Chapter 114 Post-War Reward
Since Zang Ba entered Tancheng, various good news came one after another.
First, Chen Deng took advantage of the trend and went north, taking over the counties of Yangdu and Linyi, and successfully encircled Ju County.
Subsequently, Ju County went out of the city to reward the troops and expressed their intention to surrender.
On the second day, Xiao Jian surrendered and Ju County opened the city.
As far as Ju County, the counties in the north of Langya heard the news and came down. They reported three times a day, but within four days, they all sent congratulatory forms and surrendered to the state capital.
Chen Deng took advantage of the situation and allocated his original troops to station in Juxian County. The army then returned to the court, marched along the waterway and returned to Tancheng.
When I went there, I still paddled against the current, but when I came back, I went straight down the river and the speed was faster.
In just five days, the army had arrived in Tancheng.
In early April, spring comes and flowers bloom.
The Xuzhou army quelled Langya and returned triumphantly.
Liu Bei, the state herdsman, went out five miles from Tancheng to meet Chen Deng and reward the entire army.
Every soldier in the army was given half a piece of linen, half a stone of corn, and fifty coins. The generals and commanders at all levels also received rewards.
In addition, the whole army will be rewarded tonight, with ten kilograms of meat and a jar of wine for each reward. They will have a three-day holiday and the whole army will celebrate.
Don't underestimate this amount of money. A piece of linen is worth three hundred coins, and one stone of corn costs two hundred coins. This amount equals three hundred coins for each soldier.
Don't underestimate this three hundred yuan. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the salary of state and county soldiers was very low. Their monthly salary was only a supply of rice and grain equivalent to one hundred and twenty yuan.
Different from the Western Han Dynasty, in the Western Han Dynasty, county soldiers were established by the state. Although their treatment was not as good as that of the central army, it was still the standard for county and state officials. In addition to annual salary, there are also rewards and rewards from time to time.
In addition, once you participate in the battle, there are loots to be divided.
Therefore, in the Western Han Dynasty, everyone was proud to join the army. If they wanted to be a soldier, they had to take the military examination of the county. Those who failed could not become a soldier. Archery, in particular, is a top priority. Marksmen and strong archers are the most courteous, and even high-ranking officials from state and county are invited as guests.
It was completely different in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Although the Eastern Han Dynasty followed the Western Han Dynasty, it also implemented the strategy of conscription and recruitment of soldiers in parallel.
However, due to changes in the political system, the Eastern Han Dynasty could no longer extend its tentacles to the bottom of society like the Western Han Dynasty.
The tyranny of the Eastern Han Dynasty has taken root and gradually turned into a huge cancer, constantly absorbing the nutrients of the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, the financial revenue of the Eastern Han Dynasty has been avalanche since the middle period, which has led to the serious collapse of the military service system of the Eastern Han Dynasty. On the one hand, it has led to the continuous downsizing of the Central Army, from the position of the main force of the war to the backbone of the war. force.
You can go directly to the war from the beginning, but when a large-scale war becomes necessary, you begin to temporarily recruit Liangjiazi from the Sanhe and Guanzhong areas to join the army, and then use the original Northern Army as low-level non-commissioned officers to temporarily expand the army.
So in addition to the remuneration of the Luoyang standing army, which can barely be maintained, even the remuneration of the frontier troops has dropped significantly. As for the conscripts, there is no military pay. The only reward is the right to divide the spoils and fight. The court reward after winning.
As for inland counties like Xuzhou where Liu Bei is located, the situation is even worse.
At the beginning of the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Guangwu completely abolished the establishment of state and county soldiers, so that the inland states and counties did not engage in war for two hundred years.
Even during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Central Committee of the Eastern Han Dynasty had to re-establish the establishment of county soldiers. However, the establishment was too small, and the training and backbone had been replaced. , not even as good as the Yellow Turban Army with some combat experience.
And the most tragic thing is that because these county soldiers have no establishment, their treatment is very poor, barely enough to feed one person, and they are even unable to support their families.
What's worse is that this bad habit has become the norm with the warlords' melee. The main force of each warlord actually treats the treatment of county soldiers as regular treatment. The long-term famine has also made many people willing to serve as soldiers just for a bite of food, which has greatly reduced the difficulty of recruiting soldiers for various warlords, and has further reduced the treatment of warlords' soldiers.
Of course, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of their armies, warlords in various places have also improved the treatment of their armies, but this is limited to the core units.
