Outside the city of Fuzhou, in the riverside barracks, there was a long queue outside the camp gate, all of which were young people who came to enlist in the army.

As the saying goes, a good man is not a soldier, but he is not a nail, and that is because the life of a soldier is too hard, the money and food are too little, and he is enslaved by officers, and it is easy to lose his life in battle.

But the army and the army are still different, compared with the local soldiers in Fujian called Huazi, the Praetorian Guard under Li Yanzhi is simply noble!

The clean and tidy military uniforms, the plain clothes and regular clothes, the high morale, and the excellent mental outlook made them attract the attention of all the people of Fuzhou within two days of their arrival.

What is even more rare is that these Praetorian Guards are clearly disciplined, and there has never been anything disturbing the people, and on their days off, they enter the market to hang out, eat and shop, and they are all bought and sold flatly, and they are generous. When encountering scoundrels and ruffians who bully and dominate the market, they will take the initiative to help the people. How can such a soldier not be liked?

The people of Fuzhou soon knew that this was the Praetorian Guard established by the emperor himself, that they were paid twice as much as other armies, and that they had a history of quelling the rebellion in northern Shaanxi and exterminating the Mongols outside the country.

Under Li Yanzhi's intention, the deeds of the Praetorian Guards quickly became known to the people near Fuzhou, and some young people couldn't help but yearn for it in their hearts.

Not everyone has the opportunity to trade at sea, and not everyone is willing to leave their homeland, and many people are willing to stay in their hometown if they have enough to eat.

Therefore, when Li Yanzhi posted the conscription notice, many young people couldn't help but be moved, they were in charge of food and housing, they were given clothes in winter and summer, and they were paid two taels of silver a month, which was very attractive.

An adult man, who works the dock, earns at most two taels of silver a month, but most of the silver has to buy food to fill his stomach, and a man who works hard for a whole month may not be able to exchange for the rations of the whole family. And if you join the Praetorian Guard, at least you will have food rations left, and the monthly salary is for nothing, two taels of silver, which is enough for the rest of your family to buy food to fill their stomachs.

Fujian's mountainous areas are more cultivated and less cultivated, and there are countless landless poor people, far poorer than the people in other provinces, otherwise there would not be so many people risking their lives to go to sea.

Being a soldier is also dangerous, but in the eyes of many people it is much better than going to sea. Besides, this is the Praetorian Guard, which is equivalent to the emperor's pro-army, and its status is different from that of other armies.

Of course, it is not so easy to join the Praetorian Guard, you have to go through the assessment, and those who are frail and sickly, greasy and fair-skinned, and idle are all turned away. Many rogue teenagers inside and outside Fuzhou City were attracted by the name of the emperor's pro-army, and they came to sign up, but they were all eliminated.

The officers in charge of recruitment are all sharp-eyed, and you can see their details at a glance.

In just five or six days, Li Yanzhi recruited more than 2,000 people, and this was only when notices were posted near Fuzhou City, and the people in some distant prefectures and counties did not know about it at all.

Just when Li Yanzhi was arranging the training of recruits to the battalion, a soldier suddenly came to report that Governor Xiong sent someone to summon him to the governor's yamen to discuss matters.

"Just do as I say, and set some rules for the recruits at the beginning so that they can learn to obey. Let them eat for some time to nourish their bodies, and then increase the scale of training. Li Yanzhi commanded.

"Yes, Dashuai!" All the officers responded in unison.

......

"Patrol Lord!"

"Mr. Li!"

Outside the governor's yamen, Li Yanzhi and Liu Mao met unexpectedly, looked at each other and smiled after seeing the ceremony, everything was silent.

In the lobby of the governor's yamen, the governor, the political envoy, the envoy, the Fuzhou prefect and other major civil officials of Fuzhou City are all present, in addition to them, there are several military generals such as Yu Zhigao, and Zheng Zhilong, the general of coastal defense, is also impressively listed.

When Li Yanzhi and Liu Mao entered the lobby, all the civil and military officials stood up one after another to salute. Of course, the civil officials mainly rushed to patrol the imperial history Liu Mao, and Li Yanzhi, the chief soldier, was not in their eyes.

After the chaotic salutes to each other, the left and the right, everyone sat down according to the official rank, Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan was in the middle, and Liu Mao, the inspector of the imperial history, sat on the side of Xiong Wencan's head.

"You must have heard that just yesterday, thousands of pirates attacked Quanzhou, wounded dozens of people, ransacked Jin'an Town, looted a large amount of goods and sailed away, Quanzhou officials and gentry have sent people to report urgency, asking for troops to exterminate the bandits. Benfu is anxious for all colleagues to come today, just to discuss how to deal with it. When everyone quieted down, Xiong Wencan spoke, glancing at Li Yanzhi and Liu Mao as he spoke.

A few days ago, Li Yanzhi and Liu Mao jointly put pressure on him, seized his handle and forced him to comply, in order to get more money and food to recruit troops for training, when Xiong Wencan expressed his embarrassment, Li Yanzhi sent someone to say that he would give him excuses and reasons.

It's not been a few days since bandits attacked Quanzhou, isn't this a reason and an excuse? This made Xiong Wencan have to suspect that the pirates were directly instructed by Li Yanzhi!

But as soon as Li Yanzhi arrived in Fuzhou, there were thousands of troops under him, and he definitely didn't have such great energy! Xiong Wencan looked at Zheng Zhilong again, he could send so many people and ships at once, and only Zheng Zhilong, a former pirate! Most of Zheng Zhilong's staff is in Taiwan, and he can do this kind of thing quietly.

