PS: In 2015, I wish the majority of book friends good health and all the best!

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Liu Cun made up his mind, and Gongsun Pei, Zhao Rong, Huo Jian and others immediately put it into practice, and after readjusting and obtaining a full range of links, after surviving a period of hectic at the beginning, they gradually showed amazing efficiency.

At noon on the third day, the first batch of 20,000 refugees used a sticky rice porridge and set foot on the official road in the north of the city under the guidance of 500 officers and soldiers, and the ten-mile-long team will rest in Zhushan Township under Dazhu Mountain for two days, all the women, children and children will stay in Zhushan Township to recuperate, and the adult men will be divided into teams of 1,000 people to receive tools, and the method of simultaneous construction in sections will be used to build a 40-mile coastal road leading to Xiaozhushan and Huangdao in the north.

On the morning of the fourth day, the 20,000 refugees outside Xiahe City, who had also had a full meal, were divided into 20 thousand-man teams, and under the guidance of more than 500 caravan guards, they drove to the southern foot of Kushan Mountain, six miles northwest of the city.

The more than 1,000 young men who had been waiting on the banks of the river at the foot of the mountain skillfully distributed the tools, and then led the 1,000-strong teams in charge of each of them to perform their own duties, and the 20,000 young men must repair the 130-mile official road from Xiahe City to Zongcheng within two months.

At noon on the same day, more than 5,000 women and children among the refugees were allowed to live in the newly vacated manor in the north of the city, where they could do low-intensity manual labor such as sewing simple linen cloth and weaving straw mats and straw hats.

In the dusty camp in the north of the city, which was not far from the 5,000 women and children, Wang Qi stood on a high platform under the scorching sun, silently watching the ongoing selection of recruits on the school grounds.

The 8,000 young men who were undergoing intense tests had been in the camp for five days, and they were all strong men who had eaten enough for three days and had been left behind after two rigorous selections, and most of them were under the age of twenty-five.

After the selection, the 8,000 men on the field can only leave 3,000 to enrich the army, and the remaining 5,000 will be brought to Zhushan, and the fleet manager Bao Cheng and Bao Laosan will pick out another thousand people, and the rest will all be divided into major workshops and salt works as apprentices.

Wang Qi is helpless about this, he very much hopes that all these 8,000 young men will stay, as a leading general, who doesn't want his troops to be strong and strong? What's more, this group of young and strong soldiers is very good, whether it is physical fitness or obedience, Wang Qi is the only one in his life, he is confident that he only needs to train for half a year, he is a good soldier, so the more Wang Qi looks at it, the more distressed he feels, and the more he looks at it, the more reluctant he becomes.

However, there are still a large number of disaster victims outside who need to be resettled, and Liu Cun, who has spent several months saving money and borrowing money again to survive, can no longer afford the high cost of expanding the army, and being able to support Wang Qi to expand his army to 6,000 men and horses is already the maximum limit that Liu Cun can bear.

The sun was in the west, and the 8,000 young men who had completed the five selection items gathered separately in the voice and password, and the 3,000 people who were selected did not bother to wipe the sweat and dust off their faces, and huddled together in groups of three or five and laughed excitedly.

The remaining 5,000 people were either lying on the ground motionless, some turned their backs to quietly wipe away their tears, some simply squatted down and buried their heads in sobbing, and a few stubbornly stood in place, motionless and staring at the 3,000 people who were jubilant, very angry and helpless.

Two officers wearing exquisite copper helmets and black composite armor hurriedly stepped onto the review stand, standing beside Wang Qi on the left and right, and looked at the 5,000 young men who had been defeated in front of them with their hands on the hilt of their swords, and their eyes showed reluctance.

The nine-foot-tall and burly Zuo lieutenant on the left is named Zhai Yue, a native of Leling, Qingzhou, who has just turned 20 years old this year, before the Yellow Turban Army hit his hometown last year, he carried his elderly grandfather, his father carried his frail mother, his fifteen-year-old brother carried his five-year-old sister, and the twelve-year-old eldest sister led the nine-year-old second sister.

In order to allow the family to live better, Zhai Yue resolutely chose to sign up for the army after hearing the officers and soldiers who beat the gong to recruit shouting, "Enlist in the army, have a house, land, and grow a salary", and finally stood out from the fight of thousands of people with his outstanding martial arts skills and strong physique in the fierce and cruel selection.

Zhai Yue was very hard after joining the army, what is even more rare is that this five big and three rough guys are not only literate but also arithmetic, Shangguan Wang Qi is very important to him, after the lord Liu Cun contacted him twice, he also liked his frank and loyal character very much, and soon placed his family in the single courtyard of the Chengbei Manor, and hired him as the county government account office of his father Zhai Jian with a high salary, as the account director of the Zhushan Trading Company, Zhai Yue's sixteen-year-old brother Zhai Chao also became Liu Cun's martial arts disciple because of his strong physique and talent.

