"Someone from the imperial court? So fast? Li Zicheng pondered, he set up an army in Xining, it was only a few days, it was impossible to spread to the Beijing Division, even to the Beijing Division, and it was impossible for the envoys of the imperial court to rush to Xining so quickly, so he realized that he was wrong, "Xiaomi, what did Gonggong Wu say?" ”

"The person who came did not elaborate, but only said that it was about food."

"Food?" Li Zicheng thought in his heart, "Could it be that the imperial court sent a salary?" "If it is really the imperial court that has delivered the silver, it means that the changes in Xining have not been spread for the time being.

However, the rumors did not make it clear, and He Xiaomi did not know, Li Zicheng hurriedly had lunch, and immediately rushed to Wufu, which was only two miles away from the official office, and he could arrive in a while.

The guards outside the Wu Mansion had been replaced by Master Li Zicheng, and when he saw Li Zicheng coming, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed, and opened the middle door to greet him.

Li Zicheng had just entered the Wu Mansion, and Wu Shaoling had already greeted him, "Zicheng is finally here, please come inside!" ”

The two of them sat in Wu Shaoling's study, there was already a house to send tea, Li Zicheng smelled the fragrance and knew that it was the best morning tea, there was a hint of early spring astringency in the faint fragrance, such as the moment when the virgin took off his underwear, the fragrance wafted out, but unfortunately, this kind of tea has no weight loss effect, Wu Shaoling's body is still as fat as before, "Father-in-law, what about the people in the court?" Is it available in Ng House now? ”

"Our family sent him into the Qinglou, if not, how can we talk?" Wu Shaoling smiled flatteringly, and the fat under his chin suddenly drooped a lot, "Zicheng, you have to return the silver from this Qinglou to our family!" ”

"Father-in-law has a heart," Li Zicheng saluted Wu Shaoling to show his gratitude, "The money that my father-in-law spent on official business, Zicheng will only admit it, and go back to let the mansion go to the official office to collect it, that is, what does the father-in-law personally require, as long as it is legitimate and reasonable, Zicheng is not ambiguous, although the father-in-law can rest assured." ”

"Our family is just joking, we don't have to take it seriously, just have this heart," Wu Shaoling gently pulled down the floating tea leaves with the lid of the cup, and said with a calm face: "What special needs can we have as a eunuch?" Hey, a habit developed over the years, our family just likes to drink some spring tea! ”

"Father-in-law, rest assured, Zicheng will definitely find some spring tea for his father-in-law, as long as his father-in-law is comfortable."

"Thank you to our family," Wu Shaoling gently put down the porcelain cup in his hand and said in a deep voice: "Zicheng, someone from the court sent last month's food and salary, and it has arrived at the mill office, you hurry up and collect it, so as not to have too many dreams at night." ”

"Food?" Li Zicheng was overjoyed in his heart, but his face was impassive at all, "Father-in-law, do you really have food?" ”

"Well," Wu Shaoling nodded slightly, maybe he thought of something, his eyes were suddenly restrained, and there was a hint of joy on his face, and it took a long time before he regained his calm, "Zicheng, this matter of food and salary, our family needs to explain it to you clearly." ”

"Father-in-law, please speak." Li Zicheng is very concerned about the amount of food and salary, that is the soldier's capital to support his family, but also the basis for his own foothold in Xining, Wu Shaoling's words, must have to explain some of the previous unspoken rules, I don't know how much the military department wants to take away the salary, his own soldiers have exceeded 1,000, if the food is too small, the soldier can not support his family, even if he is fully paid, he will not be able to retain the people's hearts.

"At the beginning of the establishment of Xiningwei, the Ministry of War gave a staff of 5,600 people, and the imperial court has always distributed food and salary according to this amount," Wu Shaoling paused, and saw that it had fully attracted Li Zicheng's attention, so he said: "The Ministry of War knows that Xining has vacant salaries, so that after each allocation of salaries, only 3,000 people's salaries are in our hands, and the rest of the salaries are only numbers on the books, and there is no actual salary. ”

"Three thousand?"

Li Zicheng was ecstatic in his heart, his subordinates only had 700 households, even if all the 100 households were expanded to four general banners, it would only be 1,500 soldiers, and the food and salary of 3,000 people was enough to support two months, and even if the soldiers received the full amount of food, there would still be a month's surplus.

If in the past, all the excess food and salary went into the pockets of those officers in Weili, of which Wu Shaoling accounted for the majority, but he used to think that Wu Shaoling was the most well-fed, and now it seems that Wu Shaoling is just the most well-fed person in Xining Weizhong, compared to the high-ranking officials of the military department, it is a small thing, as long as Xining Wei signs, the food and salary of 2,600 people will smoothly enter their pockets.

This is just a Xiningwei, if you add the three battalions of the Beijing Division, plus the soldiers of the important towns of the nine borders, plus the soldiers from the south, I don't know how much there is for this vacant salary.

In this process, it is not necessarily true to say that the imperial court is the biggest wrongdoer, and I am afraid that the high-ranking officials of the imperial court are involved in the matter of drinking the blood of the soldiers, not only the military department, but also the officials of the household department and the official department.

The real wrongdoer is the current emperor Chongzhen.

Li Zicheng only knew that Chongzhen had been crying poor, even to the point of having no money to fight, he wanted to know that his subordinates had ganged up to dig silver from his hands, with his suspicious and cruel nature, he had to kill these high-ranking officials, but there was no perfect system, and there was no killing, so he changed it, or continued to be greedy, unless the emperor personally distributed food and salary, and personally went to the front line to fight, but, was he busy?

