This afternoon, the various camps in the capital were very busy. In addition to raising money to build the military hospital, the four battalions under Dongchang were also busy filling vacancies. Those with pure blood in the Gongzi camp must be eunuchs, so they were selected in the grass field in the imperial city, while the other three
The goal of the battalion was very large, and Emperor Chongzhen personally agreed to it. The Beijing camp and the various personal guard battalions were free to choose.
But the selection of the Third Battalion was not random at all, because too many people signed up enthusiastically. After all, they were both in the military, but the pay of the East Factory Guards was much higher than that of other guards in the other battalions.
However, the number of places in the Fourth Battalion of the Dongchang Guards is limited to 300, and there is no need for any more. The selection requirement is just one word: strong, tall, and powerful!
The fourth battalion is replenishing troops, and other battalions are also idle. In the past few days, some have to return to their original bases, and some have to march south. They have to mobilize from top to bottom, and pack and sort out their belongings.
The busiest people are the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army. Traveling for the army is very complicated.
However, Emperor Chongzhen, who should have been the busiest, was currently in the palace discussing matters with the three new earls Zhou Yuji, Huang Degong and Tang Tong while visiting the Taiye Lake.
Wu Sangui, who should have been most at ease, was now sweating profusely, feeling hot and anxious.
Something is wrong today. First, he was refused entry to the palace to meet the holy eunuch, and then he was refused permission to see the young eunuch. The people from the Dongchang Yamen said that he had left the capital, and he didn't know where he had gone.
This guy actually went south first?
Unlike other people, the little eunuch likes to go with the army, and he did the same when he went to the outside world.
But Wu Sangui felt something strange. The little eunuch left in a hurry and without any warning.
But he couldn't figure out what was wrong.
Gao Jie and Er Liu were finally free to leave the city. It was already afternoon when they sobered up in the city. The three of them packed up and left the city through Guangqumen. They went straight to the military camp on the bank of the Tonghui River a few miles away, and looked at what they were waiting for.
Under his command, the three of them got to know each other and smiled, which felt really good.
Seeing the three big guys back, his subordinates were also relieved. They heard that Li Chengdong was causing trouble a few days ago, and then they didn't see the general soldiers of each company showing up again. Moreover, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang's fans came to the barracks every day, which made it difficult for them to do so.
The soldiers were panic-stricken and didn't know what was going on. Some were even thinking about running away quickly.
Now that the commander had returned, the officers and soldiers from all the ministries finally heaved a sigh of relief. They gathered around to congratulate and said sourly: "The adults are so happy in Beijing that they have forgotten the little ones."
Happy? The three of them were in psychological distress. They almost couldn't come back. What's more, they were about to brave the scorching heat and travel thousands of miles south to suppress the bandits. Hey, they were all in tears!
They couldn't tell the story of their suffering, so the three of them could only laugh and laugh, but their subordinates refused to let them go: "The adults only care about getting promoted and getting rich, and they only care about having fun in the city, but they don't bring any wine to the little one."
"Wine? Do you know how expensive wine is in the city now?" Liu Liangzuo's eyes widened: "It's so expensive that you can't even buy it if you have money!"
Ah, the generals looked at Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing dumbfounded and somewhat disbelieving, and they both nodded again and again.
You are indeed not lying. There is no food to eat these days, but you still use it to make wine?
"Don't think about wine, and don't think about women for the time being, but I won't lose money to you brats." Gao Jie waved his hand: "I will give you all the silver reward from the emperor's reward the day before yesterday!" It's not just two thousand!
Two silver coins? Uncle Gao doesn't care.
The soldiers cheered and spread the news around.
Gao Jie and the other three finally calmed down and came to the military tent under the shade of the trees on the bank to look at the calm river water in trance.
"We are marching on a cold day. We can't move more than fifty steps but can't ride hundreds of horses. Going south for thousands of miles will bring hardships." Liu Zeqing snorted and sneered. He glanced sideways at Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo and said, "The army hasn't moved yet. Food and grass go first. This is what marching fights for."
Basically, having food and grass behind will directly affect the distance traveled. Otherwise, if you run fifty miles in one breath, you will have to come back twenty miles to eat."
"Why are you talking about this?" Gao Jie raised his eyebrows in confusion.
Liu Zeqing chuckled: "Are you really not understanding or are you pretending not to understand? Yesterday, the little eunuch kept saying that he would go south in the near future, but you can see that there is a little movement of food and grass? And does the imperial court have food and grass now?"
Hey, Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo looked at each other: "Yes. It stands to reason that food and grass must be sent for at least five days first... The imperial court is very tight now. How can we send troops without food and grass? Isn't this nonsense... It seems that we can still be comfortable.
God...but the imperial court has enough food and grass on hand, but Zhou Huangli and others should have enough to eat. After all, the Tatars have paid their share of everything they looted this time."
"Fuck! This is what I'm unhappy about. Why do we have to pay for what we fought so hard for, but they don't?" Liu Zeqing roared angrily.
Liu Liangzuo rolled his eyes: "Old Liu, you're done, aren't you? How much do they share and how much do we share? Also, why don't you have a clear idea of how to use salary as compensation? You said it well yesterday, why do you want to pay it again?
Fire".
"Humph, I just feel uncomfortable. No, we have to go get food." Liu Zeqing felt resentful and could not feel relieved.
"I said, Old Liu, why are you not sober?" Gao Jie curled his lips and said, "We all have to pay wages to the imperial court and are self-sufficient in food and grass. Are you not provoking trouble by asking for food and grass now? Do you think we don't have enough leverage?"
