Jiang Wanli glanced at Cao Bianjiao and Li Dashan, and then nodded to Shi Dayong and said: "The last general and others have discussed it, and they all agree that when the prisoners are reorganized on the spot, it would be a pity if they were directly dismissed and returned to their hometowns." ”

"Although these people are not helpful, they have also been active with the rebels, which is better than ordinary people. As long as we train more and adhere to strict rules, we will be able to make up for the dilemma of our army going south with few soldiers. Cao Bianjiao supported the expansion of the remaining captives on the spot.

Li Dashan also said: "Let's go east to Denglai to face the main force of the Confucian thieves, it is always good to have more soldiers, if these people are released, it will be difficult for us to recruit troops again." After speaking, his mouth pursed, and he added: "There are a lot of these captives, and at a critical time, maybe they can block it for us." ”

Hearing this, Cao Bianjiao and Jiang Wanli glanced at Li Dashan at the same time, and the meaning of this block is worth playing.

What does Li Dashan mean by this, Shi Dayong knows it, and if he pulls it away, it means cannon fodder.

The Jinzhou army is subordinate to Liaozhen, according to the Ming military system, the recruitment of soldiers and horses can only be recruited on the spot, that is, Shi Dayong wants to expand the army, he can only recruit sergeants within the scope of Liaozhen, which is also the specific implementation of the strategic policy of "guarding Liao land with Liao people" of the successive governors of Liaozhen.

The border soldiers are different from the guards in that most of the soldiers are recruited, similar to the concept of professional soldiers in later generations; The guards are hereditary military system, and their soldiers are for generations, and unlike the border soldiers, the guards are not allowed to recruit the children of local non-military households. Border soldiers, on the other hand, can be recruited at will, and can even recruit soldiers who are not within the boundaries of the town, provided that they are voluntarily recruited and not taken prisoner.

Before the Jinzhou War, the 3,000 Changping soldiers who defected to Shi Dayong were like this. Since the rebellion of the old slaves in the east, the generals of Liaozhen have accumulated more troops, and the total number of soldiers and horses under their command often exceeds the establishment given by the imperial court. In short, as long as the generals can support more soldiers and horses than their establishment, as long as the imperial court does not go too far from the army to expand the army, such as a total army raising 100,000 soldiers, and a staff general raising 50,000 soldiers.

Therefore, Shi Dayong could theoretically recruit many more soldiers than he already had, but only by recruiting rather than forcibly conscripting.

Shahe is the jurisdiction of Beizhili, the south is the jurisdiction of Shandong, and the east is the jurisdiction of Denglai, without the consent of the military and political governors of these three places, it is impossible for Shi Dayong to recruit troops on the spot. Otherwise, if the three places play together, Shi Dayong will lose his head.

The imperial court turned a blind eye, but it didn't say that your Liao army could forcibly recruit soldiers in the pass, if everyone was like this, wouldn't it be a mess. It is also impossible to verify the number of conscripts, and if the generals have different aspirations, then what is the result.

Therefore, the two thousand six hundred captives have become Shi Dayong's only choice at present, otherwise, he can only wait to return to Liaodong before expanding his army. But apparently this was not realistic, as he had to go east to Denlai to fight the main force of the rebels.

As Cao Bianjiao said, without a strong army and horses in hand, it is difficult for Shi Dayong to do anything big.

If he wants to realize his ambition and turn the tide, Shi Dayong must immediately expand his army.

"Well, that's it, all the prisoners will be confiscated."

Shi Dayong made a decision to expand the army of prisoners, but added another sentence, "But it is necessary to check and check, the release of the only son in the family, those who have reached the age of forty and those who have not yet reached the age of eighteen, and the rest will be left regardless of the reason." ”

"How's that way to make up?" Cao Bianjiao asked a practical question.

"This" Shi Dayong thought for a while and asked his subordinates, "What do you say?" ”

Jiang Wanli said: "Let's follow the method of our Liao Town." ”

The system of Liao Zhen is the method of the Liao army, the general soldier, deputy general, staff general, guerrilla, capital division, garrison, thousand general, and the general level is lined up, and each level has a corresponding customization, just move it here, and there is no need to bother.

During the Jinzhou Garrison War, Shi Dayong had temporarily reorganized the army in the city, and the methods used were no different from the Liao army system, so he was ready to settle it. But Cao Bianjiao had a different opinion, he said: "Although the number of prisoners in this batch is large, if we want to break up and reorganize, we must draw out a lot of old soldiers and officers, so that our combat effectiveness will be reduced." This new army was newly established, untrained, and unfought, and they were all newly recruited, so they were afraid that they would not be able to take it up. ”

Shi Dayong nodded and said, "That's the same." What did Xiao Cao say? ”

"The last general thinks that the expansion should be carried out in accordance with the current situation of our army, and that it should be appropriately expanded without changing the combat effectiveness of our Jinzhou Army or reducing it as much as possible." Cao Bianjiao seems to have an idea.

Shi Dayong said to him: "Be specific. ”

Cao Bianjiao said: "For example, the wolf cavalry army of the last general has two hundred soldiers, but I have recently gained a lot of military horses in my battalion, which can be appropriately expanded." But it should not be too much, and another hundred can be made. If there are more, it may be difficult to run in, but it will reduce the power of the wolf riding and charging into the formation. ”

Shi Dayong said: "Xiao Cao is reasonable. He turned his head and asked Jiang Wanli: "How many military horses are there in the camp now?" ”

Jiang Wanli replied: "In addition to Xiao Cao's side, there are more than 370 war horses that can be used as cavalry, and more than 100 horses that pull carts. ”

After listening, Shi Dayong ordered: "You choose a hundred people from the Changping soldiers to give to Xiao Cao." ”

Jiang Wanli responded: "Yes." ”

Cao Bianjiao said: "The remaining more than 270 war horses should also be used, and the last wolf rider wears more heavy armor, if you act alone, you should ride it with two horses, one horse camel man, one horse camel armor, but it is difficult to do this at present, and it is to act with the army, so there is no need to match two horses." When there is no war, the armor can be pulled by a horse-drawn carriage, and then worn in wartime. Therefore, the general thought that the more than 200 war horses should be organized into a battalion of light cavalry for auxiliary formation. ”

The idea of building a light cavalry had already been brewed by Shi Dayong when he was in Jinzhou, but he had no horses and no ready-made cavalry, so he never got started. Now that there are war horses, although the Changping soldiers can't control them freely on the horses, they can still be used as auxiliary formations. At that moment, he did not hesitate to agree to Cao Bianjiaojian's suggestion to ride lightly.

Cao Bianjiao was a little happy to see that his suggestions had been adopted, and said: "The wolf cavalry has drawn a hundred, the light cavalry has gone to more than two hundred, and the infantry has only saved more than one hundred." The more than 100 infantry officers can be selected from among the prisoners, and the left battalion of the infantry and the right battalion of the infantry can be formed, and the rest of the prisoners will be used for baggage. I don't know if the general thinks it's okay. ”

Shi Dayong nodded and said: "Yes, the three of you will go to Shao Wu to implement it together, and the personnel will be set up today, and we will set off at dawn tomorrow." This sand river can't be delayed any longer. ”

"Yes, General." The three of them responded in unison, and they were about to go out to implement it.

Walking to the door, Jiang Wanli suddenly stopped, turned around and said, "General, why didn't Zhao Xueqi come back when he went to persuade Wang Tiande to surrender?" Do you want to send someone to search south? ”

Shi Dayong waved his hand: "Wait two more hours, if you haven't come back yet, send someone to investigate." Whether they come or not, we're going to leave tomorrow. ”