“However,” Zhang Yong changed the subject, “the weather is cold now, and the soldiers are training hard, but the court does not have enough money to allocate for winter clothing and charcoal.”
“Whenever I think about this, I can’t sleep at night and can’t rest in peace.”
"Does Your Excellency, the Grand Secretary, have any good ideas?"
Li Dongqian really wanted to curse.
Zhang Yong and Liu Jin are just like each other, greedy and insatiable, all they know is how to make money.
He's now trying to discuss a collaboration with Zhang Yong, but things have come to this point, and it would be unfair to pretend not to hear.
"I would like to hear the details, but I wonder how many gaps there are?"
“The cost for each first-class officer in the Beijing Garrison is one tael, and for generals it is five taels, which would probably amount to two hundred thousand taels of silver in total.”
Li Dongqian narrowed his eyes.
"Wasn't all of Liu Jin's confiscated property put into the imperial treasury? Has it already been used up?"
Zhang Yong smiled slightly, "I forgot about that. We'll have to ask the palace for it."
Li Dongqian's face turned very ugly.
Zhang Yong was clearly mocking him.
They offered nothing, yet tried to win him over with empty promises.
Now that Empress Su has openly attacked his faction, if he doesn't gather more allies, he will be purged sooner or later.
A cold glint flashed in Li Dongqian's eyes.
Since we can't win over Zhang Yong for the time being, let's start with the civil officials.
Soon, memorials impeaching Yang Yiqing flew into the cabinet like snowflakes.
Taking advantage of the situation, Yang Yiqing proposed to resign from his official post to recuperate and temporarily avoid the limelight.
Su Wanwan replied directly on the memorial: "Your learning and conduct are both excellent, your talent and plans are outstanding. You have served in various official positions, both at home and abroad, and your reputation is widely known. You were once the military commander in charge of the Ningxia rebellion, and after pacifying the region, you took charge of personnel matters. The people all admired you. Now that you are being entrusted with important responsibilities, you should take good care of yourself if you are ill. I cannot refuse to take up your duties."
Not only that, but soon an imperial decree was issued, appointing Gu Dayong, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Administration, as the general in charge of military affairs, Mao Rui, the Earl of Fuqiang, as the commander-in-chief, and Zhang Zhong, the eunuch in charge of the Divine Spear, to lead 5,000 troops of the Beijing Garrison, to join forces with Lu Wan, the Vice Minister, to suppress the bandits in Shandong, Zhili and other places.
Since August, the border troops have been reporting frequent victories against the enemy.
This gave the five thousand Beijing troops a great deal of enthusiasm and high morale.
Mao Rui's military talent and loyalty have been proven. When the tax silver of one million taels from Guangdong and Guangxi was robbed, it was Mao Rui who turned the tide and rectified the situation.
Gu Dayong and Zhang Zhong were overjoyed.
The situation is now very favorable in suppressing the bandits, and their appointment as military governors is practically a way to claim credit for their efforts.
Zhang Yong was almost demoted to Nanjing to grow vegetables due to Liu Jin's suppression. However, he returned by taking advantage of his merit in suppressing the rebellion in Ningxia. He not only overthrew Liu Jin but also became the number one powerful eunuch, in charge of military power and even the Directorate of Ceremonial, making him second only to the emperor.
Such immense wealth and power—who among them, also an eunuch, wouldn't want to possess it themselves?
Zhang Zhong felt more apprehensive than anything else.
When the emperor sent him to pacify Liu Qi, he not only failed to do so, but also directly drove Liu Qi to rebellion.
The emperor had left him idle, but unexpectedly the empress gave him a new position.
Regardless, he wanted to perform well and live up to the Empress's expectations.
For the Xuanfu and Liaodong troops who left their homes and made meritorious contributions in fighting the enemy, the imperial court gave each of them one tael and five mace of silver as a reward, and the reward for officers was as high as ten taels.
This is even higher than the reward money given to the soldiers guarding the capital.
