Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 108 The Prince's Family Has No Surplus Food

The news that the beggar bandits had "magic" to break into the city spread like wildfire in the city, and various versions of the story were plausible.

In the dark alleys of the streets, inns and taverns, and farmers' markets, there were people who spread rumors about beggars and thieves, both intentionally and unintentionally.

Some people said that the beggar bandits used the "skin-painting disguise technique" and three hundred of them peeled off the faces of government soldiers and put them on themselves, almost deceiving General Chen in the east of the city.

Some people say that the beggar thief practices evil magic and refines all the blood in his body into kerosene. As long as he squeezes the blood of his friendly soldiers, he can use the Samadhi True Fire to melt stone and steel.

Some people also say that the beggar bandits and assassins are monsters transformed from the resentment of the poor people who died unjustly during the two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. This time they cultivated into human form to take revenge and kill all the powerful people.

When Tang Ma discovered that the main force of the Qihuo bandits had been detected and the information reached the city, the morale of the officers and soldiers, which was already on the verge of collapse, instantly exploded.

Chen Hongfan mobilized thousands of infantry and cavalry under his command and demanded that the north gate of the city be opened. A deputy general who was temporarily promoted also wanted to leave. In less than a day, more than 10,000 government troops were crowded in the north of the city.

If the military supervisor had not tried his best to stop them, more than 10,000 soldiers would have left the city and headed north to Kaifeng.

The news that the tribesmen were clamoring to leave reached Li Xianfeng's ears.

"What!" The governor was shocked, his whole body shook and his limbs became stiff.

There were more than 20,000 soldiers in the city, all was well. How come 60 to 70 percent of them suddenly disobeyed orders and wanted to leave?

“It’s said in the market that the beggar thief has the help of a master, and the Samadhi Fire he wields can burn through the iron gates—even if three hundred people were trapped to death in the city wall, they could still burn through the gates and escape.

I originally thought it was nonsense, but after seeing it with my own eyes, I realized it was true.”

An aide spoke confidently and with a firm look on his face, just like Guan Yu who said he saw Cao Cao easily kill a hundred people with his own eyes.

Another civil servant immediately refuted this, "What nonsense! It's nothing but a useless whitewash by a soldier, and you still believe it? Three hundred bandits were trapped in the city wall, unable to escape, yet they escaped. Why? Someone must have failed to command effectively and forgot to seal the gate, allowing the bandits to escape."

"In my opinion, the garrison commander and the bandits probably reached a tacit agreement and accepted bribes to let the bandits escape. Later, in order to avoid punishment, he made up the ridiculous rumor of 'Samadhi True Fire' - there are no immortals or demons in this world!
As for the gap in the gate, couldn't they have smashed it out afterwards?"

"But the captured grain bags were filled with dirt."

"That guy was the one who was trying to trick people into giving away soil for food. If we don't punish him severely, what will happen if he continues flirting with the bandits in the future?"

"That's right! Recently, the soldiers have seen the rise of bandits and the imperial court relying on them, so they have become more arrogant and domineering. Normally, even a general, let alone a lieutenant general, would have to show great respect to us. Now, a mere guerrilla dares to act so arrogantly in front of us. How disgraceful!"

"Ahem..." The governor cleared his throat, interrupting everyone's discussion. "Chen Hongfan's command is ineffective, and I will definitely report him. But the main force of the Qihuo bandits will arrive soon, and we still need you to risk your lives to kill the bandits and defend Runing. We can't be too harsh on him."

Of course, the reason why the governor dared not take real action was—

Because of the battle in southern Henan, he was reprimanded by His Majesty and made meritorious contributions while serving his sentence.

Although his power did not change, his prestige in front of the military generals was greatly reduced. There were often generals and deputy generals commanding thousands of troops who pretended to obey his orders but actually disobeyed them, or even misinterpreted and refused to carry out his military orders.

However, as he only had one direct battalion, he did not dare to make an example of someone to scare the others and enforce strict military discipline, fearing that it would provoke a mutiny. He could only carefully maintain the current situation.

