The south gate of Dengzhou City.

At the gate of the city, two archers patrolling the city were putting up notices, and the people gathered near the city gate flocked to the place, and the inner and outer three layers surrounded the place, whispering something.

Most of these people are poor peasants from all over Dengzhou, with little or no arable land at home, and in today's world, they can no longer survive, so they can only gather outside Dengzhou City, and maybe they can find a job selling coolies.

A moment later, a patrol archer pointed to the notice and said loudly: "There is an order in the history of the assassination: the military equipment of the four counties of Dengzhou has been abandoned for a long time, and it is determined to rectify the military preparation. From today onwards, the old and weak soldiers in Dengzhou will be abolished, and the sons of good families will be recruited as soldiers, and the treatment will be preferential! ”

The crowd was in an uproar.

The words "preferential treatment" are like boulders, instantly smashing into the hearts of the people and causing ripples.

A burly man asked loudly, "I don't know how to be treated in the army?" How to get better? ”

Many of the surrounding people also chimed in, and the archers patrolling the city said: "Li Tingshi is going to implement the new government military system in Dengzhou, and all the good families who are selected can be allocated a certain amount of arable land, and the government will also distribute farm tools, seeds, and rations to their families, and distribute a ploughing ox to every three households!" ”

Another tall, lean man asked, "What if I don't have a family?" No one cultivates the cultivated land! ”

"What's so hard about that? There are regulations in the military system of the new government: those who have a family will divide the land into 100 acres, and the Assassin Mansion will provide agricultural tools, seeds, and rations; For those who have no family, 100 acres of land will be converted into money and distributed. ”

The two men who asked questions were quite moved when they heard this, and then the archers patrolling the city said: "It's a good thing to be a soldier and divide the land, but those who are interested in joining the army should know that all the cultivated land allocated to you is owned by Li Tingshi, and it is just given to you for farming. ”

"It's just that Li Tingshi will not be as harsh as those families, not only will he give you rations and seeds, but also the tenant rent is also small, every year when the harvest is good, you only need to pay fifty catties of grain per mu, fifty catties of military rations, and the rest, no matter how much is left, it will be owned by you!"

At this time, although it is no longer the prosperous Tang Dynasty, as long as it is perennial cultivated land, the annual yield per mu is also around 300 catties, even if it is relatively barren cultivated land, the annual yield per mu is about 200 catties, so that one acre of land can be left with one or two hundred catties of grain! And what about a hundred acres?

Such conditions are very tempting for the poor people, enough to make people desperate for them.

However, the burly man who asked the question just now still asked again: "Does the soldier have a military salary?" ”

At this time, many festival envoys did not pay the soldiers under their command, but only managed the food. When encountering a war or suppressing bandits, some rewards will be given to the soldiers, but the number will not be too much, so at this time, most of the soldiers in various towns are poor, and as a result, most of the soldiers and horses in various places are bandits, and it is common to rob homes and houses.

The archers patrolling the city said: "Naturally, once they are recruited as soldiers by the Assassin's Mansion, each person will have a monthly salary of two hundred yuan, and all the food, clothing, and Assassin's Mansion will be provided." However, the soldiers of the new government must be out of work, and they are not allowed to participate in the farming work at home, and they are not allowed to go home unless they are on holidays. ”

"How do you cultivate the farmland that the family has allotted?"

"Li Tingshi has already thought about it for Er, during the busy farming season, the Assassin Mansion will organize the township to assist in farming, and give priority to providing farming cattle and farm tools for the families of the soldiers, don't worry."

The burly man and the capable man squeezed out of the crowd one after another at this time, and the onlookers were still scrambling to ask.

The two of them had just noticed each other, and they came to the side together. The burly man crossed his hands and said: "In Xia Li Siye, a native of Penglai County, I don't know the name of Brother Taigao. ”

"Under Chen, a native of Huang County."

The two exchanged a few words, Li Siye was twenty-seven or eighteen years old, two years older than Chen Zhu, and the two were called brothers.

"Brother, the movement of this new assassin is really not small, what do you think of the military system of this new government?"

Li Siye pondered for a moment and said: "Now that the imperial court is weak, which one of the local festivals is not self-respecting?" This new assassin probably wants to achieve something great. If this new military system can be implemented, it will take two years at most, and a crack army can be pulled! ”

Chen Zhu's eyes lit up and said, "Little brother thinks so too!" What is the profit of the husband in plowing the fields? Let's go to the army together, maybe we can break out of the world! ”

"It's not enough for the two of us, let's go and greet some brothers, pull some people to join the army, maybe we can mix up a small boss with Li Tingshi."

"So much the best!"

Early the next morning, the long street outside the Thorn Mansion was overcrowded, and thousands of men gathered here, like a stranded long dragon, sneering forward.

Xu Hui, who joined the army, was leading more than 100 archers to patrol the city to maintain order, and dozens of officials were assisting from the side.

These city patrol archers and government servants are all screened out from the old army, these people are not qualified to participate in the new army, but all of them are a bit wasteful, after all, they can still obey orders, so they were all sent by Li Congyan to Dengzhou and four counties to be city patrol archers and government officers, the number of people is only more than 400 people for the time being.

"Stop at the street entrance, don't put people in first, wait until there are fewer people in front of you!"

"Pull up the cordon, and if someone cuts in line, you all go to see the city gate!"

"Number plate! Get the number plate right, and if someone misses it, you all go home! ”

Xu Hui shouted hoarsely, commanding his men and horses to maintain order, but there were too many people who came to sign up for the army, and only one or two hundred people were not enough to see, so they could only maintain a rough idea.

