September 26, 9th year of Chongzhen

The hall of the Zhenguo General's Mansion, which should now also be called the Fengguo General's Mansion, was crowded with officers who came from all over the country, including Shunbao who came from Yingzhou Mansion and Yue Laifu who came from Wulizhai, as well as Hailou, Wuqing, Chen Zhi, Hu Laosan, Feng Xiaoming, Wu Chengfeng, Chu Di, and a number of officers who were more than 1,000 generals scattered all over Hunyuan Prefecture, a total of no less than thirty or forty people.

Today it was still the same, Yue Yang sat at the head of the hall, and the rest of the people sat on both sides of the hall according to the high ground of their respective positions, extending towards the gate. Now these people are sitting in their seats, talking to each other.

Looking at the two rows of people sitting full, Yue Yang felt a sense of accomplishment in his heart, he had been in this time and space for four years, in addition to having established himself in Shanxi, the biggest achievement was to gather these subordinates. But today is the time to test the results of his work in the past four years, thinking of this, Yue Yang said with a smile: "Everyone, it is really rare for everyone to be able to gather together today, and the last time I remember that the last time everyone got together was two years ago." ”

"yes!"

Everyone said that as Yueyang's territory became larger and larger, and there were more and more places under his jurisdiction, the team under his command was getting bigger and bigger, and these generals and officials under his command were also in charge of their own affairs, and it became more and more difficult to gather together.

Hu Laosan said with a smile: "What the adults said was original...... The villain followed the adult to meet every day in Wulizhai Yuejiazhuang, but now the adult's official is getting bigger and bigger, and the villain is often rare to meet the adult for ten days and a half months. ”

As soon as Hu Laosan's words were finished, Yue Laifu on the side glared at him: "Hu Laosan, you are content, old man, it is rare for me to meet the young master for a year and a half?" ”

was glared at by the old man Yue Laifu, but Hu Laosan laughed without any temper, but everyone laughed when they saw this, Yue Laifu has been a housekeeper in the Yue family for half his life, Yue Yang is what he watched grow up, and there is no one older than him here. Even Hu Laosan, a person who was born as the head of the nursing home, could only obediently dare not refute when he was trained.

Seeing that those old people were joking there, those who had only taken refuge in Yueyang later, such as Chu Di and others, could only look at them with a hint of envy. However, they don't have any jealousy in their hearts, who let them join Yueyang a little late, otherwise they would not be more than a thousand presidents or defensive officers now.

Yue Yang sat in the first place, watching everyone below either bragging or whispering, he just smiled and didn't say anything, he knew that everyone hadn't seen each other for a long time, so naturally they had a lot to say.

Time passed for a while, and Yue Yang stretched out his hands and pressed it and said, "Okay, everyone be quiet first, you want to reminisce about the old night, and there is time tonight." Now I want to talk to you about something. ”

As soon as Yue Yan's words fell, the originally noisy voices around him immediately quieted down, and they all looked at Yue Yang quietly.

Yue Yang opened a small box from the table beside him, took out something from it, and said to everyone, "Everyone should know what this thing is, right?" Even if I haven't seen it with my own eyes, I guess I've heard of it, yes, this is the emperor's holy decree to us, and now I will give everyone a New Year's thought! ”

Yue Yang's voice just fell. Everyone's faces immediately showed a hint of excitement. Especially those officers who went out with Yue Yang, looking at the holy decree in Yue Yang's hand, their eyes almost showed a green light. It's no wonder that the big guy is no longer playing with the tartar on the waistband of his pants. Isn't the picture just to get promoted and get rich? If you are lucky enough to save some family business for your children and grandchildren, you don't expect everyone's ideological consciousness to be high, most people are so realistic.

