Chapter 59 Equipment
In the seventh year of Song Xuanhe, August, Xu Wei won a decisive victory in a battle against bandits in Shandong Province, which was reported to the imperial court by Zhang Shuye and the Pacification Commissioner of Daming Prefecture. The news caused a stir in the imperial court, which might be somewhat exaggerated, but it did attract attention from all parties. The reason is simple: what kind of troops did Xu Wei have? Militia! In essence, they were ordinary civilians who picked up weapons. Moreover, these ordinary civilians had hardly received any military training before rushing to the battlefield to fight against bandits. Facing ten times as many bandits as their own number, they first withstood the surprise attack and defeated the enemy, causing them to flee in disarray. On the same day, they advanced triumphantly, broke through the bandits' main camp, beheaded the bandit leader Wang Shan, and surrendered more than 6,000 people.
If saying Xu Jiubao defended Xujiazhuang, rushed to Xiajin, and suppressed the White Horse Gully doesn't count for much, then the battle of Dayeze was indeed a solid victory. Zhang Shuye reported that he led his troops from east to west, sandwiching the enemy with Xu Wei's forces, causing the bandits to suffer a great defeat. "The local militia under my command were fierce and fearless of death, Wei's men beheaded Wang Shan, and the rest of the gang surrendered." When Zhang Shuye's imperial army arrived on the battlefield, Xu Wei had already defeated Wang Shan and captured the remaining troops. The imperial army only handled some follow-up matters and assisted in defense. However, this wasn't because Zhang Shuye was trying to steal credit from Xu Wei. First and foremost, he led the imperial guard, so he had to consider the court's reputation. Otherwise, why would anyone need the imperial guard if they could just use local militia?
Secondly, he was also considering Xu Wei. If the truth were reported, saying that the extermination of Wang Shan was all due to Xu Wei's efforts, and this reached the Eastern Capital, where would the three commanders-in-chief of the Imperial Guard, "Dian Shuai, Qi Shuai, Bu Shuai", put their faces? In Zhang Shuye's opinion, with Xu Wei's ability, he would eventually enter the Imperial Guard's combat sequence, and at that time, the three commanders-in-chief would be his direct superiors. Offending them would not be beneficial to Xu Wei. Although the three commanders-in-chief had the power to command troops but not to deploy troops, they were not afraid of officials, but rather of being controlled. At that time, if you were given a few pairs of small shoes to wear, who could you reason with?
The news was sent to Tokyo, and Cai You, who had been attacked by his father's brother until he was exhausted, immediately presented it to Emperor Taizong. Zhao Ji heard the news with great joy, first praising Cai You, saying that he was a "pillar of the country", and the strategy of recruiting local heroes to suppress bandits was completely correct! It should be vigorously promoted! And on the spot, from now on, officials are not allowed to blame the defeat of the front-line troops on the head of the Duke of Yan again! Cai You was overjoyed, shouting "Long live", and hated that he couldn't immediately take off his official robes and put on underwear to dance for the imperial family.
Zhao Ji issued another edict, praising and rewarding Zhang Shu Ye, the governor of Jinan Prefecture, with a gold belt, an imperial pearl robe, promotion of his military officers, and rewards for his soldiers. The rank of Xu Wei was not enough to be commended by the emperor's own edict, but Emperor Dao Gong was in high spirits and asked again for his name. This time Cai You did not hide it and spoke directly: "Xu Wei!" Zhao Ji verbally praised him and ordered the Secretariat to record his merits and instructed relevant departments to promote and reward him accordingly.
This time, Cai You moved his brain, Xu Wei this kid has skills, is a material that can be made. Huang Qianshan also said that he understands things and can do things. This kid must be pulled up to become a model, so that the strategy of recruiting local braves to suppress bandits can proceed smoothly. But now, although he is attached to the Anfu Temple of the Grand Name, nominally belonging to the three temples, in fact, it still belongs to the Ministry of War, which manages "civilian soldiers, archers, local soldiers, and barbarian soldiers". When will it be a head?
In view of this, Cai You transferred Xu Wei's file from the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Personnel "Shangshu Youxuan". The Minister of Personnel in charge of Shangshu Youxuan is responsible for "promoting officials above the imperial court and non-Chancellor appointments", and Xu Wei's official rank is still low, so he can't be directly under the Chancellor. After transferring the file, Cai You urged the Ministry of Personnel to promote Xu Wei's military achievements.
