The next day, the two saints set off to drive Dongxing, and hundreds of officials accompanied their families. The mighty team of 10,000 people drove to Luoyang, the eastern capital.

On the same day, in order to defeat the ten Turks who rebelled in the Western Regions, the Tang Dynasty once again issued the "Edict of Raising Warriors", calling on the young and strong people of the whole country to enthusiastically join the army.

More than one-third of the Tang Dynasty's government soldiers were gathered in the Liangjing Pass, which was the main source of soldiers.

The government soldiers are the "compulsory soldiers" of the Tang Dynasty, and the peasants serve as soldiers in their spare time for the agricultural war, and they also have to bring their own food and bedding to join the army. However, in recent years, land annexation has been relatively strict, and many peasants have lost their land, so they can no longer serve in the army, which has made the number of soldiers in the military government of the Tang Dynasty has been sharply reduced.

But after all, the Tang Dynasty is a martial country, as long as the imperial court pays money and grain to recruit soldiers, those former government soldiers are still willing to pick up swords and guns to fight for the country. In particular, this year's drought and famine in Guanzhong have caused many farmers to lose their livelihoods. came to join the army to earn some food to support their families, which became a good choice for them.

Among the soldiers of Guanzhong Prefecture, many are veterans who have been on the battlefield, and there are also many civilian officers who have made meritorious contributions, and the soldiers are quite excellent. Especially when people heard that the commander of this western expedition was Pei Xingjian, the craze for joining the army was even more turbulent.

The imperial court planned to recruit only 200,000 soldiers and horses to march westward, but in less than five days, several recruitment points in the Guannai received no less than 350,000 enthusiastic surrenders. This made Cen Changqian, the squire of the military department, who presided over the recruitment, and Xue Shao, the outsider, a little headache, and it was a difficult job to cut off nearly half of the more than 300,000 people.

Many of them came with the desire to make a living. If the army does not take them in, they are very likely to become homeless or even outcasts, which is extremely detrimental to the social stability of Guanzhong. There are also some enthusiastic young people who generously embrace the country, and if they are rejected, it will undoubtedly blow their martial spirit and patriotic enthusiasm, which is also very disadvantageous.

It is obviously even more unrealistic to ask the imperial court to allow more conscription of soldiers and horses. Now the drought in Guanzhong is about to cause a famine, and what is lacking is food. At this juncture, the imperial court dared to send 200,000 mercenaries to conquer the Western Regions, which was already gritting its teeth, how could it be possible to take out food to feed more than 100,000 people?

Cen Changqian, the squire of the military department, said to Xue Shao, these people are very likely to be your former robes, or your future robes. How to select and reject, you will do it.

This is how to be a boss, you can rightly throw the hot mountain stick to your subordinates with one sentence.

So before he set out on the expedition, Xue Shao encountered a thorny big problem. After thinking about it again and again and discussing with several stinkers who were familiar with him, Xue Shao decided to let each recruiting point follow the form of "Beiya stressing martial arts" to carry out on-site selection of the fittest. Compete fairly, and those who are eliminated will have nothing to say!

Although the time is in a hurry, it is no problem to hold the two competitions of warping and archery on the spot!

When Cen Changqian heard it, maybe it would work. Discuss with Pei Xingjian again, Pei Xingjian is the commander-in-chief, but he has always ignored these pre-war things, of course he has no opinion.

Execute it now!

Therefore, Xue Shao sent his cronies to various recruitment points to preside over and supervise the selection of troops there. On the other hand, he kept sending people to Luoyang to urge grain and grass.

After another five days, 200,000 elite recruits and a large amount of grain and grass distributed by the imperial court were in place.

It's finally time to go!

Xue Shao had been busy recruiting soldiers outside for ten days, and when he returned to Chang'an, he hurriedly ran to Pei Xingjian to report the news, but found that he had ...... Pei Xingjian's condition has deteriorated!

Sun Simiao told Xue Shao that these days, Pei Gong has to receive many generals every day and deal with a lot of military affairs every day. At night, he didn't sleep well, and always stayed up late with the lamp on to study the county chronicles, maps, and manuscripts he left when he was an official in the Western Regions. These things were piled up, and Pei Gong slept with them almost every night.

In this way, his condition deteriorated, and it had progressed to the point of coughing up blood every night. Even if the medical king Sun Simiao guards him every day, he can't change this status quo.

When Xue Shao saw Pei Xingjian, he was lying on the bed and falling asleep. The face is yellow, and the person seems to have lost weight again, and there is only skin and bones left.

"Xue Gongzi, you can't let Pei Gong work so hard anymore." Sun Simiao said to Xue Shao, "Otherwise, the immortals will be difficult to save!" ”

Xue Shao nodded, but was speechless. He thought to himself that many military forces are only experienced by the commander-in-chief, and no one else can replace them. Pei Gong has led soldiers for so many years, and of course he knows better than anyone how hard it is to be a coach. He also knew what kind of condition his body was, but he still stayed up all night and worked like this...... He is clearly using the last remaining life to race against time!

Xue Shao stayed in front of Pei Xingjian's sickbed until he opened his eyes slightly.

