"*** Lord, there are now five hundred people, all of them are drawn from the nearby village, according to the sect leader's regulations, all of them are over fifteen years old and under thirty years old."

Wei Jiufeng arched his hand.

"How's the training going?"

Su Hao looked at Wei Jiufeng, Wei Jiufeng was the first martial artist he accepted here, his strength was just entering the stream, although he was not enough to see in front of him, but the people here were all fleeing, and a third-rate martial artist was already a master.

Of course, the reason why he chose Wei Jiufeng to train for him was not because of Wei Jiufeng's strength, but because Wei Jiufeng had good management ability, and more than 100 people in the cottage were all managed by Wei Jiufeng in an orderly manner.

Wei Jiufeng said: "*** Lord, the training situation is acceptable, but now there is not much food in the cottage, and we must find a way to get more food, otherwise the village will run out of food."

"Don't worry about food, this sect leader has his own arrangements."

Su Hao waved his hand and said, the reason why he was relieved to let Wei Jiufeng train was because he was confident in his own strength, mainly because he was responsible for the food in this cottage.

Now there are more than 600 mouths up and down the cottage to eat, because there is no meat, oil and water, and if you want to eat enough and have the strength to train, a soldier must eat at least one pound of grain a day, and more than 600 people are six or seven hundred pounds of grain, not to mention that this is just daily food.

According to the standard he prescribed, as long as he joined the Guardian Army, each person would be given three taels of settling silver, two taels of body silver, and after enlisting in the army, he could also receive a monthly salary of one or two or five cents a month, which could be exchanged for silver or food, and the person responsible for the monthly salary was only under his control.

Even if Wei Jiufeng had crooked thoughts, he had to get so much food and silver first, otherwise if he dared to have a different heart, the people below would tear him apart first.

"Sect Master, there is a person on the side of the Mountain who claims to be a disciple of the White Lotus Sect Leader Xu Hongru who has come to the cottage to contact us, wanting us to form an alliance."

At this time, Wei Jiufeng suddenly said again, "Because Sect Leader is not here, I politely refused him, I don't know what he will do next time?"

Xu Hongru's disciple?

Hearing Wei Jiufeng's words, Su Hao's eyebrows rose slightly, this is when he has met the main master, the reason why he borrowed the skin of the White Lotus Sect is mainly for the influence left by the White Lotus Sect.

In ancient times, the name of righteousness was very important, but he didn't have this thing, as a brocade guard Qianhu, if he rebelled, he would be in a state of loss congenitally, that is, he lost righteousness, and it was difficult for those wealthy families who had the right to speak to agree with him, don't look at twenty years later, those people knelt faster than anyone else in the face of the Jurchens, that is because the Jurchens after twenty years have absolute strength, and the knife frame on the neck naturally kneels faster than anyone else.

But he can't have absolute strength from the beginning, so he can only win over those ordinary people, and the White Lotus Sect has been preaching here for decades, with countless believers, Xu Hongru raised his arms and gathered 100,000 people, so don't look at the White Lotus Sect now like a rat crossing the street, but the potential power is not small, it's just that no one can gather it.

And not only Shandong, the White Lotus Sect has a large number of people in all parts of the Ming Dynasty, so to speak, once he can support this skin, then there will be enough foundation everywhere. ….

"Don't pay attention to him, now Jinyiwei is still chasing after Xu Hongru's disciples very closely, and forming an alliance with the other party will only expose us."

After thinking for a moment, Su Hao waved his hand and said, "Next time the other party comes again, you can send him some food or silver and send him away."

"My subordinates understood."

Wei Jiufeng bowed in response.

"In addition, continue to recruit troops and increase the number of troops in the cottage to 1,000."

Su Hao continued: "There is also the news of the blockade here, and the government must not be allowed to know the situation here, now the imperial court is extremely vigilant against us, once the situation here is exposed, the imperial army will soon come."

