Qing Yao

Chapter 298 Lord Zhao's Wisdom

The salaries of the pro-independence camp are indeed paid from the provincial treasury.

Although the Qing dynasty stipulated that the Green Standard Army's pay should be uniformly calculated and distributed by the Ministry of Revenue and included in the national fiscal budget, in name, the army's salary was managed by the Ministry of Revenue.

However, in practice, the Ministry of Revenue could not directly allocate funds to pay the army's salaries. Instead, the provincial treasuries were responsible for this. In other words, each province would deduct the amount of its own army's salaries from the taxes it was supposed to pay, and then the provincial treasuries would distribute the salaries according to the troop roster.

In general, the Green Standard Army stationed in the provincial capital received their salaries directly from the provincial treasury, while the troops stationed in the prefectures and counties below received their salaries from the provincial treasury, which transferred the salaries to the prefectural and county treasuries.

The withdrawal process requires the assistance of a local "commercial bank".

This created a system where, although the governor had the authority to mobilize and command troops, the logistics and salaries of the troops were firmly controlled by the provincial treasurer.

The principle of mutual checks and balances.

To use a company analogy, the governor is like a front-line sales manager, but the salaries and commissions of the employees are in the hands of the provincial governor, who is also an accountant.

No matter how outstanding your employees' sales performance is, if the accountant withholds commissions and salaries, even the best sales team will collapse.

Unless the "chairman" intervenes and replaces the accountant, the accountant can determine the life or death of the sales team in this region.

It is obvious that the old man, as the "chairman," would not replace Zhao An, the newly appointed accountant.

This gave Zhao An the confidence to resolve the issue of regional sales teams not using his surname.

Paying wages is a simple, effective, and straightforward solution.

The Green Standard Army's salary was much lower than that of the Eight Banners. A cavalryman with a horse only received two taels of silver a month, plus three dou of rice, for a total of twenty-four taels of silver and thirty-six dou of rice a year.

A field infantryman without a horse receives a monthly wage of one tael and five mace plus three dou of rice.

However, in each province, only the personal guards of the governors and governors were considered field troops. The rest of the garrison troops were actually local soldiers with very low wages, only one or two taels of salary plus three dou of rice per month.

Apart from the more than 2,000 troops under the direct jurisdiction of the governor, the remaining 10,000-plus Green Standard Army troops in Anhui were all local garrison troops. Including their salaries, stipends, maintenance of weapons, horse feed, etc., the provincial treasury needed to pay the garrison troops about 500,000 taels of silver per year.

However, the soldiers at the bottom level only received half of their wages, with the other half being intercepted by officers at all levels under various pretexts. This forced them to engage in peddling or renting land to make a living in order to support their families. Some even became "long-term laborers" for officers. Over time, they naturally could not train, let alone fight.

This is why Zhu Gui, the governor of Anhui, used the disaster to promote the pilot program of local militia training, because Zhu Gui saw the corruption of the Green Standard Army better than anyone else.

To improve the combat effectiveness of the Green Standard Army, personnel adjustments among its officers and generals are necessary. However, the Green Standard Army is systemically corrupt, and its problems cannot be solved simply by adjusting a few commanding officers.

Unless the entire command system of the pro-independence camp is removed and a completely new command system is created.

Not to mention Zhu Gui, even the old master couldn't do it.

Therefore, Zhu Gui could only pilot the militia training outside of the Green Camp.

Zhao An couldn't do it either, but his past life experience taught him a very effective method.

Focus on grassroots work.

As long as we control the grassroots level, the "hostile elements" at the higher and middle levels are not a concern.

How do we focus on grassroots work?

They'll just grab it with money.

Money can make even ghosts do the work.

Only when money fails will Zhao An consider other methods, such as eliminating the person who raised the issue.

But he had just killed a general with his Ebilun sword. If he were to kill other officers now, it would be going too far, and he wouldn't be able to explain it to the old master.

There is a difference between killing a general and killing an official.

Even if we have to kill, we have to first capture the lower ranks, otherwise they might turn the tables and kill us.

Whether it's the military or a sales team, salary is the most tangible thing.

No matter how much the "managers" make a fuss, as long as the accountant actually deposits the wages into the employees' bank accounts, then no matter how much the "managers" complain, it won't matter.

Because the employees don't follow.

If the accountant were to give the employees another raise, then the "management" team would not only be unable to cause trouble, but their very survival in the company would be in question.

Zhao An doesn't have the power to appoint, dismiss, or transfer personnel in the military, but he does have the power to control, pay, and raise salaries.

No matter what era it is, money talks.

“All those in the camp will receive three months’ salary, which I will personally distribute.”

A single sentence was enough to invigorate the spirits of the more than three hundred soldiers in Fengyang Camp, and even the way they looked at Lord Zhao changed.

Father and mother are dearest, but money is even more precious.

Moreover, this was a year of great disaster. The wives, children, and elderly of the officers and soldiers of the Fengyang Battalion, who were stationed in the local area, were all in Fengyang, as were their relatives and friends. Among them, there must have been some who had been affected by the disaster.

