Song Bei, the platoon leader of the Tang Army, wanted a living Su Jiakang. Naturally, he was not worried about Su Jiakang's own life or death. Whether he lived or died was none of his business.
What Song Bei really cares about is how much credit he can get?
You know, he didn't get any credit for the attack on the county seat. Why?
Because they hadn't started fighting yet, the Ming army defending the city simply surrendered, and the Tang army successfully entered the city without encountering any obstruction.
After entering the city, Song Bei specifically asked his team officers to fight and led his people to attack the county government. What was the purpose? Isn't it just to get some credit and get promoted!
Nowadays, in the new army of the Tang Dynasty, although it is quite easy for officers to be promoted due to the era of great military expansion, this refers to those officers who came from the Royal Academy. Those disciples of the Emperor are promoted one by one as fast as if they were on a rocket. From then on
From the platoon leader to the team officer, then to the deputy battalion officer and battalion officer, it will only take a few months if the ability is outstanding.
But if it is ordinary officers who are promoted from ordinary soldiers, although they will be promoted with the expansion of the army, the promotion speed will be much slower.
Song Bei was a second lieutenant who was promoted from an ordinary soldier. He was just an illiterate peasant boy. He was promoted to second lieutenant and became a platoon leader because he trained hard, fought bravely, and made several military exploits in a row.
Because of his lack of literacy, it would be too difficult for him to continue to be promoted.
This is because the officers Li Xuan wants are a group of high-quality professional officers. Being able to read and write is the most basic requirement, because only with a basic cultural level can one learn a lot of military knowledge.
Song Bei also worked hard at reading and literacy in his free time, and did not miss any classes in the martial arts school. However, he was really not good at reading. After so long, he could only recognize a few hundred common words, and he could not even read a popular article.
I can't write it down.
He took the Imperial Academy exam several times in a row but failed to get in because of his limited cultural level. Failure to enter the Imperial Academy meant that he would not be able to advance like the emperor's disciples in the Imperial Academy, and he would have to work harder.
Song Bei estimated that it was possible for him to be promoted one step higher in the new round of military expansion, but he estimated that he would be a deputy captain, and he would not be able to become a captain directly like those disciples of the Emperor, or even be a member of the main force.
team officer.
If he wanted to keep up with the promotions of the Emperor's disciples in the Royal Academy, he had to rely on other aspects to win, and the most effective and direct one was military exploits.
What can best reflect a soldier's ability and his own value? Military exploits!
Although the New Army of the Tang Dynasty also focused on quality, cultural level, and military theory when promoting officers, it also paid more attention to actual military exploits.
Naturally, the dead Su Jiakang would not give him any credit, but if Su Jiakang were captured alive, it would be completely different.
This Su Jiakang was an official Jinshi official of the Ming Dynasty, and he was also the first civil servant captured by the Tang Dynasty. The political significance contained in this was quite huge.
How could he be allowed to die for such a great achievement!
Soon, soldiers released Su Jiakang. Su Jiakang's entourage on the side wanted to stop him at first, because he felt that these pseudo-Tang thieves would destroy his master's reputation, but he was kicked hard.
With his feet behind him, he could only curl up in the corner.
After Su Jiakang was put down, he was still alive and was shaken and pinched by a group of soldiers. He finally recovered his breathing and quickly opened his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw several fake
The Tang rebel army is right next to him.
Being smart, he reacted immediately and was about to curse these pseudo-Tang thieves for ruining his reputation.
He just saw a soldier of the Puppet Tang Bandit Army forcefully stuffing a large ball of cloth into his mouth, leaving him stunned and unable to curse a single word.
Song Bei looked at Su Jiakang, who had a piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth and was tied up, and finally showed a satisfied smile: "Take it away!"
He was not afraid that Su Jiakang would scold him, as he wouldn't lose a piece of meat even if he scolded him a few times. What he was afraid of was that Su Jiakang would bite his tongue and commit suicide if he did it again.
This person even dares to hang himself, which shows that he is already determined to die. If he is left alone, who knows whether he will bite his tongue and commit suicide. If he dies, let alone the credit, he might still be punished by his superiors.
A scolding.
Song Bei quickly brought Su Jiakang to his team officer. His superior was very happy to see Su Jiakang alive and captured, and brought him directly to Fang Xitong.
When Fang Xitong looked at Su Jiakang, he also had a smile on his face. Naturally, his share of the credit for capturing Su Jiakang was indispensable.
During the battle at No. 2 Ferry a few days ago, he also knew that his conservative choice made people think that his combat ability was not very good. Although he did not regret it, he still wanted to make up for it.
Later, when he said that he wanted to pursue the remnant soldiers at No. 2 Ferry, he also took the initiative to ask for a fight. Unfortunately, the remnant soldiers at No. 2 Ferry had already dispersed, so he did not gain much credit.
Finally, we had the opportunity to lead an army to attack Zhengtai County. However, the Ming army that defended the city surrendered without a fight. This credit was naturally lost. But no one would think that the defenders of Zhengtai County surrendered without a fight because of other forces.
