This time, Li Zhi's sixteen battalion commanders were basically promoted to hundreds of households, and more than fifty company commanders were all promoted to general banners. Li Zhi's subordinates were assigned new official uniform badges and became bigger
The officials were all excited. Dozens of subordinates put on new official uniforms and stood in the yard, looking like a crowd.
Li Zhi had people buy mutton, pork, vegetables and soju, and hired a cook from the restaurant to cook the food. Everyone had a big meal to celebrate in the evening.
After thirty years of drinking, Li Xing was very drunk. He put his hand on Li Zhi's shoulder and said: "Brother, I never thought that I could be a fourth-grade official. It really scared me to death! At that time, there were no people at home.
With the Xiao family's money, I thought I would be destined to be a servant for the rest of my life!" Li Xing raised his head and looked at the night sky blankly, and said: "You are already a fourth-rank official! It's time for me to find a wife.
, Brother, can you help me take a photo?"
Li Zhi said: "I don't know who has a good girl, you can find a matchmaker yourself!"
Li Xing looked at Li Zhi and asked, "Brother, will you be promoted in the future?"
“It will be promoted again soon!”
Li Xing murmured: "Then I have to find someone who is a good match."
Second uncle Li Dao took a mouthful of vegetables and chewed it in his mouth, and said: "Li Xing, you are right! You must be careful when marrying a wife! Once the wife is married, any woman she marries will become a concubine. No girl from a decent family is willing to marry."
Concubine! I can’t marry a good one even if I want to! If I had known that I would be promoted so quickly, I wouldn’t have married the one in my family. I should have found someone more beautiful!”
Li Dao's words aroused a burst of condemnation from everyone. They all said that this was wrong and that the wife should not be abandoned! They wanted to punish him with alcohol. Zheng Kaicheng, in particular, shouted the loudest and asked Li Dao to drink three glasses of soju.
Li Dao squinted at Zheng Kaicheng and cursed: "Zheng Kaicheng, do you dare to say that you have no regrets? If you knew that you would be promoted to a thousand households so quickly, would you marry your wife? Why don't you find a better one?"
Zheng Kaicheng spat: "I had long expected that I would be here today if I followed you. When I got a wife, everything was in plan! How can you ride a donkey and look for a horse like you?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, wondering if Zheng Kaicheng was so upright and upright? Is what he said true or false?
Zheng Yuan took a sip of soju and said with emotion: "Follow me, sir! I couldn't even imagine today's life! My wife is pregnant again! Maybe I will have a son and a daughter this time! I am not afraid of everyone laughing when I say it. My family used to be poor.
My wife and I don’t dare to share a house. We have been married for ten years and we have no children!”
Zheng Kaicheng spat: "Now that you are a member of a thousand households, you can not only share a house, but also take a concubine!"
Everyone burst into laughter again.
Xue Sanku, who had just been promoted to a hundred households, raised his glass and said to Li Zhi: "Sir, I used to be the poorest one in the family, and I never had the money to get married. Now I follow you, and now I am the most promising one in the family, and my daughter-in-law
I’ve found everything, and all my relatives are envious of me. I’d like to give you a toast, sir!”
Li Zhi covered the wine glass and said, "No! You drink it yourself, don't respect me!"
Xue Sanku did not let Li Zhi go and said, "Sir, you drink half a cup, and I'll drink one cup."
"Half a cup will burn your stomach!"
In the end, Li Zhi was toasted dozens of times by his subordinates, drank a lot of wine, and didn't get up until noon the next day.
The next night, Li Zhi cheered up again and went to the banquet hosted by Yang Sichang, the Minister of War.
Yang Sichang's home was in an alley in the west of the city. The area nearby was full of elegant houses and carved walls. They were obviously residences of high-ranking officials. Li Zhi went to Yang Sichang's home and handed over his name card, and was taken into the Yang Mansion by his disciples.
, arrived at the main hall.
In the main hall, Yang Sichang was already waiting there. When he saw Li Zhi, Yang Sichang stood up to greet him. Seeing that the Minister of War was so polite, Li Zhi quickly went up to salute Yang Sichang and handed over the gift list.
Yang Sichang took the gift list and looked at it. Seeing that there were nearly a thousand taels of goods on it, he smiled and said: "Why does the general need to spend so much money on a banquet at home?"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "A little thought cannot amount to respect."
The two sat down separately and chatted. The second time they met, the two were not very familiar with each other, and their conversation was all about ceremony and had little content. After waiting for a quarter of an hour, Baoding Governor Ding Kuichu also arrived.
The three of them then entered the banquet and started the dinner.
The dinner was very sumptuous, including shark's fin soup, grilled clams, clams with wine grains, roasted venison, etc. Li Zhi had a great appetite.
Yang Sichang and Ding Kuichu were more familiar with each other, and their words were more meaningful. Ding Kuichu was a good talker, and he flattered Yang Sichang in a roundabout way at the table, which made Yang Sichang very happy. Ding Kuichu talked about the recent An Oqing victory and took all the credit.
Focusing on Yang Sichang's strategizing, he ignored the general Li Zhi sitting aside.
Li Zhi didn't care about it and immersed himself in eating vegetables. After eating for a long time, he suddenly heard Yang Sichang ask: "The general is really majestic in leading the troops in battle. I admire it. How can the general feel that the current situation can bring peace to all parties?"
Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, swallowed a mouthful of shark's fin, and said after careful consideration of his words: "Nowadays, the military attachés are ** and have no intention of improving their combat effectiveness. We need to rectify the atmosphere, select suitable upright officials to lead the troops, so that the military attachés can eat less empty pay and drink the blood of soldiers, so that
Soldiers can concentrate on training and fighting without any worries. At the same time, we must change the bad habit of privately dividing military merits among the army, so that outstanding generals can stand out. Only in this way can the combat effectiveness of the army be improved, and thieves can be defeated and slaves can be eliminated."
Hearing Li Zhi's objection to the private division of military merit, Yang Sichang looked at Li Zhi thoughtfully, and after being silent for a long time, he said: "What the general said is reasonable, but there are many obstacles to rectifying the atmosphere and it cannot be achieved overnight. Now we have to conquer the lack of
Pay, so what?"
Li Zhi thought for a while and said: "We need to ask for money from businessmen, gentry and clans. Nowadays, the poor bear the national taxes, but businessmen do not pay taxes, and the gentry clans do not pay taxes. The unscrupulous people all send their land in the names of the gentry clans.
They will not pay the land tax. And the land tax that should be paid for these fraudulently sent fields will all fall on the honest farmers, making the poor even more miserable. If this continues, not only will the court not be able to collect taxes, but it will also force the poor to become thieves."
"Only by allowing businessmen to pay taxes can the country become rich. Only by allowing the gentry and the clan to pay taxes can the land tax be fair, and the poor people can escape the fate of bankruptcy and stop being thieves."
When Yang Sichang heard Li Zhi's words, he smiled and said: "What the general said is reasonable, but asking businessmen to pay taxes and gentry clans to pay taxes is even more difficult to operate!"
Li Zhi cupped his hands and said, "This is what the Grand Sima and the princes of the court should resolve."
Yang Sichang laughed and said nothing.
Li Zhi said with a smile: "What I said was a joke at the wine table. Da Sima just laughed at it."
After saying this, the three people stopped discussing state affairs. Li Zhi toasted Yang Sichang and Ding Kuichu a few more glasses, then stood up and left. Yang Sichang thought highly of Li Zhi and sent Li Zhi to the door before going back. Li Zhi saw
The Minister of War valued him so much, and was very happy to say goodbye to Yang Sichang.
