The city of Taiyuan is very lively, and a big sign has been erected next to the city gate, and several lines of long queues have already been lined up under the two big characters "recruitment" on it, and there are thousands of people waiting to register and select.

In front of the ranks, there is a long platoon of tables, and more than a dozen civilian-military officers are registering and selecting young and strong men in turn, and the conditions are very lenient; regardless of their origins or household registration, as long as they are young and strong and can lift the stone lock three times, they can eat food from the army.

In other words, even fugitive slaves could join the army, clear their identities, and regain their freedom, which was undoubtedly a great temptation, and many slaves and sinners hiding in the eastern part of the river joined the army one after another.

The reason for this recruitment was that after the siege of Yanmen was relieved, Emperor Yang Guang took away all the 50,000 soldiers from the counties and counties in Hedong, leaving Hedong empty of soldiers.

On the street, a team of more than 300 soldiers rushed briskly, headed by Li Yuan's second son Li Shimin, he wore a silver helmet, dressed in bright light armor, with a sword at his waist, a bow and arrow on his back, a wolf tooth lance in his hand, and a long helmet fluttering in the air, particularly heroic.

Today, on the orders of his father, he inspected the eight recruiting points in Taiyuan City to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the opportunity to make trouble; as soon as he arrived at the city gate, he saw a group of merchants walking into the city, driving hundreds of mules and horses, most of which were empty, and only a few dozen mules carrying heavy sacks.

Li Shimin immediately recognized the person in charge, who was Li Shouzhong, the former head of the Li Mansion, who had taught him martial arts for a few days, and later became an intelligence scout.

"Brother Shou!" Li Shimin shouted when he greeted him.

Li Shouzhong had just returned from Wuyuan County, and he had finally returned to Taiyuan City, he was in a hurry, and he hurried to report the situation to the eldest prince, but he heard someone call him, and when he turned his head, he saw that it was the second son, Shimin, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "See the second son!" ”

Li Shimin called him -- 'Brother Shouzhong' is just a respect for him, it doesn't mean that he can really put on a big brother's shelf, Li Shimin is the master, he is just a general, this -- Li Shouzhong is very clear in his heart, he doesn't dare to lose the slightest bud Li Shimin smiled slightly: "Where did you go?" ”

Li Yuan's intelligence collection is under Li Jiancheng's full responsibility, and the secrets are very strictly guarded, Li Shimin only knows that Li Shouzhong is an intelligence scout, but Li Shimin does not know where he went to spy on intelligence.

Li Shouzhong's face showed embarrassment, he couldn't say anything, Li Shimin understood, so he smiled, and didn't embarrass him, "Brother Shouzhong, go!" I know it in my heart. ”

Li Shouzhong arched his hand, "Second son, then I'll go first!" ”

He took the people to the city, Li Shimin looked at the several wooden barrels carried by the mule horse, and there was the word 'Dali' on the barrel He laughed, Li Shouzhong went to Zifengzhou, but Li Shimin immediately shook his head again, this Li Shouzhong is still not careful enough to do things.

At this time, there was a burst of cheers from the recruiting office at the city gate, "Good! Good strength. ”

When Li Shimin looked back, he saw that a big man who had participated in the recruitment was dancing the stone locks, and the 50-pound stone locks were flying up and down like a child's toy in his hands, and they were thrown up and down again, provoking applause.

Li Shimin's eyes were bright, and he urged his horse to run towards the recruiting office, only to see that this big man was dressed in a black cloth shirt, with a single whip on his back, and he was six feet tall and in his early thirties, with big shoulders and a round waist, and his two arms were particularly long, his skin was dark, and his two leopard-like eyes were bright.