Xitong has strong commanding ability, so he surrendered.
But now that Su Jiakang was captured alive, it was different.
After leaving some troops from the bandit camp to garrison Zhengtai County, Fang Xitong had no intention of staying in this county and soon returned to Lanjiang Ferry with Su Jiakang!
In order to prevent Su Jiakang from committing suicide or having any other accidents on the way, he strictly ordered to keep a close eye on Su Jiakang. He always blocked his mouth with a cloth and tied him tightly, giving him no chance to commit suicide.
Just when Fang Xitong and Su Jiakang had just returned to the Lanjiang Ferry, Li Xuan was also meeting Liu Bagou and others who came from Xikou Village.
The New Army of the Tang Dynasty is about to cross the river and attack Xingquan Mansion. The things involved here are very many and complicated. There are not only a lot of military issues, but also a lot of political and people's livelihood issues.
Li Xuan did not have so much to deal with these complicated matters personally. He needed to call Liu Bagou and Qian Mengjiu over to assist.
Not only Liu Bagou, Qian Mengjiu and several other senior officials came over, but Li Xuan actually moved most of the cabinet from Xikou Village to Lanjiang Ferry.
After crossing the river and capturing Xingquan Prefecture, it is naturally impossible for the ruling center of the Tang Dynasty to continue to be located in Xikou Village. Even Zhengtai County is not suitable. By then, Li Xuan will take over all the various branches of the entire Tang Dynasty.
All institutions were relocated to Xingquan Fucheng.
After all, the Tang Dynasty is getting bigger and bigger, and the various agencies of the cabinet have to deal with more and more things, and the demand for all kinds of talents is very large.
However, Xikou Village and even Zhengtai County could not meet the ruling needs of the Tang Dynasty, so the best place was naturally Xingquan Fucheng.
Let the senior officials of the cabinet follow the army now. After Xingquan Prefecture is captured, the cabinet can immediately accept the governance of Xingquan Prefecture and bring the entire population of 300,000 in Xingquan Prefecture under its rule.
Li Xuan, who was having a meeting with Liu Bagou and the others, immediately became more interested when he heard that Fang Xitong, a man from outside, had returned and had brought back Su Jiakang.
He immediately said: "Bring him in!"
To be honest, he is still very curious about Su Jiakang!
Li Xuan and Su Jiakang have been hostile to each other for several years. They have fought each other several times, and they have glanced at each other from a distance on the battlefield, but they have never seen each other up close.
Now that Su Jiakang is captured, how can he not take a look!
Su Jiakang was soon brought in by the soldiers. The first time he saw Su Jiakang, Li Xuan felt that this man was different from what he expected. His official robe was dirty and the black gauze hat on his head was also dirty.
I don't know where I ran, and my hair was a little messy.
But these are not important. What is more important is that this man lowered his head, as if his whole person had lost all color and had no expression at all.
Is this person stupid?
Li Xuan was a little confused. Based on the information he had gathered and his understanding of Su Jiakang on the battlefield, this person should be quite capable.
Why does this look like a dead pig?
Even when the soldiers shouted loudly for him to kneel down, he remained indifferent and allowed the soldiers to grab him and kneel down. However, he did not kneel down, but collapsed on the ground.
Seeing this scene, Li Xuan frowned slightly. He didn't know whether Su Jiakang was really desperate and lifeless, or whether he was deliberately pretending to be stupid.
After frowning slightly, he said: "Take him down and keep a close eye on him!"
As he spoke, he added: "Don't let him die!"
The political significance of Su Jiakang is still huge, but his death cannot be in vain. For the Tang Dynasty, the living Su Jiakang is more meaningful than the dead Su Jiakang.
Because as long as he is alive, the Tang Dynasty can say whatever they want, for example, Su Jiakang surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, became a high official, etc.
You can even publish a few articles against the Ming Dynasty in the name of Su Jiakang, which is very beneficial to boosting the morale of the army and improving the prestige of the Tang Dynasty.
As for what Su Jiakang is willing to do, it doesn't matter. If Su Jiakang doesn't want to, Li Xuan can also borrow his name.
Li Xuan only needs to let others, especially the Ming military officers and ordinary scholars and gentry know that Su Jiakang did this.
The role of Su Jiakang is not whether he really surrendered to the thieves, but to let others know that he surrendered to the thieves. This alone will be enough to greatly improve the reputation of the Tang Dynasty in the upper class of contemporary society, especially those scholars, officials, and Ming Dynasty.
The status of military generals.
They will think when the current situation is not good, Su Jiakang, an official with a Jinshi background, has surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, why can't they?
When Su Jiakang was escorted out, he seemed to be struggling to turn back, but Li Xuan saw it and ignored it. The soldiers even ignored him and took the still struggling Su Jiakang out directly.
Seeing Su Jiakang being escorted out, Li Xuan looked back at Liu Bagou and the others: "Let's continue talking about holding an imperial examination to recruit scholars after arriving in Fucheng. What did you talk about just now, Liu Aiqing?"