Chapter 140 - Posterior Disorder 3
When everything was settled, it was already noon. Zhao Chen called some of Home Breaker's and Jingyuan Army's military officers over and spoke with them! Li Gang, Yue Fei, Wang Shu, Zhao Zhe, Liu Qi and the rest were beside them!
Although Zhao Chen had already promised to forgive all the sins of the Home Breaker's warriors, they were still afraid!
One of them was a thick and muscular man with a large knife scar on his face. The scar extended from his left cheek all the way to his neck, causing his blood and flesh to churn. He looked exceptionally fierce!
The man couldn't hold it in any longer. He stood up and asked, "Your Majesty, you've promised to forgive us for our crimes. Is that true?"
Zhao Chen looked at the man, although the man looked ugly and sinister, Zhao Chen's expression did not change, but his expression was still warm and gentle, and said: "What is your name? What position do you hold in the Home Breaker? "
This person said: "This General Yang Zhong, is just a small Academy Officer of the Home Breaker! They did not dare to come to see His Majesty, but I did! "
Zhao Chen could not help but laugh. With a glance, he saw that this person was a brute who had been pushed out by the other Home Breaker soldiers, and immediately said: "We are the emperors, and the so-called Jun Wu Yi is not lying. When we say that we forgive you all for your crimes, it is naturally to forgive your crimes, and we can't be wrong!"
The high-ranking officer called Yang Zhong could not help but reveal a smile, and said: "Your Majesty cannot lie to me!"
Zhao Chen said: "I won't lie to you!"
Yang Zhong nodded and said, "I believe in Your Majesty! Your Majesty, I have one more thing to ask! "
Zhao Chen said: What do you want to ask, speak away! No matter what you guys say today, I will listen carefully and answer you in detail! "
Yang Zhong's eyes revealed a perturbed look, and he said: "Your Majesty, we are all subordinates of Zhe Keqiu, it is a great treason for Zhe Keqiu. Although Your Majesty forgives us, I think that in the future, we will never be promoted again! Is that right? "
Hearing Yang Zhong's words, the rest of the officers of Home Breaker also looked towards Zhao Chen. Wang Shu, Zhao Zhe, Liu Qi and the other officers of Jingyuan Army also looked towards Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen thought for a moment, then said: We only have two conditions to promote people! As long as you meet these two conditions, regardless of whether you are Zhe Keqiu's subordinate or not, you will be promoted! "
Yang Zhong anxiously asked: "What are the two conditions?"
Zhao Chen said: "First, be loyal to us, and second, be talented! "As long as you can reach these two points, you will have committed a grave mistake in the past. I will promote you as well!"
Yang Zhong was overjoyed, and said: "In that case, I can definitely get promoted! I am an Innate Ranker with outstanding martial arts skills. Last year, when the Female Genuine invaded, I led troops to obstruct the Nvzhen. However, I was injured by the Nvzhen and this scar was left on my face! It's just that at that time, I was following Second Young Master Qu and was defeated by the Nvzhen, but I killed dozens of Nvzhen s at that time. Thus, Second Young Master Qu hated me with envy, until I was reduced from a deputy general to a normal Academy Officer, and then Second Young Master went to Sichuan, where I was still unable to receive much attention in the army! If it was as His Majesty had said, I would have been promoted if I only valued talent and loyalty! I am absolutely loyal to His Majesty, there is one word in my name, it was taken by my parents, and they want me to be loyal to the Song Dynasty, to His Majesty! "Your Majesty, rest assured!"
After he said that, there were some things that went wrong. Zhao Chen laughed after hearing this, and said: "Very good! If you are truly loyal to me, I can definitely promote you! However, I will not come here to promote you with just a few words. In the future, when you show your loyalty and ability, we will talk about it again! "
Yang Zhong laughed out loud, and said: "Your majesty is right, just talking with your mouth is not something people can believe! Your majesty may look at this lowly general, but this lowly general will definitely let your majesty know your loyalty and talent! "
When such a boorish person stood out to speak, the tension in the room lessened by quite a bit! The Home Breaker generals were all thinking about the "two conditions" that Zhao Chen had mentioned. They were originally nervous, but now they felt a lot more relaxed. Wang Shu, Zhao Zhe, Liu Qi and the others also thought about the two conditions that Zhao Chen had mentioned. They secretly admired in their hearts, as these "two conditions" were the best ways to win over people's hearts! When ordinary military officers heard these "two conditions", they would try their best to show their loyalty and ability in order to enhance themselves!
"From yesterday to today, everyone must be tired! Yue Fei, arrange for lunch immediately so that everyone can have a good meal! After the meal, let the soldiers have a good night's sleep! We'll talk about other things tomorrow! " Zhao Chen said again.
Yue Fei quickly agreed!