Previously, their lives were difficult due to the withholding of wages by their superiors, making it difficult for them to help their relatives and friends. Now, the newly arrived provincial governor is giving them three months' salary at once, which will not only ensure that their wives, children, and elderly parents can get through the famine, but also allow them to help their relatives and friends. Without a doubt, Governor Zhao is a living bodhisattva.

The General is nothing!
Although no one shouted things like "Lord Zhao, you are my father," the soldiers present were all replaced by surprise and joy on their faces.

Those wielding knives lowered them, those wielding guns held them upside down, and those wielding shields simply used them as cushions for their buttocks.
The officers, led by guerrilla Zhou Ku, looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

A sense of powerlessness, as if someone has completely undermined us.

The soldiers under his command would not listen to their commotion any longer. How could they possibly avenge their commander-in-chief?

If they really wanted to shout about avenging the General, Zhao probably wouldn't even need to lift a finger; his men would have already subdued them.

A simple matter of paying wages completely severed the bond between officers and soldiers in the Fengyang Battalion.

Since it's a salary payment, it must be in cash.

The Fengyang Battalion was a garrison unit. The soldiers in the battalion received a monthly salary of one tael of silver. When they were paid three months' salary at once, each soldier received three taels of silver plus nine dou of rice, which came to less than ten thousand taels of silver.

The Fengyang government treasury has the money.

When Jing Daoqian was acting as the provincial governor, he transferred more than 200,000 taels of silver from Anqing to Fengyang. In addition to allocating 130,000 taels of disaster relief silver to the counties below, there were still more than 90,000 taels left in the treasury. Furthermore, the prefectural treasury itself had a surplus of less than 30,000 taels. It would be no problem to use 10,000 taels or so to appease the Fengyang garrison.

Not to mention that disaster relief funds and supplies from various places are being continuously transferred to the disaster area according to Zhao An's wishes, and two sums of more than one million taels of silver from Jiangsu and Jiangxi have also been transported to Anqing.

In fact, Zhao An was not short of money; what he lacked was food.

Without grain, no amount of silver is of any use. As the chief steward of Anhui's finances, Zhao An's words were like a "note." With just one sentence, An Deshun, the Assistant Magistrate of Fengyang, immediately led his men to the treasury to retrieve money and grain without the slightest hesitation.

Truckloads of money and provisions arrived quickly. In front of several bewildered officers, Zhao An directly retrieved the battalion's roster and distributed wages in public.

As a result, only 318 soldiers were actually entitled to receive their wages, but the roster listed 475 soldiers, more than 150 more than that.

In other words, in the past, the Anhui provincial treasury alone paid more than 2,000 taels of extra wages to the Fengyang camp every year. Spread across the entire Anhui Green Standard Army, this shows how ruthless the practice of paying salaries without actual service was. Even so, officers at all levels continued to exploit their soldiers. No wonder the Green Standard Army had no fighting capacity.

No matter the era, receiving one's salary is always a joyous and harmonious occasion.

With the loose silver and copper coins in their hands, plus the bags of real grain, the Fengyang camp was almost like celebrating the New Year.

The officers were envious, but they couldn't embezzle any of it. In addition, they didn't know how Zhao An would deal with them next, so they all stood there nervously.

This would make even the most desperate criminals uneasy.

The wages and food had been paid, and the matter of Fengyang Camp should have ended there. However, Zhao An had something else to say. With a wave of his hand, he said that the disaster situation was urgent and that officers and soldiers should also participate in the disaster relief. Therefore, he would give each person an additional one tael of silver and five dou of rice as a disaster relief subsidy.

This money was borne by the provincial treasury and was not included in the official salaries of the officers and soldiers.

"Thank you for the reward, Lord Zhao!"

After a moment of stunned silence, cheers finally erupted from the crowd, with the jubilant soldiers practically lifting Zhao An up and tossing him around in the air several times.

Where can you find such a wonderful adult?

What kind of bastard is Ding Musan, that blood-drinking scoundrel!

Tongzhi An Deshun was in a dilemma. It was right for the provincial governor to pay the soldiers their actual wages and to provide subsidies, but there were more than 3,000 Green Standard Army soldiers in the entire Fengyang area. He couldn't just pay the wages for the Fengyang camp and not the others.

If all of it were distributed, it would cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. The treasury has this amount of silver, but the silver is intended for disaster relief. If it were all distributed to the soldiers, how would the disaster be averted?
If the pay isn't paid, the soldiers will be stubborn and inflexible. They'll think that they're not worried about scarcity but about inequality. If the Green Standard Army soldiers in other places knew that the Fengyang Battalion had received such great benefits while they hadn't, how could they not protest for their pay?

If this protest against the government's payment is further incited by the White Lotus Sect and salt bandits, coupled with the widespread famine, wouldn't disaster be imminent?

When he cautiously raised his concerns, he was told that not only would the troops stationed in Fengyang receive full pay and subsidies, but all the Green Standard Army soldiers in Anhui would receive the same treatment.

