Taiyuan City was extremely lively. A large sign was erected next to the city gate, with two big words "Recruiting soldiers". Several long queues had already been lined up under the sign, and thousands of people were waiting to register and choose.

In front of the team, there were a row of long tables, with more than a dozen civilian officers who were registered and selected in turn. The conditions were very broad. Regardless of their origins and household registration, as long as they were young and strong, and could hold up three times of stone locks, they could join the army to eat food.

In other words, even fleeing slaves can still join the army, cleanse their identities and regain their freedom. This is undoubtedly a great temptation. Many slaves and sinners hiding in the Hedong area have joined the army.

This time, Hedong recruited troops because after the Yanmen siege, Emperor Yang Guang took away all 50,000 Hedong counties and counties, leaving Hedong empty soldiers. The court specially ordered Hedong counties to recruit troops on their own, and left them by Taiyuan. Hedong ambassador Li Yuan was fully responsible for the full responsibility.

On the street, a team of more than 300 soldiers rushed over quickly. The headed general was Li Shimin, the second son of Li Yuan. He wore a silver helmet, a bright light armor, a sword on his waist, an arrow on his back, a wolf-toothed spear with a long helmet and tassel flying in the air, and his eloquent appearance was particularly heroic. Although he did not kill the enemy during this siege of Yanmen, Emperor Yang Guang still praised his loyalty and appointed him as the sixth-rank Jianjiewei.

Today, he was ordered by his father to inspect eight recruiting sites in Taiyuan City to prevent anyone from taking the opportunity to cause trouble. As soon as he arrived at the city gate, he saw a group of merchants walking into the city, driving hundreds of mules and horses. Most of the mules and horses were empty, and only dozens of mules were carrying heavy sacks.

Li Shimin recognized the person in charge at a glance. It was Li Shouzhong, the former general of the Li family, who taught him martial arts for several days and later became an intelligence scout.

"Brother Guarding!" Li Shimin went up and shouted.

Li Shouzhong had just returned from Wuyuan County and was exhausted all the way. Finally, he returned to Taiyuan City. He was excited and was eager to report the situation to the eldest son, but he heard someone calling him and turned his head. Seeing that it was the second son Shimin, he was so scared that he hurried forward to salute, "See the second son!"

Li Shimin called him "Shouzhongdao brother". That was just respect for him and did not mean that he could really act like a big brother. Li Shimin is the master and he is just a family general. Li Shouzhong knew very well about this. He dared not be rude at all.

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Where did you go?"

Li Jiancheng was fully responsible for the collection of Li Yuan's intelligence. The confidentiality was very strict. Li Shimin only knew that Li Shou Chong had been an intelligence scout, but where he went to spy on the intelligence. Li Shimin didn't know.

Li Shouzhong showed a look of embarrassment on his face. He could not say anything. Li Shimin understood. So he smiled and did not make things difficult for him. "Go to Brother Shouzhong! I understand in my heart."

Li Shouzhong bowed his hand, "Second Young Master, then I'll leave first!"

He took people to the city. Li Shimin looked at the few wooden barrels carried by mules and horses, and there was the word "Daoyi" on the barrel. He laughed. Li Shouzhong had gone to Fengzhou. But Li Shimin then shook his head again. Li Shouzhong was still not careful enough in his work.

At this time, a cheer came from the recruiting place at the gate of the city, "Okay! Good strength."

Li Shimin looked back and saw a big man who was participating in the recruitment of soldiers dancing the stone lock. The fifty-pound stone lock was flying up and down like a child's toy in his hand. He threw it up two feet high, causing applause.

Li Shimin's eyes lit up, and he urged his horse to run towards the recruiting place. He saw the man wearing a black cloth shirt and a single whip on his back. He was six feet tall and had big arms and round waists. His arms were particularly long, his skin was dark, and his eyes were bright and bright.

After dancing the stone lock, his face was not red and he was not angry. He bowed and said, "I'm afraid you can join the army if you are here?"

The recruiting officer hesitated for a moment. At this time, Li Shimin urged him to come forward and praise: "A hero is good at martial arts. May I ask who is the one who is honored for his surname and name?"

