In the past few days, Li Zicheng has been discussing the issue of army establishment with Xu Ping, and Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing have discussed, planning to come up with a sum of money for Xu Ping to make a battalion first. If the effect is really good, then Li Zicheng has plans to implement it in the whole army, so Li Zicheng will not be stingy with the funds for this battalion, and he also personally went to tell many old brothers that if Xu Ping wants to take away fifty or one hundred elite soldiers from them, he might as well agree first.

"You don't have to spend a lot of money to recruit sharp soldiers." Xu Ping categorically vetoed Li Zicheng's plan with one mouth, and asked Li Zicheng to disband the Luoyang guards who were recruited with five taels of moon and silver. Because Li Zicheng saw that the traditional Ming army was a general and a family system, so once he had money in his hand, he immediately planned to build a pro-army with a lot of money, and this was the plan that Xu Ping opposed the most: "One or two pieces of silver per month are enough, and there are not too many soldiers, first recruit four or five thousand people to form two battalions, and then expand after these two battalions are small." ”

As for this new unit formed for the new army, Li Zicheng had to personally inquire about everything he did, and when he heard Xu Ping say this, he immediately discussed with him the criteria for selecting soldiers. Li Zicheng asked Xu Ping to go to the camp by himself to select the strong, as long as it was not Luo Rucai's department or the western camp that had just defected, no matter whose soldiers Xu Ping wanted, Li Zicheng promised to support Xu Ping. It's just that Xu Ping still opposes this suggestion, and he plans to recruit soldiers from the surrounding homeless people, instead of going to the old department of the camp general.

"Why is that?" Li Zicheng was puzzled.

"It always takes some time for the newly built battalions and battalions to train and become talents, and the transfer of their elite soldiers and strong generals from the subordinates of the generals of each battalion will also damage their combat effectiveness. Xu Ping talked eloquently in front of Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and a group of staff: "Although the king can suppress everyone, they are inevitably angry. Moreover, the elite soldiers under the generals must have enjoyed all kinds of preferential treatment for a long time, and when they suddenly came to me, it was not easy to use them for a while, so it was better to use new soldiers. ”

"But the homeless people can't withstand the battle formation, and when they encounter the officers and soldiers, their legs will be weak first. Doesn't the general want a sharp weapon? Wouldn't it take a long time to exercise? ”

"It won't be long."

Xu Ping's voice fell, and Li Zicheng asked, "Why won't it be long?" ”

Before Xu Ping could answer, Song Xiance on the side smiled and said: "The king doesn't have to be too anxious, Brother Xu hasn't started yet, you must let Brother Xu see the soldiers before making plans." ”

"Brother Song, you're here again." Li Zicheng turned his head and glared at Song Xiance, and seeing Xu Ping's somewhat dazed expression, Li Zicheng explained to him: "Brother Xu doesn't know, in the past few days, Niu Junshi and Song Junshi have felt that I have asked too much about you and forced me too much, and they persuaded me to use people without suspicion and suspicion." However, if I don't ask clearly, how can I rest assured that the future of my soldiers who broke into the camp is at stake? I have always used people who are suspicious and suspicious, Brother Xu is not strange. ”

Xu Ping couldn't help but sigh when he heard this: "The king's words are right. I already know the method of military training, since it is not a lie, how can I be afraid of the king to ask? ”

After Xu Ping told the plan and reason in his heart, Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance both showed some hesitation, and Li Zicheng laughed heartily: "Although I can't fully understand the truth of this, Brother Xu has indeed carefully scrutinized, so I can rest assured." ”

Xu Ping also smiled: "This matter still requires the concerted efforts of all the generals." ”

"Not bad!" Li Zicheng clapped his hands and instructed the guards in the tent: "Go and summon all the brothers to come to discuss the matter, and the general will dispatch them." ”

Many of the generals in the camp are Li Zicheng's relatives and friends, including Li Zicheng's two uncles, and his nephew Li Guo is also the head of the first battalion. After Xu Ping finished assigning the task, Li Zicheng immediately asked in a loud voice: "Brothers, do you understand?" ”

……

Qin Dedong is an honest and honest person, at least that's what people who know him say. Li Zicheng opened a warehouse in Luoyang to release grain, and everyone was afraid of taking less, but Qin Dedong only needed half a pocket of grain. Not only did the people around him not understand, but even the soldier who was responsible for distributing rice to the hungry had to stuff more into Qin Dedong's pocket: "Brother, no matter how much you take, you won't be able to get back the rent you have paid for so many years." ”

"No, there are so many people waiting." Qin Dedong resolutely refused the kindness of the soldier who broke into the army: "Can you give me an extra pocket?" I'm afraid that the bag will break and spill the rice. ”

Putting the bag on the bag, Qin Dedong put his half bag of grain on his back and left slowly. On the way to Luoyang, he saw that many people had to pour the grain of white flowers on the side of the road, and the hungry people always wanted to load the most grain, until they couldn't carry it until they couldn't carry it reluctantly and left the gate of the rice warehouse, but they couldn't go far, and they found that they really couldn't take away so much rice, so they had to throw away a part of it, and a lot of precious grain was abandoned like this.

