Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 329 You guys really have made things difficult for me!
Why are there Mongols in the army?

Inside Hanyang City, Lin Dao, who was flipping through military records, frowned.

The Tianwan Army was reorganized and returned to the command of the Ming King.

The first thing to do was to check the military register.

Lin Dao was looking at the general registers of each section, the kind that only contained basic information.

If it were a detailed military register, there simply wouldn't be enough space on the table.

After flipping through a few pages, I came across the names of many Mongols.

“Ming Wang~” Chen Youliang said somewhat awkwardly, “Not all Mongols are wicked people.”

“Some Mongols have fallen on hard times, lost their pastures, herds, and servants, and are living in quite a miserable state.”

"Among them, quite a few are believers in the White Lotus sect."

This piqued Lin Dao's interest. "Believe in the White Lotus? What about the Eternal Heaven?"

Zhang Dingbian, who was standing to the side, also laughed, "The Eternal Heaven didn't give them food, but they could get food by believing in the White Lotus, so of course they believed in the White Lotus."

Ultimately, whether you trust someone or not depends on whether you can afford to eat.

Everyone laughed, but their laughter seemed somewhat forced.

Lin Dao's gaze swept over the civil and military officials who were clearly divided on both sides, and he raised his eyelids to glance at Zhang Dingbian.

"Who are you? Do you think you're qualified to order me around?"

The laughter abruptly stopped, and the atmosphere became somewhat heavy.

Chen Youliang hurriedly kicked Zhang Dingbian and bowed to Lin Dao, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive him. He has been ill since childhood and has a mental disability."

Lin Dao closed the military register in front of him and got straight to the point.

"All the Mongol and Semu people in the army were loaded onto ships and sent to Jeju Island, where they stayed to graze their livestock."

"The various units of the Tianwan Army, the newly recruited soldiers of the Jiangzhe Province, and the various units of the Red Turban Army will be reorganized and integrated."

"I will arrange for the distribution to the generals and officers."

"All military supplies and salaries shall be handled in accordance with the standards."

Lin Dao, his hands gripping both ends of the hot pot, swept his sharp gaze across the crowd. "I've finished speaking. Who objects?"

Civil and military officials from Lianghuai, Huguang, and Jiangdong all bowed in unison.

"I obey!"

The most crucial thing for a leader is whether they can maintain order and control the situation.

If your subordinates are dissatisfied, then you can't stay in the position of boss.

There are only two things you need to do to gain the respect of your subordinates.

One is having troops at your disposal, and the other is having money.

According to traditional ancient ideas, Lin Dao was the quintessential emperor on horseback.

The army was built by its own hands, and the generals were promoted by their own hands.

The soldiers were naturally in his hands.

As for money, broadly speaking, it refers to interests.

Goods, supplies, and even famous brands are all included.

Lin Dao can afford to give these things, and he can give a lot more.

In addition, he was also blessed by the identity of the enlightened king.

Even the recently surrendered Tianwan army, at least outwardly, showed obedience.

During this reorganization, Lin Dao disbanded and reorganized his troops and the Tianwan Army.

The military commanders were also a mix of people from different regions.

Everyone knows this is to curb factionalism.

Although, under the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism, there were few good scholars.

But not all warriors have the same true nature as Yue Fei and Qi Jiguang.

Even Qi Jiguang coordinated with powerful figures in the court, both internally and externally.

Don't be fooled by the Red Turban Army's current ease of command; it's only because Lin Dao is strong enough to keep them under control.

And he was also holding a money bag.

If you replace them with someone who can't be controlled and has no money or supplies, the Red Turban Army will protest for their pay in no time.

Separation of military and political power is Lin Dao's bottom line.

Suppressing the strongholds is the passing grade.

If you can reach the level of Yue Fei's army, that's a score of 90.

The only one that truly achieved a perfect score was that legendary army several centuries later.

“Ming Yuzhen”.

When the assignments were officially made, Lin Dao solemnly called out names, and the first one was Ming Yuzhen.

