Tao Ying did not choose the right time to recruit troops. Xuzhou had just experienced a sharp decline in the population due to the war, and the population base was greatly reduced. It was also busy in spring, and there were very few strong men in the countryside entering the city. In addition, Cao Bao started recruiting troops ten days in advance.

After almost all the qualified soldiers were picked out, Tao Ying was left with very few choices. After waiting for four days at the Dongmen Primary School, Tao Ying recruited less than three qualified soldiers.

Hundreds of people.

What makes Tao Ying even more disappointed is that although Tao Ying has personally visited the recruitment point to call on the people to join the army, Tao Ying's huge reputation in Xuzhou unexpectedly does not help much in the recruitment work, because the people of Xuzhou are not stupid, although they are grateful.

Tao Ying worked hard to save Xuzhou, but being a soldier on the battlefield is not a joke. An incompetent general will kill thousands of troops. The bodies of tens of thousands of Xuzhou soldiers who were massacred by Cao's army in the Sishui River have not been found yet.

After being completely cleaned up, and with these lessons learned from the past, Xuzhou men who are willing to join the army are naturally more willing to join the more cautious Cao Bao team, and are extremely unfavorable to the fledgling Tao Ying.

After all, Tao Ying's name as a pedantic nerd is still there, and he sacrificed his life to save Xuzhou, which did not change the people of Xuzhou's impression of Tao Ying.

Fortunately, Tao Ying still had the reputation of the second son of Xuzhou. Although Tao Ying was embarrassed to ask for help, after hearing that Tao Ying was facing obstacles in recruiting troops, many Xuzhou civil and military officials and local gentry took the initiative to ask Tao Ying.

He extended a helping hand, either proactively sending servants, or going to the tenant farmers on his own land to publicize on Tao's behalf, calling on the children of the tenant farmers to enlist in the army. Cao Bao, the chief general of Xuzhou, who had recruited 4,000 recruits as planned, did not care about Tao.

Ying refused to marry and was ruthless, so he took the initiative to select 600 experienced veterans and soldiers from the Xuzhou army and personally sent them to Tao Ying to help Tao Ying form a new army directly under Tao Qian - at least in name directly under Tao Qian.

Tao Qian's new army.

Chen Gui and Chen Deng, the largest landowners in Xuzhou, sent Tao Ying 300 new soldiers, consisting of their servants, servants and tenant farmers. Tao Ying happily accepted the help of Chen Gui and his son, but Tao Ying did not take it seriously.

The three hundred people accepted all of them, but only accepted the young men between the ages of fifteen and twenty. The rest were all returned to Chen Gui and his son. Chen Gui and his son did not say anything more, but just handed Tao Tao with a smile.

Ying picked the remaining slaves and took them home.

Tao Ying also dealt with the recruits sent by other nobles and nobles in Xuzhou in the same way. He chose to keep the recruits who were between the ages of fifteen and twenty. The others were returned under various excuses, except Mi Zhu, the richest man in Xuzhou.

Tao Ying did not accept any of the 200 slaves sent by Mi Fang and his brothers, and returned them all on the pretext that the army was full.

Of course, Tao Ying understood the consequences of doing so - greatly offending the Mi Zhu brothers, which made the Mi Zhu brothers, who already had ill intentions towards Tao Ying, even more dissatisfied, and the gap between them and Tao Ying deepened. But Tao Qian had no extra choice, and the Mi Zhu brothers almost

They had already half-openly sided with Liu Bei. Even if the soldiers sent by their brothers were not tasked with spying on Tao Ying, Tao Ying did not dare to use these slaves from the Mi family with confidence, let alone put himself in the army.

The new equipment being developed in secret was handed over to these Mi family slaves. So Tao Ying had no choice but to bite the bullet and offend the Mi family brothers once.

Tao Ying's distrustful attitude naturally did not hide from Mi Zhu's eyes. After leading the two hundred intact slaves to leave the east gate school, Mi Zhu immediately sneered at his brother Mi Fang and said with a sneer as soon as he left Tao Ying. Come on, we have all underestimated this kid Tao Ying, he is not stupid at all for being able to prevent our brothers from inserting spies into his team."

"Why are you afraid of him? A young idiot!" Mi Fang has always looked down on Tao Ying and snorted: "Don't talk about Tao Ying, even Tao Qian doesn't dare to do anything to our brothers! We really want to fall out. , Putting aside the fact that the few defeated soldiers left in old Tao Qian’s hands may not be the opponents of our private soldiers of the Mi family, if old Tao Qian dares to attack our brothers, Mr. Xuande will immediately have an excuse to start a war!"

"Of course it is easy to hide from an open gun, but it is difficult to guard against a hidden arrow." Mi Zhu shook his head and whispered to Mi Fang: "Be careful first. My brother can send more people to secretly monitor Tao Ying's children and carefully observe Tao Ying's every move. If there is any movement, you must especially find out the strength of his new army, how to drill, and how to fight. If there is any change, report it to me immediately."

