" By the will of the heavens, the Emperor decreed that the Governor of the Three Sides, Hong Chengchou, was a prudent man, diligent and gentle, graceful and pure.
Hong Chengchou was decisive in suppressing the bandits and had done his duty. He was now granted the title of Crown Prince Taibao and Minister of War. He would continue to serve as the Governor of the three sides of Xishan!
The rest of the tribes will be rewarded according to their achievements!
Respect this!"
"This subject has received the imperial edict to thank you. Long live my emperor!”
Under Hong Chengchou's lead, the rest of the people followed him and bowed.
The imperial edict was only for Hong Chengchou. The remaining people did not have the right to ask Emperor Chongzhen to write an imperial edict for them.
It was only after Hong Chengchou's reward was over that it was time for the people below!
Cao Wenzhao, He Huchen, and the other commander-in-chief didn't receive any rewards. They were already commander-in-chief.
Cao Wenzhao was already at Rank-2, a true Rank-2. If he continued to rise, would he be given a Secondary Rank-1?
Hong Chengchou was only in his current position!
As for Cao Bianjiao, he was not so lucky!
Chongzhen was a rather suspicious person. Now, Cao Wenzhao was the commander and Cao Bianjiao was the general, a third-grade official!
Even though martial arts were cheap and literature was precious, a third-grade official was already not low!
If they continued to promote Cao Bianjiao, the army would soon belong to the Cao family!
Chongzhen would never do such a thing.
Even so, the Cao family's backer, Censor Wu, and the pleas of some people did not change Chongzhen's mind.
In other aspects, he only gave some titles to the women in their families.
There was nothing else! As for money, Chongzhen expressed that since they were not rich, they would not reward them.
Seeing that Chongzhen had made his decision, the people in the imperial court no longer insisted!
In the end, they didn't want the military officials to gain too much power. Just saying a word was already giving these people face!
Did he want them to offend the emperor for those soldiers?
They were not stupid!
However, Cao Bianjiao did not get promoted, but everyone below him did.
Qin Feng didn't know about the others, but he was promoted to Xuanwu General because of his contributions!
Rank-4 was already not low!
After Qin Feng received the edict and expressed his gratitude, he also confirmed his defensive position.
Cao Wenzhao and the others had returned to Datong Prefecture to guard against the enemies of the grasslands. Of course, if the rebels gathered again,
He would probably still be transferred away!
Qin Feng continued to listen to Cao Wenzhao's orders, but he didn't need to go there.
Qin Feng's encampment was located elsewhere.
The troops under his command were also gathered together, 5,000 people, responsible for the defense of Weiyuan City under Da Tong.
Moreover, it had jurisdiction over Weihu Castle, Marble Castle, Weiping Castle, and so on!
Furthermore, Qin Feng had also inquired about the few fortresses in the area. This was the true fortress of the border army!
Each fort had hundreds to thousands of soldiers, and they could send out hundreds of people to fight at once!
In addition, there were 2,000 border guards in Weiyuan City who were also under Qin Feng's control!
It could be said that Qin Feng could even indirectly control tens of thousands of border troops!
Together with the 5,000 elite troops under him, if Qin Feng went to the entire Weiyuan Road and Weiyuan City, he would be the greatest force!
Of course, this did not include some gentry. There were also the guards and servants of the merchants. Otherwise, if those people were to combine...
They probably wouldn't have fewer people than Qin Feng. However, would they have the chance to join forces?
Moreover, it was also because there were many deserters and people who had died in battle.
Originally, there were 7,000 people on Weiyuan Road, but they were constantly dying and there were no reinforcements. Slowly, there were only so many people left!
It was only because the Tartars seemed to be at war with the Mongolians that they did not have the time to care. Otherwise, with so few people, they would probably be robbed again!
Qin Feng's appearance this time allowed him to directly replenish his manpower and bring them along.
Besides, the horse market was just outside Weiyuan Road!
In the early years, there were still transactions organized by the imperial court, but now, it was already in a half-crippled state!
The imperial court basically couldn't control this side anymore, but it wasn't like there weren't any transactions!
There were countless people smuggling goods every day. The Jin merchants were known as the imperial merchants by the Tartars.
The place that Qin Feng was in charge of was one of the big trading points!
After getting his own place, Qin Feng didn't stop. After saying goodbye to Cao Bianjiao and Cao Wenzhao,
He led his 5,000 men and began to march. The 1,000 men that had been added were also arranged by Qin Feng.
Just treat it as training for them!
The north wind howled and the cold wind blew. The further north they went, the more common such weather became. It was even like a knife scraping on one's face.
However, no one complained. All the soldiers stood tall and proud.
Traveling dozens of miles a day was not a difficult thing for them!
After more than ten days of traveling, they were finally about to reach Weiyuan City. At this time, they were less than fifty miles away!
The people from Weiyuan City had also contacted Qin Feng!
Ever since the Tartars attacked Weiyuan City once, there had been no general stationed there for two years. Usually, it was the civil officials who were in charge of the matters here.
At this moment, Weiyuan City knew that a brave and good general like Qin Feng had come.
No one knew what they were thinking, but they were all listless and almost didn't have any standing posture.
Many of them were still chatting.
"I wonder if the general brought our rations with him when he came this time!
It had been more than five months since they had received their rations. The women and children at home were about to starve to death!”
"Hehe, all crows in the world are black. You want food? Wouldn't that be cutting off their flesh?
I finally understand these officials. It's harder than ascending to the heavens to get food from their mouths!”
"It's different. I heard that this General Qin seems to be similar to us. He slowly rose in rank during the bandit suppression this time.
Moreover, he fought bravely and killed countless enemies. He was different from those civil officials!”
"So what? It's the same after you become an official!" a veteran soldier said.
"Sigh, I hope I can get some money. Otherwise, I'm thinking…"
"Silence!"
"Sigh…"
···
"Milord, Weiyuan City is in front!”Tian Ying said as he followed beside Qin Feng.
"Hmm, have you investigated the situation inside?”Tian Ying and Ma Zitong followed behind Qin Feng.
Now, he could be considered Qin Feng's right-hand man.
"I've investigated clearly!" Tian Ying nodded and continued,
"Milord, outside Weiyuan Road is the horse market. Many caravans pass by here.
Moreover, these people had also joined forces with the thousand-households in the various forts and the guards in the city!
There were also the residences of various merchants in the city, such as the Fan family, the Zhang family, the Hu family, and so on. Each family had hundreds of servants, all of whom were elites.
Also, the people here were valiant, and the local officials were almost all bribed to cover for these caravans!
The imperial court could not pay the army in the city, and the tribute of the caravan was almost eaten up by the guards.
There was also the situation of land. Every fort had the private land of the thousand-household and vice-thousand-household. The military households had to work every year, and the taxes were high!
This is the specific situation, my lord!" As he spoke, Tian Ying passed a document to Qin Feng.
These people had already completed their literacy and could write.
"It's true. The temple demon is really strong!”Qin Feng shook his head and smiled as he looked at the complicated relationship.
"Zitong, do you have anything to say?”Qin Feng asked as he passed the document to Ma Zitong.
"My lord…"
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