The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 14 Paying Salaries
Before Master Liu could react, Jiang Han turned around and gave instructions to Dong Erzhu and Heizi in the courtyard:
"Hei Zi, go and tell Shao Yong to bring in more men."

"Bring a few more carriages! I want to take all that sandalwood screen and rosewood table with me!"

Master Liu was now on the verge of tears. He had just gotten rid of the jackals, but unexpectedly, tigers and leopards had appeared.

In order to save face, he had foolishly revealed all his family's wealth.

Originally, I was fine hiding in the ancestral hall, just waiting for the mutinous soldiers to retreat on their own.

As a result, this petty thief surnamed Jiang lacked martial ethics and pretended to be a government official, tricking Liu San into leaving the ancestral hall.

And so, under Jiang Han's threat, the Liu family was completely ransacked.

The grain was loaded onto carts, the silver was put into boxes, and even the more than one hundred stolen warhorses were brought back.

Jiang Han and his two companions, leading more than a dozen large trucks, drove out of Liujiazhuang in a grand procession, Jiang Han beaming with pride.
"This trip to Liu Family Village was definitely worthwhile. It's true that you can make money quickly by eating the food of the rich!"

Jiang Han gained a lot from his trip to Liujiazhuang:

Three thousand shi of grain, eight thousand taels of silver, and more than a hundred military horses that had been stolen and sold were also recovered.

Originally, the silver was supposed to be ten thousand taels, but Master Liu said he couldn't come up with the remaining two thousand taels no matter what, so Jiang Han took pity on him and stopped arguing.

Jiang Han shook his head, realizing he had been too merciful. If it had been those bandits, would anyone in Liu Family Village have survived?

He watched the endless stream of carriages leaving Liu Family Village, feeling pleased with himself, and casually waved his hand:
"Pillar! Tell the brothers to return to camp. Pay will be distributed at the drill ground first thing tomorrow morning!"

In the first month of the lunar calendar, a light snow began to fall in Zhen Ding Prefecture in the early morning. The cold wind was biting and made people shiver.

Even so, the area outside Jiang Han's tent was still noisy, giving him a headache.

Awakened by the noise, Jiang Han groggily opened his eyes. As soon as he threw off the covers, a chill ran straight to his bones.

He couldn't help but shudder and mutter a complaint:
"How can we survive this awful weather without heating?"

Hearing the commotion, Dong Erzhu, who was outside the tent, lifted the tent flap and strode in, bringing with him a chill.

"Second Brother Han, you're finally awake! You've been sleeping for quite a long time!"

"I thought you were going to sleep forever!"

As Dong Erzhu spoke, he shook the snowflakes off his clothes, his tone tinged with resentment.

Jiang Han rolled his eyes at him. Of course he was tired. First he plotted a coup, then he raided Liu Family Village. He was busy all day yesterday, putting in manpower and effort, and even got his leg slashed.
"Zhu Zi, what are you doing up so early?" Jiang Han asked slowly, poking at the campfire.

"Second Brother Han, the brothers are all waiting for you to hand out their pay. The impatient ones are already blocking your tent!"

Seeing Jiang Han's leisurely manner, Dong Erzhu was too lazy to waste words and simply lifted the tent flap, and a gust of cold wind immediately rushed in.

"Pillar! You son of a bitch!"

Jiang Han shivered from the cold wind, shrank his neck, and looked through the gust of wind. He saw a bunch of heads crowding outside the tent, craning their necks to look inside, their eyes full of anticipation.

Jiang Han shook his head helplessly. It seemed that he wouldn't be able to get a good night's sleep until the rations were distributed.

He propped himself up and called to Dong Erzhu, who was standing beside him:
"go!"

"Zhu Zi, go and call Hei Zi, bring a few more men, and move all the silver to the training ground."

Jiang Han donned his cotton armor, stepped out of his tent into the biting wind, and looked at the expectant soldiers, proclaiming in a loud voice:

"Brothers, follow me to the drill ground, let's get our pay!"

"Great!" "Payout time!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers cheered loudly.

Jiang Han waved his hand and led the cheering soldiers, limping slowly towards the drill ground. Many soldiers had been waiting there for some time.

Jiang Han glanced around and saw some fully armed veterans standing at the edge of the training ground, their hands constantly on the hilts of their swords, their eyes wary. They were clearly still on guard, afraid that Jiang Han would be the next Wu Zimian.

Jiang Han didn't mind. He climbed onto the command platform, looked down at the training ground, and gave instructions to Hei Zi beside him:
"Hey, go, beat the drums and get everyone lined up!"

Then, he gestured to Dong Erzhu, indicating that he should bring up all the boxes in front of him.

When the twenty iron-wrapped wooden crates were lined up in the drill ground, everyone held their breath and stared intently at the crates.

Jiang Han swiftly cleaved the copper lock with an axe, lifted the lid of the box, and in an instant, the white snow reflected the silver light, so dazzling that one could not open their eyes.

The training ground fell silent instantly. The veterans who had been standing guard with their swords drawn all around suddenly gathered around as if bewitched.

They all stared intently at the silver in the box, even their breathing became cautious, as if the silver would slip away if they made too much noise.

Seeing this, Jiang Han's lips curled into a smile, and then he shouted loudly with great force:
"Brothers, come up one by one to collect your pay, twenty taels each!"

The moment the words were spoken, the drill ground erupted in cheers.

Twenty taels of silver was like a windfall for the Shaanxi border guards who were constantly owed wages and were desperately poor!
This is two years' worth of their pay!

The soldiers jostled and pushed their way onto the stage, and the scene quickly became chaotic, with shoving and shouting sounds mingling together, almost out of control.

Seeing this, Hei Zi quickly swung his drumsticks and smashed the cowhide war drum.

The sound of drums resounded throughout the training ground, causing the snow on the treetops to fall in a flurry, which finally calmed the excited crowd down a little.

Seeing this, Jiang Han nodded to Hei Zi with satisfaction, then turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs to the audience:
"What's the rush! All of you, line up properly! One by one, come up!"

"There are still more than a dozen chests of gold and silver, enough for you to divide among yourselves!"

Jiang Han's words were indeed true. He had just glanced at the army and found that its numbers had dwindled by more than half since it first arrived.

The loyalist army in Yansui Town originally had 5,000 elite soldiers, but now, with some dead and others deserting, less than 2,000 remain.

Upon hearing that an attack on the Eastern Barbarians was imminent, those with money had already paid their dues and fled, while those without money secretly slipped away under the cover of night.

Some took advantage of the mutiny to escape, others perished in the chaos of battle, and still others were taken away by Li Xuan.

There are over a dozen boxes of gold and silver on the stage, worth at least seventy or eighty thousand taels, enough to divide among these two thousand people.

"Keep it safe!" Jiang Han said with a smile, patting the silver ingot into the palm of a soldier.

The soldier stood there, stunned, holding the silver. In disbelief, he picked it up, put it in his mouth, and took a big bite. After carefully examining the teeth marks on it, he burst into tears of joy.

"It's real silver! Silver!"

His howl was tinged with sobs, and the soldier fell to his knees with a thud, banging his forehead against the ground repeatedly.

Twenty taels of silver might be nothing more than the cost of a meal for the imperial relatives, wealthy merchants, and gentry of the Ming Dynasty.

But for these border soldiers who hadn't received their pay for years, these gleaming silver ingots could be exchanged for more than ten bushels of grain, enough for their entire families to eat until the following spring.

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(End of this chapter)