Chapter 181 Big Sticks and Carrots

That night, Li Wei was living in the military camp. Although he drank a lot of wine, he still couldn't fall asleep for a long time. The feeling of coming to Liaodong made him very excited. He felt that he had touched the hearts of the Liaodong generals. People were the most important thing for him. He needed a group of loyal subordinates to him. This was the basis for his great achievements. Li Wei was lying on the military carpet and staring at the dark tent. The sound of the sea water hitting the shore from afar. He suddenly heard the sound of "waves" on the sea water slapped the shore.

However, when he remembered the giant parked in the harbor, an uncontrollable yearning rose in his heart. He got up and put on his clothes and walked outside the tent. The barracks were only more than a hundred steps away from the pier, and one corner was close to the pier. When he walked to the edge of the barracks, Li Wei saw the tall and majestic black shadow at a glance. It was swaying gently with the sea water. The bright moonlight shone on it, and a layer of strange color was covered in half light and half dark, just like a giant monster emerging from the depths of the sea.

"Can't you sleep?" A low laugh came from the darkness.

Li Weizheng knew who he was from the Sichuan voice that appeared in his accent. He smiled and said, "Don't Lord Chen can't sleep either? Why not come and chat."

"Okay, I'll disturb Lord Li."

Chen Zhian appeared in the darkness. He slowly walked up to him and bowed and said, "I was so excited that I couldn't sleep, so I went out for a walk and happened to meet an adult."

"Sit down!" Li Wei was sitting on a stone and asked Chen Zhian to sit down too. He smiled faintly and asked, "At the dinner table tonight, I found that Lord Chen seemed to know me very well. Why is this?"

This is something that Li Weizheng has always been unable to understand. The Ming Dynasty was not as messaging as later generations. The message transmission was very closed, especially when Liaodong was far away from the Central Plains. Some major events may be known, but the small things in the court, especially those like the small things he was Ye Tianming's son-in-law, would not have known them if he had not been intentionally investigated, not to mention that it was a remote place like Liaodong. Chen Zhian knew so clearly that there was only one possibility, that is, he had specifically investigated them.

Chen Zhian seemed to know Li Weizheng's suspicion, and he smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest, I have a cousin who also works in the Jinyiwei. He wrote a letter to tell me these things."

"Oh! Who is your relative? Maybe I know you." Li Weizheng asked with great interest.

"The adults don't know him. He is just a small person and is not in the same place as the adults. However, the Jinyiwei knows the adults' deeds."

"Actually, there is no deed. Lord Chen has over-rewarded."

Seeing that he refused to reveal it, Li Wei stopped asking questions. The topic changed and said with a smile: "By the way, I also want to learn about the situation of the Liaodong Dusi and my three subordinates from Lord Chen. I hope that Lord will try to tell me more details."

"If you want to know, of course I will answer everything." Chen Zhian smiled slightly and said, "Let me talk about the three guards of my lord first! Fuzhou guards are in normal organization, with 6,000 troops. Because our Jinzhou guards have a naval organization, the number of people is slightly larger, with 7,500 people, but the other guards of my lord, Jianzhou guards have 12,000 people."

"Why is this?" Li Weizheng was stunned and interrupted his words and asked.

"Sir, don't worry. Listen to me, the Jianzhou Guard itself has a 6,000 troops, and the additional 6,000 people is because the emperor wanted to build the Tieling Guard two years ago, but it was not successful for a long time. The army transferred to Jiantailing Guard was temporarily managed by Jianzhou Guard, which formed a situation where Jianzhou Guard actually led two guards. Therefore, the actual force that the Jianzhou Guard actually controlled was 25,000, which is the second real power figure in our Liaodong."

"Who is the first real power person? Are they all commanders?" Li Weizheng asked with a smile again.

Chen Zhian shook his head and said, "The commander of the Liaodong Metropolitan Commander is Yang Wen, the right governor of the Houjun Office. Although he is a second-rank official, he cannot command all the military guards. He is just a nominal commander. All the military guards are directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. The commander of the Tongzhi is slightly better. At least he is in charge of the supply of logistics supplies for the guards. The key is that they are not like the masters and also lead the military guards and have real power. The first real power figure in our Liaodong is His Highness, the same as the masters, who have just been granted a title to Liaodong. Ten days ago, I went to Guangning to pay my respects to him. He brought 30,000 former guards, so he is the first real power figure in Liaodong."

