When Kong Youde's rebels left Dengzhou City, all the subsequent battles had nothing to do with Wu Shigong. However, all the Ming troops still had to stay in Dengzhou City for a while to prevent the rebels from killing them. Another reason is that we have to wait for the reward and arrangement of the imperial court.

During the waiting period, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing carried out a zuihou share of the spoils. And this time, the spoils were relatively small. Wu Shigong received more than 8,000 taels worth of property. But there were too many ordnance harvested. Artillery, in particular, can be said to be a bumper harvest.

When other Ming troops attacked Dengzhou City, they also captured a large number of war horses from the rebels who were locked up outside Dengzhou City. Although Wu Shigong has a bad relationship with the military attaches of the Ming army, business is business, who will have trouble with silver? Wu Shigong took out nearly 6,000 taels of silver and bought more than 300 war horses.

And the pacification of the whole territory of Shandong also made officials from all over Shandong come to labor with gifts one after another. So during this time, Wu Shigong was one banquet after another. Although he still plays a small role in the banquet, the reward he should have is always indispensable.

Unexpectedly, the leader of the world's literary world, Sheng Yan Gong of the Confucian Mansion, also sent a direct disciple as an envoy to the army. Although the gift brought by this envoy was only symbolic and not particularly valuable, it aroused great enthusiasm from Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian, because it was definitely a great honor.

How to receive the envoy of Shengyan Gong will not be detailed. In fact, this envoy came to Lao Jun only by the way, and his main purpose was, of course, to thank Wu Shigong for sending the dry shares of the Confucian Salt Farm.

When they met in private, the envoy also revealed to Wu Shigong that in order to thank Wu Shigong for his filial piety, Sheng Yan Gong was willing to accept Wu Shigong as a registered disciple. After Wu Shigong heard it. Of course, he immediately agreed, and sealed a generous gift worth more than 2,000 taels of silver as his apprenticeship. Of course, the envoy also gave him a generous gift.

However, judging from the ink in the stomach, Sheng Yangong and Wu Shigong are quite a good match for teachers and students. It's exactly a pair of straw bales! But who cares? Wu Shigong will be able to raise the banner of Sheng Yan Gong outside in the future to fake the tiger's might, and Sheng Yan Gong gave Wu Shigong a false name of a registered disciple, but he has gained a lot of real profits, which can be described as a win-win situation.

And the successive banquets also made the relationship between the military attaches of the Ming army greatly eased, at least they all achieved a harmonious atmosphere on the surface. Wu Shigong also got acquainted with many military attachés. Among them was Liu Liangzuo, a guerrilla who became very famous in the future.

Except for Wu Sangui, he is still young and can't hold his breath, he is not a nose to Wu Shigong, his eyes are not eyes, he still remembers Wu Shigong's flirting legs. But does Wu Shigong care about this little brat? When I saw Wu Sangui's eyes again. Wu Shigong thought in his heart: "Look at you and stare again, and after staring again, Lao Tzu will snatch your Chen Yuanyuan first!" ”

Wu Shigong also arranged for the Runing army to send a large number of messengers to Runing and Laizhou City. Arrangements were made to send the families of the blacksmiths and miners back to Runing House.

Of course. Wu Shigong also sent a messenger to the capital, hoping that Xue Yufei and Xue Chenglin would arrange a good time to leave and return to Runing with him to reunite with his family.

Other civil and military officials were not idle. They fortified the defenses of Dengju City, relocated the population to Dengzhou City, and registered the ownerless fields of Dengzhou City for their respective distribution. In fact, Wu Shigong played tricks in the four cities of Yongping, and these civil and military officials also knew it. But this good thing will not be Wu Shigong's turn. The people who allocated these lands were those civil and military officials in Shandong.

Of course. Wu Shigong, the guest generals, also received a hush money. To tell the truth, corruption and bribery in the Ming Dynasty were actually very regular, and it has become a mature industry.

As for the surplus goods and ordnance, Wu Shigong has also arranged for the soldiers to be sent back to Runing Mansion in batches. The number of soldiers of the Runing Army beside Wu Shigong also gradually decreased. This makes Wu Shigong vacant here a lot of empty cars. After the beginning of the year. The salt factory has been opened, and this time Wu Shigong is going to use these empty carts to transport back a batch of salt goods.

In fact, in the salt business, the production of salt is the simplest thing. With such a long coastline, salt production is not difficult at all. The key to the profitability of the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty was the transportation and sale of salt goods. In particular, the sale of salt goods is a big profit.

