Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 293 Reward and Interception

In the lobby of the Shenyang Central Guard Command Office, Yang Lian was lowering his head to copy a petition describing the outer city defense of Shenyang.

The report stated: Shenyang dug twelve layers of trenches, each about one person deep. The narrowest could accommodate two people standing shoulder to shoulder, while the widest could accommodate three people standing shoulder to shoulder. Pointed wood was inserted into the bottom of the trench; if someone fell into the hole, they would die. In the space between the trenches, another layer of trenches was dug, and the inside of the trenches was fenced with large wood that could only be lifted by 10 to 20 people.
At this moment, the guerrilla general Zu Dashou came to him with a wooden box in his hands and said, "Zhongcheng, the criminal has been executed. The head is inside. I'll put it here for you." His expression was normal, without any change because he was holding a head in his hands. It was a bit like Jing Ke holding the box containing Fan Yuqi's head.

Yang Lian raised his eyebrows, drained the ink from the wolf-hair brush, and then put it down. He stood up, picked up a package on the table, walked over to Zu Dashou, and said, "Open it."

"Yes." Zu Dashou pulled open the baffle, and a head buried in fine salt with only the top of the head and forehead exposed was revealed.

"Do you want to take it out?" Zu Dashou asked again.

"No need, just close it." Yang Lian was able to tell the authenticity of the piece based on the features of the top of the head and forehead.

Zu Dashou nodded silently. As soon as he closed the shutter, Yang Lian handed him the package and said, "Here are all the confessions in this case, along with the memorial I wrote. You must send them along with the head to Liaoyang and hand them over to Xiong Zuotang personally. Remember, personally."

"Me?" Zu Dashou held the letter of thanks in one hand and the package in the other.

"Yes." Yang Lian nodded and said, "This is very important. We can't let anything go wrong. I don't trust others to go."

Zu Dashou smiled innocently and said, "Hehe. Of course I won't make any mistakes. But then there will be no one to watch over you."

"I'll stay in Shenyang and not go anywhere." Yang Lian said with a smile.

"Okay. I'll go now." Zu Dashou turned and left.

Watching Zu Dashou's receding figure, Yang Lian sighed inwardly. He knew that once this head was sent to Beijing, it would inevitably cause a huge uproar in the court.

--------

At the Shenyang Zhongwei Treasury, the silver, money, and gifts that arrived yesterday have been stacked in two batches in the courtyard. The small boxes on the left contain the rewards bestowed by the Emperor on officers of all ranks. These have been fully accounted for and are only waiting for a signature before they can be delivered directly to the respective officers' homes.

The dozen or so large boxes on the right contained the long-overdue first-merit silver. The silver had almost been paid out, with only a few small boxes remaining. The yamen runners were busy in the courtyard, while Sun Chuanting paced back and forth, his hands behind his back.

The Ming Dynasty lacked a dedicated, systematic logistics management mechanism, from central to grassroots level. Generally speaking, the imperial court's sole responsibility for the inspection and issuance of salaries and rewards was to verify and issue them. Once the inspections were complete and the procedures were followed, the items were taken from the warehouse and dispatched according to regulations. Once the money arrived at the camp, the court generally had no control over how it was distributed, or whether it reached the hands of the soldiers at the grassroots level. After all, for over two hundred years, a border town had only a handful of civil servants, including the governors, governors-general, prefects, and prefects with the title of Duchayuan, as well as the officials in charge of grain and salaries with the title of Ministry of Revenue. Their energy was limited, and they were lucky to be able to issue targets and take charge.

This ambiguity fostered widespread corruption, bribery, and illicit dealings. If high-ranking civil officials, such as governors, provincial governors, and prefects, colluded with local military commanders, they could completely overthrow the imperial court.

Under the successive destruction of civil officials represented by Zhao Ji, military officials represented by Li Chengliang, and eunuchs represented by Gao Huai, Liaodong almost became a rotten land.

While inspecting Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi wrote in a memorial, "The governors, prefects, and prefectural officials have become one, and the inspectors are playing cat and mouse with each other. The secretaries and gatekeepers are like tigers with wings, ready to eat people."

Back then, he and Ma Zheng, the deputy military envoy of Ningqian Road, worked together to severely rectify the official atmosphere in Liaodong.

According to historical records, dozens of people were captured in one day, six were sent to garrison, and more than twenty were forced to work as prisoners. After the war, more than seventy people were assigned to the army, and more than thirty were servants. For a time, "morality and discipline were greatly improved" in Liaodong.

