Chapter 46 Arrogance
The crowd suddenly became agitated. Fortunately, Xu Huang stepped forward and shouted to stop them. The crowd then slowly calmed down, but the excitement on their faces could not be concealed.

Wang An chuckled and shook his head, "If you are not in a hurry to claim the reward, then wait until you return from Qingzhou."

As he said this, he pretended to raise his hand to ask the bailiff to take the box back.

The crowd finally couldn't stand it anymore and some people started shouting.

"My Lord, please be merciful and give me the reward quickly!"

"Yeah, everyone's eyes are about to pop out of their heads!"

"Hehe, I'm not in a hurry, but my wife is!"

"Hahaha!"

The crowd immediately burst into happy laughter, and Wang An couldn't help laughing, so he didn't tease anyone.

Just let the yamen runners carry the box and start distributing reward money.

"You all knew that Crescent Moon Mountain was dangerous, but you were still willing to follow me and take risks. I will remember this! I should have given you the reward as soon as you came back, but I was delayed because of too many mundane things."

Xu Huang, under the instigation of his compatriots, stood up awkwardly and asked, "Although we went with them, we were just showing off. Many of us didn't get to chop off the heads of those bandits, so I don't know how to calculate the reward money?"

Wang An smiled slightly and understood.

These simple men were looking forward to receiving the reward, but they also instinctively felt that they should not receive the reward if they had not made any merit in beheading the enemy.

However, in this case, the eighty-nine people including Xu Huang were only responsible for bluffing and blocking the bandits' way down the mountain, so no fighting took place.

By this calculation, only a few people can get the silver.

Wang An chuckled and said, "According to the military law of Daliang, there is no reward without the merit of beheading."

When the crowd heard this, many of them looked gloomy, but none of them were dissatisfied.

This has been the old rule of Daliang Liguo for more than 600 years, and everyone knows it.

Moreover, the soldiers of Jizhou Guard have not fought a war for many years, and they would run away as fast as possible when foreign invaded in the past.

Even though those present were men of blood, it was futile for them to achieve some military merit.

Now Wang An not only led them to fight, but also clearly defined rewards and punishments. Even if their work was in vain, no one could say anything.

After all, Wang An was still in charge of their food, drink, and wages.

The silver reward for military merit is extra money given for meritorious service. There is nothing to be dissatisfied about if you don't have it.

Seeing everyone hanging their heads in dejection, Wang An changed the subject and said with a smile, "But I'm new here, and you guys are willing to stay with me out of the 3,000 people. How can I not repay you for your kindness?"

Everyone raised their heads at the same time, their eyes filled with surprise and expectation.

Facing the excited eyes of the crowd, Wang An waved his hand and said, "Three taels of silver per person, just consider it as my greeting gift to you."

"As for those who have made great contributions in killing the enemy, according to our Daliang law, they will be rewarded with one ounce of silver!"

"Brothers, are you satisfied?"

The entire crowd was stunned for a moment, and then they shouted at the top of their lungs: "Satisfied, satisfied!"

"Long live His Royal Highness Prince Xin!"

"I am willing to follow His Royal Highness Prince Xin until death!"

"From now on, I will fight wherever you decide to let me fight!" Wang An nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that he could not spend the three taels of silver, but in fact there were only eighty-nine soldiers left in the entire garrison. Without anyone to discuss it, not much silver could be spent. This could greatly boost morale.

These soldiers in the garrisons all come from farming families. It is hard to say whether they can understand or not when you talk to them about the dangers of the country and the need to defend their homes and homeland.

Some people may even feel that the prince is too long-winded and become annoyed.

For this kind of people, any vague promises are empty, and only getting real money is in line with their actual interests.

Wang An has always firmly believed in this truth throughout his two lives.

A boss who can’t paint a rosy picture is not a good boss, but a boss who only knows how to paint a rosy picture is definitely a bad boss.

Wang An wants to be a boss who can not only make promises but also be willing to give benefits!

After everyone happily received the silver, Wang An said, "Brothers, follow me to Qingzhou in a while. I'll give you one stick of incense to go home and give the silver to your wives, or pack up some sundries. Anyway, we'll set off on time after one stick of incense!"

The morale of the garrison soldiers, who had just received three or even four taels of silver, was high, and they all agreed when they heard the proposal.

An incense stick later, when Wang An led the reorganized garrison soldiers to the outside of the city, Chen He had already selected three hundred young and strong bandits.

Wang An had only one thing to say about these bandits.

"We'll go to Qingzhou to buy food for you. Your family's survival will depend on this one chance. Move more quickly!"

These bandits had already heard some vague rumors that the Jizhou government office had little food in stock, and some of them were already uneasy.

When they heard that Wang An had called them together just to buy food, they immediately became happy and their hands and feet became quicker. There was no way they would say no.

So, a team of nearly four hundred people, pushing two hundred carts, set out towards Qingzhou in a mighty manner.

Yaocheng, the capital of Qingzhou Prefecture, is not far from Jizhou. If you take a fast horse, you can make a round trip in ten days.

However, the crowd could not push the cart very fast.

But it only took seven days to reach Yaocheng.

Before entering the city, Wang An had already sent Xu Huang on horseback to inform the governor of Qingzhou of his arrival.

After all, he is a prince, and the relationship between him and Fang Shan, the governor of Qingzhou, is the same as the relationship between royal family members and their subjects.

When I arrived, according to the etiquette of the Daliang Dynasty, Fangshan should go out of the city to welcome me.

Although Wang An didn't care much about the red tape, he still had to show the proper appearance.

However, when Wang An arrived at the foot of Qingzhou City, there were only a few people standing at the gate. Not to mention Fang Shan, there wasn't even a red carpet.

As for those few people, judging from the styles of official robes they wore, they were all insignificant officials.

Wang An's brows suddenly frowned.

It seems that the governor of Qingzhou is very disrespectful!
At this time, the officials also came forward, lazily bowed to Wang An, and perfunctorily said, "Your Highness Prince Xin, we respectfully welcome you."

Xu Huang couldn't bear to watch this, so he stepped forward and asked, "Didn't I already inform the Qingzhou government office? Why didn't your governor come?"

One of the officials walked out and said with a chuckle, "Our Lord Fang is busy with some important matters and cannot spare the time to welcome His Royal Highness Prince Xin. I hope Your Highness will forgive me!"

"Disrespectful! You..." Xu Huang wanted to say something, but Wang An stopped him with his hand and sneered, "Since your governor has important matters to attend to, I will not blame you."

(End of this chapter)