Most of Qin Dedong's family died of starvation in his hometown, his sisters were all taken away by the Bianjun soldiers, and his only brother was also separated on the way to escape the famine, and his hometown was far away, where he had no relatives and owed a large amount of imperial grain. Before he had gone far, Qin Dedong sat on the side of the road blankly, although the world was big, he didn't know where to go. Someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder, Qin Dedong looked back, and the little leader of the camp who was responsible for supervising the distribution of grain was standing behind him: "Brother, are you homeless?" ”

Qin Dedong nodded: "Yes." ”

"I see that you are in good shape, do you want to be a soldier and eat food?"

"I don't know martial arts." Qin Dedong shook his head, his physical condition was not bad, and he had also met other recruited soldiers who broke into the camp, but Qin Dedong refused them all, he didn't want to kill anyone. Even if his family was ruined, it was still difficult for Qin Dedong to muster up the courage to rebel.

"Do you have the strength to carry earth and rock?"

Standing in the midst of a large group of displaced people, Qin Dedong was still thinking about what the little leader who broke into the camp said to him. The new leader of the camp has to recruit some soldiers, he doesn't need to kill people, he doesn't need to be good at fighting, the only requirement is to be obedient. It sounded like he was recruiting handymen, and Qin Dedong felt that he might be able to do this kind of work. The leader of the camp gave each of them a heavy bag of dirt and stones, and told them to carry it on their backs for a mile, and if they could reach their destination on time, they would be considered to have passed—and they were indeed looking for handymen to do the hard work.

No matter what happens now, Qin Dedong believes that one day, everyone will have to return to the rule of the imperial court; One day, these heroes who broke into the camp will also accept Zhao'an; And before this day comes, if you don't go to war, you will naturally not die, and when this day comes, a miscellaneous court will not be too embarrassed, maybe you won't do it until that day.

Before leaving, the leader of the camp gave Qin Dedong a big gourd to each of them, and asked them to fill it with water and drink it when they arrived at the destination. Before leaving, the leader also instructed everyone not to drink water on the road, otherwise no one would care if they were thirsty and died of thirst when they arrived at the place. Although he was a little puzzled, Qin Dedong still honestly filled the big gourd. A few clever guys secretly tore a hole in the sack, so that the soil in the bag slowly leaked out on the way, but Qin Dedong didn't dare to do this, once it was discovered, there was no hope for the work of the miscellaneous servants. When everyone walked a short distance with heavy bags on their backs, the soldiers who broke into the camp suddenly told them that the plan had changed, that the distance had been changed to ten miles, and that half of the soil in their pockets could be emptied.

Amid the complaints, more people took advantage of the dumping of dirt to move on the sacks, and almost all of them began to drink water or throw some away. Several people next to Qin Dedong also opened the stopper and took a sip, and when they saw that he didn't drink it, they kindly reminded him: "Walking such a long way on such a cold day, the gourd will freeze and crack." ”

"However, I just said that you are not allowed to drink water on the road." Qin Dedong muttered, "I'm afraid there is any purpose, right?" ”

"That good man just now didn't know that we were going to walk ten miles." The speaker muttered disapprovingly, as he carefully shook the dirt out of his sack. He looked at the half-empty sack, picked up some dirt and put it back in, the bag seemed to be just over half of the contents, and it looked good. He patted the gourd again and sighed, "What a good gourd, it can be worth several miles." ”

The large group of homeless people dragged a long procession, slowly moving towards their destination, and it took longer than Qin Dedong had imagined. After arriving at their destination, the soldiers did not look at the sacks, but instructed the displaced people to throw the sacks on their backs next to a high platform in turn, on which stood a leader of the camp, condescendingly scanning these people.

"You!" The leader pointed at Qin Dedong: "Come here." ”

Qin Dedong walked up to the leader and bowed his head and waited for orders.

"What's wrong with your gourd?"

