"My dear nephew, our army has a batch of obsolete weapons that can be used. If you don't mind, you can take them."
Linhuai Hou was very satisfied with Zhu Ping'an's suggestion. Taking into account that Zhu Ping'an was in charge of the military preparations and the food and wages just drawn from the Ministry of War were not sufficient, in order to thank Zhu Ping'an, he said that there was a group of obsolete soldiers in his army who could provide support.
"Thank you for your support, uncle." How could Zhu Ping'an refuse? He immediately bowed and thanked Linhuai Hou.
"My dear nephew, you are too polite. As for that thief who stole the letter, your uncle will visit him another day. Besides embarrassing him, he will definitely get some useful benefits for you." Linhuai Hou smiled slightly and expressed his opinion again.
"I am honored that Ping'an's suggestion was adopted by Duke Wei. How dare I ask for any benefits?" Zhu Ping'an smiled and shook his head.
"My dear nephew, you are so kind. Don't worry about it. Your uncle will take care of this matter for you." Marquis Linhuai waved his hand.
Well, you are the elder, I can’t argue with you... Zhu Pingan smiled bitterly but applauded enthusiastically in his heart.
The two agreed that tomorrow morning, Zhu Ping'an would take people to the Linhuai Marquis camp to collect the eliminated military equipment. Then, the two parted ways. Linhuai Marquis was in a hurry to go back to write a memorial, and his fat body walked briskly... ...
On the morning of the second day, Zhu Ping'an brought Liu Dadao and others with him, requisitioned ten runners from the Judicial Inspection Office, rented twenty horse-drawn carriages, and went to the Caojiang naval camp led by Linhuai Hou in a mighty manner.
"Fifth uncle, you are here. The master is waiting for you in the camp."
Butler Li Er was waiting outside the camp. When he saw Zhu Ping'an from afar, he came over to greet him.
"Thank you, Butler Li, for waiting outside the camp." Zhu Ping'an greeted Li Er with a smile.
"You are too polite, sir. Please come in." Li Er smiled brightly and led Zhu Ping'an and his party towards the military camp.
As Zhu Ping'an moved forward, he observed the Linhuaihou military camp. The camp was stationed at the mouth of the river, half on the river surface and half on the river bank, stretching for several miles. The outermost part of the camp was deer horns, and behind the deer horns was a fence that surrounded the camp.
Linhuaihou's military camp was well-organized, but it also had its shortcomings. The camps were all in one place, which made it easy for the enemy to surround them. Generally, cautious generals would set up camps in two or three places. Two camps formed a pincer attack, and the two camps could support each other. If one camp was attacked, the other camp could go to support it. Three camps formed a tripod, and if one camp was attacked, the other camp could go to support it, and the three camps could cooperate with each other.
"Master Li, please..."
There was a team of eight guards on duty in two rows outside the camp gate. When they saw Li Er leading Zhu Ping'an and his party coming, the guards on duty all knew Li Er and rushed to greet Li Er. Although they did not know Zhu Ping'an and others, they opened the camp gate without asking and invited Li Er and Zhu Ping'an and his party into the camp.
Without verifying their identities, they opened the gate and invited us in...
Military discipline is not good.
A glimpse of the whole picture reveals the whole picture. Seeing this scene in front of the gate, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but shook his head slightly.
Military discipline is not strict and the level of military management is not optimistic. Zhu Ping'an expressed concern about Linhuai Hou's level of military management.
Sure enough, Zhu Ping'an entered the military camp and found that the tents were in good order, but the soldiers were undisciplined. The soldiers who were training in the field were in a loose formation, and the soldiers who were not training were either walking around the tents at will, or sitting on the ground in groups of three or five without any image, leaning here and there. There were even a few open spaces with a lot of people outside, and the noise could be heard from far away, as if they were gambling with dice... ...
Li Er led Zhu Ping'an and his party all the way to the tent of Linhuai Hou, but they were stopped by his personal soldiers when they were thirty meters in front of the tent.
