Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 166 Tengxiang
At this time, Tong Yangjia and Li Chengdong were both taken out of the hall. The faces of the ministers in the hall were all serious. Everyone in the hall recalled the murderous words just spoken by the Regent, and their hearts were chilled.

His Royal Highness Gui Jianguo is brave and decisive, but he seems to be more murderous than the previous emperors.
Ma Bao, who was standing below, looked at the young man who had dealt with Tong Yangjia in just a few words, and felt a little bit of awe in his heart. He also had some understanding of the temperament of this regent.
This Regent is indeed a man who dares to stand before the enemy, and his actions are indeed extremely ruthless and decisive.
At this time, all the ministers were sitting in the hall with solemn expressions, but Zhu Lang ignored them. He took a sip of the tea on the table, calmed down a little, and waved to Li Guoyong.

Li Guoyong saw the signal and immediately went downstairs. Then all the servants in the hall left and the door was tightly closed.
Zhu Lang glanced at the ministers in the hall, and then spoke softly

“Let’s start the meeting.”

"Chengzhi, let me first tell you about the situation of this battle."

All the officials in the field looked at Li Chengzhi at once. The victory in this battle was won by the Jinyiwei and the city inspectors. At this time, no one knew how the battle went.

Li Chengzhi responded and began to introduce the captured items in this battle.

When Lu Daqi and others heard that they had seized more than 600,000 taels of silver in this battle, they were delighted.

The imperial court spent more than 200,000 taels of silver on this battle. Taking into account the tens of thousands of taels of silver that Zhu Lang had previously left outside the city, the total investment in this battle was probably no less than 300,000 taels. Now, it has been directly recouped, and there is even a surplus!

After Li Chengzhi finished talking about the seized silver, he continued

"In addition to gold and silver, this battle captured more than ten generals of the pseudo-Qing army, including Tong Yangjia and Li Chengdong, including Ye Chengen, Xu Guodong, Luo Chengyao, and Hao Shangjiu. More than 6,000 soldiers were captured and surrendered. 2,600 war horses, 1,000 sets of cloth armor, 2,500 sets of leather armor, and countless swords, spears, and arrows were seized. This is only the situation reported this morning. The specific situation is still being counted."

When Lu Daqi and others in the hall heard this, they all looked delighted. This was different from the great victories of the Zheng family in the Longwu Dynasty that had killed hundreds of Green Camp soldiers. This was a real victory that was enough to shock all the other parties.
The ministers were all excited, and Jiao Lian and the other two below also had their eyes brightened when they heard the words, and they all looked up at His Majesty the Regent.

The money seized in this battle naturally belonged to the court, as did the weapons and horses. But since these weapons and horses belonged to the court, wouldn't they have to be given to them in the end? The court couldn't just keep them in the treasury.

Zhu Lang had already seen the inventory situation before, but there was not much joy on his face at this time.
Zhu Lang looked at Jiao Lian and the other two who were excited below, his eyes flickered slightly, and after a little thought he spoke
"Twenty percent of the six hundred thousand silver coins seized in this battle will be used as a reward for the two armies."

Zhu Lang saw that the faces of Lu Daqi and others below changed slightly. In the previous battle, almost all the silver distributed in the city came from His Highness's inner treasury. Now that so much silver has been seized, it goes without saying that His Highness will definitely use this silver to make up for the shortfall in the inner treasury. In this way, only half of it will be left.
And now His Highness is going to give another 20% to the two armies. So, how much money will end up in the hands of the Ministry of Revenue? Nowadays, every department in the court needs to spend money. How can they give away hundreds of thousands of taels so easily?
However, His Royal Highness the Regent did not wait for them to speak and continued

"Why did the Qing army dare to fight? Because the Qing army allowed its soldiers to plunder. So after the Qing army robbed once or twice, the soldiers were happy to hear about the war."

"We are the army of the imperial court, so we cannot allow them to plunder. However, war is a matter of life and death after all. Without encouragement, how can the soldiers be willing to fight?"

"I have decided that in future battles, all the spoils of war will be divided into two parts. Of these two parts, half will go to the generals, and the remaining 15% will be distributed to the soldiers. This reward has nothing to do with military merit. If the soldiers have made meritorious contributions, the court will give them other rewards."

"But in the future, when the army is about to go to war, all the spoils should be checked by the court and the armies together, and redistributed after being collected by the court. The army should also restrain its soldiers and not plunder the place at will. If it is discovered that the soldiers are looting in the chaos, the court will also hold the commander of the army accountable. What do you think?"

Chen Zizhuang and the others thought for a moment after hearing this, but in the end no one objected. His Highness's move was still to win the hearts of the soldiers. At the same time, the silver promised by His Highness would only be distributed after the army won and captured some spoils, not because the court had to pay extra money.

