Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

Zuo Baogui hesitated for a moment and said, "General, if we follow your order, we will have to lay off about a thousand people! The pressure on us is not small..."

Liu Ye was stunned and replied, "Who said I want to lay off a thousand people? How can a thousand people be enough? According to my plan, we must reduce the existing troops to 1,800, and then recruit 700 strong new soldiers from the public! It's hard to say whether we can select 1,800 people from the people in front of us!"

amount……

Zuo Baogui's head was filled with rage. This military commander was truly anxious. He was going to lay off 1,700 or 1,800 men in one fell swoop—nearly half the army! Wouldn't the entire Baoding Town army be going crazy? The most important thing was that if they laid off soldiers, they would have to be given severance pay. And even with severance pay, they wouldn't want to leave the barracks. At least they had a stable job in the barracks. Once they left the army, they would be nothing!

"General, aren't we being too ambitious? 1,700 to 1,800 people. If we cut half of them, we'd have to pay them severance pay, which is a huge sum!"

Liu Ye was stunned. Damn, I forgot about this! When you lay off soldiers, you have to pay them severance pay, and it’s quite a lot!

Liu Ye asked, "Guanting, if we dismiss the soldiers, how much silver should we pay each of them?"

Zuo Baogui replied, "Sir, generally speaking, to dismiss soldiers, we have to pay 15 taels of silver per person. If we lay off 1,800 men, that would be nearly 30,000 taels of silver. Moreover, most importantly, even if we pay severance pay, many people will be reluctant to leave, which could easily lead to unrest."

Damn! Thirty thousand taels of silver! Liu Ye couldn't help but lick his teeth. This was a considerable sum! And this didn't guarantee that everyone would be sent away. Those old soldiers didn't want to lose their jobs just like that!

Liu Ye said in a deep voice: "It doesn't matter. Among these dismissed soldiers, those who disregarded military discipline will be dismissed at 15 taels each. As for the rest, the old, weak, sick and disabled, out of sympathy for them, we will give them preferential treatment and pensions. Each person can receive 30 taels of severance pay!"

Zuo Baogui almost fainted from anger. Could it be that the general didn't hear what he meant clearly? It was already less than 30,000 taels just now, and if it doubled now, it would be at least 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver!

Zuo Baogui said anxiously, "Sir, how can our small General's Mansion afford so much silver?"

Liu Ye ignored Zuo Baogui and shouted, "Captain Luo, how much silver do we have left in the General's Mansion?"

Luo Zili's face turned bitter. This topic was the one that bothered him the most. Before the new general arrived, Guo Zhiqiang had been making a lot of trouble, but he had embezzled a lot of silver. He even divided the embezzled silver into three parts, one of which was directly given to the Governor's Office, one went into his own pocket, and the other was divided among three lieutenants and several captains. Now there was really not much money left in the camp.

Luo Zili said in a hoarse voice, "General, the General's Mansion currently has a total of 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver. This is for food and salaries for the next two months. We can withdraw 10,000 taels of silver from the Admiral's Mansion treasury every month as military pay..."

Twenty thousand taels!

What good would that do? I'm afraid that for the next two months, just getting clothes and food will be very stressful!

Liu Ye's face darkened at that moment, and he said angrily, "Captain Luo, when I left the capital, I asked the Ministry of War for the salary owed to Baoding Town. The Ministry of War told me that Baoding is an important town and the Ministry of War has never defaulted on payments. It was just that last month's salary was not paid on time! The dignified Baoding Town only has 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver left. Even if the salary from the Ministry of War is paid, how are you going to make up for the overdue salary? Where did all this money go?"

Luo Zili's mouth twitched. "My God, where did all this money go? Didn't it get swallowed up by everyone?"

However, such words could not be said without reason. This involved the Governor-General's Office and the Admiral's Office! Guo Zhiqiang, the deputy general, was nothing, but the Governor of Zhili behind him was not someone that anyone could afford to offend. The entire territory of Zhili, Shandong, and Henan was under his jurisdiction! He was in such a high position and had such great power that it would be as easy as crushing an ant to deal with him! Even the general in front of him would definitely not be able to withstand his pressure!

Seeing that Luo Zili didn't say anything, Liu Ye looked at Zuo Baogui and asked him what was going on.

Zuo Baogui sighed and recounted the story. It was nothing special, just peeling off layer by layer. Almost any Green Camp was like this, not just Baoding Town!

After Liu Ye heard this, his face immediately darkened. These corrupt officials! These corrupt officials! Damn it! A bunch of useless people who just sit in their positions and do nothing!

Liu Ye looked at Luo Zili and said, "Captain Luo, what do you have to say?"

Luo Zili's face turned pale. He didn't expect that Zuo Baogui could be so cruel and actually revealed all his secrets!

Luo Zili said in a hoarse voice: "Sir, I..."

Liu Ye took a deep breath and replied, "As for the previous incident, before I, Liu Ye, took office as Baoding Prefecture, I didn't care how you messed around. This time, as long as you return all the embezzled money to the General's Mansion, I will forgive you. No matter how much you embezzled, I will give you a chance to reform. However, starting tomorrow, anyone who dares to embezzle money will be severely punished. Over 10 taels will be lashed thirty times, over 30 taels will be lashed sixty times, and over 50 taels will be beheaded!"

Liu Ye's words were filled with cold murderous intent. Luo Zili's legs went weak. He was unlucky to have met such an ruthless and impartial King of Hell. However, this was already a favor from this ruthless military commander. If Liu Ye really exposed this matter, the admiral and governor above would be informed. No matter how serious the matter was, he would definitely not be spared. Losing his job was a small matter. If things went wrong, he would even lose his head!

Luo Zili said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you very much, General, for your kindness. I will return all the profit silver before tomorrow morning. However, this silver is also very leisurely, after all, the bulk of it is in..."

Liu Ye naturally understood what Luo Zili meant. The bulk of the profits had been taken away by Guo Zhiqiang, the admiral, and the governor, and now he really couldn't touch them.

Liu Ye replied calmly, "Don't worry about anything else. Just hand over what you've embezzled. Baoding Town doesn't support corrupt officials! As for any remaining vacancies, the military will naturally fill them for you. I can still come up with 20,000 taels of silver. As long as you can set up five new military camps for me, you don't have to worry about anything else. Don't let me see any cowards in these five military camps. I want tigers and wolves that roar when they fight, not sheep!"