Rise From the Humble

Today is the twenty-third day of Zhu Ping'an's appointment. The sun is shining brightly, the sky is clear, and the wind is gentle. As usual, Zhu Ping'an still goes to Mr. Tai's office room to cultivate a tacit understanding.

Usually when Zhu Pingan shows up, everyone in Taiwan will say "no" before Zhu Pingan opens his mouth.

But it is a pity that the tacit understanding between Zhu Ping'an and Nie Tai has been cultivated for twenty-three days, but it was broken by Lord Nie Tai today.

Today, when Zhu Ping'an walked to the door of Zhentai's office and showed up, he saw Master Zhentai looking at him with a smile on his face, waving to him enthusiastically, and said warmly, "Zihou is here, come in quickly."

(⊙o⊙)…Zhu Pingan was surprised at first, and then a smile appeared from the bottom of his heart. Mr. Tai broke the tacit understanding, which means that things have changed. Doesn't it mean that the food and salary have been settled.

"Greetings to Mr. Nitai, I'm here to cause trouble for you again." Zhu Ping'an walked into the room, smiled and bowed his hands in greeting.

"No, Zihou is serious. You are responsible for your responsibilities. It's too late for me to be happy, so why bother. If everyone in the yamen were as responsible for their responsibilities as you, I would laugh out loud in my dreams at night."

Nie Tai waved his hand, with a gentle smile on his face, and praised Zhu Pingan well.

"The senior officials in the yamen are all serious and responsible people. I am also learning from my senior officials." Zhu Pingan said modestly.

"Zi Hou, please stop speaking for them. I have known what they are like over the years." Zeng Tai shook his head and smiled, then waved his hand, "Forget it, let's not talk about others' shortcomings. You will understand later."

Zhu Pingan wanted to continue to defend Chu Xiong and the others, but Zhe Tai did not give Zhu Pingan a chance. Zhe Tai continued, "Let me tell you some good news. The imperial court has approved the military preparations, food and pay that you have been thinking about."

Sure enough!

Although I had already guessed the answer, I couldn't help but feel excited when I heard Master Nitai say that the military preparations, food and wages had been approved.

"The food and salary for the military preparations have been approved?! Thank you, Mr. Naitai, for your hard work, so that the food and salary for the military preparations can be approved so quickly." Zhu Pingan showed an excited expression on his face, and thanked Mr. Naitai repeatedly.

"Haha, in fact, I can only write a few applications. Besides, assisting Zihou in organizing the army is also within my official duties. Zihou does not need to thank me." Mr. Zhetai smiled and waved his hand.

"Of course I have to thank you, Mr. Nitai. If you had not taken the responsibility, took the trouble to apply to the court again and again, and were not afraid of the court's displeasure, this military preparation, food and salary would not have been approved so quickly."

Zhu Ping'an insisted on thanking Mr. Tai Tai.

"Haha, Zihou, you went to the wrong temple this time. The reason why the court approved it so quickly this time is all thanks to Mr. Xu Ge. I don't dare to take credit. I heard that Mr. Xu Ge is here When the court discussed the Japanese invasion, it was mentioned that the militia was a useful supplement to the guards and the new army. Especially in Jiangnan, where the Japanese invasion was serious, the role of the militia should be paid attention to. It was precisely because of Mr. Xu Ge's emphasis on the militia that the Ministry of War Our application for military preparation, food and salary was approved so quickly." Lord Nedai said with a smile.

Hearing this, Zhu Ping'an raised the corners of his mouth slightly. Sure enough, someone in the imperial court is good at being an official. Counting the time, it only took more than ten days for him to submit the letter to his master Xu Jie. Excluding the time when the letter was in transit, it only took about ten days for the letter to reach his master Xu Jie. That’s all. Excluding the decision-making time of the relevant departments of the Ministry of War and the time when the letter of instructions from the Ministry of War arrived at the Criminal Division, it is estimated that after the letter was delivered to the commander Xu Jie, the commander Xu Jie helped him solve the problem of military preparation, food and salary without leaving any trace on the same day or the next day. question.

Such speed is worthy of Master Xu Jie.

Moreover, Master Xu Jie's handling method is also very artistic and very political. If Xu Jie, the commander-in-chief, directly exerts influence on the Ministry of War and asks the Ministry of War to take care of him and approve the application for military preparation, food and salary as soon as possible, it may be counterproductive. Because Yan Song's party has a much deeper influence on the Ministry of War than Xu Jie. It was well known in the capital that he had offended the Yan Party. As long as the members of the Yan Party in the Ministry of War did not cause any obstacles for him, how could he let his troops, food, and pay go smoothly?

Imperial Master Xu Jie was well aware of this, so he did not adopt this counterproductive approach. Instead, during the court meeting, he pointed out the role of the militia in front of the emperor, especially the Jiangnan fortress where the Japanese invasion was serious. Pay extra attention to the role of vigilante groups. The elder Ge has spoken, and the Holy Emperor has acquiesced. Of course, the six ministries and other departments must pay more attention to it and implement it, and the Ministry of War will naturally be no exception. Then, the Ministry of War noticed the application for military preparation, food and salary submitted by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Department of Punishment, Punishment, Inspection and Envoys, and without much thought, it was approved. This approach fully reflects the political wisdom of Xu Jie.

Master Xu is indeed Master Xu, and Zhu Pingan admires him endlessly.

"This is an official document of instructions issued by the imperial court. Zihou can just take it and go to Yingtian Military Department to pay for the food and salary."

Nian Tai handed the official document of the imperial court's instructions to Zhu Ping'an.

Zhu Pingan took the approval document with both hands, glanced at it, and found that out of the 10,000 taels of food and salary he applied for, the court only approved 5,000 taels.

Ten thousand taels was the result of shrinking and shrinking again and again because I was worried that the court would not approve it. Five thousand taels was too thin.

"The imperial court's finances are tight, so it's good to be able to approve five thousand taels. Generally, it's good to be able to approve half of the budget requested for instructions." Seeing Zhu Pingan's expression, Nie Tai reached out and patted Zhu Pingan's shoulder, and then said , "Zihou, you must know that you can bite off more than you can chew. In the early stage, you have little experience in leading troops, so the number of people in the militia should not be too large. It is limited to a thousand people. These five thousand taels of food and salary are enough to support it for a while."

"My lord, this is what I have learned." Zhu Ping'an twitched the corner of his mouth slightly.

Thousands of people? ! This amount of food and salary is not enough for a thousand people. Taking the military pay of the Qi Jiajun as an example, the annual military pay of a soldier in the Qi Jiajun is about eighteen taels of silver. This five thousand taels of silver is only enough to pay the military salary of 277 people for one year.

This is just military pay, not counting the soldiers' weapons, armor, and daily food, clothing, and housing expenses.

Taking everything into account, these five thousand taels of silver are estimated to be only enough to cover the expenses of one hundred soldiers for a year, and they have to live frugally.

The militia training for 100 soldiers? !

How about playing? !

What can one hundred people do? ! In this period of increasingly serious Japanese invasion, a hundred people could not even turn over a flower.

Of course, Zhu Pingan had anticipated this situation a long time ago. Zhu Pingan was waiting for the court's approval of food and salary, but he did not place all his trust in this instruction. The imperial court's instructions on food and wages are just a matter of great justice. With the imperial court's instructions and the imperial court distributing food and wages, it means that this militia is a militia of the imperial court and not a private soldier of Zhu Ping'an. This great righteousness has been established. For the shortfall in food and salary, you can just think of other ways, such as soliciting sponsorships, using war to support war, etc. There are many ways.