After the Shangyuan Festival, more and more people from all over Suiyang brought their families to Xiayi to join Kong Sheng, the Henan Provincial Overseer and Ranger General, and the originally secluded Xiayi City became the most lively city within a radius of hundreds of miles, and it was very popular. With popularity being more important than anything else, Kong Sheng issued a notice to recruit soldiers, widely announcing that all the people who came to settle down in Xiayi City would be uniformly allocated by the government to allocate their homes and land, and be exempted from forced labor and taxes for one year.

Those who sign up to join the army will be hired on the basis of merit and given the most preferential treatment in the officers and soldiers.

Kong Sheng did this because Xu Yuan's idea.

Because Henan is currently short of grain, counting on plundering the rebels' grain and grass or operating from other places is not a long-term solution, and the real cure is to encourage farming, most of the farmland around Xiayi has been abandoned because of the war, and the original landowners have already suffered or fled, after the unified redistribution of the official government, the farmers who get the land will sow seeds after the spring, as long as they persist until the summer, they can have the first grain harvest, at least to solve the self-sufficiency of the military and civilians in Xiayi.

Farming and people's affairs, Kong Sheng entrusted it to Xu Yuan. Although Xu Yuan is a bit cowardly, he has been a local governor for many years and has rich experience in governing people's livelihood. As for the recruitment affairs, Kong Sheng ordered Nan Yong to preside, and as for the daily training and city defense, it was handed over to Li Biao and Li Hu.

For a time, the construction of Xiayi was in full swing, and the military and civilians of the whole city actively threw themselves into the wave of construction in full swing to defend their homeland.

In fact, before the Shangyuan Festival, Nie Chuchen and Nangong Wang led Hong Ze Shui Kou to make up a caravan and bypass Pengcheng. Coming through Linhuai. Gradually, he entered the realm of Xiayi. Such a team of hundreds of people, albeit very low-key. But it still attracted the attention of Xia Yijun's detective horse, and reported it to Kong Sheng's desk as soon as possible.

Kong Sheng groaned slightly, and guessed that it was Nie Chuchen and Nangong Wang's people who came to vote. Not to mention anything else, it is really because Nie Chuchen's appearance characteristics are too easy to judge, the red clothes are better than the fire, and he has a red horse with a cloud bow on his shoulder, and his appearance is very pretty, which is very conspicuous in this team of hundreds of people.

Kong Sheng turned his head to look at Mu Changfeng. Said with a smile: "Big brother, it must be Senior Brother Nangong and Senior Sister Nie's people who are here, we are now the time to employ people, and the five or six hundred of them will greatly enhance the strength of our army." ”

Mu Changfeng was a little disappreciative and said: "Third brother, it's just a group of grass coars, why do you value it so much?" If there is a shortage of troops, it is completely possible to recruit troops, and I have heard that the enthusiasm of the people to join the army is very high now. ”

Mu Changfeng's words were not finished. His meaning is obvious, if Kong Sheng wants to expand his recruitment. There are many young and middle-aged people who have signed up to join the army, so why take a group of grass robbers who occupy the mountains too seriously? Don't look at Mu Changfeng, he is also a person from the rivers and lakes. But he is chivalrous and righteous when he travels the country, and he still looks down on the likes of thieves and water thieves. Moreover, in Mu Changfeng's view, the bandits have an unruly personality, and it may be very difficult for Kong Sheng to reorganize this group of men and horses into an army.

Kong Sheng smiled slightly: "Big brother, don't underestimate this water team trained by Nangong Wang, they have a tacit understanding of both offense and defense, and their combat effectiveness is not worse than that of the elite of the official army." And Nangong Wang, this person, who is familiar with the art of war and strategy, is a very scarce military talent in my Xiayi army, if he is sincerely used by me, with him, I can rest assured. ”

Mu Changfeng pursed his lips, but did not continue to debate with Kong Sheng.

