I wish everyone a safe and happy National Day holiday!
National Day, I love my country!
I will try my best to add more updates for the seven days of National Day fun. At present, I can barely guarantee three updates a day!
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On the fourth day of May in the twelfth year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, a large flag was erected in the martial arts hall two miles south of Dushikou Fort with the words "Dushikou Fort Branch Guard General Recruiting Office" written in eleven characters.
Zhang Cheng still sent his governor He Biao to sit in the South Martial Arts Hall with several clerks to take charge of recruitment matters. He also ordered Zhang Guangda and Chen Zhong to take turns assisting He Biao in the Martial Arts Hall.
According to the regulations at this time, when Zhang Cheng recruited troops to build a camp, he could have selected a certain number of guards from each thousand households to station troops, but he did not want to do this.
He knew that at this time, the number of households fleeing from the various guard posts was serious, and the number of military households was already insufficient, and almost all the strong men had become private soldiers of hundreds or thousands of households. If troops were forcibly drawn from various forts, , there must be a mixed bag of good and bad, so it would be better to recruit on your own.
Not only the Dushi Martial Arts Hall was a recruitment center, Zhang Cheng sent a group of loud-voiced sergeants to various camps to promote his recruitment. Those who passed the selection were given three taels of Anjia silver upon entering the camp.
At the same time, during the training, the food tube is full, and the salary is three taels of silver, or a stone of grain for half a year. If you go out to fight and perform meritorious service, the reward will be calculated separately. But in the past three days, there have been very few people.
When Zhang Cheng first arrived, although King Qin's deeds had been spread among officials and military households, his prestige was not yet evident. There was still a lack of believers on Shangbei Road, and he could not win the trust of local military households for the time being.
There are also reasons why the local officers and generals were hypocritical and did not fully support him. On the surface, they obeyed the orders given by Zhang Cheng after he took over the duties of the general in charge, but in private, few of them implemented them diligently.
However, all this was within Zhang Cheng's expectation and did not exceed his expectations. However, Wu Youlu, the guard in Chicheng, did go too far and would have to find an opportunity to eliminate him in the future.
…………
On the seventh day of May, in front of the large performance hall outside the south gate of Dushikou Castle.
At this time, there were hundreds of people gathered here. There was a big table in front of them, and the governor He Biao was sitting behind it, without a trace of smile on his livid face. Next to him were several small tables, and behind him sat the clerk.
On the other side, there is another square table, which is full of silver ingots, stacked neatly, one or two and one ingot. Next to it are buckets, dendrobium and other utensils, and bags of grain are stacked there. , for no money, you can receive two stones of grain.
It has been like this for three days in a row. There are many people gathered around, but there are only a few people who respond. They are all gesticulating in this direction. They can feel that someone is moving, but they still wait and watch.
It was Zhang Guangda's turn to assist He Biao today. His face was cold and cold, and with the black eyepatch on, he looked a bit ferocious. He walked back and forth, suddenly stopped in front of He Biao's table, and said: "Old He, so Why can't these bastards just watch for a few days? Do you think of a way?"
There was no change on He Biao's face, he was still as cold as ever, and said in a deep voice: "Didn't the general say that you have to calm down, everything is difficult at the beginning, don't rush!"
Zhang Guangda was not as calm and composed as he was. He strode back and forth, causing waves of dust to fly.
There was also a commotion on the other side of the crowd, and someone was heard shouting: "You idiot Li Er, isn't there a blame in your family? Why don't you go get the three stones of grain and go back to feed your mother?"
A rather muscular man stood in the crowd. He was wearing a tattered robe, and his two thick legs were exposed. His hair was messy, and his eyes were fixed on a bag placed at the entrance of the martial arts hall. Bags of grain.
"I said, you idiot, look at the grains and grains there. Death from starvation is death. Why don't you try it? If you can really get back three stones of grains, at least you can have something to eat before you die."
"As stupid as he is, that will make him..."
"I don't think it's that simple. I've lived for decades. When will such a good thing come to me and I can recruit soldiers and get money back?"
Just as they were talking and gesticulating as usual, a ragged man walked towards the martial arts hall barefoot with two thick legs exposed.
"I want grain."
Zhang Guangda looked at the strong man in front of him who was almost the same height as himself, and suddenly punched him in the chest. The strong man only dodged back and did not fall.
He nodded with satisfaction, raised the corner of his mouth towards He Biao, and shouted: "Where to go!"
The strong man walked towards He Biao in a daze. Two sergeants rushed to greet him and took him to the secretary's office to register his name, address, and guarantor. The strong man was stunned when he heard that he still wanted to guarantor.
"I'm just my mother at home and I don't have a guarantor?"
He Biao stood up, his expression still gloomy. He pointed at the crowd opposite and said solemnly: "Who here can prove that you are a local military household. You have never done any bad things before. Just look for it."
The strong man stopped talking. He thought in his heart that since he signed up, he must get the grain. He turned around and ran towards the crowd.
"Look, what did we say, no one wants these two fools..."
"Hey... Li Ersi, what do you say? Can you give me some money?"
"Ouch...I said...you idiot, why did you catch me...Ouch..."
Li Ersi quickly ran back to the crowd, grabbed a person's clothes under his arm, ran back quickly, threw the person to the ground, and said loudly: "He knows me, my business, he Everyone knows."
"Who knows? What are you doing with me, you idiot..."
He stood up and was scolding Li Er for being silly, when he suddenly caught sight of He Biao's cold eyes. He shuddered and immediately stopped talking.
"Do you know him?"
"I...I know it."
"What's her name?"
"The second fool's name is Li Erdan!"
After some questioning, the registration was finally complete. Zhang Guangda strode over and asked, "Do you want to join the army?"
"Do you want to eat enough? Do you want to give me grain?"
"As long as you have enough food, you will be paid every half a year. No money is required, but you can receive grain."
"Then I will join the army."
Zhang Guangda turned back to look at He Biao, and when he saw him nodding to him, he knew that the fool had finished registering, so he waved to the two sergeants and said, "Take him in, change his clothes, and come to collect his pay."
When the strong man saw that he was being dragged into the martial arts hall, he yelled for a while until Zhang Guangda shouted: "As a military household, you must obey military orders. Now that you have joined my camp, do you still want to disobey?"
Li Ersha was stunned for a moment, then followed the sergeant into the martial arts hall.
At this time, the people outside were in a panic. There was another commotion and discussion. They all said that these two idiots were afraid that they were going to die, so they were caught. Looking at the posture, they had to peel off their skin when they came out. .
"Slippery, what's going on?"
"...Oh...Slippery, please tell me...how to catch him..."
The thin, monkey-like man named Hua Liu stood vaguely in front of the crowd, looking at the martial arts hall. He didn't even know how he had caught the second fool.
He remembered that he only asked himself some things about Er Fool, such as Er Fool's residence and family situation, and whether he had any bad deeds. He also asked about his name and address.
But why should we arrest those two fools?