Although Chen Xuanli is only the captain of Zheng Liupin, after all, he is a member of the Yulin Army, and many things are brought in by him, which makes it much simpler.

The county magistrate of Guangwu County personally accompanied them and arranged for them to stay at the post station in Guangwu County. Of course, lunch is still eaten and drunk for nothing.

After lunch, Lu Xiaoxian planned to take a walk in the countryside outside the city, and asked the county magistrate to arrange a person familiar with the situation to guide them.

Guangwu County's surname is Liu, he is in his fifties, he is a native of the local, and he is very familiar with the situation in the entire Guangwu County, so the county order sent Liu County Cheng to be their guide.

Lu Xiaoxian, Zhang Meng, Guo Zhen and Chen Xuanli, with four Yulin soldiers, under the guidance of Liu Xiancheng, headed to Caochuan Township, which was closest to the county seat.

Lu Xiaoxian asked Liu Xiancheng: "Liu Xiancheng, did General Manager Wang also transfer the soldiers of Guangwu Zhichong Mansion this time?" ”

"Requisitioned!" Liu Xiancheng nodded, with a bitter look on his face, "Chief Manager Wang sent someone to send a fish talisman, which has been verified by the Zhechong Mansion and the Thorn History Mansion, and requires that the eight hundred soldiers of the Mansion be assembled within five days!" Guangwu County Ya fully cooperated, but it took me a lot of effort to get people together! ”

Although the Tang Dynasty's mansions were all under the jurisdiction of the Zhechong Prefecture, the Zhichong Lieutenant had no right to lead troops to fight, and he was only equivalent to the director of the military recruitment office in later generations. Whoever the imperial court sends to lead the troops can lead the troops.

This time, the imperial court sent Wang Xiaojie to be the chief of Subian Province to fight against Tubo, and Wang Xiaojie could not directly ask for troops from Zhichong Mansion, and he must have the procedures and certificates given by the Ministry of War, which is the fish charm. After the Zhichong Mansion and the local thorn history checked that the fish charm was fine, they would hand over the soldiers to Wang Xiaojie.

Lu Xiaoxian asked strangely: "Guangwu Zhechong Mansion is a lower mansion, and only eight hundred soldiers need to be recruited, is it so difficult?" ”

"Childe doesn't know!" Liu Xiancheng sighed and said, "If it was twenty or thirty years ago, it would have been okay for our Guangwu Zhechong Mansion to recruit a thousand children and eight hundred people, but now the situation is different from that time!" ”

"What's different?" Lu Xiaoxian stopped, stared at Liu Xiancheng and asked.

At that time, young people rushed to join the government soldiers, because after entering the government soldiers, they could give each person a hundred acres of land to cultivate. Although it takes about 120 days to participate in the training and requisition of the Ochichong Province every year, the equipment and rations must also be prepared by themselves, which may be exempt from taxes, and most of the time they can farm with peace of mind, and the life is not bad! ”

Lu Xiaoxian nodded slightly, in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court was able to grasp the age and property status of most men in the country, and issue conscription orders to men who were suitable for military service, which was definitely a cross-era administrative mobilization ability. Most countries can only do it in modern times, even in the later Republic of China period.

In the early Tang Dynasty, the population was less than 40 million, but the number of registered soldiers had reached 800,000. Although the government soldiers are generally drawn in turns, and they cannot all go to the battlefield, considering that the government soldiers are not actually all of the armed forces of the Tang Dynasty, there are still a large number of recruits. The Tang Dynasty army alone outnumbered the entire population of many of the surrounding ethnic groups at the time. Therefore, the strength of the early Tang Dynasty was unimaginable in that era.

"But over the years, there is no land in the hands of the government to distribute to the government soldiers. Due to the frequent wars, many government soldiers were conscripted for less than 120 days, and sometimes they could not return even for a year or two. Speaking of this, Liu Xiancheng showed a sad and indignant look, "Take Guangwu as an example, the government soldiers who have been recruited over the years have either fought with the Turks or the Tubo, and fought with these foreign people, the soldiers have suffered great casualties, and the shortage is difficult to replenish, and the vacancies of the government soldiers are getting more and more, even to the point that there are no soldiers to hand over!" ”

After listening to Liu Xiancheng's words, Lu Xiaoxian felt a little heavy. The government soldiers who made the Tang Dynasty glorious back then have now reached this situation, no wonder the combat effectiveness of the army has declined so quickly over the years.

"Then how did you use to recruit all the soldiers this time?" Lu Xiaoxian asked.

"Chief Manager Wang gave a death order to Zhechong Mansion, and Zhechong Mansion also issued a death order to Guangwu County Ya, if you can't recruit all the soldiers in the government within five days, you will be killed if you delay the military plane!" Liu Xiancheng said expressionlessly, "The real registered government soldiers can only recruit 400 people, and I can only gather the number of the rest!" ”

Lu Xiaoxian was stunned and said: "Liu Xiancheng, you have recruited ordinary people who have not been trained as government soldiers. ”

"That's right! If not, where would I have conjured up 800 soldiers? ”

Lu Xiaoxian glanced at Guo Zhen, and Guo Zhen was also very shocked.

What will these ordinary people, who have not trained for a day, face when they go to the battlefield? At this moment, Guo Zhen somewhat understood why Lu Xiaoxian had to go to the field to check the recruitment of government soldiers.

Lu Xiaoxian asked again: "Is it just that Guangwu Zhechong Mansion is like this?" ”

"I don't know about other ways, but Longyou Dao and Hexi are probably the same!" Liu Xiancheng's expression seemed to be a little numb, "What makes me even more embarrassed is that in addition to these eight large number of government soldiers, Lord Assassin Shi also gave Guangwu the task of recruiting another eight hundred unity soldiers. I had no choice but to divide it equally among the four townships in Guangwu County, with 200 people in each township! ”

Lu Xiaoxian was silent.

Guo Zhen asked, "Then have you collected all the 800 unity soldiers?" ”

"The other three townships are barely recruited, but Caochuan County has only 100 people so far, and there is still a shortage of 100 people, and the day after tomorrow is the deadline, and I'm still worried! If it really doesn't work, I will be dismissed if I should be dismissed, and I will be exiled if I should be exiled, and I can't help it! ”

Lu Xiaoxian comforted Liu Xiancheng: "Don't worry, take us to Caochuan Township to have a look, there will always be a way!" ”

……

When the more than 100 unity soldiers from Caochuan County stood in front of Lu Xiaoxian, he was shocked. Many of them had gray hair, the youngest in their forties, and the older ones in their sixties.

Although Lu Xiaoxian knew that Datang stipulated that men should serve in the military between the ages of twenty and sixty, he didn't expect that for the sake of this war, he really wanted to let this group of old men go to the battlefield, and there were not enough people to make up for it.

Zhang Meng, Guo Zhen, Chen Xuanli and others who followed behind Lu Xiaoxian also had solemn faces, and they were also shocked.

Standing at the head of the line was an old man in his mid-fifties. He patted his chest and grinned at Liu Xiancheng: "Lord County, don't look at our age, but this old bone is still tough!" Back then, all of us had been on the battlefield, and if we were ten or twenty years younger, we wouldn't need you to urge us at all, so we took the initiative to sign up. You can rest assured, even if Xianfeng goes on the expedition, our old bones will not embarrass our Guangwu County! It's just that the remaining 100 people, we really can't get together, and we can't stand you! ”

Liu Xiancheng rubbed his eyes and said a little choked: "Chai Liu, it's me who is incompetent, you are all at this age, and I don't let you be idle!" You don't have to worry about the hundred! I'll take care of everything! ”