Hahaha, Liu Zeqing sneered: "We received the dispatch of troops and traveled thousands of miles from Puzhou to get here. We almost broke our legs and have eaten up all the food rations. Yes, we promised to be self-sufficient in food and grass. The problem is that the food and grass we have are thousands of miles away. You
Is it enough to eat and use it? If we don’t ask for rations, we will starve to death. Let’s just call it a loan from the head office.”
This... Gao Jie choked.
Liu Zeqing was telling the truth. A few months ago, when Chang Yu was in Shandong and fighting against Dorgon, the three of them were resting and enjoying themselves in Puzhou. However, Chang Yu sent an order and drew a cake, so the three of them came here after smelling it.
Each led 3,000 cavalry to go north, and the remaining troops then broke camp from Puzhou and marched eastward. At the speed of infantry and carrying countless baggage, they reached the territory of Huaiqing Prefecture (today's Qinyang, Henan Province) in extremely hot weather.
When the three men led their troops to the capital, they had already run out of food and grass. What they had on hand was what Wu Weiying had given away when he withdrew his troops and returned to the capital a few days ago. Now it is about to bottom out.
"So, I really want it," Liu Liangzuo said, "I just don't know if the court will give it to me."
"Hmph, whoever doesn't provide food when employing people still works on an empty stomach, no matter which dynasty or generation he puts in," Liu Zeqing snorted.
Gao Jie nodded slightly: "Soldiers without food will naturally not go south on an empty stomach. We are not immortals who can be full by drinking wind. Besides, we are just borrowing it and we can pay it back to him when we get to the field."
"Return?" Liu Zeqing chuckled: "Brother Gao, you are really innocent!"
"What, you don't have to pay it back?" Gao Jie was startled.
"It's natural to pay back what you borrow, but we didn't say we would pay it back right away. As for when we will pay it back..." Liu Zeqing looked proud: "I put it in my pocket and want to take it out again. I'm just dreaming."
"If you don't pay it back, I'm afraid... the court won't be happy." Liu Liangzuo felt a little guilty.
"I can't be so happy." Liu Zeqing rolled his eyes: "You also said just now that the war is raging in the south and the court is hiring people. Is it possible that you will kill us all just because we don't return food and grass? Is it possible?"
"So, we don't say we won't pay it back, we just put it off..." Liu Liangzuo also figured it out and laughed very obscenely. Gao Jie also echoed the laughter but shouted for help, oh my god, both of them
You are a guy who doesn't know whether you live or die. The little eunuch is worried that he can't find a reason to plot against you. It's good that you two have come to his door.
So the three people who had just left the city and returned to the camp hurriedly returned to the city to find Chang Yu for food. On the way, Liu Zeqing was even more excited and bared his teeth: "What the hell, if the little eunuch hadn't tricked us, we would still be in Puzhou at this time.
As for Zhou Kuaihuo, he should have found an excuse not to come at that time, but he was greedy and fell into his scheme. He lost his wife and lost his army. This time, I took advantage of borrowing food to trick him, which relieved my hatred!"
Unexpectedly, the three of them returned to the city and went straight to the Dongchang Yamen, only to be told that Chang Yu had left Beijing early in the morning, and he didn't know where he was going.
Well...the three of them were immediately confused.
The little eunuch actually went south first, maybe he thought he was going to trick him and avoided it early.
Outside the Dongchang Yamen, the three of them looked at each other. The reason why they came to see the young eunuch was because he was responsible for supervising the army. Now that he was not there, they had to go to the Ministry of War to find Shi Kefa. However, when the three of them arrived at the Yamen of the Ministry of War, they learned that Shi Kefa had
Leaving Beijing and heading south.
Um...such a drunk guy woke up for most of the day and no one was there?
In the end, they had no choice, and the three decided to enter the palace to meet the saint.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't see him, so he sent a message. It's not that he won't lend you money, but that the imperial court is really in a tight situation and has no food to borrow. It's difficult to maintain the basic rations of all the battalions in the city, but you can go to Li Yan, Zhou Yuji, and Huang Degong to borrow them.
,they have!
The court actually said there was no food!
But Liu Zeqing and the others believed it was true. The imperial court was already very poor. I heard that the grain and grass for the Battle outside the Pass and the Battle of Baoding were purchased by private grain merchants. In the past few months, there have been no grains of natural disasters and military disasters in the Gyeonggi area and the five northern provinces.
Harvest, we have already run out of food.
But there is no excuse. Are we supposed to go to war with an empty stomach and just ask someone to borrow it? When the three of them were aggrieved, they happened to meet Zhou Yuji, Huang Degong and Tang Tong who had just come out of the palace.
During the exchange of greetings, Liu Liangzuo told them about Emperor Chongzhen's request for them to borrow food. He thought he would be ridiculed or rejected by the three of them, but Huang Degong, who had never dealt with them, was particularly enthusiastic: "No matter how big things are, it's all done by colleagues.
We should help each other, come here, come here, find a place to drink and let’s have a good chat.”
Hey, the sun has come out from the west? Liu Zeqing and Gao Jie looked at each other and felt that it was too unrealistic, like a dream. You must know that Huang Degong ran out of food when he went north to King Qin a few months ago and asked them to borrow it. As a result, the two of them fell in love.
Not even a grain of food was given. If Chang Yu hadn't arrived to help relieve the siege, Huang Degong would have been ready to do it. But now he is so enthusiastic... something is wrong. Is it because he is happy to show off after being knighted?
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The Chinese New Year is coming soon, book friends take a walk, thank you for your support.