Li Congyan originally only wanted to recruit about 4,000 people, plus his own 200 tooth soldiers, as well as the men and horses screened from the old army, to organize a group of about 5,000 soldiers. However, as soon as the military system of the new government was released, it immediately caused a sensation in the entire Dengzhou and even the people in the surrounding Laizhou, Qingzhou, Mizhou and other places, and many people came to sign up to join the army.

On the first day of the registration screening, more than 3,000 people signed up. Today is the fourth day, and more than 2,000 people have been registered just after noon, and it is estimated that the number of people who have signed up today will exceed 4,000!

Seeing this, Li Congyan had to change the registration period from ten days to five days, and the number of people who signed up was too large, even if he sold himself, he couldn't recruit so many people, let alone raise them.

The military system of the new government has set off storms among the people, but the gate lords and wealthy families in Dengzhou have behaved very calmly, and there is no reaction at all, but all the docks and forts in various places have strengthened the supervision of serfs to prevent anyone from hearing the news and sneaking out.

Soon five days passed, and Xu Hui, who joined the army, took two officials to the backyard of the Assassin's Mansion, and the two officials carried a heavy wooden box, which contained the roster of those who had registered for the army in the past five days.

"Lord, there are 14,893 young people who have come to sign up in the past five days, and according to the requirements of the Lord, there are no rural wanderers, deserters, bullies, ruffians, and the children of merchants, and the people in the city and the children of big families are screened as appropriate, and a total of 12,677 people have been selected."

"Two days later, a second round of screening was held in an open area in the south of the city to test his endurance by running, his strength by lifting stones, and then to check whether he had disabilities and pathologies."

"Five days later, the third round of screening will be held in the school field in the city, and the virtue of the soldiers will be ......."

Li Congyan nodded and said, "Okay, that's it." The final number of recruits should be controlled at about 4,200, and the best of the best should be selected. ”

"Whoa!"

"In addition, in the second round of screening, one item of the blade should be added, and in the third round of screening, one item of the art of war should be added in order to discover talents. All outstanding talents should be registered separately and shown to me. ”

"Whoa!"

Two days later, Li Xiye and Chen Zhu successfully signed up with dozens of fellow villagers, and everyone came to the second round smoothly, at this time everyone was divided into a team, and the team of 300 people was assembled on one side, waiting for the entrance test.

In front of everyone, a huge flat land had been reclaimed, and several teams had already been pulled up, running in circles around the huge field.

According to the new army soldiers who led the team, the second round of tests was physical strength, and the first item was this long-distance run, each team had to run five laps to do so, and those who fell behind, those who could not finish the run, and those who were opportunistic had to be eliminated.

In the words of the new commander of the team: Li Tingshi doesn't want soft-footed shrimp, and don't spend intestines!

"Big brother, I'm afraid there are more than ten miles in these five circles? You see that the new army soldier who led the team was like a wild horse, and everyone had to run after him, and if he ran down in one go, he would inevitably lose half his life! ”

Li Siye also nodded in agreement, looked back at a few fellow villagers beside him, and said secretly: "After this item, I'm afraid I will have to get rid of a few people!" ”

"Team Seven, ready to play!"

The leader of the new arms shouted loudly: "Get up and line up, line up!" Follow me and run! ”

Li Siye and Chen Zhi trembled in their hearts, and after hurriedly lining up, they followed the team and ran around.

The three hundred men ran behind the leader of the fire, and the first two laps were fine, but the three hundred people all gritted their teeth and persevered. However, from the third lap onwards, there were people who could not keep up with the speed of the fire in front of them.

Chen Zhu panted as he ran, and said, "Big, big brother, that fire is long and long like a horse, why, why is it still so fast, ah?" ”

Li Xiye's face was flushed, there were already three fellow villagers left behind, and it was estimated that he was eliminated by the new army soldiers patrolling the field behind, at this time, he gritted his teeth and ran quickly, where could he still care about talking, but he just squeezed out two words from his mouth: "Run!" ”

Chen Zhu also stopped talking, and desperately ran forward with the large army, at this time he only felt that his legs were no longer his own, and they were completely mechanical and autonomous running, and his heart was full of despair.

After two incense sticks, Li Siye and Chen Zhu's seventh team completed the long-distance run, and only more than 170 people in the team of 300 people qualified. When the new arms chief who led the team stood in front of everyone, Li Siye and Chen Zhu were surprised to find that in addition to sweating profusely and breathing a little quickly, the fire chief was not paralyzed on the ground like everyone else, and was still full of energy.

"These new troops are really ......"

Chen Zhu gritted his teeth, not knowing how to describe it for a while.

Li Siye's eyes lit up, and he said in a low voice: "Such a new army is worth following!" ”

Second round of screening.

More than 170 people from the seventh team worked in groups of five and began to test stone locks, push-ups, sit-ups and other items.

"Before the drumming stopped, each person had to complete twenty stone locks, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and then carry the log to the assembly point 500 paces ahead. Those who are not finished, eliminated! ”

Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard this.

Li Siye and Chen Zhu's eyes were on fire, and just now after the demonstration of the team leader, the two of them knew what the so-called sit-ups and other items meant. Although the two of them have not practiced, they can also see that these projects are a huge test of physical strength, and everyone has no idea how long the drum will last, so they must do their best to complete each project in order to save time, so as to ......

"Brother, the Assassin Mansion uses this method to screen the soldiers of the new army, I'm afraid it's not selecting heavenly soldiers and generals, right?"