The governor hesitated for a moment, then shouted outside, "Fang Shihao!"

The deputy general who commanded 4,000 soldiers and horses of the standard battalion immediately walked into the hall and knelt on one knee, "I am here!"

"I order you to hold the command arrow and urge Chen Hongfan and others to lead their troops back to the camp! If anyone disobeys my orders..." Li Xianfeng hesitated for a moment, but still couldn't utter a harsh word, "I will report this to the emperor."

"The last general takes command!"

Watching the deputy general walk out of the hall, Li Xianfeng selected the prefect and ordered him to question Chen Hongfan for "letting the thieves go" that day.

Li Xianfeng didn't want to blame the general, he just wanted to hint to the other party to hand over a few unlucky guys to take the blame.

In this way, the general was not punished, the governor gained face for "enforcing the law impartially", and the only ones who suffered were a few insignificant little soldiers. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

Of course, it is not enough to just arrange these. It is also necessary to give the soldiers a wave of generous rewards to boost morale, otherwise it will be difficult to resist the aggressive beggars.

Li Xianfeng is short of military pay and it is difficult to maintain the continuous payment of wages. So who is the richest person in Runing City?

Gentry and princes.

He could not kill all the powerful people with a knife like a thief and confiscate their money and land one by one, because after doing so he would be drowned by a large number of impeachments.

He could only flatter and beg for financial assistance from these rich people like a well-dressed "beggar".

Li Xianfeng explained the interests involved and called on wealthy families to donate money and grain to motivate officers and soldiers and recruit more militiamen to strengthen the city defense.

If the beggar bandits broke through Runing, with the beggar bandits' slogan of "rob the rich to help the poor", the poor people might be able to escape, but the many wealthy gentry would definitely not be spared.

However, a local gentleman with deep roots politely declined, his tone revealing a strong sense of luck.

They said that the bandits were unwilling to take the people hostage. Even if the counties along the way surrendered without a fight, when they reached the city of Runing, those bandits would not be able to trap the entire city of Runing, and soldiers and food could be secretly transported into the city.

Someone took the lead in refusing to contribute to the military pay, and the other gentry began to act accordingly. They complained that the harvest had been poor, many tenant farmers had starved to death or fled, and the imperial court's increased levies were onerous. Furthermore, the previous governor had already raised funds and grain several times to raise funds to suppress bandits, leaving even the landlords without any surplus food.

The gentry also said that the walls of Runing City were high and thick, and it was definitely not comparable to the several dilapidated county towns in southern Henan. How could a group of peasants who had just put down their hoes know how to march, fight, and capture cities?

The previous defeat in southern Henan was simply due to some officers and soldiers drinking and making mistakes, allowing the enemy to win a lucky victory.

Li Xianfeng knew that these people were crying poor. This year's harvest was indeed not good, but it was by no means to the point of collapse.

The gentry and wealthy families must have considerable reserves of money and grain. If each family contributes 100 dan of grain and 1,000 taels of silver, it will be enough to overcome the current difficulties.

But they were all worth thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver, but they were unwilling to pay even a hundred taels of silver. If the enemy soldiers broke into the city, what use would it be for them to have tens of thousands of taels of silver?

However, due to the network of connections behind the gentry, the governor could not force them too much and could only spend more time persuading them to serve the people as well as themselves.

Perhaps the gentry also felt that it was embarrassing to be stingy, so if you gave ten taels and I gave thirty taels, dozens of gentry families could have contributed 40,000 taels of silver without damaging their foundation, but in the end they could only scrape together 4,000 taels of silver.

What can four thousand taels do?
It was divided evenly among more than 20,000 officers and soldiers, and each person received less than two cents of silver.

These days, the price of a stone of corn in Henan has risen to one liang and six qian, which is twice as expensive as the previous price of eight qian per stone.

In the areas of Shaanxi and Gansu where the drought was extremely severe, the price of one stone of corn soared to eight taels of silver, and the area had become a living hell.