Through this war, Chen Zhongzhi from Henan and Jiang Cheng and Wu Shigong became closer. This time to encircle and suppress the rebels, Chen Zhongzhi and Jiang Cheng both made a big fortune. However, they are also quite self-aware, knowing that even if their official rank is raised, when they return to Henan, they will still be marginalized military attachés.

There is no need to think about taking charge of an army alone, if there is any war, maybe they will go to the most dangerous place. So the two of them took the initiative to move closer to Wu Shigong. Wu Shigong also accepted them and made a verbal alliance with them. If there is any war in the future, they will attack and defend and help each other.

And after Huang Qiqi stayed for a while, he followed Wu Shigong with all his heart. There is no other reason, just because the treatment of Runing Army is too good.

It's not that the income of the Runing Army is the highest, the military attachés in the Ming army who can make money, such as the military attaché of the Liaodong Army, their income may be much higher than that of the Runing Army, but in the Runing Army, the income is assured and the class is clear. As long as you sit in a position, there must be some income. This is a special attraction for the generals of Dongjiang Town, who have been in a state of instability for many years.

Therefore, there are also some rebels who take severance pay anyway and regret it. They are going to join the Runing Army again. However, the Runing Army has also completed the distribution of severance pay, and it is impossible to recruit them anymore.

In fact, in the eyes of the officers of the Runing Army, in addition to the special arms such as cavalry and artillery, although the soldiers of the former Ming Army have received some military training, they also bring a lot of bad habits of the former Ming Army, which can easily lead the new recruits to spoil. So it's better to recruit new recruits and retrain them.

Therefore, the rebels recruited by the opening this time are a special case of the Runing Army under special circumstances. As for those who give up this opportunity, they will never get it.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen looked at the performance of the meritorious service, and was worried about the name "Wu Shigong".

This time, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qi did not pull Wu Shigong down. Liu Zeqing was also very righteous and included Wu Shigong in the list of military attaches who would attack Dengzhou City first.

But after such a long time, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian must have known that they had misunderstood Emperor Chongzhen's intentions. They all understood that Emperor Chongzhen's impression of Wu Shigong was negative. In the end, there are people in the palace.

But in any case, positive and negative numbers also show that Emperor Chongzhen knew about Wu Shigong, so they did not dare to omit Wu Shigong's name in the recital of the meritorious service. Of course, it is also certain that the credit is cut off with a pen.

But after Emperor Chongzhen saw the merits of Wu Shigong recorded in the chapter and the reward regulations drafted by the cabinet, he was reluctant to promote Wu Shigong in his heart.

This can also be seen that Emperor Chongzhen did not receive the defects of the emperor's pre-school education, in fact, a superior person cannot contain sand in his eyes, and many times he can only be confused. Pretending to be confused is also a sign of maturity as a politician.

That day, it was Wang Chengen who was with Emperor Chongzhen. So Emperor Chongzhen complained to Wang Chengen: "I, the emperor, sometimes deserve to be a little breathless. Look! Emperor Chongzhen pointed to Wu Shigong's name on the chapter and said, "Wang Banban also knows Xue Hou's son-in-law." Last time, he committed the big crime of mutilating his colleagues, and for the sake of the face of the court, he escaped. But this time he made some contributions, and if he didn't reward him, it seemed that the court was unkind. What a headache! ”

Wang Chengen is none of his business. Of course, he only followed the meaning of Emperor Chongzhen. But suddenly his mind lit up, and he thought of a wonderful method. So Wang Chengen smiled and said, "Your Majesty." The old slave doesn't know much about government politics. can't share the emperor's worries. But the old slave just now had an idea to solve the problem of Xue Hou's son-in-law's reward, but he didn't know if it was in line with the rules of the imperial court. ”

Emperor Chongzhen and Wang Chengen have been together for a long time, so he smiled casually and said, "Don't sell your old goods." Say it quickly, I have my own measure, and I won't blame you if you say something wrong. ”

Wang Chengen smiled and nodded. Then he said: "Isn't Xue Hou in a hurry to let his grandson be the son? This time, the emperor sealed him, and it is also glorious for his father to seal his son. This is much better than rewarding any official position or silver! ”

Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard it. This prince should have been canonized a long time ago, but it was just because Emperor Chongzhen's anger was not smooth, so he delayed it like this. And now. gave the things that should have been given to the Yangwu Marquis Mansion, and solved the problem of Wu Shigong's reward, how cool is this!

Emperor Chongzhen is hahadaxiao, pointed at Wang Chengen and said, "I don't see that your old man's brain is not slow!" Good! Let's go to the Ministry of Rites. ”

Wang Chengen also laughed and said: "Isn't it that the old slave has been by the emperor's side for a long time, and sometimes his brain can open up some tricks?" ”

The two of them laughed for a while. These days, Emperor Chongzhen is in a good mood. Although Kong Youde and Geng Jingzhong were not captured, they were driven out of Shandong after all, and they could no longer plague the Central Plains.