Today's Zhai Yue has grown into Wang Qi's right-hand man, and his brave and resolute style and character of valuing love and righteousness are deeply respected by the officers and soldiers.

The young officer on Wang Qi's right is named Yan Shen, 24 years old this year, a native of the Hongnong Lu family, from the rich peasant family, is a ranger with great courage and superb archery skills, three years ago, because of the righteousness of his friend, he shot his hometown thief Cao in a rage, and became one of the many fugitives from the Han Dynasty.

In the three years of his life, with the growth of experience, Yan Shen's personal outlook on life has changed dramatically, he has learned to reflect on his behavior, his personality has become more and more calm, and the whole person has matured rapidly. Interestingly, he never thought of joining the army before, Langya was just a post station in his plan to travel the world, but he didn't expect his brain to be hot when he went to see the excitement, and he reported a fake name to participate in the selection, and turned out to be Wang Qi's subordinate.

In the past six months, Yan Shen has made rapid progress under Wang Qi's careful cultivation, and gradually liked the monotonous and rigid but full of enthusiasm for military life. He also cherished this rare opportunity very much, and during his tenure as an officer at all levels, he worked diligently and fairly, not only established prestige in the army, but also became Wang Qi's right-hand man, and was deeply trusted by Wang Qi.

When the five thousand young men were about to be taken out of the barracks, Zhai Yue finally couldn't help but plead with Wang Qi in a low voice: "My lord, those five thousand brothers all came from the more than 20,000 young and strong people, and in the five selections that ended just now, their results are not much different from the three thousand brothers who were selected, if they are let go today, I am afraid that they will never meet such a good soldier in the future!" Leave them behind, sir! ”

Wang Qi sighed: "It's not that I don't want to stay, but I can't help it!" He not only formulated perfect training regulations and various systems for us, but also soaked in the iron workshop for three days, supervised the production of new armor and various standard weapons, and finally gritted his teeth and sold dozens of precious porcelain treasures to make five thousand pairs of ingenious repeating crossbows to equip our army. I still owe huge debts to several major merchants in Xuzhou, at this time, how can I bear to burden him again? ”

Yan Shen on the side felt sad, but he was even more reluctant to give up the five thousand excellent young men in front of him, he fled for three years, his footprints were all over the north and south of the river, and he always maintained a high degree of vigilance for the officers and soldiers who could arrest him at any time, and the observation was also very careful, he had never seen the officers and soldiers in any place, as strong and simple as the group of young men in front of him, not to mention that these were all people who had not undergone special training, he was confident that as long as he was given a chance, let him lead this group of people, After half a year of training according to the new method of military training summed up by the lord Liu Cun and the lord Wang Qi, they will definitely be able to become a strong army.

So, Yan Shen took a deep breath and turned to Wang Qi, who shook his head frequently, and said loudly: "My lord, Zhai Yue is right, I'm afraid I won't be able to meet such a good soldier in the future!" My lord, please keep these 5,000 brothers, my subordinates would rather give up their salary of 9,000 yuan a month, and call on all brothers to reduce three meals a day to two meals a day, as long as they can keep these 5,000 brothers, no matter how hard they are, their subordinates are willing. ”

"My lord, my subordinates are willing to do the same!" Zhai Yue immediately echoed loudly.

Wang Qi raised his head and looked at the blue sky, and only lowered his head for a long time, and reluctantly looked at the whole team of five thousand young men who were taken out of the camp, his lips under the dense beard moved, and finally squeezed out a sentence: "Yan Shen, you go, let the leader wait, Zhai Yue is in charge of the order of the camp, I will go into the city to intercede with the lord, and strive to keep these five thousand brothers!" ”

"Yes!"

Yan Shen was overjoyed, hurriedly hugged his fists and jumped off the high platform, he knew that as long as Wang Qi spoke, no matter how difficult it was for the emotional lord to agree, not to mention that now tens of thousands of yellow turban thieves have broken through Dong'an City in the west, which is more than two hundred miles away from this county, forming a huge threat to Jucheng and Wangcheng Kaiyang in the south.

In the main hall of the backyard of the county government, Liu Cun, Gongsun Pei, and Zhao Rong were sitting on the couch, listening to the reports of Lu Jiu, the head of the cara, and Bao, the head of the fleet.