His Royal Highness Prince Chong was even more stingy. His family was worth as much as dozens of gentry families combined. He was annoyed by Li Xianfeng's repeated persuasion and finally took out two thousand taels of silver reluctantly. Even then, he still had an embarrassed look on his face, as if to say "I've tried my best".

After Li Xianfeng tried to persuade him a few more times, the prince became furious and scolded Li Xianfeng for not solving the problem himself as the governor of a province, but only thinking about deducting money from others.

Even if he defeated the bandits and made great achievements, what good would it be for him to be the King of Chong? Would he be easy to bully as a vassal king?

Li Xianfeng was almost laughing out of anger, thinking that repelling the bandits and protecting your family's lives and property was a benefit. There would be no benefit in the world if that happened.

His Royal Highness Prince Chong owns many farms in Henan Province, and his servants run shops in the surrounding prefectures and counties. His annual income is incalculable, and even if he pays out 30,000 taels of silver, it is more than enough.

As for some people saying that the princes’ “annual salary” was repeatedly in arrears and that they had no surplus food to live on, that is all stupid nonsense.

The lower classes of the royal family did have a hard time because they were owed rice and silver, but it was only the lower classes. Would the middle and upper classes, or even the top royal family members like the princes, be short of rice and silver?

It's easy to figure out that if the princes had no money, how could so many royal descendants be born in more than two hundred years? Were they all transformed by monsters?

The province of Henan alone was divided among seven kings, and an unknown amount of land was occupied.

"If the bandits break into Runing, how will your family and their property be protected?"

Li Xianfeng yelled at the prince's departing back, but the latter seemed not to hear and gradually quickened his pace.

When Li Xianfeng wanted to see the prince again, he was told that the prince was ill and would not see guests in the near future.

Confused! Confused! Extremely greedy!

Li Xianfeng was so angry that his head hurt, but he could do nothing about it. The princes were all "hot cakes" valued by the current people, and he did not dare to force them.

Helplessly, he could only distribute 6,000 taels of silver to boost morale first. The 6,000 taels were divided equally among more than 20,000 soldiers, and each person could get about two or three cents.

……

One morning, the soldiers who had heard that they had received rewards from their superiors happily went to the training ground to gather.

Each reward money is first given to the soldiers' leader, and then distributed to the soldiers by the leader's personal soldiers.

The soldiers were lined up in long, sparse rows. Occasionally, a powerful soldier would order his fellow soldiers to make way and then lead his men in.

When the pawns in front left one after another, it was the turn of the tough guy to receive the reward.

He took a silver bean, thinking he had made a mistake. He pinched the tiny bean and asked, "How much silver is this?"

"One penny?" The tough guy was a little displeased and grabbed the silver-distributing soldier by the neck. "One penny of silver can't even buy a bushel of grain. Who the hell are you trying to fool?"

"Stop making trouble!" The lieutenant general's personal guards came over with swords drawn, and the tough guy had no choice but to glare at them and slowly retreat.

Such shouting and conflicts occurred from time to time, and almost every general's soldiers were dissatisfied.

Only the soldiers under the command of Lin Dengwan, the garrison commander of the standard camp, received the most, with each person receiving five cents of silver. It was said that it was originally one cent of silver, but the three Lin brothers paid out of their own pockets and used part of their salary to reward the one thousand soldiers under their command.

The contrast made the officers and soldiers even more angry, and there were even rumors that the governor had actually raised 60,000 taels of silver, and if it were all distributed to each soldier, everyone would get two or three taels.

But now they only have one penny of silver beans, where did the missing one or two ounces go?
"I worked my ass off defending the city for these nobles, and all they give us is this!" A guerrilla angrily threw a silver bean at the wall, then turned to look at the man in the main seat, "General, just open the city and surrender the beggars!"

The man sitting in the main seat leaned forward slightly, revealing his entire face under the candlelight. Who else could it be but General Chen Hongfan?

(End of this chapter)