The rise of the poor

Chapter 2016 Why are you so late?

Zhu Ping'an watched Zhao Wenhua and Hu Zongxian leave together, and walked into the room under the guidance of the messenger.

Zhang Jing sat in the main seat in the room, with a group of civil and military officials sitting below him. Zhu Ping'an knew some of them, such as Li Tianchong, Yu Dayou, Lu Tong, and Tang Kekuan. Of course, there were also many people that Zhu Ping'an did not know.

"Greetings, Lord Zhang, and all the lords and generals." Zhu Ping'an bowed and greeted Zhang Jing and others.

"Zihou, no need to be so polite, please take a seat." Zhang Jing waved his hand, motioning Zhu Pingan to sit down.

There was only one empty seat, which was the third one. Apart from Zhang Jing, there was only one person in front of him.

I didn't recognize this Zhu Ping'an. He was about fifty years old, with a square face and a serious look.

I am the Right Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War and the Governor of Zhejiang. This person who can be ranked ahead of me must also be a big shot.

Zhu Ping'an was about to take a seat when Yu Dayou, who was standing behind him, clasped his fists and stood up to greet him. "Greetings, Your Excellency. If I had known that Your Excellency was coming, I would have come with You so that I could take care of you along the way."

"General Yu, you are so thoughtful. Please sit down." Zhu Ping'an smiled and nodded.

Zhu Pingan just sat down when he heard the big boss next to him,
"You are the last one to appear. Master Xiao Zhu is really a noble man. He made us all wait for such a long time."

The big boss on the side looked at Zhu Ping'an and said with some dissatisfaction.

Zhu Ping'an, you are so young, you have only been the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of Zhejiang for a few days, and you are so proud of yourself? You are so arrogant and late! You have kept the governor and me waiting for a long time.

There is always someone better than you. You are the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Governor of Zhejiang, but I am the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Governor of Yingtian!

Although we are both deputy chiefs of Yingtian Military Department and hold the same official rank, both are third grade, but, left, right, left, left is in front of right!

I, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, am in front of you, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. I sit in front of you and have a higher status than you. When a Vice Minister is promoted to a Minister, it is the Left Vice Minister who is promoted to Minister. You, the Right Vice Minister, stand aside!

Also, although we are both governors, I am the governor of Yingtian and you are only the governor of Zhejiang. Yingtian is the secondary capital of our Ming Dynasty. The governor of Yingtian is naturally half a level higher than your governor of a local province, and naturally has more power and authority than you.

"Ahem, Master Tu, Zihou is in Shaoxing, not as close as us, so it is reasonable that he arrived later."

Zhang Jing, who was sitting in the main seat, coughed lightly and explained for Zhu Ping'an.

"The distance is far? Yu Dayou is in Zhenhai, which is much farther than Zhu Zihou. Yu Dayou has been here for an hour, but Zhu Zihou is late. I'm afraid the distance alone is not enough to explain this."

Lord Tu shook his head slightly and cited the example of Yu Dayou as counter-evidence, explaining that the long distance was not a problem.

"I come from the military." Yu Dayou spoke up and wanted to explain for Zhu Ping'an.

However, he had just started to speak when he was interrupted by Mr. Tu with an unhappy look on his face.

"Shut up! How dare you interrupt the master when he is speaking!" Lord Tu scolded Yu Dayou with an unhappy and angry look on his face.

Yu Dayou awkwardly clasped his fists and apologized.

Tang Kekuan, Lu Tan and others present looked at Yu Dayou with sympathy and gave him spiritual support.

They are used to it.

In today's daimyo, civil officials are valued more than military officials. Not to mention the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Governor of Yingtian scolding them, even civil officials two or three levels lower than them can point at their noses and scold them.

Even if they were military officers of the third or fourth rank, they would dismount and salute when they met a seventh rank county magistrate.

The civil officials are the ones who command these military generals. Promotion, reward, demotion and punishment are all decided by a single word from them.

Other civil officials were promoted to inspectors, then to provincial governors, and then to governors-general. But these military generals could never become provincial governors, governors-general and governors-general no matter what they did.

These military generals are just military leaders who manage soldiers. No matter how high their rank is, they will only manage more soldiers.

The provincial governors and governors are the commanders-in-chief who plan the strategies.

Even if these military generals eventually became high-ranking officials due to their merits and the three or five noble titles, they would still stand still and listen to their lectures when they met the provincial officials and governors.

The Ming Dynasty has been established for nearly two hundred years, but there has not been a single military officer entering the cabinet.

After Lord Tu finished reprimanding Yu Dayou, he continued, "I am not putting on airs, nor am I deliberately making things difficult for the youngsters, but the most important affairs of the country are sacrifice and war. If everyone does not actively respect the governor's orders, then the governor's orders will not be implemented in the future, and how can we wipe out the Japanese pirates?!"

"Master Tu is absolutely right. I apologize to the Governor-General and all the Lords and Generals for being late in arriving safely."

Zhu Ping'an stood up and bowed to apologize to Zhang Jing, Lord Tu beside him, and the other lords and generals below him.

Then, Zhu Ping'an briefly explained, "After receiving the message from the Governor, Ping'an made arrangements immediately and rode here on horseback."

"Since Lord Xiao Zhu rode here at the first opportunity, he shouldn't be so late considering the time."

Lord Tu refused to give in.

"Master Tu is right. Ping An should have arrived about three quarters of an hour earlier. The reason why he was late was that he encountered a small group of Japanese pirates burning houses in a roadside village. As the governor of Zhejiang, Ping An was responsible for protecting the territory and the people. Seeing the Japanese pirates burning villages in the territory, how could he sit idly by? He commanded the Zhejiang army soldiers to attack from the front and back, and wiped out the group of Japanese pirates in one fell swoop. After the Japanese pirates were wiped out, in order to avoid the plague, they set fire to the Japanese pirates' bodies, which took some time, so they arrived late."

Zhu Ping'an briefly described the scene at that time and explained to everyone the reason why he was late.

"What? Lord Zhu wiped out a group of Japanese pirates while on the road? How many Japanese pirates were there?"

"real or fake?"

"Master Zhu said that he wiped out a group of Japanese pirates. Do you have any evidence?"

Everyone present was shocked after hearing this. They didn't expect that Zhu Ping'an actually wiped out a small group of Japanese pirates while on the road.

"A total of thirty-six Japanese pirates were killed, and their heads were handed over to the front yard for registration and identification."

"The messenger who was traveling with me also witnessed it with his own eyes."

Zhu Pingan said calmly.

"Is it as Lord Zhu said?" Zhang Jing asked someone to call the messenger who had just brought Zhu Ping'an here and asked him in front of everyone.

"It is just as Lord Zhu said. Lord Zhu commanded the Zhejiang army to split into two groups and attack from the front and back, annihilating the Japanese pirates in one fell swoop. The Zhejiang army's firearms are powerful, and the 36 Japanese pirates had no chance to fight back, and were all annihilated."

The messenger answered truthfully.

"Great!"

"Zhu Butang is amazing. He annihilated thirty-six Japanese pirates along the way."

Everyone was full of praise.