But difficulties also have their benefits.

After taking Jingzhou, Su Sheng also absorbed almost all the surrendered soldiers of the Jingnan Army. Now the number of Su Sheng's subordinates has reached as many as 40,000 to 50,000.

This number is not much less than the people in Jingzhou City.

At this time, at the gate of the camp, a group of people were driving pigs, sheep and other livestock into the camp. Occasionally, a few old cows that were no longer able to farm were also sent into the camp.

No matter what, food is always the most important thing. When rewarding the troops, the first thing to do is to make sure that the soldiers eat well.

Before Li Yun and his companions reached the military camp gate, Su Sheng and Chen Da, along with all the generals in the army, came out of the camp to greet them. Li Yun jumped off his horse and waved to the generals.

At this moment, those who came out to greet him were basically generals above the rank of colonel, most of whom were captains in the army, and among these captains, most were familiar faces to Li Yun.

But it has to be admitted that Li Yun no longer recognizes some of the captains.

You know, in the early days of the Jiangdong Army, Li Yun could call out the names of not only the commanders and colonels, but also the brigade commanders.

This is something that is bound to happen once the plate gets bigger.

Under the guidance of Su Sheng, Li Yun led a group of generals to inspect the military camp. No matter what, he had to let the grassroots soldiers know that he, the King of Wu, had been here.

After a round, it was already noon. Meat was being cooked in various places in the military camp. For a moment, the whole camp was filled with the smell of meat.

Li Yun came to the general's tent and sat in the main seat.

At this moment, there was no one else in the general's tent, only Su Sheng and Chen Da.

At this time, a bowl of cooked meat soup was placed in front of the three people. Li Yun took a sip, warmed himself up, and said, "The standards for land distribution and this reward have basically been determined when I was in Nanjing. I have also made a draft for the rewards for the generals below. You two can take a look at it. If you have no objection, it will be issued in the next two days."

After saying that, he handed the corresponding documents to the two people.

At this time, the military merit titles of Jiangdong had basically been determined. This system was taken from Qin law, so Li Yun also referred to the military merit titles of the Qin Dynasty.

The military ranks from level one to level nine are: sergeant, senior sergeant, lieutenant, senior lieutenant, honorable man, honorable man, guard, guard general, and the highest level, marquis. "Ninth rank of nobility."

Li Yun said slowly: "The lowest-ranking sergeant will be awarded one hectare of land and a house."

“And then lift them up one by one.”

One hectare of land was fifty acres at that time.

At this point, Li Yun smiled and said, "At present, the military rank I have arranged for Brother Su is the first-class guard, which is the seventh-class rank. The specific rewards have been written in the documents."

"I have also graded the soldiers under Brother Su's command one by one according to the merits reported by the army. Basically, the sergeants are at the level of brigade commanders or lieutenants."

"A general officer at the level of a captain is almost equivalent to a general officer at the level of a lieutenant."

At this point, Li Yun paused and said, "However, military merit ranks cannot be determined entirely according to official positions. They should be divided mainly according to merit. This time, military merit ranks are basically divided according to merit. A lieutenant may not be able to have a sergeant rank, but a captain is at least a sergeant."

"In addition, some soldiers who killed the enemy bravely but are not suitable to be generals will be awarded military merit titles from the military merit title system."

At this point, Li Yun paused and continued, "Those who are not among the nine ranks will be rewarded with money, grain and land according to the number of enemies they kill."

As he spoke, Li Yun looked at Su Zhan at the door and gave him a wink. Su Zhan immediately nodded, took a box into the general's tent and placed it on the table. Li Yun opened the wooden box and took out a rectangular bronze plate the size of a loquat from it.

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This bronze plate is about three inches thick, with cloud patterns carved all around and the word "Sergeant" written in small seal script in the middle.

"Brother Su, look, this is the sergeant badge I asked the people at Jinling Workshop to make. It represents the merits that this person has made."

"The nine ranks of nobility each have their own badges, but this time, I only brought badges for the sergeant and the upper sergeant. The other seven ranks need custom engravings and can be made at the workshop."

Su Sheng picked up a small bronze plate, held it in his hand and looked at it, then looked up at Li Yun. After a long time, he couldn't help but take a deep breath and said, "Supreme position, this thing is too powerful."

He looked at Li Yun and murmured, "After this is distributed, I wonder how jealous those who don't have it will be!"

General Su smiled bitterly and said, "Even I can't help wanting a piece."

Chen Da, who was standing by, picked up a sign, looked at it carefully for a long time, and then asked, "Sir, what rank am I?"

"Sir."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Last time in Jiangbei, and this time in Jingxiang, you have made great contributions. From now on, I will judge and award you the title of Honorary Military Merit according to your standards."

Su Sheng played with the bronze plate for a while, then picked up the list of awards given to him by Li Yun, thought about it carefully, and said, "Sir, I feel that the awards are too high. Except for the first-class sergeants, the other ranks should be reduced by one level as appropriate."

Because the rank of captain must be awarded with military merit title, therefore in the list drawn up by Li Yun this time, there are nearly 200 first-class sergeants under Su Sheng.

There are also thirty or forty people at the next level.

By the time we get to the lieutenant level, there are only about ten people left.

If we follow Su Sheng's opinion, then most of them would be just first-class sergeants.

Li Yun smiled and said, "Jingxiang is of great importance, and everyone has made great contributions. Let's do this."

Su Sheng took a deep breath and whispered, "If you want to take the higher position, then I will have to be demoted to a lower rank at least..."

Li Yun thought about it and shook his head slightly: "Just do it this way. Brother Su just needs to look at the list and see which ones are unsuitable and which ones need to be added."

"Don't ask about other things."

Su Sheng had no choice but to nod in agreement.

The two of them checked in the commander's tent for an hour. Su Sheng only modified a few people on the list, and then handed the list back to Li Yun. He then said with emotion: "This incentive method of taking the position is too clever. I'm afraid that the army will be happy to hear about war in the future."

Li Yun smiled and said, "In one month, we will push this matter forward in both the Jingxiang and Xiangyang armies, and then we..."

"Take these soldiers with you and go meet the heroes of the world!"

(End of this chapter)