"I know the name of Guo Tai. He surrendered together with Huang Zuo... But what does it mean to resign?"

Zhao Jiu frowned immediately, but he immediately realized something was wrong. "Why would a deputy commander with 300 local cadets leave his post when the commander was away? And judging from his appearance today, his 300 cadets left with him, and also with armor and weapons... Was it Wang Gui who stayed in Jinan at that time? Three hundred surrendered soldiers were just allowed to leave like that?"

Yue Fei was embarrassed for a moment, and even Wang Yan, Ren Baozhong and others remained silent at this time, because these people with rich military careers had already guessed what was going on.

"What's going on?" Zhao Jiu asked in silence, but almost at the same time his heart moved slightly, as if he had come to his senses.

"Your Majesty, no matter how foolish we are, we can't really allow 300 regular soldiers from Jingxiang to leave the army in Jingdong without permission, carrying their armor and weapons." Yue Fei was cornered and finally told the truth. "According to Wang Gui, at that time, there was a letter from Zhang Jiedu, the right army of the imperial camp, which was considered a horizontal transfer."

Zhao Jiu finally sneered, sat up straight, and then asked Mrs. Guo, who was kneeling below and dared not look up, "Mrs. Guo, I am asking you a question. What did Zhang Jun promise you? A house, a concubine, or a promotion of two ranks?"

"No!" Mrs. Guo still didn't dare to look up, but just kowtowed. "I dare not say a single word of nonsense in front of the emperor!"

"Then why did you go over there?!" Zhao Jiu finally frowned.

"Because the Yue Family Army is too strict!" Guo Tai hurriedly explained. "They don't allow this, they don't allow that, they drill every three days, they train every ten days, it's too hard... And then Zibo is next to the Zhang Family Army, I got to know them, I knew they were more relaxed there, so I wanted to go over there!"

Zhao Jiu had a blank expression on his face, but he had already believed it. Looking at the people around him who had military experience, they all had an attitude of "as expected"... In fact, this kind of thing was very common in the army in the feudal era. Even after the establishment of the Imperial Camp system, it was still not uncommon in the first two years, and the scale was still very large at that time.

But in the past two years, as the situation has improved and the central government's authority has gradually risen, such things have become less common. More often than not, as it is now, hundreds of people have changed sides. With their respective military salaries being fixed, it does not involve real increases or decreases in military strength, and the generals of both sides are reluctant to complain for the sake of face.

Of course, even if you believe it, you still have doubts, just like even if you know it, it is still uncomfortable to see similar situations.

"Then why did you come back today?" Ren Baozhong saw that the emperor's expression had not changed for a long time, and he came to his senses, so he stepped forward and questioned him.

I don’t know if it was because southerners couldn’t understand the northwestern accent, or for some other reason, but after being questioned, this person just bowed his head and said nothing.

On the other side, Yue Fei was also gradually becoming annoyed - it was human nature to be a little angry when encountering such a thing, not to mention that this guy had no manners and kept talking about Yue's army and Zhang's army in front of the official, causing trouble for him.

"Is it because he knows that General Yue has made great contributions this time and has been promoted to the governor of three towns, ranking second among the generals, while Zhang's army has been defeated, and he has realized that Yue's army has a bright future?" Seeing the emperor bringing tea, Wang Yan knew that the emperor was also angry, and finally he couldn't help but take the opportunity to criticize his old subordinate Yue Fei.

Yue Fei was completely furious. He had to face Wang Yan, and he was in front of the emperor, so he was really a little restrained. He simply stood up and shouted at Mrs. Guo: "Mrs. Guo, in front of the emperor, the commander-in-chief of the imperial camp, Wang Jiedu, asked you a question. What on earth do you have to hide?!"

After hearing this, Mrs. Guo finally looked up, but her face was embarrassed: "Let the governor know. It's not that I don't want to say it, but it's embarrassing to say it... If there are only a few governors in front of me, it's fine, how can I embarrass myself in front of the emperor?"

"If you don't say anything, it won't be a shame!" Yue Fei narrowed his eyes. "Are you really not afraid of military law?!"

"So that the emperor and the generals know that this matter has nothing to do with future success or failure."

Under the gaze of many people, Guo Tai finally couldn't hold back and bowed his head to tell the truth. "I went to Zhang's army, and life was indeed easy, but for our level, there were enough weapons, but only 80% of the military pay was paid..."

Zhao Jiu, who was drinking tea with his head down, suddenly looked up, shocking everyone into silence.

"Two percent of the salary is missing. For a regular soldier, it won't show up in one or two months, but it will be a small amount of money in a year." Mrs. Guo, who was lowering her head, didn't notice anything unusual above, and just continued to explain. "The younger ones sent money back home. After a few months, the old mother at home asked her uncle to write to scold me, asking if I learned bad things. The older ones brought their wives to the local area and put the money back. The wives also made a fuss at home, asking if I had a mistress outside. Two hundred of the three hundred brothers must have trouble at home. If they are not happy, they have to ask me for an explanation. The brothers around me are all from the same family, each with their own surname and village. They really can't stand it. Then yesterday, I heard from the old brothers in the army here that the four-character banner of Yue Jiedu would come today, so I rushed here early to wait, just asking the Jiedu to forgive us and allow us to come back... Who would have thought that there was no one wearing red and green, and the emperor would suddenly come? If I knew this, I would rather die in Qingzhou than come to embarrass myself."

After these words, there was still silence in the hall. This time, even Mrs. Guo realized that something was wrong, and she became more and more frightened.

"Stay!" After a long pause, Zhao Jiu suddenly picked up the porcelain cup to break the silence, which was like an oral order, deciding this absurd thing. "It can also be regarded as a proof of Pengju's strict military management and his integrity...Stay!"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!