Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 150 Recruitment
In Hejiang County, Chen Gu did not take care of the affairs of the county government. Rong Zhao ran away, and Rong An of Hejiang also ran away. The person in charge of the county government at this time was actually the acting magistrate sent by Luzhou Prefecture.

An acting magistrate without real power can do nothing at all. Ultimately, Bai Wencheng and Yang Huiyuan still have to negotiate with the major clans in Hejiang.

Faced with Chen Gu's threat, they actually had no room for bargaining. What's more, Chen Gu didn't want much. It would be better to give it to them quickly than for Chen Gu to collect the money himself after killing people.

Although resistance could delay Chen Gu's time, it would cost them their lives, so the choice became very simple.

At this time, Chen Gu was busy with other things in the army, so Lao Nian brought a few people back to Chen Gu.

During this period, Lao Nian has been active outside. In addition to inquiring about the movements of the imperial court, he has also been inquiring about the specific situation of bandits and robbers along the river.

The court was full of corrupt officials, and many people had no way to make a living. They had no choice but to become bandits.

Although there are many ambitious people among these people, many of them are actually good people. Some of the so-called bandits and robbers have never robbed anyone.

Their purpose of going into the mountains and becoming bandits was actually to avoid the heavy taxes of the court and the exploitation of corrupt officials.

However, since they have separated from the imperial court, they are naturally no longer protected by the imperial court, and the imperial court may even wipe them out. Therefore, every stronghold, no matter how big or small, whether they need to rob and loot to survive or farm to survive, will maintain a certain amount of military force.

However, Chen Gu's military force was weak. At least for the entire Sichuan Province, a few thousand people could not rule such a large area, and they could not even maintain sufficient deterrence.

Chen Gu asked Chen Qi to form a joint defense team in Jiangjin, which was actually a way of training troops. However, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. If one wants to increase the number of troops quickly, it is a good idea to recruit bandits and robbers along the way.

Of course, Chen Gu didn't want everyone. Only those strongholds that maintained a good reputation were among those that Chen Gu would recruit.

As for those mountain strongholds that rob and bully men and women on a daily basis, they will only be Chen Gu's targets in the future. It's just that he doesn't have the time to deal with them now.

"This is Zhang Shatou who makes a living on the Chishui River, this is Gang Leader Xu from Hejiang, and this is Village Leader Kang from Yongchuan!" Lao Nian introduced the three people in front of him. As always, none of them had real names. Giving Chen Jue a surname instead of a nickname was already giving Chen Jue face.

The main reason is that it is really difficult to survive in the underworld nowadays, and to put it bluntly, those who survive in the underworld are all poor people at the bottom of society. The arrest by the imperial court is secondary. The most terrible thing is that the local big families are also targeting them.

Does the court know who they are?

But if the local big families knew their names, it would be easy to track them down and catch them. Even if they couldn't catch them themselves, it would be troublesome to catch their relatives and friends.

"Greetings, Master Chen Shan!" The three of them saluted to Chen Gu together.

"Okay, please take a seat, all three of you!" Chen Gu returned the greeting.

Being chosen by Lao Nian to meet Chen Gu shows that they are all quite powerful. Since they greeted him in the martial arts way, Chen Gu also gave them relative respect.

The one that Chen Gu was most interested in among the three was the leader of Kang Village. Chen Gu had learned about this man from Lao Nian a long time ago, and Chen Gu had also asked Lao Nian to send silver to him.

Because this village chief Kang was separated from Liu Er, who had established the village for decades. In order to maintain the vitality of the village, everyone had to leave after five years. And after leaving the village, a considerable number of people chose to return to their old jobs. They re-established the village with the experience they learned from Liu Er, which was much better than other people who knew nothing.

Although starting a business has a high elimination rate, the base is large, and there will always be some people who can persevere and grow stronger.

Among them, the short and strong man, Chief Kang, is the best among them. His stronghold is renewed every ten years, so the hundreds of bandits under his command are not only young and strong, but also more experienced.

Leader Kang was a rampant man in Yongchuan. He managed to hold out despite being besieged many times. He would also retaliate against the big families in Yongchuan and attack their manors outside the city. Once, he even broke into Yongchuan County and looted it.

Chen Gu was sizing him up, and he was also sizing him up. After a while, he laughed and said, "Hahaha, it's God's will that this old man was able to find a treasure like you before he died."

"I think so!" Chen Gu cupped his hands and asked, "Should I call you uncle, senior brother, or elder brother?"

Village Chief Kang thought for a moment, and said with a nostalgic look in his eyes: "The old man has taught me a lot, so I'll just call him Senior Brother!"

"Okay, then I won't be polite. Time is urgent and I don't have that much time to flatter you. I hope to recruit your people and then go west to Chengdu together to do something big. What do you think?" asked Chen Gu.

"What are the conditions?" Village Chief Kang raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "Are you trying to get something for nothing?"

"There are no conditions. I can only provide food and fodder for the westward advance, and I have to ask for it from local government offices and gentry along the way. As for the benefits, that will be after we enter Chengdu. Are you willing or not, please give me a straight answer, senior brother?" Chen Gu made no secret of the fact that he intended to get it for free.

"Attack Chengdu? Are you so sure that you can capture Chengdu?" asked the leader of Kang Village.

"Of course, I have been invincible since I came out of the mountain. More than half a year ago, I was able to lead a hundred brothers from the mountain stronghold to kill Addis with the Tongan warship. Two months ago, I led two hundred brothers to annihilate the five hundred elite battalions led by Delentang.

Not long ago, he led a thousand troops to defeat the 9,000-strong army led by Le Bao in a single battle, killing 4,000 enemies and capturing 4,000 of them, and seized ten red-coated cannons weighing a thousand jin.

Now the whole Sichuan is short of troops, but I am strong in both men and horses. No one can stop me. Chengdu is nothing but meat on the chopping board for me." Chen Gu said with great confidence.

"Since the entire Sichuan province is short of troops, why should I follow you?" Village Chief Kang said with a smile, "Wouldn't it be better for me to conquer the world with my brothers?"

"Of course it would be good to conquer the world by yourself, but the problem is that you may not be able to conquer it. There are no troops stationed in Yongchuan. If it were really that easy to conquer, you wouldn't have waited until now, right?" Chen Gu said with a smile.

The gentry and big families are not pushovers. Chen Gu didn't know much about the situation in Yongchuan, but taking Jiangjin County as an example, the ten major families could not gather nearly a thousand troops, and their military equipment was even better than that of ordinary bandits.

Moreover, the big families are closely connected, and when one family is in trouble, all the other families will join forces. How can they be threatened by a few hundred bandits?

If it were that easy to deal with, Le Bao would not have dispatched 2,000 Green Camp troops to Jiangjin County in advance.

(End of this chapter)