The morale of the border troops soared even higher.
Not long after, the imperial court allocated another 200,000 taels of silver from the imperial granary to be used for military supplies and rewards in Zhili, Shandong, and Henan.
...
In stark contrast, the situation of bandits like Liu Liu, Liu Qi, and Zhao Sui was far from optimistic.
At the beginning of the year, due to Zhao Sui's collusion with officials and bandits, the bandits were able to roam freely, plundering county government offices and wealthy households with great success.
Those who initially fled with them made a fortune and sent their gold and silver treasures back to their hometown of Bazhou.
Money is tempting, and there is no danger to life, so more and more people joined, at its peak reaching nearly 10,000 people.
However, their good days came to an end once the border troops joined the bandit suppression campaign.
Today's losses are a few hundred, tomorrow's losses will be over a thousand.
These people realized that their combat effectiveness was actually very low compared to the regular army of the imperial court.
They had also considered which city to use as a base.
However, the city walls and defenses of the county town were not strong enough, while they could not capture any of the well-fortified prefectural cities.
As the weather grew colder, they had no choice but to continue wandering around, being chased like dogs and chickens.
Morale was severely damaged.
On Liu Liu and Liu Qi's side, the key figure is actually Liu Qi.
However, ever since the battle in the outskirts of Beijing, when he learned that there was no hope of being granted amnesty, Liu Qi had become somewhat reckless and given up.
He has no interest in anything and gets drunk whenever he has free time.
They had little interest in recruiting new soldiers to expand their power.
Liu Liu and Qi Yanming felt a chill in their hearts, and even considered becoming bandits in the mountains and living out the rest of their lives in a cowardly manner.
When news came that more than a thousand canal boats had been burned, Liu Qi simply smiled faintly and continued drinking indifferently.
The infamy of massacring a city has already been attributed to him, so what does the infamy of burning grain ships in another village matter?
He was just unwilling to accept it.
On what grounds?
Why should she turn her back on him so coldly, not even giving him a chance to be recruited by the government, when he risked his life for her, even losing his own family?
This woman is truly heartless and ungrateful.
But even so, he still couldn't bear to kill her.
News then spread from the capital that the Empress had imprisoned the Emperor and was seizing absolute power.
He felt much more at ease.
She was not only cold-hearted to him, but also ruthless and heartless to her husband, the emperor.
In his life, he stabbed a prince, shot an emperor, loved an empress, and was once a fearsome bandit leader.
Living a vibrant and exciting life is worthwhile.
Liu Liu took it and brought it to him with a serious expression.
"A secret letter sent by the Chief Secretary of the Prince of Lu's residence," a ruthless glint flashed in Liu Liu's eyes, "The court is unwilling to offer us amnesty, but there may be others who are unwilling!"
Liu Qi glanced through the letter. "Brother, do you intend to seek refuge with the Prince of Lu?"
Liu Liu slammed his fist on the table. “As you can see, now that the emperor is imprisoned, the regional princes are restless and want to take advantage of the ‘cleansing of the emperor’s inner circle’ to get a share of the spoils.”
"We have people, so we might just be able to contribute to the cause of supporting the emperor!"
Liu Qi tossed the letter aside and lazily lay back down. "With just the people like us?"
Liu Liu was so angry that he glared and puffed out his beard. "Why do you have to dampen your own spirits and boost the ego of others?!"
"Seventh Brother, I know you're not feeling well. If you're not feeling well, what's the point of drinking alone like this?"
"Why don't we march back to the capital, capture that woman, and force her to tell us why she won't give us brothers a way out?!"
"Even if you drink yourself to death here, no one will give you a second glance. Instead, they'll gloat. That big traitor finally got himself killed!"
Liu Qi paused for a moment, then a mocking smile appeared on his lips. "That's true."
Liu Liu seized the opportunity to press further, "If you could conquer half the country like the founding emperor did, do you think she would still dare to look down on you?"
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