Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Having learned from Zheng Bisheng that Jiang Chong had secretly recruited as many as 700,000 soldiers, Shen Lang was very curious about just how high the salaries he paid to the army were.

After all, the annual military budget allocated to Jiang Chong by the imperial court was based on a fixed quota of 50,000 permanent troops. Recruiting more soldiers would require Jiang Chong to cover such a huge expense on his own.

Before Shen Lang's military reforms, the military service of the Great Chu Army was mainly divided into two types: civilian service and conscription.

Civil service was a service for civilians who responded to the imperial court's call to go to the battlefield or build military fortifications. Once the task was completed, they were dismissed.

The advantage of this military system is that it requires less financial investment from the imperial court. The disadvantage is that the quality of the soldiers is uneven, and most of them are auxiliary soldiers who are mainly responsible for tasks such as transportation, cooking, and horse breeding in the army. When they actually go to the battlefield, they are just there to make up the numbers.

The second type of recruits is different. These are real frontline armored soldiers who are paid full-time military personnel and are stationed on the borders of the Great Chu year-round.

For example, the Bingzhou Army, from which Shen Lang came, was an army recruited through conscription. The 130,000 Bingzhou soldiers consumed one-third of the annual military pay.

What kind of treatment would Jiang Chong offer his troops to make them wholeheartedly serve him?

Unexpectedly, Li San and Deng Dajiao looked embarrassed upon hearing this news and did not answer Shen Lang's question for a moment.

"What's wrong? Is this a difficult question to answer?"

Judging from the changes in their expressions, Shen Lang had a rough idea that the monthly pay was not high, so he asked a question and then brought up the pay of the Central Army.

"Let me tell you about the current treatment of soldiers outside, not even those with ranks, but just an ordinary soldier in the Central Army as an example."

Once selected, the entire family would be exempt from corvée labor for life and half of the related taxes would be waived. Soldiers who served for two years would also receive forty taels of silver.

After completing their military service, they were assigned jobs by the imperial court, and their monthly salary was enough to support their families.

Furthermore, Central Army soldiers received at least one meal of meat a day during training to ensure they were well-nourished, and four sets of uniforms a year, plus cotton-padded coats for warmth in winter.

In addition, the army taught literacy, had one day off every six days, and provided a monthly activity allowance of three strings of cash (300 cash).

Don't underestimate the small amount of money; with the enlistment certificate, you can buy a lot of daily necessities at extremely discounted prices at designated locations and have them taken home.

This is just the treatment for an ordinary soldier. If they perform meritorious service in the military, they will have the opportunity to enter a military academy for internship and further study.

After you come out, you'll be at the rank of non-commissioned officer. The benefits are too complex to explain in a few words. I just don't know what your benefits are like.

Shen Lang's words made the soldiers' eyes light up with longing.

For the first time, they realized that military life could be so wonderful.

Li San replied sheepishly, "Lord Duke, we wouldn't even dare to dream of such treatment."

Let alone ordinary soldiers, even those with ranks in the army don't have it. For example, even though I'm a brigadier general...

But they only received three taels of silver a month, and even that wasn't guaranteed. Ordinary soldiers received no silver at all.

"No money?" Shen Lang was taken aback, then suddenly realized, "Then it must be the fertile land you cultivated, right?"

Upon hearing this, Deng Dajiao immediately replied with a mournful face, "Lord Duke, please calm down. Stop teasing us. You're talking about fertile land?"

Even if we had just a few acres of poor land, we wouldn't be in such dire straits.

No, we have nothing. We're in the army just to get enough to eat, and to save some food for our wives, children, and elderly parents back home.

Shen Lang was taken aback: "With such meager pay, how come you're willing to stay in the military? To be honest, even if you didn't join the army, you could easily find work now, right? Wouldn't any job be better than this?"

Upon hearing this, the group exchanged glances and shrank back in unison.

Li San whispered, "Lord Duke, to tell you the truth, the reason we're willing to follow the Prince is because the Prince promised us..."

"Once he conquers the capital and ascends the throne, he'll allow us to plunder Nanjing for three days. We can take whatever we see; nobody will care."

Deng Dajiao: "Yes, Duke, if it weren't for the Prince's promise, we would have quit long ago."

Shen Lang was stunned, and in his heart he sighed that Jiang Chong was really ruthless, actually making such a promise for the throne.

This scene truly reminded him of how, in his previous life, the Tang Dynasty's high-ranking officials, in order to quell the An Lushan Rebellion, offered the condition of plundering the capital in order to get the Uyghurs to send troops.

If Jiang Chong were to lead his troops into the capital, the people of Jinling would face annihilation.

Now, he once again understood how difficult it was for his wife to sit on the throne when she first ascended it, and he also understood why she would use all sorts of means to unite with him.

"Don't you know that this is tantamount to rebellion?" Shen Lang asked Li San. "When vassal troops enter the capital without the imperial decree of the Great Chu Emperor, it is tantamount to treason, and their entire families will be executed."

Li San: "Lord Duke, to be honest, we all know the consequences of doing this, but we cannot disobey the Prince's orders."

We were merely following orders. Given the choice, who would willingly become a traitor and be talked about behind their back?

These words touched a nerve with many people present, and they couldn't help but shed tears.

Shen Lang patted them on the shoulders: "Alright, it's okay, nothing's happened yet. You're all innocent. It seems you haven't had an easy time either."

"Thank you for your understanding, Your Excellency. I feel a great sense of kinship with you today, and we are willing to speak frankly with you."

This siege was only a last resort because we were afraid our brothers in the army wouldn't have enough to eat. We hope the Duke can understand.

Since the Duke didn't look down on us soldiers, we'll go back and persuade our brothers to return to camp and stop causing trouble.

As soon as Li San finished speaking, Shen Lang shook his head: "How can this be? If you go back like this, what will you do when the military rations run out? Are you planning to cause trouble again?"

Everyone fell silent; they hadn't even considered such a profound question.

Just then, Ma Guocheng came to Shen Lang's side, handed him a letter, and whispered a few words in his ear.

Upon hearing this, Shen Lang immediately took the letter from his hand and opened it to read.

Everyone present focused their attention on Shen Lang's face, observing the changes in his expression without blinking.

After a long silence, Shen Lang smiled slightly and said to the group, "Gentlemen, I have good news for you. The culprit who deceived you by exchanging grain for soil has been found. It is Yi Wancheng from the Yi family!"

"What? Master Yi!"

Upon hearing this news, everyone at the table was in an uproar.

Why would he want to harm us?

Li San couldn't help but ask.

Shen Lang explained, "Because the Prince's mansion was unwilling to pay for his grain, he resorted to this tactic to force you to cause trouble."

Once things escalate, the Prince's mansion won't have time to deal with his shady dealings.

Upon hearing this, Li San and the others immediately burst into curses: "That son of a bitch, he's not even human!"

Deng Dajiao, however, was more concerned about what to do next: "Lord Duke, what should we do?"

Shen Lang stood up and said with a smile, "How about you come with me to the Yi residence and arrest this unscrupulous merchant!"