"Butler Li, who are they?!" a team of personal soldiers stepped forward and asked.
"Bald Li, you are blind. You even dare to stop the fifth brother-in-law. This is our fifth brother-in-law, the top scholar of the dynasty, and now the fifth-rank assistant of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Judicial Inspection Commissioner, Zhu Ping'an, who is in charge of reorganizing the military and leading the militia. The master invites the brother-in-law to the camp to receive our discarded military equipment and assist him in reorganizing the militia." Li Er stepped forward and cursed, then introduced Zhu Ping'an to them.
"So it's my son-in-law. We were blind and didn't recognize you. Please forgive us. We will go and report to the master right away." Li Tuzi and other personal soldiers immediately became enthusiastic. They sent someone to report to the general's tent and helped push the carriage.
"Haha, nephew, you are here." After receiving the report, Linhuai Hou came out of the tent with a smile on his face.
"Uncle." Zhu Ping'an bowed and saluted.
"Come, come in quickly, have a cup of hot tea and warm yourself up." Linhuai Hou led Zhu Pingan into the tent with a smile. Before entering the tent, he instructed his personal guards, "Li Er, Li Tuzi, take care of the people my nephew brought with him."
Zhu Ping'an walked into the tent. Linhuai Hou poured him a cup of tea and then hurriedly handed a memorial to Zhu Ping'an.
"My dear nephew, do you think that this is the way I am submitting the memorial?" asked the Marquis of Linhuai.
Zhu Pingan took the memorial and read it carefully. The content was almost exactly the same as his suggestion. There was no problem with the wording and sentence structure. There was nothing wrong with it. So he nodded and said, "Uncle, there is nothing wrong with the content of the memorial. After your polishing, this memorial is more feasible. Great."
"Nephew, would you like to sign your name?" asked Linhuai Hou.
Zhu Pingan shook his head, "Uncle, I'd better avoid suspicion."
"Okay." Linhuai Hou nodded, signed and sealed the document, and ordered someone to rush it to the Tongzhengsi in the capital, and at the same time, send it to the cabinet.
After the memorial was submitted, the Marquis of Linhuai ordered someone to call the quartermaster and took Zhu Ping'an and his party to the military camp warehouse to collect the obsolete military equipment.
The quartermaster opened a warehouse, pointed at the messy pile of military uniforms inside, and said to Zhu Ping'an, "Master Zhu, there are more than 1,200 sets of discarded military uniforms in this warehouse. They are all ordinary military uniforms and can be used again."
Zhu Ping'an walked closer to observe and nodded. These military uniforms were replacement uniforms and were basically intact.
"Do you have armor?" Zhu Ping'an asked.
"We have armor, but..." the quartermaster hesitated.
"My dear nephew, it's not that I don't want to give you armor, but the armor is old and forged in the past, and it is not well maintained..." Linhuai Hou explained.
Sure enough, when the quartermaster opened a warehouse where armor was stored, a smell of mold and rust came out. The armor inside was all rusty and tattered. There was almost no complete armor, and almost every armor plate had many holes. Such armor was so rotten that it was just a burden to wear and could not protect the body at all. Therefore, it was abandoned by the army camp of Linhuai Hou and others, and it continued to rot in the warehouse... ...
However, rotten armor is still armor. It can be taken back and recycled as scrap iron, or used to forge weapons and armor.
Zhu Ping'an then asked for all the tattered armor.
Then, the quartermaster opened several more warehouses, and Zhu Pingan received 600 spears, 500 swords, and 200 longbows. To Zhu Pingan's delight, in a corner of a warehouse, he also found 300 muskets.
"Oh, these fire sticks are not suitable for our navy. Not only are they troublesome to load, but they become useless when the tide rises. We'd rather use bows and arrows."
Marquis Linhuai was very disdainful of muskets.
It would be a waste if we didn't use firearms! Seeing this, Zhu Ping'an unceremoniously asked for the three hundred firearms.
This trip was a fruitful one.