Looking at the silent Ye Mingsheng, Chen Dechang, who had already given the price, was not in a hurry to let the young man give an answer immediately. He gave Ye Mingsheng enough time to think.
After thinking for half a cup of tea, Ye Mingsheng raised his head, ended his thinking, looked at Chen Dechang, cupped his hands and said:
"Your Majesty is highly valued. I am honored to hold this humble position. I will do my best to Zhenwu Army and command your Majesty!"
After receiving Ye Mingsheng's answer, Chen Dechang nodded with satisfaction. After talking about the business, Ye Mingsheng wanted to say goodbye and leave, but Chen Dechang kept him in the house and had a light meal before letting him leave.
In the evening, when he returned to his yard, Ye Mingsheng closed the door of his study room tightly and ordered others not to disturb him.
From the few books in his room, Ye Mingsheng found the map of Liaoyang, wiped the dust off it, and spread it out on the desk.
Looking at the huge territory of Liaoyang on the map, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought. Chen Dechang asked him to recruit soldiers. This was something he had expected. There was nothing surprising. Even the five thousand soldiers he originally mentioned were not enough. It was not something he said casually, but a calculation he made after careful consideration.
Recruiting troops in Liaoyang is not very difficult in terms of recruitment itself. The real difficulty lies in how to deal with Song Wenhui's various methods, both overt and covert, during the recruitment process... ···
Song Wenhui's first move must have been to secretly issue an order not to allow local aristocratic families in Liaoyang to help the Zhenwu Army. Without the help of these local snakes, the recruitment work will definitely be greatly affected!
Therefore, Ye Mingsheng's original plan was to recruit troops from Fengshan County, where his hometown was. Although the Ye family was not a wealthy family, it was still considered a powerful landowner in Fengshan County.
Because Fengshan County is located in the hinterland of Liaoyang, with fertile land and good public security, it is also a wealthy county in Liaoyang. Although it will definitely be obstructed by Song Wenhui, with Fengshan County as the foundation, it will be established in several surrounding areas. It is not too difficult for the township and county to recruit some refugees and pull out a team of 5,000 people.
According to the plan of the Ministry of War, the total strength of the Zhenwu Army was only 30,000, and 5,000 was already one-sixth of its strength. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng thought that his promise to deal with the 5,000 soldiers would not be enough for Chen Dechang. To me, it’s already a generous gift!
But Ye Mingsheng never expected that Chen Dechang's appetite was much greater than he imagined, and he actually wanted to help him recruit 10,000 soldiers!
Although he had to deal with Song Wenhui's methods to recruit 5,000 soldiers, Song Wenhui's attention must still be on the Gongsun family who mainly helped Zhenwu Army recruit soldiers. He would not have so much energy to come to Fengshan County to deal with him. , I can hide in Fengshan County and develop quietly...
To recruit 10,000 troops, that would be one-third of the strength of the Zhenwu Army. Fengshan County does not have that many soldiers, so he must recruit troops from Fengshan County. This will not be able to operate quietly, and it will inevitably happen. The corresponding risks of being treated as a thorn in Song Wenhui's side were greatly increased. Therefore, after learning about Chen Dechang's idea, Ye Mingsheng wanted to reject it directly without hesitation.
But the price offered by Chen Dechang is indeed very attractive!
Ye Mingsheng didn't care much about the official position of the fifth rank. What he really coveted was the establishment of the three battalions!
The initial size of the Zhenwu Army was only 30,000 people, so according to Ye Mingsheng's expectation, he could initially get one-tenth of the troops, which was 3,000 people, which was already pretty good.
As soon as Chen Dechang opened his mouth, he wanted to allocate the establishment of three battalions to himself, which would be at least 5,000 people, more than half the number Ye Mingsheng expected.
You must know that establishment is a good thing. With establishment, Ye Mingsheng can openly control Chen Dechang's demands for salary, food, weapons and a series of benefits, and use the court's logistical support to support his own armed forces!
Therefore, after carefully considering the relationship, Ye Mingsheng made a choice and decided to give it a try!
The expected five thousand people to recruit soldiers can be said to be Ye Mingsheng's basic base. Now what he needs to find is another five thousand people to meet the "indicators" set for him by Chen Dechang
Recruiting another five thousand troops is easy to say, but very difficult to do.
The reason why Ye Mingsheng was confident that he could recruit five thousand troops was because his hometown was the local leader in Fengshan County. However, the influence of the Ye family as a local power was limited to Fengshan County, and even in several surrounding areas. Even every township and county cannot be radiated. Recruiting 5,000 soldiers within this range can be said to be close to the limit...
If you want to recruit 5,000 soldiers, you must expand your scope to surrounding counties and villages. But how easy is it to recruit soldiers on someone else's territory?
Ye Mingsheng thought about it, and there was only one way for him to complete Chen Dechang's mission, and that was - the Cui family!
The Cui family is the most powerful and influential family in Liaoyang. Even Song Wenhui, who is known as the emperor of Liaoyang, has to be wary of them. Therefore, as long as the Cui family nods, the remaining five thousand people will have a problem. Not big anymore!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng's eyes couldn't help but become complicated. Everyone knew that his mother Cui was from the Cui family in Liaoyang.
But in fact, in his memory, his natal family has always been a taboo in Cui's heart. Cui basically never mentioned it, and the Ye family and the Cui family did not have much contact on weekdays.
Ye Mingsheng only knew that he had a third uncle in the Cui family. As for this third uncle's name and what he did, he didn't know anything about it.
In such a situation, to be honest, even Ye Mingsheng himself was a little unsure before whether the Cui family recognized his level of kinship...
After all, a wealthy family like the Cui family has been intertwined in Liaoyang for hundreds of years. There may not be many others, but there are too many relatives. If you just find a family member in Liaoyang, if you go back thirty to fifty years, you may be related to Cui. Family ties are close!
But before was before, and now is now. He, Ye, was a small commander of the seventh rank before, but he was nothing in front of the behemoth Cui family.
But now he, Mr. Ye, is the fifth-ranked General Huwei of the Zhenwu Army and the fourth figure in the Zhenwu Army. Although he is still far from having a conversation with Cui Jiaping, he can, as the saying goes, see the Buddha without looking at the monk's face. In front of him, even looking at him wearing tiger skin, the Cui family had to meet him and be polite.
But seeing each other again, Ye Mingsheng had no idea whether he could persuade the Cui family to support the Zhenwu Army!
