Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 48 A hasty ending
  Zhang Xiao hurried into the Hanlin Academy and just sat down to calm down when he was informed that Wang Xijue was always looking for him.

"Zhang Shidu, how have you been busy these days? Are you making the hot air balloon?" Wang Xijue asked.

"Xiaguan is making plans, and now he is still looking for materials and choosing a venue." Zhang Xiao replied.

"You have to pay close attention to the tasks assigned to you by His Majesty. Is that a memorial in your hand? What are you reporting to His Majesty?" Wang Xijue asked.

"It's about some plans for the development of the Imperial Navy, which Xiaguan came up with these days. Because the stakes are so important, I want to ask the senior minister to check them," Zhang Xiao said.

"Put it here and I will read it carefully. Are you writing a book these days?" Wang Xijue asked.

"The official is writing the history of Timur's kingdom." Zhang Xiao replied.

"You should have seen some movement on the road just now. Regardless of what happened before, you can just study with peace of mind in the past few days. Don't go out or talk at will." Wang Xijue warned.

……

The few shouting officers outside Chang'an Gate were probably tired of shouting, so none of them stopped shouting. The north wind in autumn was a bit strong. Among the crowd originally gathered, some officers found a corner to lean on in twos and threes, but no one left.

Shi Xing came out of the emperor's house in disgrace and returned to the Yamen of the Ministry of War. When Shi Xing came back, he saw that the Yamen was much livelier than before. Several princes who commanded the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army were here, but they all just sat in their seats and remained silent.

"Shi Shangshu, Duke Yingying, Duke Cheng Guo, and Duke Ding Guo have high positions and cannot speak. I, Li Rusong, do not have a title now, so I will boldly say a few words. What is the current constitution of the Ministry of War? It is like this now. "My dear, no one's face is good-looking, especially His Majesty's." Li Rusong asked carelessly.

Shi Xing originally wanted to reprimand the officer for having a cross-level conversation, but when he saw that it was Li Rusong, he had to suppress his temper: "General Li, it stands to reason that you are just a minister of the Governor's Mansion, and it is not your place to ask. But since the princes are not willing, If you ask, I also want to discuss your Majesty’s wishes with the Governor’s Office of the Fifth Army. Your Majesty has already issued a decree to repay the back pay of the Beijing camp first, and we will talk about the rest later. But now the officers of the Beijing camp are already I can’t trust Shi anymore, so I’d like someone from the Governor’s Mansion to accompany me to speak to the officers from the Beijing Camp who are still downstairs at the city gate, so that they can return to their camps as soon as possible.”

"Shi Shangshu, don't think about it. How can the princes come out to speak about this kind of thing? It's just me. Although I'm just a minister, I've been a general soldier anyway. It's not too humiliating to Shi Shangshu." Li Rusong said. .

Shi Xing looked at the princes sitting in their seats and pretended not to hear or see them all.

"Then General Lao Li will follow me to comfort the generals in the capital camp." Shi Xing said helplessly.

Shi Xing and Li Rusong left the Ministry of War Yamen and walked toward Chang'an Gate. They were accompanied by some followers, but none of them carried weapons.

"Officers in the Beijing Camp, I, Mr. Shi, am here to give you an explanation." Shi Xing mustered up his courage and shouted to this large group of officers.

"It's all my fault, Mr. Shi. Your Majesty already knows how difficult it is for you. The Ministry of War will pay all your salary in these days. The weather will be colder this year, and I will give you an extra 10% so that you can buy some charcoal fires." Shi Xing said .

"Shi Shangshu, you can't lie to me."

"Shi Shangshu, falsely preaching imperial edicts is a capital offense. You can't talk nonsense just to make us veterans happy."

"Shi Shangshu, tell me when the salary will be distributed."

Many of the originally quiet officers began to shout. Shi Xing broke into a cold sweat when he saw these shouting officers, and for a moment he didn't know how to reply.

