The cost of suppressing bandits is huge, this is the consensus of everyone, first of all, recruit a group of 500 sailors, there is no minimum income of 20 yuan per month, the Yangtze River water superb men will not easily pick up this bowl of rice, take their own lives to risk, especially ten years ago the bandits were defeated, more than 600 villagers died, many people still have a deep memory, and the cost of suppressing bandits has also increased invisibly.

But even if the minimum is 20 yuan, it will cost 10,000 yuan a month, and if the bandits are suppressed for three months, it will be 30,000 yuan, and the death pension will be 300 yuan for one person, and there will be a disability pension, etc.

In addition, there are expenses for the employment of boatmen and people, as well as expenses for armor, weapons and bows, other war drums, tents, flags and other military supplies, food expenses, boat expenses, water garrison construction, etc., without 100,000 yuan, it is impossible to imagine forming this 500-strong naval army.

Moreover, if you want to maintain the existence of this naval army after the success of the bandits, you can reduce it by half, and it will cost 5,000 guan a month, and if the imperial court is willing to pay half of it, it will still have to pay 2,500 guan a month.

Fortunately, this time the suppression of bandits has the support of the imperial court, and it can be saved in terms of food, ships, and military equipment, but other expenditures have to be paid for by themselves, which will cost at least 50,000 yuan, so it will be necessary to mobilize the entire Ezhou to support this suppression of bandits.

At the same time, because the Imperial Military Department and the Privy Council agreed to Wang Boyan's application for suppressing bandits, the Jinghu North Road Transit Division specially allocated 20,000 stone of grain to Ezhou for suppressing bandits, and at the same time that Jiangxia, Puqi, Huanggang, Xianning, Wuchang and other counties began to raise money, Jiayu County also began to raise funds for suppressing bandits among large households.

In the county government welcome hall, dozens of proprietors from various townships and major shops in the county gathered together, the officials were very busy, and served a cup of tea in front of each guest, and there was a lot of discussion in the welcome hall, and everyone knew that the reason why the county order invited them to come was to ask them to donate money to suppress bandits.

Of course, the target of the bandits is not Zhang Shun in the waves, but the black-hearted dragon king Du Sheng, although he did not say it explicitly, but everyone knows that everyone is not very willing to donate this money, and the reason is very simple, Ezhou is no longer the black-hearted dragon king's sphere of influence, if you want to donate money, Yuezhou, Tanzhou, Jiangling Mansion should donate more, and Fuzhou and Hanyang Mansion in Jiangbei Why don't they donate money?

However, the county order has invited them, and they can't say anything about it at all, everyone has a small calculation in their hearts, how much money can they take out at least?

At this time, the county commander Li Yanqing and the county commander Yang Ju walked in quickly, and everyone stood up and saluted.

Li Yanqing smiled and waved his hand to invite everyone to sit down, "I invite all the squires to come today, mainly for the suppression of bandits, everyone also knows that bandits continue to be a serious threat to the Yangtze River shipping, everyone generally has to take a boat when they go out, no one wants to meet Jiang bandits halfway, nor do they want their goods to be robbed by Jiang bandits, so this is closely related to everyone's vital interests, the bandit court is the big head, for this reason, the Great Song Dynasty Navy Division specially allocated 50 warships to us, and the Jinghu North Road Transshipment Division also specially allocated 20,000 stone grain, but the cost of suppressing bandits is hugeI just got the news that Jiangxia Baoyanzhai has expressed his willingness to spend 5,000 yuan to support the suppression of bandits, which is the largest donation at present, and I hope that everyone will have the money to contribute and contribute their modest efforts to suppress bandits. ”

Next to him, Yang Ju also said to everyone: "Let me tell you another news, our county gentleman's wife has decided to donate 2,000 yuan in her personal name, and I have also decided to donate 200 yuan, which is a little support for the bandits." ”

There was a lot of discussion in the lobby, and at this time, Xia Zhen, the proprietor of Hongyun Restaurant, got up and said, "County gentleman, can I ask a common question from everyone?" ”

Li Yanqing smiled slightly: "Lord Xia, please speak!" ”

"We are in favor of donating money to suppress bandits, but why only Ezhou donates money, for example, my brother lives in Hanyang County on the other side of the Yangtze River, they don't mention the donation of bandits, and Yuezhou is also the most rampant place for black-hearted dragon kings, why does Yuezhou refuse to donate money? Everyone thinks it's a little unfair. ”

The lobby was quiet for a moment, and countless pairs of eyes looked at Li Yanqing together, this is indeed a common concern of everyone, Li Yanqing nodded and said: "I can understand everyone's feelings, but have you ever thought about it, why did the bandits fail ten years ago, why there has been no bandit suppression in ten years, is the Jiang bandit too powerful?" Ten years ago, it was the ships of the Fuzhou township soldiers that were burned, and Fuzhou took the lead in withdrawing from the battlefield, and as a result, the states rushed to withdraw, and the black-hearted dragon king took advantage of the situation to cover up and kill, and the officers and soldiers were defeated, so in the past ten years, everyone has not wanted to take the lead in suppressing bandits, so that the black-hearted dragon king has been rampant to this day, this time Ezhou took the initiative to suppress bandits, what attitude will other state capitals have, we don't consider, they support us and welcome, they don't express their attitude, we don't complain, but we just want to do our own things well. ”

Li Yanqing smiled at Xia Zhen again: "If we exterminate the Black-Hearted Dragon King in Ezhou, the next time you argue with your brother, you can say in a dignified manner, I paid to kill the Black-Hearted Dragon King, and then ask him what he did?" He was speechless as promised. ”

Everyone laughed, and Yang Ju said again: "After the black-hearted dragon king is eliminated this time, Ezhou will erect a monument to commemorate the bandits in Jiangxia, and anyone who donates more than 300 yuan will engrave a monument to leave their names for future generations to admire, and the owner of Xia can let your brothers take a look at it together." ”

"What about Zhang Shun?" Suddenly, someone asked.

