After Yin Chang made an agreement with Guo Ning, he originally wanted to leave Laizhou that night and urgently summoned his subordinates to rush to Jinan. Unexpectedly, as soon as Ni sent him to the library, Geng Ge and Shi Poli came to see him together.
These three people are all old fritters who have been restless since the early years of Taihe and have been ups and downs several times. They had quite a friendship with each other, and they both respected Yang An'er as their leader. Yin Chang's choice to join Guo Ning was also due to the influence of the two men's persuasion. Now the three of them talked and had a great time.
The next day, some local heroes from Shandong, such as Zhang Lin and Yan Ning, with high and low positions, came to see him. These people, who had the highest status back then, could only lead a city or a village. Now they are still at the level of generals, hoping to take advantage of this wave of great development in the navy to make things better.
In comparison, Yin Chang was among the top ten powerful factions under Yang An'er that day. The status, prestige, and military and political skills of these people were not comparable to those of Yin Chang, so they treated Yin Chang as their senior and were very polite.
Yin Chang wanted to learn more about Guo Ning's style from their mouths, so he stayed an extra day and attended several banquets.
He keenly felt that the Dinghai Navy's system was completely different from what he was used to. This system can be said to be much rougher or more strict, but it can really attract people to join it and never get tired of it.
These days, it is better to rely on the sky and the earth than to rely on soldiers and horses. But Yan Ning and others have completely tied themselves to Ding Haijun's rumbling chariot? How come they have so much confidence? Yin Chang was a little confused and a little scared, but he felt even more that it was not easy for him to maintain an independent attitude under the banner of Ding Haijun.
In the evening, Guo Ning sent someone to ask, saying that he had made an appointment with a civil and military official from the navy to have a banquet with Yin Chang. Yin Chang only said that he had not done anything and resolutely resigned.
Recruiting troops was a big deal, and Guo Ning agreed to it for ten days, but he didn't know if he would regret it and withhold a few days when the matter came to pass.
The nights are long and the dreams are many, so hurry up and go to Jinan!
Yin Chang and his men left immediately, while Guo Ning and his men rushed to the city gate and said goodbye with smiles.
The group of people rushed straight into Jinan.
Jinan City was occupied by several groups of armies, and the damage suffered was beyond words. Today, there are very few people in the city. During the day, wild dogs can be seen walking on the streets, and rats can be seen walking in groups on the ruined walls. Because under the broken bricks and tiles, there are layers of white bones; the seventy-two springs in the city are all full of floating corpses, so that countless beasts can be fattened.
Only in the water gate area of the West Lake, there is a rough refugee camp built on the city wall, where a group of warriors with their families and families are stationed.
They cultivated a field in the lake and swamp area north of the city and became self-sufficient. When the Red Coat Army was strong earlier, several leaders had received the title of general from Yang An'er, and now they seemed to have followed Huang Ding, the leader of the water bandits in Licheng Water Village in the north.
In addition to these people, there are only a few settlements in remote mountains and fields in the entire Jinan Prefecture. The 300,000 households and nearly two million people who once crowded together have almost disappeared.
After actually seeing it here, Yin Chang understood why Guo Ning had never thought of recruiting troops in Jinan. This place, let alone recruiting troops, will probably take more than ten years of continuous relocation of people's livelihood before it can regain its old outlook. Before that, it was just a dead city and a big tomb.
However, Yin Chang's goal is not in Jinan, so it doesn't matter.
He was really capable and courageous, so he rode straight into the West Lake Shuimen Military Village, put his chariot and horse in a row, and asked to see the leader of the water village.
The leaders here are just wandering ghosts under the iron heel of the Mongolian army. How can they dare to take advantage of Yin Chang? He quickly urinated and announced his name.
The leader of the village is Guo Zheng, a businessman from Baoquan Township, Licheng County. He also has two assistants, one is Xu Wende, a scholar who lived here from Daming Mansion, and the other is Shi Yan, an old soldier who just defected here two days ago. .
Yin Chang did not hide anything and said that the Shandong East Road had changed hands and that the important generals and soldiers under the command of Shandong Xuanfu Envoy and Ding Haijun Jiedu Envoy Guo Ning would be coming at any time.
Right now, I, Mr. Yin, have arrived early on orders from Guo Jieshuai and will recruit manpower from Dongping Mansion. If you are willing to serve, then follow me honestly. If you have second thoughts, you may as well leave quickly, otherwise as soon as the army arrives, All turned into powder.
Guo Zheng and others hesitated at the time and flattered them, but said they still needed to discuss it.
Yin Chang obliged, and went out to find a dry highland to station himself.
That night, more than a hundred cavalrymen he had urgently recruited from Binzhou arrived. They immediately drove in holding pine torches, took control of the Shuimen military stronghold, and took over the city defense.
The soldiers and civilians who were originally in the water stronghold were all driven to the newly established camp in the east of the city. When they were panicking, Yin Chang came out to comfort him again. Everyone felt his generosity and respected his methods, so they immediately admired him.