Now it seems that Zheng Zhilong's gang has completely taken refuge in Li Yanzhi, which makes Xiong Wencan very unhappy. The pirate who was so easy to recruit by himself wanted to rely on his meritorious service to make money, but now he has turned around and taken refuge in others, and no one feels comfortable!

"Governor Bear, have you figured out which pirate it is?" Fuzhou Governor Tang Kejian asked.

Xiong Wencan lowered his eyelids and said: "According to the report sent by Quanzhou, the pirates are playing the skeleton flag, which should be done by Li Kuiqi from Penghu." ”

"Since we have found out which pirate did it, then what we didn't say, just send troops to attack!" According to the inspector, Peng Kun said categorically.

"These bandits are too bold and reckless, they dare to attack Quanzhou, and Futai quickly sent troops to conscript!" Other officials also said in unison, expressing their support for sending troops to suppress bandits.

Jin'an Town is the warehouse of the Quanzhou Merchant Gang, the Quanzhou Merchant Gang purchased and hoarded goods for more than half a year, originally to wait for the monsoon to sell to Japan, and now it is robbed by pirates, how can they be willing? Xiong Wencan knew that most of the officials present were probably moved by the Quanzhou Business Gang.

"Futai, the last general is willing to lead troops to recruit Penghu!" Yu Zhigao was the first to stand up and pleaded.

"General Yu's courage is commendable." Xiong Wencan praised casually, and then turned to Li Yanzhi, "Mr. Li, what do you think?" ”

Li Yanzhi stood up and said calmly: "The bandits are raging and robbing the people, so naturally we should send troops to recruit them. As for how to send troops and how to recruit them, of course, it is up to the governor's arrangement. ”

Listen to me arrange a hammer! Xiong Wencan was a little speechless.

"Futai, why did General Li come when he first arrived, it turned out that he had never brought a sailor, and he was not very familiar with the situation in Fujian, so let him stay in the rear to rest, and I would lead the troops to recruit the bandits." Yu Zhigao glanced at Li Yanzhi and stood up again.

I really don't take Lao Tzu in my eyes! Li Yan pursed his lips, he couldn't be more humble in this situation.

"Vice General Yu's courage is really commendable," Li Yan said lightly, "But commanding troops to fight a war is not just a brave word, the time and place are favorable, the enemy situation is investigated, logistics and supplies, all kinds of things are properly assigned, how can you act rashly?" ”

Yu Zhigao sneered: "Isn't General Li afraid, if he is really afraid, he might as well stay in Fuzhou." ”

"Idiot!" Li Yanzhi suddenly turned his face, and scolded with his halberd finger: "Who gave you the courage to dare to talk to this general soldier!" As a soldier, don't you know what orders and prohibitions, and you don't even know how to be inferior and inferior? ”

The hall was suddenly stunned, and everyone never expected that the young chief soldier, who looked very easy-going, would be so angry.

"You!" Yu Zhigao was furious, and pointed at Li Yanzhi with his finger and was about to scold.

"What are you? Do you think that this general soldier will not be able to kill you? Yu Zhigao, you relied on the prestige of Ling Zun, and ascended to a high position without success, do you really think that you know how to fight a war? If you really do it, this general soldier can ask His Majesty for your life, transfer you to the battlefield in Liaodong, and fight with Jiannu, if you can win Jiannu and come back alive, then you can be considered a hero! ”

Yu Zhigao was scolded and panted, and he couldn't argue with Li Yanzhi, so he rolled up his sleeves and was about to step forward to reason with Li Yanzhi.

Li Yanzhi looked at him provocatively, as long as Yu Zhigao dared to make a move, he would not be able to run away from a charge of disobedience to the officials, he would kill him directly, and the others would have nothing to say.

"Is this Fujian officialdom so ignorant of advance and retreat and ignorance of humility?" Liu Mao, who was sitting under Xiong Wencan, suddenly spoke.

The civil officials who had been watching the excitement hurriedly sat upright, and Yu Zhigao also stopped all of a sudden, with an ugly expression of shame and indignation on his face.

Liu Mao, Fujian Governor has the right to impeach any official present, and the impeachment can go straight to the imperial front, as long as there is solid evidence, the court will inevitably deal with it!

Liu Mao's words made Xiong Wencan's heart suddenly, he knew that this was Liu Mao's warning to himself, you Xiong Wencan, don't think about sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, you must make your attitude clear!

"Ahem!" Xiong Wencan coughed heavily, attracting everyone's attention to himself, and then said lightly: "Liu Xun is right, you are usually too presumptuous. Vice General Yu, don't you apologize to General Li soon! ”

Yu Zhigao was stunned, looking at Xiong Wencan incredulously, Lao Tzu didn't say anything, but Li Yanzhi was shouting and killing. However, looking at Xiong Wencan's plain face, and then looking at Liu Mao, who was looking at him with fierce eyes, Yu Zhigao knew that if he didn't apologize, he wouldn't be able to pass this hurdle today.

"Mr. Li, I shouldn't be disrespectful to you, I'm a rough person, don't be like me." Yu Zhigao finally pinched his nose and came to Li Yanzhi and said proudly.

Li Yanzhi smiled and said generously: "Forget it, Vice General Yu is also unintentional." ”

The scene seemed to have eased down, but the officials present knew that after this incident, Yu Zhigao's arrogance was completely suppressed, and the matter of suppressing pirates could only be honestly listened to by Li Yanzhi.