"What's the use of eight hundred new troops? Why bother, brother?" Mi Fang curled her lips and was very dissatisfied with her brother's fuss. It wasn't until Mi Zhu opened her eyes that Mi Fang, who had always been in awe of her brother, reluctantly replied: "No, please Don't worry, brother, I will arrange more manpower to keep an eye on Tao Ying."

Mi Zhu snorted coldly, barely satisfied with his brother's answer, and then looked back at the Dongmen Elementary School behind him, filled with doubts in his heart, "Is this kid Tao Ying really stupid or pretending to be stupid? If he is really stupid, how could he have thought of it? Build your own army and lead it yourself? If you are so stupid, why do you only build such a small army? What use can a mere 800 people have?"

Tao Ying was wary of the Mi Zhu brothers. Tao Ying, who had never recruited 800 qualified recruits, hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded to Cao Bao, shamelessly accepted Cao Bao's kindness, and decided to Select soldiers from Cao Bao's team to add to your own team.

Seeing Tao Ying nodding, Cao Bao, who was eager to build a good relationship with Tao Ying, breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly ordered the 600 elite soldiers he brought to line up in the small school field. Then he pointed at the team and smiled at Tao Ying: "Second Young Master, please pick whatever you want. Well, these six hundred brothers are all carefully selected from the main force of Xuzhou by the general. They are all the best of the best. Most of them are veterans of hundreds of battles who have crawled out of the dead in the Surabaya War. They are the guardians of the Second Young Master. satisfy."

"No, I don't need veterans." Tao Ying said in surprise. Without even looking at the Xuzhou veterans Cao Bao brought, he shook his head and said: "General Cao misunderstood. My nephew doesn't want any of these veterans you brought! My nephew wants to select soldiers from your new recruits, that is, from the four thousand recruits you have recently recruited, uncle."

"Second Young Master, you only want new recruits?" Cao Bao's eyes widened at first, and then he suddenly realized - how can a bookworm like Tao Ying, who is stupid at reading, understand the importance of veterans?

"Second brother, why are you so stupid again?" Tao Ji also screamed, "Second brother, do you know anything about military affairs? Why do you need new recruits if you don't want experienced veterans and elite soldiers? If you don't have veterans, when will you get new recruits? How can I practice it?"

"You are indeed an idiot! A nerd who knows nothing about military affairs!" Lin Qing, who had been delayed for three days before returning home before reporting to the army, cursed quietly and tried his best to hide behind other recruits.

"What do you know?" Tao Ying glared at Tao Ji and snorted: "Don't look down on the new recruits. They are white paper without ink and rough jade without carving. I train them to get twice the result with half the effort! The veterans have already been formed.

If they lose their own fighting style, retraining will only achieve half the result with half the effort."

After scolding his deputy cousin, who had never been convinced, Tao Ying turned to Cao Bao and said, "Uncle Cao, my nephew knows you have good intentions, but my nephew has his own plans and just wants his uncle to recruit new soldiers. Also, my nephew has his own plans."

, our Xuzhou army has just been hit hard by Cao's thieves, and its vitality has been severely damaged. If my nephew takes away the elite soldiers under his uncle's command, it will definitely affect his uncle's plan to rebuild the Xuzhou army. Therefore, I still ask my uncle to take my nephew to those places.

Go to the new recruits and select some soldiers."

"Good nephew, don't blame your uncle for relying on his old age." Cao Bao changed his serious look and said seriously: "Having an old man in the family is like having a treasure. There are veterans in the team, which can help the new recruits get familiar with the army as soon as possible. They are all new recruits. Xian

My nephew’s team may not be easy to train.”

"Thank you uncle for your kindness. Of course, my nephew understands this, but there is no need for it." Tao Ying shook his head and said with a smile: "My nephew asked my uncle to recruit new recruits. Naturally, he has his own plans, and I hope my uncle will not hesitate to fulfill them.

"

Tao Ying's attitude was so resolute that Cao Bao, whose good intentions were not rewarded, had no choice but to sigh and nodded in agreement. He led Tao Ying to the North Gate Campus where the main army of Xuzhou was stationed, and asked Tao Ying to go to the 4,000 newly recruited soldiers.

Danzi selected the soldiers, and at the same time Cao Bao secretly muttered in his heart, "The second young master is not really a fool, is he? Why do you want a bunch of new recruits Danzi who have never been on the battlefield and have never seen blood while leaving the veterans and elite soldiers who came to your door?"

"Idiot!" Tao Ji and Lin Qing cursed at Tao Ying's back in unison.

With Cao Bao's 4,000 recruits as a base, Tao Ying's options suddenly became much larger. The result was very natural. Tao Ying's taste also suddenly became much more sophisticated. Many of the recruits had actually reached Tao Ying's previous standards.

