军队中“吃缺”的这种贪污手段,在清代既是一个公开的秘密,又是一个极端棘手、难以解决的难题。当时无军不缺,无官不贪,牵涉面很广,国家每年按册实足支给的粮饷,却有相当一部分被统兵官中饱私囊,终于弄得国日贫而兵日弱。然而,事情只要动真格的就不难解决,左宗棠正是动真格的而使这一积弊消除。同治六年,左宗棠奉旨经略西北。受命伊始,他严令所属军队主管,要晚上亲自到营房查铺,核实人数(因白天集合清点,作弊 This kind of embezzlement in the army, which means “eating without food”, was both an open secret in the Qing Dynasty and an extremely difficult and difficult problem to be solved. At that time, there was no shortage of troops in the army, no officials and no greed, and a wide range of issues. The national government paid enough salaries each year according to the volumes of the books. However, as long as things are not hard to solve, Zuo Zongtang is exactly what it takes to eliminate this problem. In six years of Tongzhi, Zuo Zongtang decreed that it would be slightly northwest. At the beginning ordered, he strictly ordered the military chiefs, to the barracks in the evening to check shop, verify the number (due to daytime collection of inventory, cheating