Chapter 41

 

Chen Jingzong’s monthly salary as a fourth-grade official was equivalent to twelve taels, which meant he could earn a bit over 140 taels a year, and that’s without any deductions on his salary.

Of course, he still had a salary as a prince consort, but that salary was all handed over to Hua Yang, and he didn’t even bother to go to Hua Yang for money.

In any case, four hundred taels were not a small sum of money. If this money was really given by Xiang Baoshan, Wang Feihu, Lin Yan, and Lu Da, it meant that they each dedicated about a year’s salary to honor him.

If Chen Jingzong was greedy for money, he would be very happy now.

But Chen Jingzong had only been greedy for two things since he was a child. One was fine wine, and he wanted to drink it every time. The other was for that noble that lived in Ningyuan, and he wanted to sleep a few times every night.

Smiling, Chen Jingzong closed the envelope and put it inside his front clothes.

When he walked out of the room and met Xiang Baoshan and others while patrolling the military station, Chen Jingzong either smiled and exchanged glances, or chatted for a few words, but never mentioned the matter of “thoughts”.

Lu Da didn’t know about the money at all, and just do his own thing.

Xiang, Wang and Lin found an opportunity to meet.

Wang Feihu asked anxiously: “Has the money been given away?”

Xiang Baoshan smiled and nodded.

Wang Feihu breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately looked down on Chen Jingzong: “It turns out that his good thing is money.”

He was greedy for money, beauty, and power, but he also knew that some people were only greedy for one or two things. If it someone who was not interested, even if others regarded it as sweet treat, they would not care.

Lin Yan pondered: “It’s better to observe for a while to determine whether he’s the same as us.”

Xiang Baoshan: “Yes, let’s take a look first.”

Outside, Chen Jingzong walked around aimlessly with Fu Gui.

There was a total of 5,600 soldiers in the military station, 2,000 of those were combat soldiers, who had to practice martial arts all year round. The rest were called station soldiers, who were responsible for cultivating the military land allocated by the imperial court to the military station. When the farms were in its busy period, they worked in the fields, and when the farms were in its slack period they went to the station for training. In this way the troops were trained and the burden on the court was reduce.

But these were all rules set by the founding emperor. The founding emperor had been dead for more than two hundred years, and the rules have also died down. Today, military stations in various places might still strictly follow the rules, but the management of most of them have loopholes. Either the military land and military pay were usurped by local generals and officials, or the soldiers were treated as ordinary laborers by senior officials to do private work. Anyone with a little power was busy lining their own pockets, it was the soldiers at the bottom who suffered. It was said that many soldiers deserted because of the deprivation of military pay and slavery and harsh treatment from above.

The further away from the capital, the more serious this situation became.

Wherever Chen Jingzong looked, soldiers were either weakly pretending to train, or simply sitting on the ground to rest.

Chen Jingzong observed them, and the soldiers also observed him in return and whispering to each other.

“Is this the new Commanding Officer, the Emperor’s son-in-law?”

“At first glance, he looks like a pretty boy from a rich family. Women like this kind, looks good but has no substances.”

“No, he is the young master of Cabinet Elder Chen’s family. Cabinet Elder Chen is also from Lingzhou and our Shiqiao Town. Last year, there was a flood in the town, and Cabinet Elder Chen personally took the people in our town to avoid the disaster. Afterwards, he even took food from home and gave it to several victim families.”

“Hmph, it’s all for show. Not many of these officials are good. When they were not prosperous, they all looked down on corrupt officials. When they go up, they are greedier than anyone else!”

Some people were loud, some people were quiet.

After Fu Gui heard those words, he was so angry that he rolled up his sleeves.

Chen Jingzong held him down and went to the camps where the soldiers lived. He was surprise when he got there, he actually found a soldier sleeping under the covers!

Chen Jingzong suddenly realized how angry the old man felt when he deliberately slept in late.

With such a military style, when the court really needed to mobilize troops for war, these soldiers would only die in vain if they were sent to the front line.

“Go in and tie him up!”

The large communal camp was full of stinky feet and sweat accumulated by rough men. Chen Jingzong put down the curtain, and there seemed to be a fat butt of the lazy soldier on the kang bed who was in a hurry to put on pants dangling in front of his eyes. What a bad luck!

Fu Gui immediately instructed two soldiers outside the door to go inside to get the person.

The two soldiers looked at each other, both of them timid and afraid to move. One of them whispered: “Prince Consort, he is Sir Wang’s brother-in-law Huang Youcai!”

