Gu Changwei heard that Ma Cheng was going to go to the camp in person, so he hurriedly persuaded on the side: "Second master, if you need someone to let Lu Patrol find it, you don't need to go in person." There are tens of thousands of people in this homeless camp, in case there is any danger, how can the old lady explain it? ”

Gu Changwei's worries are not unfounded, Gu Changwei is not a young man in his twenties, he is already forty years old, and he has never experienced anything. This homeless camp is now looking calm, but tens of thousands of people gather together It is easy for a camp to roar, in case Ma Cheng really has a good Gu Changwei, he doesn't have to live.

Although Gu Changwei tried every means to persuade Ma Cheng, Ma Cheng was already determined to go, and Ma Cheng came out this time in addition to selecting the labor of the sugar factory, but also to select a team of pro-soldiers. Now that the big war in May next year is only one year and one month away, it is impossible not to prepare early.

Ma Cheng glared and scolded: "I'm not afraid of the second master, why are you still afraid?" Xu Dahu, are you afraid? ”

Xu Dahu is in his twenties, which is the age when he is not afraid of heaven and earth, and he smiled when he heard Ma Cheng ask: "Second master, the big tiger crawled out of the pile of dead people in Guizhou, where can he be afraid of these corpses falling?" Second master, rest assured, your safety is on the big tiger! ”

Xu Dahu came out today without wearing armor, but with a blade, and the other ten people were also dressed like this, saying that they could ensure Ma Cheng's safety.

Ma Cheng nodded and said to Gu Changwei: "How about it, Gu San will lead the way!" ”

Gu Changwei had no choice but to pull Lu Zhong aside and whispered: "Inspector Lu, this second master is the sister-in-law of the Governor, if something happens to your land, don't ask for your head!" ”

Lu Zhong was frightened when he heard Gu Changwei say this, and hurriedly assured that there would be no problems. After Lu Zhong finished speaking, he transferred all his subordinates, and 200 people poured out to protect Ma Cheng's safety.

Waiting for Lu Zhong's two hundred inspection divisions to come out and line up Ma Cheng is eyebrows furrowed, this group of inspection divisions is no different from those homeless people who are going to die, the only thing that is better than the homeless is that their faces are better, and they can probably eat a mouthful of food.

The two hundred soldiers of the Inspection Division were both young and old, the oldest one was seventy years old, and the youngest was less than twelve years old, and they were not as tall as the spear in their hands.

Ma Cheng frowned and asked Xu Dahu beside him in a low voice: "Dahu, are all the soldiers in your guard like this?" ”

Xu Dahu looked at the soldiers with contempt, and then said, "Second Master, the border army is much stronger than these peasants. These guys are deep inland, and they probably haven't fought any battles, so it's good to be able to stand in a team! ”

Xu Dahu is right, he was born in Guizhou to recruit soldiers, so he naturally looks down on these military households. You must know that the only army that was still effective at the end of the Ming Dynasty was the Guanning Iron Cavalry, and the other was Qin Liangyu's white pole soldiers. The white pole soldiers are mountain elite soldiers who can compete head-on with the Manchurian Eight Banners, and the white pole soldiers are from Yunnan and Guizhou, so Xu Dahu, who is also from Guizhou, still has some proud capital.

"Big Tiger, what are Gao Jie's soldiers like? How does it compare to these military households? "Ma Cheng is now anxious to know the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty army, after all, in history, the four towns in Jiangbei surrendered to the Manchus without a single battle.

Hearing Ma Cheng mention Gao Jie Xu Dahu said with admiration: "Mr. Gao's personal soldiers are very powerful, but the soldiers under him have never seen them, and it is estimated that they are better than these military households!" ”

Ma Cheng heard Xu Dahu say this, and he had some bottom in his heart, Gao Jie was the strongest among the four towns in Jiangbei, of course, it was not the most soldiers, but the soldiers who could fight the most. At the same time, this Gao Jie is also very loyal to the Ming Dynasty, if it weren't for the traitor Xu Dingguo's strategy and was killed, Dolgon really might not be able to take Yangzhou, after all, Gao Jie's generals Li Benshen and Li Chengdong are all famous generals.

After listening to Xu Dahu, Ma Cheng felt that he could do something to avoid Gao Jie's early death in the future, so that Shi Kefa would not lose Yangzhou in one day, and Nanjing would not simply surrender Kaicheng.

Ma Cheng thought about his own thoughts, Lu Zhong took two hundred soldiers to protect Ma Cheng in the middle, and slowly approached the camp camp.

When Ma Cheng arrived at the edge of the camp camp, he found that although it was called a camp camp, there was no scale of a battalion at all, except for some sheds in the middle, a large number of other people lived in the open air on the embankment of the Huai River.

Some displaced people who have the ability to work can also dig a pit in the ground, and they can go into it to avoid the cold at night when the weather is cold, while other displaced people who are unable can only lie on the embankment to resist.

Ma Cheng saw many people lying on the embankment and not moving, even his own horses came and lay still, I don't know what this is for, are they not afraid of being trampled to death by horses?

Gu Changwei knew what was going on, and scolded Lu Zhong, the patrol inspector next to him: "Lu Zhong, how do you care, don't move these corpses away!" ”

Ma Cheng heard Gu Changwei say this, and only then did he know that these people didn't want to move, but dead people. Seeing the soldiers of the Inspection Division carrying away these emaciated dead people, Ma Cheng's heart was really touched.

