Chapter 334: State troubles (Part 2)

"See the Governor!" Du Mei gave Zhang Huan a deep salute.

"Sit!" Zhang Huan waved his hand and ordered him to sit down. At this time, the other three had arrived. Zhang Huan glanced at several people and asked Hu Yong first: "Can the Chief Secretary tell me first how much money and food we still have in our hands?"

Today was originally a report meeting, and the schedule was just about to begin at Si Shi. It was still half an hour before, but Zhang Huan sent someone to call them. Everyone felt something might have happened.

Hu Yong stood up, he took out a booklet and said to Zhang Huan: "Please let my subordinates report!"

Zhang Huan nodded and signaled that he could start. Hu Yong cleared his throat and said loudly: "In the battle of Anxi, I consumed 6.2 million stones of military rations, together with military pay, pensions, and hiring civilians, and other expenses, and spent a total of 3.4 million guan and 1.2 million pieces of silk. At present, there are still 4 million stones of grain stored in warehouses in various places, 2.5 million guan and 800,000 pieces of silk, of which 300,000 taels of gold in Longyou warehouse...."

Hu Yong read the family's fortunes, and he handed the booklet to Zhang Huan with both hands, "The weather has been good in recent years, and the grain has been harvested a lot. The court has allowed us to boil salt to repay our borrowed grain. We cook salt in Shu, and this year we make a profit of three million yuan. It should be said that the financial situation is very good, enough to support the expenses of the army."

Zhang Huan did not read the booklet, but put it on the table and asked coldly: "Since the funds are sufficient, why should we deduct pensions in disguise, use coffin money to offset ten guan and twenty guan, and use land money to offset twenty guan. What is the reason?"

Hu Yong and others looked at each other, and their eyes were full of surprise. They didn't expect that the news from the governor would come so quickly. They arrived at noon yesterday and learned about the situation today.

At this time, the marching Sima Luo Guang was standing up and saying, "Please calm down. There is a reason for this matter. Please allow us to report it!"

"speak!"

"In fact, this batch of pensions was not issued by Longyou, but was allocated by the court. It was the intention of the court to offset the coffin and land. Originally, we added pensions to the coffin and land, so the court deducted the pensions on the grounds of the upper limit of 50 stakes to reduce their burden. We originally wanted to supplement the difference, but we were worried that the court would find an excuse to deduct it again, so we discussed and put the difference to the future monthly supply."

After hearing Luo Guangzheng's explanation, Zhang Huan's face cleared a little, and the first fifty-standard pension was paid by the court, which was something he did not expect. It seemed that there was a reason for it.

However, despite the factors of the court, their actions were still unfair. They did not consider them from the perspective of the families of the fallen soldiers, but just to implement a system.

Over the past few years, Longyou's pension has always been a posthumous grant of fifty cents of coffins and five acres of land. However, this battle in Anxi was different. It was reduced and there was no explanation to the people. No one would think it was deducted. The negative effect it caused was far from being as simple as a few cents of money.

"What's going on with the ashes of the fallen soldiers have been delayed in returning them to their families?" Zhang Huan tried his best to restrain his inner dissatisfaction and asked with an expression on his face.

"I'll explain this!"

He Lou Wuji next to him stood up and bowed to Zhang Huan and said, "Governor, this matter is actually related to the court. As early as the Battle of Anxi, the Prime Minister Pei sent someone to inform him, hoping that we would store the ashes of the fallen soldiers in the mourning hall first, and then return them to their families after the Ministry of Rites sent someone to sacrifice."

"Then when will they come to worship? When will they return them to their families? One year, two years, three years!"

"This..." He Lou Wuji had already felt the obvious anger of the governor, and he said aloud: "We also think it is inappropriate to drag it down forever. We sent people to urge me a few times, but the court said that it was getting busy and there was no time. We planned to come back next spring. We thought we didn't have to offend the court for this matter, so...."

"Bastard!" Zhang Huan was furious and swung the inkstone on the table and smashed it hard at He Lou Wuji. The inkstone flew past him, smashed on the wall, and broke into three pieces.

Zhang Huan was so angry that he trembled all over, pointing at He Lou Wuji and scolding: "You are still a soldier. You can also say such bastards from your mouth. If you are afraid of offending the officials of the court, you are not afraid of offending me, are you not afraid of offending the 400,000 soldiers in Xiliang? You have been corrupted by power, which disappoints me so much."

He Lou Wuji's face was pale. He immediately knelt down on one knee and said tremblingly: "I know my crime, please punish the governor!"

"If you punish you, can you win back the reputation of my Xiliang army? If you punish you, can you keep more than 20,000 brothers who died in Anxi? "

At this time, Hu Yong, Du Mei and the other three people next to him also came forward to apologize, "This matter was because we were not considered carefully, not because General Helou decided alone. Please punish the governor!"

Zhang Huan stood in front of the window with a blue face and said nothing for a long time. He tried hard to calm his anger. Yes, it was not actually their fault. If he hadn't had the bloody battle with the soldiers for more than half a year, Zhang Huan might have made a decision like this. Perhaps it was not that they had fallen, but that they had changed.

