Hearing that Xiao Ruxun had been thinking about a problem, Yuan Huang looked at Xiao Ruxun with interest.
"What is it?"
"Tell me, is the reason why the Daming's court has developed to the point where no official is corrupt and no official is corrupt, to the point where the national treasury is emptied because of the low official salary? Is it advisable to use the Great Song's high salary to support incorruptibility? "
Yuan Huang was stumped by Xiao Ruxun's question. He stroked his beard and paced back and forth a few times before he slowly opened his mouth and said, "This old man is indeed unable to comment on this matter. But in all fairness, the official salaries set by Founding Ancestor are indeed the lowest in all the dynasties. None of the dynasties have ever been as low as our Great Ming Dynasty's official salaries. So much so that the officials can't even support their families with their official salaries alone. This is indeed something that I cannot comment on."
Xiao Ruxun also nodded. "What considerations did the Great Ancestor have to set such a low official salary? Moreover, it hasn't changed for more than two hundred years. If an honest and upright official can't even support his family, how can he blame those officials who scrounge up a little money to support their families? Compared to the civil officials, the salaries of us generals are considered generous. But the civil officials who hold great power only have such a pitiful salary. I'm afraid no one would be able to accept this, right? "
Yuan Huang did not comment on this.
"The rights and wrongs of the late Emperor are not for us officials to discuss. But in all fairness, such a low official salary is indeed an important factor in the current corruption of the bureaucracy. It is also an important incentive for officials and businessmen to collude with each other for money and power. I have lived for a long time, but I don't see everyone as a saint. Most of them are still ordinary people. Even if they study and become officials, they won't be able to live without food. It is impossible for ordinary people to not love money. There is only one Hai Bi Pen Holder in the world.
However, it is not necessarily right to say that a high salary to support incorruptibility is the right thing to do. It is difficult to satisfy a person's desire. Just like a mouse, if you give it enough to eat, won't it bite the grain and wood? That's unlikely, right? The salaries of the former Song officials are so high, but it doesn't mean that they are all that clean. In short, based on what I've seen and heard in the past sixty years, high salaries may not necessarily foster honesty, but low salaries will definitely encourage corruption. After all, people have to eat. "
Xiao Ruxun nodded and poured himself a cup of hot tea, sipping it slowly.
With the leadership of the navy officers, the navy officers also relaxed and spent the night together. Everyone still cared about comradeship. They let the brothers who had never tasted a woman go first, then those who had, and so on.
Although they had killed too many, the Ming Army still captured more than six hundred young women on Tsushima Island. After nightfall, the Ming Army soldiers consciously lined up. On average, there was one woman for every ten people. One by one, the soldiers entered the little dark room to enjoy the fruits of their victory. The entire island had the scenery of warm spring and flowers blooming. It was very beautiful.
Only Deng Zilong, with his nephew and his family's personal guards, insisted on patrolling and did not participate. When they patrolled to the place where the soldiers were relaxing and saw soldiers with strange expressions lying on the ground with lingering memories, Deng Zilong became angry. He really wanted to go up and beat them up.
Originally, Deng Zilong did not like this custom in the military and did not allow his subordinates to do it. But today, probably because Chen Lin had taken the lead, his subordinates did not listen to his orders and disobeyed his orders to come here to enjoy the fruits of their victory. Hearing the women's sobs in the room, Deng Zilong shouted angrily at Deng Xianwu, who was tightly holding onto his nephew, "Killing the enemy on the battlefield is our duty. To treat prisoners like this on the battlefield, aren't you beasts?"
Deng Xianwu said helplessly, "Everyone is a soldier and usually does not have the chance to find a woman. This is a rare opportunity. Furthermore, Commander Chen has already agreed. Uncle and many other brothers have never tasted a woman and don't know when they will die in battle. This kind of behavior is human nature. If we forcefully stop them, I'm afraid it will affect the morale of the army and be detrimental to the battle."
Deng Zilong glared fiercely at Deng Xianwu, sighed heavily, and left the place hatefully.
The next morning, Chen Lin called for a military meeting. The content of the meeting was the order that Xiao Ruxun had sent the night before.
"Commander Xiao has instructed us to arrive at the port of Pusan on the 23rd day of the first lunar month, which is tomorrow noon, and attack the Japanese pirate navy in the port. We will annihilate them and completely cut off the Japanese pirates' escape route at sea. We will trap the 40,000 Japanese pirates and tens of thousands of young Japanese pirates at Pusan and kill them. We will strive to win without a fight. All generals must bear this in mind!"
"Yes, sir!"
The generals of the navy responded in unison.
Chen Lin then ordered, "When the main force of the army departs from Pusan, leave some warships behind to guard Tsushima, watch over the prisoners, and be wary of the Japanese pirates' ships coming from the mainland. I have decided to give this task to Deputy Commander Deng Zilong. Deputy Commander Deng, receive the order!"
Chen Lin handed over a flag. Deng Zilong stepped forward and took the flag.
"Deputy Commander Deng, guard Tsushima strictly. If any Japanese pirates come from the mainland, you must annihilate them all. Not a single one of them can escape. I will also leave two centipede ships for you to chase after the enemy. Can you do it?"
Deng Zilong said solemnly, "I will do my best!"
"Good! All generals, go back and reorganize the army and prepare for battle. We will set sail tomorrow morning and arrive at the port of Pusan before noon to begin the general attack! "
"Yes, sir!"
The generals of the navy immediately went to make preparations. Compared to the impetuosity and violence of the previous day, Deng Zilong clearly felt that the manic aura of these people had weakened a lot today. Deng Zilong, who was well aware of the reason, only sighed and did not say anything more. He did his best to fulfill his duty.
The next morning, the Ming Army had already eaten breakfast. After Chen Lin gave a lecture, the valiant and high-spirited Daming Navy set sail. Deng Zilong stayed behind to guard Tsushima Island. He reorganized the remaining 30 or so warships and began to patrol around the island. Then he went to check on the conditions of the captives that were left behind. The captives, especially the female captives, were in very bad condition. Some of them had even died in rags. Deng Zilong could only shake his head and wave his hand, carrying the corpses out and burying them.
He knew that these dead captives were really lucky because they had died early and did not have to suffer a more unbearable fate in the future. As far as he knew, Chen Lin and the others had planned to offer these female captives to Xiao Ruxun so that Xiao Ruxun could reward them to the soldiers of the 6th Army. He did not know how these hundreds of women could manage forty thousand strong and vigorous soldiers.
Perhaps God was playing a joke on them. When the battle of annihilation at the port of Pusan began, Deng Zilong's patrol team actually found 17 or 18 caves in the forest on the island. The caves were all filled with Japanese hiding, and most of them were women. There were more than a thousand of them, and more than 800 of them were elderly and children.
When he received the report, Deng Zilong knew what he had to do. He waved his hand, and naturally, his subordinates did it for him. The women were useful, but the weak elderly and weak children were completely useless.
The soldiers of the Ming Army were overjoyed. This not only meant rank and merit, but also meant more women and longer enjoyment.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