"Don't worry, my subordinates will never let the news leak out."

Hearing Su Hao's warning, Wei Jiufeng's face changed, and he hurriedly said, although Su Hao is the sect leader, Su Hao will only appear once in three or four days, and he will only stay two or three times at a time

After an hour, he will leave after a patrol, even if the matter here leaks out, it doesn't matter to Su Hao, but he is different, he is here every day, once the news leaks out, he will definitely die.

After instructing some things that needed attention, Su Hao walked out of the lobby.

Drink!

Ha!

As soon as I walked to the martial arts arena in the center of the cottage, I saw soldiers practicing with wooden knives or guns, some were catching and fighting, and some were several people forming a simple military formation to cooperate and break through, and it seemed that they had a little elite appearance.

It's just that their faces are still thick, they look malnourished, and they are also weak during the drill, Su Hao has no way to deal with this situation, these soldiers were selected from the refugees, and they have been malnourished since childhood.

However, the food keeps up, and after a long time, the physical fitness will get better sooner or later, and when he wants to use people in two years, these people should be able to use them.

Although his current strength is not difficult to hold on to one enemy thousand, and even one enemy to ten thousand in a short period of time, it will definitely not last long, Xu Hongru's strength is definitely not weaker than him at the beginning, and he can use spells to make two ordinary people fight to the death of a third-rate horizontal martial artist, even if he is difficult to do this now, although it is mainly because he and Xu Hongru's spells are different, but it cannot be denied that Xu Hongru is indeed strong.

However, Xu Hongru's strength is still planted in the hands of the imperial court, the main reason is that Xu Hongru does not have a useful soldier and horse in his hands, and no matter how strong his personal strength is, how many nails can he hit.

Take him as an example, now he has two natal paper figures in his hands, the first one is relatively weak, at most he can deal with first-class martial artists like Tang Xiangjin and them, and the second is a lot stronger, he can deal with first-class martial artists of Zuo Yifeng's level, and he can also summon almost a hundred armored paper figures comparable to third-rate martial artists, with his current mana, he can probably support a little more than a quarter of an hour, plus illusion, even in the face of martial arts masters, he will not fall behind, this strength is definitely ranked first in the entire Shandong Political Envoy Division.

But in the face of tens of thousands of imperial court troops, this strength is not enough at all, such as the An Bangyan rebellion, the imperial court mobilized a large number of strong people, there are more than a dozen people in Jinyi Wei Qianhu alone, and more than 20 Taoist masters, plus the masters in the army. ….

There are more than 50 first-class masters alone, including many top-level first-class martial artists like Zuo Yifeng, and at least hundreds of second-rate martial artists, not to mention that Heavenly Master Zhang Ruiyan is still a powerhouse in the realm of martial arts masters.

Even if his martial arts cultivation can reach the realm of a martial arts master two years later, he will not be able to deal with an army of more than 100,000 alone, so an elite army of soldiers and horses is indispensable, don't look at most of them are ordinary people, but before he can resist the whole world with one force, quantitative changes will eventually cause qualitative changes.

After looking at it for a while, Su Hao returned to the lobby and began to deal with the affairs in the cottage.

"Qingsheng, how is the distribution of food and military salaries?"

Su Hao looked at a middle-aged man wearing a Confucian robe and a long robe not far away, Peng Qingsheng was selected by him from a cottage, specifically responsible for the distribution of food and military salaries, although there are many people who fled into the mountains, but most of them are illiterate, and very few can read and break words, Peng Qingsheng has read for a few years, is a bookkeeper, was involved in Xu Hongru's rebellion, and then Xu Hongru was defeated, and Peng Qingsheng fled into the mountains.

"*** Lord, the distribution of food and wages is in accordance with the standards you have set, on time and in full."

Hearing Su Hao's words, Peng Qingsheng replied respectfully.

"Cai Ling, this sect leader asked you to supervise everything that happened in the cottage, but what's unusual?"

