GBP Chapter 838 If the official can cut it, why can't the short and ugly man?
Chapter 838 If the official can cut it, why can't the short and ugly man?
Kikuchi Yoshimasa unconsciously squeezed his legs together, his voice trembling as he said, "Cut off the root of all evil?"
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Kikuchi Yoshimasa and said, "Why are you shaking? It's not like I'm asking you to cut it."
Not letting me cut it is terrifying, isn't it?!
Kikuchi Yoshimasa inwardly ranted, but his face showed no sign of displeasure. He nodded repeatedly and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, I will certainly inform my lord of the matter concerning the Purgatory Army."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled, picked up his teacup again, and gestured for Kikuchi Yoshimasa to get lost.
After Kikuchi Yoshimasa left, Zhu Biao and Li Shanchang, who had been eavesdropping behind the screen, finally came out.
Zhu Biao plopped down on the chair next to him and looked at Yang Shaofeng, asking, "Can that shorty agree?"
Yang Shaofeng was somewhat bewildered by Zhu Biao's question.
Zhu Biao frowned slightly and said, "The 'purified soldiers.' Even if Huai Liang could agree to turn perfectly good samurai into 'purified soldiers,' would the samurai agree to that?"
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and retorted, "Why can't we agree? Liu Chang of the Southern Han Dynasty stipulated that only those who cut off their hair could become officials, yet plenty of officials and scholars still chose to cut off their root of trouble."
Pay attention.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Liu Chang, the last emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty, suddenly slapped his forehead and realized that officials were far less loyal than eunuchs. He reasoned that the reason officials were not loyal was because they had too many distracting thoughts. He thought that if all the officials were turned into eunuchs, then all the officials in the country would be loyal to him.
That's what Liu Chang thought, and that's what he did.
Then, a large number of officials and scholars in the Southern Han Dynasty chose to castrate themselves.
The number of eunuchs in the Southern Han Dynasty once reached 20,000.
According to the "Annals of Emperor Taizu" in the History of Song, when the Southern Han was destroyed by the Northern Song, its total population was about one million. That is to say, the number of eunuchs in the entire Southern Han accounted for two percent of the total population.
If officials and scholars in the Southern Han Dynasty could castrate themselves, what is there that they couldn't cut up in a few short and ugly people?
Zhu Biao felt that something was wrong.
It wasn't until quite a while later that a look of realization crossed Zhu Biao's face: "Brother-in-law is wrong."
"Officials and scholars in the Southern Han Dynasty were willing to cut because they wanted to become officials."
“But those samurai in Japan are already samurai now. If they are cut off, they will have to fight as slave soldiers. Cutting them off will not do them any good.”
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Zhu Biao and asked again, "Then what does Your Highness think of the living standards of those so-called samurai in Japan?"
Zhu Biao curled his lip and said, "Living standard? A small ball of rice, a tiny fish the size of a finger, that's barely enough to survive, let alone live."
Zhu Biao froze as soon as he finished speaking.
Samurai were considered to have a certain status in Japan, at least above ordinary Japanese people and commoners.
However, even for a samurai of this rank, the standard meal was nothing more than a small ball of rice with a tiny fish the size of a little finger, and often he couldn't even afford the tiny fish.
This gives us an idea of how poor the living standards of ordinary Japanese people and the lowest castes must be.
Or to put it more bluntly: the standard of living of ordinary Ming soldiers was already an unimaginable high standard of living for the short and stocky samurai, and for ordinary Japanese people and commoners, it was a heavenly enjoyment.
Therefore, it is quite normal for short, ugly warriors to choose to castrate themselves to join the auxiliary army. Even if no short, ugly warriors were willing to castrate themselves, there would certainly be a large number of short, ugly commoners and outcasts who would be willing to wield their swords and castrate themselves.
As for his brother-in-law, it didn't really matter whether Huai Liang sent over a short, ugly samurai or a short, ugly commoner or a lowly person pretending to be a samurai. At most, he would just send someone to train him for a period of time.
Thinking of this, Zhu Biao immediately cupped his hands to Yang Shaofeng and said, "Brother-in-law is right, I was mistaken."
As soon as Zhu Biao finished speaking, Li Shanchang hurriedly asked, "May I ask, Your Highness, what are your plans regarding these short and stocky servant soldiers?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "Send them to Europe, or the Timurid Khanate, or that big island in Rinan County, and let them go to the front lines first."
Li Shanchang hummed in agreement, then pressed on again, "Couldn't we spare some of them and send them to the grasslands?"
Yang Shaofeng immediately became wary and looked at Li Shanchang, saying, "No! These short, ugly men are beasts in human form. If we let them go to the grasslands, the situation that our Great Ming has finally managed to establish on the grasslands will be ruined."
Li Shanchang turned his gaze directly to Zhu Biao.
See? I told you, Yang the Madman wouldn't let those short, ugly guys go to the grasslands.
However, what exactly did our Ming Dynasty achieve on the grasslands?
Why is it that even I, the current Grand Secretary, don't know this?
Or is it that you, Yang the Madman, have been secretly doing something on the grasslands behind the backs of your superiors and me?
That's not right either.
Even if you, Yang Dianfeng, don't say anything, do you think Xu Da and Chang Heizi would be willing to keep it a secret for you?
After thinking for a long time without coming up with a solution, Li Shanchang simply looked at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "Your Highness, has there been any movement on the grasslands recently?"
This time, it was Yang Shaofeng's turn to be stunned.
grassland?
Isn't the grassland always the same bear-like place?
Xu Da and Li Wenzhong were keeping Wang Baobao in check in Beiping, Feng Sheng on the western route was desperately grabbing territory, and Chang Yuchun and Lan Yu on the eastern route were keeping an eye on the Koreans while frantically grabbing territory.
Everything is progressing according to the plan that Xu Da and his men made before setting off.
The only variable is Li Mingchen.
From the moment he left the pass, this guy was either fighting or gathering tribes on the grasslands every day. He was always shouting about "robbing money, robbing grain, robbing grasslands" or "taking back the North Sea".
Now that Li Mingchen has been granted the official title of Krupp, he is just waiting for the day he returns. I will then guide him to develop the Krupp cannon, and his mission will be accomplished.
Seeing Yang Shaofeng's bewildered expression, Li Shanchang knew that his question was somewhat unnecessary.
That makes sense. Yang the Madman has been either traveling to Japan or staying in Dengzhou Prefecture lately. How could he possibly know what's going on on the grasslands?
Li Shanchang chuckled self-deprecatingly, then revealed the purpose of his visit to Dengzhou Prefecture: "I have come to Dengzhou this time with the people from various ministries, academies, temples, and supervisory offices to take a look and learn from them."
"The workshops in Dengzhou Prefecture and Ningyang County are in particular, and they are the focus of this trip."
"After all, I am also very curious as to why Ningyang County, which clearly has a population of around 50,000, is still complaining about a shortage of manpower?"
"And then there's Dengzhou Prefecture. It now has a population of nearly 140,000, yet it's also short-staffed?"
Ok?
Upon hearing Li Shanchang mention the lack of manpower, Yang Shaofeng immediately perked up.