‘King of Liao?’ Li Weizheng was a little surprised. Why did Zhu Zhi come so quickly? He was only half a month earlier than him and had to go back to organize the army. Why did he come so quickly?

Seeing that Li Wei was bowing his head and silent, Chen Zhian asked tentatively: "The King of Liao told us that he was granted Liaodong this time mainly to deal with Goryeo. I wonder if the Lord is here this time..."

Li Wei was just looking up at him, and seeing that his face was very nervous, he smiled and said, "You guessed that, I am here to deal with Goryeo, the King of Liao is the chief general, and I am the deputy general. As for when to send troops, it depends on the imperial decree."

Chen Zhian's face turned pale. He didn't want to fight. For a long time, he couldn't say a word. Li Wei seemed to understand his thoughts. He sneered disdainfully, and then stood up and said, "It's late at night. I'm going back to rest. I'm going to take office in Jinzhou Guard tomorrow morning. You should also rest early!"

After saying that, he ignored Chen Zhian and returned the account himself.

When he walked to the door of the tent, a personal soldier came up to him. Seeing that the personal soldier looked strange, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Sir, you have it in your tent..." The personal soldier stepped forward and said to him a few words. Li Wei was a little surprised. Wang Qianhu was so bold. His face sank, and said, "Go and pull him here!"

Two personal soldiers ran towards a large tent not far away, where Wang Qianhu's camp was. Li Weizheng shook his head and lifted the curtain and walked into the large tent. The lights were lit in the big tent, and there was a pungent fragrance. On his military blanket was a woman, to be precise, a prostitute, the most famous prostitute among the three brothels in the port. She was about her early twenties and was slightly handsome. Her face was covered with thick pink makeup and her lips were covered with scarlet red. When she saw him come in, she immediately pretended to be shy and secretly delivered a few charming eyes to him. Although she was a top-notch prostitute in this small place, the vulgarity that could not be concealed and the white powder that fell off her face, and the dazzlingly red thick lips made Li Weizheng feel disgusted. He turned around and came out of the large tent.

At this time, Wang Qianhu had already followed several personal soldiers to come here. When he saw Li Wei's face was as deep as water, he felt extremely uneasy. Do you think this woman is ugly? No wonder, he came from the capital. How could he be attracted to prostitutes from such a small place? Wang Qianhu felt regretful and wanted to give himself a big mouth.

Wang Qianhu ran to Li Wei and knelt down and kowtowed, "I am guilty of humble duties, please forgive me!"

Li Wei glanced at him. There were so many people on the table. He didn't look at the Qianhu, the Liaodong Navy. Now he noticed the appearance of this person. He was not short, but his whole body was like a rectangular piece. When he ran over, he looked like a goose, looking very clumsy. He had a wide flat nose, thick lips, and a flat face. He seemed honest and honest, but his small eyes showed the cunning of a small farmer from time to time. Li Wei couldn't help but shake his head secretly. Can such a person be a Qianhu? If it weren't for him, he should have farmed and sold vegetables at home now.

Li Wei was snorting and said coldly: "Since you say you are guilty, then what crime did you commit? Do you know?"

Although Wang Qianhu was clumsy, he was not stupid in this kind of thing. He thought that the fan he found was not in line with the wishes of the adults, but he could not make it clear, so he kowtowed repeatedly and said, "I want to respect the adults, but I forgot that this is a military camp. I was confused for a while and asked for forgiveness from the adults."

"You also know that this is a military camp. You have violated the military rules when you drink tonight. I don't care about your enthusiasm anymore. You dare to bring prostitutes into the military camp!"

Li Weizheng's voice was very stern. Dozens of officers who were drinking together came, and they lowered their heads silently, all without saying a word. Chen Zhian and Zhou Mi looked at each other. They all understood that Li Wei was going to use this thousand households to establish their authority. Neither of them dared to say anything, but Li Weizheng did not let them go. He glanced at him and asked Chen Zhian coldly: "Mr. Chen, you are the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou Guard. Maybe I first came and said, I don't understand the rules here here. I want to ask, is it the style of the Liaodong Army to summon prostitutes in the army?"

