"What?" Ma Yingkui stared in disbelief. "How did the credit for landing the first place fall into the hands of Wu Sangui?"
"Oh, don't mention it!" Liu Zhaoji sighed again, "At dawn, our army surrounded Ningyuan City! The Governor ordered Wu Sangui to attack the north of the city and Huang Degong to attack the west of the city.
Order Yuan Zongdi, Liu Xiyao, He Jin and others to attack the east of the city, and order Tang Tong, Gao Di and others to attack the south of the city! "
"Attack the city from all four sides at the same time! I don't know if Wu Sangui got the news in advance or had already made preparations. After the signal cannon sounded, the Guanning Army, which was not good at attacking cities, immediately used a trench bridge to cross the moat and climbed up the city wall with ladders!"
"There were not many defenders in the city to begin with, and they were even more stretched after dividing their forces for defense. As a result, the Guanning Army and Wu Sangui took advantage of them! They also took away the credit for being the first to land!" said Liu Zhaoji.
"This..." Ma Yingkui was so angry that he couldn't speak.
"Forget it," Liu Zhaoji stood up and patted Ma Yingkui on the shoulder to comfort him, "The credit for being the first to ascend the stage is gone, but at least there are still several thousand taels of silver for the reward for the meritorious service."
"Sir, you calculated wrongly. It's not a few thousand taels, it's tens of thousands of taels!" Ma Yingkui corrected.
"Haha," Liu Zhaoji smiled faintly, "The exact amount is not up to you or me. Hurry up and take the heads to the Central Army to ask for a reward from the officials of the Ministry of War's Examination Office."
The Ministry of Examination is responsible for reviewing and assessing military merits, and the first merit (of a person) needs their approval before it can be reported for reward.
Ma Yingkui said goodbye and returned to the headquarters camp.
At this time, his subordinates had already written down the ownership of the heads in a booklet.
The clerk in charge of registration asked loudly, "Are there any others who want to sell their merits? If so, register here. Someone wants to buy it!"
"Yes!" Four or five soldiers raised their hands, came to the clerk and started registering.
The first meritorious service will receive both monetary rewards and opportunities for promotion.
The value of first merit varies in different periods.
For ordinary soldiers, sometimes a Northern Barbarian head could earn them a promotion.
Sometimes three are needed.
Many soldiers and generals who want to be promoted do not have enough heads, so they can only buy heads from others to make up for their merits.
For most illiterate soldiers, they don't want promotion, they just want money.
Therefore, the practice of buying and selling first merit is very common in the military.
Although the imperial court knew about this situation, it always turned a blind eye.
After all, these are the achievements earned by the soldiers at the cost of their lives, so there is no need to interfere too much.
After registering the list, Ma Yingkui led hundreds of people and came to the central army with heads in hand.
"We captured 1,726 enemy heads today. Please check them!" Ma Yingkui said to the official from the Ministry of War's Examination Office.
"Wait a minute, can't you see we're busy?" said the official from the Ministry of Examination unhappily.
"Yes, yes, you go ahead and we'll wait for you."
"Go wait outside," the official from the Ministry of Examination covered his nose, his face full of disgust.
"Yes," Ma Yingkui suppressed the anger in his heart and led his men out of the tent.
The civil officials and military generals of the Ming Dynasty were not in harmony.
Although the lower-level civil servants in the Ministry of War are in the army, they are organized as Beijing officials.
They will find as much trouble as possible for the generals and find faults within the scope of their authority.
Ma Yingkui had long been accustomed to it.
After waiting for a long time, three officials from the Ministry of Examination came out of the tent.
"Arrange the heads one by one!" ordered the official from the Ministry of Examination.
"Did you hear that? Hurry up and don't waste the efforts of the officials from the Ministry of War!" Ma Yingkui gave the order personally.
The soldiers did not dare to delay and arranged the heads into three rows as quickly as possible.
Ma Yingkui reluctantly took out three cigarettes from his arms and handed them to the three officials respectively: "These are filter cigarettes bought from the capital. Please help me taste them."
"Hey?" The leading official took the cigarette in surprise. "Although this cigarette is not very expensive, it is impossible to buy! Only civil officials above the fourth rank and military officers above the third rank in the capital can buy cigarettes. How did you get it?"
Ma Yingkui chuckled and said, "This was a reward from His Majesty when my general came to Beijing! The general was reluctant to take some, so he gave some to us."
"Oh!" The officials from the Ministry of Examination looked at each other and did not continue the topic.
After some preparation, the officials from the Ministry of Examination began to check the heads.
They pointed to the first head and asked, "What's going on?"
“This…” Ma Yingkui scratched his head: “That’s not a problem!”
"This is a big problem!" The official from the Ministry of Examination pointed at the throat of the first head and said, "Where is the Adam's apple? Anyone without an Adam's apple will be considered a woman and will not be counted as the first meritorious person!"
Since the Chenghua Period of the Ming Dynasty, the inspection and evaluation of the system of first merit has become extremely strict.
First of all, the heads of women and children do not count.
At that time, the women of the Northern Barbarians all had rough looks, and they were tanned by long-term labor. After their heads were chopped off, they lost blood and changed color, and it was difficult to tell their gender after they were stained with mud.
To identify gender, first look at the Adam’s apple. If there is an Adam’s apple, it is a boy. If there is no Adam’s apple, it is a girl!
Secondly, incomplete facial features do not count.
Last but not least, the Northern Barbarians’ characteristics are not obvious and do not count.
The two common characteristics of the Northern Barbarians at that time were uneven teeth and severe tooth decay. In addition, there was one most obvious characteristic: there were no marks from the net scarves on their heads.
All men in the Ming Dynasty wore turbans, which would leave marks on their heads over time.
Only the heads that meet these three criteria will be counted as the first merit!
"This..." After hearing the explanation from the official from the Ministry of War's Performance Evaluation Department, Ma Yingkui ignited a small flame of anger in his heart.
He didn't dare to get angry at the military officials, so he could only yell at his subordinates: "What a bunch of rubbish! Be careful when you cut off heads next time. Cut off the Adam's apple along with the head."
"Yes, yes!" The soldiers nodded like chicks pecking at rice.
The officer from the Ministry of War continued to check, but stopped when he found the fourth head: "This one won't do either."
"What's wrong now?" Ma Yingkui asked.
"This one is missing an ear, which is against the rules!" said the official from the Ministry of Examination.
The anger in Ma Yingkui's heart began to burn.
"This face was smashed flat, it doesn't count!"
"This eye was smashed by the three-barreled gun, so it is not qualified."
"Wait a moment, my three lords," Ma Yingkui made up his mind and took out three packs of cigarettes from his pocket.
He handed it to three people in turn and said, "Would you please listen to me, my lords?"
"Please!"
Ma Yingkui swallowed his saliva, pointed at the heads on the ground and said, "These are the heads of Jiannu cavalry! Jiannu cavalry are all wearing armor. If you want to kill them, the simplest and most effective way is to attack their faces, so it is normal for the heads to be missing their facial features."
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