Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 175 The reward is too dazzling, the emperor is so rude

On the first day of November, Xiao Ruxun, Liu Jing, Yu Zigao, three other generals, and one hundred fierce soldiers from the Beijing camp were waiting outside the Meridian Gate.

When the court officials came out of the Meridian Gate, they saw them in high spirits, with anticipation on each of their faces.

They knew that this was the best fighter in the Beijing Army and that he had come to see the Emperor and receive rewards.

Liu Jing looked at their expressions, and after they walked away, he winked at Xiao Ruxun and said, "Your Majesty asked us to wait here and not attend the court. Is it just to let them see?"

Xiao Ruxun was a Confucian general. Although he did not dislike Liu Jing's relatively frivolous character, he did not appreciate or feel close to him either.

"Zhang Yongbo, outside the forbidden palace, the military appearance and discipline."

"..."

Liu Jing then shut up.

The three top-ranked battalions were all under their command, so they brought their battalion commanders to see the emperor.

After waiting for a while, they were still not allowed to come in, and Liu Jing was a little surprised.

Your Majesty, have you left other people to discuss matters?

Another quarter of an hour passed before someone came out to let them into the palace.

After entering from the Youshun Gate, you will see the Huangji Gate, which has been almost completed and is undergoing final decoration.

It seems that after the second year of Taichang, Your Majesty will be able to hold court at the Huangji Gate.

The group of people still went to the Qianqing Palace.

Xiao Ruxun and his men had been here before, but the other generals and soldiers had never been to the Forbidden City.

At this moment, the guards were guarding everywhere. In the eyes of one hundred fierce soldiers, the armor and weapons of the guards were at least bright.

But in their eyes, it is of course only good looking but useless.

There is no way, after all, they are the strongest ones selected from among the 55,000 soldiers of the Beijing Camp after competing in archery, horsemanship, and other strength, martial arts and other skills.

The three battalions were evaluated based on the statistics of the soldiers' performance in the entire battalion and the comprehensive results of their battle formation drills.

When they arrived at the Qianqing Gate, they thought they would be outside the Qianqing Gate, but unexpectedly they had to go in.

After entering the door, they were all stunned.

The emperor was seen sitting on a throne under the eaves outside the main hall, with four sturdy desks lined up in a row in front of him, three large and one small.

On each desk, there was a yellow mat at the bottom, and on top were neatly stacked gold and silver ingots.

Three of the large desks were made up of small tables, and on them were small silver ingots weighing three taels according to the specifications, but the total number seemed to be many times that of the other table.

On the other table were gold and silver ingots, the largest of which were worth fifty taels each.

Now, with four piles of gold and silver placed in front of me, it is really dazzling.

Xiao Ruxun was also stunned: How rude...

But the one hundred brave soldiers were very happy and jealous, and their heartbeats became much faster: those thick and big fifty-liang silver ingots with gold flowers should be for them, right?
After all, the other three piles seem to be for

"I kowtow to Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! Long, long live Your Majesty!"

One marquis and two earls took the lead in paying homage, and everyone knelt down with great courtesy: this was to receive the reward.

"Everyone, stand up straight so I can see you!"

Zhu Changluo deliberately arranged this incident to motivate them.

He stood up and walked down the stairs. He walked around to the front of the desk, first looked at Xiao Ruxun, Liu Jing and Yu Zigao with a smile, and then looked at the three excited camp officers.

"The three of you have the best foundation." Zhu Changluo looked at them, then turned back and pointed at the three tables with the majority of small silver ingots. "I'm true to my word. This year, the whole camp will receive two taels of salary. I've asked my personal guards to prepare the carriages, which will be brought back to the camp and distributed later! To avoid small changes, each soldier will receive nine taels of silver, and there will be three thousand taels left. You officers can divide it up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!" The three of them bowed again to express their gratitude.

There are many kinds of military pay, including monthly rations, monthly silver, travel silver, and reward silver. The so-called two pays can only be the most basic monthly rations and monthly silver.

According to the current standard, an ordinary soldier in the Beijing camp was given one stone of grain per month. Nowadays, one stone of grain in Beijing is calculated at about twelve coins of silver, so each soldier's monthly grain is equivalent to about nine taels of silver per year.

The emperor gave the numbers. One battalion over there was worth thirty thousand taels, three battalions ninety thousand taels. Let's look at the other small table...

How could they not be excited? Payroll is fighting power!

"Can your three battalions keep this silver next year?"

"I will definitely defend it!"

The three of them could hardly imagine what would happen after the 90,000 taels of silver were taken back and distributed to every officer and soldier on the spot in front of the red eyes of other camps.

Of course everyone is training to death! It's hard to say whether we can defend it next year... Zhu Changluo walked to the one hundred brave soldiers standing in two rows on the central corridor of the Qianqing Palace.

He pounded his chest, patted his shoulders, and squeezed his arms with a smile, as if he was weighing whether each person was worthy of the title. He said, "I have given you a nickname today. Although it may seem a bit unruly, I hope that the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty will know that I value talent. You are not one in ten thousand, but one hundred in fifty-five thousand. If I call you the King of Soldiers, there will definitely be people in the border troops and local areas who will not accept it."

Hearing this "disrespectful" title with the word "king" in it, the brave soldiers became so excited as they looked at the emperor who was walking up to them and was so close to them that their blood was almost boiling.

