When he said this, Liu Chengzu and Ma Liang, the two former Baigan Sichuan soldiers, could not lie, so they had to express to Zhang Dapeng that they were willing to seek truth from facts.
Zhang Dapeng was naturally happy to praise the two of them, and then said that they were just the leaders of a few thieves. There would be many opportunities to make meritorious deeds in the future, so one had to take a long-term view.
Although Zhang Xian and Zhou Xiucai felt a little sorry for them.
But Zhang Dapeng also told Liu Chengzu and the others that he was very satisfied with their performance today. When the trip is completed and they return to Chongqing to camp, they will be promoted to at least the eighth-grade team leader. If they perform well,
By then, Qian Zong, the leader of the sixth and seventh grades, will also have a great chance.
Zhang Dapeng said he would pay the reward, but because he was out, he ordered the thief's right ear to be cut off, taken away, and used as proof of merit in the future. As for the head, he dug a hole and buried it, making a mark to return it in the future.
It can be verified.
He first asked Zhou Xiucai to distribute the silver rewards to everyone one by one, and then recorded them.
In addition to the silver reward for the head, other merit rewards are only recorded in the book. For example, although this is a small-scale battle, there are no rewards for vanguard, jumping, formation, etc., but it is still possible to take the lead.
Everyone was very satisfied with the money in hand.
Zhang Dapeng was not too happy when he received ninety taels of silver. After all, he was also a veteran of the imperial camp. He had experienced many battles and received many rewards. He even now has a wife, fields, his own house and children.
Even after he became a battalion officer, his monthly salary was only fifty taels, and he also had another one hundred and fifty taels of public silver a month. Although the public silver was for office expenses in the camp, there was actually a lot of money left over.
Subsidy to battalion officers.
Furthermore, as a battalion officer, he also has military commanders’ famous grains, which are similar to the civilian officials raising honest silver. As a fifth-level garrison, he has eight relatives’ famous grains, which means he can get eight additional soldiers’ pay and silver. This is not food.
Empty pay is an additional subsidy given by the imperial court to generals based on their rank, which is equivalent to the pay of eight additional soldiers for the garrison.
One soldier per month is four taels and five, eight is thirty-six taels.
The monthly salary of a battalion officer and garrison officer is fifty taels, plus the thirty-six taels of these eight famous rations, he has eighty-six taels a month. Not counting the minister's silver of 150 taels a month, there is still a lot left over.
As a subsidy, he earns one hundred taels a month, which is still a formal and legal income.
Not counting other rewards, gifts, etc.
In today's imperial camp, battalion officer is a huge threshold for military generals. As long as you can enter the battalion officer sequence, that is, become a fifth-grade military attache, your salary will be greatly improved.
A battalion officer, who serves as a fifth-grade guard, has a monthly salary of fifty taels. However, there are four sentry officers in a battalion, and each of them is paid three taels of silver per day, which actually amounts to nine taels of silver a month.
There are some sentry officers with the rank of Qianzong, and there are also those with the rank of Biaozong. The rank of Qianzong has five famous grains, and the rank of Jianzong has four.
If it is a sentry officer with the general rank, the salary of nine taels per month, plus eighteen taels of grain, is twenty-seven taels of silver, and the salary of a thousand general rank is thirty-one taels of silver.
Compared with the battalion officer, the difference is several times.
Therefore, the camp officer is an important watershed for the military generals of the Shaotian Dynasty today. Being able to enter the fifth rank, especially after being appointed as the camp officer, the monthly income is more than one hundred taels of silver, which can not only support the family, but also live a good life.
A good life.
And for junior officers such as team commanders and sentry commanders with the rank of Qianqiang, they can earn about thirty taels of silver a month, which is okay.
Compared with the income of the military attaches of the Ming Dynasty before, it has increased many times. At least with this salary, you can live and even support your family, instead of talking about the official salary of the general military officer every year.
Just a few dozen taels of silver.
In the past, the soldiers of the Ming Army were paid extremely low salaries. They were not paid on time, and there were various deductions. The soldiers could not support themselves, let alone support their families, so it was very normal that they could not fight.
Therefore, in the past, the Ming Dynasty's military households and frontier soldiers were the target of discrimination. If you were a soldier, others would put the word "stinky" in front of you. Soldiers who were "stinky" could not even marry a wife.
No one looks down on you.
How can such a person protect his family and country and be effective in fighting?
The policy Zhu Yihai is currently pursuing is to push these Ming army soldiers to a position that everyone envies. They must live well, live with dignity, and be admired and respected by others.
It starts with increasing food and salary, then military merit rewards and so on.
In the past, Zhang Dapeng was a part-time worker and had little money left at all times of the year. But now he can face dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver without any worries.
Beside the fire, Zhang Dapeng called Zhou Xiucai, "I don't know much about literacy and my handwriting is ugly. I would like to ask Zhou Xiucai to write two letters for me."
"Okay, who should I write to?"
"A letter is written to my wife. She is now taking care of her children in Zhoushan. I haven't seen her for a long time and I miss her very much."
Zhou Xiucai smiled and took out a pen and paper, and soon he wrote a letter home to Zhang Dapeng's wife. Then he started writing the second letter, and Zhang Dapeng read it to him.
But after Zhang Dapeng read a few sentences, Zhou Xiucai did not dare to write.
Because what Zhang Dapeng read at the beginning was that the minister Zhang Dapeng paid his respects to the Long Live Lord in Baoning Mansion, Sichuan, and then some reports to the emperor.
After all, Zhou Xiucai was a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, so he naturally knew some official document formats and some official rules. He did not expect that a fifth-rank guard could actually write letters directly to the emperor.
"Xiucai?"
Zhou Xiucai came to his senses and asked in a low voice, "Are you really writing a letter to the emperor?"
"Well, when I came to Sichuan, Lord Long Live told me to remember to write letters back often when I get here."
Zhou Xiucai couldn't believe that a small guard of the fifth rank could reach Tianting directly? But if he thought about it carefully, he was from the imperial camp and must be a close confidant of the emperor.
So he picked up his pen and started writing, because it was written to the emperor, and I heard that the letter was presented directly to the emperor for reading. This made Zhou Xiucai very excited and tried hard to write the best.
Zhang Dapeng's letter to the emperor rambled on, from what he saw along the way to Sichuan, to the garrison of the Ming army in Chongqing, as well as the money and food for the soldiers and horses in the camp, and even what he saw in Hanzhong this time, including the fact that he had just attacked and annihilated an army here.
He reported to the emperor all the yellow thieves and disabled Sichuan people he met on the road, including the tragic situation of Zhou Xiucai's family.
Zhou Xiucai's hands could not help but tremble, and he almost wrote several words incorrectly.
Zhang Dapeng's letter made him sweat profusely as he wrote it.
In his heart, he couldn't help but think more highly of this guard Zhang Dapeng. He could tell the emperor's guard directly what kind of little military attache he was.
Originally, he was just grateful to Zhang Dapeng for rescuing his family and wanted to follow them to take care of him on the way to escape Sichuan and go to Hanzhong, but now he didn't feel alert enough.
Perhaps we should find a way to stay in the imperial camp and stay with Zhang Shoubei?
In these troubled times, Zhang Shoubei and the Holy Emperor behind him are indeed rare good people in the world, and they are worthy of following.
