The Legend of Swing Sword and Execution of Demons

Chapter 675
The first of August.

It coincides with the Bailu solar term.

In the morning of Youjing, the autumn wind is bitter.

Even the occasional rising sun poking out the corners of its head from the stratus clouds can't bring much warmth to people.

It will be even colder in the evening.

In this cold autumn, the court hall was full of enthusiasm.

The matters discussed in the court meeting this morning mainly revolved around major events on both sides of the world.

The big event in the north is naturally the war between Xing'an and Wala.

Although the Wara Dongting army broke through Shanmen City and invaded Xing'an territory with lightning speed, but in this ten-day period, there was heavy thunder and little rain, and they failed to break through the blocking of the Zhongzhou army and failed to spread the flames of war southward.

As a result, the princes of the court lacked interest in the war in Xing'an, which did not bring much tension, and mostly focused on the recent major events in the south.

Major events in the south include the Great Fire in the Southern Shaolin, the conferment of the head of the devil Tu Wanfang, the rebellion of the Red Clothes Sect, and the Battle of Jiulian Mountain.

These things can also be regarded as one thing, that is, the Red Clothes Sect secretly managed by Dongying Secret Works tried to lure and kill people from the Jianghu in Zhongzhou through the Southern Shaolin Fire in order to bring chaos to Zhongzhou.

Seven days have passed since the Southern Shaolin battle.

On the one hand, the local government thoroughly investigated and reported the whole story of the South Shaolin fire, and on the other hand distributed money and food to comfort the people.

Seventy percent of the officers and soldiers who were temporarily ordered to blockade Putian County were withdrawn, and [-]% stayed to help the local government clean up the mess, help the local people repair their homes and restore production order.

All the forces in the rivers and lakes who have withdrawn from Putian County have either returned to their respective camps or are on their way back to their camps.

As for the knight-errant who slaughtered Wanfang's head with his hands, he was traveling northward on a post road dedicated to chariots and horses. He arrived in Beijing in about three days and took away the reward of ten thousand taels of gold.

When the number one warrior in Wala was revived in a strange way, turned into a demon and then executed with great difficulty, the princes in the court clapped their hands and cheered, and they all angrily reprimanded the Red Clothes Sect for raising this beast!

Many ministers also expressed that the first martyrs who are about to enter Beijing should not only be rewarded heavily, but also worthy of being recruited by the court.

However, the fifth general who was in charge of Jinyiwei temporarily on behalf of the little emperor said that this person is a poor person in the Kunlun territory. After entering Beijing to receive the reward, most of them would not accept the official position, but would rush back home to benefit the village with a lot of money.

It is rare for those ministers to hear the words and remonstrate, and the court can allocate money to the righteous men's hometowns, and then give them official positions to keep them serving the court.

At this time, other ministers spoke out, not to mention that this move was not in line with the system and it was difficult to convince the public. It was just that there was a big war in the north, and there was a large amount of property that the Red Clothes Sect had to clean up. Two golds is really not a small number, right now is the time to spend money, other money should not be spent indiscriminately, the money should be spent on urgent needs.

What the latter said was more reasonable, so the topic turned to the Red Clothes Sect.

At the court meeting five days ago, the case of the Pinghai County turmoil jointly investigated by the East and West Plants came to a conclusion. The money and food accumulated by the three secret caves were actually used to cooperate with the Japanese invasion. The background of the Red Clothes Sect was completely confirmed !
For this wolf in sheep's clothing, all the ministers hated this wolf in sheep's clothing last time, but they had a headache and didn't know where to start.

Because the foundation of the Red Clothes Sect has basically been put into the battle of Southern Shaolin, the rest of the unusable skins are the people of Zhongzhou.

Although it has been confirmed that the Red Clothes Sect has been uprooted this time, the remaining mess affects the economic foundation of nearly half of the people's livelihood in Zhongzhou.

The princes in the court could not help arguing with each other to shirk responsibility or compete for benefits.

In the end, the focus of the discussion came to the various Jianghu forces in Zhongzhou.

In view of the prosperous martial arts environment in Zhongzhou for decades, the imperial court often had to bow its head in front of Jianghu, turning a blind eye to the use of martial arts to violate the ban, and Jianghu was always a thorn in the imperial court's heart.

It wasn't until after the last barbarian chaos that both the imperial court and the Jianghu were seriously injured. After nearly [-] years of hiding their strengths and biding their time, the imperial court finally caught up with the Jianghu. In the past two years, they showed a tougher side and directly competed with the Jianghu.

