Today is the 23rd day since Zhu Ping'an took office. It is a sunny day with clear skies and gentle breezes. Zhu Ping'an, as usual, went to the office of the Prime Minister to cultivate tacit understanding... ...
In the past, whenever Zhu Ping'an showed up, the Prime Minister would always say the word "no" before Zhu Ping'an opened his mouth.
But unfortunately, the tacit understanding that Zhu Ping'an and Lord Neitai had cultivated for twenty-three days was broken by Lord Neitai today.
Today, when Zhu Ping'an showed up at the door of the Neitai's office, he saw Neitai looking at him with a smile on his face. He waved to him warmly and said in a gentle voice, "Zihou is here, come in quickly."
(⊙o⊙)… Zhu Pingan was surprised at first, and then a smile appeared on his face from the bottom of his heart. The lord of the court broke the tacit understanding, which meant that things had changed, and that didn't it mean that the food and wages had been settled.
"Greetings, Lord Neitai. I am sorry to trouble you again." Zhu Ping'an walked into the room and bowed with a smile.
"No, Zihou, you are too kind. You are doing your duty. I am so happy that I don't need to worry about anything. If everyone in the government office is as responsible as you, I would laugh in my dreams at night."
Neitai waved his hand, smiled gently, and praised Zhu Pingan.
"The seniors in the yamen are all serious and responsible people, and I am also learning from them." Zhu Ping'an said modestly.
"Zihou, please stop speaking for them. I have known them for many years." Neitai shook his head and smiled, then waved his hand, "Forget it, forget it. I won't judge them behind their backs. You will understand in the future."
Zhu Ping'an wanted to continue to save face for Chu Xiong and the others, but the prefect did not give Zhu Ping'an a chance. The prefect continued, "I have good news for you. The military supplies and food that you have been thinking about have been approved by the court."
It is true!
Although I had already guessed the answer, I couldn't help but feel excited when I heard the Prime Minister say that the military supplies and food wages had been approved.
"The military supplies and rations have been approved?! Thank you Lord Neitai for your trouble. The military supplies and rations were approved so quickly." Zhu Ping'an showed an excited expression on his face and bowed to Lord Neitai repeatedly to express his gratitude.
"Haha, actually I just wrote a few applications. Besides, assisting Zihou in reorganizing the military is also my job. Zihou, there is no need to thank me." Lord Neitai smiled and waved his hand.
"Of course I have to thank you, Lord Neitai. If you hadn't taken responsibility and applied to the court many times without fear of the court's criticism, the military supplies and food would not have been approved so quickly."
Zhu Ping'an insisted on thanking the Prime Minister.
"Haha, Zihou, you've visited the wrong temple this time. The reason why the court approved it so quickly this time is all thanks to Lord Xu, and I dare not take credit for it. I heard that when Lord Xu was discussing the Japanese invasion in the court, he mentioned that the militia was a useful supplement to the garrisons and the new army, especially in Jiangnan where the Japanese invasion was serious, and the role of the militia should be emphasized. It was precisely because of Lord Xu's emphasis on the militia that the Ministry of War approved our application for military preparations and food and wages so quickly." Lord Neitai said with a smile.
Zhu Pingan's mouth curled up slightly when he heard this. It was indeed easy to be an official if you had someone in the court. Calculating the time, it had only been more than ten days since he submitted the letter to his teacher Xu Jie. Excluding the time the letter was in transit, it had only been about ten days since the letter reached his teacher Xu Jie. Excluding the time it took for the relevant departments of the Ministry of War to make decisions and the time it took for the Ministry of War's instructions to arrive at the Ministry of Justice, it was estimated that after the letter was delivered to his teacher Xu Jie, he helped him solve the problem of military preparations and food and wages without leaving any trace on the same day or the next day.
Such amazing speed, worthy of being the master Xu Jie.
Moreover, the way that Xu Jie handled the matter was very artistic and politically skillful. If Xu Jie had directly exerted influence on the Ministry of War to make the Ministry of War take care of him and approve the application for military preparations and food and wages as soon as possible, it might have backfired. Because Yan Song's party had a much deeper influence on the Ministry of War than Xu Jie. He had offended the Yan Party in the past, and this was something that everyone in the capital knew. It was good that the Yan Party members in the Ministry of War did not trip him up, so how could they let his military preparations and food and wages go smoothly
The chief advisor Xu Jie knew this very well, so he did not adopt this counterproductive approach. Instead, he pointed out the role of the militia in front of the emperor during the court discussion, and especially pointed out that the role of the militia should be given extra attention in Jiangnan, where the Japanese invasion was serious. The elders had spoken, and the emperor acquiesced. The six ministries and other departments must of course pay more attention and implement them, and the Ministry of War would naturally be no exception. Then, the Ministry of War noticed the application for military preparations and food and salaries submitted by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Criminal Inspection Commission, and approved it without thinking too much. This approach fully demonstrated the political wisdom of the chief advisor Xu Jie.
Master Xu is worthy of being Master Xu, Zhu Ping'an admires him very much.
"This is an official document issued by the court. Zihou can take it to the Yingtian Military Department to allocate food and wages."
Neitai handed the official document approved by the court to Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Ping'an took the approval document with both hands, glanced at it, and found that the court only approved 5,000 taels of food and wages out of the 10,000 taels he applied for.
The ten thousand taels were the result of repeated reductions because he was worried that the court would not approve the money. Five thousand taels were too tight.
"The court's finances are tight, and being able to approve 5,000 taels is already good. Generally speaking, it's good to be able to approve half of the budget requested." Seeing Zhu Ping'an's expression, the magistrate patted Zhu Ping'an on the shoulder and continued, "Zihou, you must know that you can't chew too much. In the early stage, you don't have enough experience in leading troops, so the number of militia members should not be too large, and it should be limited to 1,000 people. These 5,000 taels of food and wages are enough to support for a period of time."
"Thank you for your advice, sir." Zhu Ping'an curled the corners of his mouth slightly.
Thousands of people?! This amount of food and money is not enough for a thousand people. Take the salary of Qi's army as an example. The annual salary of a soldier in Qi's army is about 18 taels of silver. These 5,000 taels of silver are only enough for the annual salary of 277 people.
This is just the military pay, and does not include the soldiers' weapons, armor, and daily food, clothing, and housing expenses.
Taking everything into account, these five thousand taels of silver are estimated to be only enough for the annual expenses of one hundred soldiers, and they still have to live frugally.
A militia training 100 soldiers? !
Playing?!
What can a hundred people do? In this period of increasing Japanese threat, a hundred people can't even make a living.
Of course, Zhu Ping'an had anticipated this situation. He was waiting for the imperial court to approve the food and salary, but he did not pin all his hopes on this approval. The food and salary approved by the imperial court was just for the greater good. With the imperial court's approval and the imperial court's issuance of food and salary, it would mean that this militia was the imperial court's militia, not Zhu Ping'an's private army. This greater good would stand. As for the shortage of food and salary, he could think of other ways, such as soliciting sponsorship, fighting to support the war, etc. There were many ways.