Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 20 New Army
The clerk in the silver shop of Wu Kai's family skillfully picked up a silver ingot of five taels, habitually put it in his hand for a while, smiled with satisfaction, picked up the scissors, and when the scissors were pushed down, a small piece of silver fell out.

Then pick up the scorpion and put the broken silver on the weighing pan, exactly one tael, exactly.

The shopkeeper who was holding the account book next to him glanced at him and nodded in satisfaction. This guy is almost ready to be a teacher.

"Li Jia, the Haimen guard, the supervisor will reward you with a tael of silver!" The shopkeeper's long voice came from Xu Yuan.

A middle-aged man with his upper body bare and only half patched shorts squeezed forward. He was very thin and had a disheveled face.

"Shopkeeper Wu, Li Jia is here."

"Sign and draw." Shopkeeper Wu expressionlessly threw the one tael piece of silver that had just been cut and weighed in front of him.

Li Jia quickly reached out to pick up the silver, not forgetting to pinch it with his nails, and put it in front of his eyes for a closer look.

Shopkeeper Wu impatiently scolded, "These are all high-quality gold flowers and silver that have just been taken out of the Wu family's bank. What the hell are you looking at?"

"Hey, hey." Li Jia didn't mind being scolded. He was delighted after confirming that it was real money. One or two can be exchanged for at least two thousand.Even if you buy rice, you can buy five buckets.

Li Jia pressed his fingerprint on the account book, but did not leave.

"Still waiting for the table to open?" Shopkeeper Wu glared at him.

Li Jia looked at the boxes of silver, "Master Wu, I want to get some more. There is an eighty-year-old mother in my house, and a three-year-old child. Even my grandson is just born, and they are all waiting to eat and drink."

"Who doesn't wait to eat and drink." Being a shopkeeper and a businessman, I have never seen what kind of situation, and my heart has long been numb. "One or two guards, this is a special reward from His Royal Highness Jian Guo, otherwise, you don't even want one or two, it is all money from our Wu family."

"But the guard owes us more than one tael of monthly rations."

"One yard is one yard, you think it's too little? Then don't take this one or two, and go away."

Li Jia quickly grabbed the one or two pieces of silver in his hand. Although the money is small, it can solve the urgent need. In the past two years, the price of food has risen every year, and this year it has risen even more due to the southward movement of the Tartars. Even Haimen, a land of fish and rice, A stone of white rice costs two taels of silver, which is several times the age of Taiping.

Originally, Li Jia worked at the wharf, which was considered a bit of a profit, but as the Tartars went south, there were fewer ships entering and leaving the Haimen Wharf, and fewer merchants hired them.

If you get a tael of silver, you can replace it with some rice and coarse grains and wild vegetables, and it won't last long.

"I want to enlist in the army." Li Jia finally gritted his teeth and said.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, no one wants to be a soldier, especially at this juncture, the Tazi soldiers have occupied Nanjing and Hangzhou. It is too dangerous to be a soldier now, but four generations of a family of more than ten people have to eat and drink.

There is no work at the pier, and there is no field in the guard. How does this family live?

Shopkeeper Wu took a few glances at Li Jia, "It's just your skinny ribs, you are thin and old, do you want to make up for it, go away."

Li Jia gritted his teeth, "Shopkeeper Wu, don't look at me as old. In fact, I'm only 39 this year. It's just that I'm a little older because of the sun and the wind. Don't look at me as thin. I work on the pier every day. I'm very strong. It can carry three hundred catties, and carry two hundred catties and walk dozens of miles without stopping."

"Also, I am also a child of the guard. I have also received military training since I was a child. I have practiced big guns, bows and arrows. Although my martial arts are average, I always have some foundation."

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Some army men who were waiting to receive the money in the back were already urging and shouting impatiently, but Li Jia just stood there and did not leave.

Shopkeeper Wu got annoyed, "Okay, okay, whatever you say, but I'm not in charge of applying for the recruitment, I just pay money, you go over there, see that apricot-yellow flag, it's His Royal Highness Lu's recruiting flag, You used to be, whether you can be hired or not depends on your ability."

Li Jia turned his head and looked over there, and saw that an apricot-yellow flag was erected over there, and there were already people queuing up under the flag, so he tightened his hands and thanked shopkeeper Wu, and hurried to go.

Apricot yellow banner.

