Li Yan was busy at this time, he had to receive the displaced people during the day, and he had to design a gun carriage to come out at night. The Frankie cannon on the city wall had a gun carriage, but it was a wooden platform, which was very inconvenient to move, so he had to get a gun carriage with wheels. 、

After last year's locust plague and drought, as well as the addition of the new "training salary", now in this time when the green and yellow are not in success, the tide of displaced people has once again converged from the south to the north, from all parts of Henan to Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and other big cities. They wanted to be able to survive in these big cities and return home when the famine had passed.

After Li Yan and the others announced the policy, some of the displaced people chose to stay, and some still wanted to return to their fields to farm, so they continued to flee with their families. Now the fields near Zhao Hugang have basically been divided, and the recruits under him have also increased by more than 500. Now Li Mu has begun to build a village in Caogang and Zhupigang further south, and has also collected the surrounding fields, adding thousands of acres of fields.

At this time, not only soldiers were recruited, but also people of all kinds of skills were recruited, carpenters, ironmakers, gold, silver and bronze craftsmen, weavers, gunpowder makers, masons, merchants, etc., as long as they were useful skills, they were absorbed into the established workshops. Their treatment was similar to that of a blacksmith's shop, and they did not have to work in the fields, but relied on their crafts to earn food and goods and support their families.

"You're a coppersmith?" An old coppersmith who had joined Li Yan's group earlier asked.

The homeless replied weakly, "Yes, coppersmith." ”

"Will it be a 'lost wax' casting mold?" The old coppersmith asked again.

The homeless man still replied weakly: "Yes." But after answering, he still raised his eyes and glanced at the questioner.

The old coppersmith also saw the movements of the homeless people and said, "Then let's talk about it, how to get the 'lost wax method'?" Six buckets of grain in January, two taels of oil, three taels of salt, and you eat three meals in the workshop by yourself, this treatment is not easy to get. ”

The homeless thought for a while, and said helplessly: "Old man, you can do well, take me." From now on, I will be your apprentice, and I will learn from you and honor you as much as I honor my father. ”

"If you want to learn a craft, you will be able to recruit people in the future. This time, the one you picked must be one who already has craftsmanship. If I take you today, I will have to be beaten tomorrow, and you will have to continue to flee with your family, so why bother? Wouldn't it be better for you to be honest and farm? The old coppersmith whispered.

The middle-aged homeless man said dejectedly: "But I don't know how to farm." ”

"Then you don't have any other skills?" The old coppersmith asked with a frown.

"I can't pick it on my shoulder, I can't lift it in my hands. For a long time, the land at home has been controlled by my wife, and I only concentrate on reading, and I want to let my mother rest for a while. But I didn't make it, and so far, I haven't even passed the test. Now that there is a famine, I know that it is useless to be a scholar, and the lady in order to save food for the old mother and me, there is no more on the road, I really regret it! If I had known that there was today, I wouldn't have read any sage books, and I would be better than I am now to be a soldier. ”

At this time, Li Zhong came over and asked, "What's the matter?" There are so many people here. ”

The old coppersmith did not dare to hide it, and told the situation of this homeless person.

When Li Zhong heard that he was a reader, he asked, "What books do you read?" ”

"Four Books, Five Classics, Four Books Collection Notes." The homeless scholar said cautiously.

Li Zhong frowned and said, "Haven't read any other books?" Soldiers, legalists, and Mohists, none of them have dabbled in? ”

"No," the homeless scholar said in frustration: "I haven't even been able to get the Xiucai exam, where can I still have the energy to read the books next to me?" ”

Li Yan also came over at this time, and said dissatisfiedly: "What's the matter?!" So many people are still waiting! What are you rubbing around here?! ”

Li Zhong was not angry, and briefly talked about the situation with Li Yan.

Li Yan instructed the old coppersmith: "You go on, be careful, don't let those lazy guys get in." ”

After that, he beckoned the homeless scholar to the side and asked, "Sir, your surname?" ”

"Don't have your surname Fan." The homeless scholar tidied up his tattered clothes and said.

Li Yan glanced at Li Zhong, and then said, "In this way, I want to set up a literacy school here to teach officers and soldiers to read and write, can you do it?" ”

Fan Shusheng hurriedly said: "Yes, I can do it." I used to be a tutor in the village, and I was the best at teaching children enlightenment. Oh, and it won't be a problem to teach the generals to read. ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "You are just an old lady, then both of you will eat and stay in the camp." As for wages, I'll talk about it later, what do you think? ”

"As long as there is room and board, I don't dare to ask for anything else." Fan Shusheng hurriedly said.

After Fan Shusheng happily entered the camp with his wife, Li Zhong said: "Originally, I wanted him to be a staff member to praise and paint, why did you let him teach the soldiers to read and write?" ”

"What's the use of a scholar like him?" Li Yan said casually: "Let the written orders be written in a crepe, or they won't show their talent, but who can understand the officers?" The military order, on the two requirements, is simple, clear, accurate and clear! Now that we have more people, the officers and commanders below must read and write, and they will have to personally issue and see orders in the future! All of them are big characters and don't know a basket, which is not good. ”

Li Zhong said puzzledly: "But the generals have a lot of staff members who praise and paint, those who are in charge of writing, those who are in charge of money and valley, and those who are in charge of soldiers, and the rough men in the army can't do these things well." ”

"So teach them to read." Li Yan said: "These are all positions in the army, and they will all be held by soldiers in the future, and they know better than others about the prohibition of orders." ”

"This, is this possible?" Li Zhong asked in disbelief.

"Those who want to be promoted have to know how to read, and those who don't know how to read will be soldiers for a lifetime, and they will know how to work hard." Li Yan said with a smile.

"They're not all going to run away, are they?" Li Zhong reminded. He felt that it should be very difficult to get those rough people to read.

Li Yan sneered and said, "Run? Where can they run? Their families and land are here, are they willing to run? In other officers and soldiers, can their families live better than here? ”

"Oh, it turns out that you gave them the land to plant, and you had already thought about it." Li Zhong suddenly realized.

Li Yan shook his head and said, "Don't talk about this, you can build this literacy school." Find a suitable place, and then find some thousand-character texts, hundreds of family names or something, and give them to use. Literacy every night, and an assessment the next day. By the way, there are also pen, ink, paper, and inkstones, which should also be prepared. If the brush really doesn't work, I'll get a quill later, and that will be easier. ”

"Where did you learn all this? How did I not know? Li Zhong asked curiously.

Li Yan smiled and said nothing, and went back to his own business.