On the second day after the battle, Lu Xiangsheng summoned the generals to the main tent of the Central Army for a meeting. Di Ba Lin Feng was appointed as the deputy thousand households.
Outside the main tent, more than ten thousand bandits piled up like a mountain. Ma Shouying's corpse was hanging on a wooden pole in front of the stage. Some specialized soldiers were using lime and other materials to deal with the corpses. The other soldiers were discussing the information about the battle.
"This war is all thanks to Tian Jin's army. They only had a thousand men, but they managed to kill Ma Shouying!”
"After the Tianjin army defeated the old Hui, they came to the main battlefield to support us.”
"If it wasn't for Tianjin's strong army that destroyed the east wing of the rebel army, we would have lost this battle!”
"If it wasn't for Tianjin's army, we might have lost our lives.”
The army respected the strong the most, let alone the strong who saved their lives. After this battle, the soldiers of each town were very respectful to the soldiers of Tianjin. The soldiers of the various battalions were more cautious when they passed by the camp. Even when they were curious about the situation in the tent, they only dared to sneak a glance.
Lu Xiangsheng waved his hand at Lin Feng and said,"From now on, you will be in the front row of the generals." Come with me to the side tent now. I have something to say to you.”
After saying this, Lu Xiangsheng lifted the side door of the big tent and walked into the side tent next to it. Stunned for a moment, she quickly chased after him and walked into the side tent.
The side tent was not big, only twenty square meters. There was a table and a chair inside. On the table was a map of Ruzhou's mountains and rivers. It seemed that Lu Xiangsheng usually thought about tactics and taught the generals face-to-face. When Li Zhi walked in, Lu Xiangsheng was already standing there with his back facing him and stroking his beard.
He walked over and cupped his hands.”
Lu Xiangsheng didn't turn his head. With his back facing him, he asked indifferently,""How many levels did you get this time?"
After some thought, he said,"General Mo has killed 6,570 levels of horses this time. Among them, 810 are Tang horses, 5,370 are old thieves, and 180 are hungry soldiers."”
Lu Xiangsheng saw that Li Zhi remembered the ranks so clearly and knew that he wanted to rely on this military merit to be promoted. Lu Xiangsheng pondered for a moment, then turned around and said,"Our army seized 130,000 taels of silver and 6,100 horses from the old Hui's camp. I will give you 10,000 taels of silver and 1,000 horses as your spoils!
After Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng left the battlefield with nine thousand Tang horses, they immediately ran back to the thief camp and took away all the silver and horses. When the government troops arrived at the thief camp, they found nothing except women and children. However, Ma Shouying was killed by Li Zhi, and his soldiers were all scattered. The scouts of the government army took advantage of the situation to occupy Ma Shouying's camp and seize Ma Shouying's silver and horses.
Although these spoils were Lin Feng's credit, according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, they could not take the spoils of war privately. It was also Lu Xiangsheng who distributed them. Lu Xiangsheng gave so much money and horses to Lin Feng.
A thousand workhorses were worth about thirty taels of silver, and a thousand workhorses was worth more than thirty thousand taels of silver. Adding on ten thousand taels of silver, it was a huge fortune.
Knowing what Lu Xiangsheng meant, he quickly cupped his hands and said,"Thank you, Prime Minister!"
Lu Xiangsheng looked into Lin Feng's eyes and said slowly,""However, the levels you obtain will have to be distributed to the other military towns!”
He was stunned. He did not expect Lu Xiangsheng to say this. He slowly asked,"Why do you have to divide me into lower levels?"
Lu Xiangsheng patted Lin Feng's shoulder and said,""Deputy Chiliarcher, this is also a military rule! You don't know!" After a pause, Lu Xiangsheng said,"All the officials in the imperial court think so. If one army gained too much while the other armies gained nothing, wouldn't the other armies be useless? The relationship between the generals is intertwined. They are all people of my Ming Dynasty. Naturally, they can't be such incompetent people. They naturally have to take care of the distribution of ranks. It was a tradition in the army to distribute the ranks of the captured soldiers according to their official positions. It was not specifically targeted at you!”
Thinking about how the Ming army was also so rotten, the military officers who didn't have the rank of commander still had to share the battle achievements of others.
Lu Xiangsheng made the generals apologize to him and made him stand in front of the generals to give him enough face. It turned out that he wanted to raise his status first and then suppress it. He wanted to rank him here.
However, Lu Xiangsheng was the prime minister. He could only listen to him.
"How many levels do I have to give up?" he asked resentfully.”
" I'll try my best to keep it," Lu Xiangsheng said lightly." You can keep 1,000 levels and help you keep the contribution of the Formation Executioner. The other 5,570 levels will have to be given away."”
His face turned red. Just as he was about to speak, Lu Xiangsheng said,"Although you only left behind a thousand levels, you are only a fifth grade deputy thousand-man acting as a defense officer. There are only a hundred or so main soldiers. If you report your contributions, I guarantee that you will be promoted three levels in a row. When the time comes, a fourth-rank guard commander will be appointed as the integrity officer!”
According to the custom of the Ming Dynasty, the promotion and transfer of local military officers below the rank of general would be reported by the local governor and commander. Those above the rank of general must be approved by the Ministry of War. After the cabinet approved, they would issue an imperial edict. Lin Feng's current official position was low, and his promotion was basically reported by the governor. Lu Xiangsheng had the official title of Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War and was the superior of the Military Selection Department. If he reported Lin Feng's rank four official position to the Martial Selection Department, he would be able to obtain this official position.
Upon hearing this, his expression became better as he pondered.
"Deputy Chiliarcher, you're still young. It's not a good thing to be promoted too quickly. Now that you've obtained a thousand-level array, you've risen three levels in a row. It's enough to make the other officials look askance at you. If he demanded more promotions, it would definitely attract the jealousy of other officials. At that time, it would be difficult to guard against a hidden arrow!”
Although what Lu Xiangsheng said made sense, there was still room for bargaining.
Although Lu Xiangsheng had to give up his rank according to the rules of the officialdom, if he did not accept it and made a big fuss, the imperial court could still investigate the matter clearly in front of so many soldiers. Of course, if they did that, they would offend Lu Xiangsheng and the generals, and the court might not punish Lu Xiangsheng in the end. However, this meant that there was still room for bargaining.
"I can give out the general level, but I have two requests!" Lin Feng said after some thought.”
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