Wuping Zheng Yanfu's army

  Remember in one second

  Zhu Yuanzhang was observing the troops from a distance, and Ma Qianjiu in the front yard was also sizing them up. This group of officers and soldiers suddenly ran to the entrance of the Ma's house, what was their intention?

  Only in the army, a general rode up on a yellow high-headed horse and walked to the front of the Ma Fu gate. He was not wearing an official uniform, but wore a lock armor, with a precious sword hanging from his waist, and his rank could not be seen. However, Zhu Yuanzhang had sharp eyes and saw from afar that he was wearing a qilin copper plate on his waist, which meant he was at least a fifth-grade military officer. Judging by the number of soldiers in this army, Zhu Yuanzhang inferred that he was a thousand households. He should have led 1,120 soldiers, plus ten hundred officials, but from the scale of these five hundred people, it can be seen that he had taken half of the empty salary...

  Tomorrow morning in the local area there are Wei Suo, divided into hundred households and thousand households

  A thousand households are under the jurisdiction of ten hundred households, and hundred households can be seen in each county town, but a thousand households are often only in important prefectures. The prefecture farthest from Baisui is Xi'an Prefecture, which means that this thousand-household official has a high probability of coming from Xi'an Prefecture.

  Qianhu was a fifth-grade military officer, which is considered a very high-ranking official. However, in reality, it was not the case. Zhu Yuanzhang made a big mistake when he founded the country. One time, he and his founding ministers were drinking together, and after getting drunk, he said: "You have helped me establish the great Ming dynasty, and you are loyal to me with all your heart. I hope that my descendants will continue to be protected by your descendants, so we can enjoy peace forever." (Excerpt from "The Real Record of Ming Taizu" Volume 1) Then he established a hereditary system for military officers, where the son would inherit his father's position.

  After this system was established, it went downhill. The original batch of military officers who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world were indeed formidable, but their descendants... and then one generation after another, each generation worse than the last. During the Hongwu era, when the sons of military officers wanted to inherit their fathers' positions, they still had to take part in examinations, at least in horse riding and archery they couldn't be careless. However, as the Ming dynasty grew more prosperous, the examinations were relaxed, and the descendants of meritorious officials could directly inherit without needing any abilities.

  Since becoming an official is so easy, who still practices martial arts? The descendants of meritorious officials are one more incompetent than the other. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were hardly any capable generals left.

  Zhu Yuanzhang, having been an onlooker in the sky for hundreds of years, has deeply realized this mistake. If he can still conquer the world in this life, he will never again implement such a foolish hereditary system.

  The thousand-household officer riding a yellow horse stopped in front of the Ma residence, reined in his horse and looked up to examine the tall stone pillars beside him. It didn't take long for him to recognize that this was an Imperial Scholar's pillar, a symbol of honor bestowed by the Emperor. Although he was a high-ranking military general of the fifth rank, he still couldn't help but show respect towards the Imperial Scholar's pillar. He dismounted his horse, bowed his hands in respect, and then walked up to the gate of the Ma residence, shouting loudly: "Which old master lives here?"

  Ma Qianjiu hastily walked up to the gate and accompanied Xinxin, saying: "This military officer is polite, this is the White Water Ma's residence..." This thousand households was obviously not a local, Ma Qianjiu worried that he had never heard of the Ma family name, so he quickly added another sentence: "Our old master passed the imperial examination at the age of 25, became the magistrate of a county at the age of 32, and now is enjoying his retirement in his hometown..."

  Qian Hu heard this and his expression didn't change as he said, "So it's the Ma family. I've heard of your family when I was in Xi'an Prefecture. I don't know Mr. Ma, but your family's young master, Ma Zhi Xiong, is a well-known figure in the prefecture."

  Ma Qianjiu was overjoyed. Since they had heard of the Ma family's reputation, it would be easier to talk things through and avoid a situation like Leng Touqing bursting into the mansion to demand money.

  Such a large army standing in front of the gate, to say that he didn't feel uneasy would be false. He hastily clasped his fists and said: "I don't know why the military master has arrived at my humble abode, what is the purpose?"