In reality, Zhao An only gave the Anhui Green Standard Army a subsidy of less than 20,000 taels. The rest of the wages and stipends were what the soldiers were entitled to, with the Ministry of Revenue having a budget and the province having special funds.

There is only one problem that Zhao An cannot solve at present: he can pay the Green Standard Army soldiers in Fengyang their actual wages, but the soldiers in other places cannot receive their actual wages because there is a "parasitic" officer corps above them.

Unless Zhao An can go from prefecture to prefecture to grassroots level and use the Ebilun knife to purge the top leaders of the Anhui Green Clique.

This task is no less difficult than disaster relief.

Zhao An also didn't have the energy to go to the grassroots level to consolidate military power. At present, his focus was on ensuring that Fengyang, the hardest-hit area, did not become chaotic, because the White Lotus sect was very active in Fengyang, and there had been previous ambushes of the Green Standard Army.

It's hard to say whether the White Lotus Sect was setting a date for its uprising.

If the White Lotus sect were to truly rebel, even the most incompetent pro-independence camp could hold them off for a while.

Therefore, gaining the support of the rank-and-file soldiers is crucial, but at the same time, the support of the officer corps is also necessary.

This can't be achieved by simply killing people to establish authority.

"You shall all follow me."

After saying this, Zhao An went straight to the camp's public housing.

"How to do?"

Several officers looked troubled as they watched Zhao Anjun, surrounded by men in yellow jackets, head towards the government office. Their soldiers were all on Zhao's side, and they had no way to use their soldiers to coerce him.

At this point, the situation was completely one-sided. If Zhao An wanted to, he could easily take down these officers on the spot.

Therefore, these officers were naturally worried that the public housing would become a "White Tiger Hall," and Zhao An, who held the imperial sword, chopped off their heads one by one.

As the backbone of the group, guerrilla Zhou Ku was under great pressure. He had thought about running away, but the camp gate had already been blocked by Zhao An's entourage. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, where could he run to?

And you can't run away!
If he ran away, he would be accused of colluding with the White Lotus Sect and plotting a rebellion.

Rebellion is a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of three generations of one's family and death by a thousand cuts.

There is no need to fabricate a story, because the riots in Fengyang Camp are a fact.

After much deliberation, Zhou Ku had no choice but to lead a group of officers to the public housing to accept punishment.

Inside the communal room, Zhao An was looking at the desk that Ding Musan had used before, his hands behind his back. It was surprising that General Ding had such a scholar-general's air about him, as he had placed many books in the communal room of the military camp, including many ancient editions.

There was also a calligraphy and painting hanging on the wall, but I don't know who wrote it.

Noticing out of the corner of his eye that Zhou Ku and the others were standing timidly at the door, he turned around and said calmly, "Come in."

"Whoo!"

Zhou Ku and the others had no choice but to go inside. One of the captains was trembling when he came in, and the others felt as if they were carrying a thousand pounds when they lifted their legs.

Inside the official residence, Qingyao and several other guards stood guard, their hands on their swords, glaring menacingly at them. Their posture was certainly intimidating, but if a real fight broke out, these Manchu bannermen who raised hawks and dogs might not be able to defeat them.

Seeing that these people did not kneel after entering, Qingyao couldn't help but shout, "Why don't you pay your respects to the lord!"

"This humble general, Zhou Ku (so-and-so), pays his respects to Your Excellency, the Provincial Governor!"

Zhou Ku and the others knelt down obediently and bowed, their heads kowtowing firmly, but they dared not raise their heads.

"Get up,"

Sitting in his chair, Zhao An carefully examined Zhou Ku and the others, but instead of angrily rebuking them for inciting the soldiers to cause trouble, he calmly said, "Ding Musan, as the commander-in-chief, failed in his disaster relief efforts and has already been executed by Ebilun. Did you all plead for his innocence earlier?"

None of the officers dared to admit it, and the leader, guerrilla Zhou Ku, shook his head repeatedly, saying it was a misunderstanding.

"Misunderstand?"

Zhao An snorted, "I will pretend that today's events never happened. From now on, you should do your jobs diligently and cooperate with the local authorities in disaster relief. If I find out that you have other intentions, don't blame me for asking Ebilun to drink your blood again!"

"Yes, yes, sir!"

Seeing that Zhao An would not pursue their incitement to riot, the officers breathed a sigh of relief and were about to leave when Zhao An pointed at Zhou Ku, the leader of the guerrillas: "Although Ding Musan is dead, he openly falsified the number of soldiers to defraud the court of military pay, or he may have committed other acts of corruption and malfeasance during his tenure. You are hereby ordered to investigate his crimes and submit a report to the court."

After speaking, Zhao An deliberately paused, and looking at the officers whose eyes clearly showed difficulty, he added: "All the embezzled silver that Ding Musan has obtained over the years must be investigated and confiscated. Dig three feet into the ground and find it for me. Of the confiscated silver, 80% will be put into the provincial treasury for disaster relief, and the rest you can keep for yourselves. I will not ask about it."

(End of this chapter)