After the two armies of Zhenguo and Baoyi went eastward, the Prime Minister's Office mobilized more than 70 battalions of volunteers from Zuojinzhou County, with a total of more than 30,000 people. When Chen Dong repeatedly heard the complaints of the state and county, he deeply felt that the army's heart was related to safety, so he personally led the scribe of the Prime Minister's Mansion to the treasury and ordered the scribe of the Ezhou Mansion to bring the booklet, which still had more than 1.3 million yuan of money. Chen Dong ordered half of the people to take out half of the rewards and distribute them to the state and county soldiers who defended the city, and the other half was ready to recruit warriors and reward Jiangzhou reinforcements. Since Chen Dong was elected as prime minister, his prestige has become increasingly heavy, and the scribes did not dare to question his orders, so he immediately notified the military department to send people to carry the money and silk. In order to prevent the middle from deducting corruption and affecting the morale of the army, Chen Dong personally sat in the treasury to supervise the reward, and roughly calculated, each battalion could issue a reward of 10,000 yuan.

The scribes were hurriedly making books and stacking the money, and Cao Liangshi, the secretary of the military department, rushed over, and when he saw Chen Dong, he said: "Shaoyang, don't do it!" ”

"Why?" Chen Dong stood up and asked, "Now that Qian Bao doesn't reward the soldiers, is it still left to Cao Di?" ”

"How can the morale of the army be maintained with money," Cao Liangshi said with a solemn face, "If this reward is issued, I am afraid that not only will it not be able to motivate the soldiers, but the rewards and punishments will be unclear, which will disturb the hearts of the people and the army in vain." He pointed to the mountain of money and said, "The township soldiers have nothing to do, and they still contribute to the war, but now they have soft feelings, so they have more worries." What's more, now that the market in the city is depressed, what is the use of the soldiers asking for money? Those who are in government do not suffer from inequality, and the most taboo thing to reward soldiers is to reward them indiscriminately. The lessons of the Tang Dynasty are not far away! Once he has cultivated a proud general, not only can he not fight, but he will coerce the court to reward him every time he fights. This example must not be opened, as the secretary of the military department, I will never agree with it! ”

The more Cao Liangshi spoke, the louder he became, and his mouth frothed, almost spraying on the prime minister's face. The surrounding scribes looked at each other, and Kudin also put down the books and money in his hands, just waiting for the two officials to discuss a result.

Chen Dong's brows furrowed, and when Cao Liangshi finished speaking, he asked, "What does the military department mean, and how should it be handled?" ”

"Don't you hear that whoever kills one man and three armies are shaken, kill him; Reward one person and ten thousand speakers, reward. Cao Liangshi immediately replied, "No amount of money in the city can buy food and meat, if you want to reward the soldiers, it is better to buy more food, meat and vegetables, reward the city soldiers, for those meritorious warriors, the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Ministry of War do not hesitate to official positions, these money and silk are rewarded to the meritorious soldiers, and the rewards must be doubled, so that other soldiers have the heart of envy and service." ”

Chen Dong nodded while listening, and sighed: "If it weren't for good history, Chen would have almost made a big mistake. He turned to the scribes and said, "The matter of rewarding the soldiers will be handled by Lord Cao of the military department." Turning around and falling to Cao Liangshi, "Ezhou city defense, the world's luck is growing, please Lord Cao!" Chen Dong and Cao Liangshi even made friends, it is rare to be so solemn, Cao Liangshi was slightly stunned, and did not avoid it, accepted Chen Dong's gift, and returned the salute: "Prime Minister rest assured, Liangshi should go all out." Chen Dong nodded, stopped staying in the treasury, and left with the subordinates of the Prime Minister's Mansion.

The Prime Minister will transfer money and reward the three armies to the Ministry of War. Cao Liangshi ordered the scribes to redistribute the money and silk that had been evenly divided, and divided them into upper, middle and lower rewards according to the merits reported by the armies defending the city. Those who have made meritorious contributions will be rewarded with 100 guan, which is equivalent to the military of the forbidden army for two years, and the middle one will be rewarded with 50 guan, which is equivalent to the military of the forbidden army for one year, and the lower one will be rewarded with 20 guan, which is Chen Dong's original plan to reward all the soldiers defending the city. Because the number of meritorious soldiers was small, the money spent was far less than that allocated by Chen Dong. Cao Liangshi also informed the household department that the people in the city would give 30 yuan to each household, in order to calm the people's hearts and make the people not turn their hearts to Xiangyang. There are about 60,000 households in the city, and this sum is nearly 200,000. Thirty money is nothing to a family, but it is unprecedented for the court to put pressure on the people to surprise the money, Cao Liangshi thinks that the people's hearts are much better than the soldiers, and the people's hearts will also imperceptibly affect the loyalty of the villagers.