Jiao Lian and the others looked uncertain when they heard this. They had no intention of robbing the place.

But when they were local military commanders, all the spoils of war belonged to them. Of course, the results of previous battles were far from comparable to this one.
Now that I am the personal army under the direct command of His Highness, I can't be the same as before, but I don't know if this is too much or too little.
But no matter what, they had never thought of getting their hands on the 600,000 taels before, but now they could get 20%, which seemed not bad, so the two of them hesitated for a moment and bowed their hands to express their gratitude, and the matter was settled.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Zhu Lang continued to speak.

“And then there are the spoils.”

When Jiao Lian and the others heard this, their expressions immediately brightened and they looked up at His Royal Highness the Regent.

Given the current situation of the court, there will certainly be constant wars in the future. As generals, the better the equipment in the army, the easier it will be for them to survive and make contributions.

Zhu Lang glanced at the two people below who were getting nervous, but he directly followed the distribution plan he had previously decided on and said

"The Longxiang Army fought to defend Guangzhou, and almost all of its cavalry was wiped out. You are also veterans in the army, and you should know that an army should have both cavalry and infantry, especially when we are facing the Qing invaders in the future, so the army cannot be without cavalry."

"I plan to assign these two thousand war horses to the Longxiang Army and have them reorganize the cavalry. This way, both the Longxiang and Wuxiang armies will have two thousand cavalry each that can fight independently."

"Since the Longxiang Army has taken the horses, the armor will go to the Wuxiang Army. The 1,000 pieces of iron armor and 1,500 sets of leather armor seized this time will be allocated to the Wuxiang Army. What do you two think?"

Jiao Lian got 2,000 war horses, so naturally he had no objection. Although Li Mingzhong failed to expand the cavalry again, he got more than 2,000 sets of armor. Although it was a slight loss, it was not much.
The Wuxiang Army had more than 2,000 more armored soldiers, and the army's strength was greatly increased. They could accept it, so the two looked at each other, stood up together, and bowed to express their gratitude.

Zhu Lang had distributed most of the captured spoils at this time. After finally pacifying the two armies, he turned his eyes and began to talk about another thing he had been planning for today. Zhu Lang glanced at the happy Jiao Lian and the others below and spoke softly.

"As for the surrendered soldiers, these 6,000 people are all veteran soldiers brought by the Qing army from Jiangnan. I decided to use these 6,000 people to build a new Tengxiang army. Who do you think can be the commander of this army?"

The ministers below were all stunned when they heard this, and then they all looked at Ma Bao standing on the right, and then they all looked away.
Lu Daqi and other cabinet ministers either had blank expressions or frowned slightly, but Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong both looked somewhat dissatisfied.

At this moment, Zhu Lang's voice fell, and everyone was silent. The hall fell into silence for a while.
Although His Royal Highness the Regent was asking everyone about the candidate for the chief general of the Tengxiang Army, everyone could see that His Royal Highness probably wanted to use Ma Bao as the chief general of the Tengxiang Army.
The people His Highness summoned today were either cabinet ministers or military commanders. Even the assistant ministers Liu Yuansheng and Gu Yuanjing were not allowed to attend. It was extremely abrupt for Ma Bao, a surrendered general, to be in the hall.
If it was to suppress the arrogance of Li Chengdong and others, then after Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia were suppressed, Ma Bao should have been allowed to take the reward and leave.

But at this time, the meeting had clearly begun, but His Highness still let Ma Bao stay in the hall. Now he suddenly asked about the commander of the Tengxiang Army. Who could not see His Highness's thoughts?

Lu Daqi and the other two are all cabinet ministers, so it is impossible for them to be the commander-in-chief of the Tengxiang Army. Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong are now in charge of the Longxiang and Wuxiang armies of tens of thousands of people respectively, so it is even more impossible for them to be the commander-in-chief of the Tengxiang Army. So who else can the commander-in-chief of the Tengxiang Army that His Highness has chosen?
They had no objection to His Highness's plan to form the Tengxiang Army. Since His Highness ascended the throne, he had been firmly in control of the military affairs of the court. At this time, the court was surrounded by enemies, and the court had already decided to expand the army. It was only a matter of time to recruit soldiers when it moved to Guangzhou. It was also the right time to form another army.
But this is the third army formed by the imperial court. When the imperial court incorporated the Guangdong Army, it directly disbanded it and did not form a new army. Even if it wants to build a new army now, how can it let a newly surrendered person be the commander of this army?

Apart from other things, in this great victory, Bai Gui and Zhao Xing in the Imperial Guards, Deng Yao and Yang Yandi in the Wuxiang Army, all of them played a great role. These generals of the imperial court have not been rewarded yet. How could an outsider be the commander of the imperial court's third army?

