At the turn of February and March, spring is strong, and the grass grows outside Dongyang City.

Gao Cheng stood on the temporary platform, looking at the 20,000 salt soldiers who had regathered under the stage.

The handsome face that can be ranked in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties is full of smiles.

Uncle Lou Zhao lived up to his ardent expectations, and after half a year of training, this was already a qualified army.

As off-duty soldiers, the salt soldiers did not need to engage in productive labor, except for vacations, all they had to do every day was to listen to the teachings.

Teaching, that is, teaching warfare, teaching martial arts, and teaching weapons.

Reading, that is, proofreading, practicing advance and retreat, and learning formations.

But today, Gao Cheng did not inspect their weapons and formations, but let the salt soldiers wear armor and carry heavy off-road.

When marching, there are horses to carry armor, but when they really go to the battlefield, they still have to wear armor and fight with people, so the physical strength of soldiers is also a point that cannot be ignored.

The weight of infantry armor was 29.8 kg, the armor of pikemen was 32-35 kg, and the armor of crossbowmen was 22-27 kg.

(The weight of the infantry armor of the Northern and Southern Dynasties has not been found for a long time, so it is calculated according to the Song Dynasty.) ）

Carrying a weight of fifty or sixty pounds on the battlefield to fight with others, no matter how good the martial arts are, if the physical fitness is not good, you still have to be slaughtered by others.

And through the weight-bearing cross-country of the salt soldiers, Gao Cheng can also have a bottom of their training level on weekdays.

Of course, this is not a five-kilometer weight-bearing trail run for later generations of troops.

These off-duty soldiers are supported by the state, their meals can be guaranteed, and their physical fitness is not related to weakness, after all, they are not comparable to the soldiers in the era of material abundance.

But with a weight of 20 pounds, the three-kilometer round trip is not easy to complete.

Therefore, looking at the panting salt soldiers in the audience, Gao Cheng was overjoyed, and also ordered to kill pigs and sheep and give wine, and reward the three armies tonight.

The temporary garrison of the salt soldiers was instantly cheered.

It is not difficult to train an elite division, but among the five or six hundred thousand troops of the Gao family, there are nearly 300,000 state and county soldiers.

It's not that Gao Cheng is unwilling to change this situation, the problem is that the state can't afford to support so many off-duty soldiers.

The main reason for the lack of combat effectiveness of the state and county soldiers is the lack of training, they usually work in the family and farm, serve in conscription, hard labor, and will only be called up for temporary events, such as semi-monthly training, contingent wars, and invigilation of imperial examinations.

And once the state and county soldiers are called, the government is to provide them with meals.

If you really want to train every day like these 20,000 salt soldiers, the finances of the Eastern Wei Dynasty would have gone bankrupt long ago.

That night, in the camp outside Dongyang City, a bonfire lit up the night sky, and Gao Cheng integrated into the salt soldiers, drinking and eating meat with them, and singing loudly.

On this southern tour, Gao Cheng drank with the soldiers in the military camps in various places.

It is not yet known whether his presence and influence in the army have deepened, but the amount of alcohol has indeed increased a lot.

Gao Cheng did not stay in Qingzhou for too long, before the salt soldiers returned to Jizhou, Gao Cheng had already made it clear to them that he would find an opportunity for them to receive training on the battlefield, so that he could be satisfied, and the salary of the salt soldiers would also be changed from foreign soldiers to medium soldiers.

Every year, there is no more than 40,000 stone of rice grain worth of military salaries, and Gao Cheng, who completely collects the coinage rights to the central government, can afford this money.

When all the soldiers heard this, they all geared up, and who didn't want to raise their wages?

The 20,000 salt soldiers were temporarily led by Lou Zhao, teaching skills, waiting for Gao Cheng to determine the leading generals, and then sent to Liaodong to sharpen.

Although the commander of the military town of Du Ping and Yingerzhou guarding Liaodong is the father of Gao Cheng's confidant Du Governor Xingqing, he will not rest assured that he will hand over the 20,000 salt soldiers to the hands of the captain Changming.

After all, this team will be the combat unit that they will rely on in the future.

