Waiting for the prisoners of war to gradually calm down, Li Zicheng coughed and said, "In the ears of many of you, I am afraid that this is the first time I have heard of the Mandate of Heaven, so it is necessary for the Governor of Pontus to talk about the rules of the Mandate of Heaven Army. ”

The prisoners of war were suddenly silent, and Li Zicheng's next words had a great impact on them, and even controlled their life and death.

"For those who take the initiative to submit, the Mandate of Heaven Army has always been more generous, but you are not voluntarily submitted, you are prisoners of war of the Mandate of Heaven Army, this matter, today the Governor of Pontus will not say much," Li Zicheng said in a loud voice: "Just now the Governor of Pontus also said that all prisoners of war of the Mandate of Heaven Army must be advanced for a period of one year of hard service, after the expiration of the period of hard service, after screening, qualified soldiers can join the Mandate of Heaven Army, unqualified soldiers, most of them are disarmed and returned to the field, or they can choose to continue to serve the Mandate of Heaven Army in other ways, The Mandate of Heaven will pay a fee, which is generally not less than one tael per month. ”

Or?

The eyes of the prisoners of war suddenly sparkled, in such a troubled time, there is such a high pay? If you get paid like this for a long time, even if you work for a year, it's worth it......

Li Zicheng stretched out his hand and pressed down to silence the prisoners of war, "Once you join the Heavenly Mandate Army, you will eat white-flour steamed buns three times a day, and you will have at least one meat dish every day." ”

"White-flour steamed buns? Meat dishes? ”

The prisoners of war suddenly exploded, whether they were soldiers or government soldiers, not to mention meat, it was difficult to eat even their bellies...... Can such a good thing really be spread on your head?

He Xiaomi pulled out his waist knife and shouted angrily: "Most of the overseers speak, so what do you say?" ”

The prisoners of war had just seen He Xiaomi's killing of Ai Wenbin, and they knew that this young officer was ruthless, and he said that if he killed someone, he would kill people, so he was busy closing his mouth and did not dare to speak.

"It's not enough to eat yourself, you have to ensure that your family can eat enough," Li Zicheng continued: "Each soldier will be distributed no less than the people's farmland, at least twenty acres, and no more than thirty acres." ”

"Twenty acres?" Someone among the prisoners of war suddenly exclaimed, if there are twenty acres of land, they and their families will not have enough to eat?

Unlike northern Shaanxi, Shangzhou did not suffer from a major drought, and the people and soldiers were poor, mainly because the land was in the hands of the large households, and in order to survive, they had to rent the land of the large households, and in addition to paying various taxes, they also had to bear the rent paid to the large households......

If you have your own land, you can at least save some rent!

"By the way, in the territory of the Heavenly Mandate Army, all the people, including soldiers, merchants, and officials, are subject to the taxation of fifteen taxes and one one," Speaking of this, Li Zicheng suddenly raised his voice and said: "In the territory of the Heavenly Mandate Army, there is absolutely no salary, training salary, and expulsion salary, if anyone dares to raise taxes without authorization, the capital will not be spared!" ”

"Fifteen taxes one?"

The prisoners of war exploded again, and some people were already calculating, according to the standard of a minimum of 20 acres of land, if there were no other taxes, according to the standard of 15 taxes and 1, how much food their families could get every year, and whether there would be a surplus except for their families to eat......

Even Zheng Guodong, who was standing behind Li Zicheng, was very surprised, his lips moved, and he wanted to speak several times, but he finally didn't say it, he just kept looking at Li Zicheng, and his heart was even more uncertain.

He Xiaomi did not draw his sword this time, but just quieted down the prisoners of war, and the words of the Metropolitan Governor were obviously not finished.

Li Zicheng turned his face and said with a smile: "The soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army, the auxiliary soldiers only have food and salary, and there is no military salary, only when they become soldiers, they will have half a tael of silver every month, if they make meritorious contributions on the battlefield, there will also be a silver reward, and after the battle is over, it will be issued in time, and there will be no arrears!" ”

"Half a tael of silver?"

"If you don't fight, you will be paid?"

"How do you calculate the silver for your exploits?"

……

The prisoners of war had long forgotten He Xiaomi's majesty, and the Grand Duke, who originally looked very hateful, also looked amiable at this time, and even his white felt hat was so handsome.

But soon questions were raised:

"With such favorable conditions, does the Heavenly Mandate Army have enough food and silver?"

"Now except for Liaodong, the entire Ming Dynasty is short of money and food, and the Heavenly Mandate Army won't be a fool, right?"

"The Heavenly Mandate Army has such favorable conditions, why haven't you heard of it before?"

……

Li Zicheng clapped his hands, attracted the attention of the prisoners of war, and said: "The governor of Pontus will say the last preferential condition, you are prisoners of war, and you must participate in a month of labor, but the Heavenly Mandate Army has just come to Shangzhou, there may not be enough affairs to do, and the labor period may be shortened, but within this year, even if you join the Heavenly Mandate Army, you will not have any salary, only food, and after the expiration of one year, if you have the ability to go into battle to kill the enemy, and become a soldier, you will have salary." ”

The prisoners of war were rarely silent, and compared with the previous ones, this one was really not very attractive, and what made them even more uneasy was whether the announcement of the Metropolitan Governor could be implemented.

Li Zixiang understood the thoughts of the prisoners of war, and said with a smile: "These regulations of the Mandate of Heaven Army are all military regulations written in black and white, not made up casually by the Governor of Pontus, you can rest assured," paused, and said: "However, although the conditions of the Mandate of Heaven Army are generous, the requirements are also high, not everyone can join the Mandate of Heaven Army, even if they join the Mandate of Heaven Army, if they cannot strictly abide by the military laws of the Mandate of Heaven Army, they will be forced to retire in the future." ”

And forced retirement?

