Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 71: It's hard to argue for merit just because of one's will

The voice was very familiar. Zhang Baiyu looked in the direction of the voice and saw Li Shiyi cursing loudly in front of the merit board.

The reason why it is called a merit board rather than a merit platform is because there is a huge blackboard on the platform, and someone is using chalk to write down the merits of the troops one by one and make it public.

This must be another innovation of Liu Dalang's. Not only should rewards be decided immediately, but rewards and punishments should also be widely publicized. What did he say during the public trial in Dayi Town?

Oh, yes, fair, just and open.

It seemed that the alcohol was still affecting his brain, and Zhang Baiyu's thoughts were a little divergent. He couldn't help but think of what his father taught him when he was a child: if the punishment is unknown, then the power is unpredictable. Only when you can punish your subordinates at any time will they be afraid of you.

When your subordinates' fear of you surpasses their fear of the enemy, you will be invincible. This is what Li Weigong's Art of War says: "Those who fear me do not fear the enemy, and those who fear the enemy do not fear me."

Previously, Zhang Baiyu had believed this argument without a doubt, because war was cruel, the army was violent, and civilians were ignorant. How to get the most ignorant civilians to form the most violent army to fight the most brutal war? This was the only solution since ancient times.

But Liu Dalang seems to have found the second one, which now seems to be very effective.

At the very least, a rough guy like Li Bodhisattva can usually say a few slogans like "expel the Tartars and restore China", and can also raise questions under the merit board.

Lu You, who was directing the clerks writing on the merit board on the stage, opened the document in his hand, frowned, and looked at it carefully for a few seconds before shouting, "Don't make a fuss here. Let your team receive the merit document in the future, and he will explain it to you in detail. If you still have questions later, let your team leader speak to the commander."

"The Second Cavalry Division, huh? Let me see... Is Zhang Baiyu here? Is Liang Pan here? Hurry up and take the documents away so I can explain this to your men."

Zhang Baiyu quickly pushed through the crowd, took the document, and told his team to return to the tent.

Li Bodhisattva, also known as Li Shiyi, muttered as he walked, "My dear, I don't think it's Liu Dalang who's deliberately making things difficult for us. It must be those Cuo Da who's causing trouble. Wei Erlang is a fellow traveler, but who is that bastard Lu You, and how dare he pretend to be an official? My dear, we have backers too. We are just guest soldiers in the Zhongyi Army. At worst, we can just go our separate ways and return to the Dongping Army. Wouldn't that make us all happy?"

"Shut up! What are you complaining about?" Zhang Baiyu finally yelled after hearing this. However, he opened his mouth but couldn't think of anything else to say. He could only bring up Liu Huai's past remarks: "The Northern Expedition requires unity. With only a few thousand people, you're still fighting among yourselves. Are you courting death?"

Bodhisattva Li remained silent.

Zhang Baiyu snorted, opened the document in his hand, and just glanced at it. His already fair face became even paler, and then turned red.

"What's up, sir? Did those thieves take away our credit?"

Liang Pan was also a little anxious.

Because this morning, it was confirmed that merit should be linked to promotion and rewards.

The Zhongyi Army and the Dongping Army will inevitably expand. At that time, the commander will become the deputy commander, the commander-in-chief will become the commander-in-chief, and the generals and reserve generals will certainly be promoted. However, there will inevitably be a sequence in this process.

Who should be promoted first? It must be whoever has made the greatest contribution! Otherwise, it will be difficult to convince the public.

As for the rewards, they were even more generous. In addition to gold, silver and copper coins, the most important thing was the division of permanent land and official land.

Fortunately, the Song Dynasty did not suppress mergers and acquisitions, so there were few farmlands to begin with. Moreover, all those who participated in the recruitment were from the lower classes, and there were a huge number of landless farmers or farmers who were about to lose their land. When they heard that the land was to be divided, their eyes turned red.

