On a small wharf on the seashore of Cangxian County, the easternmost part of Hejian Prefecture, Hu Yanyan took the county's lord Bo and Dutou, and some other officials waited anxiously, and several people stretched their necks from time to time to look at the sea in the distance, but unfortunately there were no ships at all except for the vast sea.

"County Zun, do you remember the wrong day, we have been waiting here for a long time, but we haven't even seen the shadow of the ship?" At this time, the blind Dutou opened his mouth and asked, this Dutou is named Zhang Hou, he used to be a soldier in the forbidden army, and he once participated in the battle of destroying Xia, but unfortunately he was blind in one eye on the battlefield, and he was also old, so he retired from the army, and became the head of the yamen here in his hometown Cangxian, he had met with Hu Yanqing several times in the army, and he also admired Hu Yanqing very much, and Hu Yanyan happened to be Hu Yanqing's cousin, plus Hu Yanyan did not have any shelf, so the two were not only superiors and subordinates, And the friendship is also good.

"It's impossible to be mistaken, the date written on the letter is today, it can't be that there was an accident at sea, which delayed time." Hu Yanyan also said at this time, some time ago he went to see his cousin Hu Yanqing, and by the way learned about the drought recovery in other places in Hejian Province, and found that the situation on his side was not bad, at least they could catch something from the sea to eat, and they didn't have to drink gruel every meal.

"Come on, come on, you see a ship coming on the sea!" At this moment, the lord Bo Li Cheng, who was standing next to Hu Yanyan, pointed to the sea and shouted, he usually had some disagreements with Hu Yanyan, but for the matter in front of him, the opinions of the two were surprisingly consistent, and they shouted excitedly when they saw the ships on the sea.

Hearing Li Cheng's shout, Hu Yanyan and Zhang Hou also looked at the sea, and sure enough, they saw that a sail shadow had appeared on the sea. This made the two of them very excited, and soon saw several big ships appear on the sea, looking like the warships of the Great Song Sailors, which made Hu Yanyan finally relieved, he was waiting for the Great Song Sailors.

Soon the warships came to the open sea of the Cangxian wharf, and then stopped. Because the port here is too small and the water depth is not enough, the warships can't enter at all, so they can only stop in the open sea, but there are small boats on the warships that are put down, and the people on the boat come to the dock by small boats, and Hu Yanyan can see that the people who come from the other side are all generals of the sailors.

Soon the boat docked, and Hu Yanyan stepped forward with someone to greet him, and at this time, the general led by the boat also laughed loudly at Hu Yanyan: "Presumably this is the Huyan County Order." The last general, Wang Tong, has seen the Huyan County Order! ”

Wang Tong is a burly man with a bearded face, he is a marquis of Yu in the sailor, this time he came to be responsible for recruiting new soldiers, and Cangxian County, which Hu Yanyan is in charge of, is his first stop in recruitment, and he also knows that Hu Yanyan is from the Huyan family of Jiangmen, and now the young generation of the Huyan family is very dazzling in the army, such as Hu Yanqing of the Hebei Army, and Hu Yanping in the Southern Forbidden Army. They all have a bright future, so he is also very polite to Hu Yanyan.

"General Wang is too polite. The general came all the way on a warship, it must have been very hard, and the official has prepared a banquet in the city to catch the wind for the general! Hu Yanyan was also very happy.

Cangxian is one of the most drought-stricken areas, and although the drought has passed, and they are better at guarding the sea than in the inland counties to the west, the situation is still very serious. There are still a considerable number of people can only drink gruel three times a day, and life is very difficult, it can be said that a major drought has greatly damaged the vitality of the people of Cangxian County, and they don't know when they can recover?

"Huyanzhi County is too polite, the last general and others came to recruit troops. In the future, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble to the county, and please don't dislike me! Wang Tong also said politely at this time, he must be indispensable to recruit troops with the assistance of the local government, and naturally have to have a good relationship with the local officials, but the civil officials have always despised the generals, Wang Tong has always been worried that the local officials will not cooperate, fortunately he learned that Hu Yanyan was born in Jiangmen, so he chose Cangxian as the first stop for recruitment.

Hu Yanyan heard this and said a few polite words again, and then invited Wang Tong and other generals to the county seat for a banquet, speaking of which Hu Yanyan was indeed very happy about the arrival of Wang Tong and others, not only because he was born in Jiangmen, but because the life of the people in Cangxian County is too difficult now, if he can enter the army, it is not a good livelihood.

Hu Yanyan prepared a reception banquet for Wang Tong and others was not very rich, because of the impact of the drought, the economic situation of Cangxian County suffered an extremely serious blow, several larger restaurants were closed because there was no business, and there was no business in the small hotel, so Hu Yanyan could only invite Wang Tong and others to the county office, and at the same time invited a former chef of the restaurant to the county government to cook and entertain Wang Tong and others.