Not long after, Wu Zilong, the head of the household department, hurriedly came, and when he saw Cao Liangshi, he arched his hand and said: "Wu has thanked Brother Cao on behalf of the people of the city. ”

Cao Liangshi sighed: "Brother Wu is in charge of the household department, and what he thinks about should be the people of the world, how can he be confined to a small Ezhou." The money and grain in the treasury are all people's fat and people's ointment, and now taking it out to shock the people of Ezhou is just an expedient measure. He ordered his scribes to hand over the books to the household department, shook his head, approached Wu Zilong, and said in a low voice, "There is a Zhao Qi in front of the traitor, our holy son of heaven is far away in the sky, and the only way to overwhelm the traitor in righteousness is to win the hearts of the people." ”

"Brother Cao taught me a lesson." Wu Zilong arched his hand and said secretly: I originally thought that in addition to Chen Shaoyang in the society, Zhao Yuanzhi had the talent of a prime minister, but now it seems that I still underestimate the heroes of the world. He felt ashamed, stabilized his mind, and concentrated on counting the distribution of money and silk. The household department and the military department performed their respective duties, and moved more than half of the money and silk from the government treasury, and the officials of the household department and the state government beat gongs and drums on the same day, and distributed the money from street to street, and then distributed it by the head of the Lizheng regiment according to the household.

"Boom—"

"Bang Bang

The sound of the gong resounded in the neighborhood, and many honest people turned pale with fright, and they guessed what was going on.

"The child's father, isn't it that the government is going to recruit Ding Zhuang to go to the city?"

"Who knows?" Li Aqi watched cautiously from the crack in the door, what he was most worried about was the rebels, these days, whether it was Hulu, officials or bandits, the rebels were the most terrifying, even if they were Khitans, there was always a little bit of royal law, and the rebels were beasts.

"Listen to the neighbors, the soldiers are pressing, the government is gracious, and the people in the city have received thirty Wen for each household, so come out and receive the money!" Li Aqi recognized that it was Uncle He, the head of the group, who struck the gong, and his son He San'er was holding a heavy cloth bag and swaying it, as if it was full of copper coins. "It can't be true, right?" Li Aqi stared at He Tuantou's face, it seemed that even He Tuantou was full of doubts, and He San'er who followed him had a confused expression, and the bag of money was shaking in He San'er's hand, which was very tempting.

Uncle He struck the gong on the street for a while, and seeing that no one answered, he shook his head helplessly, turned around, and planned to tell He San'er to knock on the door door to hand out money, but at this time, there was a "squeak" that opened a crack in the door, and a half-old with a lazy bun leaned against the door, and said coquettishly: "What He Tuantou said is true, thirty yuan, but I don't want to play tricks on the slave family like this." After saying that, he walked over with a twist.

"A slut who is immoral." Fifth Uncle He scolded secretly, but his face sank like water, and coldly ordered San'er, "Count thirty Wen to her." ”

"Great!" He San'er agreed happily, took out a string of copper coins from the cloth bag, counted thirty wen and handed it to the half-hidden prostitute, the prostitute was also taken aback, took the copper coin, blessed a blessing, and said with a smile: "The slave family has thanked you, and the third brother will come to sit when he is free." Then he twisted and walked away, He San'er didn't look good, seeing that Fifth Uncle He frowned, struck the gong again, and said in his throat: "The government is gracious, thirty wen per household is shocking money, come out and get the money!" ”

This scene just now was seen by countless eyes hidden behind the crack in the door, thirty yuan, which is only one-third of Li Aqi's income in a day, is only enough to maintain the most shabby meal, but for Li Aqi, a copper plate that is eager to be broken in half, this wealth that flew in for no reason, if you don't take it, I am afraid that you will regret it for a lifetime, he did not think twice, pulled out the latch of the door, and said respectfully: "Fifth Uncle He, can you have my family's money?" Several families took the lead in coming out to receive the money, and all of a sudden, all the neighbors flocked out, surrounding Uncle He's father and son.

"Yes, yes." Seeing this, He Tuantou couldn't help but pick up the shelf, and ordered with a cold face, "Don't worry, come one by one, this is the government to give the money, every household must be indispensable, but I also have to count it clearly, if there is a deficit, it will be difficult to be a person." He didn't say that it was okay, the more he said that the neighbors became more chaotic, and countless hands stretched out to He San'er at the same time, for fear that he would lose what he deserved.

Li Aqi returned home with thirty wen, closed the door and latched it, and then took out the money, almost looked at it one by one, and muttered: "It's strange, it's really strange, there is no drought or waterlogging, and the government actually sends money and grain relief." It's really unusual. He said it several times, with a look of disbelief on his face, and his heart was extremely happy, as if it was not thirty wen, but three hundred. Li Aqi carefully put these thirty texts at home to hide the soft place. "Lord Qingtian, it's better to stay longer." Li Aqi was originally only worried about the chaos of the soldiers washing the city, but at this moment, he even divided his thoughts and prayed for the old men in Ezhou.

In the evening of the same day, taking advantage of the slight slowdown in the offensive of the Xiangyang army, the military headquarters handed out the rewards of the meritorious soldiers, and the copper coins of 100, 50, and 20 were placed heavily on wooden plates, and at the same time, more than 50 officers who had made meritorious contributions during the day were promoted. Fan Changheng, the war supervisor, not only received a reward of 100 yuan because he was the first soldier, but also won the actual head of the capital. After the reward, the city was thunderous, and the army's heart was lifted. Taking advantage of the opportunity for the troops to return to their hearts, Cao Liangshi announced the crime in public and beheaded three people who escaped from the battle, and all the troops were alert.

Not long after the reward and punishment of Ezhou Daxing, night fell, and the soldiers defending the city were relieved, but the Xiangyang army actually lit hundreds of bonfires outside the city, and put on a posture of attacking overnight, so as not to give the soldiers and civilians in the city a chance to breathe.