"You sit down!" Zhang Huan returned to his seat, and held back his anger and said to everyone: "It was not the first thing I, Zhang Huan, that is, I, Zhang Huan, when soldiers were killed in wars, the army immediately submitted the list to the court. The court immediately issued an order to the local government. The local officials immediately sent people to their homes to comfort them, send lords, and give them rewards. The coffins of the fallen soldiers had not been transported back, and all the government's pensions and praises were done. Although this matter was small, it had a great effect and could boost the morale of the army, so that the soldiers would be grateful to the court and use their lives to fight. Therefore, I was able to win every battle at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty and gain power in all directions."

Speaking of this, he sighed and said, "But how did you do this time? I am not saying that you have less pensions and sent the coffins of the fallen soldiers late, but you have not realized the importance of this matter and have not considered it for the fallen soldiers. I am angry about this."

Zhang Huan took out a wrinkled booklet from his arms and handed it to everyone, "Look at it! This is the last words left by Zhang Sancheng guards to capture more than 300 soldiers. What is their requirement? I hope to bring their corpses back to my hometown, and I hope to give their wives, children and parents a meal. It is such a low requirement, but they can fight the enemy to death, and no one retreated and fled, and finally all died in Zhang San Castle. What about us? Can't we do this little request?"

"I'm responsible for this matter." Hu Yong stood up and said ashamedly: "The governor led a large army to fight bloody battles in front of us, but we cannot share the worries of the governor. Our subordinates are willing to demote two levels and have a one-year salary."

He Lou Wuji also stood up and said, "My subordinates also begged the governor to demote him to atone for his crimes."

Zhang Huan was silent for a moment, then said coldly: "This matter is decided by the five of you, and they are responsible. As the chief government official, Hu Changshi should be responsible for the first time, demoted to one level, fined one year of salary, and served as acting president; Luo Guangzheng, Du Mei, and Pei Mingyuan should be responsible for the second time, and fined half a year of salary."

Zhang Huan glanced at He Lou Wuji again and said coldly: "As for you, you should act according to military rules and surrender you to the General of the Central Army!"

The four of them saluted together, "The governor punished me, and we are convinced!"

"Okay, you can make up for this matter by yourself to restore the reputation of our Xiliang Army. Hu Yong stayed and the rest should be retreated!"

After the other three left, Hu Yong said in shame: "The governor did the right thing, my subordinates are really ashamed!"

Zhang Huan shook his head, "In this battle of Anxi, you will transport food and supplies in time in the rear so that we can provide logistical support for the battle thousands of miles away. He Lou Wuji, who led his army to stabilize the rear so that people will not take advantage of the situation. In fact, you have all made contributions, how can I not understand? But this matter is related to my overall situation, so we must give an explanation to the soldiers to win back the morale of the army and the people. We can only punish you, especially He Lou Wuji, I hope he can understand my painstaking efforts."

"Does the governor want to recruit soldiers?" Hu Yong suddenly understood the overall situation Zhang Huan was referring to.

Zhang Huan nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I originally wanted to use the victory of this Anxi Battle to inspire the craze for the people to join the army to deal with the crisis in the Central Plains. You should also be clear that we claim to be a 400,000 army, but in fact it is only a little over 300,000. This time I led an army of 160,000 to expedition to Anxi and Beiting. In the end, I only brought 30,000 troops back and stationed in Hexi and Hehuang. In the end, there are only more than 100,000 troops available. I have to control the occupied territory. You can calculate how many troops we can still have. Once the Central Plains war, we will have no ability to intervene, so I must recruit 100,000 new troops as soon as possible to exchange for my elite troops in Anxi to deal with the upcoming crisis."

Hu Yong pondered for a moment and said, "It is indeed a bit difficult to recruit 400,000 troops with the population of Longyou and Shuzhong. However, thanks to the governor's capture of Anxi, there can be enough land to recruit landless refugees from Hedong and Guanzhong. With generous conditions, they can join their families to Anxi as military households. We will implement a rotation system, changing every two years or three years, mixing the militia into the regular army to guard the border. In this way, we can exchange at least 80,000 Anxi elite troops, and the governor will recruit 70,000 to 80,000 new troops. In this way, nearly 200,000 mobile soldiers will be available. Moreover, we implement the military household land system, which is indeed a good way to recruit soldiers."

Speaking of military household land system, Zhang Huan took the memorial from Chen Shaoyou and handed it to Hu Yong: "What do you think about this?"

Hu Yong glanced at the memorial and smiled disdainfully, "This Chen Shaoyou is Cui Xiaofu's man. He is a riot at this time. He is just to take advantage of the fact that he led his army eastward. When our control over Shu is weakened, he wants to seize the unowned land in Shu. The final purpose is to get Shu out of our control. However, I don't think this matter will be successful, and the governor doesn't have to take it too seriously."

"No!" Zhang Huan shook his head firmly, "Prevent the need to prevent the micro-fire needs. The hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in Shu are the basis of our military farmland system. We must not be taken lightly. We must immediately take them all into the military. As for Chen Shaoyou, hum! I think he has a lot to do."
Chapter completed!