Chapter 138: Expansion of the Army

Early the next morning, a series of orders were issued from Chen Xian, who was sitting in the Bai Mansion of Xizhuangzi.

First of all, Chen Xian transferred all the soldiers and apprentices from Xizhuangzi to Xizhuangzi, and then gave them a vacation home, on the one hand, using them to propagate his own side, and on the other hand, asking them to mobilize the people of Xizhuangzi to participate in the upcoming Xugong conference held by Master Chen.

Chen Xian's subordinates had about 100 apprentices and soldiers from Xizhuangzi, and these more than 100 people could basically be related to the seven or eight thousand people in Xizhuangzi.

The Xugong Conference was held in the Baijia Schoolyard, because Chen Xian was going to announce the disposal plan of the land in Xizhuangzi at this Xugong Conference, so basically all the villagers in Xizhuangzi participated in the meeting, and two or three thousand people were gathered at the scene.

At the meeting, Chen Xian first announced that all soldiers who participated in the war this time would be promoted to non-commissioned officers.

Originally, Chen Xian's soldiers had to work part-time as workers in addition to being soldiers, and their previous wages were actually the income of workers, which was not much, only two or three times a month, and the soldiers themselves had no additional income except for food and clothing.

Chen Xian announced this time that after being promoted to non-commissioned officers, these soldiers will not be soldiers, but the lowest-ranking officers, so they will have a military salary, and a monthly salary of five times plus one stone! Moreover, Chen Xian promised that the salary of the non-commissioned officers would be distributed in copper coins of the highest quality.

In addition, Chen Xian also announced that each soldier would receive five acres of Shangtian left by the Bai family and the Tang family in Xizhuangzi as a reward for this victory!

Whether it is the military salary of five copper coins in January and one stone of wheat, or five acres of land, the shock to the farmers of West Zhuangzi is very great.

In this era, the average monthly income of ordinary farmers is only two or three times the sky, and the monthly income of these non-commissioned officers is two or three times that of them! (One stone of wheat costs almost two dollars).

What shocked these farmers even more was a five-acre field appreciation.

In the whole of Xizhuangzi, the yeoman farmers who own their own fields are less than one-tenth, and the remaining 90 percent of the farmers are tenants who have no land to stand on.

For Nongming, what are they haunted by, isn't it their own land?

You said that Chen Xian didn't have official documents, does it matter? In this troubled era, there is no official emperor in the eyes of the people, in their eyes, whoever has a hard sword in his hand will be counted!

And Chen Xian just proved how hard his sword soldiers are, 1,000 cavalry, 2,000 infantry, and were beaten by Chen Xian, this is not hard enough?

Therefore, this conference made the people of Xi Zhuangzi enthusiastic all of a sudden.

After the resumption, Chen Xian announced that all the lands of the Bai family and the Tang family in Xizhuangzi would be confiscated, but except for these two families, the land of the others was still owned by the original owner.

Such conditions relieved the fearful yeoman farmers in Xizhuangzi.

After this merit ceremony, when Chen Xian announced the recruitment of young people over the age of ten and under the age of twenty in Xi Zhuangzi to enter the Xi Zhuangzi Central School that he had just established as apprentices.

The propaganda from the soldiers of Xizhuangzi, the stimulation of the Xugong Conference, and the fear of Master Chen, who had just driven away the Jin army, sent the children of the West Zhuangzi out with mixed feelings of apprehension and expectation.

The newly established West Zhuangzi Central Primary School is in Baifuzhong, Chen Xian personally served as the principal, and after announcing the establishment of apprentices, 800 students were recruited in just three days! Among them, more than 300 people are over the age of 15.

In addition to the apprentices, Chen Xian also recruited all the healthy young adults between the ages of 20 and 40 in Xizhuangzi, nearly 2,000 people, into the Xizhuangzi militia at the cost of a daily subsidy of 20 copper coins and 2 catties of wheat.

Chen Xian drew a large number of outstanding talents from among the non-commissioned officers under his command and served as instructors in schools and militia.

Next, Chen Xian conducted another selection of all the militia under his command.

Chen Xian's militia first came from the battle with Peng Yibin and Yang Miaozhen, when he captured more than 500 people under Peng Yibin and exchanged a batch of armor for 500 cottage minions from Yang Miaozhen.

Among these two groups of more than 1,000 people, nearly 300 people under the age of 20 were incorporated into Chen Xian's apprenticeships at that time, and now they have become the first batch of non-commissioned officers under Chen Xian.

In addition, there were six or seven hundred older people who were incorporated into the construction company by Chen Xian and became construction workers, and at the same time, they were all incorporated into the militia by Chen Xian and received training in arquebus shooting.

In addition to these captives, Chen Xian also recruited mountain people, all under the age of forty, into the militia, this group of almost more than 100 people.

After Chen Xian defeated the reinforcements found by the Yang and Bai families, many of the families of the apprentices he recruited in Dongzhuangzi came to join him.

After the repair of Xiangshuizhuang and Qingyazhuang, there were almost 1,000 people from these households who came to him, and Chen Xian also recruited more than 200 militiamen from among them.

The last group of militia was three months ago, after Chen Xian captured Dongzhuangzi, he incorporated the people under the age of 35 in the village into the militia for training, this group of nearly 400 people, the lowest level of training,

Therefore, in addition to the non-commissioned officers of nearly 1,500 people in Chen Xian's hands at this time, there are less than 1,500 militiamen.

What Chen Xian has to do now is to tap his war potential to the greatest extent, and fight out of Yiyuan before his resources are exhausted to regain resources!

Chen Xian conducted a selection of 1,500 militiamen, and he summoned all those under the age of 25 to Xizhuangzi, and selected the remaining people over the age of 25 on the condition that they were in good physical condition, accurate marksmanship, and great strength.

After such a selection, Chen Xian selected 800 people from the old militia, and he recruited these people into the army at the cost of two copper coins and one stone of grain per month, becoming the most basic privates.

Next, Chen Xian also selected the apprentices under his command who were not old enough.

On the one hand, Chen Xian's underage apprentices came from a group of teenagers about 12 years old that he had recruited in Dongzhuangzi, and this group of teenagers was about 100 people, and now they are all about 14 years old, and when he expanded the army three months ago, half of these teenagers had been transferred to the regular army, and at this time they had already entered the ranks of non-commissioned officers.

This time Chen Xian is going to recruit the remaining half into the army, this group of teenagers has been under Chen Xian for a long time, whether it is education, nutrition, training, they are very sufficient, except for a little younger, all other aspects have fully met Chen Xian's requirements, plus, there is almost half a year of training time in the future, enough for these teenagers to grow up.

The other part of the apprentices who were not old enough came from two batches of teenagers sent by Peng Yibin, including a total of 1,000 men.

Under Peng Yibin's deliberate arrangement, these teenagers deliberately selected some teenagers who looked thirteen or fourteen years old and were short in stature.

These teenagers have been under Chen Xian's command for more than a year, and in the past year, these teenagers have undergone great changes in sufficient nutrition and sufficient exercise, and most of them have also met Chen Xian's requirements.

With a height of 1.55 meters and a weight of 50 kilograms, Chen Xian selected more than 600 people from this group of teenagers, and recruited them into the regular army with two copper coins and one stone of wheat salary, and became privates.

After replenishing more than 1,500 recruits, Chen Xian suddenly had a regular army of 3,000 people!