In May of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the hot sun was scorching the earth, the hot summer had arrived, and the heat rising from the ground was suffocating.

On the official road leading to the Fengyang Zhongdu Stay, an army that stretched for several miles was moving rapidly. The soldiers of three people and one row were in line, and the dust rising up did not dissipate for a long time. In order to increase the speed of the march, the soldiers' armor and weapons were handed over to the baggage camp behind. Two thousand recruited young and strong men were either driving carriages, carrying loads, or pushing wheelbarrows, loading with food, grass, and armor and equipment, and following the team.

This team was the subordinate of Huang Degong of Shan County. He and Zhou Yuji were ordered to recruit people to form a new army in Shandong. Since both of them were promoted from the grassroots soldiers to senior generals, they had a lot of experience in the army. When recruiting troops, they specially selected the men with many loyal and honest, hard-working children from good families who joined the army, and finally recruited a total of 4,000 new members.

After Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji took over the killing of Wu Shangwen, with the cooperation of the upright and bold general Wu Qun, all the treacherous people among the generals were eliminated. The old and weak distributed five taels of Anjia silver and then sent them home. After strict screening, more than 1,000 people were left. In addition to the 4,000 new recruits recruited, an army of more than 5,000 people was finally formed.

Most of the new recruits are illiterate peasants. From birth to adulthood, they live in a range of no more than ten miles. Although they are honest and obedient, they are very difficult to train because they have too little knowledge and are rigid in mind. The ability to distinguish various flags and drums in the army alone has caused trouble for Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji, and the intermediate generals selected from the 500 cavalrymen.

As a local native, Wu Qun, Qianhu, played a great role in training these recruits. Because the Shandong people have a very strong dialect accent, the generals of Yongwei Camp feel very awkward to communicate. Although Wu Qun is a native native, he speaks the official language very well. He led several hundred households, whistlebars, and communication up and down, and devoted himself to the process of training recruits. After several months of running-in, these thousands of farmers who know nothing finally look like soldiers. Of course, the scolding and beating of the generals during this period is inevitable, which is a common thing in the army.

After the team gradually formed, the stricter array and weapons exercise began. The recruits who had gradually adapted to the situation, under the strict discipline of the generals and the demonstration of the old soldiers, fully demonstrated the loyalty, simple and obedient characteristics of Shandong people. The soldiers who made mistakes, no matter whether the generals were beaten with wooden sticks or whips, had no intention of resentment or resistance, and they were just next to each other without saying a word. The generals who were marching with guns, even if there was a wall in front and did not receive the order to stop moving forward, the recruits would crash into it.

Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji were very satisfied with this group of recruits. In addition to being a little rigid, responding slightly slower, and being loyal and obedient. In addition, the tall and stout body unique to Shandong people, after time and after the training of the battle formation, this team will definitely become a strong army.

What they don’t know is that in the poor northwestern Shandong region, they can join the government army, eat a full meal every day, and have a monthly salary of one or two yuan per month. This is a good thing that many people would never dream of. Not to mention that they were beaten just by practicing mistakes, as long as they could eat full every day, they could be beaten every day. Anyway, the farmers' families are thick-skinned and the generals are not beaten to death, just follow them. They can save money to take to their families, so they have to listen to others and practice well. Is it natural to do it? This is the idea of ​​almost all new recruits.

When the new army began to formally practice the military formation, Zhou Yuji received an imperial edict and transferred him to the Qin army to Sun Chuanting as the chief general. The two had been together for several years and had a close relationship. Now they suddenly had to separate the two places. In this era of chaos, I don’t know when I will meet again next time, and I don’t even know if I can see them alive. Huang Degong violated the general and asked his personal soldiers to go to the market to buy a jar of wine to see Zhou Yuji off. After the two of them happily fucked two bowls, they smashed the wine bowl and said to take care of each other. Zhou Yuji took more than a dozen personal soldiers who had prepared to go straight to Shaanxi.