But without top-down institutional reform, such a revitalization was destined to be sporadic and short-lived. In the 39th year of the Wanli reign, Xiong Tingbi resigned as provincial governor. Most of the officials he had dismissed were reinstated through the efforts of Li Chengliang. Liaodong's military preparations and garrisons suffered significant damage, and the region rapidly fell into decline.

After Xiong Tingbi took office as governor, he simultaneously dismissed officials and petitioned the Emperor to replace them, a move the Wanli Emperor fully agreed to. Thus, Liaodong's civil service system underwent a major reshuffle. Governors and prefects were replaced, and military vacancies were filled.

When Liaodong faced a threat to its survival, the civil officials who dared to come to Liaodong and join Xiong Tingbi's team were all courageous and not profit-seeking. Under their leadership, the civilian officers of the various garrisons were suppressed to the point that even if they dared to commit corruption, they could not do so openly.

In places like Guangning, Haizhou, Liaoyang, and Shenyang, where civilian officials were stationed, the command and logistics systems were completely divided. All local food, wages, rewards, and military equipment required the signature of a civilian official before they could be distributed.

"Boss Sun, everything is ready." Ambassador Cang brought the final cashier slip and a pen.

"Okay." Sun Chuanting quickly scanned it, confirmed it was correct, signed his name on it, and then said, "Load it."

"Yes." Ambassador Cang put away the documents and then said loudly: "Load the truck!"

--------

In the martial arts arena, General He Shixian sat alone on the platform for reviewing generals. Below the platform was a long table with a few empty chairs behind it. In front of the table stood a dense crowd of soldiers waiting to receive their rewards.

Soldiers came from a wide range of sources, including standard bearers, special forces, reinforcements, roving troops, and even city defenders. Of course, the largest number came from the standard bearers of the generals and special forces of the deputy generals under He Shixian and You Shigong. These men were among the elite, rare in Shenyang and even in Liaodong. Every one of them could mount a horse and was brave enough to fight, so they captured the most.

"Here they come!" At one o'clock in the afternoon, Sun Chuanting personally brought two teams of servants assigned to him by He Shixian and brought a total of 18,945 taels of silver for the first merit, which immediately caused a commotion.

"Silence!" He Shixian shouted, and then his voice was carried to every corner of the training ground by the servants who lined up to protect the way.

These retainers who escorted carriages and guarded the roads were a separate group. They were considered the generals' personal guards, but even more so, they were the imperial court's soldiers. Ultimately, their salaries were paid by the imperial court, not by the generals themselves. As early as the Jiajing period, Jizhen issued an order: "Deputy, assistant, roving, garrison, and supervisory officers are allowed to recruit retainers, register with the government, and receive food." With the government providing food for retainers, the imperial court had control over the number of retainers and, to a certain extent, prevented the military garrison from becoming a warlord system.

Soon, more than a dozen large boxes filled with silver for the first meritorious service were piled up in the open space behind the large desk. Sun Chuanting and several garrison officers sat down separately, and in front of them was placed a book recording the ownership of the first meritorious service.

"You Shiwei, the commander of the left wing battalion under the general's command!" Sun Chuanting shouted.

"Yes!" You Shiwei responded sternly, and then led dozens of people to line up in front of the case. These people were all registered as "the ones who achieved the greatest merit."

Sun Chuanting read out the names of the "first meritorious" individuals one by one, and they all responded. Afterward, Sun Chuanting handed You Shiwei a slip of paper and said loudly, "The Left Wing Battalion has reported the first merit of 116 levels, and will be rewarded with 5,800 taels. Take the first box back and distribute it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, General, thank you, Inspector." You Shiwei took the note into his arms. He then bowed repeatedly and ordered the box containing the official ingots to be taken away. Although the imperial court stipulated that each Jiannu head was worth fifty taels of silver, that was true. But everyone knew that these five thousand eight hundred taels of silver could never be fully distributed. He Shixian had indeed withheld it.

This time, the emperor allocated 21,050 taels of silver from the imperial treasury at once, equivalent to the first reward of 421 heads, to He Shixian's troops. He withheld 10% of this, or 2,105 taels of silver.

He Shixian took this ten percent not for personal use, but to give to those Ye Bushou who risked their lives to scout enemy territory. It was a blessing for these men to return alive; the thought of beheading the enemy in exchange for a reward was a fantasy, practically impossible. He needed silver to incentivize the Ye Bushou to die, but the court had no budget for it, so he had no choice but to discuss this shady expedient with Sun Chuanting.

Anyway, the soldiers who received the reward wouldn't care too much. Fifty taels was a very respectable sum. The higher-ups didn't miss out on pay or food, and only cut off 10% of the reward, which was already quite generous. Before the Liaodong incident, if a head worth fifty taels was given to the lower-ups and half was retained, it was considered a sign of the officers' kindness.

