The next morning, Zhang Guyi, the Blood Sword, the chief of the East Factory, led a hundred East Factory guards to escort five eunuchs who were supposed to announce the imperial eunuchs out of the capital and went south to Yingtian in Jiangnan to announce the imperial edict. The court finally agreed on the rewards and punishments for the Japanese invasion in Yingtian. It can be imagined that their departure would bring about a big change in the officialdom in Jiangnan.
At the hour of Mao, Zhao Wenhua went to the Western Garden to pay a visit to Emperor Jiajing and listen to his teachings. As expected, he was given the task of supervising military affairs in the south of the Yangtze River. He left the Western Garden with a look of joy, tidied up his carriages and horses, and prepared to set off the next day.
At the Linhuai Marquis's residence, Li Shu touched her pregnant belly and smiled as she watched the maids and old women packing the luggage and arranging the carriages and horses. A hundred fully armed guards had already gathered at the manor outside the city, ready to escort the troops south at any time.
In Xiahe Village, Zhu Shouren shamelessly pestered Mrs. Zhu and took advantage of the absence of the second son's wife Chen to ask for five taels of silver from the second son Zhu Shouyi. Zhu Shouren took the silver to the county town with Hu Wei and Xia Qiang to have a feast. He softened his heart and could not help but spend a long night with the good girl who admired his talent. After leaving two taels of silver, the three of them set off, traveling along the way, eating, drinking and having fun. The journey was long and full of joy...
At this moment in Yingtian, Jiangnan, Zhu Ping'an was on a high platform in the Zhejiang Army's camp. More than 800 Zhejiang Army soldiers were standing in a fan shape half around the platform.
After Han Laosan and three others were publicly tried and beheaded for robbing a woman, Zhu Ping'an sent people to collect and bury their bodies, and also issued a pension to be sent to their surviving relatives.
All the officers and soldiers of the Zhejiang Army admired him.
"My fellow Zhejiang Army brothers, from today on, our Zhejiang Army will officially resume training." Zhu Ping'an stood on the high platform, glanced at the Zhejiang Army below, and spoke loudly.
"Practice! Practice! Practice!" the Zhejiang army soldiers shouted.
Zhu Ping'an was in a good mental state. He nodded with satisfaction, stretched out his hand and shook it, and the Zhejiang soldiers who were cheering below the stage stopped.
From this scene, it can be seen that Zhu Ping'an's control over the Zhejiang Army has reached a new level.
Zhu Pingan continued loudly, "Before we start the training, I want to announce two things. These two things have been brewing since I brought you out to fight the Japanese."
"Please give your instructions, sir!" The Zhejiang army responded enthusiastically.
Zhu Pingan smiled at the Zhejiang army and said slowly: "Before announcing the first thing, I will tell you a story. This story is a bit old-fashioned. Once upon a time, there was a mountain, and on the mountain there was a temple. In the temple there was a little monk. There was no water on the mountain, so people had to fetch water from the river below. The little monk was very diligent and went down the mountain to fetch water every day. One day, a thin monk came to the temple..."
At this point in the story, the Zhejiang Army couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Sir, this is indeed an old story, so old that we are almost losing our teeth. This is a story about a monk who had water to drink, two monks who carried water to drink, and three monks who had no water to drink. We all heard it when we were young."
"Haha, that's indeed the story. One monk has water to drink, two monks carry water to drink, and three monks have no water to drink. What if there are more monks in the temple? In addition to the difficulty in getting water, there will obviously be other difficulties, such as difficulty in eating, difficulty in cleaning, and so on. So, let me ask you, how do you solve this problem that exists in the temple?" Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly and asked while standing on the high platform.
After two seconds of silence, someone shouted, "Assign them an abbot and let him take care of them."
"Yes, yes, the temple will be fine if we have an abbot." The Zhejiang army was greatly inspired and agreed.
"Well, that's great. Let's assign an abbot to them. The abbot can manage them and assign tasks to them. Monk A will be responsible for fetching water, monk B will be responsible for chopping wood, monk C will be responsible for cooking, monk D will be responsible for cleaning the courtyard..." Zhu Ping'an continued speaking according to their suggestions.
"Yes, that's right. The abbot will make clear arrangements for them, and nothing will go wrong."
The Zhejiang troops nodded repeatedly.
"But where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. Problems will still arise after a long time." Zhu Pingan continued.
"What could go wrong?" the Zhejiang troops asked.
"Monk A would complain that carrying water up and down the mountain is too tiring because of the long distance; Monk B would complain that chopping wood in the mountains causes mosquito bites and their hands are all scratched; Monk C would complain that cooking takes too much time, affects his meditation and is too useless; Monk D would complain that cleaning the courtyard is dirty and tiring..." Zhu Ping'an shrugged his shoulders and pointed out the existing problems.
"Well, it seems to be true. If I carry water for a long time, I will complain like this..."
"Well, sweeping the floor is indeed the dirtiest..."
The officers and soldiers of the Zhejiang Army put themselves in the situation and thought about it from their own perspective, and they all expressed their deep feelings.
"How do we solve this problem?" Zhu Ping'an asked everyone again.
"Well, what should we do?" The Zhejiang Army fell into deep thought.
"Let them take turns..." A clever Zhejiang Army soldier thought of a solution and shouted proudly.
"Yes, that's right. Don't they all dislike their own jobs and envy others' jobs? Then let them take turns doing one job for each job. Let's see if they still complain."
The Zhejiang troops all agreed.
Zhu Ping'an smiled and nodded, accepting their opinions, and continued: "Well, very good, the abbot proposed a rotation system. In the next ten days, Monk A will chop wood, Monk B will fetch water, Monk C will clean, and Monk D will cook; in the second ten days, Monk A will clean, Monk B will cook, Monk C will fetch water, and Monk D will chop wood; in the third ten days, they will rotate in turn... However, if we continue like this, there will still be problems."
"We've all been rotated, what could go wrong?" a group of Zhejiang Army officers and soldiers asked in confusion.
Zhu Ping'an looked at them, smiled slightly, and explained, "After rotating for a while, the monks kept complaining. Some monks complained that the firewood chopped by Monk A was not enough for burning; some monks complained that the water fetched by Monk B was not clean enough and not timely enough; there were also monks who complained that Monk D's cooking was too unpalatable, the steamed buns were either sour or half-cooked, and the stir-fried dishes were so choking that people could not stand it; there were also monks who complained that Monk C did not clean the courtyard well enough, and only swept the large surface, not the corners, and the Buddha statue was covered with spider webs..."
"Well, it seems that this happens over time. Some people do things seriously, while others just do things to get by."
"That's not caring."
"Indeed, some people don't work hard, but just want to cheat and take advantage..."
The Zhejiang troops nodded one after another, expressing their deep emotion.
"Then how do we solve it?" Zhu Ping'an threw the question to them again.
"How do we solve this problem? Some people are just lazy and greedy by nature. It's impossible for them to change their ways and work hard. Should we keep an eye on them every day and give them a slap in the face if they don't work hard?"
"Being a monk is so troublesome and it's really hard. Being an abbot is not something that ordinary people can do."
“I really can’t think of a good solution.”
The Zhejiang Army officers and soldiers thought hard for a long time and shook their heads, indicating that they could not think of a solution.