Under Li Zicheng's visual observation, about ninety percent of the soldiers stood on the right, indicating that they all knew water, maybe the people who lived by the big rivers had this ratio, right? Since they were born, they have to face countless rivers and ditches, and if they were not familiar with water since childhood, most of them would have been difficult to reach adulthood - they would have drowned long ago.

He looked at these soldiers who were full of anticipation, and said lightly: "The governor of Pontus intends to recruit three thousand sailors from among you, not only to be familiar with the nature of the water, but also to be able to get on the ship, if any of you are afraid, or not suitable for the ship, you can go back, and the governor of Pontus will definitely not punish you." ”

The soldiers on the right were silent, and after looking at each other, they were motionless, and they did not mean to return to the left.

Li Zicheng struck while the iron was hot, and said: "Very good, since you are willing to join the Heavenly Mandate Army, the Governor of Pontus will be selected," paused, and said: "If anyone is lucky enough to join the Heavenly Mandate Army, he will officially become an auxiliary soldier of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and he will have enough food every day, and when the drill is mature, he can become a soldier, and there will be another salary, which will be paid monthly, and there will be no arrears." ”

"Never in arrears?"

For these prisoners of war, what can be paid is the salary, although the standard of the Ming army's food and salary is not low, but often in arrears, the real part of the hand, can only barely maintain food and clothing, the reward for war exploits, is never cashed.

The soldiers on the right cheered, but the soldiers on the left were disappointed, who made them ignorant of water?

"If there are military exploits, the reward will be cashed in time," Li Zicheng received more than 2.4 million taels of gold and silver worth more than 2.4 million taels in various palaces in Chengdu, and his waist board also hardened, "The food and silver rewards of the Heavenly Mandate Army have never been in arrears, so you can rest assured." ”

"Thank you, Grand Duke!"

"The villain wants to join the Mandate of Heaven."

"As long as there is food, the villain is willing to obey the governor!"

……

Li Zicheng waved his hand to silence them, "However, the selection of materials for the Heavenly Mandate Army is relatively strict, and not everyone can join, if you want to join the Heavenly Mandate Army, you have to show your own skills, and you must strictly abide by the military discipline of the Heavenly Mandate Army." ”

The military discipline of the Mandate of Heaven Army, the prisoners of war don't know, don't worry about it for the time being, or join first and then say, "Governor, what are the conditions for joining the Mandate of Heaven Army?" ”

"The conditions are actually very simple," Li Zicheng said lightly: "Even if the body is good, the rest of the aspects can be supplemented by training in the future, but the foundation cannot be changed." ”

The prisoners of war were talking a lot again, and they were all boasting about their bodies.

"You don't count what you say," Li Zicheng asked his own soldiers to loosen all the soldiers standing on the right, "You move your hands and feet first, and you have to run for a while, whoever reaches the finish line first is more likely to be selected." ”

The prisoners of war rubbed their numb hands and feet, although they had not yet had breakfast, they couldn't take care of it, as long as they could be selected into the naval army of the Mandate of Heaven, they would have to count on the days ahead.

The matter of running is actually very simple, every soldier will, Li Zicheng asked them to run forward along the east side of Bishan Mountain, there are people in front of them to count, and then come back, about seven or eight miles away.

During the running of the prisoners of war, Li Zicheng took his own soldiers and followed on horseback, he was not worried that the prisoners of war would run away, but to check on them along the way to see how many honest soldiers there were, these were his goals, in fact, the soldiers' physical fitness was slightly worse, and it could be made up for by drills, as long as they were not extremely weak.

And those who cheat and oppress their comrades are about to get rid of the army, even if they are in good health, they cannot join the navy, lest they will harm the whole army in the future, and the prisoners of war are still hungry, and some clues can be seen.

As soon as a gunshot rang out, the prisoners of war began to run along Bishan in the southwest direction according to the designated route, and in less than two miles, the ranks were divided, and the prisoners of war who dragged behind were about 10%, and the people who stood out in front were also about 10%, and most of the prisoners of war followed closely behind their companions, basically maintaining a constant speed.

When the first prisoner of war ran to the finish line, the end of the team had just turned back, Li Zicheng frowned, this is only seven or eight miles away, how can there be such a big difference? The prisoners of war were not ordinary people, but the regular army of the Ming army, and they had experience in drills.

It seems that some soldiers must be eliminated, and those who are too poor in physical quality will not be able to adapt to the high-intensity life of the army.

Li Zicheng beheaded and removed the tail, and the soldiers who were too slow and rampant were all eliminated, and more than 3,500 pure soldiers, more than 3,000 households, were selected from them, and let the soldiers take them down to eat.

Among the remaining soldiers, plus the soldiers who did not participate in the running because they did not know the water just now, after preliminary selection, seventy or eighty prisoners of war were directly eliminated, let them have a full meal, and were directly released, and let them go home to farm.

There were also more than 3,000 prisoners of war, who were re-dispersed and organized into 3,000 households, and then let them eat, and Song Wen was temporarily in charge of training.

In the afternoon, Zhou Kun followed the pace of the army and went down the river, and Li Zicheng handed over to him the 3,500 naval troops he had just recruited, which could be mixed with the original soldiers, but the officers must be served by the officers and soldiers of the original Qinghai naval army to ensure the framework of the naval army.

The navy army reached 5,000 households, basically reaching the minimum set by Li Zicheng, and they would go through a simple drill and training before they were going to participate in the battle, and the military discipline, habits, thoughts, etc., certainly did not meet the requirements of the Heavenly Mandate Army, but the situation was urgent, and they had to participate in the battle while training.

The battlefield is the best place for training.