Qin Dedong took off the gourd tied to his waist and offered it, and the gourd full of water really froze and cracked in the cold weather: "King, this ...... This...... The king said just now that you are not allowed to drink water. ”

The leader of the camp took the gourd and looked at it carefully, then pointed his hand behind his back: "You stand over there." ”

"The King." Qin Dedong looked at the face of the person in front of him worriedly: "What does the king want the little one to do?" ”

"The past, the past." The leader said impatiently, Qin Dedong waited for a while, and without getting a further answer, he had to reluctantly walk over. Standing on the other side of the high platform with a few people, it didn't take long for Qin Dedong's group to be taken away by another leader of the army. They were taken to a clearing where hundreds of people gathered, and from time to time someone was brought over. Of course, Qin Dedong didn't know these people who led the team, let alone that they belonged to the many generals under the tent, and for the past few days, they had been conducting all kinds of strange tests.

After standing in a queue, several soldiers of the camp walked in front of them with two-wheeled carts, and each person who passed by carried a set of things from the cart and gave him a set of things. Qin Dedong honestly listened to the order and stretched out his arms forward, and the soldier in front of him put things on his arm while chanting the words: "Short clothes, pants, straw sandals, hats, okay." ”

The people standing on the flat ground all stood motionless holding their things, Qin Dedong heard the sound of metal rubbing on his side, and a young general wearing a golden helmet and a full body stopped in front of Qin Dedong, the strong smell of fireworks came to his face, and the general's armor was not only scorched yellow all over his body, but his face was also pitch black. The general stared at Qin Dedong quietly for a while with a pair of bright eyes, and then the general turned around and took a piece of silver weighing one or two from the hands of the soldiers behind him, and gently put this shiny thing on the new military uniform that Qin Dedong was holding: "Your military salary this month." ”

This was the first time Qin Dedong met Xu Ping, the commander he had fought for all his life.

……

After handing out the military salary, Xu Ping immediately rushed back to his experimental field, looking at him coming in a hurry, and hurriedly going, Liu Zongmin in the distance said softly: "These two madmen haven't been killed yet, it's really hard to die." ”

For many days, Xu Ping and Hei Baoyi were busy inspecting the firearms seized by breaking into the camp, and they both had to check every firearm, and the armor that Li Zicheng gave Xu Ping was used by him as protective clothing.

Back at the makeshift firearms test site, he saw from a distance that Hei Hoichi, who was also covered by heavy armor, charging a cannon. After lighting the fuse, Hei Bao jumped off the trench next to the gun emplacement, Xu Ping no longer stepped forward but stayed in the distance, and with a "boom", the cannon exploded again as the two expected.

A few soldiers who helped Xu Ping and Hei Bao drag the cannon came over with palpitations, looked at the artillery wreckage everywhere, and persuaded again: "Leader Xu, Black Leader, this cannon cast by the Ministry of Works, you don't have to try it, you know that it will definitely explode." ”

"yes." Looking at the scrapping of the cannon that pinned his last hope, Xu Ping agreed for the first time: "It's true, it's a waste of time and gunpowder to inspect the things of the Ministry of Works. ”

In order to provide equipment for his troops, he and Hei Bao tested weapons day and night, even if it was a gun and cannon produced by the Ministry of Industry, they were dragged here for testing, although he was wearing heavy armor and was extra careful, Xu Ping still felt that one ear was about to be deafened because of the test firecracker.

Hei Baoyi, who was also disappointed, jumped out of the trench, shook the soil on his body, and said loudly to Xu Ping: "Brother Xu, there are still more than ten cannons in Nancheng. ”

"That's also made by the Ministry of Industry." The soldier immediately replied that the reason why the cannons had not been touched yet was that the leaders were not optimistic about their quality, and the king would melt them down and exchange them for money in the future.

"How do you know if you don't try." Xu Ping threw what he had just said out of the clouds, and immediately set off with Hei Baoyi to drag the cannon.

……

After tossing for more than ten days, Xu Ping selected more than a thousand honest people who were very obedient. He relaxed the criteria and recruited nearly 1,000 loyal homeless. However, Xu Ping felt that the number was still too small, so he further relaxed the standards and finally gathered 3,500 people. This number is still too small in the eyes of Li Zicheng and other generals who broke into the camp, especially Li Zicheng, he told Xu Ping that he had appointed Xu Ping as his general in front of the whole army, and if he had less than 4,000 direct subordinates, it would be unseemly, in addition, Li Zicheng felt that the soldiers recruited by Xu Ping did not seem to be good material, but he did not say this meaning, but he just hoped that Xu Ping could recruit more people and train a strong army as soon as possible. However, Xu Ping thought that it was enough, and he prevaricated with "soldiers are not expensive". Liu Zongmin, Li Guo and other generals who broke into the camp all came to see the recruits selected by Xu Ping, and then began to mumble behind their backs: Although these people recruited by Xu Ping are very strong, they seem to be mostly silent and dead-eyed, not to mention letting them go to war and killing, they don't have the courage to block the road and rob. The generals agreed that Xu Ping's soldiers and horses were neither many nor fine. Li Zicheng had explained privately to Liu Zongmin and others before: saying that it was just to give Xu Ping, an arrogant young man, a name, and of course the real military power was still in the hands of the old brother, and at most he would be given a few thousand troops, and now seeing that Li Zicheng did not break his promise, everyone was not too dissatisfied, but Xu Ping's performance made them also not admire.