Although the Loyal Army has just captured Qushan County and has not even controlled the entire Haizhou area, and does not have any land at all, since there is such a statement, it will naturally attract many people.

At least everyone is more motivated to fight the gold man.

Now, for no apparent reason, I was two ranks less meritorious than others. This meant that from now on, others would be in command, while I would be the general. Others would be able to get a hundred acres of paddy fields, while I would only get ten acres of dry land. Who could stand this?!

Under the hopeful gazes of the thirty or so people around him, Zhang Baiyu hesitated for a moment before speaking in a resolute tone, "Mr. Lu and the others were right. The second team did indeed contribute less than the first."

Zhang Silang said this with a guilty conscience, "The other day in the reed marsh, the first team was able to break through the enemy lines, but our second team wasn't."

Bodhisattva Li was stunned: "That's not right, why don't we have it? We..." The noise just started and disappeared in an instant.

Breaking through the enemy lines, beheading the general, seizing the flag, and being the first to ascend the mountain—these are the four great merits of battle, and they are also the most strictly measured.

Because out of a hundred warriors who try to accomplish these four feats, ninety-nine will die.

The one who survives will receive the highest honor, the most generous reward, and the highest credit.

So, if there is, there is, and if there is not, there is not.

The day before, the only ones who rushed out from the reed marshes and engaged in a head-on confrontation with the Jin army's armored cavalry were the first cavalry team led by Liu Huai.

Although Zhang Baiyu's troops also participated in the war later, it was a completely different matter.

Facing an intact enemy formation, unknown morale, and unknown combat power, and bravely leading the army to attack, is completely different from fighting a favorable battle against a shattered formation, shattered morale, and clearly broken combat power.

Even a scoundrel like Li Bodhisattva who is causing trouble for no reason has nothing to say.

If anyone dared to object to such matters, Lu You could refute them with just one word.

Oh, you think this time is unfair, then how about you go first next time, and then the second group's contribution will be counted as yours? Just don't feel wronged then.

At the critical moment, Liang Pan quickly came to Zhang Baiyu's rescue: "My dear, you hesitated that day because you didn't want us to lose our lives in vain. The only thing you didn't expect was that Liu Dalang would be so brave and decisive..."

Having said this, Liang Pan was also stuck, because it seemed like he was belittling Zhang Baiyu to raise Liu Huai's value.

This made Zhang Baiyu want to cover his face.

Fortunately, the others also reacted at this time. Led by Bodhisattva Li, they all spoke out to persuade him, saying that there would be plenty of opportunities to make meritorious deeds in the future and they didn't care about what happened this time.

After the persuasion, the people in Ma Jun's second team still felt a little bored, so they dispersed.

Zhang Baiyu sat alone on a mat in the tent in a daze for a while, then stood up and threw the document in his hand to the ground.

However, after being stunned for a moment, he picked up the document again, brushed off the dust on it, and opened it to read again.

As a team leader, he needs to be aware of the contributions of his subordinates.

It would be best if we could also make a smaller gong board for our team, just like the huge one.

However, when Zhang Baiyu walked out of the tent with the documents, he looked up and saw that hundreds of people had gathered next to the huge commendation board, and on the high platform under the commendation board, three soldiers were standing at a loss.

Zhang Silang had sharp eyes and could tell at a glance that these three people were the three armored cavalrymen from the first squadron of the cavalry.

Lu You said something on the stage, but hundreds of soldiers below applauded and cheered loudly.

The three soldiers had nothing in their hands, and it seemed that they had not received any extra rewards. Their faces were flushed red, as if they had drunk alcohol, but they did not stop themselves from holding their heads high and chests puffed out, each of them showing an in high-spirited attitude.

I believe that after today, the reputation of these three people will spread throughout the entire army, and anyone who talks about these three people will have to call them heroes.

However, after seeing this scene, Zhang Baiyu could no longer bear it. He stomped his feet and turned to walk towards the general's tent.

(End of this chapter)