This is also the reason why Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong are dissatisfied. They cannot become the commander of the Tengxiang Army, but their subordinates can.
Ma Bao was slightly stunned when he heard what His Royal Highness the Regent said, and then a hint of ecstasy flashed in his eyes, but when he looked at the silent ministers on the field, his heart sank slightly.

Zhu Lang looked at the silent ministers on the field, and a glimmer of understanding flashed in his eyes. He had anticipated the situation in front of him, so he divided the spoils of this battle in advance to shut up Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong.

At this time, their two armies had already taken nearly half of the spoils of this battle. They couldn't take the initiative to ask for the position of the commander of the Tengxiang Army. As long as the two of them couldn't speak up for the time being, he could rely on the pre-arrangement to directly push this matter through.
Zhu Lang picked up the teacup and glanced down. Su Guansheng below took the hint and was about to stand up, but before he could say anything, Lu Daqi above him had already spoken.

"I think Ma Bao can temporarily serve as the commander of the Tengxiang Army."

Lu Daqi spoke in a deep voice. Chen Zizhuang and others below looked at Lu Daqi in astonishment.

Ma Bao looked at Lu Daqi who was serious, and his eyes flashed with excitement.

However, Lu Daqi ignored the gazes of the crowd and said with a calm expression:
"During this great victory, Ma Bao delivered news to the city many times, allowing the court to make arrangements in advance. He later helped the court seize the camp gate and assisted the court in defeating the main force of the Qing army in one fell swoop."

"What is even more commendable is that Ma Bao surrendered to the imperial court when the city was weak. Such a great contribution should be rewarded by the imperial court."

"On the other hand, the court has formed the Tengxiang Army with the defeated soldiers of the Qing army. Ma Bao was originally from here and is familiar with the situation in the Qing army. If he is appointed as the commander of the Tengxiang Army, he will be able to quickly reorganize these defeated soldiers. Therefore, I think Ma Bao can be temporarily appointed as the commander of the Wuxiang Army."

Lu Daqi glanced at Ma Bao opposite him, and seeing the other party's gaze, he nodded slightly to Ma Bao, and then sat back in his seat with a blank expression.
Lu Daqi's mind was slightly turned. This war brought a very strong impact to Lu Daqi. From the anger at the regent's nonsense at the beginning, to the despair of running out of ammunition and food later, to the heroic death of the whole city when the regent vowed to defend the city to the death, and then to the sudden victory.

After experiencing the chaos of the Hongguang and Longwu dynasties, Lu Daqi suddenly felt that the Ming Dynasty was not completely hopeless.

Lü Daqi no longer wanted to be a minister who followed the crowd in the court. After experiencing the chaos of the past few dynasties, Lü Daqi understood better than anyone the importance of military officials at this time.

With the temperament that His Highness has shown now, the status of military officials in the court will only get higher and higher in the future. He saw it clearly before, but he just didn't want to care about these things. But now it's different.

Now, the two armies in the court are naturally the army of His Highness. At this time, no one in the court can shake His Highness's position in the two armies, but below that, there is a clear distinction.

Qu Shisi had promoted Jiao Lian, and Su Guansheng and Li Mingzhong had become closer after the Ding Kuichu incident. If he wanted to gain a firm foothold in the court and make his own voice heard, he had to get corresponding help from the army.
The newly established Third Army by His Highness is a great opportunity.
Although I don't know what His Highness is thinking, His Highness's intention is very clear now, that is, he wants to push Ma Bao to be the commander of the third army.

After His Highness fought desperately to defend the city and won this great victory, his prestige in the city has risen to a point where no one can stop him. Now, no one in the city can stop His Highness the Regent whose prestige is growing day by day.
In this case, he might as well go with the flow and follow His Highness's wishes to push Ma Bao to the position of the commander of the Tengxiang Army. Now that Ma Bao has been recommended by him, he will naturally be able to pull Ma Bao to his side in the future.

Lu Daqi's eyes flickered slightly. He did not win over Ma Bao in order to gain power. In fact, not to mention him, even Qu Shisi could not do such a thing.

If His Highness is interested, as long as he gives the order, I am afraid that the two armies will directly capture Qu Shisi and Su Guansheng without any hesitation.

Now, most of the military pay for the two armies comes from His Highness's inner treasury. Under such circumstances, no one can get involved in the control of the two armies.

But this does not mean that the various military commanders are unimportant. In the future, the court will inevitably be at war, and all major events will inevitably revolve around the military.
The strategies proposed by these cabinet ministers will only have enough weight if they get the support of the generals in the army. Otherwise, no matter how loudly they shout in the court, I am afraid that they will not be taken seriously by the government and the people.

Lu Daqi's thoughts kept fluctuating, but only a short moment passed. Although Lu Daqi's reasons were sufficient, everyone in the field looked suspicious, and their eyes moved back and forth between Lu Daqi and Ma Bao.

(End of this chapter)