In addition, after Wen Tiren became the first assistant, he immediately declared war on the Donglin Party led by the Fushe, and drove a large number of former Donglin Party officials, including Zhang Pu, the leader of the Fushe, out of the capital. And these measures are also immediate, these days make Emperor Chongzhen feel that the obstruction of his governance by civil officials is greatly reduced. It seems that it is really a change of handsomeness like a change of knife! Emperor Chongzhen was also a little proud of his behavior of changing his first assistant.

After laughing for a while, Emperor Chongzhen said to Wang Chengen: "That's it, let's give this Wu Shigong a son again." Give a brocade guard to a thousand households. After speaking, he seemed to sigh reluctantly.

In fact, this kind of cuteness is quite ordinary at all, it is nothing more than an official robe and dozens of taels a year, and it is nothing great for Wu Shigong and other noble families. But Emperor Chongzhen still looked unhappy as if he had suffered a big loss. In the final analysis, Emperor Chongzhen is a stingy person.

And Wang Chengen looked at Emperor Chongzhen's face, and said with some hesitation: "Your Majesty, at that time, Grandpa Tianqi gave Xue Hou's son-in-law a thousand households of Yulinwei. ”

Emperor Chongzhen understood as soon as he heard it, and it must have been Wei Zhongxian who was rewarded at that time. So his face was flat, he threw the piece on the table, and shouted angrily: "Nonsense! This day is ruined by Wei thieves. ”

After a while, Emperor Chongzhen, who was a little deflated, looked at Wang Chengen, who was hanging his head, and said, "That's it! That's it! Meng is the same as Jinyiwei. It can be regarded as giving Xue Hou a face. ”

After Xue Lian unexpectedly learned the good news, he was immediately ecstatic. He stepped out of the Yangwu Marquis Mansion, which had not been out for many years, and took Mrs. Zhang and Xue Chenglin's children to the palace to thank the saint in person.

Emperor Chongzhen was also in a good mood that day, and came forward to meet Xue Lian's family. Time can also dilute everything, looking at Xue Lian's frost-dyed temples, Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts of blaming Xue Lian also faded. He rarely chatted with Xue Lian for a long time, and rewarded Xue Chenglin's children with some playthings in the palace.

After returning home, Xue Lian threw a feast to congratulate him, and of course in the invitation he sent to Wang Chengen, he gave a special and heavy gift.

Before going to bed that night, Xue Lian said to Mrs. Zhang with a smile: "Benhou has no regrets in his life. Shigong, this kid, has finally done a reliable thing! ”

Wu Shigong, who was still waiting in Dengzhou City, didn't know that his credit was inexplicably transferred to others. It seems that Wu Shigong must have been a pastor in his previous life, and he is about to become a milk king.

By mid-March, the imperial court's reward finally came to Dengzhou City with the lieutenant who passed the decree. When Wu Shigong got up from the incense desk after reciting the holy decree, he was a little incomprehensible. Among all the civil and military officials who received the order, even his official position did not change at all. All the credit is cheaper for his two sons.

And the biggest winner this time was Liu Zeqing, who was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Caozhou. Although he is a miscellaneous general soldier, he must nominally belong to the jurisdiction of Qiu Lei, the Shandong general soldier, but Liu Zeqing at least has the confidence to fight with Qiu Lei.

Moreover, this general soldier is a real general soldier, and Liu Zeqing's number of soldiers has also risen from 6,500 when he joined the general to 20,000 in the total army. For the military attachés of the Ming Dynasty, this is the biggest benefit! How much more can you eat!

This time, along with the holy decree, there was also an order from the military department. Except for the local troops in Shandong, some of whom were stationed in Denglai, the other guest troops returned to their original garrison areas.

And no matter how much Wu Shigong wondered, it was impossible to change Emperor Chongzhen's holy decree. But in the end, he is young, and his mentality is also fast. Wu Shigong can only Ah Q: "At least I didn't transfer myself out of Runing, Henan." ”

On March 21, the sixth year of Chongzhen, Wu Shigong, who had packed his bags, finally left Dengzhou City and went home with the remaining 2,500 soldiers of the Runing Army, as well as his newly married concubine Karelli.

Wu Shigong is like an arrow. I can't wait to walk two days in one day. But Wu Shigong didn't know how dangerous the road ahead was.

For Wu Shigong, in fact, his warm-up game has just ended, and Wu Shigong is facing a cruel official game next!

(End of Volume 3) (To be continued......)