Seeing that Li Shimin was of extraordinary temperament, even an ordinary lieutenant could not wear a silver helmet, and even holding a long spear that only the children of noble families could afford, the man dared not neglect, so he quickly bowed and said, "I am dismounting Ma Gong, a native of Shanyang County, Mayi County, and I have practiced martial arts at a young age. I heard that Li Gong recruited troops to attack the thieves and came to serve in the army."

The recruiting officer was also from Mayi County, but he knew the great man and whispered to Li Shimin: "This man is not surnamed Ma, but actually has a surname of Yuchi. He is skilled in martial arts. He once joined the army to conquer Goryeo, but later fled and was a deserter."

Although his voice was small, the big man heard it. He was dissatisfied and straightened his waist and said, "Yes, I am surnamed Yuchi and named Gong. There are more than tens of millions of soldiers who have escaped in Goryeo. Why do you emphasize that I am a deserter?"

Li Shimin said lightly: "The Battle of Goryeo is unpopular. If it were me, I would also escape. Even if Shi Zhuang Shi of Yuchi joined the army, he would follow me as a general from now on. My name is Li Shimin, the son of Mr. Li."

Yuchi Gong bowed and bowed, but said neither humble nor arrogantly: "If the young master can convince me, I am willing to serve the young master. If the young master cannot convince Yuchi, Yuchi Gong will re-submit his wise ruler."

"If you don't satisfy me, I won't use you." Li Shimin also responded without mercy.

.........

In the study of Li’s mansion, Li Yuanzheng, Liu Wenjing and Li Jiancheng discussed recruiting troops. This recruitment of troops can be said to be a god-given opportunity for Li Yuan, giving him the opportunity to develop his own strength. This made Li Yuan feel both glad and excited.

"This time the imperial court ordered me to be the general recruiting officer, responsible for recruiting 20,000 people in five counties, including Taiyuan, Lishi, Xihe, Longquan and Loufan. I was wondering, how can I hold these 20,000 people directly in my hands? This is an opportunity, I must not let it go, what do you think, sir?"

Liu Wenjing nodded, "This is indeed an opportunity. You might as well learn from Yang Yuanqing how to gather the troops from the six counties in Guanbei, use concentrated training to firmly control the military power, and then lead them to suppress the bandits. In this way, 20,000 troops will not leave Ming Gong's side, and the court has nothing to say."

"Zhao Ren's words are exactly what I want."

Li Yuan pondered for a while and said, "It's just that the troops are relatively small, and 20,000 people are not enough to cause trouble. What should I do?"

Liu Wenjing smiled and said, "Didn't Dugu agree to Ming Gong, will there be elite soldiers to help?"

Li Yuan shook his head, "The elite soldiers mentioned by Dugu have been transferred to the capital to guard the capital. I also heard that the emperor might tour Jiangdu in the south, and those soldiers may follow the south. Besides, I am not very willing to be controlled by Dugu and can receive his money and food, but the army must be controlled by me. The one who will take the world in the future will be Li Yuan, not Dugu. So I have some concerns about using Dugu's soldiers."

Li Yuan sighed softly. He knew the Dugu family very well. If he wanted to get their support, he had to pay a great price. Of course, Dugu family was his mother's family, so it would be okay to use it. He was worried that he would finally make a wedding dress for the Dugu family. He seized the world. However, the Dugu family was on the throne. Therefore, he was also deeply taboo about the Dugu family. Before he had no choice, he tried not to use the Dugu family's military forces.

Liu Wenjing smiled slightly, "That's all, only by using the method of suppressing bandits, Jing Pantuo of Jiangjun is sufficiently strong and has extremely poor equipment. Twenty thousand officers and soldiers can defeat him. In addition, the envoy can exaggerate Jing Pantuo's troops and report to the court to add 10,000 troops to recruit more troops. In this way, 30,000 troops and tens of thousands of bandits surrendered, there will be 50,000 or 60,000 troops. When the envoy raises the matter, tens of thousands of troops will be recruited, and tens of thousands of troops will be recruited, which will be 100,000 troops."

