Chapter 88 Not as good as a beast
The first day of the new year.

When a hint of paleness appeared on the horizon.

Wang An's door was suddenly opened, and Yun Zhao ran out with his clothes in disarray, covering his face, and crying could be heard faintly.

Wang An collapsed on his new quilt as he wished, wailing silently: "Don't mess with me, I just want a quilt... Anyway, I haven't done anything yet. Why are you running away? Are you moved to tears by my noble sentiment of not being tempted by my arrogance?"

After muttering, Wang An turned over with a bit of resentment, "You should run slower... What a pity, I might have reacted a little later, you are worse than an animal!"

Just as the people of the Ming Dynasty were immersed in the joyous atmosphere of the New Year, the city of Ningyuan far away in Liaodong was filled with gloom and sorrow.

In a low thatched hut, a woman was sitting in front of the long-extinguished stove, holding a crying, hungry baby, and constantly comforting the baby in soft voices. Her lifeless eyes looked towards the leaky door from time to time, and occasionally a hint of expectation flashed across her face.

As the woman was looking expectantly at the room, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a thin man wearing a tattered battle jacket and carrying a sword on his waist walked in.

A gust of cold wind mixed with snow drifted into the already cold little house, and the woman's blue lips gradually turned purple.

However, the woman didn't care about the cold wind. She stood up and said to the figure who opened the door, "Did you get the military pay?"

The thin man made a muffled sound, "I got it."

As he spoke, he lowered a bulging sack from his shoulder, weighing about 50 kilograms.

When the woman saw the sack, she immediately rushed over to open it and took a look. Her eyes instantly turned red. "Why is there only so little millet? I'm afraid it won't last for half a month!"

The thin man's already muffled voice became even more muffled. "The one tael and five cents of silver and one stone of grain set by the court have been withheld, leaving only this little. What can I do?"

The skinny man sat down on the stool in a sullen manner, and with a swish, he pulled out his notched sword, and said angrily: "This is not rice, but eight cents of silver. What can eight cents of silver do? The price of rice has reached four taels of silver per stone. I had no choice but to buy millet, and this... can't even buy five dou!"

"Fuck his ancestors, I will chop all these crooked officials to pieces one day!"

The woman's face, which had just regained some color, suddenly turned blue again.

Listening to the man's harsh words, the woman just silently accepted the cruel reality, silently scooped out half a bowl of millet, and prepared to cook some porridge first.

At least the military pay has been paid, and the good news is that at least the family will not starve to death on New Year's Day.

What to do when the food is finished?
Let’s talk about it after we finish eating. Anyway, in this world, no one expects to live a hundred years.

However, the woman did not know that she was lucky to receive eight cents of military pay in the first month of the year.

By the beginning of February, the Ningyuan Guard’s military pay would begin to be in arrears.

The Liaodong Governor Bi Zisu, who was well aware of this, was writing a memorial at a rapid speed in his governor's office. Next to the memorial was a letter from home waiting for the ink to dry.

The memorial was a request to the emperor to allocate military pay.

The letter was written to my eldest brother Bi Ziyan, who was the Minister of Finance, and the content was to ask him to do his best to raise military funds...

Anyway, the theme is to spend money...

No Money!
Bi Zisu put down his brush and his brows were almost furrowed.

Curry has spent the last bit of his money, and now it’s so clean that even a mouse won’t want to play.

But this month has barely made it through, what should I do next month? Just as I was worrying about it, a soldier from the standard camp came in and said, "Your Excellency, I believe that Master Yuan, the governor of Ji and Liao, will soon be outside the city."

"So quick, prepare the horses!"

Bi Zisu was not surprised at all. He had already been surprised in the edict issued by the Ministry of War.

When Bi Zisu rushed out of the city, Yuan Chonghuan had already led a large group of troops to the city gate.

After the two of them exchanged greetings, Bi Zisu looked curiously at the large group of carriages behind Yuan Chonghuan, his heart beating faster. "Master Yuan, what are these carriages carrying?"

Yuan Chonghuan laughed and said, "Master Bi, please don't tell me that you can't recognize the silver box of the imperial treasury!"

After confirming his guess, Bi Zisu first closed his eyes and let out a long breath, then he opened his eyes and felt refreshed.

"Master Yuan, you arrived just in time!"

Bi Zisu almost cried. God knew how many gray hairs he had turned in the past few days because of the salary issue. Now he finally didn't have to worry about it anymore.

When Yuan Chonghuan saw him like this, he knew that the military pay must have been cut off.

Although he felt a sense of accomplishment as a savior, he still said modestly: "When I resigned from the post of Liaodong Governor, I asked to resign on my own initiative, hoping to have a few years of leisure time in my hometown."

"But who could have thought that the Emperor would summon me back to the capital to take up my new post as soon as he ascended the throne? I hadn't been the Minister of War for a few days when he promoted me to the position of Commander-in-Chief of Ji and Liao and gave me the title of Minister of War. He then hurriedly sent me back to Liaodong!"

"Brother! To be honest, I've had enough of the sandstorms in Liaodong, but the emperor values ​​me so much that I'm given the Imperial Sword and a promotion. I really don't want to disappoint the emperor!"

Pointing to the long silver transport convoy behind him, he said, "Before I even said anything, the Emperor has already prepared military pay for our Liaodong soldiers. What a great favor! What a great consideration!"

Bi Zisu was speechless, but he had to agree with her.

Yuan Chonghuan seemed to feel that he could not show how much the emperor valued him, and asked mysteriously: "Do you know how much money the emperor allocated for our military pay?"

Hearing this, Bi Zisu became really interested and asked hurriedly, "How much?"

Yuan Chonghuan held up eight fingers and said word by word: "Twenty thousand short, eighty!"

"Eight hundred thousand!" This time Bi Zisu was really surprised.

Although Liaodong spent two to three million taels of silver a year, the imperial court never gave any compensation.

They are all very stingy, giving a little today and a little tomorrow. It is indeed rare to take out 780,000 taels at one time.

One can't help but have the illusion that the imperial court has become wealthy. Why are they so willing to give out money?
Yuan Chonghuan was very satisfied with Bi Zisu's shocked expression. After all, Bi Zisu actually took over Yuan Chonghuan's original post as Governor of Liaodong, and the then Governor of Ji-Liao was a minister of the eunuch party.

Although the Ji-Liao Commander-in-Chief was nominally higher in rank than the Liaodong Governor, Yuan Chonghuan used his position as the Liaodong Governor to force Wang Zhichen, the Commander-in-Chief, away!

Later, if Yuan Chonghuan himself could not stand the court's criticism of his peace talks with the Later Jin Dynasty and resigned on the grounds of illness, Wang Zhichen would not have been reinstated.

So when facing Bi Zisu, his successor, Yuan Chonghuan, who had always believed that only by monopolizing power could he better control the situation in Liaodong, deliberately showed off the emperor's favor, not because he was really vain.

(End of this chapter)