Ma Cheng came from a prosperous life, although Ma Cheng was born in the countryside and his living conditions were not good, but after all, he did not have to worry about food and clothing, and Ma Cheng had never seen this kind of person who was frozen and starved to death.

Ma Cheng sighed in his heart: It seems that Yuan Longping is China's great hero, if it weren't for him, I really don't know what the 1.3 billion people would eat!

Lu Zhong's team slowly came to the periphery of the camp camp, and at this time, a group of people came out of the camp camp and came to Lu Zhong and knelt down on their knees and saluted. Ma Cheng couldn't hear what they were saying from a distance, so he hurriedly asked Gu Changwei: "Gu San, who are these guys?" ”

Gu Changwei was sophisticated, looked at the front and said: "Second Master, this is the steward of the homeless camp, and they are generally selected to be strong and powerful among the homeless people, and they are responsible for managing the daily affairs of the camp, including the soup kitchen of the government!" None of these guys are good stuff! ”

At this time, Lu Zhong brought a person to Ma Cheng, this person was in his thirties, with a roe deer head and rat eyes, but his face was much stronger than those homeless people, and he probably didn't deduct the rations of these poor people in normal times.

Lu Zhong pointed to the guy in front of him and said, "Yanei, this is the Confucius who manages this homeless camp, if you have any instructions from Yanei, you can tell him to do it!" ”

Ma Cheng looked at this annoying guy, then covered his nose and said, "Second Master, I am going to choose one hundred and thirty laborers today, and each person can give five dollars of silver, but you must sign a death deed!" ”

The death deed is a form of employment in the Ming Dynasty, that is, in the future, your net worth and life will belong to the master's family, regardless of life and death.

That hole heard Ma Cheng's eyes light up after hearing what Ma Cheng said, five dollars of silver per person, and one hundred and thirty people is sixty-five taels of silver, which is a big income.

The Kong Mu hurriedly kowtowed and said, "This is no problem, may I ask what the uncle needs?" Is it a girl or a child? Or is it strong labor? ”

Ma Cheng thought for a while and said: "I want thirty craftsmen, preferably blacksmiths, if there are no blacksmiths, other craftsmen can do it, and the remaining hundred people will have strong labor of about twenty years old!" By the way, they all have to be men! ”

Thirty people were prepared for the sugar factory, and the one hundred people were Ma Cheng's personal soldiers prepared for himself.

When Kong Mu heard Ma Cheng's order, he didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly rushed into the camp camp with his own dogs, and there were more than 1,000 people jumping out with chickens and dogs.

The hole smiled and said: "Uncle, these are the strongest strong men in the camp, uncle, please choose!" ”

Ma Cheng covered his nose with a handkerchief, and the smell of more than a thousand homeless people gathered together was very unpleasant. Ma Cheng came to them and looked at them well, they were all strong laborers about twenty years old, but they were all hungry and skinny, and their eyes were gray.

Ma Cheng casually selected strong men as he walked, and the selected people were gathered together, and soon Ma Cheng selected a hundred people.

Of course, Ma Cheng was not selected randomly, but according to the height, body type, personality and other aspects of the strong man. The height must be about 1.65 meters, preferably 1.7 meters, fortunately, most of the homeless people here in Fengyang are from Shandong and Henan, and the northerners are originally tall, so the height is qualified.

The body shape is more difficult to do, everyone is a homeless person who has eaten the last meal, and everyone is hungry and skinny, so it is difficult to see what the body shape is from the appearance. However, Ma Cheng looks at his hands and feet, as long as all the big hands and big feet are retained, according to Ma Cheng's understanding, the hands can grasp the weapon, and the feet can walk like flying.

As for the character, this aspect is the most difficult, but the personality is also the main factor that cannot be avoided in recruitment, if the recruits are all slippery, then there is a fart fight, the enemy army comes and surrenders directly, so the character should be selected loyal and honest.

This point Ma Cheng mainly looks at the eyes and appearance, as the saying goes, good looks are born from the heart, and those who grow into sharp-beaked monkey gills must not want, those with square heads and big faces and firm eyes are almost the same.

In this way, Ma Cheng picked a hundred people, these hundred people are all about 1.7 meters tall, although they are skinny, but after eating half a month, they must be all heroes.

The soldiers on Ma Cheng's side have been selected, and the craftsmen on Ma Shun's side have almost been selected. The blacksmiths didn't find a few, only six people, and the rest were carpenters, stonemasons, masons, etc., and most importantly, there was a gunpowder craftsman, which surprised Ma Cheng.

Gunpowder belonged to controlled materials in the Ming Dynasty, and the craftsmen who could make gunpowder were all under the management of the army, and one can still be found in the homeless camps today.

Ma Cheng stepped forward to ask and learned that this gunpowder craftsman was surnamed Wang, called Wang Lin, who was originally a military household of Henan Wei, and his ancestors were responsible for making gunpowder for generations, but in recent years, Henan has been severely harmed by Li Zicheng, and this Wang Lin had no choice but to flee to Fengyang with his family.

Hundreds of miles along the way, Wang Lin's wife and several young children died on the way, and now only Wang Lin and his son are alive.

Ma Cheng looked at Wang Lin, who was in his forties, and asked, "Your son can also make gunpowder?" ”

Wang Lin knew that there was only one way to die if he stayed in the camp of the homeless people, so he quickly said when he heard the boy in front of him ask: "This lord, the villain's family has been a gunpowder craftsman for generations, and my son Wang Brown is even more skilled than the villain!" ”

Ma Cheng nodded and said to Ma Shun: "Okay, Ma Shun, bring this man's son with you!" ”