Red Mansion: Incense and God Road, starting from the City God of Shenjing

Chapter 87 I will give you three breaths to explain
The Jiangnan Camp was stationed in the Jiangyin area of ​​Changzhou Prefecture.

Control the throat of the Yangtze River and protect the secondary capital Nanjing.

The entire Jiangnan camp, including 20,000 naval forces, had a total of 120,000 troops stationed.

"General Sweeping Bandits, the Imperial Commissioner who inspects Shandong, Marquis Zi Yi Jia Cong, has been ordered to come to the Jiangnan camp to inspect the troops."

"Hurry up and send someone to greet you."

Jia Cong led his men and followed Xia Shouzhong all the way from Wuxi, and saw the shadow of the camp from afar.

Hou Jingyun gathered his true energy and shouted.

The camp gate guard, who had already received the order, looked at the unique white tiger under Jia Cong and hurriedly opened the camp gate.

After a while, more than ten generals from the Jiangnan camp rushed over.

"I am Meng Jianan, the commander of the Jiangnan Camp, and I pay my respects to the Imperial Envoy!"

Meng Jianan is a descendant of the Kaiyuan nobles and the head of the Anping Marquis Mansion.

However, he did not catch up with the war during his tenure in the Jiangnan Camp and failed to make any military achievements.

Therefore, he inherited the title of first-class general.

Behind him was Hu Sihai, the confidant of Emperor Shunde and one of the deputy commanders of the Jiangnan Camp.

"Enough of the idle chatter, beat the drums and gather the troops. I will immediately call up the troops and march out overnight!"

"Since you have come from afar, why don't you give me a chance to show my hospitality."

"The prosperity of Jiangnan will surely satisfy the Imperial Envoy."

A trace of worry flashed across Meng Jianan's eyes, but he quickly concealed it.

He hurriedly said to Jia Cong in a flattering manner.

"Keng!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a sword energy brushed past Meng Jianan's nose and fell.

A long gap was drawn on the ground.

"I don't want to repeat what I said a second time!"

Jia Cong's eyes were indifferent.

"Yes, yes, I will go and beat the drum to gather the generals right away!"

Meng Jianan's back was suddenly soaked with cold sweat.

Thinking of the blood on Jia Cong's hands, he was suddenly terrified.

……

half an hour later

On the training ground
One hundred thousand soldiers gathered in the Jiangnan camp.

However, the generals in the camp behind Jia Cong looked angry and evasive.

Jiangnan has enjoyed peace for a long time.

It was not until recent years that a small number of Japanese pirates landed and attacked, and the imperial court specially established a guard to prepare for the Japanese invasion.

This matter has nothing to do with the Jiangnan camp.

Except for 20,000 navy troops.

Of the 100,000 troops in the entire Jiangnan camp, 30% were idle.

Among the remaining 70%, nearly 20% are elderly, sick or disabled.

There are only 50,000 soldiers capable of fighting!
Originally, this was nothing. Over the hundred years since the establishment of the Daqian Kingdom, it had become an unspoken rule for generals and officers from various places to draw salaries without doing anything.

Everyone from top to bottom was sharing the benefits, and even the old generals in the Ministry of War and the Five Military Commanders turned a blind eye to this.

What's more, Meng Jianan was a member of the Kaiyuan nobles and had some background in the court.

The bad thing is that during the years that Meng Jianan served in Jiangnan, he received a lot of money from the Jiangnan families.

When Jia Cong's order to mobilize troops arrived through the Ziwei Division more than ten days ago, Meng Jianan did not take it seriously at all.

As the commander of the Jiangnan camp, Meng Jianan believes that Bailu Academy has a profound heritage.

It is still unclear whether Jia Cong can come back alive, let alone mobilize troops.

It was not until the battle outside the city of Jinling that the eight major academies were destroyed.

In the end, news came that the entire Bailu Academy was massacred.

Meng Jianan then panicked.

He immediately contacted several companies that he was on good terms with to work together to find a solution.

But at this moment, the entire Jiangnan high-level officials were in a panic.

