Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 13: Serving the People
At an alley not far from the palace, Li Mingzhong took off his eunuch robes. Wu Jisi stood on one side, looking at the small box in Li Mingzhong's arms reluctantly.

Li Mingzhong looked at Wu Jisi's expression and still felt that it was a little unreal. He couldn't help but ask

"Did the silver in this box really come from the prince and was borrowed from Wu Hujun?"

"How could this be false? This is the money we saved with great difficulty, and the prince took it all without saying a word, a total of 500 taels, and he didn't even bother to leave any for us."

Wu Jisi was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, with an indignant look on his face.
"Since it is Wu Hujun's own money, how can I use it? Wu Hujun can take it back."

Li Mingzhong was about to open the box and take out the silver.
Li Mingzhong's mind turned. Although five hundred taels of silver was not a small amount, it was not a large sum for a military leader like him who commanded six thousand soldiers.

Moreover, this person is obviously the confidant of the King of Gui. In the future, when his sons and nephews enter the palace as guards, they may work under this person. If he can befriend this person in advance with only 500 taels of silver, it is really a very cost-effective deal.

But before Li Mingzhong could take out the silver, Wu Jisi was startled and stopped Li Mingzhong's action.

"General, please don't harm me. The prince has already written me an IOU for the five hundred taels of silver. If the prince knew that I took back the five hundred taels of silver, he would skin me alive."

"The prince even wrote an IOU"

Li Mingzhong looked shocked, and his movements stopped for a moment, not knowing how to react.
A great prince of the Ming Dynasty, and the future regent, actually wrote a promissory note for 500 taels of silver.

"See for yourself, General."

Wu Jisi took out a piece of letter from his bosom. Li Mingzhong looked at the huge red seal of the King of Gui on the paper with a look of astonishment on his face.
"General, you have just met the prince, and you may not know what kind of person he is, but I am an old man by his side. I entered the palace when the prince was a few years old. Our prince is truly the best prince in the world."

"When the prince was young, he was raised in the palace. The palace had no shortage of money. He was just a rich and idle prince."

"But a few years ago, rebellions broke out everywhere, the country was in turmoil, and the palace was also occupied by bandits. The old prince led us to escape, but we were separated by the rebellion halfway, and the prince also fell into the rebellion. The prince has been displaced for many years and witnessed the suffering of the people. He really has the people of the world in his heart."

"The prince now only has three dishes and one soup for a meal. Not to mention the prince, even ordinary wealthy families in our Ming Dynasty eat more and more delicious food.
"I told the prince that the expenses of the palace are subject to national regulations, which is not in line with the prince's status."

"The prince told me that when we were trapped in the rebellion, we couldn't even get a meal. Now we have both meat and vegetables, and we can fill our stomachs. Why should we be dissatisfied? Moreover, there are countless people in the world who don't have enough food. Now we can have three dishes and a soup, so we should be satisfied."

"I also asked why the three dishes and one soup must be set every day. Wouldn't that mean we would eat the same thing every day?"

"The prince told me that if we don't set a daily menu, the chefs in the palace will have to rack their brains to collect delicacies from all over the world, and I don't know how much money will be spent. Now the country is in trouble, and the expenses of the palace all depend on the state. I am a vassal king and cannot do my best for the country, so I should be frugal and reflect on myself to help the country's finances."

Li Mingzhong listened to Wu Jisi's story, and his expression gradually became silent. He just listened to Wu Jisi's chatter quietly, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Your Highness cares about the people of the world, so I, Old Wu, naturally cannot bring shame to your Highness. Old Wu has nothing but this little bit of silver."

"But the general is different. He is a famous general of the country. The world is in turmoil now. It is time for the general to serve and work hard. The general takes this silver and uses it well in the army, trains the soldiers carefully, and serves the prince."

Wu Jisi looked at Li Mingzhong with a solemn expression.
"When I return, I will be vigilant every day and train my soldiers well, so as to live up to the sincerity of General Wu and the trust of the prince."

Li Mingzhong also looked serious and bowed solemnly towards the palace.

"There is something else going on in the palace, so Old Wu will not see you off. General, please go back now."

After Wu Jisi finished speaking, he looked at the box in Li Mingzhong's arms reluctantly, then turned around and slowly walked back to the alley.
"Wu Hujun, go slowly"

Li Mingzhong bowed to Wu Jisi and watched Wu Jisi disappear at the end of the alley.

He stood there in silence for a while, then he exhaled, then firmly held the box in his hands and strode away, as if he had made a decision.

