Although the Qin Wen clan was exterminated under the noses of the armies, it had nothing to do with Li Mao, so naturally it would not affect Li Mao's rank.

"Meritorious service" is an official title to reward personnel who have made military or major meritorious contributions. Whether or not an officer is awarded a meritorious service is independent of the status of the person concerned. A soldier can be honored as long as he has made great achievements, and if a general performs mediocre, he may not receive any honor even if he is in a high position.

The person concerned may not currently hold any official position, but may enjoy the same rank and honour as the Honour. In the Tang Dynasty, the civil and military officers were uniformly awarded, divided into 12 levels, and each level was called "transfer". In "Mulan Poems", there are "12 turns of strategy, rewarding hundreds of thousands of frontiers." In a word, "the twelve turns of the Strategy" means that the military merit is great, and he has been promoted to the highest rank - the National Medal of Shangzhu.

If the recipient does not have an official position, he or she can request the Ministry of Officials to participate in the civil and military official ranks, but they must be demoted. The second rank of the Upper Pillar of the National Medal is appointed as the official position of the sixth rank, from the second rank of the Pillar of the National Honor to the lower rank of the sixth rank, the third rank of the Protector of the Army is appointed as the sixth rank of the upper rank, and the rest of the officers are appointed to the civil and military official positions, and so on.

In the Tang Dynasty, officials needed official qualifications, and in addition to birth factors such as the shade of the door, the acquisition of official qualifications mainly relied on examinations and military merits, military meritorious service on the battlefield, and the imperial court rewarded with honors, so as to obtain the qualification to be an official. But since the Anshi Rebellion, the rewards are flooded, the depreciation is serious, the military soldiers call the pillar country abound, to the Ministry of Officials to ask for officials, often in their lifetime can not get, for this kind of worthless rank, most of the soldiers disdain, that it is better to reward some grain and rice to benefit, and even because of the need to pay the court to the court for the cost of the pen and ink official notice (certificate), and there is a refusal to rank the situation.

But for a person like Li Mao, who is already an officer, it is still very necessary to rank and rank, which is a qualification to continue to move up. After a set of lengthy and complicated procedures, at the end of October of this year, Li Mao made four military merits with the first merit of breaking the city, and transferred six merits to the rank of captain, and regarded him as a five-rank official. Qingmo and Mo Qi Shentong were both awarded the Seventh Rank Cloud Cavalry Captain.

With this rank, Li Shigu made Li Shigu to protect Li Mao and promoted the left Jin Wuwei to the left middle marquis, and awarded the right middle marquis, and the official rank was under the seventh grade, and the official of this product was promoted to the captain of Yilu from the seventh grade, and he was still the envoy of the Qing Festival, and concurrently served as the left judge of the Qing Navy Grain Institute.

In Donghai County in autumn, the sky is high and the clouds are light, the blue sky is like washing, and the warm sun shines on people, making people drowsy. Li Mao stood on the lookout platform in the Qing Navy camp and looked down on the whole camp, the soldiers were busy packing their luggage, the battle in Haizhou had ended, the reward had reached the camp, the Qing Navy was about to pull out the camp and return to Gushan Town in the near future, the war went smoothly, the reward was rich, and it was considered a complete merit.

However, Li Mao's heart seemed to be crushing a boulder, making him breathless. After dinner yesterday, Zhao Hede suddenly sent someone to invite, Li Mao drove his horse to the inn where Zhao Hede was temporarily stationed, and the ten generals Zhao Jiujing waited at the door of the inn, picked up Li Mao, and led him to the backyard, Zhao Jiujing stopped at the door of the inner courtyard where Zhao Hede lived, and signaled Li Mao to remove the saber.

It is the rule in the army to see the handsome sword, and the saber is the commander's great trust in his subordinates, originally Li Mao saw that Zhao Hede took the initiative to untie the knife, after the first battle in the East China Sea, Zhao Hede allowed Li Mao to meet with the sabre, this time the knife was re-raised, Li Mao's heart suddenly hung up. After handing it over to Zhao Jiujing, Li Mao walked into the inner courtyard alone.

