Chapter 335 Preparing to Leave

Chapter 335 Preparing to Leave

It should be noted that Jiang Yuan and the newly appointed commander of Guangchang Guard who succeeded him were not the only military officers who were transferred. This time, the emperor carried out a large-scale, planned, and purposeful relocation of all the garrison commanders in various regions, including those officials in the Five Military Commands of the capital who were neglecting their duties.

In addition, lower-ranking soldiers were also rotated on a small scale under the guise of "defense rotation".

From the emperor's perspective, such a transfer was certainly more beneficial than harmful. This operation could not only largely prevent some unscrupulous generals from turning their soldiers into their own private army or colluding with their familiar colleagues to engage in rampant corruption in the army, but also allow soldiers who were originally in non-combat areas to be sent to the border in regular and batches to undergo training through this rotation.

Why do armies in countries that have enjoyed long periods of peace gradually become corrupt and lose their fighting capacity? It's because some generals are too self-serving, turning their soldiers and military households into their own private army and tenant farmers, while the lower-ranking soldiers are neglected in training because there is no war.

This rotation not only allows lower-ranking soldiers stationed in non-war areas to receive more rigorous and standardized training, but also makes it difficult for generals with ulterior motives to develop their troops into their own private property because they have not served in a particular place long enough.

Most importantly, with this movement of personnel, the emperor could easily place his own spies and confidants into the armies he couldn't previously control.

Including Jiang Yuan, he was actually one of the emperor's trusted confidants sent to the southeastern coast.

Although he didn't actually have much contact with Jiang Yuan, he trusted Jiang Yuan's abilities and character, as well as his wife's abilities and character.

Unlike emperors who love to hear flattery and who favor, trust, and promote whoever is best at sycophancy, the founding emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty preferred pragmatic individuals with a strong sense of righteousness.

If this pragmatic person is also capable and morally upright, that would be even better, because he doesn't have to worry that the person he intends to entrust with important responsibilities might be betrayed or framed by the parasites he intends to get rid of due to their stupidity, incompetence, or moral failings.

As for what many emperors worry about—that their powerful and righteous ministers might "overshadow their ruler" and threaten their rule—this emperor never worried about it.

Unlike emperors who inherited their ancestral empires from their fathers, his empire was built by him, his father, and his son, bit by bit.

He, in particular, carried on the legacy of the past and made the greatest contributions.

Let alone the fact that we are now in a peaceful era with limited opportunities to make meritorious contributions, even in those years of chaos and war, he still didn't let anyone surpass him as the "leader of the righteous army".

Leaving aside the generals who secretly engaged in numerous underhanded maneuvers, and the soldiers who were unwilling to endure hardship at the border, who privately complained bitterly about this transfer, let's just talk about Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang.

Although the couple was quite surprised by the sudden transfer, they quickly accepted the established fact after receiving the imperial decree.

First, they packed up their valuables and prepared their luggage for the journey. Then came the issue of what to do with their mansion, shops, and estate.

After discussing it, Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan decided to sell the few scattered plots of land in Mingfu Village directly.

Xie Wanniang arranged for relatives and friends to take good care of all the houses in the area, while the estate and her shops that were open for business could be managed by the estate manager and shopkeeper.

As for the shops she rented out, the broker will continue to handle the rental matters for her.

After Xie Wanniang finished dealing with her business and Jiang Yuan finished handing over his military duties, the two began to say goodbye to their loved ones.

The Chang family, the Xie family, and the people of Mingfu Village, including Wang Xiaozhi, as well as other people who had a good relationship with them.

After visiting each household that needed to be greeted, Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan began to select the servants and guards in their homes.

The vast majority of the servants they bought from the brokers were going to leave with them; only a few, reluctant to part with their families or relatives, planned to grit their teeth and scrape together some money to redeem themselves.

Xie Wanniang, of course, would not accept their money. Not only did she not accept it, she also gave them two extra months' worth of monthly pay.

As for the guards whose relatives and friends were mostly local, the vast majority of them chose to stay, either to guard Xie Wanniang's shops, estates, and mansions, or to find other jobs for themselves.

The young guards that Xie Wanniang bought from the brokerage firm and who had been trained by Hao Yu and the experienced guards of her household all chose to leave with Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan without exception.

After this selection process, only a few servants and most of the guards from the Dingbei Marquis's mansion chose not to go south with Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan, while the others chose to leave with them.

As for those people Xie Wanniang bought during the famine years and then sent to the estate, none of their families came looking for them, which was a waste of Xie Wanniang's painstaking efforts in having the caravan leave their contact addresses.

Judging from this trend, Xie Wanniang estimated that most of these people would probably not receive timely redemption from their relatives.

Even if the agreed deadline has passed, she will not stop their relatives from redeeming them, but she certainly will not delay their marriage and job any longer during these years of delay.

By then, things will have changed, and everyone's circumstances will have changed drastically. Xie Wanniang can't say for sure whether those people will still be willing to be redeemed.

At this moment, Xie Wanniang was unaware that shortly after they left, the contact addresses she had left behind would be filled with people trying to take advantage of her.

Xie Wanniang not only allowed her servants and guards to decide for themselves whether to stay or leave, but she also did not charge the servants who decided to leave any ransom money.

In addition, she gave the servants and guards who were planning to leave an extra two months' salary, which was quite generous. So when outsiders asked about Xie Wanniang, they all praised her.

These people had a simple idea: their boss was a good person, so they wanted to tell the truth and spread her good reputation to prevent people from gossiping and slandering her behind her back.

However, they did not expect that after Xie Wanniang's reputation for being "generous" spread, those who had originally sold their neglected children, especially girls, to Xie Wanniang's temporary caravan would actually have the idea of ​​taking advantage of the situation under the guise of redeeming their children.