For example, Cao Cao's personal guards and elite troops were able to receive military pay, mainly silk and grain, but the number was far less than that of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Even when Cao Wei founded the country in the future, the treatment of Cao Wei's central army was not as good as that of the Northern Army of the Eastern Han Dynasty, let alone compared with that of the Western Han Dynasty.
Liu Bei followed the same strategy at the beginning in Xuzhou, giving his most elite troops a monthly salary of up to 250 yuan. As for the other main troops, they only had 200 yuan to 200 yuan. Twenty dollars.
As for the county soldiers and the Danyang soldiers of Cao Bao and Xu Dan, I'm sorry, they don't have a penny, they only give them food.
Now Liu Feng directly distributed a reward of 300 yuan per capita, which was equivalent to an additional month and a half of monthly salary for the elite soldiers. This was the first time for ordinary soldiers to see rewards under Liu Bei's command. The Xuzhou Army officers and soldiers were naturally very happy.
And Liu Bei paid a full six million yuan for this, not counting the large rewards from the generals.
Liu Bei's newly filled treasury suddenly became dry again.
But fortunately, Chen Deng also brought back six to seven million yuan, as well as hundreds of thousands of stones of grain, especially grain, which greatly eased Liu Bei's pressure.
After receiving the reward, the Xuzhou army shouted for victory. The morale of the army soared, and Liu Bei couldn't help but be happy.
It’s no wonder that since facing Cao Cao, the Xuzhou Army has been defeated in many battles and has never won once. Even the Danyang Army’s other boss, Lu, who is above Xu Dan and is truly tied with Cao Bao, Youdu was defeated and died.
Xu Dan was just promoted by Tao Qian to fill Lu You's vacancy. You can imagine how badly the Danyang army lost.
The total defeat brought the morale of the Xuzhou Army to the bottom, especially the Danyang Army, the main force that Liu Bei took over, which was completely ruined. On the contrary, the situation of Zang Ba's Taishan Army was much better.
As a partial battlefield, Zang Ba defended the city against Cao Hong and did not suffer any losses.
Now that the Danyang Army defeated the Taishan Army, the morale of the army has naturally recovered.
The soldiers will feel that it is not we who are not good, but the previous command of Tao Gong, and their confidence will naturally rise a lot.
Since Liu Bei saw Chen Deng, he held him tightly and refused to let go.
Traveling in the same carriage and sitting on the same table, the smile on Liu Bei's face never disappeared.
Chen Deng’s dispatch of troops this time was very encouraging to him.
It took only twenty days in total to capture one county and achieve a great victory.
Of course, a lot of the credit goes to his son, but after all, the coach on the surface is Chen Deng, so Liu Bei can only aggrieve his son first.
Long before Liu Bei left the city, the city of Tan was already full of smoke, and enough food, wine, and meat were prepared, waiting for the army to arrive and start a banquet immediately.
During the banquet, Liu Bei admired Chen Deng very much, but Chen Deng changed his usual appearance and became the best in the world. Not only did he refuse to accept his words, he also gave credit to others.
“This Northern Expedition to Langya Zangba was presided over by Ming Gong. He first made a plan and then assigned the generals to provide food, grass and weapons, and relied heavily on others to raise funds. During the war, all the generals fought bravely. Fighting for the lead, the soldiers served their orders without fear of life or death. This is the reason for the great victory. How can they be regarded as such great achievements if they can't sit on the table? There is an image of a monarch and his ministers getting along with each other.
The more Chen Deng praised Liu Bei, Mi Zhu, Guan and Zhang, the more Liu Bei liked him, and he agreed with Liu Feng in his heart that Chen Yuanlong really had the style of a general.
In this way, for one day when Yuanlong is in Langya, I have no worries about returning to the north.
That night, everyone had a feast.
The next day, Liu Bei reported that Chen Deng was appointed as the Supervisor of the Army and General Fenwei, with a rank of two thousand stones. He was appointed as the prefect of Dongguan and the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of the three counties of Langya, Dongguan and Jucheng.
Liu Bei directly handed over all the military power of Langya County to Chen Deng.
Chen Deng burst into tears with gratitude and was willing to defend Langya to the death for Liu Bei.
Liu Bei grabbed Chen Deng's hand and said with deep affection and righteousness: "If Bei wins Yuanlong, he will win Langya. If Yuanlong thinks this way, then Bei would rather break his promise and get fat than let Yuanlong take over Dongguan." ”
“Yuanlong remembers that although Langya is more expensive, it is not half as good as Yuanlong. I ask Yuanlong to guard it for me. If Langya can be rescued, I will be ready to send troops from Tancheng to help. If Langya cannot be defended, Yuan Long can quickly retreat to Tancheng. You and I, the emperor and my ministers, will be together, so why worry?"
