The power of the Ministry of War was not as emptied as Yang Guang's later period. Zhang Xuan gave him great management power, such as militia management, warship management, military ration allocation, recruitment and training of recruits, military land settlement, military merit rewards and soldiers' pensions, etc. When facing generals of each army, Zhang Xuan was the commander of the Qingzhou Army, and in front of the Ministry of War, he was the Regent and the immediate superior of the Minister of War.

Zhang Xuan generally does not interfere in the process of recruiting soldiers, but before recruiting, Zhang Xuan will make some special requests, and the Ministry of War will formulate a recruitment plan based on these special requirements.

Of course, Li Jing knew this very well. He smiled and said, "Your Highness, please tell me, please listen!"

Zhang Xuan walked a few steps behind his hands: "First of all, it is the place where the troops are sourced. I hope that this time the recruitment of 50,000 troops will be carried out in the western counties of Hebei, including Zhao County, Wei County, Ji County, Henei County, Wu'an County, and Xiangguo County. There are a total of six counties, including Wei County and Ji County. Can the Shangshu understand my intention?"

Li Jing nodded, "I understand that it is mainly considered after moving the capital."

Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "There are only 20,000 militias in these six counties, and the other 30,000 soldiers will be real recruits. They cannot be trained in a short time, so I plan to let them guard Zhongdu to ensure the safety of Zhongdu. As for the equipment, there is no need to be too high, and Class B equipment is enough."

Qingzhou military equipment is divided into three grades: A, B and C. The difference between A and B is that the armor is equipped with Mingguang armor, and B and B are equipped with leather armor. Although C is also equipped with leather armor, it is even worse in weapons. It is mainly based on the seized weapons. Most of the equipment such as C is used on militia.

"I remember, Your Highness, please continue to explain."

Zhang Xuan took a few steps and said: "The second is the recruitment time. The court's New Year's holiday is on the fifth day of the first lunar month. The Ministry of War will start to formulate a recruitment plan from the sixth day of the first lunar month. It must complete the recruitment within 20 days, and then train in Weijun to complete the deployment before the end of February. The time is very tight. When formulating the plan, you must consider it carefully and no accidents can happen."

Li Jing also felt tremendous pressure. In fact, he only had two months to complete recruitment, training to deployment, which was very difficult, but Li Jing didn't say anything, just nodded silently and said to Zhang Xuan: "Weichen will definitely do his best!"

Zhang Xuan could understand Li Jing's pressure. He smiled and said, "Because there are 20,000 militias in the above six counties. In fact, it is enough to recruit 30,000 troops. If the recruitment is insufficient, it is also possible to use militias in other counties. The conditions do not need to be so strict. But no matter what, Li Shangshu must have a good rest and spend this New Year well."

The upcoming New Year is a bit more murderous in Chang'an. Although the streets and alleys are full of lanterns and the officials are trying to create a festive atmosphere, there are teams of soldiers patrolling with knives everywhere, patrolling the streets with murderous intent, staring at every passerby with fierce eyes, as if everyone is a spy who is coming to destroy the abdication ceremony.

Passers-by walked hurriedly on the street, and acquaintances stopped greeting each other when they met, but only exchanged their eyes, for fear of causing unintentional disasters. Neighbors everywhere could not hear the cheerful running and laughter of children. Adults restrained their children at home and were not allowed to go out. The whole Chang'an became deserted and there was no New Year atmosphere at all.

At noon, a tavern outside the gate of the west city of Chang'an finally had several guests. The tavern was called the "Yellow River Ancient Road". It is said that it was invested and built by a large businessman in the Hetao area.

In Chang'an, this restaurant can only be considered medium-sized, but its location is very good, and it is near the gate of the West City, so the business has always been good, not close to the New Year. In addition, the atmosphere in the city has made the restaurant business particularly deserted. Not only them, but all the restaurant business has been affected.

With a few guests, the originally lazy bartender began to get busy. Several drinkers were sitting on the second floor, drinking silently. Without the ravings of the past, Chang'an City was full of spy lines, and no one was willing to cause trouble.

At this moment, two people walked into the gate. The leader was tall and tall, looking very young, but his black beard was half a foot long, which made him look a bit fairy-like.

This person is Li Qingming who has transferred from Jiangdu to Chang'an. Li Qingming has been named the Minister of War. Before he took office in Zhongdu, Zhang Xuan gave him a task to transfer to Chang'an and establish an efficient intelligence agency in Chang'an.

Chang'an itself already has an intelligence point for the Qingzhou Army, but Zhang Xuan was not satisfied. He hoped that the intelligence point in Chang'an could operate as efficiently as the Jiangdu intelligence agency, so Zhang Xuan decided to transfer all Jiangdu intelligence personnel to Chang'an, and Li Qingming was responsible for reorganizing and operating them.

