The cavalry archers are a show and a deterrent, and now in terms of numbers, the number of newly recruited bandits is one hundred and ninety-five, which is more than the people brought by Gongsun Sheng. Although these bandits are all from peasant backgrounds, they will inevitably be contaminated with some bad habits in these days when the grass is falling, so the necessary beating is still needed.

That night, Gongsun Sheng held a military meeting, and Niu Gao, Shi Jin, Shi Xiu, Chen Da, Yang Chun, and even the newcomer Zhou Tong also came to participate.

Gongsun Sheng said: "Zhou Tong, you are familiar with the situation in Qingzhou. Yuncheng wants to recruit some refugees as a labor force, how do you think it should be recruited? ”

Zhou Tong was very happy, but he didn't expect Gongsun Sheng to ask him first.

Zhou Daodao: "The military advisor can be regarded as asking the right person, don't look at me as a thief, but I am very familiar with the situation in Qingzhou." The refugees in Qingzhou are caused by three natural disasters and seven man-made disasters, and the people of Qingzhou are expected to have two to thirty thousand people who will not survive this year. At least half of the strong men and women in the prime of life, a small number of children, and a small number of old people. I don't know how much the military advisor plans to recruit? ”

Gongsun Sheng was a little surprised and said, "How do you know such details?" ”

Zhou Tong smiled: "It's not a secret, some time ago, Chao Tuanlian and Huang Xin beat the Qingfeng Mountain Jinmao Tiger and the Bantam Tiger like a lost dog, I consider that the power of Taohua Mountain is too weak, so I plan to recruit troops, it is not easy for bandits to recruit soldiers, it is not who really can't survive who wants to be a bandit, so my goal is to recruit these refugees, originally planned to rob several wealthy villages nearby, but I always can't do it." ”

"Well, the son can be taught, you still have kindness in your heart, it is this kindness that saved you, otherwise I wouldn't have let Niu Gao recruit you." Gongsun Sheng said.

Niu Gao said: "Qingzhou Murong Prefect is not a thing, it may not give us face, the last time my brother led troops to Qingzhou, they invited it, this time we should lead troops uninvited." In my opinion, they were stationed here, and the military divisions and caravans went deep into the refugee gathering places to propagandize. ”

Gongsun Sheng nodded and agreed, Qingzhou is not our back garden, "Shi Jin, Shi Xiu, what do you think?" ”

"I agree." The two replied.

Gongsun Sheng said: "Niu Gao, you lead the troops to guard this camp, and the flying pigeon sends a message to Yuncheng, so that they can send a naval army to meet the refugees, take the water route, not the land route, the weather is too cold, and it is inevitable that there will be people who will die of cold and hunger by land." ”

"Yes." Niu Gao said.

"Shi Jin, Shi Xiu, you follow me as a guard, Yang Chun, Chen Da, and Zhou Tong stay in the camp to assist Niu Gao in training."

"Order." Everyone promised.

As soon as Gongsun Sheng left, Niu Gao gathered the nearly 200 newcomers, and looked at the untidy teams, and Niu Gao frowned when he looked at the untidy teams that did not stand and sit in each other.

Niu Gao asked, "How was last night's dinner?" ”

"Well, how can it be bad. Pork stewed cabbage, plus white flour buns, I haven't eaten it for many years. One person said.

Another said: "I ate half a catty of meat yesterday, and I still feel the smell of meat." ”

Niu Gao walked back and forth with his hands behind his back and a horsewhip in his hand.

"Let me tell you, as long as you can be a soldier trained in Yuncheng, eat like this every day, and not only that, but at least have the pocket money of the same money every month, if you come out to fight a small battle and make a small contribution, then the military salary will be doubled. What's more, the soldiers trained in Yuncheng have a good reputation, and they don't spend much money on their daughters-in-law. Would you like to participate in the Yuncheng group training? ”

Everyone said: "Yes, who wants to be a bandit." ”

"But the soldiers trained by the Yuncheng regiment are not good, and no one like you can be selected. I am soft-hearted, and I decided to train and train you first, and when it comes to the official selection of Yuncheng, there will be more people who have passed, and you will all listen to me, and all actions will obey orders, otherwise the military stick will serve. Niu Gao said.

"Okay." The crowd answered.

Niu Gao said: "Don't say good, say yes." ”

"Yes." The crowd answered.

"Look at your estimates one by one, there is no distinction between left and right, let's practice running first, and run twenty laps around the barracks." Niu Gao gave an order, although there are few people in this military camp, but the area inside is not small, there are still around 200 meters in a week, and twenty laps is not a small number, and everyone complained: "It's too much, can you have less." ”

Niu Gao said: "Fifty laps." ”

Now no one dared to speak, and everyone ran up. Zhou Tong followed from the side, Niu Gao said: "You go and run too, it's all like this, you have to be a soldier when you are a soldier." ”

"Yes." Zhou Tong had no choice but to run away.

These bandits were originally fed and clothed, and where did they train, and after fifty laps of running, they were tired like dogs, sticking out their big tongues, snorting and panting.

