prosperous age

Wei Guangde didn't know if there was any trouble in the Zhenwu Camp in Nanjing City in history, he just looked at those soldiers when he entered the city, and his intuition told him that there was something wrong with them.

Well, now that it has attracted the attention of my father-in-law, it can be regarded as a precautionary measure, which is always good.

"You don't know. Tomorrow [-] is the time when the Zhenwu Battalion gathers for drills according to the regulations. I haven't remembered it until you mention it. I haven't noticed that the Ministry of War has any action to send troops to the Zhenwu Battalion. I'm afraid it will be sent tomorrow." If you don’t go down, those soldiers will make a noise, so you really have to be on your guard.”

Xu Pengju frowned and thought.

"Shouldn't Lord Taishan tell that Huang Maoguan and Fang Youshan, the treasurer, to send over the military salary, and tomorrow's drill will be safe and sound."

Wei Guangde wondered.

"Hey, who knows what's in their gourds about those lords, let's go and talk about it, people might think we're an eyesore."

Xu Pengju shook his head, "I don't care about him, I'll gather my subordinates first, and just do something to deal with it."

Wei Guangde returned to the courtyard where he lived after having dinner in Wei Guogong's mansion, which is not far from the Guogong's mansion.

But after entering the gate, Wei Guangde told Zhao Hu who was behind him: "Uncle Zhao, go and tell Liu Shouyou and the others not to go out tomorrow, and stick to the gate of the posthouse."

Wei Guangde pretended not to care in front of Wei Guogong Xu Pengju, but whenever he thought of the idle soldiers he saw on the street today, he felt extremely uneasy.

I'm afraid something will happen.

During the banquet earlier, Wei Guangde once again asked Lord Taishan to tell Huang Maoguan and Fang Youshan, the chiefs of the military department, to prepare the soldiers' pay for the Zhenwu camp and not to push the soldiers down too hard, but obviously Xu Pengju didn't take it seriously.

In the middle of the drink, he asked his two sons to continue drinking with Wei Guangde on the grounds that he could not drink enough, and went back to the backyard to rest first.

On the second day, in the small school grounds in the north of Nanjing, banners were unfurled, war drums were roaring, and more than 2000 soldiers from the Zhenwu Battalion gathered. Today is the day when the entire Zhenwu Battalion gathers for drills.

Although the soldiers had long been unwilling to practice because of the lack of payment, they knew that military law was ruthless, so the soldiers did not dare to delay such a major event as gathering and practicing.

Of course, there is another very important reason, that is, the whole battalion is gathered today, and many soldiers are still fantasizing about whether they will pay the half month's arrears of military pay today.

Since the establishment of the Zhenwu Camp, a total of 3000 people have been selected from the elite soldiers of the camps and the young and agile people from the Huai'an and Yangzhou prefectures.

But until now, the Zhenwu Battalion has never really been on the battlefield. Naturally, tens of thousands of taels of silver are poured into it every year, which makes Nanjing's household department feel very disadvantaged. As resources dwindle, nature becomes increasingly unwelcome.

Those who came to inspect today are Zuo Shilang of Nanjing Household Department, Governor Huang Maoguan, Garrison Eunuch He Shou, Nanjing Garrison Wei Guogong Xu Pengju, Zuojun Governor's Mansion and Admiral Caojiang Linhuaihou Li Tingzhu, as well as Zhang Jia and Li Sui from the Ministry of War. arrive.

Last year Zhese was deducted [-]%, and the Zhenwu camp soldiers were very dissatisfied with Huang Maoguan on the stage. Today, they were full of expectations to come to the small school field, but they saw that except for Huang Maoguan, there was no need to make up for the arrears at all. The appearance, can't help discussing in a low voice.

As a Jinshi, Huang Maoguan naturally looked down on Qiu Ba's performance in the audience, let alone wanted to receive military pay from him.

Although he also knows that it is not good to squeeze and default on the payment of soldiers and soldiers, but the current reserves of the Nanjing household department have reached an extremely dangerous level. Second, Zhenwu Camp has not performed well since its establishment, so of course it was underestimated.

Look at the soldiers below, there is no military discipline at all, this is no sergeant, they are no different from hooligans fighting on the street.

What Huang Maoguan saw on the stage was not different from the real situation. After seeing that the government did not send money to pay the military pay, the soldiers' spirits had long been vented. Naturally, they were standing or sitting. , A group of three or five gathered together to curse the people on the stage, who cares about military discipline.