Looking at everyone's excited eyes, Yue Yang quietly unfolded the holy decree. Then he slowly read: "Fengtian carries the emperor, the edict says...... Ordered to be promoted to the rank of general of Fengguo, and rewarded with two thousand taels of snowflake silver. Each of the subordinates has been promoted to one level, and this is admired! ”

After Yue Yang finished reading, there was silence in the hall, and after a long time, Hu Laosan smashed his mouth with some confusion and asked, "My lord, this is playing?" ”

"It's over!" Yue Yang spread his hands very simply, and then put the holy decree on the table next to him and pointed: "If you don't believe it, you can come and see it yourself." ”

"How can it be like this!" Hu Laosan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly jumped up and said loudly: "My lord, we have captured more than 6,000 heads, this is a real head!" From time to time, these are the heads of those who kill good people or thieves, this is the head of those Mongolian Tartars and Jiannu, and the emperor rewarded you with the rank of general of Fengguo and two thousand taels of silver? ”

Hu Laosan's voice was particularly loud, if it was usually Yue Laifu glared back and scolded him twice, but today Yue Laifu also stared at a pair of old eyes without making a sound, and slowly took out a dry tobacco gun from his waist, and after stuffing a handful of tobacco into the cigarette gun, he took out a box of matches that are now very popular in Hunyuan Prefecture, and lightly stroked it, the matchstick made a soft sound and firelight, and after lighting the tobacco, he sat there and began to swallow the clouds and smoke.

"His grandmother is a bear, isn't this a blatant bully?" Feng Xiaoming, who has always been slick and smooth, couldn't help but scolded indignantly: "We heard a few days ago that the court of the guys in Liaodong Military Town who only follow our butts to pick up credit have been rewarded with a lot of things, Wu Sangui's turtle grandson heard that he was also promoted to deputy general, our family has made such a great contribution but ended up like this, what is this bird court doing?" ”

Yue Yang didn't make a sound, just sat quietly in his chair and watched coldly at the reaction of the lieutenant generals and officers. After a long time, a faint voice sounded: "My lord, it seems that this imperial court can't tolerate our Yingzhou army." ”

Everyone saw that the person who spoke was Wu Qing, who was the deputy director of the Department of Civil Affairs.

"Deputy Director Wu, the old man doesn't read much, and he can't understand some things, tell everyone, why can't the imperial court tolerate our law?" The person who spoke was Yue Laifu, and after smoking a bag of cigarettes, he gently knocked the cigarette gun on the sole of his foot and asked slowly.

"Isn't it obvious yet?" Wu Qing said with a sneer: "Dare to ask everyone, this time the adults rushed to help Gyeonggi, it is probably an exaggeration to say that he has made immortal miraculous achievements, but it is not an exaggeration to say that he has made great contributions." But the imperial court only awarded the rank of general of Fengguo, what is the rank of general of Fengguo? Like the rank of general of Zhenguo, it is just an idle military position from the second rank, and the adult is still his general. Besides, the imperial court has long had a system, but whoever beheads the first level will be rewarded with forty taels of silver, but the imperial court only gave us two thousand taels of silver and sent us away. ”

Wu Qing was born as a scholar. He is also famous, and he has traveled all over the world, and he is naturally more than a step better than Hu Laosan, a martial artist who can only fight, kill, and kill, on this kind of issue, especially when it comes to the dynamics of the imperial court.

"Brother Wu is right!" Chen Zhi also nodded, "The ancients: The sage sees the subtlety to know the sprout, and the end to know the end, so he sees the elephant and is terrified, and he knows the world is insufficient. From this point of view, the imperial court has indeed become wary of adults, and adults must be on guard! However, if the humble position is expected to be good, the imperial court should still have a backhand, right? ”

Yue Yang glanced at Chen Zhi with some surprise. He didn't expect that this guy who was casually promoted by himself to praise the painting in the army would have such a political vision, he nodded approvingly: "What Chen Zanhua said is good, the imperial court really doesn't plan to let us go like this, according to the news from the capital, the imperial court has appointed a new governor of Xuanda and a candidate for the eunuch to guard the town, they are Chen Xinjia and Gao Qiqian respectively!" ”

There was silence for a moment, and then there was an uproar.