  "Ha ha, my name is Yang Hong! I am the hereditary thousandth of Xi'an Prefecture. This time, I was ordered by Governor Zhang to lead troops to Zhengyang to eliminate the bandit Zheng Yanfu and his gang. On the way, I passed by your house... Ha ha... Look at my soldiers, they are all hungry and thirsty, how can we fight against the bandits in this state? So I came to your esteemed mansion to ask for some food and water... Your Ma family should also make a contribution to the elimination of bandits, shouldn't you?"

  Ma Qianjiu's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and it turned out that the guy was here to flirt.

  The army of the Ming Dynasty not only robbed and looted the homes of the poor, but also extorted money from wealthy families and local gentry during their marches. In order to avoid trouble, the wealthy families and local gentry often paid some "travel fees" to the military officers under the name of "supporting the army". This practice further inflated the arrogance of the military officers, making it so that when the local gentry encountered bandits, they would rather organize their own militia to deal with them than ask for help from the government troops.

  Ma Qianjiu knew that the other party had already found him, and he couldn't avoid it. Now it wasn't a question of whether to give or not, but how much to give. He made a gesture inviting Yang Hong to enter, saying in a low voice: "General Yang, please come in and rest for a while. I'll go inform my master and young master."

  Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang standing not far away, Ma Qianjiu beckoned him over and said loudly: "Zhu Ba, you come to greet this military officer and invite him to rest in the guest hall. I'll go to the inner courtyard to ask Young Master Er to come out."

  Zhu Yuanzhang sighed inwardly, extremely dissatisfied that the army he had established with his own hands had turned into a band of robbers. However, for now, he didn't have the power to deal with this evil trend, so he could only temporarily pretend to be weak and lead the way, saying: "General Yang, please follow me..."

  Yang Hong turned around and instructed the soldiers: "Sit well here, wait for me to get some military pay for you."

  "Yes!" The soldiers responded with a burst of laughter.

  Yang Hong nodded at two hundred officials and five personal soldiers, following Zhu Yuanzhang into the horse's residence. Along the way, several lazy soldiers chatted casually, completely ignoring the presence of Zhu Yuanzhang beside them.

  One of the hundred households whispered to another: "Brother, have you seen the latest Tangbao?" (Tangbao was the military bulletin of the Ming Dynasty)

  The latter shook his head and laughed: "I'm illiterate, what's the point of reading the newspaper?"

  That person laughed and said: "You're such a waste, can't even read, don't you know to find someone to read for you? I'm the one who finds people to read for me."

  "Let me tell you, something big has happened in Liaodong again. On May 11th, the Jianzhou army besieged Jinzhou... General Yuan sent troops to defend Jinzhou, Zhongzuoyi, and Dalinghe, and they clashed with the Jianzhou army several times."

  Zhu Yuanzhang's heart tightened upon hearing this, was the Great General Yuan referring to Yuan Chonghuan? Had Liaodong risen up in revolt? This matter was a bit unclear, having spent hundreds of years as a wandering soul in the sky, observing from the sidelines, many small details were not remembered too clearly.

  The hundred or so people behind him showed a look of indifference, and smiled: "Jian Nu only knows how to cause trouble, what method did General Yuan use this time to drive Jian Nu away?"

  "Ha! You guessed it again! General Yuan and Vice-Commissioner Liu Yingkun, led by Commander-in-Chief Bi Zisu, defended the city walls, set up camps inside the moat, and used cannons to attack from a distance. Later, Governor Ma Gui led Yu Shilu and Zu Dashou to reinforce them, and the two armies clashed outside the city, with casualties on both sides... Alas! General Ma's body was riddled with arrows... In the end, Jian Nu was repelled."

  "I knew Jian Nu was not a match for one blow, haha!" The hundred households behind him laughed and said: "Mountain village savage, overestimating oneself, daring to disturb our great Ming dynasty's Liaodong, we will sooner or later attack the savages' old home and kill all those stupid goods."