As for the big and small army leaders who stayed in the camp, they were also furious at this time. The soldiers couldn't get any money, so naturally they, the team leaders, didn't have any money to get.

Especially last month, this official Huang Mao actually wanted to check the vacant salary, roll call and verify the identity of the soldiers before paying the money, so that they could not get the vacant salary that they could have earned before, so naturally they were even more dissatisfied with the one on the stage.

However, apart from scolding him in private, they really have no way to vent their anger. He is a dignified third-rank member of the imperial court and a civil servant.

Seeing that the hearts of the soldiers below are unstable, and the military leaders are too lazy to take care of them, they have no money, and they still care about the soldiers who are farts. Many of them are thinking about whether to transfer out of this fire pit as soon as possible.

At this moment, the generals, big and small, also got together to curse, but none of them went to regroup, let alone go to see Huang Maoguan.

And Huang Maoguan stood alone on the stage, seeing the generals of the Zhenwu Battalion gathered in the distance and did not come to pay respects, the anger in his heart continued to accumulate.

He is already considering whether to suspend the Zhenwu Camp for three months to serve as an example, it is too lawless.

Seeing the sergeants of the Zhenwu Battalion below, they didn't look like generals or soldiers. Huang Maoguan didn't have the mood to continue watching. He turned around and stepped down, and ran directly to the office on the south side of the small school field.

This is a large area of ​​public housing. The Nanjing Household Department manages the distribution of food and salaries for the various guards in the Nanjing Jingying. Naturally, there are office offices in both the large and small campuses to facilitate the dispatch of military supplies.

Feeling angry in his heart, the proofreading was naturally avoided. Huang Maoguan strode into his public room and asked the clerk to bring hot tea.

After spending a long time on the reviewing platform, Huang Maoguan felt deeply humiliated by the fact that he was directly ignored by the gang of Qiu Ba.

Once upon a time, warriors dared to be so rude to civil officials like them.

Make up your mind, this matter is not so simple, let it be over, first deduct three months of military pay, Huang Maoguan made up his mind at this moment, to severely punish these soldiers, and the soldiers of the Zhenwu Battalion in the small school field Looking at the empty reviewing desk at the moment is also dumbfounded.

The officials are all gone, what are they still doing here?
It's just that when everyone was at a loss, someone suddenly sobbed, "When will this month's military salary be paid? The little ones in the family are still waiting to eat."

In an instant, a desolate atmosphere quickly spread in the hearts of all the sergeants in the school grounds. Even though they were far away and couldn't hear what the people were saying, they were still infected by the atmosphere and felt chills all over.

In fact, most of the soldiers and men here are family members. The soldiers in the Beijing camp are better than the local guards, that is, the embezzlement is not as strong as the guards below, and they can still get [-] to [-]% of their salary.

If you don't get any money to go back today, how many days can you last with the little food left at home?

The wife and children at home are going to be hungry, how can they live this day?
In fact, there was no military salary at the beginning of the month, and the sergeants have already tightened their belts to live, trying to save food. Thinking about the rice vat at home that is about to bottom out, the anger in many sergeants' hearts is unavoidable Burst out in this moment.

"The theory of looking for an official, when will the salary be paid?"

Among the crowd of soldiers, whoever took the lead shouted a sentence, and was immediately responded by more soldiers, and everyone started to shout.

"pay, pay"

"It's only natural to pay off debts."

In fact, at this time, the dissatisfaction in the soldiers' hearts has just arisen and is still accumulating, and everything is still controllable. As long as the commander comes out to shout and curse, the soldiers' mentality will collapse, but at this moment However, none of the military leaders standing on the side stood up.

The leading generals looked at each other a few times, and shook their heads imperceptibly. Without their permission, the little army leaders under them naturally wouldn't think of coming forward to control the situation, and everyone stood motionless. There, observe the development of the situation in the school grounds.

The generals who led the team felt the same about the difficulties of being a soldier. It is also difficult for them to support a large group of wives and concubines in their own family.

Maybe, if you make a fuss, you can change something. Could it be worse than it is now?

At this time, what the leading generals thought in their minds was not to suppress the sergeants in the school grounds and control the development of the situation, but other things.

Although no one spoke, the mutual glances said everything.

One of the generals suddenly turned his head, turned around and walked towards the barracks. When the subordinate commander saw the boss leaving, he naturally followed suit, completely ignoring the soldiers who were making noise behind him.

