Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 56: After the military pay was released, Zhang Cheng became more respected
  After hearing what her nephew Miao Daheng said, Miao Zhen also nodded, and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang who was writing to sign the deposit and distribute the grain and instruct the grain official school, and agreed:

"In my opinion, Manager Zhu and Mr. Zhang are indeed extraordinary rebel figures. They will definitely achieve great things in the future. If you follow them, you won't have to worry about not being able to be noble and get a wife."

"That's exactly what he said."

"Right now, even the officers and soldiers can't get food and pay, but they really did it!"

"Especially after Mr. Zhang appeared, his various actions were impressive. He is not comparable to ordinary sinister villains, but a man with great strategy."

"For example, the current military pay system is simply buying my soldiers openly."

"I don't even want to prevent them from accepting the military morale of my officers and soldiers. After all, I can't deny my officers and soldiers their pay. If so, I'm afraid I will be separated from my officers and soldiers, and I don't know how long it will take for them to die!"

Miao Daheng followed.

Miao Zhen nodded and said: "This is a conspiracy! If you want to resist this strategy, you can only counter it with a conspiracy."

"That's right!"

"If there is an opportunity, I should use my own evil plan to deal with it, and try my best to protect the safety of my family, Miao."

"But right now, we can only do our best to work for him, and we can't have the intention of secretly communicating with the court."

"Uncle, what do you think?"

Miao Daheng said.

Miao Zhen knew that Miao Daheng said this to remind his uncle not to secretly send people to contact Yuan Ting because he wanted to return to Yuan Ting to serve as an official, thereby implicating his nephew, so she smiled and said:
  "Do you still need to ask me for this?"

"Since I know that their military pay is based on the type of military service, and they have not deliberately reduced the pay for us newly attached soldiers, I know that General Manager Zhu and Zhang Zhizhou cannot be underestimated, no matter whether they can achieve great things in the future , now we can’t do anything sorry to them behind their backs.”

"We, the Miao family, are here to seek wealth, not to make enemies."

Miao Daheng just smiled slightly and said: "The military pay is distributed only based on the actual performance of the soldiers. It really shows that the leader of the army has great ambitions and is not an ordinary bandit!"

While Miao Daheng and his uncle Miao Zhen were chatting, food and salary continued to be distributed.

And as Miao Daheng and Miao Zhen said, pay is indeed very conducive to conquering the morale of the military and increasing internal cohesion.

"Mr. Zhang!"

"Mr. Zhang!"

After Zhang Cheng also raised his food and salary, he found that many rebels began to greet him cordially with fists in their hands.

It is clear.

Because of the establishment of the military pay system and the fact that officers and soldiers received food and pay, internal cohesion has improved a lot.

Even Zhang Cheng, a civil servant who proposed the military pay system and participated in the distribution of military pay, gained more respect from the rebel officers and soldiers.

Zhang Cheng smiled and responded to those who greeted them, whether they were generals or soldiers, and sometimes exchanged greetings with them. This made the rebels like him more and more, and felt that his words were much more pleasant than before.

Zhang Cheng also liked these rebels more and more.

In particular, he discovered that after the rebels had food and wages, they no longer forced prices down or had overlord meals when buying and selling things or eating in restaurants, let alone looting. Instead, they paid for the food readily. , even after they still help the common people when they encounter the old and the weak in need of help, they like these rebels even more.

Zhang Cheng also felt an inexplicable sense of accomplishment in his heart.

After all, the gradual transformation of the rebel army in front of him has a lot to do with him.

However, the army became more civilized and was based on adequate logistical support.

Zhang Cheng knew that if he wanted the rebel army he participated in to maintain good military discipline, obey the rules internally, respect the officials, and be benevolent to the people, he must always have adequate logistics supplies and avoid insufficient food and pay. .

Fortunately, the food obtained from ransacking houses is enough to supply the army.

But in the end, confiscation of homes is just a redistribution of resources, not the development of production. If we want to support more troops and people in the future, developing productivity is the next key.

To develop productivity, all types of talents are needed to carry out this purpose.

to this end.

After Zhang Cheng returned to Zhizhou Yamen, he continued to write his own official examination questions.

besides. Zhang Cheng also prepared and compiled teaching materials. Of course, it cannot be said that he was writing. He was actually excerpting and integrating later enlightenment and basic teaching materials such as Chinese and mathematics according to actual conditions.

The reason why he wanted to compile teaching materials was because Zhang Cheng knew that talents could not just be selected through examinations, but that they had to be cultivated and developed by themselves.

Otherwise, real knowledge and skills will remain in the hands of a few.

Moreover, without teaching materials, learners can easily be taught things that are not in line with their own purposes.

