On the third day after negotiating with the merchants, Li Xiao finally decided to go to the Dongru Academy in Huangxian County to recruit some scholars who were willing to come and do things. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In fact, in the past two days, Li Xiao first recruited internally, and what disappointed him was that in addition to Wu Liang, among the personnel of the whole army, only two people had studied private school for half a year, and their level was only to the level of knowing dozens of words, which made him quite disappointed, and it seemed that he had to seek talent from outside.

The Eastern Confucian College in the county seat of Huangxian County was built in the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, and in the past few hundred years, there have been several Jinshi, with more than 100 students, as well as many teachers such as Xuezheng, teaching, and teaching.

In order to show respect for the scholars, Li Xiao took Tian Wei and his cavalry to visit him in person.

The cold wind is bleak and the horse's hooves are sick, the wilderness is boundless and self-whipping, the group crosses the Beima River, crosses Chenjiazhuang, crosses the Nangao Town, and then crosses the Yellow Water, it took more than an hour in total, and they arrived outside the west gate of Huangxian County.

When he was about to enter the city gate, Li Xiao took a good look at this county town, which was famous for its dragon's mouth vermicelli and donkey meat in later generations.

The county seat of Huangxian in front of you, the appearance is square, one hundred and eighty steps around the city, the city wall is about three zhang high, the top is two zhang thick, all the city walls are covered with green bricks, but the appearance is broken, there are many places where the bricks are taken off and the bricks are dropped, and there are more deep traces of the sword cut in many places, Li Xiao knows that in addition to the fact that no one has repaired for a long time, the biggest damage to the city wall of Huangxian County is that the soldiers and bandits have been in trouble, attacking and looting for more than a year. There is also a moat built outside the city, which draws water from the Yellow Water River, which is one zhang and six feet deep. There are three gates: the north gate, the south gate and the west gate. At the west gate, there is also a wall of cattle and sheep.

Li Xiao noticed that there was a Franc machine gun on the horse face of the city wall facing him, and two small iron cannons were dotted on the side. It's just that each cannon is badly corroded and full of rust spots. Li Xiao looked carefully, and there was a thick layer of blue-green moss on the bottom of the barrel on this Franc cannon and the two small iron cannons.

Li Xiao sighed secretly, from such a cannon, it can be seen how serious the current armament of the Shandong Ming army is. These cannons, which are like scrap metal, can only be pretended to decorate the façade like this, and it is estimated that in addition to scaring the common people, even a sparrow cannot be scared away.

After the group entered the city, they asked people all the way and went straight to the Dongru Academy.

The county seat of Huangxian County takes the county government in the middle as the center, plans and builds three main streets, fourteen alleys, each street and alley is not very spacious, and there are a large number of displaced people with dirty and filthy dove-shaped hoof-shaped noodles in the meantime, when the cold wind blows, the smell of feces and urine is pervasive, the dust is flying, and the voices of people are noisy, mixed with the shouting and shouting of the two shops, walking through it, making people feel very uncomfortable.

After Li Xiao and his entourage bypassed three streets and alleys, they found the Eastern Confucian Academy in a relatively secluded and deep alley.

The one who came to open the door to greet Li Xiao was the Dongru Academy Xuezheng with a cold face, Cui Gongxuan.

"I don't know what Lord Li is doing when he comes to the courtyard." As soon as Li Xiao finished introducing himself, Cui Gongxuan said coldly, but his face was a look of arrogance and disdain that rejected people thousands of miles away.

Li Xiao was quite suspicious in his heart, he had never known this Cui Gongxuan in his life, but he didn't know why this person had such an attitude towards him.

On the side, Tian Wei, the captain of the Xuanhu Cavalry, suddenly had anger on his face, and he was about to accuse Cui Gongxuan of arrogance, but he was pulled aside by Li Xiao.

"Li came here to ask Xuezheng, but there are students who are willing to come to my Chifeng Fort to do things, if there are those who are willing to come, Li Xiao is willing to pay a generous salary to extend." Li Xiao said with a smile on his face and in a calm tone.