But he didn't notice that on the street outside the alley, a man in a coarse linen shirt was selling things at a stall, with a basket filled with various dough figurines and candies.
As soon as Li Mingzhong left, a gleam of light flashed in the eyes of the man in hemp clothes, and he immediately stood up.
The man picked up the bamboo basket in front of the stall, shouted the candy man salesman's slogan, and slowly joined the crowd, following the figure in front.
In the evening, the sound of horse hooves broke the silence outside the city. Li Mingzhong rode towards the military camp not far away, followed by several elite soldiers with bows and swords.

Li Mingzhong rode into the military camp, handed the reins to the guards behind him, and walked towards the military tent with the box in his arms.
As it was getting dark, Li Mingzhong walked into the camp, only to find that the generals were still guarding their tents.
Everyone knew that Li Mingzhong was going to meet the future emperor. After a morning discussion, the generals were worried about their future. So after dealing with the camp affairs in the afternoon, they gathered in their tents and waited for their chief general to return.
In fact, they were stationed outside the city, far away from the front line, and there was no camp affairs to deal with. For example, Yang Yandi even had his lunch brought to his tent today, just to wait for news from Li Mingzhong as soon as possible.
"General"

Li Mingzhong walked into the tent, and all the generals stood up to greet him. Li Mingzhong waved his hand, walked straight to the main table, and put the box in his hand on the table.
Everyone noticed the box in Li Mingzhong's hand, but no one asked
"General, what did the King of Gui say?"

The generals on the field gave each other a look, Deng Yao thought for a while, and asked

"Prince Gui does want to recruit us"

After Li Mingzhong finished speaking, his eyes fell on several people in the field.

Li Chengzhi's face was slightly gloomy, Deng Yao's face flashed a hint of understanding, Yang Yandi's face seemed to be happy, and Lieutenant General Yi Zhi's face was uncertain.
After Li Mingzhong finished speaking, the generals in the field fell silent.

Although they had expected this, they were at a loss when they heard that the King of Gui had summoned them to recruit them.

On one side is the emperor, and on the other side is the governor who controls their food and money and has troops stationed on one side. This is not an easy decision to make.

Li Mingzhong only told the news of Gui Wang's recruitment, and then stopped talking. Li Mingzhong did not tell his decision, but Li Chengzhi, who was standing by, heard his uncle say the three words "Gui Wangye" and his expression changed.

This morning, when everyone was discussing, they all called him the King of Gui, but now Li Mingzhong was talking about the Prince of Gui. He knew that his uncle might be interested in joining the King of Gui.

"General, are you planning to surrender to King Gui?" After a moment of silence, Li Chengzhi finally spoke in a deep voice.
Li Mingzhong glanced at his nephew, but did not speak. Instead, he opened the box on the table and took out a lot of silver.

"Is this the reward from the prince to the general? This is too stingy."

Yang Yandi stared, glanced at the silver in the box, and couldn't help muttering
They were all generals in the army, and they had a territory granted by the court. They also had some wealth, so eight hundred taels was a lot of money for them.
But compared with the status of the King of Gui and the 6,000 men under Li Mingzhong, these 800 taels seemed a little insignificant.

According to the court's rules, these six thousand people would receive six thousand taels of silver every month just for salary.
Li Mingzhong said nothing. He poured out the silver in the box, put the ten ingots of silver and fifty taels of silver in one pile, and put the rest of the loose silver in another pile.

"I told Prince Gui that Ding Kuichu refused to pay the army and the army was short of food. This is the salary Prince Gui gave us."

"These five hundred taels are what the prince borrowed from the servants in the mansion, these three hundred taels are what the prince of Gui found in the mansion, and the eight hundred taels of military pay are all here," Li Mingzhong said in a deep voice.
Everyone looked at the silver on the right side of the table, looked at each other, and was speechless.
Except for a few ingots, the rest of the small pile of silver was all broken into pieces, some of which were only the size of soybeans. Just by looking at these pieces of silver, one can imagine the difficult situation of the person who collected the silver.
"My goodness, the King of Gui is a prince after all, how can he be so poor? He is not even as good as a lieutenant general like me, Old Yang. It seems that being a prince of the Zhu family is not that good."

Yang Yandi muttered in a low voice, but with this man's voice, even if he lowered his voice, it sounded like he was shouting with a megaphone.
Everyone heard what Yang Yandi said, but they didn't know how to respond.
A dignified prince could only gather three hundred taels of silver, and even had to borrow five hundred taels from his servants. The situation of the Prince of Gui did not seem good.

