All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 19 Zhou Qing, what do you think?
Liangxiang, Xishiyang Village.

In the big house of the village landlord, Chen Ran, sitting on the kang, motioned to the sturdy man in front of him, "Tell me, what's going on."

"General." The burly man kowtowed vigorously. "My name is Wang De, and I am the captain of the left battalion of the Fu Biao Camp of the Shanxi Governor."

Wang De first stated his identity, and when he saw that Chen Ran didn't say anything, he continued to talk about the matter.

"We, the Shanxi troops, received the imperial edict and the governor, Lord Geng, and the general, Lord Zhang, led us to the front in a hurry."

"After arriving in Jingzuo, I changed places every day, from Tongzhou to Changping and then to Liangxiang."

At this point, Wang De's eyes were red and his voice was choked with sobs, "The court doesn't pay salaries, not even rations!"

"We came from Shanxi to support the king, but we couldn't even get food. When my brothers asked for food, the court accused us of mutiny."

"The governor, the general, and the officers in the army have all been arrested and imprisoned by the court."

Wang De burst into tears, "We are here to serve the king, why won't the court even give us a bite to eat?!"

"I see." Chen Ran sighed, "I'm sorry for wronging you."

"Go find the Shanxi troops and tell them to come to me. If nothing else, there will be no shortage of food and money."

Previously, Chen Ran changed the subtitles from "the mutiny in the army disintegrated" to "the mutiny in the army gathered".

He knew very well that once the defeated soldiers scattered, they would inevitably bring disaster to the surrounding villages and towns.

The local people suffered a miserable fate when faced with the defeated soldiers who were armed and armored.

Changing it to "gather" can prevent them from turning from a loyal army into a local scourge.

At this time, more than 5,000 Shanxi soldiers were concentrated several miles away from Xishiyang Village. Chen Ran was very interested in them.

Being able to travel hundreds of miles to fight in this cold winter season can be called elite.

In fact, these 5,000 soldiers are indeed elite.

Including the Fu Biao Battalion of Shanxi Governor Geng Ruqi, and the soldiers carefully selected by Shanxi General Zhang Honggong.

The steps to gather Shanxi troops are simple.

The first step is to set up the pot.

Cook meat, oil, rice and vegetables together to make a thick meat porridge.

Hundreds of large pots were cooking meat porridge together. The rich aroma replaced the dry language, attracting the Shanxi soldiers to gather around the pots.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Chen Ran took the second step.

The boxes were opened one by one, revealing neatly arranged silver.

"I am Chen Ran, the commander-in-chief of Zunhua, the general who defends the country, and the deputy commander of the rear army commander's office."

Chen Ran, standing on a box, held a loudspeaker made of rolled iron sheets and shouted, "To those who are willing to follow me, I will give you a year's salary, plus ten taels of silver as travel expenses. From now on, I will never delay your salary and food!"

Chen Ran had almost spent all his previous money, and what he took out now were all the rewards for completing the modifications.

'The modification of history has been completed, and the reward will be issued.'

'Note: The salary of grain was 66,000 dan and the salary of silver was 73,000 liang.'

This time the reward was the standard rations and wages for Shanxi soldiers, without any deduction.

Not surprisingly, all 5,000 Shanxi soldiers defected to Chen Ran's army.

As long as they can have enough food and drink and get enough food and pay, the soldiers will of course be willing to follow.

Naturally, we were very happy to have gained a group of elite soldiers.

But Chen Ran's small treasury was also empty.

There is still some food and cloth, enough to sustain us for a few months just by eating.

There will be more leftovers of meat, oil, beans, fruits and vegetables, and there is no need to worry about them spoiling if they are stored in the storage space.

The most important thing was the lack of silver. After distributing the silver, there were only a few thousand taels left in his small treasury.

"We have to find a way to get some money." Chen Ran took a deep breath and called Liu Youfu, "Arrange someone to go to the capital and send a letter to Lord Zhou, saying that I'm short of money, a lot, and ask him to think of a way."