Chen Deng burst into tears, thinking that he could have such a master in this life, what else could he ask for?
Liu Bei and Chen Deng were deeply in love here, but Liu Feng had already fled.
Chen Deng is Liu Bei's confidant. He can't make the trip no matter what, so don't waste any effort.
The important thing is to take care of your own fundamentals.
The first thing Liu Feng did was to come to Xu Sheng’s camp.
The Xu Sheng Department at this time was very different from other Xuzhou troops.
Although everyone was drinking and having fun, they still abided by military discipline. There were no traces of singing girls, dancers, or other messy things in the camp.
This made Liu Feng very happy.
Hearing that Liu Feng had arrived, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang immediately came out to welcome him.
Fortunately for Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang was a heavy drinker. Liu Feng originally thought that the other party must have been drunk a long time ago, but he did not expect that although he also smelled of alcohol, he was not drunk at all.
"See you, young master!"
Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang had already been impressed by Liu Feng, but they were still amazed by the ease of this victory. Although Changxi's Taishan Army seemed vulnerable, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang were not ignorant farmers. They had already seen from various aspects of each other that the Taishan Army was definitely not weak.
Even if it is not the most powerful army in the world, it is at least much stronger than ordinary state and county troops.
But such a force capable of controlling the prefectures and counties was brutally slaughtered by our own side like chopping melons and vegetables, and finally knelt down and begged for surrender.
Before going to war, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang, who had trained with them, knew very well what their own army looked like.
Therefore, in the eyes of Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang, Liu Feng was no longer a boy, but a child prodigy, a child prodigy who was truly born with knowledge.
"Gentlemen, please let the soldiers line up. Today, General Feng will fulfill his promise and reward all the soldiers!"
Liu Feng gave the order and the entire camp took action.
In just a quarter of an hour, all the soldiers were already in formation, waiting for Liu Feng to review.
Liu Feng came to the general stage and looked at the thousand seeds, feeling very proud.
For this great victory, he has obtained Liu Bei's permission. These thousand people will become the seeds to expand the army and become a true school camp worthy of the name.
Xu Sheng will also be promoted to Captain Hengwei due to his meritorious service, while Pan Zhang will be promoted to Sima of another department and continue to serve as Xu Sheng's deputy.
As for the soldiers, they will be selected from the descendants of Taishan Army.
Many of these people are experienced veterans, who are very precious. The rest have also been trained by the Taishan Army for a long time. Liu Bei will naturally not dismiss them.
Just break up, reorganize, and replenish each battalion, so naturally you can’t run away.
Liu Feng's army has been expanded to 2,000 people. Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Zhang Feiying, who had a Sima Department of 500 people removed by Chen Deng, will naturally give priority to replenishing the army to the full strength of 2,000 people.
This part alone requires 2,500 Taishan soldiers, so there is no need to worry about not being able to digest Taishan soldiers.
Before coming to the camp, Liu Feng had already done the accounts.
This time they attacked Changxi, and a total of 1,427 people were captured. Later, they died of serious injuries, and another 62 people died, leaving 1,365 people in the end.
This is the merit of capture.
The armor coverage rate of the Changxi Army is relatively low, only 40%, and most of them are leather armor.
The price of the leather armor was 8,000 yuan per set, and some of it was damaged during the war. Liu Feng simply calculated the average, which was 5,000 yuan per set, for a total of 800 yuan, which was 4 million yuan as loot.
Coupled with the harvest in Chaozhen County, Changxi's hometown, there are 800,000 yuan in money, 23,000 shi in grain, and more than 1,000 pieces of various types of cloth and silk.
These are the biggest spoils of this expedition.
According to the rules that have been agreed upon long ago, 90% of these things will be handed over to the state government first. The remaining items include 80 sets of leather armor, 80,000 yuan, 2,300 shi of food, and various types of cloth. More than a hundred pieces of silk.
This can be regarded as a huge sum of money. If all converted into money, the total would be more than 1.5 million.
Divide it exactly into five parts, each worth 300,000 yuan.
In this way, each soldier can get at least three hundred coins, which has already caught up with the reward of the state shepherd.
This does not include other rewards. The wounded soldiers can receive another five hundred yuan to recuperate. This time, there was no one killed in battle, but no one received this pension. Therefore, the remaining money All were put into the camp treasury.
Starting from the corps commander and above, to Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang, and even Liu Feng himself received an officer reward.
The last thing, which is the finale, is the reward.
In this battle, a total of forty-two meritorious service members were selected.
