In the early morning of the next day, Li Nan, who had slept enough, opened his eyes and stretched.

He didn't take the opportunity to eat Pang Qiuxia last night, anyway, she will be her own person sooner or later, not to mention that her thinking is very traditional, if she really annoys her to fight, Li Nan, who has strengthened her body, will not be sure of victory.

After washing, Li Nan went upstairs to look at his brother Dalang, and fed him a bowl of pain-relieving and soothing decoction, his illness is getting worse and worse, and now he is in a coma for a long time, I'm afraid time is running out.

Li Nan walked downstairs and saw that Peng Bantou had already arrived, sitting at the table and drinking water.

Seeing Li Nan, Peng Bantou hurriedly put down the water bowl and said with a smile: "Dutou, fortunately, I have already negotiated with the Xu commander of the Jinling Xiang Army, he heard that the county needs to supplement the township soldiers, and he also opened his mouth to give a discount, one box soldier two money, the whole battalion is as you choose, but at least a hundred." ”

This price surprised Li Nan, two yuan for one tael of silver, a hundred box soldiers only sold for a total of one hundred taels of silver, these box soldiers are simply cheaper than pigs and sheep.

However, after Li Nan followed Peng Bantou to the garrison of the Xiang Army in Jinling Mountain, he finally understood why this sergeant was so cheap.

The Great Song Dynasty had more than 140 van troops, ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 per army, stationed all over the country to work, some repairing bridges and paving roads, and the Jinling Mountain group of van troops was the most unlucky, they were mining.

There is an open-pit iron mine in Jinling Mountain, but as the mining has passed, the iron ore on the surface has disappeared, and these miners have to dig holes to mine.

There is neither the corresponding technology nor the talent who is good at mining, even in later generations, mining disasters often occurred, let alone the Song Dynasty, and people died almost every day in the black mines.

That Xu Tongzhi dared to sell to the soldiers of Li Nanxiang's army, also because of the high mortality rate here in Jinling Mountain.

Thousands of eight hundred men, even if they are normal wear and tear at will, no one will be held accountable at all, and after some time, a large number of prisoners and homeless people will naturally be replenished.

Speaking of which, it is the camp of the Xiang Army, but in Li Nan's view, this is a relatively large pigsty.

Seven or eight hundred tattered and crooked wooden huts and thatched huts were their quarters, and from time to time they could see the soldiers of the van army who looked like living corpses coming back from the mining area to rest, covered in yellow dust, and their eyes were blank and looked lifeless.

The entire ground of the camp was covered with all kinds of feces, urine, dirty water and garbage, which was illuminated by the scorching sun, emitting a mixed ferocious stench, and Li Nan really didn't know how they survived in such a place.

Peng Bantou pointed to a huge wooden house in the mountains and forests in the distance, covered his mouth and nose and said sullenly: "There is no one to manage it here at all, and the chief and deputy commanders of the Xiang army have all gone to live in the nearby state capital. ”

The two rode forward on horseback, and soon met the Xu commander.

This deputy commander named Xu Feng is a fat man, with a height of 1.7 meters but nearly 200 catties, because he is too fat, it is difficult to estimate his age, about thirty or forty years old, he speaks with a smile, he does not look like a military general, but he has a bit of a businessman's demeanor.

After Peng Bantou introduced the two of them, Xu Tongzhi said with a smile: "You are Li Dutou of Yanggu County, I heard what Lao Peng said." Since you are a place to supplement the township soldiers to maintain the place, then it is not difficult for me to do it for you, just according to the negotiated price, you can go down and pick whatever you want. But first of all, I don't accept iron money or paper money, only gold and silver. ”

Li Nan clenched his fists and said: "Although don't worry, I brought gold to pay the bill." ”

"That's great!" Commander Xu instructed a tall and sturdy soldier beside him: "Hong Tao, you take Li Dutou to the camp to choose." ”

Hong Tao quickly took Li Nan and the two to the bottom of a big tree in the camp, pulled the rope and rang the iron bell hanging on the tree.

With the sound of the bell, all the soldiers who were resting in the dilapidated wooden house rushed out, and several captains and guards were waving whips to urge.

About half a pillar of incense passed, and this open space was full of grizzled soldiers, Li Nan roughly calculated, and estimated that there were more than 2,000 people in front of him.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Hong Tao said loudly: "You guys are lucky today!" This is the head of Yanggu County, because of the lack of township soldiers to catch thieves, so come to us to select some people to take away, and if there are those who are willing to go, then listen carefully to Li Dutou's selection rules. ”

As soon as Hong Tao finished saying this, more than 2,000 people suddenly shouted in confusion: "I am willing to go!" ”

Everyone wanted to be closer to Li Nan, so they all fought frantically and desperately, and it seemed that no one wanted to stay in this camp anymore.

Seeing that blood was splashing out of the fists and feet, Li Nan asked in surprise: "Brother Hong, don't you care about such a mess?" ”

"Hahaha......" Hong Tao smiled: "Since you need manpower to catch thieves, it must be used immediately, let them fight first, the winning person will naturally be better than the loser, I am here to help you!" ”

Although Li Nan couldn't get used to Hong Tao's disregard for human life, what he said was indeed right.

In order to proceed smoothly, Li Nan took out a piece of silver weighing five taels and handed it over: "Thank you Brother Hong for your trouble." ”

Hong Tao, who received the money, smiled: "Don't worry, my brother will definitely choose the best person for you today." ”

After the five or six bodies that had been killed were dragged away, the chaotic battle of thousands of people also ended, and the hundreds of people standing in front of Li Nan were all men with tattoos on their cheeks, thick bones and thin bodies.

Li Nan, who has been a jailer, knows that these people are all starved, and as long as these people are well fed and raised for a while, they must all be strong men.

Hong Tao took a roster and handed it to Li Nandao: "These killers with tattoos on their faces are all sent here to match the army, and they all have some skills, so they should be used with you." ”

Li Nan carefully looked through the simple description on the roster, most of these people were forbidden soldiers who had committed crimes, and a small number of them were heavy prisoners, since they were sent to Jinling Mountain, they had no way out, so they could only wait for death.

After thinking about it for a while, Li Nan shouted at them: "Don't rape women!" Thieves don't! Those who have committed both sins stand back! ”

As soon as these words came out, although many men were reluctant to move back, Hong Tao sneered and waved his hand, and Wu Changhe, who knew the details of the prisoners, made a move, waving a whip and beating them out of the team.

At this time, there were more than 150 people left, and Li Nan originally only wanted to buy 100 people to use, but seeing so many good hands that could be used, he decided to buy them all.

Li Nan said to Hong Tao: "I want these people, but we don't seem to have enough weapons in the county government, I don't know if Xu Tongzhi can buy some for me?" ”

Originally, Li Nan was worried that it would be difficult to buy ordnance, but he didn't expect Hong Tao to say indifferently: "No problem, as long as you can come up with the money, I promise to choose the best ordnance for you." ”

These van troops had no chance to fight, and most of the ordnance in the treasury had already been rotten, and now that they could sell it for some money, Hong Tao, who knew about Xu's control, naturally agreed.

Hong Tao called a few Zhengzheng and asked them to take these selected soldiers to the treasury to get weapons, and he took Li Nan back to the wooden house to settle the bill.

One hundred and fifty box soldiers, each of whom had two taels of silver, a total of one hundred and fifty taels, and the exchange ratio of silver and gold was one to ten, so Li Nan took out two gold bars of five taels.