amaotonovel Chapter 1011 This old bastard dares to accuse us of favoritism!
Chapter 1011 This old bastard dares to accuse us of favoritism!
Xu Da voluntarily joined the Red Turban Army to participate in the rebellion.
Li Shanchang, on the other hand, took the initiative to seek refuge with Emperor Zhu.
Neither of them were kind people.
Xu Da's attitude was firm: "The able-bodied men of Ningyang County are first chosen by our Grand Commander's Office. If anyone is to be selected, it should be our Grand Commander's Office first. The rest are for your cabinet."
Li Shanchang also refused to budge: "Are you, the Grand Commander's Mansion, like a gluttonous beast? Ningyang County only has five or six hundred able-bodied men of working age at most. You think you can take over the pot? Dream on!"
“Young and middle-aged people of the right age are not only found in Ningyang County.”
“Young and middle-aged people who are of suitable age, literate, and capable of simple arithmetic are not only found in Ningyang County.”
“Zunhua, Leting, Jinghai, Luanxian, Boshi… there are also plenty of able-bodied young men in these twenty-odd counties who meet the requirements of your Grand Commandery.”
"Now that the imperial court is going to reform the local counties, it is the time when there is a severe shortage of clerks."
At this point, Li Shanchang changed the subject again, saying, "Of course, I know that your Grand Commandery is also in dire need of literate and arithmetic-skilled young men, but you have to think about it, doesn't your Grand Commandery need yamen runners and clerks to manage the territory it has conquered?"
In an effort to snatch people from Xu Da, Li Shanchang even resorted to moral blackmail: "Think about what I just said. The yamen runners and clerks have the most contact with the people."
"I want these young and strong men from Ningyang County to create a good image. At the very least, we need to let the people know that the authorities and the court are genuinely concerned about them."
"We can't let those incompetent yamen runners and clerks ruin the image of those in power and the court, right?"
Xu Da simply rolled his eyes.
Moral kidnapping?
As long as I, Xu, am without morals, you, Li Shanchang, have no way to kidnap me!
Besides, what's so difficult about moral blackmail?
You, Li Shanchang, are good at moral blackmail, and I, Xu, am not necessarily incapable of it either!
Xu Da said with a smile, "What Prime Minister Li said about the yamen runners and clerks having the most contact with the people actually happened after the abolition of the native chieftain system."
“In the areas we just conquered, the people we had the most contact with were the lower-ranking officers, the general officers, and even the centurions.”
"The reason why the Grand General's Office set its sights on the young men of Ningyang County so early was that it intended to use them to establish a good image for our Ming army, so that the newly surrendered people would not be afraid of our Ming army and would thus win their hearts."
"Just like Li Xiang just used Ningyang County as an example."
Why did the people of Ningyang County choose to return home?
"It is because the Prince Consort set a good precedent in Ningyang County that the people of Ningyang County have truly submitted to our Great Ming."
"As the saying goes, 'What goes around comes around.' If these young men go to the Grand Commander's Office and the Grand Commander's Office uses them to complete the reform of the garrison system, won't the newly conquered territories also sincerely submit to them?"
"..."
The more Li Shanchang listened, the more he felt something was wrong.
You, Xu Tiande, are using my methods against me?
Li Shanchang, his face dark and sour, his hands clenched into fists hidden in his sleeves, snorted coldly and said, "Stop talking nonsense to me. I'll just ask you, how many able-bodied men from Ningyang County can your Grand Commander's Office provide?"
Xu Da sensed something was wrong. He glanced at Li Shanchang's sleeve and snorted coldly, saying, "One hundred! There are a total of five hundred and eighteen able-bodied men of the right age in Ningyang County. The Grand General's Office only needs four hundred and eighteen, and the remaining one hundred are for your cabinet."
Li Shanchang snorted coldly again and said angrily, "Three hundred! The cabinet wants three hundred, and the remaining two hundred and eighteen will go to your Grand Commander's Office!"
Watching Li Shanchang and Xu Da argue back and forth, Emperor Zhu was completely bewildered.
No.
You two fought really hard.
But has any of you asked us?
Emperor Zhu coughed and tapped the table. After Li Shanchang and Xu Da quieted down, he said, "Well, we have another idea about the young men in Ningyang County."
Li Shanchang and Xu Da exchanged a glance and then simultaneously snorted coldly.
"I'll let you steal it!"
"Now look what's happened, even the one who wants to take the top spot is trying to steal it!"
Li Shanchang and Xu Da blamed each other in their hearts, while at the same time pondering how to snatch people from Emperor Zhu's hands.
Emperor Zhu then slowly said, "I just suddenly thought of the matter of reforming the garrison system."
"Are you talking about a 35-year-old veteran retiring from the military?"
"What a coincidence, of the hundred guards we brought back for Biao'er from Ningyang County, there should be a few who are almost thirty-five years old."
"We plan to have them withdraw from the Crown Prince's personal guards, and then select able-bodied men from Ningyang County to fill the vacancies."
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Xu Da almost couldn't resist the urge to curse.
Hey, you're trying to climb up the ladder, do you want to hear what you're saying?
The oldest of the guards you recruited for His Highness the Crown Prince from Ningyang County was only twenty-two years old.
In just a few years, he suddenly turned thirty-five?
What? Can the able-bodied young people in Ningyang County do the work of others for three to five years in one year?
Besides, the discussion about veterans retiring at age 35 doesn't include officers, does it?
Everyone knows the background of the able-bodied men in the Crown Prince's personal guards. Any one of them is a skilled fighter who dares to fight and kill. Even if they can't be given the position of centurion directly, they can at least become a captain.
Are you willing to let them leave the military?
Who knows, you probably already had a plan for how to arrange them, and now you're taking this opportunity to try and steal people from us!
Li Shanchang also felt extremely troubled.
The addition of Xu Da was already a headache enough, but now there's another one who's risen to power.
Why is it so difficult to get a few people from Ningyang County?
Li Shanchang grew angrier the more he thought about it, so he simply bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "The emperor cannot be too biased. Huaiyou, especially Fengyang, is the proper place where the dragon rose. If we need to replenish the guards of the Eastern Palace, we cannot neglect Fengyang."
Emperor Zhu was almost amused by Li Shanchang's outburst.
In order to snatch people away, this old scoundrel even dared to accuse us of favoritism!
Of course, we were a little biased.
But can you blame us for being biased?
Fengyang is indeed the birthplace of the dragon, and Old Zhu truly cares about the people of Fengyang.
But those were the able-bodied young men of Ningyang County—although the elders and folks of Fengyang could be trusted, how many of those young men in Fengyang were literate?
In terms of literacy, manners, strategy, and skills, the young men and women from Fengyang are somewhat inferior to those from Ningyang County.
Both are bodyguards who would not hesitate to sacrifice themselves to protect Biao'er. Who wouldn't want a better one?
Besides, when did the Crown Prince's guards ever just be ordinary guards?
Emperor Zhu said with a smile, "Look at what Mr. Shanchang is saying. It's true that we need the able-bodied men from Ningyang County to supplement the guards of Biao'er, but we didn't say we didn't need the able-bodied men from our hometown of Fengyang, did we?"
“We were thinking of getting a hundred more from Ningyang County this time… but let’s get fifty more from Fengyang first, and then another fifty from Ningyang, and then we can set up a new Imperial Guard Hundred-Household.”
"This new centurion of the Imperial Guard will be sent to Dengzhou for training. We plan to spend a year training them all to be qualified Imperial Guards."
Xu Da blinked unconsciously.
So, when you took over, you never intended for the able-bodied men in the Imperial Guard to retire; you wanted more, right?