Unexpectedly, after listening to Li Xiao's sincere words, Cui Gongxuan snorted coldly, and then said coldly. "Master Li, a student of my Eastern Confucian Academy, I am a poor learner, and I am afraid that I will fail the expectations of adults. Adults should go elsewhere and don't look for good materials. ”

"You are so rude! Lord Li is so sincere that he wants to invite scribes from the academy, but you sour Confucian won't even let the adults enter the door, so he immediately refuses coldly, what is his intention! Tian Wei on the side couldn't help it and scolded loudly.

"Oh, it was Cui's fault not to let Lord Li enter the door, but I don't know that Lord Li committed the following crimes that day, killing Lord Wang of the garrison of Guangning Zhongtun Station, and fleeing south to Shandong with his troops, but what kind of crime should he be guilty of." Cui Gongxuan sneered.

Li Xiao chuckled in his heart, and sure enough, Cui Gongxuan, who has always refused to give him a good look, has a reason for being unfriendly to himself. He sighed secretly in his heart, he didn't expect that he had withdrawn to Shandong and had been keeping a low profile, but he never expected that such an unbearable past had been rumored to be so far, so that today this sour Confucianism would be so counted.

Li Xiao thought secretly, I don't know if this person is a relative of Wang Daoqi?

Tian Wei was already furious at this time, he brushed the ground and pulled out his waist knife, and was about to rest on Cui Gongxuan's neck.

Li Xiao shouted angrily, and Tian Wei retreated angrily.

"Oh, do you want to kill the old man? Cut it, why don't you cut it? Cui Mou's enthusiasm is about to sprinkle five steps all over the place, in order to wash the door that has been defiled by you, but it is not a pity that you don't cut it. Unexpectedly, Cui Gongxuan was not afraid and sarcastic.

"Cui Xuezheng has an old relationship with Wang Daoqi?" Li Xiao ignored his sarcasm and asked calmly.

"It's not a parent! It's just that Cui has read a few sentences of sage books, and he only knows that the rebellious ministers and thieves are punished by everyone! Cui Gongxuan sneered, gritted his teeth and spit out this sentence loudly.

Li Xiao sighed secretly in his heart, it turned out that this Cui Gongxuan hated him so much for killing Shangguan that he seized the opportunity to express his anger in front of him.

Okay, since you are disrespectful, then don't blame me Li Xiao, you are not polite.

"Cui Xuezheng, the Tao is different, and there is no conspiracy with each other. The grievances and entanglements between Li and Wang Daoqi are not known to a sour literati like you. It's just that the official wants to tell you that what Li has done is worthy of heaven and shame below, and it is all a move to benefit the country and protect the people. It's just that you and other so-called scholars have eyes like beans, and they only know the so-called upper and lower levels, but they don't know what the rise and fall of the country and the righteousness of the nation are! Li Xiao had a sneer on his face, and the tone of the last sentence was greatly aggravated.

"You, you shameless martial artist, actually ridiculed Ben Xuezheng!" Cui Gongxuan's face was angry, and the index finger of his right hand trembled and pointed at Li Xiao.

"Cui Xuezheng, the official will say one last thing, don't look at you here in a dignified manner to make a righteous act of killing the neck, if the Tartars attack, I'm afraid you don't know what shape you will do! In addition, don't blame Li for being direct, a corrupt Confucian like you, even if he dies here a hundred times, what good will it do for the country and the family? Li can say to you, if Xuezheng can come up with a strategy to solve the critical situation that my Ming Dynasty is now fighting everywhere and the war is everywhere, Li Xiao has no words, and he can die in front of Cui Xuezheng, in the name of Quanxuezheng and upright. Li Xiao sneered and said this sentence clearly.

"You, you 。。。。。。" Cui Gongxuan's face turned pale, his lips trembled, and his hand trembled and pointed at Li Xiao, but he couldn't say a word.