I can't even take care of myself.

Who would care about him as the commander of the Jiangnan camp?

They tried every possible means to recruit young men, and some even robbed tenants directly.

This made up the total of one hundred thousand.

The quantity is enough, but as for the quality...

"Commander Meng, I will give you three sentences to give me an explanation!"

Jia Cong looked at the soldiers on the training ground in front of him with an indifferent expression.

The first half was fine. Although the morale was average, at least the troops were neat and tidy, and the formations were orderly, which showed that they had been trained to some extent.

But the latter half.

The scene was still in a mess, with people holding their weapons crookedly and not even able to stand in the most basic posture.

Rather than being a soldier, he was more like an old farmer holding a hoe in the field. No matter how his superiors yelled at him, he could not understand the formation.

Let alone Jia Cong at this moment.

Even Xia Shouzhong, who always acted like a good guy in front of Jia Cong, had a terribly gloomy face.

……

"My Lord, Jiangnan has been peaceful for a long time, and the soldiers' military discipline is lax, which is understandable..."

Meng Jianan was sweating profusely and his brain was working rapidly.

I quickly found an excuse.

"Two more sentences!"

The only response he got was Jia Cong's faint words.

"Sir, give me another three days, and I promise to organize 80,000 troops for you."

"The last sentence!"

"Sir, the Anping Marquis's Mansion is a descendant of the Kaiyuan nobles. The Jia family also fought on the battlefield with Xianrongguo..."

"Why bother..."

Seeing that his defense was failing, Meng Jianan hurriedly brought up his background as a descendant of founding nobles.

I hope to make Jia Cong wary.

The words haven't been finished yet.

A sword energy flew past.

A huge human head flew out.

The commander of the Jiangnan camp is half a level lower in status than the commander of the Beijing camp and is a third-rank military general.

The mountains are high and the emperor is far away here, so Meng Jianan's word is law in the camp.

Local emperors still exist.

But now they say that he will be beheaded.

The general of the Jiangnan camp on the high platform subconsciously shrank his neck.

My heart trembled.

But no one dared to stand up and question whether Jia Cong's actions were in line with the laws of the court.

In Jiangnan today, there is no one more famous than Jia Cong. One man rules Jiangnan, and that is not just talk.

……

"quiet!"

"I am General Jia Cong!"

Jia Cong frowned slightly, activated his divine power, and his voice spread throughout the training ground.

A person is like his name as a tree is like its shadow.

As soon as I heard the name Jia Cong.

The messy training ground became eerily quiet from front to back in an instant.

Nowadays in Jiangnan even well-informed old farmers can tell a few stories about "Marquis Purple Robe conquered six academies in ten days" and "Building a Jingguan outside Bailu Academy".

"Meng Jianan, the former commander of the Jiangnan Camp, embezzled military funds and disobeyed the order. He has been executed on the spot!"

"Where is Hu Sihai?"

"The general is here!"

When Hu Sihai heard Jia Cong mentioned him, he hurried forward.

"From now on, I order you to temporarily take over the post of commander of the Jiangnan Camp."

"Prepare the army for war and make no mistakes."

"The last general takes command!"

Hu Sihai was overjoyed when he heard this, even though it was just a temporary position.

As a close confidant of Emperor Shunde, it was only a matter of time before this temporary replacement was removed, and he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of gratitude towards Jia Cong.

"I was ordered to dispatch troops to Shandong to quell the rebellion."

"I'll just say two things!"

"First, all the selected soldiers will receive 10 taels of silver as travel expenses before departure. Those who die in battle will receive a minimum of 30 taels of silver as compensation, and military merit will be calculated separately."

"Second, from now on, anyone who embezzles the military pay of his fellow soldiers and their contributions will have his family confiscated and his entire family killed!"

After arranging the duties of the commander, Jia Cong turned his attention to the soldiers on the parade ground.

Jia Cong had already mastered the method of using profit to drive people around, and it worked every time.

According to the Daqian military regulations, ordinary soldiers received a monthly salary of seven cents of silver.