The person who follows Li Qingming is named Yang Chonglan, who is Li Qingming's intelligence deputy in Jiangdu. In the future, he will also be the intelligence leader in Chang'an. Yang Chonglan is also a Chinese military official. He was once a member of the Flying Eagle Army. He is tall and strong and has a mighty appearance. He is from Jibei County. He is only 30 years old this year, with rich experience and shrewdness and competentness. Li Qingming strongly recommended him to Zhang Xuan as Hou Zheng Chang'an. Zhang Xuan accepted Li Qingming's recommendation and appointed Yang Chonglan as Hou Zheng Chang'an.

Li Qingming and the other two walked into the restaurant, and a bartender immediately greeted him with a smile on his face, "Welcome to the two masters to have a meal, go to the second floor! It's quiet and comfortable."

Li Qingming looked at the restaurant and asked, "Where is your shopkeeper Liu?"

The bartender was stunned for a moment. Their shopkeeper was originally named Liu, but later changed his surname to Wang. He usually called Zhangguan Wang. This person actually knew the shopkeeper's original surname. He did not dare to neglect him. He quickly bowed and said, "Please wait, I'll call the shopkeeper!"

The bartender ran up to the second floor. Soon, a fat, middle-aged man walked down quickly. The man was the shopkeeper of the restaurant, named Wang Hao, and his original name was Liu Hao, from Qinghe County, Hebei Province. When he saw Li Qingming and others, he smiled and asked, "What are you?"

Li Qingming gently stroked his long beard and revealed the flying eagle golden ring on his finger. Manager Wang's face changed and he immediately became awe-inspiring and said, "Please follow me, two!"

He took Li Qingming and the others into the backyard from the side door and came to a room in the backyard. This was a warehouse filled with various tables and chairs. They went all the way to the innermost very hidden hut. The three of them walked into the hut. There was a couch in the middle of the room, with pens, ink, paper and inkstones, and a pile of tiny huts.

This tavern is the intelligence point of the Qingzhou army in Chang'an. It was originally just monitoring the activities of the Guanlong nobles, but since Li Yuan captured Chang'an, the importance of Chang'an was immediately highlighted. This small intelligence point is far from adapting to large-scale intelligence needs.

Manager Wang also has a flying eagle ring, but it is just a bronze ring, indicating that he is only equivalent to a lieutenant in the Qingzhou Army intelligence system, while the silver ring is equivalent to a general, and the golden ring is at the level of a general. Therefore, Manager Wang is very nervous and nervous at the same time, not knowing who the other party is?

Li Qingming went into the house and sat down. He smiled at Manager Wang and said, "I am Li Qingming, Jiangdu. Have you heard of the Commander Liu?"

Manager Wang was startled. It turned out that the tall and thin young man in front of him was the famous Jiangdu Hou Zheng Li Qingming, who was appointed as the Qingzhou Army Director of the Army. He hurriedly bowed and bowed, "The low-ranking resignation captain Liu Hao will meet Li Zhengjun!"

"I'd better call you Manager Wang!"

Li Qingming smiled and said, "I was ordered to form the Chang'an Intelligence Agency, but I won't stay there for a long time. At most, I will go to Zhongdu to work in one or two months. This is General Yang, and he will serve as Hou Zheng of Chang'an Intelligence Agency."

Manager Wang also saw the flying eagle silver ring in Yang Chonglan's hand. He hurriedly stepped forward to salute. When the two of them saw the salute, Li Qingming asked them to sit down, and then said to Manager Wang: "Let's talk about the information point first!"

Manager Wang smiled bitterly, "I guess I saw it too when I joined the army. We only have one intelligence point in Chang'an, a wine shop, seven men, and I have eight people in total. There is also an eagle house outside the city and two creed eagles. The only thing we can do is to transmit the major events that happened in Chang'an to Anyang in a timely manner. In fact, almost every Chang'an person knows that if we want to dig deeper information, we can't do it at all. Either we just listen to the chat of the drinkers, but the kind of hearsay information is very unreliable, and we dare not send it."

Li Qingming nodded. Chang'an's intelligence station was worse than he thought. No wonder the general had to let him come to Chang'an to rebuild the intelligence station. Li Qingming pondered for a moment and said, "We have brought more than 100 intelligence scouts, and they will come one after another within half a month. The most urgent task now is to buy an inn. The inn should be outside the city and serve as an intelligence exchange point. This matter will be left to you. Money is not a problem, but the inn must be big."

Manager Wang thought for a while and said, "I remember there is a large inn near Hanlin Bridge outside Dongcheng. I heard that the owner of the inn thought that the business was not good and decided to transfer it, so I wonder if it was sold now?"

Li Qingming immediately stood up, "Now we'll go and take a look!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!