nanming man

Chapter 34 Recruiting Officers
Historically, Chuangjun did not complete the transformation from bandits to political power until they were driven out of Beijing.

The most obvious difference between the rogues and the government is that the rogues have no stable base and no sustainable source of taxation.

At present, Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, Yuan Shizhong and other giant bandits have more than a million people, so many people want to eat and drink, and have no fixed income, so the only way for them to get money and food is the so-called "robbing the rich and helping the poor".

Because of this policy, every time the army breaks through, officials, gentry, rich and powerful will suffer, and even ordinary people will lose their families.

Since Li Zicheng's uprising, his activities have spread all over the north, and the massacre of the city is indispensable. The only records include the massacre of Qizhou counties in Shaanxi in the seventh year of Chongzhen, and the massacre of Mi County, Xiangcheng, Shangshui, and Fugou in the 14th year of Chongzhen. Huang Chao is no different.

Now that Shangqiu is besieged, the officials and gentry in the city are terrified.Liang Yizhang fled back to Shangqiu in a panic, followed by the Chuang army. Although he organized the young and strong to defend the city, the thieves were so powerful that he thought he would not be able to defend the city, so he came back to say goodbye to his family.

Liang Yizhang was from Qingyuan, Hebei. He came from a famous family. He won the first place in the provincial examination in Chongzhen Jimao and was a Jinshi the next year.It is said that when Chongzhen ordered to test riding and shooting, all Jinshi in the same discipline were scholars and could not ride with their bows open. Only Liang Yizhang jumped on his horse and bent his bow, shooting three arrows in a row.

It's just that although he has some abilities, he can't change the general trend of Henan collapse.

After hearing Liang Yizhang's words, Mrs. Zhang couldn't help but said with tears: "Husband, is there no other way? Mr. Liu can leave, but we can't?"

Liang Yizhang shook his head, "Liu Liangzuo has soldiers in hand, and the imperial court dare not move him. I am a local official and have the duty to guard the land. If I lose ground and flee, the imperial court will definitely kill me. Besides, the bandit soldiers have already besieged the city, and I am one of them." The parents of the land, how can they abandon the people and ignore them."

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhang understood, so she saluted immediately, then retreated inside, called the old servant Yang Village, piled up firewood outside the building, informed the city of the fall, and set fire to the building.

Outside the city of Shangqiu, banners were flying, and there were all over the troops of the Chuang army, and the camp was full of noise.

After Li Guo's troops came to Shangqiu, he was not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, he sent cavalry to continue southward and drove Liu Liangzuo to Nanzhi before preparing to attack Shangqiu.

This time, the army was defeated quickly and suddenly, and what Shangqiu officials didn't expect was that Liu Liangzuo, who had taken a lot of money and food from them, did not enter Shangqiu, but ran directly to Nanzhi.

The officials, gentry, and wealthy people in the city had no chance to escape, so they were besieged in the city by the Chuangjun, and they were beaten miserably by Liu Liangzuo.

In fact, this kind of thing has happened from time to time in recent years.Wu Sangui, Zuo Liangyu, and Liu Liangzuo did not cheat many people, and the governor alone cheated a few people to death.

In recent years, after losing battles, most of these generals have nothing to do, but the civil servants of the supervisors were killed one after another and sent to prison.

Right now, the status of civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty has gradually changed with the advent of troubled times.

Second brother Gao led the troops to the city of Shangqiu, and then went to the village at Fengchikou in the west of the city. Next to him were Li Guo's Houying and Yuan Shizhong's Xiaoyuanying.

Because the Chuangjun cavalry drove Liu Liangzuo out of Guide, Shangqiu was already an isolated city, and there were no men and horses in the city that could pose a threat to the camp, so the camps of the Chuangjun troops were set up more casually.

Brother Gao's current 1000 troops are very chaotic, the reorganization has not been completed, and the command is inconvenient, so camping is also very casual.

On the way from Suishui to Shangqiu, the second brother Gao had already thought about it. After discussing with Wu Shizhao, Zhao Daxian and others, he felt that it was impossible to digest these 1000 people, so the second brother Gao decided to only go through it three times. One brigade, that is, expanded to 337 people, and the others were temporarily organized into miscellaneous soldiers and logistics teams.

But even so, Brother Gao also expanded from 9 sentries to 27 sentries, and the number of soldiers expanded by about three times.

The newly added sentry needs officers, plus the officers needed by the miscellaneous soldiers and the logistics team, the talents under the second brother are still not enough.