After an hour, the lunch preparation was completed. Zhao Chen and the rest were having lunch together in the room. Outside, the Home Breaker and the soldiers from the Pingyuan Army were also having lunch. From yesterday to now, these soldiers were truly exhausted, especially the Home Breaker soldiers, they had knelt for a few hours, and even though they had stood up, their legs and feet were still sore. It was just that although they had received Zhao Chen's promise, they were still terrified, and did not dare rest!
After lunch, when they received Zhao Chen's official order, these soldiers started to lie down and rest.
"How is Hanzhong City?" Reaching this point, Zhao Chen once again asked him about the situation in the Hanzhong City.
"Your Majesty, Kang An has completely controlled the Hanzhong City! Right now, he was cleansing the streets of Hanzhong City! Other than that, everything in the Hanzhong City is normal. It's just that the citizens are frightened and hide in their own homes, not daring to come out for a short period of time! " Li Gang said.
Just a moment ago, Hanzhong City already had people who came to report the news to Li Gang, but Li Gang would now report it to him.
"Very good! If we stay in the army camp for a few days, the Hanzhong City will be handed over to Kang An! As long as there are no accidents in the Hanzhong City and no major ruckus! " Zhao Chen said.
"Kang An reported that he wants to impose a curfew on the Hanzhong City. As long as it is dark, no one is allowed to go out on the streets! Wait until a few days later, when His Majesty returns to the Middle Han Area, before slowly lifting the curfew! " Li Gang said.
"Alright, I'll do as he says!" Zhao Chen said.
"His Majesty hasn't slept since last night. He must be exhausted. Why don't we go sleep first?" Li Gang said.
"Alright!" Zhao Chen nodded!
Zhao Chen only woke up at night! After he woke up, he entered the Home Breaker's camp. At this moment, many of the soldiers in the Home Breaker had woken up after sleeping for an entire afternoon! Seeing Zhao Chen coming over, they all knelt down to greet him!
"Get up!" Zhao Chen smiled, he personally helped a soldier up!
When these soldiers saw Zhao Chen coming in, their hearts were filled with reverence and fear. One by one, they stood there quietly with solemn expressions!
"Come, sit down! I'll talk to you guys! " Zhao Chen laughed.
The soldiers were stunned. After a while, someone finally sat down, followed by more and more people sitting down!
Are you all soldiers of the Middle Han Area? Zhao Chen said.
"Your Majesty, most of us come from the Prefecture!" A soldier said.
Prefecture was probably located in the current Prefecture County of Shaanxi Province. In the Song Dynasty, it was an important military stronghold! The Zhuo Family had been protecting the prefecture for generations, and many of these Home Breaker's soldiers had come from the prefecture! However, the invasion of the femininity last year had caused the fall of the prefecture and now that the prefecture was owned by the Nvzhen, it was impossible for these people to return to their homeland!
"So that's how it is! Do you miss home? " Zhao Chen said.
"Yes!" Almost in unison, all the soldiers nodded.
"Very good, in this lifetime, I will bring you all back to your hometown and to the Prefecture!" Zhao Chen said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The soldiers said.
"You guys were in the Home Breaker before, did you guys have anything to do with the payment?" Zhao Chen said again.
Almost all the Home Breaker Soldiers s nodded their heads, some of the soldiers were even indignant, they had been deducted a little too much! Keeping the military salary was a bad habit that almost every army in ancient China had. It was normal for such a thing to happen in Home Breaker.
"How much did you get last month? Say it all! I will use the silver from the national treasury to make up for it! From today onwards, Yue Fei will assume the role of the Imperial Guard and he will not dare to deduct his pay. If he deducts his pay, I will be the first to not forgive him! " Zhao Chen said.
Hearing Zhao Chen's words, all the soldiers below revealed looks of extreme joy! They never thought that Zhao Chen would actually want to pay them back the salary that was deducted last month! As for the words Zhao Chen said later, they were only skeptical!
"Your Majesty, this lowly general will never do something like deducting the military's salary! Rest assured! " Yue Fei had always been standing by Zhao Chen's side, and now, Yue Fei said resolutely and decisively!
"Very good! I have already told Master Li Gang to go to Hanzhong City and bring the silver here. We still need to wait for a while! " Zhao Chen said.
The soldiers below were all extremely excited!
"At noon, I will speak with General Yang Zhong of your Home Breaker. I will tell him that as long as he is loyal to us, as long as he has the talent, we will promote him up! Now I want to tell these words to all of you soldiers and officers of the Home Breaker. No matter what your current status is, no matter whether you have made any mistakes before, as long as you can reach those two levels, we will not be stingy with our official positions. We will give you a large amount of the official positions in our hands! "I don't care about origin. No matter what background I come from, as long as I can achieve those two things, I can be promoted!" Zhao Chen said again.