That Sir Wang’s brother-in-law usually didn’t come to the military station much. He enjoyed a comfortable life at home, living off the military pay while hugging his wife. This time, because the prince consort had just taken his post, Sir Wang instructed him to come. Huang Youcai, grumbling all the way, hurried over last night. He brought two pots of wine, gathered a card game, and kept making noise until midnight. He slept in late the next morning, hoping that no one would notice his absence.

Fu Gui sighed: “That bastard Huang Youcai. Even if he’s called ‘Wealth God Huang,’ it won’t make a difference. Are you guys going or not? If you don’t, I’ll have you two whipped together later!”

Seeing the prince consort’s stern face, the two soldiers thought that even Wang Feihu wanted to please this person, so they rushed in to capture people without hesitation.

Huang Youcai had just put on his trousers, but before he could put on his cotton outer coat, he was held down by two people.

“You two have swallowed dog guts, haven’t you!” Huang Youcai cursed in a low voice.

The two soldiers were usually bullied by him, but now someone was backing them up. They took the opportunity to vent their anger, and pretended to be awkward while tying him up: “Prince Consort has gave the order, we dare not disobey! Don’t worry, wait until Sir Wang comes, if you beg for mercy, Prince Consort will definitely let you go!”

Huang Youcai snorted and said nothing.

Chen Jingzong first went to the martial arts field and asked all the soldiers to gather here.

Lu Da was already there, looking at him indifferently.

Xiang Baoshan, Wang Feihu, and Lin Yan rushed over after hearing the news. Before they could ask anything, they saw Fu Gui dragging Huang Youcai, who was tied with a rope, like an animal.

“Brother-in-law! Save me!”

Huang Youcai shouted loudly!

Wang Feihu:…..

He looked at Chen Jingzong flatteringly.

Chen Jingzong looked back and asked: “Military discipline is as high as a mountain. He is still sleeping at this hour is in contempt of military discipline. What punishment he deserved?”

When Lu Da heard this, he loudly said: “Struck with twenty military sticks!”

Wang Feihu:…..

He looked at Xiang Baoshan for help. He and Lin Yan each took out two hundred taels of those four hundred taels. They couldn’t just let it go down the drain, right?

Xiang Baoshan looked at the soldiers who had gathered. Even though he was used to being domineering and never took the soldiers seriously, he still needed to look dignified. Now Huang Youcai was caught by Chen Jingzong. In full view of everyone, how could he, as the commander, be openly partial?

Not only was he unable to help, Xiang Baoshan also gave Huang Youcai a righteous lecture and said to Chen Jingzong in shame: “My old mother was ill at home a few days ago, and I took care of her at home. I didn’t want the people below to slack off like this, I’m really ashamed.”

Chen Jingzong said politely: “Sir must be too generous in normal times, which has emboldened their courage. Now that the people have been brought here, please announce the punishment, so as to set an example and restore military discipline.”

After speaking, he gave up the middle position to Xiang Baoshan.

Xiang Baoshan walked over with a serious face and solemnly announced the punishment for Huang Youcai.

Huang Youcai’s mouth was gagged with a rag, he was pushed on a bench and his pants were pulled off.

Chen Jingzong looked away and heard the muffled sound of the military stick hitting the fat meat hard.

After twenty military sticks were beaten down, Huang Youcai’s white buttocks turned red, and the person had already fainted.

Wang Feihu was sweating profusely, and he could already imagine how his wife at home would cry and scold him when she heard about this.

When the punishment was finish, Xiang Baoshan solemnly introduced Chen Jingzong to the soldiers and asked Chen Jingzong to say a few words.

Chen Jingzong looked at the tall, short, fat and thin figures and asked Xiang Baoshan: “Except for those on guard duty, are all the 5,600 soldiers in the military station here?”

It could be seen that the number of people was seriously insufficient. Xiang Baoshan smiled and said perfunctorily: “Last year, the grain harvest in the military field was poor, so I took advantage of the current slack period and sent some people to open up wasteland.”

Chen Jingzong: “Each military station has a fixed number of military fields. Opening up a wasteland needs to be reported to the Ministry of War. Let’s waive it for now. We will call them all back tomorrow. I will talk again when everyone is gathered.”

Xiang Baoshan’s eyes changed slightly, but he still complied.

Chen Jingzong continued to inspect various places in the military station. After walking around and basically understanding it, he called over Xiang Baoshan, Wang Feihu, Lin Yan, Lu Da, as well as the military treasurer and horse keeper of the military station.