Seeing that Li Wei was throwing this hot thing to him, Chen Zhian had to bite the bullet and go forward and said, "Stop the anger. The Liaodong Army is as strict as other Ming army. Prostitutes are strictly prohibited from entering the military camp. However, the conditions here are difficult, and everyone's food and accommodation are far inferior to other guards in Liaodong, let alone the army in the Central Plains. You can look at the tents where the troops live. These are shabby goods left decades ago and cannot stop the wind and cold at all. However, other guards live in brick houses and the conditions are too difficult, so it is reasonable for the officers to occasionally violate the rules. Please forgive him."

At this time, countless soldiers also slowly rushed up. Nearly a thousand people surrounded the camp tents in a large circle. They all watched Li Weizheng's final defeat. Two personal soldiers brought a table. Li Weizheng turned around and climbed up the table and said to the soldiers loudly: "Brothers, here are the newly appointed assistant commander of Liaodong, the imperial court, who also serves as the commander of the three guards of Jinzhou, Fuzhou and Jianzhou, Li Weizheng, and your supreme commander. I took office for the first day today, but I encountered such a thing. Your thousand households dared to summon prostitutes into the military camp. Looking at the world of tomorrow, no guard dared to do this. You Lord Chen pleaded for him,

It is said that the conditions are difficult, and your conditions are very difficult. I saw with my own eyes that even the commander-in-chief can only sleep in military blankets and cover them with coarse cloth quilts. I promise you that I will improve these things as soon as possible. But today I want to tell you that under my rule, there is absolutely strict military discipline and no reason to make excuses. The perpetrators, regardless of the size of the official position or background, must be severely punished even if they are myself. Today I drank. Although it is natural for me to welcome me, it is not in the military camp. But as a soldier, I did violate the rules, so I punished myself for one year's salary."

Speaking of this, Li Wei was looking around, with thousands of people around him, quietly, dozens of drunk officers lowered their heads in shame, while Wang Qianhu knelt on the ground, trembling all over, and he also realized that the disaster was coming.

Li Weizheng pointed at Wang Qianhu and said loudly: "I don't know if other officers have violated military discipline, but when I see one, I will deal with one. Wang Qianhu openly summoned prostitutes to the camp and should be severely punished, and people will come!"

His personal soldiers agreed, and Li Wei was kneeling on the ground with a pale face on Wang Qianhu, and shouted sternly: "Take me two hundred military sticks and remove the position of Qianhu."

His personal soldiers were all the elite Jinyiwei, all of whom were very skilled in martial arts, and they were experts in the fight against others. More than a dozen people took Wang Qianhu down like chickens, and two red and black sticks specially used by Jinyiwei were swung and beaten. The importance and imperative were just right. They would neither beat him to death nor show mercy. The two hundred military sticks made him fly and howl like a pig.

The officers and soldiers around were so scared that they all looked like earth. The Liaodong Metropolitan City had been in peace for a long time, and this punishment had not happened for several years. The commander took a ruthless move on the first day of his arrival. After a moment, Li Weizheng ordered the dying Wang Qianhu to lift up and show it to the public. He turned around and looked at dozens of officers, "Who is the deputy Qianhu here?"

Two officers left the line and knelt on one knee and said, "That's what I am."

Li Wei was telling them: "From now on, Qianhu has been dismissed by me. You two are temporarily in charge of the navy. You will be patrolled on the sea every day, and you must not be slackened at all!"

"Abide by the order!" The two saluted loudly.

Li Weizheng said to the two again: "Although the conditions are difficult, you can also solve some of them by yourself. From tomorrow on, you will lead your brothers to take soil, burn bricks, build houses, and some necessary supplies. I will let Lord Tongzhi solve them for you."

The two deputy Qianhu looked at each other and all looked happy. In fact, they had already had this idea and asked Wang Qianhu several times. He always found various reasons to shirk the soldiers and refused to let the soldiers repair their own houses. He would rather let everyone live in an old tent. He was just afraid that the superiors would blame him for not doing their jobs. Today, the commander-in-chief took the initiative to propose, which made them overjoyed. The two agreed together.

Chen Zhian looked embarrassed, and asked him to solve the necessary materials. How did he solve the problem? He had no money, no supplies, so he could only report to the Liaodong Dusi. Anyway, this was what Li Weizheng agreed to, and asked him to persuade the superiors. However, Li Weizheng was not finished yet. He announced to the soldiers: "Today I heard the officer complain to me, saying that your food is very poor, eating sorghum noodles, drinking cabbage soup every day, without oil, and eating meat every few months. He also had to let the family secretly bring meat. I don't know why this is, but Weihaiwei on the other side of your shore can eat a meal every three days, and rice and flour can be full. Now I tell you that since I am here, I will improve everyone's food according to the standards of Weihaiwei. If everyone instructs the department to not give it, I will settle the score with them. If the Ministry of War does not give it, I will go to the capital to ask for it. In short, I will never treat my brothers badly."

