Daming talker

Chapter 589 Do you know the etiquette?
Governor Zheng said this to Lord Shi not to make excuses, as money is indeed tight at the moment.

In the two previous defeats at Tao and He, not only were several generals below the rank of deputy general killed in battle, but the heaviest loss was actually several thousand elite soldiers.

When a general is gone, a new one can be promoted immediately, but it will take some time to train elite soldiers once they are gone.

In order to fill the gaps and defend against powerful enemies, troops must be urgently transferred from nearby towns.

However, according to the rules, when troops are mobilized, they must be given reward money.

The 100,000 taels of silver for horses that the court allocated from the Imperial Household Department was largely used for this expense.

It was in this context that Haibai and his son arrived in Jincheng with 3,000 people, and it was Haibai, who had already retired, who took the initiative to volunteer to fight.

Originally, there was a lot of criticism about Haobai in Ningxia Town, who believed that Haobai was arrogant, but some people also recommended Haobai and his son, saying that they "had the talent to be generals."

Governor Zheng believed that at this critical moment, what was urgently needed were people who could fight.

The issue of moral character can be put aside for the time being, so we agreed to let Haibai rush to Gansu to provide assistance.

After all, Haibai surrendered to the Ming Dynasty from the northern barbarians as early as the Jiajing period, and had made many military achievements over the decades.

However, as soon as Haibai arrived in Jincheng, he asked for a reward of 10,000 taels of silver.

Governor Zheng thought it was a bit too much, so he gave it to Lord Shi who also came to ask for silver. He wanted to let the Xining guards wait for a while, and he would apply to the court for another sum of silver as a reward.

Lord Shi thought, since Lin Tailai would be back soon, he might as well let Lin Tailai do it.

Lin Tailai, the military counselor, was not an independent official.

In theory, he was just an official assisting the governor, similar to the role of a staff officer in later generations.

Because of Lin Tailai's special talents, he was sent out earlier to persuade and urge the Taolu to leave the West Sea.

Now that the Taolu have left the country and returned north, Lin Tailai has successfully completed his mission and must return to the governor's headquarters.

However, Governor Zheng was a little reluctant to meet Lin Tailai because he didn't know how to face this restless young counselor.

As the governor, he was still working diligently to plan, deploy troops, check for loopholes, train new soldiers, repair city walls, and appease the people, while Lin Tailai had won two great victories.
But Governor Zheng did not think that what he was doing was redundant or too slow.

Lin Tailai's two great victories were too accidental, a bit like taking shortcuts.

What I am doing now is to work hard on my internal skills, lay a solid foundation, and focus on the long term.

Judging from the results of the battle, Governor Zheng fully respected Lin Tailai's achievements, and it also reduced the pressure on him as the governor.

But from the process point of view, Governor Zheng never thought that it was advisable to take military risks at this time, nor did he encourage his subordinates to take risks.

So Governor Zheng has been in a very conflicted mood and doesn't know how to face Lin Tailai.

But what is coming will come, regardless of Governor Zheng’s will.

A few days later, Lin Tailai returned to the governor's headquarters, Jincheng, with Dayun who was accompanying him.

After a short rest, Lin Tailai and Dayun went to visit Governor Zheng together and report back.

In the hall outside the lobby of the Governor's Office, a row of civil and military officials were already sitting.

These people came to visit Governor Zheng, and they went in one by one to pay their respects.

As Governor Zheng was in charge of the military and political affairs of Gansu, Shaanxi, Qinghai and Ningxia, he had to receive too many people for both official and personal purposes.

Seeing this, Dayun politely walked towards the seat at the end.

The main thing was that as a fourth-rank deputy commander and guerrilla general, he could only be civilized and polite in the "waiting room" outside the governor's lobby.

Lin Tailai reached out his hand, pressed Dayun's shoulder, and asked in confusion, "Where are you going?" Dayun pointed to the empty seat at the end, "Let's sit there. Where else can we go?"

Lin Tailai scolded: "You are a country bumpkin from a border town, do you know any etiquette?"

Dayun, who was about to speak civilized and polite, was confused and asked, "Counselor Lin, what else do you have to say?"
Lin Tai said: "Even if I go to the Prime Minister's house, it is the Prime Minister who will wait for me!
Do I have to wait in line here? Don’t let people laugh at the Governor for not knowing etiquette!”

Dayun: “.”

Forgive his shallowness, but this small official from a border town really doesn't understand the social etiquette of the capital city thousands of miles away.

At this moment, the visitor in front happened to come out of the lobby.

Lin Tailai didn't care whether anyone was queuing or not, and just walked forward with Dayun.

But the group of people who were already at the front of the line became dissatisfied on the spot.

They had been waiting here for an hour since morning and were already getting impatient.

Just when it was their turn, someone cut in line and they became very angry.

There were three people in the group, old, middle-aged and young. They stood up and rushed to the front to block the exit of the hall.

The middle-aged man among them had a ferocious look and said in a "barbaric" way, "Go to the back!"

This surprised Lin Tailai very much. Since he had made a name for himself in the court, he had rarely encountered such a situation of being contradicted in the past two years.

He looked down at the fifth-rank civil official robe he was wearing, and then at the military robes worn by the other three men.

Feeling a little skeptical about life, Lin Tailai asked Dayun, "Does my official robe look fake?"

Dayun didn't know what to say. Nowadays, even if a military officer has a strong foundation, he would not contradict a civil official.

Because there is no need to do so, it will not do any good, but it can easily get you into trouble or bring huge risks.

Considering that the other party was also a military officer, Dayun wanted to make peace, so he asked, "Who are you from?"

The ferocious-looking middle-aged man replied, "I am the commander of Ningxia Guard and lieutenant general of the General Battalion, Hai Chengen!"

Dayun was shocked when he heard this, and subconsciously said, "I've heard a lot about you."

In the northwest, the father and son of the Hai family are indeed well-known figures.

I heard that the father and son of the Hai family had gathered thousands of desperate criminals under their command, and they were running rampant in Ningxia Town and its surrounding areas, and even the general had to give way to them.

If it is difficult to understand the status of the Hai family in Ningxia Town, then imagine the status of Mr. Lin in Suzhou.

Lin Tailai looked at the old man next to Hai Cheng'en curiously. He didn't expect that he could run into a historical celebrity just by cutting in line. This was the target of the first of Wanli's three major expeditions.

Lin Tailai, who was already one of the biggest celebrities in the world and had less and less respect for historical celebrities, asked frivolously, "Old man! Are you Haobai?"

Given Haibai's status, under normal circumstances, his fame in later generations would probably be lower than that of Dayun.

But as he became the first of the three major expeditions, his fame suddenly increased.

In fact, the reasons for foreign rebellions like those of Haibai and Yang Yinglong are quite complicated.

However, as a vested interest in the existing system, Lin Tailai does not need to think too complicatedly.

If you don't rebel, Lin Tailai doesn't care. He doesn't have to take credit for your work.

But if you want to rebel, you will be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty court and also the enemy of Lin Tailai.

(End of this chapter)