Chapter 137: The Great New Court, Fighting Overtly and Covertly

The man who led the 100,000 imperial army to the north and marched straight to the city of Zhuozhou was indeed the imperial court's new martial arts champion Wu Sanjia.

At this time, Wu Sanjia, the chief general of the Hu Ben army, was on the march, wearing a bright armor and a ring-headed sword on his waist. His resolute face showed a firm and courageous look.

Wu Sanjia, who had just turned 30, finally ushered in the highlight of his life after sitting on the bench in the archives management office of the Daxin military department for half a year.

In the battle of Mozhou, he defeated Chang Yuchun, the deputy marshal of the Longcheng army, annihilated and captured more than 50,000 Longcheng troops, and obtained the Daxin court's troops, which was the first major victory over the "Longcheng rebels" under the command of Jin Wang Chen Huaian.

When this news was passed back to the imperial city of the capital, the whole court of Daxin was shocked.

Even the Empress Dowager Su Wan'er, who had always been at odds with the treacherous prime minister Qin Ruhui, who controlled the government, rarely stood on the same side with Qin Ruhui and praised Wu Sanjia generously.

She praised him as a good general of Daxin who "supported the building when it was about to collapse" and promoted Wu Sanjia.

Originally, Wu Sanjia, who only replaced the flying general Li Jingyu and became the chief commander of the imperial tiger army, was once again entrusted with an important task by the Empress Dowager Su Wan'er and the treacherous prime minister Qin Ruhui.

Wu Sanjia was promoted to the mighty general who was in charge of military affairs and was appointed as the first-rank general.

In less than a year, Wu Sanjia went from being a sixth-rank military official to a first-rank general commanding 300,000 troops.

This shows how much the Daxin government and the people valued Wu Sanjia.

Therefore, when the imperial edict of the court conferred him the title, Wu Sanjia ordered his army to march out the next morning and march straight to Zhuozhou.

Wu Sanjia knew very well that everything he had now depended entirely on his impressive record against the Longcheng rebels.

In order to keep the hard-earned high position and wealth, he had to continue to march north and severely damage the Longcheng rebels.

"Report--"

"General, the scouts ahead reported that the vanguard of the army has arrived at the city of Zhuozhou, but the Longcheng rebels defending Zhuozhou are staying at home. Please give instructions, General!"

At this time, the messenger in the army hurriedly rode to report.

"Okay, I know!"

Riding on horseback, Wu Sanjia had a calm face and ordered calmly: "Pass the order down, the army will set up camp outside the city of Zhuozhou and wait for an opportunity to attack the city!"

"I have received the order!"

The messenger soldiers did not stop and took the order and left.

Wu Sanjia said again: "Come here, immediately draft a memorial to the court in the name of this general, saying that the Hu Ben Army won the first battle of the Northern Expedition, severely damaged the Longcheng rebels outside Zhuozhou City, and the capture of Zhuozhou City is just around the corner!"

"In addition, mention in the memorial that when the court can transfer the military pay for the Hu Ben Army's victory in Mozhou to the Hu Ben Army, the families and widows of the Hu Ben Army's dead soldiers in the battle of Mozhou are still waiting for this pension to live!"

"I have received your order!"

......

The next day.

In the Jinluan Palace in the imperial city of the capital.

Qin Ruhui, the prime minister of Daxin, brought all the civil and military officials to the court to discuss matters.

The young empress dowager Su Wan'er, with the young Lingwu emperor who had just turned three years old, was behind the curtain to rule the country.

In the court, after a series of stereotyped greetings, the discussion got down to business.

Prime Minister Qin Ruhui said: "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager——"

"Early this morning, the Ministry of War received an urgent memorial from the mighty general and Daxin general Wu Sanjia, which was sent back from Zhuozhou;"

"The memorial said that after the victory of the Daxin Hu Ben Army in Mozhou, they pursued the victory and hit the Longcheng rebels again. The Hu Ben Army has pointed directly to the city of Zhuozhou"

"The conquest of Zhuozhou City is just around the corner!"

Swish!

When this news came out, the court and the public were shocked.

