"Ahh Everyone in the audience was shocked.

"Lord Shangshu, what's going on?"

"What do the general soldiers of Jizhou do to eat!"

"Are you sure it's true? Is there some misunderstanding? ”

……

Everyone asked their own questions, and for a while, there was a mess in the conference hall.

"Alright, alright...... Be quiet and listen to me first. Xing Jue stood up and gave an order.

With Xing Jue's narration, everyone understood the cause and effect of the matter.

There were 4,000 soldiers in this mutiny, and all of them were people who had made meritorious contributions, and their purpose in the mutiny was only one, to ask for money that had not been paid for several years.

What's going on?

Let's start with the Korean War in the 20th year of Wanli. At that time, the old general Wu Weizhong took the five thousand elites of Jizhou and rushed to the Korean battlefield. Li Rusong, the commander-in-chief of the army at the time, promised everyone: all soldiers participating in the war will have a salary of forty-three taels of silver each; Whoever breaks Pyongyang first will be given a reward of 10,000 taels of silver.

This promise was recognized by the Ministry of War and the imperial court. Although the annual salary of ordinary soldiers at that time was only eighteen taels of silver, when they thought of the Eastern Expedition to Korea, they were not familiar with the place, and they were facing the elite troops of the Japanese State, so they also agreed to a high salary of forty-three taels of silver.

At that time, the teams participating in the war of the Ming Dynasty could be roughly divided into southern soldiers and northern soldiers. The southern soldiers included not only the 3,000 Jiangsu-Zhejiang infantry and the 5,000 Sichuan army, but also the 5,000 elites in Jizhou, because they were mainly composed of the "Qijia army". As for the remaining more than 30,000 soldiers, they are counted as northern soldiers.

At that time, the representative generals of the Southern and Northern Soldiers were Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang, respectively. It's just that Qi Jiguang died early, and Li Chengliang not only lived a long time, but also managed Liaodong well, and the southern soldiers slowly became the foil of the northern soldiers.

Back to the point. After the end of the war, the imperial court only symbolically distributed some silver rewards, but the promised forty-three taels of silver disappeared.

Of the 5,000 men and horses in Jizhou, except for those who died in the Korean War, there are more than 4,000 left. They originally thought that they would definitely get a higher salary if they went abroad to fight, but they didn't know that the court had reversed itself, because they had been faintly unhappy in their hearts.

Later, they heard out of nowhere that although the Liaodong soldiers of the Eastern Expedition to Korea did not get forty-three taels of silver from the imperial court, they were privately subsidized by Li Rusong. Including the Sichuan army and the soldiers of Xuan, Da, and Baoding, they were also privately given part of the subsidies by their respective commanders.

Despite this, the more than 4,000 soldiers in Jizhou can only swallow their anger - who told them that they don't have a powerful boss?

It's just that what happened after that made the Jizhou soldiers more and more chilled. The eighteen taels of silver from the imperial court also began to be in arrears. The first two years were slightly better, although there were arrears from time to time, but in the end, they were finally made up. However, last year's salary has been in arrears until now, so the more than 4,000 soldiers in Jizhou couldn't help it, they gathered together, and asked the above to understand the old accounts and new accounts together.

Not only these more than 4,000 soldiers, but also other soldiers in the Jizhou military camp also watched. Because their salaries for the past year are also in arrears, if one is not resolved, they will all mutiny.

Today's Jizhou general soldier is Shi Changting, and it has been less than a year since he took over the Jizhou military camp, where can he suppress this kind of scene. While reassuring the soldiers, he quickly reported the situation.

This 800-mile rush letter was sent to the military headquarters at noon. After Xing Jue checked it for the first time, he planned to discuss it internally first and then report it to the emperor.

"If you have any views and opinions, you can speak freely regardless of whether they are right or wrong." Xing Jue set the tone first.

No one spoke.

Xing Jue cleared his throat, "Don't have any scruples first, this is just an internal meeting of our military department, as long as everyone here doesn't pass it on, no outsiders will know about it." ”

"Jizhou is one of the 'Nine Border Towns', and it is very close to the Beijing Division, if there is really a big problem in the military camp, we can't get out of it!"

In the first Korean War, Zhong Nan was a personal experiencer, and he could especially understand the more than 4,000 soldiers in Jizhou - whose life is not valuable! If it weren't for earning money to support his family, who would want to go so far away and fight to the death with the elite troops of the Japanese Kingdom!

Objectively speaking, this time it was indeed the imperial court's fault first. Since the salary of forty-three taels of silver was promised, it should be fulfilled in full; Otherwise, how many people will be willing to go forward when the next war comes?

Don't kidnap morally, you must be ready to die at any time when you are a soldier, if you don't have that awareness, you are not worthy of being a soldier! However, we have to think about it carefully, those who serve as soldiers also have to eat, drink, and support their families, and they can't "want to run on horses and don't give them grass." In this case, no matter how conscious a soldier is, he will be chilled.

It's just that Zhong Nan can only think about these words in his heart, and he can never say them.

"Zhong Shilang, you once served in Jizhou and participated in the Eastern Crusade, what do you think?" Xing Jue began to order troops.

"Is it true that the forty-three taels of silver per person have not been distributed?" Zhong Nan went straight to the heart of the problem.