"The whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister!"

Could it be that all this is caused by the "family world"?

Since the whole world belongs to the emperor, what does it have to do with himself? Even if the country is ruined and the family is ruined, he has his own silver, and he still lives a life of "being a man".

The emperor grew up in a deep palace, he doesn't know anything about the world of officialdom and the military, and he is the richest person in the world, who will you deceive if you don't cheat your property? "If you don't cheat, you won't cheat, and if you cheat, you will cheat!"

No wonder Shi Lin opposed the emperor leaving the palace and encouraged the emperor to stay in the palace for life to make people, even if he was like Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Wanli, he did not go to court for decades, and the officials were still happy, and even encouraged the emperor to choose show girls among the people, and Ming added descendants to the emperor, in fact, he did not tie the emperor with a woman's body?

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng fought a slight cold war, is the "family world" about to disintegrate?

"Self-contained?" Wu Shaoling saw that Li Zicheng had been silent, and thought that he was dissatisfied with the salary of 3,000 soldiers.

Li Zicheng came back to his senses from reverie at this time, "Father-in-law, what is the specific number?" ”

"One thousand two hundred stone of fine grain, one thousand five hundred taels of silver, plus the expenses of the guard, a total of two thousand taels."

Two thousand taels of silver, Li Zicheng is not very eye-catching, but 1,200 stone fine grain, but it is his treasure, fine water can flow for a long time, as long as the court still believes in Xiningwei, there will be a steady stream of silver, "Father-in-law, will these grains and salaries be received in full?" ”

"The full amount is the full amount, but it is still necessary to make some small money, otherwise, there will be loss during transportation, and what you will be given next month may not be the food for 3,000 people." Helping Li Zicheng defraud the imperial court of food, Wu Shaoling has been firmly tied to his chariot by Li Zicheng, and he will no longer keep it.

But what if you don't help cheat on food? All the mansions in Wu Mansion are Li Zicheng's people, once Wu Shaoling informs the envoys of the imperial court, regardless of whether the imperial court will send heavy troops, these mansions will first ask him Wu Shaoling for his guilt.

"I understand," Li Zicheng smiled gratefully, pondered for a moment, and finally said: "Father-in-law, Zicheng has something unknown!" ”

"Let's talk about it, our family should know everything!"

"Ganzhou is the seat of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, Xiningwei is naturally subordinate to Ganzhou, the imperial court allocated Xiningwei's food and salary, why not go to Ganzhou, but directly to Xining? Is it because you are worried that there will be food loss if you come and go? Or is there something else? What about the other health centers? ”

"I don't know," Wu Shaoling smiled with his big white teeth, "In the entire Shaanxi Xingdu Division, only Xiningwei is the horse administrative district, and the people under his rule are mainly engaged in grazing, stocking war horses for the imperial court, as long as the people hand over a certain number of war horses to the imperial court, they do not need to pay other taxes, and because of this, Xiningwei basically does not produce food, and the food required by the soldiers is allocated by the imperial court in exchange for the people to raise horses for the imperial court." ”

No wonder the whole Xining is full of pastoral areas, Li Zicheng somewhat understood, "What about the other guards?" Don't they keep war horses? ”

"The rest of the guards are built near the oasis in the desert, and the grassland is very small, and it is impossible to support war horses, so they are all planted with wheat barley, and in the entire Shaanxi Xingdu Division, except for Xining, grain can be self-sufficient, so the imperial court will directly allocate food and salary to Xining every time."

"I see!" Li Zicheng's heart throbbed, the rest of the guards can be self-sufficient in food, unless there is an accident such as war, drought or flood, the imperial court will provide disaster relief in the form of food.

The two talked about the official affairs of the guard, and Li Zicheng suddenly asked: "My father-in-law has lived in Wufu for a long time, will he feel lonely?" Do you want to change your residence? ”

"Changing places?" Wu Shaoling was shocked, could it be that Li Zicheng wanted to ...... This is a good talk, for him, he has already taken out the strength to breastfeed, how can he turn his face faster than himself? He asked tentatively: "Zicheng, our family has always treated you well, why can't we tolerate such a loyal eunuch as our family?" ”

"My father-in-law misunderstood!" Li Zicheng shook his hands, "Zicheng has no intention of harming his father-in-law, this place is all up to his father-in-law's will, if his father-in-law is unwilling, Zicheng will not be reluctant." ”

"Where to go? Where to go? "Wu Shaoling said in his heart, is he seeking my Wu Mansion?

Li Zicheng explained the matter of the fruit building to Wu Shaoling one by one, "Is my father-in-law willing to take charge of the fruit building?" ”

"Fruit House? Zicheng, thanks to the good name you have chosen, if you let the court know......" Wu Shaoling suddenly paused, Li Zicheng has rebelled, will he care about the opinion of the court? He turned around and said, "Zicheng, you are our family, our family...... But what kind of fruit building do you have to manage? "He is a eunuch, every day in front of a group of beautiful women with red flowers and green leaves, he can see but can't eat, he doesn't want to, he doesn't dare, but he can't.

"If my father-in-law is unwilling, he will not be reluctant." Li Zicheng said in his heart, it seems that he is going to talk to Sun Yuan, the father of the quartermaster Sun Lin.

Wu Shaoling thought about it, but said: "No matter what, no matter what, the fruit building is better than facing those familiar faces every day in Wu Mansion, our family should respond!" ”