It was night, Second Brother Gao was sitting in the tent, Zhao Zhuzi and several other men stood behind him holding their knives.

Not long after, Wu Shizhao raised the curtain and led more than a dozen captured officers and soldiers in.

"Captain, a total of thirteen people have been brought here." Wu Shizhao cupped his hands.

The captaincy of the second brother has not yet been confirmed, but the brothers in the camp have already started calling him captaincy.

Gao Yihuan nodded, asked Wu Shizhao to go aside first, and then glanced at the more than a dozen officers and soldiers who were brought in. They were all strong men in their twenties and thirties.

When they met Gao Yihuan, they didn't cringe like Xiao Yuanying's gang, and their energy and physique were different.

More than a dozen men glanced at Gao Yihuan, then looked at Zhao Zhuzi and others behind him who were holding the handle of the knife, and they looked at each other. The first man led the people behind and bowed down on one knee, "See Captain."

Gao Yihuan observed for a while, and was very satisfied with these people, but they were the army after all, and their families were all in the area controlled by the government. Besides, the Chuang army hadn't swept the north yet, and they were just rogues, so they had no reason to follow the thieves.

Right now, they are only surrendering under the pressure of the situation. Once they have the opportunity, they will definitely flee immediately, and even if they cannot escape, they will not sincerely do anything for him.

Gao Yihuan didn't let these people get up. He looked at more than a dozen Ming soldiers with their heads down, coughed lightly, and said, "I know you don't really surrender, and you all want to go back."

Gao Yihuan paused while talking, and seeing the officers and soldiers below lowered their heads even lower, he knew he had hit their point, so he changed his voice, "But if you want to go back, it's not impossible."

The officers and soldiers below couldn't help being slightly taken aback when they heard the words, the few people in front looked at each other, the leader shook his head slightly, the officers and soldiers still bowed their heads and remained silent, fearing that Gao Yi would deceive them.

Gao Yihuan looked at their expressions and continued: "Today I will get straight to the point with you. You also know that I am expanding my force and need officers. As long as you help me train people for a period of time to meet my requirements, you can perform martial arts again and defeat me. Jiashao, then I will let you go."

Hearing this, several officers and soldiers couldn't help raising their heads. The man at the head should be an officer. He hesitated for a while, and finally asked: "Can you count what the captain said?"

Seeing that he was willing to talk, Gao Yihuan was tempted, and immediately smiled and said: "Naturally, I can do a lot, and during the training period, I will pay you. Recently, I read Qi Shaobao's book and learned that Qi Shaobao is in the south At that time, each soldier was paid 10 taels of annual salary. After arriving in Ji Town in the north, the annual salary for recruits guarding the side wall was increased to 18 taels. You are regarded as military officers here. I will pay you 3 taels a month and 36 taels a year. , what do you think?"

The current situation is special, so Gao Yihuan thinks he is hiring mercenaries, but if he pays these Ming soldiers, his own people have to pay, and he roughly calculated that it would cost him 1000 taels a year just to be an officer. about.

After hearing this, the officers and soldiers below couldn't help raising their heads. They were only captives, but now they can not only get paid, but also have the opportunity to go back, and everyone is moved.

Several officers and soldiers couldn't help looking at the leading man. The man thought for a while. Although he had doubts about Gao Yihuan's words, since it fell into the hands of the other party, he had no choice but to believe in Gao Yihuan.

"Captain, we are willing to serve!" The man immediately saluted first.

Seeing this, Gao Yihuan was quite satisfied, and nodded, "Okay, then you go to rest first, and I will arrange deployment for you."

After several officers and soldiers left, Zhao Zhuzi was a little unhappy and said, "Second brother, 36 taels a year, isn't that cart money gone again, how can we buy food?"

"You don't have to worry, the salary has to be paid every month, so the money can last for a while." Gao Yihuan reassured.

"Captain, in the past we didn't pay, as long as we could get the food. If we pay now, it will cost a lot." Wu Shizhao was a little worried. , but what should I do?"

This is a problem, but Brother Gao has thought about the solution, and that is to give land.But this comes back again, he must have a territory, and to have a territory, he must first have strength, and if he has strength, he needs someone to train the army. He is tantamount to entering a cycle.

"I already have a solution for this." Second Brother Gao reassured him, but he was actually a little anxious. He had to get a piece of land or grab another piece of land before the money ran out...

(Thanks to Wang Weidong for the 999, book friend 160717185612140 for the 200, Liu shr, thief Ah Qi for the reward, the update is late.)
(End of this chapter)