The rest of the generals looked at each other, turned around and left after imitating the example.

The soldiers started to make a fuss, it's better for these young generals to go back to the barracks first, usually at this time they would go to a tea house and tavern on the street to eat and drink, but today they couldn't leave and had to stay in the camp.

As for what happened in the end, he didn't care, it was all due to the arrears of military pay.

The soldiers had no food to eat, and it was normal to make trouble, and the emperor did not send hungry soldiers.

In the past, the incident of soldiers fighting for pay, which only occurred in border towns, finally broke out in the capital Nanjing.

As more and more soldiers remembered their tragic situation, their emotions became agitated, and the clamor soon resounded through the small school grounds.

The sources of soldiers in the Zhenwu Battalion are complicated, some of them are elites from other Beijing camps, but in fact they are all the thorns of the battalions, and only those who do not obey the discipline are sent here. Not too much.

As for the remaining soldiers from surrounding guards, such as Yangzhou and other places, many of them are actually idle hooligans in the local guards, but they coveted the treatment of the Beijing camp, so they tried their best to get here.

These people are easy to change, but their nature is hard to change. This is also the reason why a large number of noble children left after entering Zhenwu Camp.

Such a team is too difficult to lead.

Now most of these people have already married and set up businesses. Although the habit of looseness is still there, they have families after all. At first, when everyone was clamoring, they were still nervous, but after a while, they found that the generals not only did not take care of them, but Walking towards the barracks, many people became more courageous.

"It's all the dog officer surnamed Huang who won't give us a way out. We'll stop him at the government office today. If we don't pay the army, it won't end today."

Finally, an anxious sergeant shouted loudly, and then all the sergeants in the small school grounds shouted in unison: "There will be no end to the military pay."

The shout represented the heartfelt voice of more than 2000 people, and the sound shook the whole field. The generals of the Zhenwu Battalion who had just entered the barracks heard the shout, and they all stopped before they knew it, and turned their heads to look in the direction of the small school field.

Excited soldiers began to rush to the Hubu Office in the distance. At first, it was only a small group, but as they played a leading role, more and more soldiers in the school grounds began to move, and soon became a group of soldiers. There was a large group.

"Second brother, if they go to trouble Mr. Huang like this, nothing will happen."

Finally, some generals realized that something was wrong. The current situation is raging, and if the trouble cannot be suppressed, something big will happen.

"It's a little bit bad, but is there any way, the surname Huang drags on without paying, and wants everyone to drink the Northwest Wind?"

"It's good to make a lot of trouble, lest the surnamed Huang think that our Zhenwu camp is a coward, and let soldiers block the gate of the office, and scare him to death."

Several generals stood inside the gate of the barracks and watched the crowd in the small school field rush towards the household office, talking in low voices.

It's not that they don't worry about the soldiers making things worse. In the eyes of these generals, these little soldiers are at best blocking the gate of the office and cursing. How can they pull out the official they are all afraid of and beat them up?
When the trouble was almost over, the surname Huang sent someone to look for them, and they went to clean up the mess, took him back to the barracks, and took back the salary that should be paid this month.

"Go, go in and drink and wait."

The man who was called the second brother before looked at the soldiers of the Zhenwu Camp who were going away, and said with a relaxed tone.

The soldiers had all left the small school yard, and it was rare for them to wait at the gate of the barracks, and went to the barracks to drink on their own.

At this time, Huang Maoguan was angry, and today he was really angry. He was a Jinshi in Jiajing for 17 years. Speaking of which, he has been in office for more than 20 years. Shaved face.

The relationship in the capital is indeed not very good, otherwise he would not have been transferred to Nanjing, but in Nanjing, he is a prominent figure anyway, if news of today's incident gets out, others will laugh out loud.

Thinking of Qi, the tea in his hand was no longer fragrant, and he slammed it hard to the ground.

"clang clang"

The teacup slammed into the ground, breaking apart, and large pieces rolled on the ground.

The door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and a clerk was already standing in front of the door, his expression was still very flustered, as he pushed open the door of the public room, the noisy sounds from outside came into the room.

Huang Maoguan was in a depressed mood at this time, when he suddenly saw the clerk barging in without giving a message outside the door, he was even more irritable, and the croaking noise in his ears made him even more upset.

At least he managed to control his bad mood, without slapping the clerk, "What's going on outside?"