Li Yuan pondered for a moment. The 100,000 troops were still insufficient, but he had no choice but to take one step at a time.

Seeing that Li Jiancheng was about to speak but stopped, Li Yuan asked with a smile: "Dalang has anything to say?"

Li Jiancheng bowed and said, "Father, the child suggested secretly recruiting soldiers in Guanzhong. He thought that if his father raised an uprising, Guanzhong would definitely prevent it strictly. If there was an inner supporter in Guanzhong, it would be much easier for us to seize Guanzhong. Although the child also knew that the Dugu family and Dou family were fake in Guanzhong, there were many soldiers. But as my father said, the Li family in the future would be the Li family, not the Dugu family, and we still need to recruit soldiers to wait."

Li Yuan nodded, and the eldest son said it very well, "I asked Shentong and Chai Shao to do the secret recruitment of troops in Guanzhong. Shentong has a wide network of contacts, Chai Shao is cautious in doing things, and I have a manor in Guanzhong, this is feasible."

The three of them were discussing, and at this time, someone outside the door reported, "Big Young Master, Li Shouzhong is back."

Li Yuan knew that Li Shouzhong had gone to Fengzhou. Without waiting for Li Jiancheng to speak, he quickly ordered: "Let him come in and speak!"

After a moment, Li Shouzhong hurried in, and he bowed and said, "See the master, see the eldest son and Mr. Liu!"

Li Yuan nodded and smiled, "Thank you all the way."

Li Shouzhong is Li Yuan's dagger, but the dagger is not an adopted son. He is just a family general who has a close relationship with his master. He is essentially a slave.

Li Shouzhong hurriedly said, "It is to serve the master to be responsible for his duties."

Li Yuan nodded, "Let me talk about Fengzhou first!"

"What I saw in Fengzhou is indeed surprising. The land is fertile, the wheat and grain are abundant, the people are rich, and the people are at peace. The people from all over the country praised Yang Yuanqing and were willing to serve him. More than 100,000 Fengzhou militias are well-equipped, no less than the regular Sui army..."

Li Jiancheng was a little displeased and interrupted him and said, "You can see so thoroughly after spending a few days in Fengzhou?"

Li Shouzhong blushed and explained hurriedly: "I listened to Han Chang's introduction, but I really saw the endless wheat fields, stretching for hundreds of miles, with golden ears of wheat, which were so spectacular that there were not in the Central Plains. Moreover, I asked many people, and every household had surplus grain, and praised Yang Yuanqing very much."

Speaking of this, Li Shouzhong took out the flat wooden box and presented it to Li Jiancheng, "This is some information collected by Han Chang. Please check it out."

Li Jiancheng took it, transferred it to his father, and asked him again: "What about two things I want you to do?"

"Fengzhou is under strict security, and it is almost impossible to recruit heroes. As for heavy armor equipment, Han Chang said it will take at least two months."

Li Shouzhong then told the story of what happened in Fengzhou in detail. When Li Yuan heard that he had been arrested, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "What happened later? Didn't they chase you again?"

Li Shouzhong shook his head, "They thought I was suspected of tax evasion, and later added a lot of tax, which was twice the value of my goods. He said it was a punishment, so he let me go. Moreover, Han Chang found several local people to guarantee it, and the matter was settled. Later, I learned that it was the Sogdians who were very tax evasion. The new rules that were only introduced a few months ago were made. The inner guard had the right to check taxes, and it was common for merchants to be arrested to pay taxes."

"Can you reveal some flaws and they discovered them?" Li Yuan asked suspiciously again.

"There is no flaw in the humble profession. Moreover, when the humble profession was released, he saw another businessman being arrested. This is indeed a coincidence."

Li Yuan then breathed a little relieved. He and Liu Wenjing looked through the information separately, mainly saying that Fengzhou's soldiers were good and food was sufficient.

Li Yuan and Liu Wenjing looked at each other, and both of them showed worries. Yang Yuanqing was their strong rival.

............

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Chapter completed!