The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 742 Chang'an is a city
Lin Zhenyu asked, "What's your name? Where are you from? Why do you want to pay me a visit?"

The Daimao King shouted, "I'm Cui Qi, a native of Shaanxi. I recruited soldiers in the first year of the Wuding reign, and I have seventy-eight bandit leaders under my command! I was originally a sentry in the third battalion of the first corps. In the second year of the Taichu reign, the Sixth Corps expanded, and they drew men from various corps. I followed He Longzhou and went to Shandong to fight the White Lotus Sect... Later, He Longzhou rebelled in Liaodong and asked if we would join him. Many of my brothers refused to follow, so we dispersed, and I retired and returned home."

Lin Zhenyu was about to ask why he had become a bandit, but he heard the Daimao Wang sigh and say:

"Hey, Officer Lin, it's not that I want to be a thief! It's just that the court is unfair!"

It turned out that after retiring from the army, Cui Qi returned to his hometown of Jinshan, where he had an elderly mother to support. Cui Qi had earned some salary during his years as a soldier, but his daily expenses had left him with very little. He had hoped to use the 100 taels of military silver granted by the court to cultivate 80 mu of land and provide for his mother and son. Unexpectedly, when the silver arrived, there was not even 100 taels!

"Then how much were you given?" Although Lin Zhenyu was also an officer, he had always stayed in the Ryukyu Province and was not aware of the vigorous disarmament in the country in the past two years.

"Damn it! The civil officials of Jinshanwei Tunbao used the excuse that the imperial court had not distributed enough pensions and that the tunbao had no money, so they had to pay in installments. Each person was given ten taels upfront, and the rest was interest. When the money came in later, they would pay us both the principal and interest."

Lin Zhenyu was stunned. He had never expected that local civil affairs officials could operate in this way.

It should be noted that the relief silver issued by the court was all based on official notices from the Ministry of Revenue, and the amount could not possibly be insufficient. A small civil official from Jinshanwei dared to embezzle so much silver. In the era of the retired emperor, officials who embezzled more than 100 taels would be skinned and tortured to death.

In the sixth year of Guangde, Liu Kan issued an oral decree that any official found guilty of corruption, regardless of the amount of money involved, should be arrested and put in prison for trial. This also declared that officials in Qi who were found guilty of corruption would not be subject to the death penalty.

"Where's the land? Where's the land the court gave to retired soldiers?"

Daimao Wang gave a bitter laugh and angrily said, "Land? They said each person would be given 80 mu of upper land to cultivate, but when it was distributed, it was either wasteland or lower land. There was very little upper land, or they deliberately divided the land into garrisons more than ten miles away, so you can't farm..."

"The most hateful thing," Cui Qi spat, "is that once you get the upper land, all other land will be taxed according to the upper land."

Lin Zhenyu asked puzzledly, "Didn't you go to the prefecture or county to file a complaint?"

"The pensions and land for hundreds of thousands of people would cost more than tens of millions of taels. It's not something that one or two state officials can cover."

Cui Qi pointed upwards and gritted his teeth, saying, "They have connections above them, dividing the money between everyone! They've divided up the retired soldiers' fields, the mines and ponds in the garrison, and the officials are protecting each other. There's no point in suing them!"
Lin Zhenyu shook his head and said, "What a bunch of rats! They even dared to touch the retired soldiers' money! They are truly fearless!"

The Daimao King said indignantly, "The veterans are scattered all over the place. There are only two of us in the village. We are no match for them if we cause trouble."

"My mother is ill, and the medicine has destroyed our house. I have to live, so I have no choice but to become a bandit."

After listening to the story of Daimao Wang, Lin Zhenyu felt dizzy and a feeling of powerlessness he had never experienced before surged into his heart. He was silent for a long time before he murmured:

"I didn't expect the retired soldiers to be in such a difficult situation, barely making ends meet. At the beginning, Prime Minister Kang promised that the soldiers would be treated preferentially after they left the army, but this is how preferential treatment they received. The instructor said that the soldiers should think about the country, and if I don't get laid off, who will? The soldiers did think about the country, but now they are short of food and clothing. Who cares about them?"

Cui Qi looked up at the sky and said with deep emotion, "When I first joined the army, I wanted to fight for my country and make great achievements. I never thought about asking for money. I never thought that I would end up like this."

The original ideal has been abandoned.

They betrayed Da Qi.

"The new emperor and his civil and military officials claim to be implementing new policies, but in reality, they are betraying Da Qi, betraying the emperor, and abandoning us soldiers..."

The Daimao King was still recounting the miserable experiences of the veterans when he suddenly heard someone behind him say:
"Captain Lin, it's getting late. Should we set up camp or continue on our journey? Please give me some advice."

Lao Pan held his pipe in his mouth and looked at Lin Zhenyu with a smile.

"understood."