A kid said: "Niu Dutou, I want to eat ten steamed buns at noon." ”

Niu Gao asked: "Why do you eat so much, you are not afraid of dying." ”

This man said: "You let us run such a long way, it is estimated that the big guy has already digested all the stool in his stomach, and he will not need to eat more at noon to make up for it." ”

Zhou Tong kicked over, "You kid can't be civilized, we're not thieves anymore." ”

Niu Gao smiled: "Don't worry, there is no limit to the lunch steamed buns, but you can't eat them, and you won't be able to train in the afternoon." ”

Don't look at Niu Gao's arrogance, but there is a set of training, and no one dares to be a thorn, those who train well have food, and those who don't train well have to be hungry. From long-distance running to queue, it took three to five days to train for almost one. Looking at the neat appearance of the team, one by one, Zhou Tong was surprised: "I really can't see it, this is the team I led before." ”

Niu Gao smiled: "There are no bear soldiers, only bear generals." It's because your training level is too poor, and when you go back to Yuncheng, you can train you. ”

Zhou Daodao: "Isn't this already a workout?" Every day long-distance running, queue practice. ”

Niu Gao smiled: "This is a trained soldier, you are not a soldier." The elder brother took special care of the new generals and trained them very well. ”

"That's good, that's good." Zhou Tong said happily.

How did he know that Niu Gao took care of him very seriously, and only later did Zhou Tong understand that Chao Gai's procedure for training generals was simply steelmaking, which could take off a layer of skin.

Gongsun Sheng took a dozen Taoist boys, as well as Shi Xiu, Shi Jin, and the caravan to recruit refugees. Recruiting refugees is also very easy, as soon as they say that they have food and clothing, those who are struggling on the line of life and death immediately agree to go. Gongsun Sheng lobbied around outside, but anyone who was willing to go to Yuncheng let them come to the Taohuazhuang camp in groups, where Chen Da and Yang Chun led people to maintain order, found a few clean and neat men from the refugees, set up a large iron pot, and boiled porridge mixed with millet and sorghum. The refugees have been hungry for a long time, and they can't eat too much dry food for a while, so they should drink porridge to nourish their stomachs first.

The first batch of more than 200 refugees came, all from one village. It's also easy to organize, and some of them can cook porridge. The fragrant millet porridge and the extra pot of pickles and radish slivers were very happy to eat one by one.

Gongsun Sheng took more than 20 wagons of the caravan to a town store that was seriously affected by the disaster, which is the focus of this year's locust plague, the locusts have eaten 50 percent of the crops, this is not the most deadly, after all, there are still 50 percent of the crops, if the landlord does not collect rent, the yamen does not collect taxes, and the people can still get by, at most it is just to tighten the belt of the trousers, but it backfired. When the landlords saw that the yamen had collected their taxes, they naturally did not want to be this good man, and they were forced to pay the rent, so that the people who were worse off had no way to live, some sold their sons and daughters, some left for other places, and some begged for food everywhere.

There are almost 300 refugees gathered here at the entrance of the town, all of them hiding in shelter from the wind, hungry and yellow-skinned.

The arrival of Gongsun Sheng with the caravan gave everyone hope, and one by one they rushed over and knelt on the side of the road to pray for food.

Shi Jindao: "We are a group training in Yuncheng, and we came here to help refugees." Those who want to eat immediately look for dry firewood and hay, set up a large pot to boil rice porridge and eat. ”

One refugee asked, "You're not kidding, this military master?" Are you really going to give us porridge? ”

Shi Jin is also used to it, and the people here don't have a good impression of the government. Shi Jin said: "If you don't know if you look at it, if you believe it, go find dry firewood, and if you don't believe it, you can rest on the side." ”

These rough jobs are not Gongsun Sheng's turn to command, it is enough to have Shi Xiu and Shi Jin in command, but in the time of one stick of incense, five cauldrons have been erected. Whether the refugees believed it or not, it was not difficult to find some dry firewood, and they soon found a large pile of dry firewood.

Wash the rice, light the fire and boil the porridge.

Shi Xiu sighed: "It's too miserable, although the Huashigang in the south of the Yangtze River has also killed many families, there are still very few people who starve to death like this in the north." It's not nutritious to just drink porridge and eat pickles, so let's get some bones and cook them together in porridge. ”

Shi Jin said: "Okay. I ate all the pork last night, and there are only pork bones left, so let's boil pork bones and millet porridge. ”

The scorching flame licked the bottom of the pot, and the kung fu porridge was boiled in half an hour, and the fragrant porridge floated out of the distance. The hungry eyes of the surrounding crowd stared at the porridge pot.

Shi Xiu also has experience for a long time, this group of people is hungry and anxious, and it is not uncommon for people to crowd and stampede, so they have already ordered people to take sticks to maintain order, and those who want to eat line up, one bowl per person, and beat away the crowded sticks. At first, a few did not follow the order, but after being taught a lesson, they were honest.

Yuncheng sent three large barges, each of which could pull more than 100 people, so if there were enough 300 people here, they would be transported away by barge. It took nearly a month to reach the month of Wax, and nearly 18,000 refugees were recruited.