At noon the next day, hundreds of infantrymen from Binzhou arrived first, followed immediately by Guo Ning's grain convoy from Zizhou.
Yin Chang has soldiers and food in his hands, so he is confident.
When Huang Ding from the Water Village in Calendar City came with more than a thousand people to have a look, Yin Chang came forward to take over. There was an old friendship between the two sides, but Yin Chang had spoken softly and hard. Huang Ding knew that he was no match for Ding Haijun, so he retreated.
At present, Yin Chang dispatched his men to deliver the news in the direction of Dongping Mansion.
Dongping Mansion was regarded as the capital of the country by Yang An'er earlier. It was repaired and managed, and a large amount of food and supplies collected in the city were hoarded. When he raised his troops to attack Nanjing Road, in order to ensure that Dongping Prefecture was not lost, he deliberately left two important generals, Fang Guosan and Zhan Hui, to garrison. One of them was a new noble, the other an old one, and the other was an old man. There are always contradictions.
As a result, after he was defeated and died, the two generals immediately fought against each other. They first competed for the leadership of the Red Coat Army after Yang An'er's death; when the Red Coat Army was torn apart and beyond control, they then competed for the huge amount of supplies that Yang An'er left in Dongping Mansion; when they fought against each other and destroyed the treasury, They continued to compete for the civilian and military villages around Dongping Mansion.
In the end, there was no fight for anything. Anyway, they were jealous and killed so hard that they killed many people in the 19 towns in the 6 counties of Dongping Prefecture. There were even many generals who originally belonged to Yang An'er's scattered small troops, or those who were in Tianping back then. The old troops of Huang Laowudian, the military governor, had to flee with their families to the barren mountains and wilderness.
It's all because although they have force, they can't compete with Fang Guosan and Zhan Hui no matter what. Instead, they are easily involved in the war and become a human shield.
At this time, in Jinan Prefecture, which is adjacent to Dongping Prefecture, a famous Shandong tycoon raised a recruiting flag. How could there be a shortage of food people?
The news spread by word of mouth and soon spread throughout Dongping Mansion, and people began to come to visit one after another.
Those who can struggle to survive in this kind of world without dying in battle or starving to death on the roadside are more or less confident, not to mention that there are many stragglers as the backbone?
After only three days, Yin Chang had two to three thousand more men and women in his camp in Jinan City.
But Yin Chang felt that it was not enough.
Guo Ning promised to give Yin Chang a quota of 15,000 people. In fact, how could this be calculated clearly? If Yin Chang attacks more, can Guo Ning still make him spit it out? What really matters is the ten-day time limit. Within ten days, recruiting more troops will give you more confidence to survive in troubled times!
He was just thinking about a plan when his own soldiers came to report that Shi Yan, one of the leaders of Shuimen Military Village, an old soldier, wanted to see him.
Yin Chang said casually: "Let him come."
Shi Yan came in to pay his respects and said, "General, it's too late for us to wait for the soldiers to surrender. I am from Dongping Mansion. I am willing to return to Dongping Mansion to spread the name of the general and attract them."
Yin Chang suddenly became interested.
In the past few days, he had been busy with matters at his recruiting camp, but he didn't pay much attention to these new recruits. At this time, I carefully looked at the old soldier and saw that he was about thirty years old. Although he was not strong in stature, he had bright eyes, and there was a rather ferocious arrow scar on his cheek. It was obvious that he had experienced fighting and had some experience. of.
"What do you want? What can you bring me?" Yin Chang asked.
Shi Yan was neither humble nor arrogant: "What I want is nothing but wealth. And what I can bring is to recruit enough troops for the general within ten days."
Hey, Yin Chang really hasn't mentioned this ten-day agreement to many people. Only a few of his cronies knew about this. It seems that Shi Yan is a thoughtful person.
If someone like this were to use it, maybe they would be surprised?
"Wealth, it's a trivial matter!" Yin Chang nodded in agreement, and then asked: "Do you need some cooperation from me?"
Shi Yan said proudly: "I have my own trusted followers and my own methods, so there is no need to trouble the general!"
After a pause, he added: "There is only one thing."
"speak!"
"I see that there are very few troops in the general's camp. But there are many stragglers in Dongping Mansion, and there are many unruly ones. Two or three days later, many people will arrive, and the general will have to station more troops and horses to prepare for suppression. Otherwise, Afraid of causing trouble."
Yin Chang laughed.
He didn't know the details of Shi Yan, so he wouldn't be gullible. If Shi Yan asked Yin Chang to send troops for protection, Yin Chang would probably worry about whether this was a conspiracy by some enemy to invite him into the urn.
But he only asked me to station more troops in my own camp?
This person is interesting. If this person is really useful, he deserves promotion!
At that moment, Yin Chang sent some money to Shi Yan and let him go. After thinking about this man's confidence and his ability, Yin Chang issued an urgent order to transfer another 300 people from Binzhou.
Jinan Prefecture and Binzhou are located on the upper and lower reaches of Beiqing River, and they seem to be far apart. But Yin Chang's family relied on the river for food. He found a few ships to transport troops, but they arrived at dawn and dusk.