Mu Changfeng has a lot of mischief for Nangong Wang, thinking that this person's words are exaggerated and flashy, pretending to be a master in the world, but in fact, he is a person with a small belly. This is Mu Changfeng's evaluation and impression of Nangong Wang. And this first impression is planted because of some kind of misunderstanding, and it is difficult to change it.

In Mu Changfeng's heart, on the contrary, Nie Chuchen has more position.

"Big brother, can you go out of the city to greet Senior Brother Nangong on my behalf?" Kong Sheng looked at Mu Changfeng.

Mu Changfeng hesitated slightly, but still got up and said, "Okay, I'll run for you." However, third brother, I want to remind you that these bandits have entered the city, and you have to send people to keep an eye on them, so as not to let them cause trouble and destroy the current situation in Xiayi where the army and the people are fighting against the traitors together. ”

A trace of coldness flashed in Kong Sheng's eyes, but he smiled and said, "Big brother, of course you have to be strictly controlled." However, forgive them for not making much of a storm, and there is no need to choke on food. ”

Mu Changfeng arched his hand and brushed his sleeves away.

In Henan in mid-February, the spring cold is expected to be steep, and the low temperature below zero makes this group of Shuikou thieves from the south of the Yangtze River quite uncomfortable. Wrapped in cotton clothes and carrying steel knives hidden in their bags, they marched all the way against the wind, silent, with calm faces and orderly. If you don't know who they are, you can't believe it's a bunch of grass bandits.

From this point, it can be seen that Nangong Wang's ability to govern the army is outstanding.

Nangong Wang and Nie Chuchen were marching side by side on the horse, seeing Xiayi City in sight, and this originally unknown city was quite meteorological, and there were farmers working in the farmland on both sides of the road, preparing to sow seeds when the temperature rises next month, and it is also to sow the ardent hope of the military and civilians of Xiayi this year.

Nangong Wang's eyes flashed with a strange luster.

Halfway through them, they got three clear messages. One is that An Lushan of Luoyang died, and his son An Qingxu suddenly ascended to the throne, and the puppet Yan Dynasty was facing a power infighting and redistribution of interests, and the future pattern suddenly became more uncertain; One is that Kong Sheng led an army of 500 people, attacked Yongqiu after annihilating the remnants of Yang Chaozong, took Yongqiu in one fell swoop, killed dozens of well-known rebel generals such as Linghu Chao, and his reputation was greatly enhanced. The last one was Li Guangbi's victory in the Battle of Taiyuan, and Li Guangbi took advantage of the situation to attack and annihilate tens of thousands of rebels.

This one made Kong Sheng right. This made Nangong Wang have to admit the reality, Kong Sheng's "prophetic awareness" is extremely accurate, on the one hand, and more importantly, it makes him realize that the chaotic times he is looking forward to may not only not intensify, but gradually move towards stability.

No wonder Kong Sheng would say that the Li Tang court was not exhausted, and the rebellion would be completely put down in a few years, although the vitality of the Tang Dynasty was greatly damaged, there was no problem at all in maintaining it for another few decades.

Nangong Wang was very disappointed.

In addition to being disappointed, he was shocked by Kong Sheng's amazing performance.

In fact, winning the battle does not mean anything, because in Nangong Wang's view, the war has many accidental and fluke factors, if he is given 500 elite soldiers, Kong Sheng's record is not impossible for him to do. But Kong Sheng has only been in Henan Province for a few months, and in such a short period of time, he can not only gain a foothold here, but also have his own governance territory and military horses, which is almost unimaginable.

Nangong Wang has been speculating with emotion about how Kong Sheng did it.