There were about twenty people in the courtyard, wearing armor and swords, with solemn expressions. Li Mao glanced left and right, and there was a nervousness in his heart for no reason, he found that there were crossbowmen lurking on the roofs of the left and right rooms, and a murderous aura was coming. When it came to luring the third bird to kill Qin Su's father and son, Li Mao asked himself what he did very secretly. But as the saying goes, Li Mao doesn't dare to guarantee which link will go wrong, if this matter is verified by Zhao Hede, Li Mao doesn't dare to imagine what will happen to him.

When he arrived at the door, Li Mao straightened his official robe, took a deep breath, and walked up the stairs, he thought clearly, stretching out his head is a knife and shrinking his head is also a knife, even if he dies, he has a little dignity to die. After the destruction of the city of Donghai, Zhao Hede, who had not made an inch of achievements, also had the cheekiness to lead his troops into the city with the attitude of a victor, which aroused great dissatisfaction between the two armies of Zhenhai and Pinglu, and the two armies of Pinglu and Zhenhai, which were on the same page, had an unprecedentedly unprecedentedly unanimous attitude towards Zhao Hede, and the two families cooperated seamlessly, and successfully squeezed Zhao Hede and the 300 Qing navy led by him out of the city.

However, Zhao Hede's face is also very comparable, not long after being kicked out of the city, he left his subordinates alone, only took more than 30 personal soldiers into the city in civilian clothes, rented an inn in the downtown area, and played the signboard of the Qing Navy's Haizhou camp in a dignified manner.

The place that temporarily served as the meeting hall of the Chinese army was originally the warehouse of the inn, and after cleaning and repairing, a curtain was added to the ground, and it instantly became a bit majestic, but the light was dim, and even during the day, the lights had to be lit to see people. In the empty room, a person sat alone behind the bookcase, looking down at a military newspaper, Li Mao glanced at it, and was a little surprised, he didn't see Zhao Hede for a few days and seemed to have gained a lot of weight, and after a closer look, he was taken aback again, it turned out that the person was not Zhao Hede, but Zhao Jinglai with a copper tiger head!

Zhao Jinglai dropped the military newspaper, raised his head, smiled, and beckoned Li Mao to sit down as a master.

When Li Mao was hesitating, Zhao Hede turned out from behind the screen, smiled all over his face, and said to Li Mao: "You all know each other, so I won't make an introduction." ”

Zhao Hede sat down behind the table next to Zhao Jinglai, beckoned Li Mao to sit too, and said:

"The army has been on the expedition for several months, and you are conscientious as a grain officer, and you have not made any mistakes, which is really commendable for a novice, and I am very satisfied with this." When Zhao Hede said this, his face was straight, and his tone was a little stiffer than just now, but Li Mao could feel that his words were from the heart, and they were by no means perfunctory.

It is undoubtedly a happy thing to be affirmed by his boss, Li Mao got up and said two words, although there is a suspicion of sycophancy, but it is also very appropriate. Zhao Hede nodded slightly, his face softened a little, he turned around and glanced at Zhao Jinglai. As soon as Li Mao stepped into this room, he realized that it was Zhao Jinglai who was looking for him, not Zhao Hede.

Sure enough, Zhao Jinglai coughed and said to Li Mao: "The third child has gone into exile overseas, and the rest of the party has died and descended, this expedition can be described as a complete merit, and you have also benefited a lot, brother." ”

Li Mao said: "The humble duty is just a little bit of duty. ”

Zhao Jinglai said: "It is the duty of a soldier to obey the commander, and now there is something to be done by you, and after the matter is completed, you will be the ruler of the festival." "The Ya is an official in the palace of the Jiedu Envoy, who is very miscellaneous and has great power, but without exception they are all cronies of the Jiedu Envoy. Although it is only one step away from the personal officer to the detention office, it is a hurdle that many people cannot climb in their lifetime.