  "Of course, haha..." The two bailiffs burst out laughing together.

  Yang Hong turned around, glanced at his two subordinates, wanted to say something, but swallowed it back. His official position was one level higher than the two hundred officials, so he knew a bit more. Although Liaodong had won a defensive battle, this victory was not that simple. The factions in the court had started to fight each other again. Yuan Chonghuan had made contributions in this great war, but Wei Zhongxian had also caught him on several small issues, saying he refused to rescue Korea and committed a serious crime. It's estimated that it won't be long before he is dismissed from office... Moreover, Jian Nu, even if he was a savage, was an extremely formidable savage, not as vulnerable as the two hundred officials said. This Liaodong situation... is probably going to be tough!

  The two hundred officials finished talking about Liaodong and started talking about Guangxi. It turned out that last year, a peasant uprising army had been making trouble on Longshan in Guangxi, led by Hu Fulong, who had fought several battles with the government troops and was not at a disadvantage. The two hundred officials laughed and talked about the situation in Guangxi, one of them saying: "This Zheng Yanfu is not as tough as Hu Fulong."

  Another one laughed immediately: "Zheng Yanfu has only over 400 men under his command, how can he be as troublesome as Hu Fulong? This time we brought a thousand people, as long as we catch Zheng Yanfu's tail, we can take him down in just one day."

  "What one thousand people have, we only have five hundred..."

  "What's the big deal? Can't 500 government soldiers handle 400 bandits?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang listened to their "report" on the military situation without changing his expression, while leading them to the main hall, inviting them to sit in the guest seat, and letting the servants serve tea. Before long, Second Master and Ma Qianjiu walked into the hall together.

  。

  The second young master is a boisterous and foolish person, but at the same time he is also a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong. He dares to fight with the county magistrate of Chengcheng, but does not dare to mess with Beng Tui Hu. As soon as he enters the hall, he carefully greets Yang Hong and others, asking: "Are you gentlemen here for Zheng Yanfu on Dongzi Cliff?"

  Yang Hong nodded and said with a high tone: "That's right, Zheng Yanfu and his gang killed Zhang Douyao and didn't run away. They hid in Dongziya and recruited soldiers to buy horses. It was too arrogant. This official will catch them all this time. Hmm, Dongziya is not far from here. My suppression of bandits is also a good deed for the local people..."

  The second young master knew he was there to ask for money, and painfully said: "Our Ma family is willing to make an effort to suppress the bandits. I am ordering our servants to move the silver over. In a moment, we will present two thousand taels of silver to the several generals. Please accept it."

  "Two thousand taels?" Yang Hong furrowed his brow, not very satisfied. He had brought over five hundred men with him, and if each person got two taels of silver, they would have to deduct over a thousand taels, leaving the remaining officers with hardly anything to divide among themselves. He couldn't help but sneer coldly: "This little bit of silver, how can it be enough for my soldiers to eat their fill? If they don't eat their fill, where will they get the strength to suppress bandits?"

  "My family isn't wealthy either..."

  Just as the two sides were about to haggle over how much silver, they suddenly saw the side door curtain of the main hall being lifted with a rustling sound. The second young lady rushed in and asked urgently: "Gentlemen, are you here to eliminate that villain Zheng Yanfu?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang looked up and saw that the second young lady's pretty round face was actually streaked with two lines of tears... Behind her followed a maid who had been sent to accompany her, as well as Autumn Leaf and several other maids from the Zhang household who had managed to survive. The maids were struggling to carry a small trunk.

  Yang Hong looked at this group of women with curiosity and smiled: "Yes, Zheng Yanfu was killed. Why did the lady ask about this?"

  "Great!" The second young lady waved her hand, and the maidservants threw down the trunk with a "thud" in front of Yang Hong. The lid popped open, revealing a dazzling array of gold and silver ingots inside...

  The second lady shouted in an excited voice: "I am willing to take out all my dowry to reward the army, please ask the military master to chop Zheng Yanfu and his gang into pieces!"

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