Originally, the Western Army was rotten and the army paid great attention to one's background! If he was of noble birth, he would have no problem becoming a high official! If he was born with a poor background, it would be difficult for him to be promoted no matter how talented he was! For example, Liu Guangshi had been awarded the title of Emperor by the imperial government when he was born, becoming a part of the Third Class! But Han Shizhong, who was also a famous general in ZTE, took sixteen years to get a position in Class 3! Liu Guangshi did not have any achievements, he was able to control over a hundred thousand Liu Jiajia at a young age, and with Han Shizhong's outstanding achievements, he had defeated Western Xia repeatedly, and captured Fang La alive amidst thousands and thousands of troops, but this kind of contribution could only make him into a deputy general! Zhe Keqiu, Zhe Yanwen, and Zhe Yanzhi were fated to be in control of the Home Breaker.
Now, Zhao Chen actually did not care about his background, but only cared about loyalty and talent.
"Is what Your Majesty said true?" Some people couldn't help but ask.
"Of course it's true! Spreading what I say, I want everyone to know that other than these two conditions, there will be no other conditions! If you do not meet these two requirements, no matter who it is, they will not be able to be reused! " Zhao Chen said.
"Your majesty is enlightened!" The Home Breaker Soldiers below could not help but shout out, everyone was excited.
"Yue Fei, is dinner ready? We'll have dinner with everyone tonight! " Zhao Chen laughed.
That night, Zhao Chen and a group of Home Breaker Soldiers were having a meal together. Many of the soldiers were so moved that they wanted to cry! In the feudal society, the most important thing was status. Zhao Chen was undoubtedly the person with the highest status in the world, but these ordinary soldiers belonged to the group with the lowest status. Yet, Zhao Chen actually did not care about their vulgarity and sat amongst them and ate with them! In the past, let alone seeing or hearing about such things, they didn't even dare to think that such a thing would happen in this world!
"His Majesty is truly a Saint Lord from ancient times!"
"Zhe Keqiu causing trouble is indeed a crime worthy of death!"
"Such a king loves his soldiers like sons. How can he not be loyal to him?"
At that moment, whispers were everywhere! All the soldiers felt their hearts pounding. Some of them could not help but turn around and wipe away their tears!
In the distance, Wang Shu, Zhao Zhe, and the other two were originally patrolling the army camp. When the three saw the scene here, they couldn't help but be stunned!
"His Majesty is actually dining with those common soldiers! "This..." Zhao Zhe was in disbelief!
"How noble is his Majesty's status? How can he be with them?" Liu Qi also found it hard to believe.
"In the past, when the history books said that Han Gao's ancestor, Liu Bang, was talented, amiable, and good at buying people's hearts, even a guard would be able to talk to him. I didn't believe it! As an emperor, how could he possibly bend his waist to talk to an ordinary soldier? But now that you see what His Majesty has done, I believe you! " Wang Shu nodded and said.
In the eyes of Wang Shu and the other two, eating together with an emperor was practically a form of "humiliation", and those lowly soldiers were practically blasphemy towards the emperor's noble identity. But Zhao Chen did not care, the expression on his face was still as casual as ever, as though this was a very normal thing! They were extremely impressed!
"To think that he would stoop down so low to talk and eat with the soldiers. I'm afraid that it won't be long before this Home Breaker will be fully utilized by him! I have begun to admire him more and more. I hope that he does not only bribe the people here, he also has other methods to take over Song Dynasty! " Wang Shu secretly thought.
That night, Zhao Chen went from one camp to another. On one hand, he comforted the soldiers, and on the other, he introduced Yue Fei to the soldiers of the Home Breaker! He told the soldiers that Yue Fei was replacing him in taking control of the Imperial Guard, that Yue Fei was holding onto his treasured sword, and that Yue Fei's words were actually his own words!
Zhao Chen only returned to his room to rest at midnight!
The next morning, Zhao Chen woke up early and was still walking in the Home Breaker's camp. He was still together with the soldiers! He asked about the families of the soldiers, asked about the trivia of life, but the more he did so, the more grateful the soldiers became! These things were common in the later generations of the army, but in this era they were incomparably precious! Back then, Zhao Chen had also watched the News Simulcast for more than ten years. He had never eaten pork or seen pigs running, so he knew how to "inspect the army" and "penetrate deep into the army". Since the later generation was no longer a hierarchical society, the arrival of the leader among the soldiers still made the soldiers extremely excited, let alone this strictly hierarchical feudal society. As the Emperor of Nine Five, he personally ran into the army to deal with the soldiers. It would be strange if the soldiers were not moved!
Zhao Chen stayed here for three whole days, and only on the twenty-fourth of May did he finally leave the Southern Zheng and return to the Middle Han Area! Yue Fei had been left in the Southern Zheng, and from today onwards, Yue Fei would be under the control of the Imperial Guards and would be staying here for a long time!
As for the Jingyuan Army, a portion of them followed Zhao Zhe to the Dazhang Pass, and stayed there from now on. The other portion followed Liu Qi to the Shu Dao, and recruited 30,000 Home Breaker!
Zhao Chen returned to the palace, just as he arrived at Dry Clear Palace, he saw Lin Bao kneeling there, shivering!