The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

In the border army, although the small flag officers are grassroots generals, they are not the lowest level. Below them are sergeants, corps leaders and ordinary soldiers.

According to the current practice of the Great Chu Border Army, small flag officers are also eligible for the distribution of military pay, but the lower-level sergeants and corporals are not. Because strictly speaking, corporals and sergeants are not considered officers.

The military pay distributed to these small flag officers by the higher authorities was naturally insufficient. The good ones were given 30% to 40%, the ordinary ones were given 20% to 30%, and those greedy generals were only given 10%.

Most of the small flag officers followed suit and also deducted part of the military pay and put it into their own pockets.

However, Zhu Chongyang always distributed the military pay to the soldiers in proportion to the amount issued by the higher authorities. He could be said to have shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers.

Of course, the military pay given by the higher-ups is definitely not enough to support a small flag with a full complement of fifty soldiers.

Therefore, even if Zhu Chongyang did not withhold military pay, he would only have thirty soldiers under his command.

In the army he was in, his was considered a small flag with a relatively large number of people, as most small flags had only a dozen or so people.

Because Zhu Chongyang never withheld military pay and treated his soldiers with righteousness and ability, he trained the 29 men under his command until they were obedient.

And according to his request, they would train with him every few days, and their weapons were relatively intact and well maintained.

Zhu Chongyang had made several small achievements in the past few years thanks to his soldiers. However, because he had no money to bribe his superiors and his connections in the army were not strong enough, most of the credit was taken by his superiors, and he only received a small reward.

Otherwise, he would at least be a captain now.

This time, the military pay for nearly three months was owed to him, and he had originally planned to make a fuss with other grassroots generals over the pay.

As a result, they were suddenly given three months' back pay - of course, it was not the actual amount, as they only received 20% of it.

However, it also alleviated the temporary urgent needs of these grassroots border troops.

However, what followed was an order to march the army, ordering their camp (the main camp) to arrive in Runing Prefecture, Henan before September to deal with some bandits.

This military order came too hastily.

It is now early August, and they must keep traveling for the next twenty days or so to avoid missing the deadline.

The weather in August was still hot, and it was hard to travel in such a hot weather. If there was sufficient food and grass supply, it would not matter if they suffered a little while eating this bowl of rice.

However, the food and fodder distributed by the authorities were not only insufficient, but also inferior in quality, including the naan bread for people and the hay and beans for horses.

Not only are there a lot of sand and mud in the naan, fodder and beans, some are even moldy.

Take his small flag as an example. After only a few days of travel, some soldiers fell ill due to diet problems, which greatly slowed down the march.

Yesterday he asked the general flag for sick leave for these soldiers, hoping that they could stay in the local area to recuperate and then return to Gansu.

The general flag reported this to the captain-general above him, but the captain-general refused.

There were also many sick soldiers in other small flags, so the morale of their battalion was rather low during the march and the atmosphere was very depressing.

Today they entered Gongchang Prefecture in Shaanxi. There was a thick layer of dark clouds in the sky, which made the atmosphere of the team even more depressing.

The sky is covered with dark clouds, which is a sign of heavy rain.

Although Shaanxi has been habitually dry this spring, heavy rain at this time is by no means a good thing for the people of Shaanxi - it will take another month before the corn is harvested, and if the wind and rain are too strong, it will definitely affect the harvest.

For the border troops of Liangzhou Camp, this heavy rain was even worse - heavy rain could easily block the roads. They were already under tight time constraints on their journey, and if they were blocked by heavy rain, they would be more likely to miss the deadline.

Although the military orders of the Great Chu would not require the execution of all those who missed the deadline, the generals would definitely be severely punished. This would inevitably force them to speed up their march after the rain, or even march in the rain!
Therefore, the soldiers of Liangzhou Camp did not want it to rain.

Snapped!
A captain rode a horse to inspect the rear of the team, whipping the air with a crisp sound, and shouted coldly: "Hurry up! Try to get out before the heavy rain comes!"

Afterwards, he saw that the last few soldiers of Zhu Chongyang's small flag team were supporting each other and moving slowly, so he whipped them without hesitation.

Snapped!
One of the soldiers was hit hard by the whip, and immediately a red mark appeared on his face. He could not help but glare at the captain.

The captain became even angrier and shouted, "How dare you stare at me? You guys are walking so slowly, even slower than an old woman. If you drag the whole battalion down and delay the deadline, do you believe I will beat you to death?"

As he said this, he whipped the soldier continuously.

Zhu Chongyang rushed over when he saw this, and stopped them with a forced smile, "General Ma Qian, these brothers are sick because they have eaten too much, so they are walking slowly. Can you please be merciful and bypass them this time?"

Mr. Ma was already upset because of the possibility of missing his deadline, and the hot and humid weather made him even more angry.