Hearing this, Su Hao didn't pay attention to him, but looked at a thin middle-aged man on the other side, he never believed in self-discipline, so he let Wei Jiufeng be in charge of training, Peng Qingsheng was in charge of distributing food and salary, and Cai Ling was in charge of supervision.

Cai Ling said respectfully, "*** Lord, there is nothing abnormal."

"Really?"

Su Hao's eyes narrowed slightly, urging Huang Liang to dream, and a surging invisible fluctuation spread out, enveloping Peng Qingsheng and Cai Ling

Person.

In the perception of Peng Qingsheng and Cai Ling, Su Hao only checked the account book a little and then believed the words of the two.

Seeing Su Hao step onto the paper bird, the paper bird flapped its wings and left, Cai Ling's face was worried: "Brother Peng, the sect leader is such a fairy figure, we hide from him to withhold the rations and monthly salaries of those soldiers, once the sect leader finds out, I am afraid our fate will be very bleak."

"What are you worried about, the Sect Master only comes once every three or four days, and stays for an hour or two at a time, how can he find out what we have done with the food."

Peng Qingsheng comforted: "What's more, the White Lotus Sect is the target of the government's attack, as long as we come a few more times and accumulate a few hundred taels of silver, we will find an opportunity to escape down the mountain and become a rich man in other places.

Not far from the two, Su Hao quietly watched the two talking, for this situation, he had already been mentally prepared, he accepted Peng Qingsheng and the two for only half a year, if the two of them wanted to be loyal to him, it was undoubtedly a fool's dream.

Besides, both of them were so poor that they were about to flee into the mountains, and now that the thousands of food and silver were in front of them, it would be to say that the two were not moved.

Seeing that the two of them wanted to leave after talking, Su Hao withdrew his illusion and said, "Peng Qingsheng, this sect leader already knew that you were flexible, but I didn't expect you to be flexible to this sect master." ….

Suddenly hearing Su Hao's voice, Peng Qingsheng and Cai Ling's faces changed instantly, and when they turned their heads, Su Hao was still sitting on the chair and did not leave, as if what they had seen before was an illusion.

"You go and call Wei Jiufeng."

Su Hao ignored the two of them, but walked out of the lobby and instructed a soldier guarding outside the hall.

"Yes, Master!"

Hearing Su Hao's order, the soldier hurriedly responded.

On the main seat, Su Hao looked at Wei Jiufeng and the three of them who were kneeling on the ground with a calm expression.

"Wei Jiufeng, this sect leader asked you to train your troops, and you dared to withhold the soldiers' salaries."

Su Hao said indifferently: "This sect leader gives you twenty taels of silver every month, you are still greedy enough, do you really think that without you, this sect master will have no one to use?"

"Sect Master, spare your life!"

Hearing Su Hao's indifferent voice, Wei Jiufeng's face turned pale instantly, and then kowtowed repeatedly, although Su Hao had never used his methods, but the White Lotus Sect had been preaching here for so many years, and the methods of dealing with apostate people had long been known by most of the people.

"Sect Master, spare your life!"

"Sect Master, spare your life!"

Peng Qingsheng and Cai Ling also kowtowed again and again.

Looking at the three of them kowtowing, Su Hao was unmoved, just watched quietly, he didn't mean to kill the three, he was not like those wealthy families, those wealthy families have been prosperous for one or two hundred years, there are loyal house slaves and family children, the people he can use are all picked up casually, even if he kills Wei Jiufeng and the others, he can't guarantee that the re-selected ones will not be corrupt.

Now that Wei Jiufeng and the three of them have set up the shelf of the Guardian Army, if he re-selects people, he still has to waste time to cultivate, after winning this cottage, he picked seven or eight people to teach the method of training, and as a result, Wei Jiufeng learned the best, and the others are half a bucket of water, which is not worth using at all, but not killing does not mean that he will easily let the three of them go.