After discussion, the Ministry of Personnel believed that Xu Wei had been appointed as "Xiū Wǔ Láng" and served as "Zǐ Zhōu Tuán Liàn Fù Shǐ", and was also dispatched as "Dà Míng Fǔ Jìng Suī Xiāng Yǒng Yíng Zhǐ Huī Shǐ". He had already held a regular 8th rank military position, so it was not suitable to promote him too quickly. It was suggested that he be retained in his original position and rewarded without promotion.
Where would Cai You dare to rely on? After several rounds of negotiations, the Ministry of Officials ignored it. This made Cai Shu's confidant very angry, and he went directly to the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, threatening that if he dared to delay again, he would impeach him in front of the officials! Impeach you for being inefficient! The Minister of the Ministry of Officials was offended by his anger, and when he returned to his office, he called the subordinate officials to question them, and only then did he realize who was behind the scenes. The Left Servitor of the Ministry of Officials! Is this title somewhat familiar? That's right, it's the nephew of Liang Heng's mother's family, the county lieutenant of Xiajin County!
Liang Heng initially clashed with Xu Wei, harboring resentment and seeking an opportunity to teach him a lesson. Unexpectedly, Xu not only got promoted but also outranked himself, while Huang Zhixian sided with Xu and severely reprimanded Liang, even assigning him to work under Xu. Infuriated, Liang sent a letter to the Eastern Capital, complaining about the Xu family's arrogance and disdain for others, essentially treating him as if he wasn't their uncle. He asked his nephew to help deal with this situation.
Xu Wei's file was in the Ministry of War and did not belong to the Ministry of Personnel, so this method could not be used. After Cai You moved later, Xu Wei was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, and finally got the opportunity. Hurriedly informed colleagues to suppress him! As for fellow officials, they would rather die than give face to others. Anyway, he was just a small eighth-rank official in charge of leading local militia, so he didn't have any backing, and thus was suppressed.
But they didn't know that Yan Guo Gong Cai Xu was secretly supporting Xu Wei. After the Minister of Official Affairs was severely reprimanded by Cai You, he returned to the Ministry of Official Affairs and scolded them until they were covered in sweat. Only then did they realize their mistake and quickly rectified it, recommending Xu Wei for promotion to a two-level higher position while keeping his original job. Considering his shallow experience and young age, they decided to promote him one level instead. The Minister of Official Affairs was afraid that Cai You would cause more trouble, so he simply promoted Xu Wei two levels. As a result, Xu Wei should have been promoted from the 44th rank of "Xiuwu Lang" to the 42nd rank of "Wuyi Lang". At the same time, they severely warned the Servant Left Employee Lang, frightening him into repeatedly apologizing, while secretly cursing Liang Heng for being a troublemaker who couldn't accomplish anything but caused trouble instead.
After Xu Weisheng was appointed, Cai You thought again. The imperial court had already shown its attitude and wanted to promote its own strategy for suppressing bandits in Hebei and Shandong. In this way, Xu Wei became a banner of the local militia, and this banner not only couldn't fall but also couldn't have any mistakes. However, the troops and equipment of the Jingwei local militia camp were indeed a bit less, the equipment was indeed a bit worse, and the treatment was indeed a bit lower.
It's up to Xu Wei himself to recruit the remaining men and horses, after all, there is no quota set for you. The treatment may be poor, but we can't do anything about it, the government uses local militiamen mainly because they are cheap and convenient. Although the equipment is poor, it can be negotiated, after all, those workshops have a wide range of goods, the bow and arrow institute, the saddle workshop, and the equipment is piled up like a mountain. Picking out a few pieces for Xu Wei shouldn't be difficult. Even if they are reluctant to give up the excellent equipment from the imperial workshops in the capital, it would be better to allocate some equipment from the large noble estates or institutes to the local militiamen's camp, rather than having nothing at all.
This matter was brought up by him, and Zhao Ji considered the situation in Hebei and Shandong to be unstable. In the future, the village camp would inevitably have to fight in various places, and equipment was indeed a problem. Therefore, he agreed with Cai You's proposal. However, he only allowed equipment to be allocated from the Daming Temple. It wasn't that Emperor Taizong of Song begrudged a few pieces of broken equipment, but rather that since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, defense against military generals had become a habitual way of thinking for emperors throughout the ages.