Liu Jing refused to accept it.

What? Soldier King? I, Liu Dadao, am not worthy of this?

"Two ingots per person, no more than seven catties. They are light to hold, but hot to the touch." [Note: One catty in the Ming Dynasty is about 600 grams today, and one tael of silver is about 40 grams.]

Zhu Changluo told them clearly how much the reward was for the first hundred, one hundred taels of silver per person. His skills had never been sold for such a good price before.

"Take this silver, and I will use it for you. Whether you can train yourself to be more skilled and keep this honorable title in the army depends on your ability."

Among these brave soldiers with special skills, Zhu Changluo patted their shoulders one by one, and then walked back, shouting on the way: "Come, come forward one by one, tell your names, and I will give you rewards personally!"

The sense of ceremony was full. Every strong man in the Qianqing Palace loudly reported his name and hometown in front of the emperor, then took the two silver ingots from the emperor and held them tightly, feeling very excited.

Xiao Ruxun was watching from the side and felt that the burden was very heavy.

Although it only happens once a year, this time it means 100,000 taels of silver.

The emperor is so generous, if the Beijing troops cannot train their skills, what face will they have?
Moreover... one hundred people paid a hundred times a total of more than seven pounds of silver... the emperor really took the trouble to do it himself.

After all this was done, Zhu Changluo looked at them and nodded: "You 100 people go to Wuying Palace and wait first, I will go there later."

So the hundred of them expressed their gratitude again, and excitedly left the Qianqing Palace with a hundred taels of silver each.

Is it not over yet? Did His Majesty say that there is another important role for me?

At the entrance of the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, a desk was cleared. Zhu Changluo then sat on the throne and asked the six of them to come forward first.

"As I said before, I will guarantee the food and wages. Now that we have competed, you two have a better understanding of the basics of the generals and soldiers. Practice well when you return."

Liu Jing was a little surprised: "Two people?"

"Yu Zigao will stay for a while." Zhu Changluo did not explain, "Chen Ju, you make arrangements to move the silver to each camp."

"This slave takes the order."

Taking out the silver, displaying it, and then packing it in boxes was simply to let them take a direct look at it first.

Now that the boxes were being loaded, Zhu Changluo said to Xiao Ruxun and Liu Jing, "We can't just practice martial arts and military formations just to earn this extra pay. The most important thing for the Beijing Camp is to enforce orders and make military discipline clear. I said that all officers must be literate, and I'm not kidding you. This year we'll only test these, but next year and the year after, there will be more. The Beijing Camp must not only be able to fight, but also be good at fighting, and officers must have clear minds, remember?"

Xiao Ruxun was of course not under any pressure, and Liu Jing agreed awkwardly.

"You all have titles of nobility. It is your responsibility to train the Beijing Army well. I will not give you any extra rewards." Zhu Changluo said, "If the Beijing Army is well trained and you make meritorious deeds in the future, you may consider becoming a marquis."

Liu Jing nodded repeatedly: "I understand! I understand!"

It seems that I still need to study hard and read more military books.

Although I still don't know how I can achieve merit, but the emperor is spending one hundred thousand taels so lavishly, it won't be a loss-making deal, right?
After the boxes were packed, the five of them thanked Chen Ju again and left with Chen Ju and the personal soldiers who came to carry the silver. Only Yu Zigao stayed behind, confused.

"Go to Wuying Palace."

Zhu Changluo did not waste any time and walked directly to Wuying Palace with him.

"This spot in the Fifth Army Battalion was unexpectedly won by your subordinates. It took a lot of effort during this period of time."

Yu Zigao followed behind and said, "Your Majesty, I am honored to receive your grace. This is what I should do."

There were three camps that received double pay, one each for Wujun, Shenshu and Shenji. This was because some elite soldiers had to be given to Shenshu and Shenji camps when the generals and soldiers were divided in the first place, and also because it was not appropriate to favor one over the other at the beginning of the reorganization.

However, only one of the five military camps with the largest number of people could get double pay, so the competition was naturally more intense.

"You have been practicing martial arts and studying military books in Quanzhou for so many years. This time, it reminds me of your father. A good father will have a good son." Zhu Changluo sighed, "I know that the Duke of Ying wants to rely on you, so the generals and soldiers you lead have good foundations, but it is also because you were able to subdue them with your own martial arts and strategies after arriving in the Beijing camp."

"I... dare not slack off day or night."

"That's good. Now that I'm going to use you separately, the Duke of England will definitely complain bitterly." Zhu Changluo laughed, "I will have to appease him a little."

"Your Majesty...you want to transfer me from the Beijing camp to another place?" Yu Zigao was a little surprised. He had just stood firm in the Beijing camp.

"The year after the Grand Examination is the year of the military examination." Zhu Changluo said, "Yu Zigao, I will give you a chance to show your talents. From now on, I will select a steady stream of top soldiers for you. And you, you must train an invincible army for me. This camp is called Tianshu. You and your soldiers must all have unique skills, and each team can make surprise attacks thousands of miles away and do what others cannot."

Yu Zigao followed blankly, listening to the emperor talk about what kind of army the Tianshu Camp should be.

Gradually, I heard all the way to Wuying Palace. Zhu Changluo pointed at Luo Sigong who was there and said, "Including how to lurk behind the enemy lines and spy on information like Luo Zhenfu did in the past!"

(End of this chapter)