After he finished dancing the stone lock, his face was not red - he was not panting, and he arched his hand and said: "Sacrifice ugliness, is it possible to join the army in the future?" ”

The recruiting officer hesitated, and at this time, Li Shimin urged him to come forward and praise: "A strong man is good at martial arts, may I ask the name of the honorable man, where is the person?" ”

Seeing that Li Shimin had an extraordinary temperament, even an ordinary lieutenant could not wear a silver helmet, not to mention that he was holding a long lance that only the children of the nobles of the family could afford, he did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "In Xia Ma Gong, a native of Shanyang County, Mayi County, he learned martial arts at an early age, and I heard that Li Gong recruited troops to fight thieves, and he came to serve in the army. ”

The recruiting officer was also from Mayi County, but he knew this big man, and said to Li Shimin in a low voice: "This person is not surnamed Ma, but actually surnamed Weichi, who is strong in martial arts. ”

Although his voice was small, the big man heard it, he was dissatisfied in his heart, straightened his waist and said: "Yes, I am surnamed Wei Chi, my name is Gong, there are more than 10 million fleeing soldiers in Goryeo, why do you emphasize that I am a deserter?" ”

Li Shimin said lightly: "The battle of Goryeo is unpopular, if it were me, I would also escape, although Wei Chi Zhuangshi joined the army, he will be my general in the future, my name is Li Shimin, the son of Li Gong." ”

Wei Chi bowed and saluted, but he was neither humble nor arrogant: "If Childe can convince me, I am willing to serve Childe, if Childe can't convince Wei Chi, Wei Chigong will vote for the Lord again." ”

"One to another, if you don't please me, I—I won't use you." Li Shimin also replied mercilessly.

In the study room of the Li Mansion, Li Yuan was discussing with Liu Wenjing and Li Jiancheng about recruiting troops, and this recruitment could be said to be a godsend for Li Yuan, giving him the opportunity to develop his own strength, which made Li Yuan's heart happy and excited.

"This time, the imperial court ordered me to be the head of recruitment, responsible for recruiting 20,000 people in five counties, Taiyuan, Lishi, Xihe, Longquan, Loufu, a total of 20,000 people, I was thinking, how to pinch these 20,000 people directly in my hands, this is an opportunity, I must not let it go, what does Mr. think?"

Liu Wenjing nodded, "This is indeed an opportunity, you might as well learn from Yang Yuanqing how to collect the troops of the six counties in Guanbei, firmly control the military power by means of centralized training, and then lead them Jing bandits, so that the 20,000 troops will not leave the side of the Ming Duke, and the court will have nothing to say." ”

"Zhaoren's words are exactly what I want."

Li Yuan groaned and said: "It's just that the number of troops is too small, and 20,000 people are not enough to start an incident, so what about it?" ”

Liu Wenjing said with a smile: "Didn't the Dugu clan promise Ming Gong that there would be elite soldiers to help?" ”

Li Yuan shook his head, "The elite soldiers mentioned by the Dugu clan have all been transferred to the capital Gongwei, and I heard that the Holy Lord may tour the Jiangdu south, and those soldiers may follow the south, besides, I am not very willing to be controlled by the Dugu clan, I can accept his money and food, but the army must be controlled by me, and it will be me Li Yuan who will win the world in the future, not the Dugu clan, so I have some scruples about using Dugu's soldiers." ”

Li Yuan sighed lowly. Angry, he knows the Dugu family very well, if he wants to get their support, he must pay a great price, of course, Dugu is his mother's mother's mother's family, it doesn't hurt to use it, he is worried that he finally made a wedding dress for the Dugu family, he took the world, but the Dugu family sits on the throne, therefore, he is also deeply taboo about the Dugu family, and he is not forced to do so, try not to use the Dugu family's military power.

Liu Wenjing smiled slightly, "In this way, the only way to do this is to use the Jing bandits, the Jiangjun Jingpantuo has sufficient troops and extremely poor equipment, and 20,000 officers and soldiers can defeat it, and the envoy can also exaggerate the strength of the Jingpantuo, and then report to the imperial court to add 10,000 recruits, so that 30,000 troops plus tens of thousands of thieves who have been surrendered, there will be an army of 50,000 or 60,000, and when the envoy rises up, he will recruit tens of thousands of troops, which is an army of 100,000." ”

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, the 100,000 army was still insufficient, but he had no choice but to take steps to see.