"After the end of the Eastern Expedition to Korea, the imperial court did only issue some silver rewards, as for the forty-three taels of silver originally promised, they were not distributed." Song Yingchang replied. He was the chief manager of that war, and he knew the inside story very well.

"Didn't you give everyone an explanation at the time?" Zhong Nan asked again.

"At that time, I didn't say that I wouldn't send it, I just said that it would be postponed, but then it was gone. I have also made many suggestions to the saint on this matter, but the court really can't come up with so much money. Song Yingchang was helpless.

"What about last year's arrears?" Zhong Nan asked again.

The officials here, except for Zhong Nan, are all old men from the military department, and in their opinion, arrears of salaries are normal.

"It's really not enough to allocate two taels of silver, so some soldiers are in arrears with last year's salary." Cao Dewang of Langzhong of the Wuxuan Qing Officials Division said.

Zhong Nan originally thought that the Ming Dynasty was not bad for money, but now it seems that the emperor is definitely not bad for money, but the court may not be.

"Is there any way to temporarily distribute this part of the salary of the soldiers of Jizhou first?" Zhong Nan asked.

"The quota of the Jizhou military camp is more than 90,000 people, 18 taels per person, which is nearly 2 million taels; Even if only half of it is distributed, and it is distributed according to the actual number of soldiers, it will cost four or five hundred thousand taels. If you add the forty-three taels per person of the more than 4,000 people, it is close to 200,000 taels, where can the imperial court come up with so much silver now. Lang Zhongmao, who was in charge of the Clearing Division, wrenched his fingers and counted them one by one.

The military strength of the Jizhou military camp, Zhong Nan is much clearer than the others here. Listening to Mao Dahai's calculations, he could only nod. Six or seven hundred thousand taels of silver, which is not a small amount, and if you want Zhu Yijun to pay the bill, it is estimated that there is no hope; It is also not easy to make the household pay.

"Actually, I don't have to take this money out." Lang Zhongyang Forestry of the Che Qing Officials Department said coldly.

"What's the solution, Yang Langzhong?" Zhong Nan was overjoyed.

Seeing Zhong Nan's excitement, Yang Forestry was very hesitant, he looked at the other colleagues, and everyone pretended not to know. Yang Forestry pondered for a long time before slowly speaking: "If you don't want to send this money, you can only ......" He made a throat cutting motion.

"What? Never! Zhong Nan was so shocked that he immediately stood up, where could he have thought that the method Yang Forestry said was to kill all the more than 4,000 people. Indeed, if that were to be done, no one would continue to ask for money; It's just that after a few hundred years, it will definitely not leave a good name.

"Zhong Shilang, it's me talking nonsense, don't take it seriously, I'm okay if I don't say it." Yang Forestry saw Zhong Nan's reaction so strongly, for fear of offending him, so he immediately changed his tune.

Zhong Nan looked at Yang Linlin, then at the other Lang Zhong, and finally at Song Yingchang and Xing Jue, everyone did not make eye contact with him, and Song Yingchang lowered his head even more. Looking at this scene, how could Zhong Nan not understand that the method Yang Forestry said must have been implemented before, otherwise they would not have this expression.

"Is there really no other way?" Zhong Nan's eyes were hollow.

"I'll go find Liu Shilang from the household department and see if I can get them to squeeze out some silver." Xing Jue looked at Zhong Nan's expression, and he couldn't bear it.

"On behalf of the soldiers of Jizhou, I have thanked Lord Shangshu!" Zhong Nan's tone was unusually sincere.

"Let's figure it out!" Several Lang Zhong chimed in.

In fact, if you really want to talk about it, they don't want to be this evil person either. Thousands of good men, they will kill when they say they will kill, and they are still killed by their own people, and it is difficult for anyone to get that hand. Now, they are moved by Zhong Nan's sincerity, and they are all willing to make another effort, what if things take a turn for the better?

"Thank you!" Zhong Nan made a deep move.

One by one, the people in the council hall left.

Zhong Nam sat in his chair and thought about it carefully, and he found that the key to this incident was silver. To put it bluntly, there is no money in the imperial court's treasury, and Zhu Yijun doesn't want to use his "small treasury" - the inner treasury.

"A penny is difficult to defeat a hero Khan", not to mention the amount of this shortage, which is six or seven hundred thousand taels of silver.

Whether you are a soldier or an official, if there is no one behind you, it is easy to be bullied. Take this incident as an example, most of the military camps in the country have already paid the money last year, and only Jizhou and a few other military camps have been dragged back. Think about it, if Qi Jiguang is alive, who would dare to owe them their salaries; That is, Qi Jiguang is gone, Zhang Juzheng is gone, and those people dare to be arrogant.

Although Zhong Nan has not served in Jizhou for a long time, less than a year, he has a deep affection for the tens of thousands of soldiers in Jizhou. The Jizhou soldiers are different from the Liaodong Army, they are more disciplined, have higher tactical literacy, and are more like the "People's Liberation Army" in later generations, so Zhong Nan really doesn't want to see that things finally come to the step that Yang Forestry said.

It's just that this is a huge amount of six or seven hundred thousand taels of silver, so how can I solve it? Zhong Nan said in his heart.