Wang Chuangzi borrowed several things from Wu Kai, such as a hard bow, a big knife and a stone lock.

A gong rang.

Wang Chuangzi walked off the field, "This general is Wang Xiang, the guerrilla general of the first battalion of Yongwei, appointed by His Royal Highness Jian Guo. He was formerly the commander of the Yongwei battalion, and now he is ordered to recruit soldiers. As long as he passes the assessment, he will be given two taels of Anjia silver and one more." Two lines of rations, and in the future pay on a monthly basis. The first class is horse soldiers, with a monthly salary of [-] liang, and a monthly ration of three dou. Pay one tael, rice three and so on."

When this condition was made, it caused another sensation on the field.

It's not about how good the conditions are. Qi Jiguang recruited soldiers in eastern Zhejiang back then. The conditions were better than this, and he could reach 18 taels of silver a year.

However, the current situation is turbulent, and it is even more difficult for the people to survive, and it is difficult to make ends meet. If they can successfully apply, at least they can live for the moment and even support their families.

"The assessment is divided into three items, hard bow, broadsword and stone lock. Bows are divided into twelve-strength, ten-strength, and eight-strength bows. There are also number three bows with more than twelve strengths. Candidates choose their own bow numbers. They are limited to three draws. The second time is subject to fullness.

There are three types of swords: 120 catties, [-] catties and [-] catties, and you must be able to wield them freely.

The third item is the lifting stone lock, the number one is three hundred catties..."

Wang Xiang's words disappointed many people who wanted to apply. The conditions were too harsh, and this was the standard for martial arts examinations.

On the steps over there, Wu Kai also said to Zhu Yihai, "This is a test of martial arts, how many can be qualified in a small place like Haimen."

Zhu Yihai just smiled, "It doesn't matter if the conditions are improved, we will be recruited and selected according to the situation. Besides, now we would rather be short than excessive. Wars are not based on numbers. If there are too many soldiers, we can still provide for them."

After Wang Xiang finished talking over there, he immediately picked up the heaviest 120-jin Daguan knife, and even danced with the knife flower. This kind of big knife is the same as the Qinglong Yanyue knife in the Guandi Temple. It is essentially for strength training. Not for combat at all. The 120-jin heavy sword can be lifted a lot, but it needs to be danced, not only because of strength, but also with experience and skills. Wang Xiang is obviously a regular practitioner, and the 120-jin big sword In his hands, the weight is light.

"Wang Guerzilla really deserves to be a titan from the Yongwei Battalion. He is so capable." Wu Kai was a little envious, and he was ashamed of himself. He, the former Haimen general, was mainly obtained by money and connections. He hadn't fought many battles, so he couldn't compare to Wang Chuangzi, the adopted son of Prince Jingguo Huang Degong, who had been through battles for a long time.

Wang Xiang's big knife dance was full of applause, and then he took advantage of the situation and brought up the stone lock to do a more beautiful set of flower work, with the flower lock flying up and down in various tricks.

After he finished practicing a set, no one dared to come up to try it for a long time.

"Applicants who are selected will receive two taels of Anjia silver and one tael of travel food, and they will be handed out directly!"

Wang Chuangzi roared.

Immediately, someone couldn't help but came up to try, but unfortunately, several of them couldn't even draw the most basic eight-strength bow.Zhu Yihai knew that if it were converted, the strength of a bow would be about [-] pounds, and the strength of an eight-strength would be [-] pounds. Zhu Yihai also played with bows and arrows in later generations, and it was usually [-] to [-] pounds.

Of course, the force bow is different from the actual shooting bow.

The power bow is for training strength, not for actual combat, so the actual shooting starts with four or five strength, and the training starts with eight strength, and there are even guys who are born with great strength and can pull sixteen strength.

In actual combat, eight strengths are already considered elite shooters, and five or six strengths are at normal levels.

At this time, it is purely a test of strength, and neither accuracy nor persistence is required. However, several people came up, but they couldn't draw the eight-strength bow to its full capacity.

Wang Xiang had no choice but to ask people to fetch bows of four, five, six or seven strengths, and let them try them one by one.

To recruit soldiers, the most basic thing is to be young and strong. If you don't even have the basic physical strength, what kind of soldiers should you fight?

