"Okay...Okay!" A cheerful laugh came from Nuanxiang Pavilion: "Gao Qiqian is indeed known as the person who knows the most about soldiers. He divided his troops and captured a hundred soldiers in less than two days.
Fifty heads, but this Lu Xiangsheng is not bad, he actually beheaded more than 170 heads, both of them are my good generals!"
Chongzhen looked at the good news that Yang Sichang had just presented and was filled with joy. He looked at it again and again, as if he wanted to imprint the good news firmly in his mind.
"Um... By the way, Yang Aiqing, have you checked all the captured heads one by one? Are they all genuine Tatar heads?" Chongzhen continued to ask.
Yang Sichang, who was sitting on the side, replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, I have already experienced it. All of them are the heads of Tatars, and there is no imitation."
Yang Sichang looked at the jubilant emperor in front of him, and felt both happy and a little strange in his heart. He was happy that the army had won the battle, and his face, the Minister of War, was also shining. What was strange was that Gao Qiqian suddenly became so good at fighting.
It was okay for Gao Qiqian, who was known as an expert in military affairs, to fool a layman like Chongzhen, but it was not easy to fool him, the Minister of War, who was in charge of the world's military forces.
However, seeing that Chongzhen was so happy, Yang Sichang would not be stupid enough to raise this question. Anyway, those heads were placed there. Whose contribution was important? As long as the emperor was happy, this was better than anything else.
"Since the battle has been won, the court will award rewards. How does the emperor plan to reward the generals?" After being happy, Yang Sichang asked the last and most important question. After all, the soldiers fought with their heads in their belts to win the battle.
It would be a great injustice to others if there is no reward.
Chongzhen thought for a while, then gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, I'll tell you, Gao Qiqian will be rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver. Those who have meritorious service will be promoted to one level. Lu Xiang will be rewarded with 15,000 taels of silver if he is promoted to the army. In addition, if he is promoted to one level with merit, the non-commissioned officers will be promoted."
Give Lu Xiang a sword from Shengshangfang. He has the right to kill generals below the third rank first and then report them!"
"Old minister, thank the emperor for Jiandou!" Yang Sichang thanked Chongzhen respectfully, stood up and was about to leave.
Chongzhen looked at Yang Sichang, his lips moved a few times and was about to say something, but then stopped. This expression was seen by Yang Sichang. Although Chongzhen didn't say anything, the shrewd Yang Sichang had already understood Chongzhen's thoughts, and he complemented him in a timely manner.
The previous sentence, "The old minister will tell Lu Jiandou to fight with caution!"
Yang Sichang emphasized the word "be careful". Seeing that Yang Sichang understood what he meant, Chongzhen nodded happily and waved Lu Xiangsheng out...
"By God's blessing, the emperor decreed that Lu Xiangsheng worked diligently to defend the country and recently captured the heads of more than 170 thieves and slaves. It shows that his loyalty and bravery are commendable, and I am very pleased. I will be rewarded with a special reward of fifteen thousand taels of silver and a Shang Fang sword.
This is a tribute. His subordinates, General Yang Guozhu of the Xuanfu, Deputy General Yang An and others, have been promoted to one rank. I appreciate this!"
A middle-aged eunuch held the imperial edict in his hand. After reading it out, he handed the imperial edict into the hands of Lu Xiangsheng, who was kneeling on the ground but was dumbstruck. He chuckled softly: "Congratulations to Governor Lu, the emperor values you in every possible way. He even awarded Shang Fang the sword.
You are welcome."
Lu Xiangsheng suppressed the shock in his heart, walked to the Ministry of War official behind the eunuch, pulled him to the side and asked in a low voice: "I have something to ask you, why hasn't the reward of General Pang Gang of Dingguo been received?
?Also, the merit sheet we submitted and the Tatar heads we sent were clearly more than three hundred, why are there suddenly more than a hundred less!"
"More than a hundred heads are missing? A reward from General Dingguo?" The Yuanwailang from the Military Selection and Cleaning Department of the Ministry of War frowned, thought for a while and shook his head: "So that your Excellency can know that this time Eunuch Gao sent
There is no name of General Dingguo on the merit sheet, so naturally there is no credit for his work. As for the heads, there are indeed more than 300, but 150 of them were captured by Eunuch Gao.
, naturally it cannot be blamed on you."
"What! Did Gao Qiqian capture it?" Lu Xiangsheng's heart suddenly sank, but then a surge of anger surged into his heart, "It's unreasonable. Gao Qiqian dared to embezzle the soldiers' heads for their war achievements. His conscience is in vain.
Eat it!"
Seeing Lu Xiangsheng's furious look, the officer immediately understood what was going on. However, he had seen a lot of this kind of thing and knew that General Dingguo must have offended the general who was in charge of food and grass and recorded the entire army.
It's Eunuch Gao who deserves the blame, otherwise he wouldn't be greedy for merit so thoroughly and wouldn't even give him a trace of credit.
Thinking of this, the official lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "Mr. Lu, you are also an old man in the Ministry of War. You don't need to be humble to say some things. You understand that this man must have offended someone. But you also advise that man,
If you want to be more open-minded, you should find an opportunity to apologize to Eunuch Gao in two days, after all, your arms can't twist your thighs."
Lu Xiangsheng's eyes were filled with tears, he clenched his fists, and his nails dug into the palms of his hands without realizing it. At this moment, he felt unprecedented sadness.