--------

Sun Chuanting continued to call out names and distribute money, while You Shiwei took his men and transported the 5,220 taels of reward silver back to the headquarters of the left wing camp under the general's command.

As soon as You Shiwei returned to the base, his three captains immediately came to greet him.

"Youdusi. How much did you get this time? It's my turn now, right?" Captain Chen asked first.

"Come with me first. I have something to tell you first." You Shiwei waved to them and signaled the soldiers escorting the car to carry the silver to the place where salaries were usually paid.

"Youdusi, you didn't bring back an empty box, did you?" After the people around him had dispersed, a captain named Wu with a full beard asked loudly without controlling his voice.

"How is that possible?" You Shiwei glared at Wu Qianzong in dissatisfaction. "Shut up."

"Oh." Mr. Wu Qian scratched his head embarrassedly.

You Shiwei didn't speak immediately, but first took out the note from his pocket and unfolded it. He only glanced at it, and a smile appeared on his face as expected.

"All the silver has been distributed. It's a total of 5,220 taels." You Shiwei said.

"What percentage is this?" asked Mr. Wu Qian.

"It's still 90%." The captain surnamed Liu was quite good at math. He had figured it out before Captain Wu asked any questions.

"This time we won't take money from it. We will distribute 90% of it." You Shiwei said.

"Huh?" General Chen Qian was stunned. He was still hoping to find his younger brother a wife based on this profit share. "The higher-ups don't allow us to embezzle money, so it's fine if we're just taking the salary without working. But now they won't even allow us to share the rewards. What's the point of being a lousy officer? Tell General He to get rid of me."

Chen Qianzong was a beneficiary of the disastrous defeat at Sarhu. Before He Shixian was promoted to general, he was only a captain under He Shixian. After Xiong Tingbi arrived in Liao, the army was massively expanded and reorganized, leaving a serious shortage of mid-level officers. Furthermore, because he was particularly daring, He Shixian promoted him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" You Shiwei glared and stuffed the note Sun Chuanting had given him into Chen Qianzong's hand. "That's all you can do. See for yourself."

"I can't read!" General Chen Qian pushed the note back.

"You're quite confident." You Shiwei laughed and said, "The emperor knows that you, a poor fellow, are short of money. He gave you some silver as a reward."

"Ah? The Emperor is so wise?" General Chen Qian suddenly laughed. "How much?"

"Of course the Emperor is wise!" You Shiwei punched him. "See for yourself."

"Oh, I can't read." General Chen Qian said with a smile.

"Then take a look." You Shiwei handed the note to General Liu Qian.

"One hundred and fifty taels. And cloth and silk." General Liu Qian's mouth corners were almost raised to the sky.

"When will it be sent?" asked Mr. Wu Qian.

"It should have been delivered to your home by now." You Shiwei was the younger brother of Deputy General You Shigong. He knew about this last night.

"That's great." General Chen Qian clapped his hands together, making a crisp sound of joy.

"Look at what you've accomplished." You Shiwei scolded him with a smile, "Learn to read a few words."

"Hehe, yes."

"Thank you and reward me!"

The Left Wing Battalion under the Shenyang General's command had 3,000 soldiers, with 116 first-place kills reported, most of which were unknown. To avoid disputes and the chaos caused by the scramble for heads, He Shixian established a simple, collectivist allocation process for his battalion.

The process is divided into two steps. The first step is unified collection and distribution, which means that no one is allowed to compete. After the heads are collected, he will distribute them. He will try his best to ensure that every team has one. If they are not allocated in the first round, they will be given priority in the second round.

The second step was to distribute the rewards to each team. Each fifty-man team that received a head was collectively rewarded with a head bounty. After deducting the amount of money they had intercepted, the soldier who signed the report received two taels of silver. Another 20% was used to host a feast for the entire team, one for each head. The remaining 60% was divided equally among the remaining soldiers. Generally speaking, officers at all levels took a cut of the 20% from the feast. After all, even at the price of silver in Liaodong, if one didn't indulge in extravagance and buy live chickens and ducks, a meal for fifty people wouldn't cost nine taels of silver.

In the end, the distribution ratio for each head was that the general retained five taels of silver, the soldiers who signed their names to report their merits received nine taels of silver, nine taels of silver were used for hosting the banquet, and the rest of the people received five cents and four cents of silver each.

Eat meat when it’s time to eat meat, and drink soup when it’s time to drink soup.

(End of this chapter)