"It's called a rank in the army!" Qin Liangyu glared at Ma Wannian and instructed him sternly.
"Yes, grandma!" Ma Wannian realized that he had said the wrong thing and quickly changed his words: "Your Excellency the Governor, Gao Shiming wants to see you."
"Gao Shiming?" Qin Liangyu was a little puzzled when she heard the name. "Why is he here in Sichuan instead of staying in the capital to accompany the king?"
"Grandma knows him?" Ma Wannian asked in a low voice.
"Not only did I know him, I even met him once. Three years into my reign, your grandmother and I went to the capital to defend the emperor. I saw him when His Majesty summoned us. He was standing behind His Majesty at the time."
"Oh, then I'll let him into the city?"
"Yes," Qin Liangyu nodded, and then ordered: "Come here, clean the courtyard and sprinkle water to reduce dust."
At a grand welcome ceremony, Gao Shiming was welcomed into the lobby of the county government.
After the greetings, Gao Shiming stated his purpose.
"Governor Qin, I am here on His Majesty's orders to call for the pacification of Zhang Xianzhong. He has already agreed to the court's request, so I am explaining this to you, Governor Qin."
Qin Liangyu gritted her teeth and took a step back: "What did you say?"
Gao Shiming was frightened by Qin Liangyu's expression. He shrank his neck and said, "I...I am here to issue an order of peace by His Majesty. Is there any problem?"
"When did you leave Beijing?"
"April of the seventeenth year of my dynasty."
Qin Liangyu looked serious at first, then smiled and said, "Eunuch Gao, please continue."
"Continue? I've finished!" Gao Shiming was confused. "Zhang Xianzhong is willing to accept the imperial edict. I will return to Beijing to report after I tell you this."
"Okay, then I'll tell you clearly that I will not accept Zhang Xianzhong's surrender!"
Gao Shiming's face suddenly turned gray: "You...you want to disobey the order?"
"It's not that I'm disobeying the emperor's order, but I don't obey the orders of the emperor when I'm away from home." Qin Liangyu answered calmly.
"But...you...this..." Gao Shiming was completely confused.
He never thought that Qin Liangyu, who had always been loyal to the emperor, would dare to disobey the imperial edict.
Qin Liangyu shook her head gently: "Eunuch Gao, this matter is not as simple as you think."
"First, you have been away from Beijing for nearly a year. Perhaps His Majesty has changed his mind about the amnesty, and the imperial edict ordering the execution of Zhang Xianzhong may be on the way."
"Secondly, Zhang Xianzhong has been attacking Sichuan for a long time and his logistics supply is tight. This pretend surrender is just to ease the current predicament. If time passes, he will definitely rebel again."
"Finally, and most importantly! Do you know how many troops I have under my command?"
"How many?"
"One hundred and twenty thousand soldiers! Among them, there are 20,000 naval soldiers, 26,000 cavalry, and 74,000 infantry!"
"How much...how much?" Gao Shiming looked at Qin Liangyu in amazement.
He never expected that Qin Liangyu would have so many troops.
One hundred and twenty thousand soldiers!
Looking at several provinces in the south...
No, looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, these 120,000 soldiers are quite scary.
"I...I remember there weren't so many soldiers in Sichuan. How come so many of them suddenly appeared?" Gao Shimingwen.
Qin Liangyu laughed: "It is true that we did not have so many soldiers before, but I followed Zeng Ying's advice."
"He proposed to recruit soldiers in each prefecture and state in western and central Sichuan, and then have the generals of the prefectures bring them to the vicinity of eastern Sichuan for assembly. This would save time in recruiting soldiers separately and..."
"After more than half a year, these 120,000 soldiers were stationed in various places in eastern Sichuan from Long'an Prefecture, Maozhou, Xuzhou, Gulin, Jiangjin, Jiading Prefecture, Qiongzhou, Meizhou, Zizhou, Jianzhou, Luzhou, Hongzhou, Yazhou, Songzhou, Naxi and other places."
"I am in Changshou, directing the troops and ordering all the troops to advance and retreat together."
"Tell me, can I let these people return empty-handed?"
After listening to Qin Liangyu's explanation, Gao Shiming finally understood where she got her confidence from.
But he still had a question: "Governor Qin, how much silver is needed to pay these 120,000 soldiers a year? Where does the money come from?"
"There are 94,000 naval and infantry officers and soldiers in total. Each person is paid 1 tael and 5 cents of silver per month, which costs 1,692,000 taels of silver per year. There are 26,000 cavalry soldiers. Each person is paid 3 taels of silver per month for salary and fodder, which costs 936,000 taels of silver per year."
"The money belongs to the King of Shu. Don't you know that, sir?"
Gao Shiming shook his head.
Of course he didn't know.
When he left Beijing, he was only asked to call for peace for Zhang Xianzhong, and nothing else was said.
At this point, Gao Shiming could not say much, and could only wish Qin Liangyu: "May Governor Qin have a successful start and achieve immediate success."
"Thank you, Eunuch Gao."
"What's the next plan?"
“No comment!”
have to...
Gao Shiming was choked by his words and gave a bitter smile, not asking any more questions.
After dealing with Gao Shiming, Qin Liangyu beat the drum and went up to the tent.
Half an hour later, dozens of generals gathered in the central military tent.
Qin Liangyu hung the map on the wall and began to dispatch troops under the watchful eyes of the generals.
"Fan Yiheng and Ma Yingshi."
"I am here."
"In two days, you will lead your troops to attack Fuling!"
"I obey your orders."
"Jia Liandeng, Yang Weidong, you will lead your troops to attack Dianjiang County immediately, and then turn to Zhongzhou after conquering it."
"Hou Tianxi, Gao Mingzuo, Cao Xun, and Fan Wenguang, you must lead your troops to attack Xinning County immediately. After conquering it, split your troops into two groups, one to attack Kaizhou and the other to attack Wanxian, and cut off Zhang Xianzhong's retreat."
"Li Zhanchun, Yu Dahai, attack Liangping County."
"Tan Hong and Tan Yi traveled lightly and disguised themselves as a merchant caravan, heading straight for Wushan."
"Gu Cunzhi, Mo Zongwen, Zhang Denggui, Zeng Ying, Yang Zhan and others will join me in advancing by land and sea to capture Fengdu."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