The Qinghai Navy Army was officially renamed the "Yangtze River Water Army", and although Zhou Kun had no military exploits, he was still promoted by Li Zicheng to be a guerrilla general of the Navy to control 5,000 soldiers.

When Zhou Kun went south, there were still some large ships that could not be brought along the river, so they stayed in Qinghai and could continue to train the navy as a reserve for the Yangtze River navy.

The number of ships he brought from Qinghai was seriously insufficient, and he purchased some good merchant ships and fishing boats along the way.

The section of the river in Jiangjin County is not a traffic artery, and it is too far-fetched to serve as the base of the Yangtze River Naval Army, but the downstream section of the river is not in the hands of the Heavenly Mandate Army for the time being.

There is no formal barracks on the shore, and it will soon leave Jiangjin and go south anyway, and it is a waste to build a house, and it is more convenient to set up tents.

Two days later, Zhang Ling came back, saw Li Zicheng, and after paying homage, he hurriedly shouted: "The governor of Dadu, the three passes have been taken, and the defenders of Chongqing Mansion are ready to surrender to the Mandate of Heaven Army." ”

"So fast?" Li Zicheng is overjoyed, in later generations and in this life, he has never been to Chongqing, and there are three passes in Chongqing Mansion, "When tomorrow dawns, I will personally go to receive the three passes!" ”

Song Wen was not at ease, "Governor, let's go down, the soldiers under him are all infantry, and it is more convenient to pass on the mountain road!" ”

"It's good!" Li Zicheng is not worried about Zhang Ling's moths, he wants to see the terrain on the periphery of Chongqing, Chongqing is an important town in eastern Sichuan, and he must manage it well in the future.

"The Metropolitan Governor," Zhang Ling frowned, "I heard that when the Governor Wang Weizhang requisitioned soldiers and horses from all over the world, in addition to Chongqing Mansion, there were many places that were ...... transferred."

"Oh?" Li Zicheng was stunned, "Is General Zhang saying that there will be troops from all over the country rushing to Chengdu one after another?" ”

"This, I don't know," Zhang Ling said: "Actually, the main military strength of Sichuan is still deployed in Chengdu and Chongqing, and there are not many soldiers and horses elsewhere, and there is no need to worry, only Shi Yan comforted Qin Liangyu all the way, and the metropolitan governor must be careful......"

"Qin Liangyu?" Li Zicheng searched his intestines and scraped his stomach, and finally remembered some things about her, "General Zhang is saying that Shi Yan comforted Ma Xianglin's mother, Qin Liangyu, may also come to save Chengdu?" ”

"This ...... I can't be completely sure in the next place, but the governor of the capital takes Chongqing, Qin Liangyu will definitely not stand idly by, Shi Yan Xuanwei Division is subordinate to Chongqing Mansion, and Qin Liangyu is loyal to the imperial court," Zhang Ling said: "I heard that Qin Liangyu has raised troops...... Her subordinate white pole soldiers, combat effectiveness is very strong, in Liaodong and the Tartars in a battle, although all 3,000 soldiers died, but killed nearly 10,000 Tartars, the court crowned her as 'Mrs.'......"

Li Zicheng felt strange, "Hey, since the three thousand white pole soldiers were all wiped out, why didn't Qin Liangyu die in battle?" ”

Zhang Lingdao: "Qin Liangyu did not go out with the army that day, and her brother Qin Bangping died in the battle of the Hunhe River......"

Li Zicheng sighed, it was really rare for a toast to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, so he had some thoughts in his heart, "This Qin Liangyu, as well as his son Ma Xianglin, seem to be Han Chinese, why did they become toasts?" ”

"Dadu Governor, Ma Xianglin is the descendant of the Han Dynasty Fubo General Ma Yuan, Ma Chao of the Three Kingdoms Era, is also its ancestor, this Ma Xianglin, and the legendary Ma Chao, white horse silver spear, very brave in battle, deeply appreciated by the imperial court, his mother Qin Liangyu, is the legend of the heavenly general, when Ma Xianglin was young, once acted as a stone Xuan Xuan envoy, is also a general, a heroine ......"

Li Zicheng only then roughly figured out that the Ma family was a famous general in the Han Dynasty, but he had been stationed in the western border, and in Ma Chao's generation, he had infected a lot of foreign blood, so it was very different from the Han people, and it was generally stronger.

Qin Liangyu's husband Ma Qiancheng passed away early, when Ma Xianglin was young, he temporarily took the position of Shi Yan's consolation envoy, but he didn't expect this female general to be even stronger than her husband, and her subordinate white pole soldiers were even more formidable in combat effectiveness!

However, at least Qin Liangyu's mother and son are both Han Chinese, and they fought against the Tartars in Liaodong, so Li Zicheng has a good impression of her, "In General Zhang's opinion, can you recruit Qin Liangyu?" ”

"I'm afraid it's difficult," Zhang Ling shook his head, "In the whole of Sichuan, Qin Liangyu and the Ma family should be the most loyal people to the imperial court, Qin Liangyu's brother Qin Bangping and younger brother Qin Minping all died for the imperial court, Qin Bangping's sons Qin Yiming and Qin Gongming, Qin Minping's sons Qin Zuoming and Qin Zuoming, all have official bodies granted by the imperial court, Qin Liangyu's son, the current Shi Yan Xuanxuan envoy Ma Xianglin, also followed Lu Xiangsheng to conquer the Liukou in Huguang, the Qin family and the Ma family's focus on the imperial court, which can be seen!" ”

Li Zicheng pondered for a moment, knowing that it was difficult, but he still refused to give up Qin Liangyu, did such a loyal family have to be destroyed?