Poor Family Chapter 887

  Chapter 887 Taiyuan recruitment

  After Li Yanqing captured Taiyuan Mansion, he immediately sent Guan Sheng and Hua Rong to lead 3,000 soldiers each to guard Loufan Pass and Yanmen Pass to defend against the Jin soldiers from Datong Mansion going south.

  This time Li Yanqing only led a total of 30,000 people to sneak attack on Taiyuan City. After sending 6,000 people to defend Loufan and Yanmen Pass, the army in his hands was a bit stretched immediately, and it became urgent to recruit troops to defend the city.

On the second day after Li Yanqing arrived in Taiyuan City, Li Yanqing sent people to openly recruit 50,000 new troops in the counties of Taiyuan Prefecture and Taiyuan City. Anti-gold martyrs.

  Although the recruitment notice was written very passionately, and Li Yanqing's great reputation in Taiyuan was used, it would of course stimulate the enthusiasm of the common people to join the army and fight against the Jin Dynasty to a certain extent.

But on the other hand, the reality is very cruel. It is impossible for people to participate in the anti-golden war with only one cavity of blood. For more than 100 years, the purpose of serving as a soldier in the Song Dynasty is to make money and food. At most a few months as a civilian husband is considered a face.

If you want to recruit new troops, you have to follow the rules, ten guan ren or two liang of silver per month, which is currently the lowest standard for recruiting soldiers, and you must also ensure that you have enough food and clothing. It used to be a little lower because there was no need to fight, but now Soldiers have become a high-risk occupation, and their salaries will naturally rise.

Early in the morning, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, Li Yanqing came to the bank of the Fen River, about ten miles east of Taiyuan City. It is also the logistics center for the Jin soldiers to attack Luoyang Mansion and Yan'an Mansion.

  At this time, 20,000 Song troops were using carts and sleds to transfer grain and grass into the city. They had to move all the grain and grass into the city before the Jin soldiers came, which became the foundation of Taiyuan City's long-term persistence.

The current official in charge of Cangcheng is Bo Chendong, the head of the Jinglue Mansion. Chen Dong is no longer the leader of the Taixue. Master Bo, this time followed Li Yanqing to Yan'an Mansion in the north, and then came to Taiyuan City with the army, in charge of logistics supplies and food.

  Hearing that Dutong had arrived, Chen Dong hurriedly brought a few followers out to greet him. Li Yanqing asked with a smile, "Have the supplies been verified?"

   "Reporting to Jinglue, 80% of the materials have been verified, and some materials such as war drums, military flags, and tents have not been verified. Give the humble staff another day. By this time tomorrow, they should all be completed."

  Li Yanqing smiled and said: "You can check those materials slowly. I am here today to understand the situation of grain, money, armor and firearms."

  Chen Dong hurriedly asked: "Should Jinglue listen to the report or inspect it on the spot?"

  Li Yanqing smiled slightly: "Listening to the report is too boring, it's better to check it on the spot."

   "In this case, please follow the humble officer to the warehouse."

The crowd surrounded Li Yanqing and walked into Cangcheng. While walking, Chen Dong introduced: "Taiyuan Cangcheng has a circumference of about ten miles and is composed of 122 large warehouses. It is mainly divided into three parts. Armor firearms depot and material depot."

   "Then how should we distinguish?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

   "Please look there for a brief introduction!"

Chen Dong pointed to the forty warehouses directly opposite and said: "The doors of these warehouses are all painted black, indicating that they are warehouses for miscellaneous goods, such as money, pig iron, cloth, tents, war drums, banners, military blankets, sheepskins, etc. All the supplies are gathered here. There is a serial number above the gate. The one starting with A means the silver bank, the Bingjia storehouse is the red gate, the A character is the armor storehouse, the B bow is the crossbow storehouse, and the money and grain storehouse is the yellow gate. The major categories are all grouped together, which is clear at a glance.”

What Li Yanqing is most concerned about now is money, which is related to how many troops he can recruit. He did not hesitate to walk into the silver bank at the beginning of the letter A. The warehouse Li Yanqing entered was the silver ingot warehouse, and the silver ingots were placed in boxes. They are all official silver, twenty-five taels and one ingot, forty ingots per box, that is, one thousand taels of silver.

   "How many boxes are there?" Li Yanqing asked looking at the boxes piled up like a hill.

   "A total of 550 boxes, of which 50 boxes are gold, 50,000 taels of gold, and 500,000 taels of silver."

   "Such a coincident amount, has the Jin Bing never been used?"

Chen Dong leaned slightly and said: "The humble officer asked about the previous treasury and checked the account books. The gold soldiers looted far more than this from the East Road, but they only left 500,000 taels of silver and 50,000 taels of gold for the guards of Taiyuan Mansion. All the others were transported to Yanshan Mansion, but the gold soldiers have not used the gold and silver so far."