The matter of the Red Clothes Sect can be said to have brought disaster to the Jianghu, and the Jianghu side of Zhongzhou also paid a heavy price for it.

It is pure self-deception for the imperial court to say that it did not take advantage of the situation to suppress the forces in the rivers and lakes in order to stabilize the imperial power.

But calling all righteous men and heroes from all corners of the world to go to Fujian to punish the demons, and then killing all the birds and hiding them, is not something these self-proclaimed gentlemen can do with the audacity.

At least these things can't be said on the surface.

However, the focus of the debate is how to reward the righteous heroes and heroes from all walks of life who participated in the suppression of the Red Clothes Sect rebels and the eradication of the devil Tu Wanfang.

The eunuchs and military parties, who were basically playing games and wrangling each other, held their own opinions on this issue, confronted each other, and did not back down.

The two sides agreed that the Jianghu Gang's efforts to save the people from the fire and water and protect the peace of one side should be expressed by the imperial court no matter what.

There are only differences of opinion on the size and form of the reward.

The armed forces headed by the Fifth Marquis believe that this time the rivers and lakes have made great efforts but also suffered a lot. The attitude towards the court is at a time when they are most disgusted and conflicted. Face each other with evil faces, and there is even the possibility of refusing to receive the reward.

The imperial court needs another way to express its praise to the heroes of the rivers and lakes.

An announcement to the world, as the emperor, on behalf of the general public, thanks to the righteous deeds of the various gangs in the rivers and lakes.

The second is to refer to the pension system for casualties, and order the local governments to take care of the casualties of various gangs, especially those who died, to pay full burial subsidies, and to reduce the burden of tax and labor on their families.

The eunuchs, who follow the example of Yu Tamar, do not fully agree with this reward method.

They believed that the conflict between the rivers and lakes and the imperial court was originally a natural gap, and the reward method proposed by the military party was actually a method of boiling frogs in warm water. It was intended to gradually reduce the hostile attitude of the rivers and lakes and influence each other. It may not be effective in ten or eight years. By then, most of the rivers and lakes will have recovered, so why should they be polite to the court?
Ever since the Hundred Flowers Conference raised their eyebrows, the imperial court has been hardened again and again, and it should absolutely not relax at this time.

Hard power is the truth, and even if we want to use both soft and hard policies, it should also be reflected in other places.

Rewards should be rewarded, notices should be given, and compensation should be given for casualties.

Of course, the rewards for killing the enemy and destroying the bandits are indispensable, so as to reflect the mighty grace of the emperor.

Although the Red Clothes Sect no longer exists, there are many fish that escaped the net and are running around and hiding.

There is already bitter and deep hatred between Jianghu Zhengdao and the Red Clothes Sect, so an edict can be issued to reward and kill the key remnants, so that they can get benefits in addition to working hard.

Since there are Dongying thieves hiding in Fujian, we might as well set a heavy reward to encourage the righteous men of the rivers and lakes to go and suppress them.

Earlier, when talking about the war in Xing'an, the armed forces suggested dispatching a strong army to help them expel the Oirat army in one go, so as to save night and dream.

It is better to recruit people from the rivers and lakes to form an army system, which can not only avoid mobilizing troops from other places, but also strengthen the combat power of the Zhongzhou Army, killing two birds with one stone.

After hearing this, Fifth Marquis simply felt absurd.

He thought that Emperor Yan would listen to him as usual.

What decision to make at the court meeting, he and Yu Tian had to discuss in private, and then go through the scene in the court hall.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Yan changed his usual routine today, and actually adopted the proposal of the Eunuch Party, planning to reward people in the Jianghu and issue some policies with a slight hint of recruiting security, and even won the support of more than half of the nine masters.

If the Fifth Marquis hadn't argued in court, emphasizing that the current recruitment of Jianghu people to the battlefield may touch the opponent's bottom line and lead to rebellion. Although the current imperial court's power to deal with these rebellions is not a problem, it is afraid that people with good intentions will use them to brew national wars. , which made Emperor Yan agree to temporarily waive the last clause.

After he had to retreat from the imperial court, Fifth Marquis finally came to his senses in the sedan chair.

This morning's game seems to be for myself.

All along, he thought that the little emperor had his own opinion to some extent, and would seek a balance among him, Yu Tian, ​​and the nine great families.

Now thinking about it carefully, whether the little emperor nods or not is probably inspired by that old eunuch.

Not only that, some of the nine have already made a preference choice.

(End of this chapter)