"Father, are you saying that those chieftains deducted the rice and wages from the soldiers?" Zhu Cijiong finally came to his senses.
"There is no doubt about this." Chongzhen said suddenly, "Not every chieftain is as noble and upright as General Qin."
"The vast majority of chieftains are just ordinary people who work hard. This time they suddenly received so much work rice and salary. It would be really weird if they didn't reach out and withhold it. The difference is just how much they withhold."
"So, what my father wants to deal with are the chieftains, big and small?" Zhu Cijiong's eyes lit up, "not the local soldiers."
"Otherwise?" Chongzhen said, "If you just want to frighten the native soldiers, you don't have to go to that trouble at all. Assembling the new army equipped with flintlock guns for a drill will be enough to scare all the native soldiers!"
"But what I want is not to make the native soldiers fearful, but to alienate the native soldiers from the chieftains. I want these more than 100,000 native soldiers to escape from the control of the chieftains and become the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty Wuchang Zhentai!"
Having said this, Chongzhen raised his flintlock gun and pointed it at the willow tree in front of him.
Fifty steps ahead, an earthen jar hanging on the willow tree shattered into pieces.
"Long live the great shot!" Gao Qiqian immediately praised, "One shot from a hundred steps away hit the target."
"This gun is not bad." Chongzhen smiled and put the flintlock gun back into the box after the test firing.
Zhu Cijiong asked again: "But, Father, when do we have to wait? The army will be setting off in early June, so we can't wait until halfway to resolve this matter, right?"
"It won't be long." Chongzhen waved his hand.
"I estimate that in the next few days, the soldiers will have to pay their dues."
After speaking, he turned to Xu Yingwei and said, "You can make preparations early."
"I accept the order." Xu Yingwei bowed his head, turned around and left in a hurry.
…
Early the next morning, Peng Hongshu, the Yongshun Xuanwei envoy, was counting the money in his cabin.
Peng Hongshu is in his early 40s, wearing a traditional Tujia hairband and an earring on one side.
"The Holy Emperor is really a holy emperor, he speaks and does things with ease." Peng Hongshu smiled so much that his eyes narrowed into two small slits, "If you give me two months' salary and rice, I will give you two months' salary and rice."
"
While talking, Peng Hongshu happily counted the silver ingots in the box.
Peng Hongshu brought with him 10,000 local soldiers, so Chongzhen gave him 20,000 taels of silver and 10,000 taels of rice for work and food at one time. A small part of the rice for work and food had been distributed, but not one tael of silver.
One thing Peng Hongshu must do after getting up every day is to count his money.
By counting every morning and evening, Peng Hongshu never gets bored.
"Envoy Xuanwei, do you want to release part of the salary first?" Peng Tingyu, a local fellow on the side, advised, "The resentment of the people has become more and more intense in the past few days. If we don't pay the salary, something may happen."
In terms of seniority, Peng Tingyu is still Peng Hongshu's uncle. Three generations back, they are even the same ancestor.
In fact, most of the native people in Yongshun Tusi are descendants of the first chieftain king Peng Shiyu.
"What's the hurry?" Peng Hongshu said angrily, "I didn't say we won't pay them. They will be paid sooner or later, and they won't be shortchanged. If these untouchables are really idle, you can find something to do for them."
Peng Tingyu said: "Envoy Xuanwei, but the salary has been delayed for almost two months."
"Two months is nothing." Peng Hongshu said angrily, "In the past, when we sent troops to fight for the imperial court, how could we not have to default on food and salary for a year and a half? If you want money, let those untouchables wait!"
Peng Tingyu immediately fell silent, because what Peng Hongshu said was also true.
Except for this time, the court gave me money and food freely, and in the past, it was really not an ordinary drag.
Sometimes the battles have been fought for several years, but the money and food that the court should allocate are not enough, so they go to the local officials to ask for them, and sometimes they are beaten, which makes me cry when I talk about it.
During the Hongwu period, Mrs. Shexiang, the chieftain of Shuixi, went to the commander of the capital, Ma Ye, to ask for money and grain. However, she was insulted by Ma Ye. She was so angry that the heads of the Forty-Eight Divisions of Shuixi almost rebelled, but in the end Mrs. Shexiang suppressed her.
Otherwise, the entire Shuixi might have been uprooted by the Ming Dynasty more than two hundred years ago.
While he was talking, Peng Zhaoheng, deputy envoy of Xuanwei, Peng Hongshu's eldest son, walked in with a dark face and said: "Something happened to my father. The local soldiers from Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi are making trouble again!"
Peng Hongshu said: "Let's make trouble, let's make trouble. When will the two of them stop making trouble?"
The two families of Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi are small chieftains from Yongshun, and the two families are feuding.
When they were in Xiangxi, the two families could barely live in peace because of the Yongshun chieftain who was suppressing him. But since he came to Wuchang, Peng Hongshu seemed to be unable to suppress him. In fact, he just didn't want to suppress him.
Therefore, fights broke out between the two little chieftains' soldiers almost every day.
This is actually the result that Peng Hongshu wants. The little chieftains below are fighting among themselves, and it is best for the local soldiers in the local department to fight among themselves, so that no one will bother him and ask for food and wages from him.
But there are some things that you can't just hide away from. If you go out and mess around, you will eventually have to pay back.