Wang Tong was born as a fisherman in the south, grew up in the south since he was a child, and has been active on the southern coast after participating in the sailor, and this is the first time he has come to the northern county, so he is also very curious, and has been looking at the surrounding situation after landing, but what disappointed him is that everywhere he sees is a low house, and even many of the people he meets are all with vegetables, even young people are thin, which makes him very disappointed, if the people of Cangxian County are so thin, then he is afraid it will be difficult to recruit qualified soldiers.

After the banquet began, Hu Yanyan was not in a hurry to talk about business, just a strong persuasion, their Huyan family is such a rule, as long as the banquet guests will be desperate to persuade the wine, Zhao Yan had been taught, but was surrounded by a group of Huyan men, and then his head hurt for a few days before he got better, and since then he has never gone to Huyan's house to the banquet, for fear of being accidentally drugged to death by them.

There are almost no people who don't drink alcohol when they are soldiers, especially sailors like Wang Tong, because they go to sea all the year round, they need to drink some spirits often to remove moisture, so he and several of his subordinates are also massive, and they do not refuse the wine that Hu Yanyan and others saluted, but Hu Yanyan and the main Bo Li Cheng soon couldn't drink, and they couldn't get up on the wine table, but Du Tou Zhang Hou was also born in the army, and it was also massive, and finally he drank a lot with Wang Tong and others, and they were all drunk and unconscious.

The next day, Hu Yanyan rubbed his head that was in pain from a hangover, and then found Wang Tong and asked him about this recruitment. In fact, even if Hu Yanyan doesn't come, Wang Tong has to talk to Hu Yanyan about this matter, after all, there is not much time given to him this time, but the task is very heavy, if he can't complete it, I'm afraid he will also be punished.

"General Wang, I don't know how many soldiers you plan to recruit in Cangxian this time?" Hu Yanyan knew that military generals were generally straight, and they had always been straightforward, so he was not polite, and as soon as he came in, he went straight to the point and asked.

"Don't hide it from Yanzhi County, the task assigned to me this time is very heavy, you see that the few warships I brought are not, and the top asks me to fill these warships with recruits before I can go back, and there is a time limit, so for me, I will recruit as many recruits as Cangxian can provide, if Cangxian can let me recruit the number of recruits, it will be great!" Wang Tong saw that Hu Yanyan was so direct, and he didn't hide it at the moment, he felt that the magistrate in front of him was very appetizing to him.

Hearing Wang Tong say this, Hu Yanyan's face also showed ecstasy, and he thought for a moment and said: "General Wang, since the drought in my Cangxian County last year, the people are also miserable, and many people can't eat. ”

Cangxian is a big county, there are thirty or forty thousand people in the county, excluding the elderly, children and women, and there are also men of the wrong age, it is not easy to provide one or two thousand people to participate in the water division, and even this is almost the number of all men in Cangxian who are suitable to join the army, this is not Hu Yanyan's own speculation, but the data he provided after investigation, of course, the error of this data is a bit large, but it will not be less than a thousand.

It is already very rare to be able to recruit a thousand troops in a county, but Wang Tong said with a wry smile at this time: "Huyan Zhi County, you may not know, our water division is different from the land division, and the standards for recruiting new soldiers are also different. ”

"Haha, General Wang doesn't have to be embarrassed, this official is also from a general's family, so he naturally knows that the standards for recruiting soldiers are strict, so General Wang, even if you recruit them, how much can you recruit!" Hu Yanyan also smiled at the moment, he naturally hoped that Wang Tong could recruit more people, so that more people could have a way to live, but this kind of thing can't be forced, and everyone can't be stuffed into the army, otherwise Wang Tong won't be able to explain.

Seeing that Hu Yanyan was not forced, Wang Tong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and at the same time felt that the task of recruiting troops this time didn't seem to be too difficult.

Next, Hu Yanyan discussed some specific matters of recruiting troops with Wang Tong, and some things did require Hu Yanyan's cooperation, so Wang Tong explained in detail, but he suddenly frowned again and said: "Huyan Zhi County, after I landed yesterday, most of the people in Cangxian County I saw were relatively thin, even young men, if the people here are like this, I'm afraid they won't be able to meet our recruitment standards at all." ”

Hearing Wang Tong say this, Hu Yanyan patted his chest and promised: "General Wang don't worry, you also know that last year's drought made the people on our side unable to even eat, naturally they are all very thin, but our Cangxian County is close to the Liao State, the folk customs are very strong, and the martial arts are prevalent, men have been practicing martial arts since childhood, and there is no shortage of courage and strength, and they can definitely meet the requirements of the water division!" (To be continued......)

PS: Something a little bit today, an hour late.