Normally, he might give a small flag officer some face, but now he was furious and whipped Zhu Chongyang with a whip, cursing, "Who the hell are you? Someone in the team is slowing down the march, and as a small flag officer, you should be punished. How dare you plead for others?"

Zhu Chongyang subconsciously wanted to grab the whip, pull General Ma off his horse and beat him up.

But he clenched his fists and held back, allowing General Ma Qian's whip to fall on his head and face without moving an inch.

Ma Qianzong whipped Zhu Chongyang more than ten times before he finally let out some of his anger. He glared at Zhu Chongyang and said, "Tell your men to move faster, or you'll be punished again later!"

Zhu Chongyang lost his smile, but did not refute anything. He gritted his teeth and said in a muffled voice: "Yes!"

When Captain Ma Qian continued to patrol backwards on his horse, the soldiers in the small flags immediately surrounded him.

"Brother Zhu, are you okay?"

"This Ma Qianzong is too much. He whipped Brother Zhu more than ten times without giving him any face at all!"

"I heard that this Ma guy embezzled at least 20% of the food and fodder distributed by the higher authorities. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to eat those bad naan breads."

"I really want to kill this bastard!"

"Shh, be careful not to be heard by others, or we'll be punished again."

"···"

Zhu Chongyang had thick skin and flesh, and with the help of clothes, he was whipped more than a dozen times, but only had some red marks on his body, without any broken skin.

Listening to everyone's questions and scolding of Ma Qian, he said, "Stop talking and hurry up. Also, have someone help the sick brother walk a little faster, so as not to give Ma Qian another excuse."

Once Zhu Chongyang spoke, no one said anything more and everyone did as he said.

However, after walking for half an hour, the Liangzhou camp had still not escaped the cover of dark clouds. Instead, they heard dull thunder rumbling.

"It's going to rain heavily, and the higher-ups haven't given the order to find a place to take shelter?" someone asked loudly.

No one answered.

A huge flash of lightning passed by, followed by a thunderclap, and suddenly heavy rain fell!

For a moment, it seemed as if the sky was leaking and the sky was covered by rain.

Many local official roads in Da Chu have been in disrepair for many years, such as the road that Liangzhou Camp is currently taking.

Wild grass and shrubs had encroached upon the official road, which was originally wide enough for two carriages to run side by side, so that it was now only as wide as one carriage. There were also two ruts on the road that were more than a foot deep.

In such heavy rain, the tire tracks soon turned into two ditches, and the road surface quickly became muddy due to insufficient hardening.

The soldiers of Liangzhou Camp had been marching in the heat for many days and the food was not good, so they all looked bad. Now they were soaked by the heavy rain, and their faces looked even worse. Those who were sick even turned pale and weaker - in this case, if they did not receive timely medical treatment, they would most likely die on the march!

Fortunately, the Lieutenant General Hua Qingrong of the Liangzhou Camp did not lose his mind. He knew that if they continued to march in such heavy rain, or even urged the soldiers to march, it would only lead to the collapse of the army.

"The lieutenant general has ordered that all general flags find a place to take shelter from the rain and continue marching after the rain stops!"

Although the order to take shelter from the rain came a little late, it was finally issued.

So the soldiers of Liangzhou Camp followed their respective general flags to find a place to shelter from the rain.

But where can one find a place to shelter from the rain for half a day?
The soldiers could only set up tents urgently and rely on them to shelter from the rain.

This situation is very dangerous. Gongchang Prefecture is located on the Loess Plateau. With such heavy rain, there are many landslides and even mudslides.

The heavy rain lasted for half a day, and when the rain stopped, it was already afternoon.

The soldiers were drenched in the rain, cold and hungry, and their physical strength was even worse.

It just so happened that a new military order came down from above.

"The lieutenant general has ordered that all general flags march along the official road immediately and hurry to Henan. Those who disobey the order will be severely punished!"

Zhu Chongyang felt very helpless when he saw several sick soldiers under his command due to the heavy rain. He thought that if he continued to march like this, perhaps before he reached Runing Prefecture, the number of soldiers under his command might be reduced to less than 25.

The most important thing is that with the sick people dragging down the troops, the marching speed cannot be increased even if we want to.

Even with his strong physique, he felt tired and hungry at this moment, let alone the ordinary soldiers.

He immediately found the general flag and suggested: "General, please let us rest for half a day and continue marching tomorrow. If we continue like this, many brothers will not be able to bear it and will only go slower and slower."

The general frowned, "You think I don't want to rest? But the imperial court ordered me to arrive in Runing Prefecture before September, otherwise I will be treated as late."

"General Hua and his men are anxious and hope that we can march overnight. How can they allow us to rest for half a day?"