In the following days, Huang Degong spent almost every day on the school ground, supervising the new Qianzong, and training the soldiers with the middle and lower-level generals. Wu Qun's original subordinates were split and dispersed, and many of the original old soldiers were promoted. His battalion was mainly recruits. He had no complaints about this, and he still devoted all his energy to teaching the new recruits. The thousand people under his battalion made the fastest progress. Whether it was marching in a queue or performing in a real-time military exercise, he performed the best among the five thousand generals. Huang Degong appreciated him very much and prepared to report to the court to promote him after making military achievements.

After receiving the military order from the Prime Minister Lu Xiangsheng of the five provinces, he arrived in Fengyang with a camera and moved, Huang Degong immediately summoned his subordinates to announce the military order. Then he personally went to the county town of Shanxian to find the magistrate Ren Minyu. After showing Lu Xiangsheng's military order, he would be exhausted because the marching journey was long and the soldiers would be carrying armor and armour, and they needed to recruit young men as a baggage camp.

Ren Minyu was born in the seventh year of Tianqi. Since there was no one in the court, he had been appointed as the magistrate of Shan County for nearly six years. In these six years, he has been diligent and conscientious. Although he has not achieved great political achievements, the people can still survive under his rule. According to the regulations of the court, he will be transferred to him in six years. He knew that the next place of office was almost as poor as Shan County, and it is impossible to promote and reuse it. Who said that his family has no background? If there is an important official in the court speaking for him, with his own political achievements, there should be no problem to take another step.

Huang Degong's request did not make Ren Minyu feel impatient. The two of them were both civil and military. Although they rarely had any intersection, he also heard some news about this mansion. He knew that although Huang Degong was a military general, he was a close minister who was deeply trusted by the emperor. As long as Huang Degong could be satisfied, once the official army wins, he would not say that he would have his own name to assist the official army in his military achievements. Once he is in the holy eye, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not be an opportunity. Isn't the promotion a sentence of the emperor? Besides, there are military orders issued by the prime ministers of the five provinces. Although Lu Xiangsheng does not care about civil affairs, it is difficult to say what kind of future he will have in the future. The ministers valued by the emperor are not comparable to the official path.

Ren Minyu readily agreed to Huang Degong's request, and immediately summoned the clerks and troupes from the county dynasty to let them go to the village to preach the recruitment matter, and told the people that those who assisted the government and army would be exempted from labor for two years. More importantly, those who were willing to join the baggage camp would pay five cents of silver and take care of the meals each month. Under the dual interests, the people from all over the countryside actively signed up.

The main reason is that years of severe drought has spread from Henan to eastern and western Shandong. Seeing the crops in the fields withered and dried up, many people with no surplus food at home have begun to plan to escape from famine. When they were worried, the government brought such good news. For many farmers, this is simply a Bodhisattva who saves the suffering.

There is no hope of harvesting crops. The strong laborers at home are idle every day. If you chew alone, you can catch up with several people. This time, you can follow the army and manage your food and still have money to take. With this money, you can buy more of them while the grain family is not high, and then dig some wild vegetables in the field. Take some fish, turtles, shrimps and crabs in the river that is about to break the flow. You can marinate them with salt. You can eat them for a long time. Maybe God will be open to the eyes and rain a few times. You can rush to plant autumn crops and survive the New Year.

Huang Degong looked at the crowd gathered in front of the county government office, and looked at the sad eyes with hope on his face, and felt extremely sad. He was also from the rén family. His father died early. His mother raised him and his younger brother and sister with great difficulty. He naturally knew the taste of poverty and hunger. He also saw the situation of almost unfinished crops in the fields, and he didn't know how these people would spend the next life.

He turned sideways to Ren Minyu beside him and said, "Mr. Ren, the drought is too serious. What if the people can't eat? If there are people like thieves inciting them, wouldn't it be another disaster?"
Chapter completed!