Lin Zhenyu waved to Lao Pan, turned around and said to Daimao Wang:

"Brother Cui, what are your plans for the future? Are you going to follow Yixiantian and rob people?"

Cui Qi looked up at Lin Zhenyu, his eyes full of expectation:
"I would like to follow General Lin to Yunyang and make great achievements. I wonder if General Lin would accept me, even as a personal soldier."

Lin Zhenyu looked embarrassed. According to the law, battalion officers were strictly prohibited from recruiting personal soldiers without authorization. After Emperor Guangde came to power, this ban was abolished, and generals could recruit their own personal soldiers and attendants.

The dozens of Ryukyu soldiers who followed Lin Zhenyu northward this time were following him as his personal guards. "What about your men? What will happen to them if you leave? I can't recruit so many personal guards at once. I won't be able to support them all."

The Daimao King laughed and said, "They are all bankrupt farmers from the surrounding area. Only a few of them are my former comrades. They are used to robbery and probably don't want to join the army. I will only take two people with me at most."

Lin Zhenyu was hesitant, not knowing whether he should agree. He asked King Daimao to search for the minions who had just been separated, while he stood there hesitating.

At some point, Lao Panlai came over. The old Ryukyu man, holding a pipe in his mouth and squinting his eyes, asked with a smile:
"Since they are truly willing to surrender, why is Officer Lin hesitant?"

Lin Zhenyu lowered his voice and said, "Lao Pan, why are you here to join in the fun? Others may not know, but don't you know our current situation?"

Lao Pan shook his pipe and asked in surprise, "What situation?"

Lin Zhenyu said anxiously, "The emperor asked me to be the battalion commander of the Fourth Corps. I have been promoted several levels without any problems. Many eyes in the court are watching us. We haven't even reached Yunyang yet, but we are recruiting soldiers on the way. If those people find out, they will definitely write a letter to impeach us. If it arouses the emperor's suspicion, then I will have a hard time keeping my life, let alone becoming a battalion commander..."

Seeing Lin Zhenyu's anxious look, Lao Pan coughed dryly and said, "Hahaha, you're young and full of energy, and you think things are simple."

"How simple?"

Lao Pan, possessed by a dog-headed military advisor, said with a smile, "Since the emperor has sent us to Yunyang, he must trust us. He didn't allocate any troops to us when we left Nanjing, but he rewarded you with 100,000 taels of silver. His intention now is to let you recruit troops and cultivate confidants along the way so that you can compete with Qin Jianxun and his men. Such an obvious move, and you actually can't see it?"

Lin Zhenyu thought for a moment and felt that what Lao Pan said made some sense.

"But we can't recruit too many of these bandits and thieves. Otherwise, if they form a group, we won't be able to survive."

Lin Zhenyu smiled and said, "Then I'll only take three or five."

He immediately recruited Cui Qi, the "Dumb King," the second-in-command, and a leader, a total of three people, as Lin Zhenyu's personal guards. He also recruited a dozen or so willing soldiers, and Lin Zhenyu's team already exceeded 100 people. In the following days, more and more bandits joined Lin Zhenyu's army every day.

Under Lao Pan's guidance, Lin Zhenyu first distributed the wages to these new recruits and said some words to boost morale. Not to mention Daimao Wang, even the newly joined minions were grateful to Captain Lin and looked like they would go through fire and water for him.

Speechless all the way.

After leaving Nanzhili, he went upstream along the river and then took the post road. Twenty days later, he arrived in Wuchang.

When the fleet passed through Guishan, the remains of the battlefield left by the retired emperor when he fought against Zuo Liangyu were still vivid in their sight.

Lin Zhenyu held onto the side of the boat, looking towards Turtle Mountain and Snake Mountain, and said with infinite emotion:

"Back then, the Emperor Retired fought wars across the country and was invincible. It's a shame I was born too late. If I had the chance to serve under the Emperor, I wouldn't know how many lifetimes of hard work it would take to earn that much!"

Wu Zi said beside him: "Although the general did not follow the emperor to fight, your father has always followed the emperor. In the past, your father followed Liu Zhaosun to conquer the world, and now you will follow Emperor Guangde to rule the world..."

Lin Zhenyu was quite displeased when he heard Wu Zi calling the retired emperor by his name. When he heard her talk about following Emperor Guangde to govern the world, he became even more furious.

"That's what Kang Jingxiu and Kang Guangxu did. I'm just a warrior, I don't have that ability."

Maiko knew she had said the wrong thing and quickly changed the subject.

"Don't you Han people have a saying about the nine-headed bird in the sky and the Huguang people on the ground? Why is it that everyone in the world is rebelling, but only Huguang is not?"

Lin Zhenyu really wanted to correct her statement.

"Whether Huguang is in chaos or not, Qin Jianxun has the final say. Let's go and meet the youngest corps commander of the Great Qi."

Lin Zhenyu looked west towards Yunyang, with the Yangtze River flowing eastward in front of him, and said thoughtfully.

(End of this chapter)