"You will lead a battalion of the Imperial Guards, be appointed as a lieutenant general, and be provided with manpower and supplies. You will have three months to train."

"Three months later, you will lead the troops to conquer Sichuan Province."

Ming Yuzhen was greatly surprised.

He truly hadn't expected that he would be the first one.

Moreover, he was a surrendered general who led a large army to conquer a province.

So surprised, I stood there in a daze for a moment.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly and hurriedly bowed.

"Leader!"

Since the Tianwan Army has recently joined, they will definitely offer some benefits to win them over.

Lin Dao gave the benefits to Ming Yuzhen, who had historically conquered Sichuan Province, which can be considered as going with the flow.

Amidst the clamor of civil and military officials, a commotion arose.

A surrendered general, and not even a very famous one at that, actually led the camp?

Both the civil and military officials, who came from Lianghuai, looked somewhat uncomfortable.

"The generals of Tianwan have newly joined."

Li Shancheng lowered his voice and reassured everyone, "We have to give them some benefits."

“The King of Light will not forget us, after all, we are the King of Light’s confidants.”

His guess was correct; Lin Dao named Yu Tingyu as the second person he mentioned.

"You've honed your skills in the military for so long, you've accumulated enough merits."

"I hereby appoint you as deputy general, leading a battalion of the Imperial Guard. After three months of training, you will be dispatched to Yunnan Province."

Yu Tingyu was overjoyed; he had finally made a name for himself.

Mu Ying was still young and was studying and practicing martial arts in the orphanage.

It's not his place to deal with things in Yunnan.

Lin Dao then appointed Geng Zaicheng, Zhao Desheng, Zou Pusheng, Zhang Bixian, and others, each leading a battalion of soldiers.

They might leave the Yuan Dynasty's provinces or go to places like Jiangxi and Fujian to replace Xu Da, Fu Youde, and others.

More often, they were trained in various places, waiting for the main army to launch a northern expedition.

This large-scale appointment is something that must be done.

Previously, many new soldiers were recruited in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places, especially Jinhua and Yiwu.

This time, they gained the Red Turban Army from the Huguang region.

After eliminating the old, weak, sick, and disabled, and making a selection, the number reached over 200,000. Lin Dao was well aware of his own capabilities; controlling 20,000 to 30,000 was his limit.

The troops must be divided up and entrusted to capable people for command.

Seeing that all the military officers were being promoted, he was overjoyed.

Li Shanchang then gave Hu Weiyong a wink.

Hu Weiyong stepped forward and bowed to Lin Dao.

"King Ming."

"Now, the rebel army has occupied half of the country."

“There are already a lot of civil tax cases in various places.”

"Your subordinate requests that Your Majesty declare yourself king and establish your own government, in order to uphold righteousness."

The civil officials all bowed and echoed his sentiments.

Among the military generals, there were also some clever ones who, once they understood the situation, quickly followed suit.

Those who can't understand it just follow the crowd when they see others doing the same.

As the saying goes, if the name is not correct, the words will not be proper.

Although Lin Dao is called the Ming King, it is only a title given by the sect.

In fact, there is no official title.

Only by establishing a government office can one be legitimate and justified.

If the reason before was due to insufficient strength and too small territory...

Now that we have half the country under our control, we are fully qualified.

Just like in the Tianwan regime, Xu Shouhui even declared himself emperor very early on.

"I made that statement beforehand."

Lin Dao, his face grim, stood up and strode outside. "I swear I will not declare myself emperor until I conquer Dadu!"

As soon as Lin Dao stepped out, all the civil and military officials stood up, and a commotion arose.

They were even more enthusiastic about this than Lin Dao, naturally because they were so eager to improve.

Don't be fooled by the titles of commanders, generals, and corps commanders these days.

In fact, none of these have any legal basis.

In the words of scholars, it's like a monkey wearing a crown.