   "How many copper coins are there?" Li Yanqing asked again.

   "The copper coins are five million coins, all of which are small coins. There is no such thing as paper money."

Li Yanqing thought for a while, the monthly salary of 50,000 soldiers is 500,000 guan, and 5 million guan can last for ten months, not to mention gold and silver, at least veterans can pay later, basically enough, this Li Yanqing was slightly relieved.

   "How much grain and grass is there?" This is also a key question. Although Li Yanqing knows that there are 400,000 shi of grain recorded in the account, Li Yanqing is more concerned about the actual amount.

   "After the actual inventory, there are 450,000 shi of grain, of which 50,000 shi is grain in private warehouses, temporarily stored here, and 300,000 dan of forage, which is basically the same as the account."

  With money in hand, the army will not be chaotic, with food in hand, there will be no panic in the heart, and with the guarantee of money and food, Li Yanqing will not be so nervous about the war supplies such as armor, kerosene, and firearms.

  However, Li Yanqing still has a big regret, that is, there is no gunpowder stock in the Taiyuan warehouse, not even the raw materials of gunpowder, and all of them are shipped to Yanshan Mansion.

   Coming out of Cangcheng, Li Yanqing asked Liu Kai, who was inspecting Cangcheng together, "How long will it take to move the money, food and materials into the city?"

   "Report to Dutong, we are mobilizing the whole city to help. If we add tens of thousands of new recruits to help, we are confident that we can move all the supplies and food into the city within three days."

  Li Yanqing nodded and asked again: "Is there enough space for the military camp in the city?"

   "The barracks alone is definitely not enough, but there are a lot of vacant houses in the city. The humble staff requisitioned all the 30 vacant houses near the barracks, demolished the courtyard walls and connected them together, which is basically enough."

Li Yanqing thought for a while and said: "The recruits need to hurry up to train, and we should ask the common people to help with the transportation. I see that there are a lot of girders that have been demolished in the warehouse of the Ordnance Institute. They can be used to make a lot of simple big sleds, which are very convenient for carrying food. practical."

   "What all said makes sense, and the humble job will be implemented as soon as possible."

   When approaching the west gate, Liu Kai said goodbye, and hurried to implement the recruitment of common people and making simple sleds, while Li Yanqing returned to the military office in the city.

  When passing by the west city gate, only the city gate was full of long lines. There were five lines in total, and each line was at least one mile long. According to visual estimates, at least more than 10,000 people signed up to join the army here.

The registration point is located just outside the West City Gate. This is one of the four registration points in the city. A general will lead 300 soldiers to be responsible for the registration matters here, and more than a dozen young scribes are invited to be responsible for the registration. The registration process is very simple , First, visual inspection, looking at age, height, weight, as long as you are not old, weak, sick, and disabled, you can pass the visual inspection. The second is a simple physical fitness test. If you pass the test, you can register to join the army.

The physical fitness test is also very simple. The thirty-pound stone lock is lifted five times over the head, and then run for two miles and back and forth. Generally, anyone who works a little can pass the test. A stone lock weighing more than 100 kg is really no problem for ordinary people.

  At this time, more than 50 men who were testing running were running wildly, and ran across the finish line in one breath, but there were three young men running out of breath behind them, and almost collapsed on the ground when they ran through the finish line.

  The general in charge of recruitment immediately lowered his face and said: "These three are eliminated, and the rest can go to register!"

  The three hurriedly pleaded, "General, please be accommodating!"

  You Dutong stood by, and it was useless for the three of them to plead for mercy. The general said resolutely: "Of course not, your physical strength is too weak, and you are not qualified to be a soldier at all."

  At this time, Li Yanqing stepped forward and explained with a smile: "This general is doing it for your own good. If you are weak in physical strength, you will be the first to die in battle."

   "We are all scholars, and we usually do less exercise. As long as we do a little training, we can improve our physique."

  Li Yanqing shook his head, "Scholars are not like you!"

"We are students of the original Taiyuan government school. After the dissolution of the Taiyuan government school, we have been unable to find a job and have to support our family. We have to copy books for others. The life is really embarrassing. We have nothing to do. Soldiers."

Li Yanqing thought for a while and said: "Since you are a student of the government school, you can do other things, you don't have to be a soldier, how about this! The warehouse is recruiting people to keep accounts, you can try it, if the assessment Through it, you can also earn money to support your family.”

  The three of them hesitated, and the leading man asked cautiously: "May I ask this general, if he manages the warehouse, will he be able to get a military quota for the Jingzhao Prefecture School?"

  It was only then that Li Yanqing understood their real purpose. It turned out that they wanted to take a shortcut to study in Jingzhao Mansion.

  Li Yanqing did not expose them, so he said coldly: "You can support your family, and you can also apply for a place in a university as a civilian in the army, but there are conditions. You must stay in the army for at least two years!"

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end