"I have decided to surrender to King Gui. What do you think?" Li Mingzhong said in a deep voice, looking at the generals below.
Everyone was shocked when they heard this, but when they saw Li Mingzhong's serious expression, they were shocked again and could only answer in unison:
"We will obey the general's orders."

Both parties sat down and there was some silence. Li Mingzhong saw that everyone still followed his orders and his expression eased a little. He said
"I won't hide it from you all. Prince Gui has promised me the title of Marquis. With me here, you will definitely have a bright future. Even becoming a baron is not impossible."

The expressions on everyone's faces eased a little after hearing this, and Yang Yandi's face flashed with joy. Although silver was important, being a marquis was also very attractive to them.

Although the world is in chaos now and the title is just an empty title, it is a matter of honor for the family. They have been fighting for many years, isn't it just for this fame and fortune?

They have their own territories, and the military pay is insufficient, so they have more or less some ways to make money, but this state title can only be obtained from the court.
Li Mingzhong ignored everyone's expressions and continued
"If it was just for the title of Li Mingzhong, I would not gamble the lives of our brothers. How can an empty title be compared to the lives of our men? I decided to join the King of Gui because I felt that the King of Gui really seemed like a man who could accomplish things."

"The King of Gui is in a difficult situation now. If we join him now, we will be his trusted confidants."

"Since he dares to collect these 800 taels of military pay for me, why shouldn't I, Li Mingzhong, dare to take a chance on him? If we brothers become nobles for generations, if we lose, we will have served the Ming Dynasty and deserve the military pay for the court for the past ten years."

"Everyone, are you willing to make this bet with me?" Li Mingzhong glanced at the people below.

"Follow the general's orders"

Everyone heard this and agreed in unison, but this time their expressions were much more sincere.
"Prince Gui not only promised us the title, but also gave me 20 places for the palace guards. Prince Gui will soon take the throne as regent and will be the future emperor of Ming Dynasty. If you enter the palace now, you will be a meritorious official. Each of you should report two people and report to the palace in two days."

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, and they lowered their heads to think carefully. Li Mingzhong ignored everyone's expressions and looked directly at Li Chengzhi who had been silent at the side.

"Chengzhi, get ready and follow me into the palace."

"……Yes"

Li Chengzhi opened his mouth with a complicated expression on his face, but after hesitating for a while, he could only respond in a low voice.
When the generals saw that Li Mingzhong had sent his most trusted nephew to the palace, they knew that Li Mingzhong was determined to join the King of Gui, so they did not hesitate and reported the names of their own trusted men.
"Who are you going to report?"

Several people reported their own trusted relatives, Deng Yao also reported his nephew, and only Yang Yandi remained silent.

"General, what do you think of me, Old Yang, joining the palace as a guard?" Yang Yandi said shyly.
"Okay, it seems that the temple in our military camp is too small to accommodate General Yang's big Buddha. He will go to the palace to be a guardian."

The lieutenant general Yi Zhi joked, and everyone smiled.

"Yi Lao Er, stop being so sarcastic. I just want to be a guard in the palace, what's wrong with that?"

"General, don't listen to his nonsense. I just want to go to the Prince of Gui's mansion to guard the prince for two days. I will come back when the prince of Gui becomes the emperor. I am now guarding the prince of Gui. When he is conferred a title in the future, the prince of Gui will also remember our kindness."

A shrewd look flashed across Yang Yandi's face, and he looked at Li Mingzhong above him with some anticipation. At this moment, everyone could no longer hold back and laughed together.

"Stop messing around and report the person here quickly. If you're late, I won't wait for you."

Li Mingzhong shook his head and laughed, then deliberately put on a face.
Seeing that everyone was laughing, Yang Yandi knew that the general would not agree with his idea, so he reported his name with an embarrassed look.

"In addition to these eight people, you will select twelve more elite soldiers from the army later. Although this is the prince's grace, since the prince has entrusted his own safety to us, we cannot neglect it," Li Mingzhong said solemnly.

"Yes"

Everyone responded in unison, and then stepped back to select personnel.

There are many important officials in the city now, so there is actually no danger. However, judging from the attitude of the King of Gui, he is obviously dissatisfied with the ministers of the previous dynasty.
Now that the resolution has not been made, Ding Kuichu has a domineering personality, who knows if he will do something rebellious.
Since Li Mingzhong has placed a heavy bet on the King of Gui, he must be on guard and not let those hoodlums harm the King of Gui.
(End of this chapter)