Chapter 38 The results of the court meeting

"Lord Yang, aren't you afraid of the hearts of the mercenaries in the cold world when you do this? If the empire needs to use mercenaries in the future, who will help the empire defend the city? Everyone else has done things, and you only think of reducing the price, don't you think this is a bit inferior?" An old man standing at the front of the left with half-squinted eyes said lightly.

The old man looks like he is about fifty or sixty years old, but his hair and beard are indeed as black as ink, and his age in the court is relatively old, although he does not control the military power, but he is indeed the first person in the Ministry of Martial Arts, and he is also the prince of the royal family.

He is the famous Prince Li Baxian, who used to be the commander of the Royal Praetorian Guard Legion, and now he is the commander-in-chief of the Martial War Department, a strong man in the later stage of Emperor Wu, usually he will not go to the court, but the recent war in the empire has been tight, and he will go to the court from time to time.

According to the generation, Li Baxian is still Li Can's imperial uncle, so he has a very high status in the court, and the only person who can compare with him is the old prime minister Sima Ye, who has been relying in the court.

Li Baxian's Prince Ba was fought on the battlefield, so he couldn't see this kind of villain who made small moves behind his back, and he was also exploiting the blood money of the soldiers who fought bloodily on the front line, so Li Baxian didn't save face for Yang Jie.

"Prince Ba is serious, Yang Jie is just talking, and he won't really do anything!" If it was Qin Xiang who spoke, maybe Yang Jie would have retorted a few words, but it was Li Baxian, Yang Jie had no temper, and hurriedly obeyed.

Let's not say that Li Baxian is a member of the royal family, just his own strength, there are few people in the Yang family who can match him, let alone Yang Jie, the martial emperor, which is not worth mentioning at all, so Yang Jie has no qualifications to argue with Li Baxian at all.

Li Baxian scolded Yang Jie, and Yang Jie could only bear it obediently, and he didn't dare to show half of his displeasure.

Yang Jie didn't dare to speak, but there were people who were not afraid of Li Baxian, and seeing that Li Baxian's might shocked everyone, Sima Ye, the old prime minister who was standing at the front on the right, spoke.

"The prince is right, no matter what, it can't chill the hearts of the soldiers who fought bloodily for the empire on the front line. It's just that although Zhou Yunfeng has a lot of credit, he is still a mercenary after all, and he paid commissions in the previous war, so he and his Fengyun mercenary group killed the enemy just to earn commissions, so they didn't really serve the country, if you give him a number now, it seems a little inappropriate!" Sima Ye said unhurriedly.

The number in the middle of the army indicates that this is going to form a legion, which is a big thing, a legion is at least 500,000 people, if Li Can gives Zhou Yunfeng this power, then Zhou Yunfeng will become one of the few important ministers in the Tianyun Empire with heavy troops.

This kind of thing, not only the Xiong family and the Yang family don't want to see it, but most of the people standing in the court don't want to see it.

The reason why the overlord Li Baxian was dissatisfied with Yang Jie was not because he was in favor of giving Zhou Yunfeng a name, but because he was dissatisfied with Yang Jie's credit for erasing the warriors, which made him ashamed. "This kind of reward is indeed a bit heavy! But judging from Zhou Yunfeng's ability to win the six cities of Gukou with only 30,000 people in half a month, he not only has good strength, but also has extremely outstanding military talents, and is a rare general, so the empire still has to make good use of it! This opportunity to destroy the Viper Legion was created by him, and it is hard to guarantee that he will not create more opportunities in future wars, and I dare not say that he can reintegrate Cong Yun into the Tianyun Empire, but it should be no problem to add more provinces and counties. Li Baxian's half-squinted eyes slowly opened, exuding a terrifying light.

"What Uncle Huang means" In fact, Li Can faintly revealed that he was willing to give Zhou Yunfeng a chance to make the reputation of 'Fengyun' shake the sky and become famous, and he didn't plan to let Zhou Yunfeng form a legion, but just threw out an introduction to see how the courtiers reacted.

There is nothing wrong with Zhou Yunfeng's extraordinary military talent, and there is nothing wrong with having the support of the Zhou family and the Blue Dragon Legion behind him, but this is not a reason for him to command hundreds of thousands of troops, of course, these two reasons are very important, if either of the two prerequisites is missing, Zhou Yunfeng is afraid that he will not be qualified to be mentioned at the court meeting.

It is Zhou Yunfeng who is a member of the Zhou family, so Li Can, as the emperor, will not have the slightest doubt about his loyalty, and because of Zhou Yunfeng's military talent, Li Can is unwilling to give up this talent.

Whether it is Li Can's father or Li Can himself, he is responsible for reunifying the Tianyun Empire, so Li Can is still very willing to see the emergence of a talent who can fight well.

It is precisely because of these various reasons that Li Can said earlier that the empire needs to be balanced, even if Li Can wants to reuse Zhou Yunfeng, there must be a limit, so that the ministers of the DPRK and China can be convinced, at least on the surface.

"Your Majesty, since you said that you would give Zhou Yunfeng a chance, then give him a chance if you don't take precautions, but the specifications need to be reduced, otherwise you won't be able to convince the public, so the old minister thinks that you can give him a division. He already had 100,000 men under his command, so the number of a division was just right. Li Baxian said.