There are one hundred and sixty soldiers standing in the first row, and most of the wounded are among these one hundred and sixty people.
At that time, there were 160 people in each row of the gun formation, divided into five columns, totaling 800 people.
The first platoon faced the enemy directly, with the greatest pressure and the greatest casualties. Two of them, Niu Erleng and Wang Gui, also achieved third-class meritorious service. They successfully rescued an injured teammate.
At that time, someone around them was seriously injured, and the whole person was about to collapse.
Once he lies down, he is likely to be trampled by the soldiers in the rear row, aggravating the injury, and may even be trampled to death directly.
The people beside him were Niu Erleng and Wang Gui.
The two men had an idea. Each of them used the arm close to the soldier to hold the other's arm, and then clamped the wounded man with his arm. In this way, he could continue to hold the spear and also use his arm. He used his strength to support the injured, thus saving his life.
This performance is very eye-catching, and Liu Feng specially commended him as a third-class meritorious service.
After announcing all this, Liu Feng asked the soldiers if they thought it was reasonable. If there were any questions, they could raise them directly on the spot.
As a result, all the soldiers said there was no problem and were even very grateful to Liu Feng.
From Liu Feng's point of view, most of the reward had been withheld, but it was still far beyond the expectations of the soldiers, which surprised them.
Liu Feng finally understood why the soldiers in this world were so eager to massacre the city, because this was the biggest reward they could get, or even the only way to get reward.
Liu Feng stayed in the camp throughout the day.
He personally distributed every reward to every soldier.
All soldiers present will receive at least 300 coins, those who are injured can receive 800 coins, and those who have performed meritorious services can receive an additional 500 coins.
For Niu Erleng and Wang Gui, two third-class meritorious servicemen, Liu Feng had prepared medals in advance.
Let the two of them walk onto the mound. In the curious and envious eyes of all the soldiers, Liu Feng walked up to them and shouted to the soldiers below: "The reason why I specially commend them , because they saved their comrades. I want everyone to remember that on the battlefield, your comrades are your lives. Without your comrades, you can't survive at all. Without violating military orders, cherish your comrades and save them! Comrade, just save yourself."
Liu Feng knew that the soldiers in front of him might not understand what he said, but he still wanted to say it and encourage everyone.
Because Liu Feng hopes that these soldiers can have a better chance of survival, and also hopes to improve the organization of his army as much as possible.
In war, every soldier is extremely insignificant. When they look around, all they see is their own robes.
So, whether you believe in Pao Ze or not will have a huge impact on the organization of the army.
The more you trust Pao Ze's army, the higher the organization level will be.
Like the only army in the world in history, this kind of extraordinary trust can bring their subjective initiative to the extreme, and even one person dares to continue to complete the combat mission.
Because of what?
Isn't it because he believes that his comrades will come to support him and that his fighting will be a huge help to his comrades?
Liu Feng naturally did not dare to expect a feudal army to imitate that army, but being able to move a little closer in that direction is always an improvement and can enhance his combat effectiveness, so why not Why?
Liu Feng personally placed third-class merit medals on Wang Gui and Niu Erleng in front of everyone, and then even gave them a military salute in person.
In this scene, Wang Gui and Niu Erleng were naturally stunned on the spot, and the soldiers in the audience also exploded.
Liu Feng did not comfort the soldiers below. Instead, he patted Wang Gui and Niu Erleng hard on the shoulders.
"Well done, keep up the good work."
What Wang Gui and Niu Erleng got was a small bronze medal, which was very rough and incomparable with the medals of later generations.
But such a rough bronze medal and Liu Feng's courtesy still made Wang Gui and Niu Erling so excited that they couldn't help themselves, and also attracted the envy, jealousy and even jealousy of other soldiers.
The soldiers were very curious about this special honor reward. They were curious and envious, and they also wanted to get one.
This also made Niu Erleng, Wang Gui and others feel a strange emotion that they had never experienced before.
This kind of emotion makes people feel numb, as if they are floating in the clouds, helpless, but also intoxicating.
Anyway, it feels so comfortable!
Subsequently, each of the meritorious deeds will receive a reward of 500 yuan. Niu Erleng and Wang Gui, who have won the third-class meritorious service, will receive an additional reward of 1,000 yuan each, which is the same amount of money. rewards.
The remaining 40,000 were placed in the camp treasury.
In this way, there were already 620,000 yuan in the camp treasury. Liu Feng used 120,000 yuan to buy pork, beef, mutton, and fine wine to reward all the soldiers.
"Young Master is victorious!"
Loud praises rang out in the camp for a long time.
(End of this chapter)