Gao Cheng has a clear understanding of Chinese and foreign soldiers, and there are indeed troops that can fight among foreign soldiers, such as 10,000 troops under Hou Jing, 3,000 people under Zhu Hunyuan, 5,000 people under Hou Yuan, and 5,000 people who returned from Lingzhou with Liu Feng.

The latter two will be included in the newly created Gyeonggi Corps in Gao Cheng's planning.

But more of them are state and county soldiers who can't support the wall with mud, so they defend the city and do auxiliary work.

He can still rely on 250,000 full-scale soldiers.

They don't do anything to produce, they teach and read every day, and all they ponder is killing skills, and they are real martial artists.

Gao Huan relied on 20,000 martial artists to rise in Hebei, how could Gao Cheng easily hand over 20,000 salt soldiers to others.

Gao Cheng left Qingzhou and passed through Jeju, Qizhou, and Yanzhou in succession, and finally arrived in Daliang in mid-March.

And Gao Huan's reply also fell into Gao Cheng's hands.

Gao Huan agreed to Gao Cheng's series of arrangements in principle, and only made two modifications.

The original East Jingzhou and South Jingzhou were merged, changed to Jingzhou, East Jingzhou, and the western part of South Jingzhou were merged into Jingzhou, and the state was governed in Xiangyang, and Hou Jing served as the assassin history.

The eastern part of Nanjingzhou was merged with Yuzhou and Yingzhou to form Yuzhou, which was governed in the city of Hanging Gu, and Yaoxiong was still the assassin.

Gao Huan explained to Gao Cheng in the letter for his arrangement, Hou Jing has talents in all aspects, and he can be responsible for ensuring the peace of the Western Front.

He thought that with his own presence, Hou Jing did not dare to rebel.

History is indeed like this, the official worships Henan Daxingtai, guards Henan for nearly ten years, and Hou Jing, who has an army of 100,000 under his command, even if Gao Huan is repeatedly defeated, he does not dare to have two hearts.

Gao Huan himself can suppress Hou Jing, and he also believes that Gao Cheng can suppress the other party.

Gao Cheng didn't argue much about this, Gao Huan was able to explain to himself, which was enough to satisfy Xiao Gao Wang.

Back then, he wanted Yuan Zigong to be the history of Jingzhou and Hou Jing to be the history of Nanjingzhou, but Gao Huan didn't even explain a sentence after making changes.

After so many years, He Liuhun has also made some progress.

In Gao Huan's vision, Gao Yue on the eastern front, Yaoxiong on the central line, and Hou Jing on the western line were enough to deal with Nanliang.

And Gao Cheng and the reorganized Gyeonggi army can follow him to find an opportunity to enter the pass and quell the rebellion.

Gao Cheng got Gao Huan's permission and immediately ordered people to send letters everywhere and communicate with the assassins in various places in advance.

However, as Nanjingzhou was eaten by Jingzhou and Yuzhou, Zhang Liang, the assassin of Nanjingzhou, was also idle.

Gao Cheng thought for a long time, and decided that Zhang Liang would lead 20,000 salt soldiers to Liaodong to temper at that time.

There are two reasons why he made this decision, the salt soldiers were formed by Zhang Liang, and they are familiar with each other, and Zhang Liang is a staff member, in Gao Cheng's opinion, there is also a reason to return to civilian work in the future, and there is no need to worry about him having too much influence in the salt soldiers.

It's a big deal that after the salt soldiers are trained, let Zhang Liangwu transfer the text.

And the second reason is naturally Zhang Liang's own ability.

Gao Cheng chose to believe in the vision of the original owner, and was able to worship the military of the eight states such as Eryu, Yang, and Ying, and guard the newly acquired land of Huainan, how could he be a general.

Of course, now Zhang Liang has changed from a civil to a military commander to lead the salt soldiers, and in the future, it is also a certainty that he will be transferred from military to civil.

There should be another chapter, but it's going to be late, everyone rest early, and update tomorrow as early as possible.

Thanks to book friends Deng Binyi, Jin Taiyun's Guoda, and pure flow water heater for their rewards.

(End of chapter)