Li Yuan saw that Li Jiancheng wanted to speak and stopped, so he smiled and asked, "Does Da Lang have anything to say?" ”

Li Jiancheng bowed and said: "Father, the child suggested that the soldiers be secretly recruited in Guanzhong, thinking that it should be an internal response, and once the father gets into trouble, Guanzhong must be strictly guarded against, if there is an internal response in the Guanzhong, it will be much easier for us to seize Guanzhong, although the child also knows that the Dugu family and the Ji family are fake sons in Guanzhong - the family soldiers are extremely numerous, but as my father said, it is the Li family that will win the world in the future, not the Dugu family, and we still need to recruit troops." ”

Li Yuan nodded, the eldest son said very reasonably, "The matter of secret recruitment in Guanzhong, I asked Shentong and Chai Shao to do it, Shentong has a wide range of connections, Chai Shao is cautious, plus I have a manor in Guanzhong, this matter is feasible." ”

The three of them were discussing, and at this time, someone outside the door reported to him, "Eldest son, Li Shouzhong is back." ”

Li Yuan knew that Li Shouzhong was going to Fengzhou, so he didn't wait for Li Jiancheng to speak, so he hurriedly ordered: "Let him come in and talk!" ”

After a while, Li Shouzhong hurriedly walked in, and he bowed and saluted, "See the master, see the eldest prince and Mr. Liu!" ”

Li Yuan nodded and smiled: "―The road is hard. ”

Li Shouzhong is Li Yuan's fake son, but the fake son is not a righteous son, but a kind of family general who is more close to his master Guan Sang, and is essentially a house slave.

Li Shouzhong hurriedly said: "Serving the lord is the duty of the master. ”

Li Yuan nodded, "Let's talk about what I have seen in Fengzhou first!" ”

"Fengzhou seen by the humble post is indeed unexpected, the land is fertile, the wheat grain is surplus, the people are rich, the people's hearts are stable, the people up and down praise Yang Yuanqing, they are willing to serve him, hundreds of thousands of Fengzhou Antuan are well-equipped, no less than the regular Sui army......"

Li Jiancheng was slightly displeased, and interrupted him: "You have been in Fengzhou for a few days, can you see so thoroughly?" ”

Li Shouzhong's face was red, and he hurriedly explained: "The humble post is to listen to Han Chang's introduction, but the humble post really looks at the endless wheat field, stretching for hundreds of miles, and the wheat ears are golden and thick, which is really too spectacular, and there is no one in the Central Plains, and the humble post asked many people, and every household has surplus grain, and Yang Yuanqing is highly praised." ”

Speaking of this, Li Shouzhong took out the flat wooden box and presented it to Li Jiancheng, "This is some information collected by Han Chang, please take a look at it." ”

Li Jiancheng took it, transferred it to his father, and asked him again: "What are the two things I want you to do?" ”

"Fengzhou is heavily guarded, and it is almost impossible to recruit strong men, as for heavy armor equipment, Han Chang said that it will take time, at least two months."

Li Shouzhong told in detail what happened in Fengzhou, and when Li Yuan heard that he had been arrested, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "What happened later?" Didn't they track you down again? ”

Li Shouzhong shook his head, "They thought I was suspected of tax evasion, and later made up the tax heavily, which was twice the value of my goods, and said it was a punishment, so they let me go, and Han Chang found a few local people to vouch for it, and the matter was settled. ”

"Could it be you" revealed some flaws that they discovered? Li Yuan asked suspiciously.

"There is no flaw in the lowly position, and when the lowly post was released, I also saw another businessman also arrested, which is indeed a coincidence."

Li Yuan was slightly relieved at this time. Angry, he and Liu Wenjing looked through the information separately, mainly saying that the Fengzhou soldiers had enough food.

Li Yuan and Liu Wenjing looked at each other, and both of them had a worried look in their eyes, and Yang Yuanqing was their fierce rival among the heroes of the world.