Seeing Lu Xiangsheng's sad and angry expression, the official sighed with great unbearability and said: "Master Lu, please be more open-minded. In this world, you don't just need to know how to fight. Also, Mr. Yangge ordered me to bring you a lesson."
In a word, the country's troubles are not external but internal. If the internal situation cannot be settled, why should we resist external forces? Shanxi and Xuanda's soldiers are all elites of the country. The bandits have not been quelled, so we must leave this little property for the emperor."
"What, that's it!" Lu Xiangsheng finally understood the reason why the emperor and Yang Sichang agreed that he and Gao Qiqian should divide their troops. It turned out that the emperor wanted to keep these troops to encircle and suppress the rogue bandits, for fear that he would use up all these troops.
Only then did we agree to divide the troops.
Lu Xiangsheng, who understood the emperor's plan, couldn't help but burst into tears, "Your Majesty, you are confused. How can you deal with the rogue bandits with peace of mind before the foreign invasion is over? Furthermore, with Hong Chengchou and Chuan Tingzheng and his two men in Shaanxi, it was enough to encircle and suppress the rogue bandits, so why use the whole country's troops?"
Come to take precautions, Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
Seeing Lu Xiangsheng who was crying so hard that he couldn't help but smile bitterly, shook his head and quietly walked away with the eunuch who was delivering the order.
At this time, the generals on the side also looked at each other. These things are not easy to handle. Pang Gang, who seriously killed the enemy, did not get any credit. On the contrary, it was them who were promoted and rewarded with silver.
What is this called?
When everyone saw Lu Xiangsheng who was crying, they did not dare to come forward to comfort him. They just gathered around him silently and remained silent. After a long time, Lu Xiangsheng stopped crying. He looked at Pang Gang with blurry tears and said, "Chaodong, I'm sorry.
If I can't help you, all the generals will be rewarded, but you failed the villain's plan and gained nothing, I am ashamed!"
Pang Gang was very open-minded and said calmly, "Captain Lu, you don't have to blame yourself. General Mo's visit to the capital this time is not for the reward. He just wants to kill a few more Tatars so that the Tatars can cause less harm."
I, the people of the Ming Dynasty, are enough. Don't you hear that Grandpa Yue once said: "Civil officials do not love money, and military generals are not afraid of death, then the world will be peaceful!" The generals are not talented and dare not compare themselves to Grandpa Yue, but they are also yearning for it in their hearts."
Lu Xiangsheng was stunned for a moment, and then he said in a trembling voice: "Okay, Pang Gang, I didn't expect you to have such great ambitions. It seems that I really underestimate you. But don't worry, I won't do it when I am here."
If you suffer a loss, even if you cause trouble to the Imperial Governor, he will seek justice for you from the Emperor."
Lu Xiangsheng pondered for a while and then said: "Let's see, this governor makes the decision. Your Qingzhou Army can get 10,000 taels of this silver reward, and the rest will be divided among the generals. What do you think?" After saying that, Lu Xiangsheng returned.
He took a look at the generals.
The generals still didn't understand what Lu Xiangsheng meant. Besides, Pang Gang's Qingzhou Army deserved these contributions. If they all wanted to take away all of them, they would feel guilty, so they all said: "Yes, General Pang,
Just accept the money, I will feel ashamed when I can get some credit."
Pang Gang knew that this was the good intention of Lu Xiangsheng and the generals. If he didn't accept it, they would probably feel even more sorry, so he nodded and agreed...
After returning to the camp, Pang Gang sat silently on his seat. Da Zhuang, Hao Dayong, Hei Tie and other officers sat under him. Everyone looked ugly. After all, they had been robbed of military honors for no reason.
Everyone was dissatisfied, and Da Zhuang couldn't help but cursed: "This eunuch, one day I will cut off his dog's head, dig out his heart and liver, and see what color his heart is."
Hao Dayong also said: "Sir, we came all the way to the capital to serve the king, and after working hard to kill the enemy, we received such a cold reception. It really chills the hearts of all the soldiers! Sir, since some people don't want to see us, why don't we go back to Qingzhou?"
"Yes, let's go back to Qingzhou and we won't join in the fun." Heitie yelled at the side, and what happened today made them very angry.
"Shut up!" Pang Gang glared at his subordinates and said instructing: "We have come all the way to the capital to fight the Tatars. How can we retreat because of a small setback? Isn't it okay to withdraw troops without permission if you don't follow the military law like a furnace?
Those who are going to be beheaded. To put it another way, if we withdraw, who will protect the people in Hebei? Everyone who has walked along should know what will happen to these people without the protection of my army.
Don’t you know? Don’t you all join the army just for those few rewards? If so, after you go back this time, I can specially approve you to work in various guards and ensure that you can all become rich. Who do you want?
go?"
Seeing that Pang Gang was angry, all the generals lowered their heads in shame and stopped talking.
Looking at the lowered heads of the generals, Pang Gang also sighed secretly. Although he was dispatched by the imperial court this time, he actually couldn't bear the people in the Central Plains to be harmed by the Qing soldiers. These Manchus who made their fortune by hunting wild boars
Every time the Qing people invaded the south, they left behind thousands of miles of desolate ruins. It was through such military disasters that the Chinese nation was pulled further and further away from the world civilization.
"Forget it, just do as much as you can!" Looking into the distance, Pang Gang was silent...