Xu Ping just laughed at these discussions. Hei Baoyi was his only friend in the camp, and Xu Ping asked him to find a few familiar subordinates to help him reorganize the troops. Although Li Zicheng promised Hei Baoyi to give him some people, under normal circumstances, with Hei Baoyi's position, it would be good to get a few hundred people, and Xu Ping handed him nearly 2,000 people to lead, and promised that when this battalion was divided into two, Hei Baoyi could also become the real camp owner.

For more than ten days, Xu Ping soaked in the barracks and weapons inspection ground, he and Hei Baoyi had almost no rest, today Li Zicheng must take the two of them to dinner, but saw Niu Jinxing hurrying over: "King, Boss Lu is here." ”

"Good time!" Li Zicheng shouted happily, turned around and said to Xu Ping: "The weapons and armor that Brother Xu wants will fall on this person." ”

Li Zicheng told Xu Ping that this Lu Yufan was a big businessman in the Huguang area, and he had gone deep into the war-torn Henan many times in the past few years to sell grain, salt and iron to the camp. After conquering Luoyang, in addition to seizing a large amount of grain, the camp also seized a million taels of silver from the Fuwang Mansion and dignitaries, Li Zicheng estimated that many businessmen who were connected with the camp would be moved, but this Lu boss came so quickly, it was still a little unexpected.

It turned out that a few months ago, when he heard that Li Zicheng was attacking Luoyang, Lu Yufan expected that Li Zicheng would win this battle, so he prepared the goods early, and led the caravan to Luoyang without waiting for the news of the city to come.

After seeing Li Zicheng, Lu Yufan was not polite, and immediately asked a guy to present the list of goods he brought this time to Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng read the list and ordered his men to fetch some gold, beads and jade—these things were not as good as silver, and Li Zicheng had always asked the caravan to estimate the price and then offset the payment.

After negotiating the bulk of grain, salt, cloth, etc., Lu Yufan took out a steel plow and showed it to Li Zicheng. He proudly displayed: "Your Majesty, please see, this is a new plough produced by the Fujian merchants at the beginning of this year, and it can be dragged by horses when plowing the land." ”

The primitive iron plough was very coarse and heavy, and it had to be dragged by oxen, and the farmer not only needed strength to support the plough, but also a technique. The plough that Lu Yufan took out was a steel plough with a smooth surface, which was well-made, this double-sided plough could easily separate the soil, and there was a pair of wheels under the plough for stability. Lu Yufan said that this kind of double-sided steel plough has just been put into use in Fujian this year, and it was immediately welcomed, and farmers in Fujian have abandoned the iron plough and switched to a new plow. Hearing about the benefits of this plow, Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing were pleasantly surprised. Henan has been in war for many years, and as the area under the control of the camp continues to expand, the leaders racked their brains to increase grain production, and once organized displaced people to carry out military cantonments, but the animal power and manpower are always insufficient.

"Such a plow costs ten taels of silver."

The price quoted by Lu Yufan gave Li Zicheng another surprise.

For this kind of plow, the ex-factory price of Fujian merchants is four taels. The government has always cared little about the buying and selling of agricultural tools, and many Chu merchants have begun to traffic such plows from Fujian to Huguang, providing cover for smugglers like Lu Yufan. Why did the Fujian merchants sell such a good plough so cheaply? Although the bull Venus was strange, he immediately decided to order a thousand.

In addition, Niu Jinxing also ordered potato seeds from Lu Yufan. In recent years, the strategy of the invading army has changed from mobile warfare to defending the territory, and they have heard that the peasants in Fujian and Liangguang can grow potatoes on all kinds of inferior land, including sandy land, as well as sweet potatoes, and they have heard that the yield is also good. After conquering Luoyang, there was a consensus among the people in the camp that they should start running Henan, and today was the first time they offered to the merchants to buy seeds instead of rations.

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