Hu Laosan, who was impatient, immediately shouted: "I'm cǎo his grandmother, what does this bird court want to do?" Our Yingzhou army has made such an extraordinary feat, and they don't reward it, and now they have sent all the enemies of the adults to Shanxi. Is this our life? ”

It is not a secret that Yue Yang and Gao Qiqian and Chen Xinjia are not in harmony, and everyone in the Yingzhou army knows that everyone with a little status knows that now they suddenly heard that the imperial court actually lined up these two people in Shanxi, and they exploded all of a sudden.

Don't mention the scene of the chaos. Now Yue Yang just sat on the chair and looked at everyone coldly, with a trace of unpredictable light flashing in his eyes. He found that most of the generals at the scene, such as Shunbao, Hu Laosan, Yue Laifu and most of the others, showed anger on their faces, this anger was from the heart, and the eyes of a small number of people showed doubts and uneasy looks. Finally, a few people looked frightened, and it was clear that their hearts were in turmoil.

Looking at these people quietly, Yue Yang suddenly seemed to understand why Jiang He always liked to stay in the dark and observe others on weekdays. He found that this feeling of hiding in a corner and quietly watching the inner world and changes of others was still unique.

"Okay, everyone be quiet, everyone be quiet!" After everyone vented their feelings in their hearts, Yue Yang patted the table, and everyone quieted down, and everyone looked at the adult who had led them all the way to the present with expectant eyes.

Looking at everyone's expectant eyes, Yue Yang said in a deep voice: "Everyone, as the saying goes, the matter of loyalty to the monarch is the matter of the king, it stands to reason that since we are the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty, we should be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and be loyal to the court and the emperor. ”

"This ......"

Everyone was a little stunned for a while, not understanding what Yue Yang meant by saying these words at this time.

After seeing everyone's reaction, Yue Yang smiled faintly and continued: "But this is said again, my Yue asked himself to be an official for more than four years, but he has never received a penny from the imperial court, and he has spent a tael of silver from the imperial court. Let's just say that you have two taels of silver, do you know who gave you your money and good land? ”

Everyone couldn't help but look at each other, who didn't know that today's imperial court is so poor that it is almost like pants, it is said that the meager salaries of the Beijing officials are often in arrears, not to mention the military attaches who don't love their grandmothers and uncles don't love them.

Yue Yang looked at them with blazing eyes and said loudly: "To put it mildly, do you know how much grain and silver our Shanxi North Road has handed over to the imperial court every year in the past few years?" Last year alone, we paid 2 million quintals of grain and 300,000 taels of silver. But what did the court do to us? We sacrificed more than 500 soldiers on this expedition, spent countless money and food, in exchange for 2,000 taels of silver and a light and fluttering holy decree of each level, and even did not have the silver to compensate the fallen soldiers. ”

Speaking of this, everyone's eyes turned a little red. Most of the people sitting here are leading soldiers, and they naturally know that the soldiers are doing the work of putting their heads on the waistband of their trousers, and you don't give a reward to the living, but it would be too much for the sergeants who died in battle not to give a little explanation.

"The thoughts of the imperial court, not to mention the officials, also know that after Chen Xinjia and Gao Qiqian came to Shanxi, they will definitely slowly weaken the military power of the officials, and the second is to let people embezzle the officials' industries. Then slowly mix sand into the Yingzhou army, and in the end, it won't take two years, our Yingzhou army will probably become history, if the Yingzhou army is gone, what will happen to everyone, you should know what the final fate is. Is this what you want? ”

Yue Yang's words were not loud, but they startled everyone. Yes, now everyone has a good life in the North Shanxi Road, although the North Shanxi Road here can not be corrupted, can not be bribed, but the money here is high, any small official has two taels of silver and three stones of grain a month, enough to feed a family of five, plus at the end of each year, Lord Yue always returns a generous reward. What is the name of the year-end bonus, and there are things such as grain and oil, such as grain and oil, such days can be described as the only scorpion in the entire Ming Dynasty. As for the officers above the thousand-thousandth level, not to mention, the monthly allowance and food were enough for them to live a decent life. They don't doubt that if Yueyang is taken down by the imperial court, their good days will come to an end, and they know too well the faces of the court officials. It's harder than expecting pie to fall from the sky.