When others asked for silver, even Yuan Chonghuan, the cabinet would only say "No."

But Chen Ran is different, there are people in the cabinet who speak for him.

This is what it means to have someone in a higher position to get things done.

Zhou Yanru himself could not come up with so much silver, and the Ministry of Revenue was so poor that even the rats had to move away with tears in their eyes.

But the emperor still has silver in his treasury.

In order to eliminate Wei Zhongxian and his cronies, tens of millions of silver taels were seized from their properties.

It is now the second year of Chongzhen, and the money has not yet been squandered.

Previously, the ugly behavior of Qian Qianyi and other members of the Donglin Party was exposed, which made Emperor Chongzhen very dissatisfied with them.

In contrast, Zhou Yanru, Wen Tihen and others who were not members of the Donglin Party also came into his favor and were trusted by him.

What is particularly important is that Emperor Chongzhen felt that Zhou Yanru had the ability to identify people and discovered Chen Ran, who was an extremely good fighter.

Amid the endless news of defeat, the Jiannu army had already appeared outside the capital.

Chen Ran’s previous victory was absolutely dazzling.

"Zhou Qing."

In the imperial study, the unswerving Emperor Chongzhen vented his dissatisfaction to Zhou Yanru. "Man Gui said that when he was fighting the Jiannu, the Liaozhen soldiers nearby not only did not help, but shot arrows at him. What do you think?"

'How do I watch? I sit and watch.'

Zhou Yanru grumbled in his heart, but his expression was normal. "Your Majesty, let Man Gui and Yuan Chonghuan confront each other about this matter."

"That's fine." Emperor Chongzhen nodded and told Cao Huachun, who was standing beside him, "Cao Banban, go and call Man Gui and Yuan Chonghuan into the city to meet the emperor on the platform."

Cao Huachun took the order and left.

Zhou Yanru prepared his words, "Your Majesty, Shuntian Governor Wang Yuanya has submitted an impeachment petition." "Oh?" Emperor Chongzhen looked over, "Impeach who?"

"Impeach the Zunhua General, Chen Ran."

In fact, Wang Yuanya's memorial impeaching Chen Ran had been submitted long ago, but it was suppressed by Zhou Yanru and not given to the emperor.

I bring it up now purely to use this as an excuse to mention Chen Ran.

Sure enough, when he heard this name, Emperor Chongzhen smiled subconsciously.

"Impeach him for what?"

"Wang Yuanya impeached Chen Ran for taking the Zunhua troops away and abandoning Zunhua City, which was against the grace of the emperor and unworthy of the position."

Emperor Chongzhen frowned, "Where did Chen Ran go? Why did he take the Zunhua troops with him?"

"Your Majesty." Zhou Yanru had Chen Ran's handwritten letter, so he naturally knew where he had gone. "General Chen is here to serve the king."

"Oh."

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen, who was originally somewhat dissatisfied, suddenly realized.

Of course, the capital is more important than Zunhua City. This is a manifestation of loyalty.

Chen Ran led his troops to the king's defense, and not only did he not do anything wrong, he actually made some contributions.

When Chen Ran was mentioned, the emperor also became interested. "He fought well in Zunhua City before. The Jian Nu's large-scale attack on the city was repelled and suffered heavy losses. I heard that most of the dead were the Nu chief's personal soldiers?"

The troops attacking the city were mainly from the Two Yellow Flags, and they could indeed be considered Huang Taiji's personal soldiers.

"That's right." Zhou Yanru led the topic subtly. "After Chen Ran and Zhao Lujiao left Zunhua City, they divided their troops into two groups, one in the south and one in the north, to meet the various armies that were coming to support the king."

"He has already gathered troops from Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong, and is heading to Tongzhou to join Zhao Lujiao."

"Oh?" The emperor followed up the conversation and asked, "How many troops have been gathered?"

