Chapter 238 Luoyang Guard Commander

In mid-May, various rewards from the court were issued. Zuo Lengchan and other Songshan masters earned hundreds of taels just by killing enemies, not to mention that there was a big gift waiting for them.

When Ou Zanghua and the eunuch appeared in the military camp, Zuo Lengchan and the twelve masters of Songshan came out to greet them.

When they saw the eunuch holding the imperial edict in his hand, everyone immediately realized something and their faces turned red and they were extremely excited.

Fortunately, Ou Zanghua was there and he immediately arranged for the soldiers to set up the venue.

After everything was arranged, the eunuch said in a loud voice: "The imperial edict has arrived!"

"Your Majesty, I respectfully welcome your order!" Zuo Lengchan led a large group of soldiers to kneel on the ground, full of excitement.

"The Emperor, in accordance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims: The bandits Liu Liu and Liu Qi are all about violence, cruelty to the people, and looting property, committing endless crimes. There is Zuo Lengchan, whose sword is so powerful that he is a tiger general. He is as brave as an entire country and can defeat ten thousand people. Zuo Lengchan is promoted to the position of co-director of Luoyang Guard, Ding Mian, Lu Bai, and Fei Bin are promoted to the positions of captains of Luoyang Guard, and Sheng Kexin and Deng Bagong are promoted to the positions of captains of Songshan Guard."

As soon as you hear the imperial edict, you know it was written by Ou Zanghua. If it were someone else, no one would have written something like "Swordsman's Spirit Soaring into the Sky" or "Courageous as an Whole Country".

As the last two words "秦此" were read out, Zuo Lengchan and other people from the Songshan Sect immediately kowtowed to express their gratitude.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards brought up the official uniforms that had been prepared in advance. Zuo Lengchan stood up and took the third-rank scarlet robe that represented his status, with tears in his eyes.

He was a chivalrous hero in the martial arts world. He jumped from a fifth-rank captain to a third-rank official in just over a year.

"Thank you, Lord Ou!" Zuo Lengchan looked at Ou Zanghua standing beside him and expressed his gratitude from the bottom of his heart.

"Uncle Zuo is so well-versed in martial arts. It would be a pity if he just spent his time fighting and killing in the martial arts world." Ou Zanghua patted Zuo Lengchan's hand and said with emotion.

Zuo Lengchan couldn't help but nodded after hearing this. If he had focused all his attention on the martial arts world, he would probably still be thinking about how to deal with Shaolin and Wudang.

It’s not like now, when he puts on a scarlet robe, all the people in Shaolin Temple have to line up to welcome him. This is called majesty!
The two chatted for a few more sentences, and then Ou Zanghua led the eunuchs to find Taoist Tianmen and Taoist Wang Chengwu who were still studying the gun barrel.

These two are very powerful now. When the Ministry of War knew about their abilities, the newly appointed Minister of War He Jian shamelessly said that there were still places in the military department of the Ministry of War and it would be no problem to recruit eight or ten of them.

This made the Minister of Personnel Liang Chuke laugh out loud. Last year, many of the new scholars had not yet been assigned jobs. He asked the Ministry of War about this at the time, but what did the Ministry of War say?

It can’t be stuffed in anymore, it really can’t be stuffed in anymore!
How long has it been now, and you already have ten or eight vacant positions in your Ministry of War?

Come on, come on, let me first let the Ministry of Personnel send in a few fellow Jinshi candidates.

He Jian spread his hands, indicating that there was no room for the fellow Jinshi, but the Taoists could be squeezed in, because he had not recruited any Taoists since he took office, and he also wanted to see how magical "Daizong" was.

Such shameless behavior made Liang Chu so angry that he wanted to compete with He Jian on the spot.

Duke Yingguo Zhang Mao, who came hurriedly, told the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel to stop arguing and that such talents should join their Five Military Protectorate.

Old Zhang is already old, and he wants to see the power of "Taizong".

Emperor Zhengde was originally very interested, but he thought that his ministers had been very obedient recently, so he did not rush to snatch them away, because they were all his people anyway.