The military treasurer was responsible for the supervision and repair of military supplies such as guard barracks, buildings, weapons, and armor.

The horse keeper, as the name suggested, took care of the horses in the guard, including the replacement of saddles, reins, and horseshoes.

The six of them looked at Chen Jingzong in confusion.

Chen Jingzong took out the red envelope from inside his clothes.

Xiang Baoshan, Wang Feihu, and Lin Yanwei’s eyes were twitching.

Chen Jingzong gave one hundred taels for the horse keeper and three hundred taels for the military treasurer, and explained: “Sir Xiang gave me a sum of money for military supplies this morning. I have inspected it. Many of the weapons in our military station are blunt, and some of the spears have cracks. These all need to be replaced, including some war horses. The old one horses should be replaced new ones in time. The money is handed over to you, and you can handle it separately. Every expense must be accounted for. I will review them one by one with the other commander, and if there are any discrepancies, replace them as soon as possible.”

The military treasurer and the horse keeper looked at each other, and they both felt that what they held in their hands was not a banknote, but two fires.

Even if they used their toes to think, they knew that these four hundred taels were a gift from Xiang Baoshan and others to the Prince Consort!

Lu Da was very happy. He had long disliked Xiang Baoshan and others, and now there was finally someone who was unwilling to go along with them!

“What are you still doing? Prince Consort has set a deadline for you. If you fail to complete it by then, you will be dealt with by military law!”

Lu Da scolded the two officials.

The two took a sneak peek at Xiang Baoshan.

Xiang Baoshan nodded imperceptibly. Fine! Those four hundred taels could be regarded as a stepping stone. Now the result had been tested. Chen Jingzong was a troublemaker!

.

The sun was setting, and the prince consort, who had been dominating the military station for a day, finally rode back to the city.

Xiang Baoshan accompanied him all the way with a smile on his face. After they separated inside the city gate, Xiang Baoshan rushed straight to Prince Xiang Mansion.

“Father-in-law, Chen Jingzong is a hard stubble. He’s not greedy for woman or money. He used the four hundred taels we prepared for military supplies. He also wanted to call all the soldiers. Today I said that I sent them to open up wasteland. He didn’t ask me much about it, but from the looks of him, if everyone is not there tomorrow, he will dare to ask me to take him to the wasteland to check. Father-in-law, what should I do? ”

There was no opening up a wasteland. Prince Xiang wanted to build another mansion and did not want to spend money on hiring workers, so he dispatched more than a thousand soldiers to do the work.

Prince Xiang narrowed his eyes and was not too surprised. After all, he was Chen Tingjian’s son, each and every one of them was aloof.

If it were Chen Tingjian, Prince Xiang really had no choice, but Chen Jingzong…

Prince Xiang smiled and said: “It’s okay. You can take all the soldiers back from the construction site later. I will prepare a generous gift tonight. Princess Consort will present it the Princess tomorrow. Once the matter is resolved, you can send those soldiers over again.”

All wives in the world must obey their husbands, and all prince consort must obey the princess.

Chen Jingzong was not greedy for money. Could it be a pampered little princess in the palace who never knew the sufferings of the world not like gold, silver and jewelry?

As long as he controlled Princess Hua Yang and let Princess Hua Yang take charge of Chen Jingzong, Chen Jingzong would naturally be honest.

Xiang Baoshan hesitated and said, “What if the Princess and Chen Jingzong have the same heart?”

Prince Xiang narrowed his eyes: “Don’t worry, let Princess Consort test it out first.”

After Xiang Baoshan retreated, Prince Xiang went to the warehouse with his hands behind his back. He picked and picked among the room full of gold, silver, jewelry, jade, coral, calligraphy and paintings by famous artists, and finally picked out two items.

When he came to the princess consort with the gift, Prince Xiang gave her detailed instructions.

Princess Consort Xiang lowered her eyes, listened quietly, and nodded from time to time.

After Prince Xiang finished talking about the business, he said regretfully: “It’s a pity I can’t go there in person. Princess Consort, you must find a way to get close to her, and invite her to our mansion in the future.”

Hearing these words, a trace of disgust flashed across Princess Consort Xiang’s eyes, but it disappeared in an instant.

 

The Author has something to say:

Old Four: I’m going blind, I see other people’s butt!

Hua Yang: ???

Old Four: Quick, give me mouth-to-mouth CPR!

Hua Yang: ….

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