Su Hao didn't speak, and Wei Jiufeng and the three of them didn't dare to stop, until their foreheads were dripping with blood, and the three of them were still knocking again and again.

"Get up."

Seeing that Peng Qingsheng and Cai Ling, two ordinary people, were almost unable to hold on, Su Hao said calmly: "For the sake of your first offense, this sect leader will spare your lives this time, but next time, this sect leader will drain your soul and refine your soul, so that you will never be reborn."

"Thank you for your life, the little one will never dare to do it again in the future."

Wei Jiufeng kowtowed again and again, compared to Peng Qingsheng and Cai Ling, two ordinary people, when he was practicing martial arts in the martial arts hall, he had heard that some left-handed warlocks did have the ability to extract souls and refine their souls.

"Get down, return the deducted food to the soldiers, and if this sect leader finds out that you have withheld the soldiers' food and wages, this sect master will never spare you again."

Su Hao said indifferently, he knew very well that drinking the blood of soldiers was almost completely unavoidable, what he could do was to make this kind of thing a little less, now there are only a few hundred people in the cottage, he can still control it, and if there are more, it will be difficult for him to completely control it.

Although the illusion is powerful, it is essentially only to confuse and guide, rather than directly controlling others, and it is very difficult to get the other party to confide in the resolute one, and there are all kinds of magic weapons to calm the mind, otherwise how can the corruption of the Ming Dynasty be so powerful. ….

After dealing with the matter of Wei Jiufeng and the three of them deducting food and salary, Su Hao left the cottage.

High in the air, Su Hao sat on the back of the paper bird, overlooking the vast mountains below, his eyes narrowed slightly, he had never liked to put his eggs in one basket, Wei Jiufeng and their training of a thousand elites was already quite attention-grabbing, and they couldn't continue to expand, otherwise they would definitely be wiped out if they attracted the attention of the government here.

He must find a few more places to train his troops, at least five or six thousand elites, so that he can be sure to resist the encirclement and suppression of the imperial court, and control the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and a few granaries may make the imperial court jealous, but it is impossible for the imperial court to sit idly by and ignore him.

This is the dignity and face of the imperial court, and the Shandong political envoy is the heart of the Ming Dynasty, connecting the north and the south to Zhili, occupying here, it is definitely more exciting than An Bangyan occupying Guizhou, the imperial court will never sit back and watch him grow, and when there is all preparation, the imperial court will definitely send a large army to encircle and suppress.

With these five or six thousand elites as the foundation, and then recruiting tens of thousands of ordinary soldiers, and gathering seventy or eighty thousand people, it should be able to block the first encirclement and suppression of the first imperial army.

Don't look at the Ming Dynasty now, it seems that the beacon is in flames, but the hundred-legged insects, dead but not stiff, on the Shandong side alone, the imperial court has nine guards and ten institutes, each guard has 5,600 people, each institute has 1,120 people, and these alone have nearly 70,000 people, not to mention the transfer from South Zhili and North Zhili and Henan.

He had also collected some basic information before, once an incident broke out, at least within two months, the imperial court would be able to mobilize more than 150,000 troops to encircle and suppress him, even if it was for the nearly two million stone grains, with the power of the imperial court, the problem of the cao grain could be solved in four months at most.

Thinking of this, Su Hao couldn't help but look at the north, to be honest, if he could, he didn't want to take the road of rebellion now, especially in a critical place like Shandong, the real suitable time for rebellion should be eight years after Chongzhen, but Wei Zhongxian's fall was October of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and the rebellion at this time was more for the king's precursor.

However, he had no choice about this problem, he had written to Fang Haichuan before, asking Fang Haichuan to remind Wei Zhongxian, be careful of the Donglin Party people jumping off the wall in a hurry, and do the matter of Wuzong again, but unfortunately Wei Zhongxian was quite confident in his ability to control the palace and did not believe his words at all.

This Ganges beaver