This question is more embarrassing, but everyone wants to know, Li Yanqing said slowly: "I give you a guarantee, since you want to suppress the bandits, then the success of the bandits will inevitably include the Ezhou River, if Zhang Shun is willing to change his past wrongs and no longer be evil, I can give him a chance to be good, if he is unwilling to repent, then I will never be soft." ”

With Li Yanqing's guarantee, everyone was relieved, and at this time, Xia Zhen raised his hand and said: "Hongyun Restaurant pledged five hundred yuan!" ”

"Li Bao'er of Dawen Township donated 400 stone of grain, and 20 laborers for another month."

"The He family's money shop donated three hundred yuan!"

"Sun Price Quality Bank pledged 400 yuan!"

"Yule Township Zhao Li donated 500 stones!"

.........

Mo Jun quickly recorded on the side, and in just a quarter of an hour, he raised 11,000 yuan in donations, 6,400 stones of food, and 350 laborers.

This is only the money donated by the wealthy squires of Jiayu County, if you add the personal donation of 2,000 yuan from Li Yanqing's wife Cao Yun and the small donations of the ordinary people, the goal of raising 15,000 yuan can be completely achieved.

Li Yanqing was overjoyed in his heart, got up and hugged his fists to everyone and said: "Thank you for supporting the suppression of bandits, and please have confidence in the government, this crackdown on bandits is not a temporary move, even if the suppression of bandits is successful, the local township soldiers who suppress bandits still exist, supported by the government and the opposition, to protect the peace of our Ezhou." ”

Warm applause rang out in the welcome hall.....

Although Wang Boyan was identified as a traitor in history and was one of the famous representatives of the Southern Song Dynasty compromise faction, it is undeniable that his personal ability is indeed very strong.

In just half a month, four prefectures and one prefecture, including Ezhou, Hanzhou, Fuzhou, Yuezhou, and Jiangling Prefecture, raised 120,000 yuan of money and 60,000 stone of grain from the people, and a special person was responsible for managing the money and grain.

Moreover, the commanders of the prefectures unanimously agreed that the battalion for the suppression of bandits would be set up in Jiayu County, and Li Yanqing was appointed as the chief general of the crackdown on bandits, and Li Yanqing would uniformly recruit 500 brave sailors and command them in a unified manner.

On the morning of this day, a red flag was erected on the sacrificial platform outside Jiayu County, on which were two big characters written by Li Yanqing: 'Recruit Yong', and a recruitment shed was erected next to the sacrificial river platform, and Zhang Hu was responsible for recruiting 500 naval soldiers.

However, this recruitment was mainly aimed at the people of Ezhou, and the approval of the imperial court was very clear, and a local naval army of 500 people was formed in Ezhou Township, that is to say, the establishment of this naval army belonged to part of the Ezhou Township Army, and of course it was not allowed to form another army.

If it is young people from other states and counties who come to sign up, it is not impossible, but the entire water army should still be dominated by young people from Ezhou.

Before recruiting, Li Yanqing had already selected 100 township soldiers with excellent water ability from the Jiayu County Township Army, and they became the first batch of Ezhou Naval Army.

Near noon, Li Yanqing came to the recruitment point located outside the northern city, only to see a long queue in front of the greenhouse, there were as many as 100 people, this time the recruitment of the navy opened 20 times of wartime monthly salaries and peacetime 10 times a month to patrol the river, for the average monthly income of only five or six times of Ezhou ordinary people are still quite attractive.

Although it is more dangerous to suppress bandits, if they are unfortunately killed, their families can also get a pension of 300 yuan, and they can also get a reward of 20 yuan for killing a water thief.

In the shed sat Liu Fang, a staff member, who was the chief officer, and next to him was Bing Cao Yulu and two other clerks who were responsible for registration, and Zhang Hu was responsible for the physical examination with more than a dozen soldiers.

The physical assessment is divided into three steps, one is to see, which requires a tall and burly body, a strong physique, and township soldiers are preferred; The second is lifting, that is, lifting weights, and you must lift the fifty-pound stone lock three times over your head; The third step is swimming, which is also the most critical and important assessment, you must be able to swim across the Yangtze River, and if you pass all three steps, you will be admitted to the water army, and you can immediately advance a salary of 20 yuan.

At this time, Zhang Hu gave an order, and thirty shirtless young men rushed towards the Yangtze River, Li Yanqing stepped forward and asked with a smile: "Will you not be able to swim to the other side, and you will be exhausted halfway?" ”

Zhang Huxing reported with a courtesy: "You don't have to swim to the other side, there is a small boat in the middle of the Yangtze River, they get a sign, and then swim back, and there are two other small boats to follow, and you can call for help at any time if you are physically exhausted." ”

"This arrangement is relatively comprehensive, has anyone failed to pass the weightlift?" Li Yanqing glanced at Shi Suo again and asked.

"The weightlifting has passed, the body has been reviewed before, and the weights can only be lifted if they meet the requirements, and generally the burly and strong people can lift the stone lock."

Li Yanqing nodded, "You don't have to be burly and strong, water is the first important, if you can go back and forth two times in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, I think it's okay to be a little thinner, many times, it is more convenient for those with thin stature to sneak attack enemy ships." ”

"The lowly position understands, it will increase the priority of water, there were more than a dozen people who were particularly good in water, but their stature did not match, and the lowly position was registered, so I sent someone to find them back."

"That's right, send someone to find it quickly!" Zhang Hu didn't dare to slack off, and immediately arranged for his subordinates to find someone.