After trying for a long time, there are very few who can pass the six-strength bow, and the eight-strength ones are even rarer. Most of the two levels of the big knife and the stone lock can't even handle the basic level.

Zhu Yihai looked worried. The physical fitness of the people of Daming was a bit worrying. They were all sallow and thin, and it was rare to see fat people. Moreover, they were generally short in height, obviously malnourished.

"Your Highness, do you want to relax the standard?" Wu Kai asked.

"It's better to be short than excessive, preferably under the age of 30, taller than five feet, without physical disabilities, preferably without night blindness."

After a pause, Zhu Yihai added, "Those who are fair-skinned, quick-moving, and have no scruples when they see the government, don't want them."

This was actually Qi Jiguang’s recruiting criteria back then. Those people were all from the market, they were very slippery, and they would sneak away at critical moments, and even drag other people along to sneak away, so Qi Jiguang’s first choice for recruiting troops was black, big, thick, and solid. people.

Even the Yiwu soldiers he recruited later were a group of miners. These miners were poor and stayed in the mines for many years, so they had great endurance.

Many of the soldiers of Haimen Guards and Haimen Association Battalion are not soldiers anymore, they are dock workers, guards of rich families, servants of landlords, etc. Zhu Yihai actually doesn't want these people.

Honest farmers are more reliable.

Zhu Yihai especially didn't want those young children of guard officers, powerful landlords, merchants and gentry. Fortunately, those people were not willing to let their children take this risk.

Although there were some young people who were more passionate about enlisting in the army, in the end Zhu Yihai personally interviewed them, but let them stay by his side as clerks, attendants, etc. He really needed such people by his side now.

"Your Highness, the silver is shining."

Wang Xiang came to report.

More than 2 taels of silver, and it took half a day to spend all of it.

The rewards for the Haimen Guards and the Haimen Camp were more than 8000 taels. This is because there are a lot of vacancies. Otherwise, there are 600 soldiers in the guards and 8000 soldiers in the co-battalion, which would be [-] taels. Now I sent more than half of it, more than [-] taels.

Then they recruited about 3000 people, one person, two taels of housing expenses and one or two lines of food, and the rest were purchased from merchants for cloth, shoes, hats, and food, which were used up directly, and even fought with merchants. some IOUs.

Zhu Yihai didn't take it seriously, he had to use the money when it was raised, otherwise he would keep the cubs or leave it to the Tartars?
"Three thousand?"

"There are still too few soldiers and horses around Your Highness, so the general has relaxed some recruitment requirements. As long as they are young, strong and clean, they will be recruited. As for those who are not strong enough and not skilled in martial arts, the general thinks that they can be trained and polished later."

Zhu Yihai originally planned to recruit a thousand people, but now he recruited three thousand, which exceeded his expectation.

But today there are too many people who want to take these three taels of silver.

General Wang Peng also wanted to take the opportunity to replenish his troops, otherwise he would bring hundreds of people with him, and this guerrilla was not tough.

After thinking about it, Zhu Yihai agreed, and he couldn't go back on his word and retreat.

"Yongwei First Battalion, Second Battalion, Shenji Battalion, and Haimen Battalion, plus Taizhou Battalion and Jinyiwei, add [-] new recruits each, and you each choose to go."

"Also, the two taels of Anjiayin and one or two lines of grain and silver for each person must be distributed immediately, and no one shall be withheld. After the people are assigned to each battalion, a set of clothes, shoes and socks will be distributed first, and the Haimen guards will replenish weapons here. Make them look like soldiers."

The three thousand recruits were not all sent to the Yongwei Battalion or the Haimen Battalion. They were evenly distributed to his current six troops, which was considered to be as balanced as possible to prevent one family from being dominant.

"Now in summer, we don't need quilts, but tent clothes, shoes and socks are not ready for a while, and weapons are not easy to equip."

"Take your time. Tents and clothes can be rushed to the merchants. If you don't have money, you can pay on credit first. For weapons, you should first mobilize equipment from Taizhou, Haimen, etc., and find a way if they are poor."

Zhu Yihai looked at the yamen that was still crowded with people, "Old Wang, according to the original plan, let your first battalion of brave guards stay to take over the defense of Haimen Weicheng, and I will let Wu Kai's Haimen battalion garrison the guards on the other side of the river." Help defend, we will rush to Shipu early tomorrow morning!"

(End of this chapter)