If he is in the army, it is more than enough to be the commander of the division, I don't think anyone will say that my rewards and punishments are unknown!" Li Can thought for a while and nodded.

"Your Majesty is Shengming!" Li Baxian said respectfully.

"It's just that how to calculate the commission this time? Now he has been given the number of a division, so it is impossible to calculate the commission for him again, but if he is not given a single gold coin, this little guy may not be happy!" Li Can said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, since Zhou Yunfeng and the Fengyun mercenary group under his command have returned to the empire, let them be added to the rank and knight, this is already a great gift to them, how can they pay back their commission!"

"Although Zhou Yunfeng and his Fengyun mercenary group have the heart to serve the country, after all, they are not imperial soldiers now, and they are all elite soldiers, the empire should make them feel that serving the empire is their most correct choice, so the empire can't let them chill. Li Can shook his head and said.

The grievances between the Zhou family and the Xiong family are well known to everyone in the Tianyun Empire, so Li Can is very clear about what Xiong Cang is thinking.

After the battle of the sneak attack on Yun Xutao, the Fengyun Mercenary Group has emerged, and in the battle to destroy the Lu family in Yonghe City, the wolf cavalry of the Fengyun Mercenary Group has shown their claws and fangs to the world, and in the battle of Gravel Slope, the Fengyun Mercenary Group has already made a name for itself.

For such an elite army, Li Can didn't want to make any mistakes when he sucked it into the empire, Li Can attached importance to Zhou Yunfeng, and also attached importance to the more than 2,000 people of the Fengyun Mercenary Group, especially the more than 900 wolf cavalry!

"Your Majesty, the old minister has an idea, you might as well give it a try!" As an old fox who has been rolling in the court for decades, Sima Ye is very clear about Li Can's thoughts at this time.

"Oh, the old prime minister said come and listen!" Li Can smiled.

"Your Majesty, the empire allocated 10 million gold coins to the commander of Zhou Xiaojun as a commission, and now there are more than 6 million left, and the old minister suggested that all the more than 6 million should be given to Zhou Yunfeng, but not as a commission, but as a military expense for the formation of an army. Sima Ye said unhurriedly.

"Old Prime Minister, I'm afraid that I have no intention of giving more than six million gold coins to Zhou Yunfeng for nothing! He has 100,000 people under his command now, this is the strength of an integrated division!" Li Can frowned.

"Your Majesty, judging from Zhou Yunfeng's ability to collect and surrender troops, he must have something outstanding in this regard, and the old minister thinks that His Majesty will not just hope that Zhou Yunfeng will only add one division to the empire!"

"Does the old prime minister mean to let Zhou Yunfeng continue to expand the army?" Li Can raised his eyebrows and asked.

But the empire does not provide them with a single soldier, only food, grass and military salaries. Sima Ye nodded.

Sima Ye's words made everyone in the court look sideways, this guy seemed to be helping Zhou Yunfeng speak, but it was the military expenditure for Zhou Yunfeng's future expansion of the army.

Recruiting troops, horses, weapons and armor, all of them do not require a large amount of gold coins, if it is placed in peacetime, even if it is directly given to Zhou Yunfeng a position of army commander and let him pay for the recruitment of troops and horses by himself, Zhou Yunfeng has no way even if he is an immortal.

It's just that it is now the period of the Great War between the two empires, and some things such as military armor can be obtained from the battlefield, but the expansion of the imperial legion and the military expenses are all paid by the empire, but now Sima Ye's words are to use these more than six million gold coins as the military expenses for Zhou Yunfeng's future expansion of the army, which is indeed too dark.

Although more than six million gold coins sounds like a lot, for an army of hundreds of thousands, this is a very inconspicuous number.

I have to say that Sima Ye's strategy is yin enough, not only solving the problem of Zhou Yunfeng and the Fengyun mercenary group's commission this time, but also blocking Zhou Yunfeng's mouth to the empire in the process of expanding the army in the future.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Zhou Yunfeng's ambition is not small, and he will definitely not satisfy a division commander, so if he continues to fight all the way, it is not surprising that it is an inevitable trend for the division to be promoted to a corps.

And Sima Ye's meaning was to give Zhou Yunfeng more than 6 million gold coins and let him add a legion to the empire, no matter how such a deal is calculated, the empire will not suffer.

"Uncle Huang, what do you think?" Li Can's eyes lit up, obviously agreeing with Sima Ye's suggestion, but he didn't rush to make a decision, but looked at Li Baxian and asked.

"Old fox!" Li Baxian glanced at Sima Ye with evil eyes, and scolded with contempt in his heart.

"Your Majesty, the old minister agrees with the Prime Minister's idea! Now that the Tianyun Empire is fighting on two fronts, as the war continues, there will inevitably be tension in the supply of troops, if Zhou Yunfeng can increase the strength of a legion for the empire, it doesn't hurt to make him the commander of the legion! In the period of war, everything is in a hurry!" Although Li Baxian despises Sima Ye extremely much, he is the Li family after all, and he is also an important minister of the empire, so everything needs to be considered for the empire and the Li family.

"Well, since both of you agree, then how will the matter be decided!" Li Can said loudly with a straight face.

"Spread my will, so that Zhou Yunfeng formed the Fengyun Division, Zhou Yunfeng served as the head of the division, and gave the earl,"