"Comrades, I am Li Rusong. Today, everyone is causing trouble. Your Majesty knows about it, and the governor's office also knows about it. Your Majesty has issued a decree to pay you enough money, so that you can have a good year at the end of the year." Li Rusong looked at it. After calming down, he stood up and said.

"General Li, you can't join forces with civil servants to deceive us." "General Li, no matter how high or low your position is, you are all the best in the army. I, Xu, trust you."

"General Li, why are you the only one here? Where are the governors?"

Li Rusong's appearance calmed the restless crowd, but the officers' chattering questions did not stop.

"Everyone, the princes have arrived, but it is inconvenient for them to come. Once they come, things will become unclear. Our Beijing camp is already the best among all the armies. Everyone, I, Li Rusong, swear, If anyone tries to deceive you, he will surely die in the rebel army." Li Rusong said.

"Okay, let's just trust General Li. Can I please tell you, General Li, that we have no intention of threatening the imperial court, but we are just defending the capital. We can't do it without food, drink, and clothing." Qianhu Xu Wen stood up and said.

"Okay, okay, what are you guys doing standing here in the cold weather? You don't want to hear any unnecessary talk. I'm not going to the class today. I invite you to go drink. If you have anything to say, we've eaten and drank enough. Please wait. Speak slowly," Li Rusong said.

The people who were originally filled with indignation felt a lot less angry when they heard what Li Rusong said, and a group of people followed Li Rusong calmly.

Shi Xing watched everyone leave, then let out a sigh of relief, and then hurried back to the Ministry of War to find a way to raise money.

……

The anger of the officers in the Beijing camp subsided, but the matter did not end satisfactorily so quickly.

In the imperial study room, the emperor listened to Shi Xing's report on the handling of the matter. There was another person beside him, that was Yang Junmin, who succeeded Shi Xing as the Minister of Household Affairs and was the son of the famous minister Yang Bo.

"Your Majesty, all the military pay owed to the Beijing camp has been received and can be repaid at any time. However, there is still one item missing, and your Majesty still needs to make your own decision." Shi Xing said.

"Which item is still missing that I need to decide personally?" the emperor asked unhappily.

"It's just that the military pay of Wu Weizhong's department has been underpaid for a long time. The military pay of Wu Weizhong's department was originally set at a higher level. After several years of accumulation, the amount is a bit large. I don't dare to do it myself." Shi Xing said.

The emperor suddenly didn't remember who Wu Weizhong was. Seeing this, Chen Ju leaned into the emperor's ear and whispered a few words.

"The troops led by Wu Weizhong must be Qi Jiguang's old department. Let's first pay Wu Weizhong's salary for this year. As for the salary of previous years, let's coordinate with the Ministry of Household Affairs. There are a lot of salary arrears in various places now. You can also calculate one. Count, make a list of priorities, and slowly make up for it," the emperor said.

"I obey the order. It's just that the Ministry of War's expenses are very high this year, and we need to set aside money for emergencies at the end of the year. Can we get part of it from the Ministry of Household Affairs or the internal treasury..." Shi Xing was interrupted by the emperor before he was halfway through his words.

"I have a lot of use for the internal treasury. You can spend it from the treasury. If it doesn't work, use next year's money first, or stop any expenditure that is not urgent. Yang Junmin, you have to work harder these days. , align the accounts with the Ministry of War, and allocate urgent funds first." The emperor said.

"I obey the order. It's just that this year has been plagued by disasters and there isn't a lot of money in the national inventory. The Ministry of War also allocated urgent funds first." Yang Junmin responded.

"I obey the decree." Shi Xing had no choice but to agree.

　Thank you to the book friends Muyuren for the reward, and to the book friends of Little Fish Bit Big Fish, Strike, and Huotian Dayou for their monthly passes. Thanks to the book friends for their recommendation votes. Several book friends voted for it more than once. Thank you also to all readers for reading, commenting, investing and collecting.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)