Nie Chuchen raised his horsewhip on his horse and pointed at Xiayi City, which was in sight, and said with a smile: "Senior Brother Nangong, how is it?" I'm not wrong, Senior Brother Kong is a very capable person, when I left, he was still under the fence of Suiyang, and in just a few days, he gained a foothold in Xiayi, won the battle, and attracted the people and businessmen to vote. ”

Nangong Wang sighed lightly: "Senior sister, I have never denied that Senior Brother Kong is a young hero. Geniuses emerge in troubled times, and Senior Brother Kong was born, presumably it must be God's arrangement. Everything is indeed much better than I imagined now. ”

Nie Chuchen suddenly laughed, "Senior Brother Nangong, Mu Changfeng beside Senior Brother Kong is here, he must be here to greet us for Senior Brother Kong." ”

Riding a horse galloping in the dust, on horseback, Mu Changfeng fluttered out of the dust in white clothes. He tightened his black, hugged his fists and smiled, "Miss Nie! ”

Nie Chuchen smiled heartily, and did not hesitate, and returned the salute with his fists: "Izuchen has seen Brother Mu." ”

Mu Changfeng pretended not to see Nangong Wang, and said directly to Nie Chuchen: "Miss Nie, the third brother asked me to welcome you into the city, these are your brothers from Chemen Mountain, right?" ”

Mu Changfeng's sharp gaze swept over the faces of the group of sturdy men behind Nie Chuchen.

"And Hong Ze's brother. Brother Mu, this is my senior brother Nangong Wang, you should have seen it. Nie Chuchen took the initiative to introduce Mu Changfeng.

Mu Changfeng turned his head in surprise and said: "It turned out to be Mr. Nangong, but I didn't expect that a person like Mr. Nangong could come to a small place like Xiayi, which was really a surprise." ”

Nangong Wang's heart was so strong, how could he not hear some faint sarcasm in Mu Changfeng's mouth.

Nangong Wang said lightly: "Brother Mu has won the award, what kind of master is Nangong Wang?" It's just a layman. It's just that Senior Sister Nie has to ask me to come to Senior Brother Kong to beg for food, and I will ask Brother Mu to take care of me in the future. ”

Some people are born to deal with it, and Mu Changfeng and Nangong Wang are this kind. They don't have any festivals and feuds, but they just don't like each other, and there is no way to do it.

Nie Chuchen glanced at the two of them and interjected, "Okay, it's freezing, let's hurry up and enter the city." ”

As he spoke, the sound of horses' hooves roared from the city gate like thunder, and smoke and dust filled the air.

Nie Chuchen and Nangong looked up, and saw two columns of armor and majestic Modao cavalry, whipping out of the city gate and coming towards them, with a full five hundred people. At the beginning, the spears in the hands of Li Biao and Li Hu were raised high, and all the cavalry held the reins of their horses with solemn faces, and stood in formation on both sides of the official road, their movements were neat and uniform, and their morale was high and murderous.

At present, Kong Sheng's Xiayi Army is based on Li Biao and Li Hu's Modao cavalry and the Suiyang cavalry under the command of Lei Tingjin, plus the soldiers, a total of more than 2,000 people, reorganized into a cavalry battalion, an infantry battalion and an archery battalion, and the staffing of the cavalry battalion Kong Sheng is limited to 500 people, which is already full. The infantry battalion was commanded by the three Lei brothers, and the bow battalion was commanded by Nan Yong. Nan Yong was also training the recruited new army, which was also close to 500 people.

The elite cavalry under the command of Li Biao and Li Hu was dispatched today. From the gate of Xiayi to this direction, on both sides of the official road of Li Xuchang, the mighty cavalry stood in formation, the Mo sword was held high like a forest, the spear stood like rain, the military appearance was strict, and the morale was high, so that Nangong Wang and his Shuikou thieves were frightened.

Nangong Wang gasped, and said in his heart, Kong Sheng, is this giving himself a dismount?

Mu Changfeng looked at Nangong Wang with satisfaction, and secretly sneered in his heart: "You bandits, if you are sincere and obedient to yourself, if you are not honest, with the means of the third brother, I am afraid that you will not have good fruits to eat." ”

Li Biao and Li Hu said proudly: "On the orders of the Overseer, Miss Nie, Mr. Nangong and all the Hongze brothers are welcome to enter the city!" Please! (To be continued.) )