In terms of military reform, Zhu Jian did not hide it from Hong Chengchou, but bluntly told him that this is a trend that cannot be changed, and only by keeping up with the trend of the times will it not be eliminated, and the campaign to conquer the Horqin steppe needs to be commanded by Mr.

Hong Chengchou knew very well the meaning of these words, so he had to improve himself first, keep up with the pace of the times, and cooperate with the Son of Heaven to implement the new army innovation step by step, and the capture of the Horqin steppe would be the most glorious battle in his military career, and then he retired as the deputy commander-in-chief of the three armies of the empire, and more opportunities were left to young people.

He is very satisfied with this arrangement, and the Son of Heaven has always been Mr. in his letter, you know, there are not many people who can make the Son of Heaven respect the word Mr., anyway, he is very tired of being useful, although he is not an emperor, but at least it can be regarded as half, the most important thing is that the Son of Heaven did not treat him as an outsider, but as a confidant.

To be grateful, he can be regarded as an old fritter in the officialdom, his qualifications are not lower than Ruan Dacheng, he knows the doorway of officialdom very well, look at what happened to the Donglin Party that specializes in raising the bar with the Son of Heaven, he is not stupid, it happened that he bumped into the Guangping Army's salary is a move for him to cooperate with the Son of Heaven, and it is also a very important step, he is a supporting role, the protagonist is Cao Wenzhao, full of routines.

Hong Chengchou sat in Liaodong and operated for several years, knowing all kinds of ills of the border army, the imperial court every time he pulled out a lot of food and materials, but they were all deducted by the generals in charge of the army, and the ordinary soldiers got a pitiful amount of salary and silver, so they were naturally dissatisfied, and how many people were willing to work hard during the battle?

Eating empty salaries, concealment, lies, false reports, etc. are even commonplace, and even an unwritten rule has been formed among the generals in charge, he is powerless to change, as long as it does not make too serious a scene, causing the soldiers to mutiny, he can only turn a blind eye and pretend not to know, he is also quite curious, want to see how the Son of Heaven changes these ills.

At this time, the soldiers after the training have returned to the camp, wearing warm winter coats, the training is hot and sweaty, but after the end of a little pause, it will be cold, do not pay attention to the wind and cold is easy to catch a cold, these years, cold and cold can also kill people.

After a while, there was a sudden burst of bamboo whistles in the barracks, and the soldiers ran out of the barracks one after another, running towards the wide martial arts arena, the entire barracks was full of soldiers, densely packed with a large area, and the scene also seemed very chaotic, however, the Liaodong generals who were standing on the side and watching were soon dumbfounded, their mouths were wide open, and their faces were full of stunned and disbelieving expressions.

"A company."

"Second company."

"Three-in-a-row."

……

Some of the officers standing in the arena raised their arms and shouted, and with their roars, the chaotic soldiers quickly lined up, standing in front of their company commanders with their heads held high, and the queue was neat and orderly.

One, two, three......

The same number of reports sounded together, sounding very messy, but neat, and then, the grassroots officers trotted to the front of the company-level lieutenant, stood upright, and saluted a very powerful and handsome military salute, and then reported the number of soldiers to Qi, and after the report, they saluted and turned around and returned to the team, and the whole process was like flowing water, all in one go.

In the eyes of a group of Liaodong generals, the thousands of soldiers in front of them almost completed the assembly in a few breaths, the queue was neat and orderly, the soldiers were neatly dressed, and their heads were held high, even if they were newly recruited recruits, the spiritual outlook exuded was like an elite border army that had been in battle for a long time, and even made famous generals such as Man Gui and Zu Dashou have a feeling of being more than equal, who would have thought that this was a recruit who had just joined the army for a few days?

"What do you think?" Hong Chengchou asked, he had been secretly observing the expressions on the faces of the generals, and asking questions at this time was equivalent to helping the Guangping army make up for it.

Man Gui, Zu Dashou and other generals all lowered their heads, with embarrassed expressions on their faces, this is to replace them, I'm afraid that without a pillar of incense, it will not be possible to assemble a team of more than 3,000 people, let alone make the team so neat and orderly, not to mention the spiritual appearance of the soldiers, it is simply the difference between heaven and earth, there is no way to compare at all, who especially doesn't want to lead such an army?

Of course, there are still most generals who are not convinced, or even unconvinced, what if the team assembles quickly, it is still martial arts to kill the enemy in battle, is it useful to practice these tricks every day, and line up a neat and good-looking team for the Jin army to cut?

One by one, the officers stood behind the wooden table, opened the roster, and began to roll call, "Zhao Dazhuang." ”

"Here."

A soldier responds loudly, then trots out of the ranks and signs the roster. Ordinary soldiers are all children of poor families, they have never read, and they can't even write their own names, but they just click on the red seal and press it behind their names.

After signing and drawing, the officer counted out the silver tickets with a denomination of one tael from the large wooden box full of silver tickets, handed them to the soldiers, and the soldiers carefully took them, then saluted and returned to the team happily.

The annual salary of ordinary soldiers in the Ming Dynasty is ten taels of silver, which varies from place to place, the soldiers on the nine sides of the garrison are relatively higher, the monthly salary is one or two silver, and the usual ones are broken silver and copper coins, which are extremely inconvenient to transport and carry, Zhu Jian changed it to a silver ticket, this thing is light to transport, easy to keep and carry, the most important thing is to be in full, and the officer has no chance to deduct corruption in various names.

The issuance of silver bills is a few big money banks with a well-known reputation in the Ming Empire, 100% cash, and no cashing handling fee, this part of the handling fee is all paid by the government, Zhu Jian is so not too verbose, the real purpose is to pave the way for the Imperial Bank and the Royal Bank that are about to open for business.

One by one, the soldiers whose names were named all went out of the ranks happily and went up to sign and draw the pledge to receive their salaries, and the scene was lively but not chaotic, and it seemed orderly.

Hong Chengchou beckoned to a soldier who had returned from the army after receiving his salary, and the soldier looked at Cao Wenzhao, who was standing aside, as if asking for instructions.

"Inspector Hong told you to go over." Cao Wenzhao glared at him.

"Soldier Wang Xiaohu has seen Master Inspector." The ordinary soldier who called himself Wang Xiaohu stood up and saluted Hong Chengchou, perhaps because of nervousness, his voice was a little out of shape.

"Well, show me it." Hong Chengchou nodded, stretched out his hand, and pointed to the silver ticket in Wang Xiaohu's hand.

"Yes." Wang Xiaohu respectfully handed over the silver ticket.

Hong Chengchou took the silver ticket and shook it in front of the generals, as if to say, what do you think of one or two silver tickets?

Some of the Liaodong generals bowed their heads, and some looked calm, not deducting the salaries of ordinary soldiers. How do you raise elite private soldiers? Lao Tzu doesn't believe you, Cao Wenzhao is not greedy? I must have eaten a lot of empty pay.

It was boring to watch the process of other people's military salaries, but Hong Chengchou watched it with relish, and he had no intention of leaving, so the generals had to accompany him.

After the salary was paid, several logistics quartermasters quickly counted and handed over the account slip to Cao Wenzhao for verification and signature.

“…… There are 11,000 ordinary soldiers in the division, and 11,000 taels of silver are actually issued......" Hong Chengchou said with his long beard under his chin, his voice was not loud, but the Liaodong generals who gathered around him heard it clearly, and they all opened their mouths wide, and their faces were full of stunned and disbelieving expressions.