As soon as he finished speaking, the barracks suddenly burst into joy, applause, and cheers resounded through the sky, cutting through the dark night sky.

At dawn the next day, Li Weizheng set out. According to the original plan, he would take up his post in Jinzhou Wei for three days, and then go to Guangning to meet Zhu Zhi. However, due to the "prostitute recruitment incident" that occurred last night, in order to win over the morale of the army as soon as possible, he had to go to Liaodong Metropolitan to negotiate the food and accommodation issues of officers and soldiers. Therefore, he changed his plan and stayed in Jinzhou Wei for only half a day, and then immediately set off for Liaodong Town.

The Liaodong Peninsula is hilly and has continuous hills, covered by large forests. Tigers, bears, jackals, roe deer, deer, wild goats and other wild beasts appear in the forest. Humans live in the edge of the forest or on fragmented plains. They are generally called forts or villages. They are built with huge stones around them. They were originally intended to defend against the invasion of bandits and beasts, but later they added the function of defending against Japanese pirates. The Liaodong Peninsula is covered with hundreds of large and small fortresses, dozens of small families, and two or three hundred families, or even four or five hundred families. This forms a fort town. The town has complete commercial business and endless traders, becoming the center of dozens of miles. There are about twenty fort towns like this on the Liaodong Peninsula, which are basically distributed along the coasts on both sides, with more flat land and warm climate. The middle boundary is full of boundless mountain forests.

Jinzhou Wei is about 100 miles away from Lushun Port. Li Wei is under the escort of more than 200 officers and soldiers and is moving north along the narrow official road. Tongzhi Chen Zhian urged his horse to follow him from behind and said, "Sir, are you looking for me?"

"I'll ask you, why is the official road here so narrow and difficult to walk on?"

Chen Zhian was stunned for a moment and smiled bitterly: "Dissatisfied with the fact that there is no official road here, so the court has never built any official road here. In the past, the army and the people used to go by sea. After the sea ban, merchants and the people could only go by land. This road was originally a hunting road. With more people walking, it formed this small road. The large carts could not pass at all and could only be transported by mules and horses. Therefore, the poverty of the people on the Liaodong Peninsula and the scarcity of materials are also related to inconvenient transportation."

Li Weizheng nodded and asked again: "Yesterday, the food and accommodation of the Liaodong Navy were very poor. Is they special or is it the whole Liaodong Metropolitan?"

Chen Zhian sighed and said, "Actually, adults should also know that the army is divided into different levels. The best treatment is the capital and the northern border army. The capital is the guardian emperor, while the northern border army has to fight with the Mongolians. It is normal for the treatment to be good. Because of the large population and the fertile land, the rice, grain and meat handed over by the military households can meet the needs of the local army. For example, the Weihaiwei in the past was naturally valued because of the Japanese pirates. However, our Liaodong Dusi is different. The climate here is cold and the population is sparse, and the grain yield is low. The grain handed over by the military households is basically

It is not enough, the Ministry of War must allocate grain from outside. The key is that we do not fight here, so the Ministry of War allocated much less military rations, and the poor treatment is natural. In addition, there is unfairness in the Liaodong Dushi. Take eating meat as an example. The northern military guards were treated better because of accidental wars with the Mongols. The treatment is worse the more they go south. Therefore, it is normal for their navy to eat meat one or two months. Jinzhou guards eat meat one and half a month, Dongning guards in the north and Shenyang guards eat meat one and ten days. Like what the adults said yesterday, eating meat one and three days, our Liaodong Dushi army would not even think about it."

After saying that, Chen Zhian shook his head repeatedly. He was very worried about the promise made by Li Weizheng yesterday. How could he do it if rice and flour are full, and eating meat for three days? Li Weizheng smiled and said nothing. He knew that if Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to go to war with Goryeo, he would definitely have to let the soldiers eat enough. Before he left, the imperial edict had been issued, ordering all regions to transport money and grain to Liaodong. If it was transported by sea, it would be almost here.
Chapter completed!