The prisoners of war were curious, when was the imperial court conscription, which time did not force the people to become soldiers? If you are not a military household, or want to have a full belly, who wants to be a soldier?

Someone even asked what kind of military discipline the Mandate of Heaven Army has, but Li Zicheng smiled and did not answer, and finally just said: "For dinner today, when you see what the Mandate of Heaven Army eats, you will know that what the Mandate of Heaven is saying is true, and the Governor of Pentus will give you a night to think about whether to join the Mandate of Heaven Army tomorrow morning." ”

Li Zicheng asked the soldiers to escort the prisoners of war into the camp, but he summoned Lu Dazhi and Zheng Guodong, the officials of the thousand households, separately, "General Zheng, you said that there are indeed only dozens of soldiers in Shangzhou City?" ”

"The villain will never dare to deceive the Grand Governor!" Zheng Guodong has seen Li Zicheng's decisiveness in Ai Wenbin's body, how dare he deceive at all, and tell Li Zicheng about the situation in the city one by one, and even the discord between him and Ai Wenbin is also explained in detail.

Li Zicheng nodded, and when he saw that the sun was still hanging on the distant mountains at this time, he said, "If you are allowed to go, can you knock on the city gate?" ”

Zheng Guodong hurriedly arched his hands and said: "If the villain passes, he will definitely be able to knock on the city gate, the defenders of the west gate were originally the villain's subordinates......"

"Okay, good," Li Zicheng couldn't help but nod and said, "Is General Zheng willing to join the Heavenly Mandate Army?" "If prisoners of war want to join the Mandate of Heaven Army, they will be carefully screened, whether they are officers or soldiers, and unsuitable people must be eliminated.

However, the Mandate of Heaven army has just arrived in Shangzhou, and the number of soldiers is too small, only two thousand households in total, if you want to guard Shangzhou, and you have to raise the Danjiang River to develop in the direction of Henan and Huguang, you must arm the prisoners of war in time, even if the number of people is good.

"The villain is willing to join the Mandate of Heaven Army and serve the Metropolitan Governor!"

Li Zicheng chuckled and said: "There are many ways to serve the Governor of the Mandate of Heaven, even if you don't join the Mandate of Heaven Army, there are many ways to serve the Governor of the Mandate of Heaven, you have to think about it, after joining the Mandate of Heaven Army, you must abide by the military discipline of the Mandate of Heaven Army, and it is impossible to be a general in the position, the commander of the Governor of the Mandate of Heaven, is the official of a thousand households, and if you want to be promoted, you can only go to the battlefield to make meritorious contributions." ”

Zheng Guodong hesitated for a while, estimating that the military discipline of the Mandate of Heaven Army was only slightly stricter than that of other rogues, and it would not be stricter than the military discipline of the imperial court, so he arched his hands and said: "The villain was born in the army, except for joining the Mandate of Heaven Army, he has no other ability......

"It's okay, if you find that it is not suitable in the future, you can adjust it again," Li Zicheng continued: "Let's see tomorrow morning, how many prisoners of war are willing to join the Heavenly Mandate Army, all as your subordinates!" ”

"The Metropolitan Governor ......" Zheng Guodong naturally hoped that the more soldiers under him would be, the better, and hurriedly said: "They are all prisoners of war, as long as the Metropolitan Governor gives an order, how dare they disrespect the Metropolitan Governor's orders......"

"What is the difference between such an act and the imperial court?" Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "Everyone has the right to choose, before joining the Heavenly Mandate Army, the Governor of Pontus gave them the opportunity to choose, but after joining the Mandate of Heaven Army, once they violate the military discipline of the Mandate of Heaven, the Governor of Pontus will be severely punished, General Zheng will go to prepare first, and you will go on the road in a while, go to Shangzhou City!" ”

"The villain obeys!"

After Zheng Guodong left, Li Zicheng turned his gaze to Lu Dazhi, "Lu Qianhu, you take the soldiers of your headquarters, and under the guidance of Zheng Guodong, immediately rush to Shangzhou and take the state city." ”

Lu Dazhi immediately got up, "Yes, Metropolitan Governor!" ”

"After entering the city, it will soon be dark, you immediately have people to block all the city gates, you can take people to patrol the city, and preach the military laws of the Heavenly Monarch, but you must not disturb the people," Li Zicheng said: "Before noon tomorrow, I will rush to Shangzhou City with cavalry." ”

"The subordinates understand, and the subordinates must obey the orders of the Metropolitan Overseer!"

"Although the number of the Ming army is about the same as the information brought back by the Han Qing Bureau and the rangers, we can't be careless, we are not very familiar with the situation in Shangzhou City after all," Li Zicheng admonished, and said: "Zheng Guodong, we don't know his details, this siege is the best opportunity to test his mind, don't take care of him......"

"The subordinates understand, and the subordinates will keep an eye on him at all times!"

Li Zicheng smiled faintly and gave him an encouraging look, "Go ahead, after taking Shangzhou City, someone will come to report immediately." ”

"The subordinates understand, and the subordinates will rush to Shangzhou ......"

Li Zicheng summoned He Xiaomi, and asked him to tell the soldiers guarding the prisoners of war that they should chat with the prisoners of war and tell the prisoners of war as much as possible about the relevant information of the Mandate of Heaven, so that the prisoners of war could make the right choice.

He believed that as long as the prisoners of war really understood the Mandate of Heaven Army, under the current circumstances, they would not cry and rush to join the Mandate of Heaven Army?