"My lord, you don't need to say it, the people of our North Road have only been able to live in peace for a few days, but some people just don't want us to live. Then we'll have to fight with them! What do you want us to do, sir? A voice rang out in the hall.

When Yue Yang saw it, he couldn't help but be slightly shocked in his heart, to his surprise, it was Chu Di, the president of Qian, who had only been in him for more than two years.

Seeing everyone's surprised eyes. Chu Di raised his chest and said loudly with an excited face: "Although I don't read many books, I know that today's Qiē is given by adults, and whoever can't get along with adults is the enemy of Humble." Humble and play with him! ”

"Hey...... This sycophant! As soon as Chu Di's words came out, many people looked at him with disdain, but some people secretly regretted it in their hearts, now is a good time to show their loyalty, why did they let this guy rob him.

Chu Di defected to Yue Yang after Yue Yang came to Hunyuan Prefecture, and he also had command talents, but because the time to join Yue Yang was too short, not to mention that he was not as good as Shunbao and Hu Laosan, who were born in Yuejiazhuang, and even Feng Xiaoming and Wu Chengfeng, who were born in military households, also had a gap.

Just now, when Yue Yang recited the holy decree, he knew that his opportunity had come, and the current imperial court had already shown a trend of decadence, and he had already seen it clearly about this. Let's ask a court that can't even afford the official's fortune what hope there is, if you want to get ahead, you can only hold a thigh, looking at today's Ming Dynasty, who else has a thigh thicker than Yueyang, a person who wants money, money, soldiers, and territory? When do you want to wait until this sycophant doesn't shoot now?

Now that there is a leader, the next loyal people are naturally endless, and everyone present knows that they have long been deeply stained with the brand of Yue Yang, and there is no way to wash it off in this life, except to follow Yue Yang's footsteps, they have no other choice. And in these days, they have long formed an interest group with Yue Yang as the core, and if there is no Yue Yang, then all their current Yiqiē will be lost very quickly.

The ancients said well, cutting off people's wealth is like killing their parents, and now that someone wants to serve their jobs, then don't blame them for fighting back.

Seeing the angry and loud crowd in the hall, Yue Yang knew that this matter had been done. He knocked on the table again to signal the crowd to be quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, since someone doesn't want to give us a way to live, then we have to find a way to live by ourselves." A sneer appeared on Yue Yang's face: "Lord Hai, from now on, all the grain and commercial taxes we pay to the imperial court will be stopped, and not a single grain will be given to them!" ”

"Yes!"

Hailou replied loudly.

After finishing speaking, Yue Yang turned his head to Shunbao and said: "Shunbao, now you are the garrison of Yingzhou Mansion, the factories and mines of Yingzhou Mansion and Wulizhai are our foundation, and there is absolutely no room for loss, you must be optimistic, whoever dares to reach out to them will chop off his hand, understand?" ”

"Okay, young master, don't worry, the little one must take your belongings firmly, and whoever dares to mess with the little one will chop off his hand." Shun Bao grinned, and there was a fierce glint in his eyes.

"And!" Yue Yang turned his gaze to Hu Laosan again: "You have to hurry up and refine the 10,000 new soldiers, this official can understand it, we can only live a stable life if we have soldiers in our hands, otherwise maybe one day the imperial court will send a team of horsemen to take our whole family into Beijing to ask for guilt." ”

When everyone heard this, how could they not understand what Yue Yang meant, this was no different from supporting the army and respecting itself. (To be continued......)