But what Zhang Cheng, who was carefully writing test questions and teaching materials, didn't know yet was that he was going to test the gentry who were applying to be officials. After the gentry who were applying for officials knew about it, the gentry who were applying for officials felt very unhappy.

"Are you still going to take the exam?"

"Obviously they put up a recruitment notice and begged us to be their officers. Why are they still trying to select us now, so that we are asking to be officers of their rebel army?"

"I'm just going to be a commoner all my life, and I won't take the exam! This way, I can avoid being ruined by being a thief!"

Guo Jingxiang, who had served as the magistrate of the Yuan Dynasty, was quite angry about this, and complained about it to Ren Deqian and other Chuzhou officials and gentry.

Ren Deqian, who was also here, laughed and said: "It seems that Mr. Zhang wants to do things seriously."

"Yes."

"But Mr. Ta Zhang must do his work seriously and act on merit. Then we can't win over Mr. Ta Zhang to become our ally and then realize the control of Chuzhou for us. We can't let the current Director Zhu of Chuzhou City follow the rules." Our rules and regulations govern politics.”

Li Mengeng, who was also one of the Chuzhou officials and gentry, frowned and agreed.

Guo Jingxiang stood up directly and said: "So I said, we would rather not be their officials than take part in this exam and degrade ourselves! We have to let them beg us!"

Ren Qiande, Li Menggeng and others all nodded.

Guo Jingxiang sneered: "We'll see when the time comes. They don't have many people available. How can they do anything? I'm afraid they won't be able to collect taxes."

Li Menggeng also smiled slightly and said: "That Mr. Zhang is a man who is willing to use his own means. When it is time to show courtesy to the virtuous corporal, he will do so. I already expect him, Mr. Zhang, to abolish the examination system and come to ask for these things from me." Looks like a human being."

Ren Qiande frowned and thought deeply without saying anything. After a while, he said:

"Having said that, we should send someone to inquire about the current Hu Yuan bureaucracy in Chuzhou, which officials have followed thieves and which have not, how to deal with those who have not followed, and how to arrange for those who have followed thieves."

"If thieves also need to be selected, we should mobilize them and work together with us to persuade Mr. Zhang to use people with moral integrity. This will also help him to fulfill his ambitions without being constrained by others."

"In addition, you should send people to spread rumors, saying that the thieves want to kill the gentlemen of Jin, and they use the name of recruiting talents to get official positions, lure them out first, and then execute them!"

"In this way, we can achieve the purpose that Mr. Zhang can only come to beg us for. After all, we have to guard against those scholars from poor families who can't help but want to become officials. We have to take advantage of their limited knowledge and dare not take the risk of becoming thieves." Psychologically frightening them so that they will not take the exam to become officials."

What Ren Qiande meant was that Zhang Cheng should completely side with them, the big landowners and gentry who had served as officials in the Yuan Dynasty, so that all important internal affairs positions in Chuzhou would become theirs, and it would also be easier for him to Zhang Cheng. Cheng used them to oust Zhu Yuanzhang and achieve sole control of Chuzhou. To this end, he did not hesitate to propose to win over those who surrendered to the rebel army and intimidate the poor men.

"Mr. Ren is right!"

Li Menggeng understood what Ren Qiande meant, nodded, and said with a smile: "In the final analysis, Mr. Zhang is still young and naive. He is really serious about his work, and he wants to assign officials according to their aptitude. He also said We must use examinations to ensure fairness and justice, but we don’t know that the greatest fairness and justice in this world is that ‘if anyone does not serve himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth’!”

Because the people in front of him were all relatives and friends of the township party, and in addition, Li Menggeng felt contempt for Zhang Cheng, who was much younger than him, and resented that he had used the power of the rebels to dominate in front of people like him. Now he is still brazenly saying that he wants to test Chuzhou wise men like himself, so he starts to talk more openly and speaks more straightforwardly.

but.

Yang Bi, the son of Yang Yuangao, who was also listening to music and chatting with Ren Qiande and Li Menggen here, silently memorized their words, and then quietly asked his illiterate confidant's slave to bring Zhang Cheng to arrange for him near his home. informant.

Zhang Cheng soon learned about this through Qi Xiang, who was responsible for contacting these informants.

"Are you laughing at my naivety?"

"Didn't you know that I didn't want to be controlled by you so I thought of using the examination system to select officials?"

Zhang Cheng laughed secretly and cursed a few times.

Qi Xiang, who was younger than Zhang Cheng, was worried because of this and asked: "Mr. Zhang, does this mean that no scholars will come to participate in the examination you prepared and become officers of our rebel army?"

talking.

Qi Xiang said: "After all, these high-ranking officials do not send their children to take the exam, and they also threaten the poor people."

(End of this chapter)