Lu Jiu continued: "At present, all parts of Xuzhou are also crowded with disaster victims, and the two major merchants in Xuzhou may no longer be able to supply us with food as before, the Mi family is okay, and promised to hand over the 300,000 Hu rice grain and 100,000 Hu various beans that have been transported to the mouth of the Ganyu River to us in full according to the previous contract, and the Chen family firm is unwilling to sell grain, they would rather exchange gold and cloth for our goods than exchange for grain that has exploded by eight times, so please also ask the Lord to have an idea." ”

"The last thing, the caravan of the Gongsun family in Jizhou has been settled, and they are very satisfied with the accommodation conditions in the east of our city, and the small one has conveyed the news that the lord will hold a banquet tonight, and Min Gongzi is very happy, among the 500,000 catties of Jizhou fine iron and 832 horses sent by him, there are ten first-class Mobei horses that are given to the lord as a meeting gift. But Min Gongzi also mentioned that there are more and more thieves in various places, the road is becoming more and more unsmooth, and the land trade route is in danger of being interrupted at any time, and I hope that we will open the sea trade route to the coast of Jizhou as soon as possible. ”

Liu Cun nodded: "Very good, you and Lao Bao will accompany you at tonight's banquet, gathering more will be good for future business, and after the meeting, you can discuss it and see if you can divide a few ships to open the Jizhou sea route." Again, the weather has been very abnormal in recent years, the states south of the river have been plagued by drought and locust plagues year after year, Jizhou and Hanoi, Hedong and other places north of the river have been damaged but not much, Jizhou, which has always been rich in corn and beans, should still be able to buy some grain, even if you can't scold wheat, corn and other staple foods, it is good to buy some beans and come back, you pay attention to this matter, find a way to ask the guys of the Gongsun family caravan, I will see Gongsun Min and talk to him again in the evening. ”

Lu Jiu and Bao Laosan bowed and left, Wang Qi strode in, and made a very formal salute to Liu Cun, kneeling next to Zhao Rong at Liu Cun's signal, and told the situation of the selection of soldiers and his own thoughts in 1510.

Gongsun Pei frowned slightly, but did not express any opinion, Zhao Rong's expression remained unchanged, but his fingers moved, as if he was calculating the sudden increase in expenses.

Liu Cun did not disappoint the eldest brother of Jieyi, and agreed after a little weighing: "Since the eldest brother is so optimistic about this group of soldiers, then let them all stay, maybe I really can't find such good soldiers in the future, I will immediately notify General Manager Cai when I turn around, and ask him to send someone to transport back the 500,000 catties of Jizhou fine iron that has just arrived, and the two workshops of the iron workshop specializing in the production of armor weapons will continue to work overtime, and strive to complete 10,000 sets of plate armor and 10,000 horizontal knives within three months." ”

"Thank you, Lord!"

Wang Qi pressed the excitement in his heart and bowed deeply to Liu Cun.

Liu Cun said with a smile: "You left everyone behind, it is estimated that Bao Laosan may be unhappy, and the eldest brother has to help him recruit a thousand young men who know how to make up for it as soon as possible." ”

Wang Qi grinned: "Two thousand are no problem, haha!" ”

Seeing that Wang Qi was leaving, Liu Cun hurriedly stopped him: "Big brother, wait, Jizhou just sent 800 war horses from outside the Saiwai, wait a while, you take Zhai Yue and Yan Shen to Zhuangzi in the north of the city, pick 400 horses to take back to make up for the cavalry, try to leave the mares as much as possible, and let people send them to the newly built horse farm west of Tieshan tomorrow, and then let Zhai Yue and Yan Shen pick two of the ten Mobei horses sent to me by Gongsun's house to ride back if they like, this is what I promised them before." ”

Wang Qi was overjoyed, hurriedly saluted and turned around and left.

After Wang Qi walked away, Zhao Rong reminded Liu Cun in a low voice: "Lord, this time with the addition of 5,000 soldiers, the total number of soldiers and horses will be as high as 12,000, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to go down!" ”

Gongsun Pei then reminded: "Lord, there must be a rule for everything, and there can be no rules without a circle!" Hope the Lord thinks twice. ”

Liu Cun didn't know what they meant, smiled and avoided the topic, took out two official letters from the small leather box next to him and handed them to Gongsun Pei:

"This is the edict and letter of the monarch just received at noon, it is already the fifth urgent order in six days, the situation of the suppression of bandits on the front line of Juxian and Dong'an is not good, I am worried that once Lieutenant Xiao is defeated by the Yellow Turban again, it will be my turn to lead the troops into battle."

"In the letter issued with the edict, the monarch earnestly admonished, saying that the mobs in various parts of Xuzhou are frequently in turmoil, and the state capitals are unable to send reinforcements to our Langya country, and the troops of the entire kingdom are almost exhausted, and the five counties in the north are even worse, except for dozens of officials and hundreds of people who have been urgently conscripted, it is useless to have a county soldier, and only six thousand trained soldiers are available in my Langya County."

Gongsun Pei was shocked, and hurriedly took the official letter and read it quickly.

Zhao Rong immediately stood up, went to the official room inside to get the map, stretched out his finger and slowly slid along the Yishui on the edge of Dong'an City.