"Abba, this time it was not a fight between the two families." Peng Zhaoheng shook his head and said, "But they joined forces to rob the vendors outside the military camp, and even killed some of them! They even killed several government officials sent by Wuchang Prefecture.
"
"What?" Peng Hongshu was excited, "The government officials have killed many of them? This is a rebellion!"
"Although it's not a rebellion, it's close to it." Peng Zhaoheng said with a dark face, "The local soldiers from Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi are gathering at the campus, threatening to ask the emperor for pay."
"Asking for payment?" Peng Hongshu's expression changed drastically, "Tian Shichao and Xiang Yongshun didn't stop them either?"
"What are you stopping? It's the two of them who are the leaders." Peng Zhaoheng said with a dark face, "These two bastards said that the imperial court only talked about not practicing, but did not give one tael of silver to the military pay, and they only gave every ding of rice for work and food.
Once a month, the local soldiers of Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi will go crazy and insist on asking the emperor for an explanation."
"Tian Shichao and Xiang Yongshun are really crazy." Peng Tingyu said anxiously, "Master Xuanwei, we can't let the local soldiers from Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi make the matter bigger, otherwise this matter may be serious.
It’s hard to end!”
The reason is very simple, the emperor has given enough food and wages, and it is the chieftain who deducts the food and wages!
If this blame was really thrown on the emperor's head, would the emperor be willing to let them go?
Before he finished speaking, Peng Hongshu's second son and deputy envoy of Xuanwei, Peng Zhaoxiang, also hurried in.
"It's not good, Dad." Peng Zhaoxiang said in panic, "The imperial court sent out a lot of soldiers and surrounded the native soldiers of Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi!"
Peng Hongshu said: "Oh, whatever you are afraid of will come."
"Don't be anxious yet." Peng Tingyu calmed down at this time and advised, "Go and take a look before talking."
Peng Zhaoheng said: "Abba, do you want to gather the clan members? If the court dares to be tough, the worst we can do is follow Sha Dingzhou's example and rebel against his mother."
"Of course." A fierce look flashed across Peng Hongshu's eyes.
"Gather all the more than ten chieftains under the Yongshun Xuanwei Division!"
"Yes." Two brothers, Peng Zhaoheng and Peng Zhaoxiang, immediately turned around and went to summon the clan members.
Soon, Peng Hongshu led a dozen little chieftains and more than 30,000 native soldiers to the campus.
When he came, Peng Hongshu was still aggressive and wanted to give the officers and soldiers a show of strength. After all, the Ming Dynasty is no longer the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu period. Now you even have to rely on our chieftains in western Hunan and Hubei to suppress the rebellion of a chieftain in Yunnan. So, Stop putting on the airs of the imperial officers and soldiers.
But when he led his troops to the campus, he couldn't help but take a breath of air.
But I saw that thousands of Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers had completely surrounded the two thousand native soldiers of Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers appeared to be in order. Thousands of people gathered together in silence. The soldiers could clearly feel the chilling aura emanating from the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers even from a distance.
"This is the Ming Dynasty official army?" Peng Tingyu was a little frightened, "It's not the same as before."
Peng Tingyu had been to Wuchang several times before and had seen Zuo Liangyu's Ming army. They were far different from this one.
This time, instead of giving a show of strength to the Ming Dynasty's official army, the Ming Dynasty army in turn gave a warning to the Ming Dynasty army, which directly shocked the more than 30,000 local soldiers of the Yongshun chieftain so that they did not dare to move.
After a while, more than 30,000 native soldiers from the Baojing and Xuanwei Division also arrived.
Not long after, more than 40,000 native soldiers from Shi Nan Xuanfu Division also arrived at the scene of the incident.
Although the Shinan Xuanfu Division is not as high as Baojing Xuanwei Division and Yongshun Xuanwei Division, it has the largest number of troops. This is mainly because the ancestors made mistakes, so the rank is low.
Moreover, the old chieftain of the Xuanfu Division in Shinan had just died, and the little chieftain was still in his infancy. The person in charge of the Xuanfu envoy was Ran Sanniang, the daughter-in-law of the old chieftain Tan Hongdao, a pretty widow in her twenties.
"Sanniang, Ah Zhu." Peng Hongshu stepped forward to say hello.
While saying hello, he looked at Ran Sanniang with greedy eyes.
Western Hubei (Enshi) has produced beauties since ancient times, and Ran Sanniang was particularly beautiful.
She was fair-skinned, beautiful in appearance, and very tall in stature. The key was that she had big breasts and round buttocks that were suitable for childbearing. Peng Hongshu couldn't help but wish that if he could marry her, she would be able to give birth to five more sons for him.
If the little chieftain is killed again, Chieftain Shi Nan can become a family with Chieftain Yongshun, and then he, Peng Hongshu, can imitate Sha Dingzhou in his rebellion and become a true chieftain king!
Ran Sanniang felt Peng Hongshu's greedy gaze and frowned subconsciously.
Peng Zhu took a step forward and blocked Peng Hongshu's gaze without leaving any trace: "Ah Hong, what happened? Why did the army suddenly surround Lajadongsi and Lvchidongsi?"
Peng Hongshu said angrily: "This is all the good deeds of Tian Shichao and Xiang Yongshun."
Peng Zhuchao and Ran Sanniang were speechless when Peng Hongshu explained the whole story.
They just deducted money and food with evil intentions, but they actually let the emperor take the blame for them?