But now seeing that the Minister of War had no dignity left, he suddenly became interested and immediately gave Zhang Yong a look.

So Zhang Yong immediately stepped forward and said that their Arms Bureau needed more talents like this. After a fierce competition, Yang Tinghe stepped forward to act as a peacemaker.

Taoist Priest Tianmen served as the Censor of the Military Department of the Ministry of War and led the disciples of Taishan Sect into the Ministry of War to continue their research on cannon barrels.

Taoist Master Wang Chengwu served as the director of the Gunpowder Bureau under the Armament Bureau. He led the disciples of the Hengshan Jinmu Temple into the Gunpowder Bureau to continue researching gunpowder.

Unless there are special circumstances, both sides can go to Beijing to stay in Zhongwei every seven days to test new gunpowder and artillery barrels.

After receiving the imperial edict, the two Taoist priests were not as excited as Zuo Lengchan. They just looked at it and were quite reluctant to leave.

Seeing this, Ou Zanghua comforted them, "You two don't have to be like this. We are all in the capital. After the morning break, you can meet up and have some tea and chat. Isn't that wonderful?"

The two looked at each other and then laughed.

After pacifying the Taoist priests, Ou Zanghua prepared to go back to Zuo Lengchan to discuss some things. When he walked outside the tent, he heard shouting and cheering coming from inside.

Upon seeing this, Ou Zanghua called over a soldier from the Songshan Guard and asked him to wait until all the masters of Songshan had finished celebrating before going to the Ou Mansion to find him. Then he turned and left, giving the space to them.

On the evening of the second day, when Ou Zanghua returned home from the Ministry of Rites, he saw Zuo Lengchan and Ding Mian waiting in the living room.

Seeing Ou Zanghua coming back, the two stood up and bowed to greet him, "Master Ou!"

"Uncle Zuo, Uncle Ding." After Ou Zanghua bowed in return, he asked Hua An to serve tea.

After taking a sip of tea, Ou Zanghua said, "I asked Master Zuo to come here this time because Master Zuo is about to return to Songshan. Both Songshan Guard and Luoyang Guard need Master Zuo to go back and arrange the work."

Zuo Lengchan shook his head and said with some melancholy: "It would be great if I could stay with Lord Ou and wait for his orders. Although we have only been together for a few short months, I have learned more from Lord Ou than in my first sixty years of life!"

"Uncle Zuo, you're joking. If it weren't for Uncle Zuo, I wouldn't be able to complete the task assigned by the court so smoothly!" Ou Zanghua also felt a little emotional.

Then, he asked, "Master Zuo, do you still remember that when Master Dingjing and Master Dingxian of the Hengshan Sect separated from us, they mentioned that there were demons and monsters active near Hengshan?"

"Of course I remember, but our four sects all have things to do and we can't send anyone to support." Zuo Lengchan nodded. In fact, if Ou Zanghua hadn't mentioned it, he would have really forgotten about it.
Compared to Zuo Lengchan's composure, Ding Mian seemed much more immature. His ashamed look showed that he had never been baptized by officialdom.

"Last time we suppressed bandits in Jiangxi, Hengshan sent out the best troops, and the rewards have been distributed. I would like to ask Master Zuo to take a detour and go to Hengshan when he returns to Songshan to give the rewards to Master Dingxian, and also to see what the current situation is in Hengshan. As for the duty time, I will coordinate for Master Zuo to give him an extra fifty days."

As Ou Zanghua is the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Minister of the Temple of Rites, and Compiler of the Hanlin Academy, the Ministry of Personnel will still give him this face.

After hearing this, Zuo Lengchan said immediately: "This is a small matter. I will hurry over and it won't take that many days."

"With the extra time, Master Zuo can go visit the Shaolin Temple!"

Eh? !

Zuo Lengchan's eyes lit up, and he suppressed his smile and said, "Well, what Lord Ou said makes sense!"

Ding Mian looked even more impatient. He had been looking forward to being able to run wild in Shaolin for a long time.
(End of this chapter)