All the civil officials in the court thought this was an auspicious sign, praising Wu Sanjia as a lucky and brave general of Daxin. With him leading the army to march north, the rebellion of King Jin could be put down in no time.

Of course, these civil officials could not help but flatter Prime Minister Qin Ruhui.

Praising Prime Minister Qin for his insight, bold promotion of Wu Sanjia, and entrusting him with important tasks was a stroke of genius by the first prime minister of Daxin to save the country from collapse.

Amidst all the praise, there was no compliment to the nominal ruler of the Daxin Dynasty, Emperor Lingwu Zhao Lingwu, and the Queen Mother Su Wan'er who was behind the scenes.

Obviously, the civil and military officials of the entire Daxin court had long been following Prime Minister Qin's lead, and did not take the young emperor Zhao Lingwu and the Queen Mother Su Wan'er seriously at all.

In the Jinluan Palace, the young emperor Zhao Lingwu, who was sitting alone on the dragon throne, looked at the court officials who were talking and laughing in the palace with a blank face.

He turned his head subconsciously and looked at his mother Su Wan'er behind a curtain.

The curtain was translucent, so that the court officials in the palace, separated by dozens of steps, could not see the expression of the Queen Mother Su Wan'er sitting behind the curtain.

But then again.

Looking at the court of Daxin, who would care about a pair of puppet mother and son?

"Everyone, be quiet!"

At this time, Qin Ruhui waved his hand, signaling the court officials to be quiet.

When Prime Minister Qin spoke, the originally noisy court suddenly became silent.

Qin Ruhui continued: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother--"

"The mighty general and commander-in-chief Wu Sanjia is still in the memorial, asking the court for the salary of the Tiger Guard Army!"

"From what I see from Wu Sanjia's intention, if the court does not allocate the salary, he will not attack Zhuozhou City. When the court's salary reaches the Tiger Guard Army, Wu Sanjia will continue to attack the city and march north."

As he said this, Qin Ruhui arched his head and said, "This matter is of great importance. Please let the Emperor and the Queen Mother make the final decision!"

"Prime Minister Qin, since it is the salary of the Huben Army, then let the Ministry of Household Affairs allocate funds directly!"

In the Jinluan Palace, Queen Mother Su Waner, who was sitting behind a curtain and listening to the government, finally spoke: "The imperial court does not need hungry soldiers, not to mention Wu Sanjia and Huben Army, who are suppressing the rebellion on behalf of the imperial court. Naturally, their salary cannot be Drag it!”

Listening to Queen Su Waner's words, Qin Ruhui was not in a hurry to answer.

I saw him turning his head slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, he just caught sight of Luo Yuanji, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who immediately understood and stood up.

After bowing to the Emperor and the Queen Mother in the Jinluan Hall, he hurriedly said: "To report to the Emperor and Queen Mother, the treasury in charge of the Ministry of Revenue has long been depleted, and there is no money to reward the officers and men of the Tiger and Ben Army on the front line!"

Luo Yuanji spread his hands and said with a look of helplessness: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother: In order to collect enough food and fodder for the frontline army, I have already racked my brains and asked officials in various places to distribute taxes to the grandchildren of the people. ”

"This is enough to collect food and fodder for the Ying and Mo Erzhou armies, but there is really no way to collect the pay and silver for the Huben army!"

Hearing this, Queen Mother Su Waner, who was sitting behind the curtain in the Jinluan Palace, could not help but frown slightly and asked: "Prime Minister Qin, how much is the salary of the frontline soldiers that Wu Sanjia is asking for?"

Qin Ruhui replied without thinking: "Twelve million taels of silver!"

In fact, the military salary and pension that Wu Sanjia asked for from Huben was only six million taels of silver in total.

The extra part was that Qin Ruhui planned to take this opportunity to let Su Wan'er, uncle Su Muchen, and the aristocratic families from all over the Yangtze River represent behind them.

"Twelve million taels?"

Behind the curtain, Su Waner was obviously startled when she heard the amount of salary.

After hesitating for a moment, he lamented and said: "Has the huge New Dynasty reached a point where it can't even afford twelve million taels of silver?"