Li Xiao glanced at him with contempt, turned around and left with the escorts.

Only Cui Gongxuan, whose face was flushed, was left, trembling in front of the academy.

After returning to Chifeng Fort, Li Xiao changed his mind and decided not to recruit students from these academies to do things, but to let Tian Wei, the captain of the Xuanhu Cavalry, take the sentry to the neighboring towns and post notices so that scholars who were interested in coming to Chifeng Fort could apply. And it is specifically noted that there is no requirement to show talents and college students, only children who have read and can read and write.

Li Xiao figured it out, it doesn't have to be a scholar like Xiucai to do things, these people are rigid in thinking, pretentious, and have a belly of fancy bowels such as the rank of the monarch and the future of the official career, and they are afraid that people will be floating when they work. And those children, because of their inferiority complex for their own academic qualifications and gratitude for Li Xiao's generous salary, are more able to calm down and put down their bodies to do things, and in this way, they are more able to do things well.

Tian Wei took the order and left, and a day later, he led a group of cavalry to post notices in the streets and alleys of Nangao Town, and Fang wanted to turn a street corner, and suddenly a thin scholar wearing a square scarf and a shabby Confucian shirt walked over with his head down, and hit his horse on the neck!

Tian Wei's mount was suddenly frightened, let out a long cry, raised the horse's hooves high, and almost threw Tian Wei off the horse.

Fortunately, he was very good at horsemanship, and he controlled the horse's momentum, and did not fall off the horse, but the helmet rolled off the horse, which made him quite embarrassed.

And the emaciated scholar was flicked by the horse's neck, and then slammed against the wall, staggered, and fell to the ground with an ouch.

"Bastard thing! Look for death! How do you walk? Tian Wei, who jumped off the horse, hurriedly picked up the helmet with his left hand and put it on, and the horse whip in his right hand pointed at the scholar and scolded.

A heavy cavalryman stepped forward and kicked the scholar who was getting up from the ground, and was about to punch this person when he was stopped by Tian Wei.

The cavalryman scolded angrily: "You guy, you don't look at people when you walk, what kind of gold is there on the ground, you just walk with your head down?" If you were in Liaodong, you would have cut off your dog's head! If it weren't for our captain, I'm afraid that you would have to suffer a lot, even if you are a showman, beating you with a military stick is considered light! ”

The scholar struggled to sit up, his face was pale with fright, his lips trembled, and when he heard the cavalryman's question, he had to reply in a trembling voice: "The student is not a talent, but a child, I walk with my head down, to pick up the buns that have fallen on the ground。。。。。。 ”

"You scholar, you are also a person who has read books, why did you fall to such a point?" Tian Wei walked over and asked the scholar with a puzzled expression.

Hearing this, the scholar's thin face immediately floated with deep sadness: "Student Xu Xiuqing, the family is poor, and he can't afford to pay the Shu Xiu, so he can no longer go to the town school to study. These steamed buns were bought by my mother who ordered me to sell the hens that lay eggs at home, and my mother had not eaten enough for many days, and she was so hungry that she couldn't open her eyes. The students bought these steamed buns to take home to save my mother's life! Unfortunately, one of them accidentally fell to the ground, and the students fought for their lives to pick up this steamed bun. ”

Tian Wei's heart was sour when he heard this, and the cavalryman just now was also full of sympathy on his face.

"Forget about the bun, take the two silver and buy something delicious for the old man." Tian Wei took out a tael of silver from his arms, and couldn't help but say that he stuffed it into the scholar's hand.

Xu Xiuqing showed an unbelievable look on his face, and was stunned for a while before he tightly grasped the silver in his hand, and said in a loud voice: "Engong, may I ask your name?" ”

Tian Wei had already gotten up and led the crowd to leave, and when he saw Xu Xiuqing shouting behind him, he turned around and said loudly: "Xu Shusheng, there is a recruitment notice for our army on the wall, if you want, you can come to my Chifeng Fort for an interview, and you will know when the time comes." ”