In fact, after going through layers of corruption, it would be good to get four cents, and the salary would often be in arrears.

Ten taels of silver is not necessarily that much even in two normal years.

Not to mention the thirty taels of compensation for death in battle.

In addition, the second article stipulates that if someone embezzles military funds, his property will be confiscated and his entire family will be exterminated.

To others, these soldiers would have just treated it as fart.

But who is Jia Cong?
The Jingguan outside the Bailu Academy will remain standing for three months to intimidate the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Wei!"

"Wei!"

"Wei!"

Deafening shouts soon rang out on the parade ground.

The morale of the soldiers, who were originally reluctant when they heard that they were about to go to war, soared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Thirty taels of pension are enough to buy a few acres of land, so that the family can have enough food to eat and live a good life in the future.

……

Xia Shouzhong saw this scene from behind and sighed inwardly.

This time, it will most likely be a wasted trip.

Emperor Shunde sent him here, firstly to intimidate Bailu Academy and support Jia Cong, so as to prevent them from really attacking and killing Jia Cong.

The second reason was that he was afraid that Jia Cong’s prestige would not be enough to overwhelm the soldiers in the Jiangnan camp.

As a result, Xia Shouzhong watched the whole show outside the Bailu Academy.

Jia Cong alone was able to kill Sun Zhanghua, a great scholar of the fourth realm.

Arrived at the Jiangnan camp.

This series of methods is even more astonishing.

First, he found an excuse to use Meng Anping's head to establish his authority.

Xia Shouzhong dared to guarantee that there was no such thing as drawing a salary without doing anything.

Meng Anping would definitely not survive today under Jia Cong's hands.

Then they used their power and promised huge benefits.

He glanced at Meng Anping, who was lying on the ground with his eyes open.

He has been in charge of the Jiangnan camp for several years. It is unclear whether he is capable of fighting a war, but his ability to make money is certainly needless to say.

I'm afraid that not only his head will be used to establish his authority, but even his family property will become a bargaining chip in Jia Cong's hands.

The military morale of the Jiangnan camp is now high.

Even the fact that Hu Sihai, Shunde Emperor's confidant, temporarily took over the post of commander of the Jiangnan camp also helped Shunde Emperor win some military power.

It can be said that it kills three birds with one stone.

On the other hand, Jia Cong paid nothing and just killed a person.

This kind of mentality and means are really rare.

……

"Hou Jingyun, take your men to raid Meng Anping's residence in Jiangyin City, and use the stolen property as the soldiers' travel expenses!"

Sure enough, looking at the high morale of the soldiers below, Jia Cong gave a faint instruction to the commander of his personal guards behind him.

"promise!"

"Commander Hu, gather 50,000 elite troops as soon as possible, reward them tonight and rest, and set out early tomorrow morning!"

"Call all the generals above the rank of thousand-man commander in the army to gather in the commander's tent."

"The last general takes command!"

……

Half an hour later
Camp Tent
Jia Cong sat in the main seat, and Baochai, wearing a black cloak, stood beside him.

Normally, there are no women allowed in the army.

But the name of the Xue family's dragon girl has already been well-known in the south of the Yangtze River.

His fame is second only to Jia Cong.

In addition to the threat of Meng Anping's head being killed before, everyone was very cautious.

He lowered his head, fearing that Jia Cong would use him to establish his authority if he was displeased with him.

Jia Cong looked around at the thirty or so people in front of him.

All the senior generals in the Jiangnan camp gathered together.

These people cannot be treated as roughly as ordinary soldiers.

"All sit down."

"It's easy for me to lead the troops!"

"I know nothing about deploying troops."

"But in battles between masters, you don't need to consider enemies above the third level."

"Two sentences, rewards for merit and punishments for faults."

"For those who have made contributions on the battlefield, if the Ministry of War dares to embezzle or delay your contributions, I will ask the Minister of War on your behalf how many heads he has for me to test my sword with!"

"In addition to the imperial court's reward, this general will have another reward!"

(End of this chapter)