Li Mao said: "Please give the general's orders?" ”

Zhao Jinglai and Zhao Hede glanced at each other and asked Li Mao curiously: "You agreed without asking what it was?" ”

Thinking, of course Li Mao wanted to ask what it was, but he knew that asking this kind of thing was in vain, and he had no choice at all, so he said: "If I have a choice, I would rather go back to my hometown to farm." ”

The two laughed, and Zhao Hede said: "What's the matter, I just said that Maohua is a smart person, and he can understand everything." ”

"It's not difficult to say this, it's not easy to say, it's difficult to change it for others, but it's foolproof for you to get out of the horse." After making a detour, Zhao Jinglai pointed out the topic: "I have a batch of salt to be delivered to Yongqiao, please go out and do it." "The bridge is in the southwest of Xuzhou City, which is the hub of water and drought transportation in the north and south, and there is an endless stream of boats and vehicles.

said that, and discussed with Zhao Hede: "Maohua is doing a big thing, and he needs to send some people to him." ”

Zhao Hede said briskly: "The people in the army are at his disposal, even if he takes a fancy to my pro-army, he can just take it." ”

Li Mao got up and thanked him, and said, "There is no need to mobilize the people, I only need to bring the people of the headquarters, but I need to find a new grain officer in the camp." Zhao Jinglai asked in surprise: "How many people are there in your headquarters, and I have fifty truckloads of salt." ”

Li Mao said: "Xuzhou Marshal has a deep prejudice against our army, no matter how many soldiers and horses, it is difficult to be safe, I intend to walk with Wei Bojun, and take advantage of Wei Bojun's momentum to transport salt to Yongqiao." Zhao Jinglai applauded the case, and said to Zhao Hede: "Maohua does not drag his work, it will become a big thing in the future, your brother must cultivate more, and you and I will be stained with his light in the future." Ahh ”

……

Li Mao walked down from the lookout and shouted to Qingmo, Mo Qi, Zhang Qi, and Xia Chun to go into the city to drink together, he figured it out, he must come when he should come, and he must come if he is afraid, and people must face some things that they are unwilling to face when they live, and escape is not a way, but they can only harden their hearts.

The streets and alleys of Donghai City are talking about the ongoing Haizhou officialdom earthquake, the Qin family in the East China Sea was wiped out by pirates in the end or could not be covered, the news spread not only shook the twelve states of Ziqing, but also reached the heavenly court, causing the court to be violent, although the responsibility for this matter is in Wei Bojun, the signs of the court discussion are aimed at the Haizhou place, the reason is that the war has ended at that time, and the responsibility of pacifying the local area should have been borne by the local government, and there is such a heinous tragedy, and the local officials in Haizhou are unforgivable.

Li Mao expected that someone must be behind the scenes to guide public opinion, and he also expected that there would be an earthquake in Haizhou officialdom, so he watched coldly with the mood of watching the excitement. After the Li brothers did enough to play the role, they appeared on the stage and officially started the fight, and bystanders such as Li Mao thought that there would be a dragon and tiger fight to watch, but they didn't want Li Shidao to be a soft-footed crab at all, and he was defeated without playing three or two times.

Li Shigu first made a means of ascending and descending secretly, and transferred Zhang Shuye to Yunzhou to serve as the soldier and horse envoy of the Yangdao Army in the name of rewarding merit.

Li Shidao is not proficient in military affairs, Li Shigu's trick just hit his death point, and in the following battle, Li Shidao was defeated for thousands of miles, and he had no power to fight back. After grasping the initiative, Li Shigu completely subverted the officialdom of Haizhou by thunderbolt means, from the assassin history, the upper assistant, the judge, the county and county orders, down to the captain, the bookkeeper, the cheng, and the officials of the core and key departments, Li Shigu made a complete blood change from top to bottom.

Since then, Haizhou is still surnamed Li, but he only obeys the orders of Yunzhou Li, and the influence of Mizhou Li has disappeared like a smoke.