"Chengyu, you're back." Pei Xingjian's voice was very weak and hoarse, "How about the soldiers and the grain and grass?" ”

"Both major things have been done." Xue Shao replied in a low voice, "At any time, I swear to go on the expedition." ”

"Yes, competent." Pei Xingjian closed his eyes with a sigh of relief, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Pei Gong, the students think that it is better to use three or five days to conduct a short run-in in the army and then go on the expedition." Xue Shao saw that Pei Xingjian's health had deteriorated like this, and persuaded him, "It's not wrong to go all the way to the Western Regions and be well prepared." ”

Pei Xingjian closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, "The old man knows what you mean." The military situation is like fire, how can it be postponed because the old man is alone? Now, half a month has passed since the imperial court received the military information from the Western Regions, and if it is delayed any longer, the old man is worried that the ten Turks will steal a large area of territory and even open a state! ”

Xue Shao was speechless. In fact, when he saw Pei Xingjian in the imperial study that day, he knew that his old man was just thinking that "the military situation is like fire" before he beat his spirit and went to see the emperor in advance.

Xue Shao can't be compared, how strong Pei Xingjian's will is. He was already so sick that he couldn't move in bed, and he could still stand up from the sickbed and pick up such a heavy burden.

At this time, Pei Xingjian took out a thick roll of yellow rattan hemp paper from his quilt, handed it to Xue Shao, and said, "Chengyu, this is something that the old man spent ten days collecting from that vast pile of books, which is useful for the Western Expedition. The old man's memory is getting worse and worse, so he is afraid of forgetting jì, so he copied them all together. Now it's up to you to save it for the old man and keep it from the side. ”

Xue Shao took it with both hands respectfully, and his heart was very sour.

Pei Xingjian's words were not clear, but Xue Shao understood what he meant-in case the old man died before he left the school, he could finally leave something useful for you to counterinsurgency.

"Tomorrow, the oath will set off!" Pei Xingjian closed his eyes after saying this, as if he had fallen into a coma.

Sun Simiao hurriedly stepped forward to ask Xue Shao to leave temporarily, he was going to give first aid to Pei Xingjian.

Xue Shao could only leave. He came to the door with the large volume of jute paper manuscript given by Pei Xingjian in his hand, looked back at Pei Xingjian with great worry and sadness, and was finally invited out of the door by the Taoist servant in Tsing Yi.

Xue Shao's heart was deeply worried...... Tomorrow, will Pei Gong still be able to appear on the platform?

The next day, it was cloudy and windy.

In the Weishui camp outside Chang'an City, 200,000 Tang Dynasty royal divisions were assembled in formation, and the banners were like a sea of grain and grass.

Xue Shao, Li Duozuo, and Xue Chuyu, the deputy generals, began to be busy before dawn early in the morning, preparing for the swearing-in meeting. Today, Li Xian, the crown prince who stayed in Chang'an, will also come on behalf of the two saints to preside over the swearing-in meeting.

The hour was approaching, and the prince had arrived early. He brought with him a special open-air wagon loaded with glittering axes and axes.

According to the ancient custom of the army of the Central Plains Dynasty passed down from generation to generation, before the general set off with the army, he should worship and comfort his ancestors in the Taimiao Temple and ask the sorcerer to divinate the good fortune and evil, so as to decide whether to send troops. Before leaving, the Son of Heaven also gave the leading general an axe and a puff to symbolize authority.

These two ceremonies are very important in the army. If one item is missing, it will be considered a teacher without vain and a teacher without a name. The morale of the army is easy to be weakened, and the sergeants will break and flee or even mutiny.

Now that the altar has been erected, the three sacrifices have been placed. The officers and men of the three armies lined up in full armor, waiting for the commander's order, and they were about to sail to the Western Regions thousands of miles away.

But Pei Xingjian has not yet come.

Prince Li Xian's patience was obviously not as good as Xue Shao and the others, and after waiting for a while, he walked up to Xue Shao a little anxiously and said, "Brother-in-law, why hasn't Pei Gong come yet, there won't be any surprises, right?" ”

"Prince, please don't call Weichen like that before the three armies." Xue Shao arched his hand and whispered, "Don't worry, Prince Pei will definitely come!" ”

"Okay, okay......" Li Xian nodded a little impatiently, "Then wait!" ”

Xue Shao was a little annoyed in his heart, don't wait, what do you want?

Almost at the same moment when the sundial arrived, the general waved the banner and shouted: "The boss has arrived!" ”

The three armies cheered, overwhelming!

Xue Shao and the others looked towards the gate together, and saw Pei Xingjian stop his horse at the gate and was about to get off the horse and come on foot.

Xue Shao's heart suddenly jumped - his health was so bad, he actually rode a horse! But don't fall!

The generals were very sensible, and they stepped forward together to help Pei Xingjian get off the horse steadily.

Xue Shao and the others let out a long breath at the same time.

"It's coming, it's finally here!" The crown prince Li Xian nagged repeatedly, "General Xue, can the oath meeting begin?" Did I give the axe to Pei Gong, even if it was okay? ”

"When Pei Gong walks on the stage, you can start the swearing-in meeting." Xue Shao replied patiently, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince first has to read out the holy decree of the imperial court, and then sacrifice to Master Feng Boyu and recite the expedition text. Finally, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince presented the axe to Pei Gong on behalf of the two saints. That's it. ”

Li Xian's eyes straightened when he heard this, "So troublesome? ”

Xue Shao looked away at Pei Xingjian, not wanting to talk to Li Xian anymore. The others also glanced at the prince with some unkind eyes, and all of them ignored him.

Li Xian couldn't help but shudder, and then he knew that he had inadvertently committed a public anger - Pei Xingjian was seriously ill and insisted on coming to participate in the oath meeting, the prince was young and strong, and he had nothing to do, how could he have complaints?