Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

In the battle of Jiazhuang, 1,944 Tartar heads and 8,610 Tartar and Han army heads were captured.

According to the court's reward standards, a Tartar head was worth fifteen taels, and a Han head was worth eight taels, which is almost one hundred thousand taels.

In addition, for the 3,220 people killed in the Beijing camp, each household of infantry should be paid a pension of 30 taels, cavalry forty taels, and more for generals.

In addition to the one-time pension, the imperial court will also exempt the land tax for the families of the deceased until their children grow up.

The Ming Dynasty's pension system was considered generous among all dynasties. It was unlike the Song Dynasty, which not only treated all its soldiers as thieves and sent them to the army, but also gave only some cloth and a few stones of rice to those who died in battle, and exempted them from land tax for only one year.

But the problem with the Ming Dynasty was that it was poor. Even if there was silver, no one could guarantee that it could be distributed to the families of the fallen soldiers.

After all, the war was won, and the generals were promoted and rewarded. Who would care about the bones of those who died in the battle?

But Zhang Shikang cared, just like he cared about Lu Xiangsheng. Soldiers at that time were looked down upon. He knew well that behind every soldier there was a poor family, otherwise no one would choose to join the army.

He risked his own life to buy a way for his poor family to survive. Now the person is gone and he has been made an earl, but how will his family survive?

As soon as these words were spoken, all the officers and soldiers present, including Lu Xiangsheng, Hu Dawei, Yang Guozhu and Sun Weifan, and even ordinary soldiers in the barracks, saluted Zhang Shikang.

Whether it is reward or pension, of course they care about it, at least they have to care about it on the surface, otherwise who will work for you?

But no one dared to ask for it in front of the angel, and it was so straightforward.

"Master Zhang, the Emperor knows you want to ask, so I will explain this to you in detail later. There is still an imperial decree that has not been read out."

Wang Chengen was not surprised, but his words once again surprised border army generals such as Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu.

The words "Your Majesty knows you are going to ask" almost made these border troops' brains crash. No wonder this young admiral dared to ask and say anything.

It turns out that it was the emperor's fault!

This kid was so trusted by the emperor that he was not afraid of killing the emperor's military supervisor. Not only that, he was also granted the title of hereditary earl.

But who would have thought that this kid was not only ungrateful, but instead started to slander the emperor, accusing him of being stingy and even asking him for money.

But the emperor just isn’t angry!

Look at the people in the Beijing camp. They wear newer clothes than them, their salaries are paid on time, and I heard they can eat three meals a day. Now they have won a battle and received so many rewards. Even a small sentry chief has received a reward.

This was really too outrageous for the border troops.

But on second thought, after all, they defeated the elite troops of the Jiannu and captured the royal family of the Jianlu. Their military achievements were real and there was nothing to say.

But what they envied the most was that not only were the rewards numerous, but they were also all put into practice. Judging from what Wang Chengen said, the emperor must have already thought of a plan for rewards and pensions.

Of course, the border troops had won battles and received commendations, but those commendations were naturally not comparable to those received by the Beijing troops.

At this moment, many people suddenly realized:

The Beijing Camp was able to receive so many rewards because its commander was Zhang Shikang!

Especially the border soldiers behind Hu Dawei, many of them were thinking, if they were soldiers of the Beijing Camp, no, if they were subordinates of Admiral Zhang, how great it would be!

You see, Admiral Zhang personally asked the emperor for rewards and pensions, all for his subordinates. He looked so cool!

"Why are there so many imperial decrees? Hurry up, it's almost time for dinner." Zhang Shikang said unhappily.

Wang Chengen took another imperial edict and looked at Lu Xiangsheng. Lu Xiangsheng immediately knew that this was an imperial decree from the court to him.

Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu's bodies suddenly tensed up. One of them was the general of Xuanfu and the other was the general of Shanxi, while Lu Xiangsheng was the governor of Xuanda and their direct superior.

Since Lu Xiang was promoted to the governor of Xuanda, he has always set an example. When there was a shortage of food in the camp, he would starve with his soldiers. Not only was he clear about rewards and punishments, he also opened up a number of military settlements to prevent the soldiers on the front line of Xuanda from starving.

Especially in the battle of Jiazhuang, Lu Xiangsheng calmly went to his death in the end, and did not forget to ask the two of them to break out. To be honest, they have no complaints about such a boss.

But they also understood that as they were commanding troops outside, no matter how good they were, it would be useless because the emperor could not see them at all as he was in the deep palace.

No matter how capable you are, you cannot resist those court officials who are bullying you in front of His Majesty, especially when they know that it was Yang Gebu, Gao Qiquan, and even the Donglin Party who were behind this.

It seemed that everyone wanted Lu Xiangsheng to die, because only when Lu Xiangsheng died would the position of Governor of Xuanda be vacant.

This is all because there is no one in the court!

Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu had tense faces, feeling nervous and disappointed. They knew that Governor Lu was almost certain to die, and someone had to be held responsible for the more than 6,000 elite border troops who died in the battle, and Lu Xiangsheng was the first to bear the brunt.

In comparison, Lu Xiangsheng was very calm. He had already accepted his fate. It was just death. Although he had regrets, he had no regrets.

"The Emperor, by the Will of Heaven, decrees:

Governor-General of Xuanda, Lu Xiangsheng, you disobeyed Mr. Yang's orders and acted on your own, which led to the defeat in Jiazhuang. Fortunately, the soldiers of the Beijing camp turned the tide and saved the situation. It was your fault.

However, more than 6,000 soldiers cannot die in vain. I will relieve you of your post as governor-general and allow you to temporarily take over Xuanda’s military affairs with the title of Vice Minister of War. I hope you can make up for your crime and make meritorious contributions, and don’t let me down again.

Admire this. "

"Chi" means warning or admonition. It is usually used by the emperor when he rewards officials to warn them not to be proud and complacent.

Of course, it is also used for direct warnings, telling a court official that I am not satisfied with you and you will pay for it.

As soon as the decree was read out, Hu Dawei almost jumped up with joy, and Yang Guozhu and other generals of Xuanda were also very happy.

Your Majesty only reprimanded Governor Lu. Although he lost his title of governor, he is still in charge of the governor's affairs. This is really puzzling.

But as long as Lord Lu is still here, it’s a good thing.

"Your Highness... Lu Xiangsheng accepts your order and thanks you!"

Lu Xiangsheng knelt down, his eyes were moist at this moment, and all the grievances he had suffered seemed to be relieved at this moment.

He admitted his dereliction of duty. Even if it was because Gao Qiquan did not come to the rescue, it was also because he did not know the man well. More than 6,000 soldiers' lives were lost. The Tianxiong Army had been almost completely killed or wounded. How could he not have any guilt at all?

But after all, he was only stripped of his post as governor, which was really beyond his comprehension. He could only attribute this to the benevolence and tolerance of His Majesty.

Wang Chengen handed the imperial edict to Lu Xiangsheng, and when he came up to him, he said:

“Lord Lu, do you know how many court officials have impeached you in the past few days?

The memorials impeaching you alone filled up a box, all asking the Emperor to sentence you to death."

"It's just a box." Zhang Shikang muttered.

The last time he killed Qian Rulong and others and caused a big commotion in the Ministry of Revenue, the memorials impeaching him filled three boxes.

Wang Chengen looked helpless. He ignored Zhang Shikang and said to Lu Xiangsheng:

"Speaking of which, Lord Lu should thank Admiral Zhang. If it weren't for him, I don't think you would have escaped this disaster."

……