"If I listen to you and say this, I will only be scolded, or even whipped! I will pretend that I didn't hear what you said, and return to the team immediately!"

Zhu Chongyang had no choice but to return to the team and continue leading the team forward.

When the sun was setting, General Ma Qian rode his horse to inspect the troops again, but the road was muddy and his horse could not run.

But in order to urge the team to move forward, he would whip the soldiers from time to time - one of his hobbies was whipping the soldiers.

Seeing that several sick soldiers under Zhu Chongyang's small flag fell behind again, Zhu Chongyang had to support the sick soldiers as well, and the whole team was not moving fast enough. Commander Ma Qian immediately became angry.

He went up and whipped Zhu Chongyang.

"The lieutenant general told us to hurry up, but by the time we got here you were like an old lady with a sprained ankle, so slow, you really don't remember how to be punished!"

Bang bang bang...

The whip fell on Zhu Chongyang again and again, but Zhu Chongyang didn't say a word.

This made General Ma Qian even angrier, and he simply whipped Zhu Chongyang in the face.

Zhu Chongyang's face was not so thick, and sadness immediately left a bloody mark, which was burning with pain.

So, when the next whip fell, Zhu Chongyang subconsciously grabbed the whip, but he actually pulled General Ma off his horse, and he rolled into the mud and turned into a mud monkey.

When the soldiers around saw Zhu Chongyang being whipped, they already hated General Ma Qian very much, and many of them couldn't help laughing when they saw this.

General Ma Qian’s fire hat is three meters long.

"Zhu Chaoyang, you dare to attack Shangguan, are you trying to rebel?!"

After saying that, he actually drew his sword and slashed at Zhu Chongyang.

Seeing this, Zhu Chongyang's expression changed, he quickly dodged, and subconsciously punched General Ma Qian in return.

It was unknown whether it was General Ma Qian who had touched the God of Bad Luck or Zhu Chongyang who had touched the God of Bad Luck. His ordinary punch had caused General Ma Qian to fall again, and by some strange coincidence, the blade had gotten stuck on his neck!
With a hissing sound, blood spurted out from the neck of General Ma Qian, who was lying on the mud.

The man opened his eyes wide and pointed at Zhu Chongyang with one finger, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't say anything.

There were several servants following General Ma Qian, but they were not close to him and did not expect that General Ma Qian would die "accidentally", so they did not intervene before - because they all knew that whipping soldiers was one of General Ma Qian's hobbies, and they could not do it for him.

Seeing that Ma Qianzong was dead, several servants were stunned at first, and then someone shouted: "Zhu Chongyang, you are so bold, you actually dared to kill Shangguan!"

Another servant said, "You are planning a rebellion. You are finished!"

When Zhu Chongyang heard that his accidental killing of General Ma Qian was defined as treason by several servants, he knew that he had no way out, and the anger that had been suppressed for the past few days finally exploded.

He glared at them with red eyes and shouted, "Rebellion? What's wrong with me rebelling?!"

After saying that, he jumped on General Ma's horse and charged towards several servants.

At the same time, twenty or thirty soldiers under Zhu Chongyang also came to their senses.

Some of them are not only Zhu Chongyang's fellow villagers, but also his close brothers who have been cultivated over the years.

Seeing this, he and Zhu Chongyang surrounded the servants. Relying on their large numbers and sudden attack, they quickly killed the servants.

There were officially more than 5,000 people in the Liangzhou camp, but in reality there were more than 3,000 people. It was naturally impossible for them to gather together during the march. Instead, they were divided into groups with general flags and marched along the official road.

Now the road is muddy, and there is a certain distance between each flag.

Therefore, the tragedy that occurred on the section of the road where Zhu Chongyang's small flag was located was not discovered by anyone else until the end.

After Zhu Chongyang calmed down, he looked around at his brothers and said, "Now Zhu has accidentally killed Shangguan. If he is caught, he will die. He can only leave Liangzhou Camp."

Someone couldn't help but ask after hearing this: "Brother Zhu, are you going to become a bandit?"

"Becoming a bandit?" A cold light flashed in Zhu Chongyang's eyes. "No, why should I become a bandit? I want to rebel!"

rebel?

Many soldiers were shocked when they heard these two words.

It's easy to say the word "rebellion", but it's very difficult to really make up your mind to do it. Not to mention, they are all border soldiers, and they know that although the border army of Da Chu has many problems now, its combat effectiveness is still quite strong.

In the past ten years or so, bandits arose frequently in Shaanxi, Hebei and Henan. Wasn't it because the Chu court dispatched several battalions of border troops to wipe out those bandits one by one?

If you become a bandit, there might be a day when you will be recruited by the local government.

But rebellion?

That would be tantamount to being completely opposed to the Great Chu—either overthrowing the Great Chu, or dying and exterminating the clan! (End of this chapter)