Only when they have a truly legitimate and just cause can their positions and even future titles be truly guaranteed.

Lin Dao's attitude at this time also disappointed many people who wanted to improve.

"Hahahaha~~~"

Li Shanchang, stroking his beard and smiling, attracted everyone's attention.

Ding Pulang asked in confusion, "Why is the Chief Secretary laughing?"

"I laugh," Li Shanchang said calmly. "The matter is settled."

Those who weren't so bright were all greatly puzzled.

With King Ming's attitude, can this be considered a success?
"Everyone."

Hu Weiyong clasped his hands in a salute and said, "The Ming King said, 'I will not declare myself emperor until I have conquered Dadu.'"

“We all heard it.” Geng Junyong was still puzzled. “King Ming said he would not claim the title of emperor.”

"brother."

Tang He put his arm around his shoulder and said, "What King Ming meant was not to call himself emperor."

"What Hu Zhubu said before was to invite the Ming King to become king."

Geng Junyong was still a little confused, but most people had already figured it out and were all smiles.

Zhang Dingbian asked, "But King Ming was unwilling, so he just left."

"Brother Zhang."

Feng Sheng jokingly explained to him, "Have you ever heard of storytelling?"

"There is a passage in the storytelling that tells the story of Emperor Zhaolie of Han ascending to the title of King of Hanzhong."

"How could someone possibly propose such a thing as becoming a king or emperor on their own?"

"It definitely requires everyone's support to go forward."

Now everyone understood.

The Ming King meant that he would not declare himself emperor until the Yuan Dynasty was defeated and the Central Plains were restored, but he could declare himself king.

As for the matter of becoming king, a wise king cannot say it himself; his subordinates must take the initiative to push it.

Because there was no bloodshed or confrontation, the civil and military officials from the Huai River region had no deep-seated hatred for the people from the Huguang region.

They quickly began discussing how to arrange the process for Ming Wang to ascend to the throne.

This is clearly a strength of writers.

The process is actually quite simple; it mainly involves going through the ceremony.

These are all recorded in ancient books; just follow the instructions in them.

What's truly difficult is figuring out the proper procedures to get Ming Wang to become king.

Personnel were dispatched to various parts of Hubei and Hunan to take over and clear out the local areas.

The various groups of people went to their respective posts for reorganization and training.

After finishing all his tasks, Lin Dao set off by boat and sailed downstream back to Jinling City.

As soon as they returned, Li Shanchang and the others busied themselves with making arrangements on Zhongshan (Zijin Mountain).

All the necessary procedures were carried out one by one.

Even when the chosen date was set and several candidate titles were presented to Lin Dao, Lin Dao quietly circled a character on one of them.

In this way, everyone tacitly understands.

An auspicious day.

Chang Yuchun, who got up early in the morning, did not, as usual, tell the pregnant Lan Shi to continue to rest.

Instead, he urged her to hurry up.

"Don't waste the time!"

Lan Shi also hurriedly got up, washed, dressed, and put on her finest clothes.

The couple left home, and Lady Lan boarded the carriage, heading ahead of the rest of the military families to Zhongshan.

Chang Yuchun then rode his horse to the Ming King's camp.

There were others who arrived even earlier than him; Feng Guosheng and others had all arrived ahead of time.

The civil and military officials gradually gathered, all exchanging glances and waiting for the time to arrive.

It wasn't until Lan Yu ran over and shouted, "The Ming King has gotten up!"

The group immediately rushed into the courtyard and came to Lin Dao, who was washing up.

Chang Yuchun, who had snatched the yellow robe from Zhang Dingbian, rushed over and draped it over Lin Dao's shoulders.

Immediately, the crowd swarmed forward, lifted Lin Dao up, and carried him outside, chanting, "Respectfully inviting the Ming King to ascend the throne!"

Lin Dao looked somewhat bewildered.

After a moment, he looked at the yellow robe he was wearing and immediately composed himself.

"You lot have really caused me a lot of trouble!"

(End of this chapter)