"There are always 20,000 or 30,000 people." Zhou Yanru's expression became serious, and he bowed seriously, "Your Majesty, Chen Ran has a memorial to submit."

The emperor took the memorial and read it. The content was written in gorgeous words and the handwriting was neat and beautiful, which was pleasing to the eye.

As for the content of the memorial, apart from the routine inquiries about the emperor's well-being, there was only one thing, which was a veiled request for money and food.

There is no doubt that with Chen Ran's level of classical Chinese, it is impossible for him to write such a memorial.

In fact, he had never submitted any memorials at all. This was written by someone else under Zhou Yanru's guise.

"Your Majesty." Seeing that the emperor had finished reading the memorial, Zhou Yanru said, "The army that is loyal to the king is short of food and money, and the morale of the army is unstable. I ask Your Majesty to open the treasury~~~"

The imperial court certainly had no money, and the only source of money was the emperor’s slush fund.

If it were someone else, the emperor, who was already disgusted by the Donglin Party and the previous series of defeats, would definitely not agree.

But Chen Ran is different. He has real victories and military achievements.

The head and flag of the Nu chieftain Ajige were personally sent to the Taimiao by the emperor to celebrate the victory.

That was the happiest day for the emperor in recent times.

"What Mr. Zhou said makes sense." After a little thought, the emperor quickly made up his mind, "I will give you 100,000 taels from the treasury, and Mr. Zhou will find a way to raise some grain to send to him."

"Your Majesty is wise~~~"

Chen Ran wandered around the south of the capital and met many soldiers from Henan, Shandong and other places who came to support the king.

In the original history, these troops who came to support the king, like the Shanxi army, became defeated because they had no food or money.

Fortunately, they met Chen Ran at this time. Although he didn't give them money, he provided them with some military rations so that they would not starve.

Moreover, with Chen Ran's more than 10,000 troops as the core, troops from various places who came to support the king also joined over, forming a large-scale military force.

It is his small treasury, and supplies are sent out like water every day.

There are two or three thousand troops here. To support them all by oneself is unbearable even if one has to hang oneself on the wall.

He stopped wandering around and went straight to Tongzhou, ready to meet up with Zhao Lujiao.

When they were halfway along the journey, a fast horseman from Yebushou came to report, "There are Jiannu soldiers in the market town ahead, flying the blue-bordered flag, with about three to four hundred men."

Almost instantly, Chen Ran made the judgment that this was not the Jiannu vanguard coming to attack him, but a Jiannu detachment that was plundering the Fourth Field Army.

Without any hesitation, he immediately arranged for the cavalry to rush out and blockade the town.

The leader of the Bordered Blue Banner was Amin, one of the four great beiles.

He stayed behind in Shenyang City during this invasion, and his son-in-law Gu Santai led the team.

At this time, Gu Santai was in the market town, drinking and having fun with the woman he had captured in his arms.

When he received the news that a large number of Ming cavalry had blocked the town, he immediately became excited.

He shouted to gather all the people who were enjoying themselves in various households, and had them put on clothes and armor, and hurriedly mounted their horses to go into battle.

Deep down, Gu Santai still looked down on the Ming army and felt that his few hundred men were enough to defeat thousands of Ming troops.

But once they got out of the market town and started fighting, they realized something was wrong.

The Ming army had a large number of cavalry, more than a thousand in number.

He whizzed back and forth, holding them back tightly.

When Chen Ran arrived in a hurry with his infantry, Gu Santai's troops were immediately defeated after several rounds of volleys from hundreds of musketeers.

Most of them were killed in the battle, and the remaining troops had no hope of breaking out, so they surrendered under the leadership of Gu Santai.

When I entered the market town, I saw the miserable scene in the town, the corpses everywhere, and the women who were half-naked.

Chen Ran only gave one instruction.

"All those prisoners, light up the lamps and remove the candles!"

PS: Thank you to the book friend Zhengqi Limited for the 500-point reward support. I am very grateful. Thank you!
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(End of this chapter)