They were all rejected mercilessly by Tao Ying. Only recruits who passed the selection criteria proposed by Tao Yingxin could join the Second Young Master Tao's team.

Tao Ying himself had a great time choosing, but Cao Bao, who was experienced in military affairs, and Tao Ji, who already had some military experience, could not understand anything they said, because Tao Ying's new standards were too weird, and recruits must be under fifteen years old.

Between 20 and 20 years old, you need to have long hands and sharp eyes. You can have slightly bowed legs, but absolutely no splayed legs. If you don’t like to talk very much, you must not be someone who foams at the mouth. Tao Ying also specifically requested this.

Cao Bao ordered the new soldiers to move freely for observation.

What's even more outrageous is that Tao Ying actually asked about the family background of the recruits. Only those with a clean financial background can be selected. Those who have done bad things and have criminal records are not allowed! Especially those young people who are known as wanderers, Tao Ying is even more outrageous.

Absolutely not!

After dozens of strong recruits who were favored by Tao Ji were all rejected because they failed Tao Ying's political review, Tao Ji finally couldn't hold back anymore and directly confronted Tao Ying: "Second brother, are you?

Should I choose soldiers to go to the battlefield, or students to study? What's wrong with those people I like? They have fought in the countryside, injured people, and what's the point of being a ranger? This proves that they are brave! Second brother, do you know?

, the rangers join the army and are in-demand elite soldiers wherever they go!"

"Brother Xian is right, brother is choosing students." Tao Ying's answer made Tao Ji angry, "What brother wants is organization and discipline, not a mess, nor individual heroism!"

"Second Young Master, if Cao Bao continues to rely on his old man and show off his old skills," Cao Bao couldn't stand it anymore and reminded: "No matter how obedient the soldier is, it will be useless if he can't fight on the battlefield."

"Uncle Cao is right, but it doesn't matter." Tao Ying replied with a smile: "My father asked my nephew to recruit eight hundred soldiers. He was originally preparing to train them to be soldiers. They would protect my father's cars and help my father when hunting.

After catching a few prey, the chance of going to the battlefield is very slim. My uncle thinks that my nephew should choose recruits who like to be obedient, or recruits who have no power but are disobedient?"

"Protect drivers and drive away prey?" Cao Bao rolled his eyes when he heard this, and said to himself that you, Tao Ying, have been recruiting troops for a long time to prepare for hunting. As expected, the wall cannot be held up by the mud.

"Second brother, if your team is not ready to go to the battlefield, please ask the second brother to give the order and let me return to serve under General Cao!" Tao Ji shouted angrily.

Of course Tao Ying understood that his third brother did not want to mix with him, and Tao Ying did not really want to keep his cousin, who was not ranked at all in the history of the Three Kingdoms war. Unfortunately, Tao Ying currently lacked talents, so severe that except for Tao Ji

He didn't even have a reliable deputy, so Tao Ying could never let go of his unlucky cousin. However, Tao Ying didn't ask to stay or make concessions. He just looked at Tao Ji coldly, his eyes extremely cold.

"Second brother..." Tao Ji was a little embarrassed by Tao Ying's stare, and then remembered that Tao Ying was always his elder brother and had done great things that he admired greatly, so Tao Ji flinched a few times and finally lowered his head in despair.

Tao Ying ignored him and went back to selecting new recruits.

Of course Tao Ying knew what he was doing, and he also understood that Cao Bao and Tao Ji's repeated objections were not intended to be against him, but sincerely for his own good. However, Tao Ying also had his own difficulties and plans. Tao Ying's

The difficulty is that Xuzhou is a place of four battles, surrounded by enemies on all sides, and the terrain is very open. There are almost no natural dangers to defend. It is difficult to defend but easy to attack. If Cao Bao and Tao Ji use the method of building an army, then Tao Ying must at least form an army.

Only an army of 50,000 to 60,000 people can secure the five counties of Xuzhou and guard against incoming enemies from all directions. If he wants to expand his territory and conquer the world, without an elite army of 100,000 or 80,000 people, Tao Ying could not imagine that he could secure Xuzhou while

I can still forge ahead.

Tao Ying, who had been thinking about it for a long time and was almost exhausted, suddenly discovered that there was such an army in history that seemed to be particularly suitable for the terrain and environment of Xuzhou. It could defend Xuzhou's tranquility with a very small number of troops, while protecting his hometown.

, there is even a certain amount of room for progress, and with the productivity and technological power of the Three Kingdoms era, it is very possible for an army like Shanzhai to come out. Therefore, Tao Ying set his goal to be an army like Shanzhai from the beginning.

To form an army, the first important requirement is that there must be a group of well-disciplined soldiers.

Needing a group of highly disciplined soldiers, Tao Ying would naturally not want Cao Bao's soldiers who had become elite soldiers in the army, nor would he want those idle, aggressive and lawless rangers.
Chapter completed!