Chapter 98: On the Road
The next morning, just after 3 a.m., Qingwen woke up from Jia Cong's arms! After enjoying Jia Cong's arms for a while, she quickly got up and put on a thin coat. It was a bit chilly in the middle of September.
After simply washing her face, she woke up Xiaoqueer and Xiangling.
"Hurry up and wake me up in two quarters of an hour, and get me dressed! I'll get some hot water ready so I can wash up."
"Qin Xian's family should be here soon, let me eat something before I go back to work!"
The maids in all the families do not all live in the master's courtyard, but have separate residences. For example, to the south of Lixiang Courtyard, there is a row of dozens of houses against the east wall. Qin Xian's family lives here, so they also need to come here early.
Afterwards, Qingwen went to the ear room to wake up Zhuan'er, Zhuier and other little maids, and then they started to get busy.
When Jia Cong woke up, all the hot water and clothes he needed were already prepared!
Qingwen first helped Jia Cong clean up, Xiao Que'er helped wipe him clean, and asked Jia Cong to rinse his mouth. Not long after, some porridge and side dishes were prepared in the kitchen.
After Jia Cong finished eating, three maids lit the lights and personally escorted Jia Cong to the back door.
When the night watchwoman saw Jia Cong coming, she knelt down and kowtowed, then carefully opened the door. Jia Cong waved his hand to let the maids go back, and then he went out.
Outside the back door, several servants from the mansion lit up the streets with torches, and dozens of people knelt on one knee and shouted in unison, "Greetings, sir!"
The people who came included the sons of the eight dukes and twelve marquises, Jia Yun and a few others, as well as Teng Wu who was waiting here with a group of personal soldiers!
Jia Cong nodded slightly, took the reins from Teng Wu, jumped on the horse, and headed towards the direction of the North City Military Department.
The North City Military Division was the closest to the Jia Mansion, so Jia Cong simply sent a message first, asking the officers and soldiers from the other military divisions to gather there.
It can be said that working in ancient times was definitely more arduous than working in later generations. There was a term called "dianmao". Because the working time was generally at 6:30 a.m., all messengers needed to arrive at the corresponding yamen before dianmao to report for work. If it was a county yamen or a prefectural yamen, there would mostly be a morning meeting similar to the morning court, which usually lasted for an hour, and then everyone would go to their respective rooms to handle official business.
Of course, different yamen have different systems, such as the Bingmasi.
The Bingmasi was under the jurisdiction of the Censorate and had official posts such as the commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, and governor, whose ranks were sixth-rank military officer and seventh-rank military officer respectively. Now, the five Bingmasi have been merged into one, with the addition of Jia Cong, the third-rank commander, making the Wucheng Bingmasi important in the Censorate.
After all, in terms of rank, Jia Cong was only one level lower than the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief, and on the same level as the Left and Right Deputy Censors-in-Chief.
Since each Bingma Si has a commander, it represents an army. So under normal circumstances, each Bingma Si has 2,500 officers and soldiers, totaling 12,500 people.
The duties of the Bingmasi are extremely complicated and it can be said that they are in charge of almost everything.
Catching thieves, unblocking streets, cleaning ditches, transporting prisoners, prohibiting fires, patrolling at night, etc. It is a functional department that combines the police, fire protection, urban management, sanitation and even engineering teams of later generations.
The advantage of being in charge of the Bingmasi is that you can control almost everything, but the disadvantage is that as long as something happens, the Bingmasi will have some degree of joint liability.
Normally, after the military department arrived at the camp to report, they would patrol the areas that had been divided in advance, and they would also arrange people to patrol at night! However, according to the information Jia Cong had learned in the past few days, the system of the Five Cities Military Department was simply gone, and basically no one did the so-called report, and the clerks just drew their own names.
You have to pay two taels of silver every month, and even if you don't show up every day, everything will be checked off.
As for the so-called inspections, they were mostly just for show! They would go to a few shops to get some money, then go out to gamble or have a drink in a restaurant, or even just rest at home.
Since Jia Cong has been appointed the commander of the Five Cities Army, he will naturally not tolerate these people continuing like this!
It can be said that Jia Cong was not only a second-class earl, but also a third-rank military officer. However, due to the duties of the Five Cities Military Department, he did not need to attend court every day. He only needed to go to court when there was something important or when the emperor summoned him. Otherwise, getting up early to go to the palace would be a tiring task.
As he is the boss in the military department, he naturally does not need to report for duty. Once everything is sorted out, it is fine for him to just sit at home and do nothing.
It was still dark and there were no pedestrians on the street. In addition, the distance was close, so Jia Cong arrived outside the North City Bingmasi camp at the first quarter of the morning!
The camp covers an area of about thirty to forty acres. On the north side are several rows of houses, which have office space and residences for people to rest temporarily. The rest of the area is a training ground. On the east side there is also a commanding platform about ten feet high.
When we got outside the camp, we found it was completely quiet. There was no light at all. At the gate, a dozen soldiers were sleeping in a ball with their swords and guns in their arms.
When Jia Cong and his men came close, the dozen soldiers woke up in panic, and then shouted in fear, "Who are you? This is the North City Military Command's garrison. Anyone who has nothing to do with you should leave immediately!"
Jia Cong handed the commander's seal to Teng Wu, who rode forward and shouted, "You are blind. My master is the commander of the Five Cities Army and Horses appointed by His Majesty himself. Why don't you open the gate quickly and invite my master in?"
"ah!"
The leading soldier exclaimed, they had known about this news a long time ago, and it was said that this person was a young master of a duke's mansion. And, obviously, their immediate superior was not happy about this person's arrival, and someone had specifically ordered that this young master should be given a warning.
The soldier's expression changed. Thinking of his superior's promise, he immediately said, "We haven't received any orders from the commander-in-chief, so we dare not let you in. You should wait. When the commander-in-chief arrives and inspects you, we will naturally not dare to stop you!"
Upon hearing this, Jia Cong actually raised his head and burst into laughter. After a long while, he pointed at the soldiers and said, "Should I say you are smart or stupid?"
"Teng Wu, take him down!"
Before those people could react, Teng Wu dismounted and took down the dozen soldiers with a few personal soldiers in just two moves! Then, he had the gate opened and Jia Cong rode in.
When they arrived at the parade ground, Jia Cong went straight to the platform for selecting generals. Shi Si dragged a chair over from somewhere and put it directly on the platform for Jia Cong to sit on.
Looking at the empty training ground, Jia Cong was not in a hurry. He just closed his eyes and waited quietly.
