When Gu Changwei heard that Ma Cheng was going to the private camp in person, he quickly persuaded him: "Second Master, who is needed to ask Inspection Inspection Lu to find him, and the second master doesn't have to go there in person. Tens of thousands of people in this private camp, what if there is any danger, how can the old lady explain?"

Gu Changwei's worries are not without reason. Gu Changwei is not a young man in his twenties. He is already forty and has never experienced anything. The private camp now looks calm, but tens of thousands of people gather together and it is easy for a camp to roar. If Ma Cheng really has a good life, Gu Changwei won't have to live.

Although Gu Changwei tried every means to persuade Ma Cheng, he was determined to go. In addition to selecting the labor force of the sugar factory, Ma Cheng also had to choose a team of personal soldiers when he came out this time. Now it is only one year and one month before the battle in May next year, so it would be impossible not to prepare early.

Ma Cheng glared at the eyes and cursed: "Second Master, I'm not afraid, why are you still afraid of getting on? Xu Dahu, are you afraid?"

Xu Dahu was in his twenties, and he was just as afraid of heaven and earth. He heard Ma Cheng ask and smiled: "Second Master, Dahu crawled out of the dead people in Guizhou. How can he be afraid of these corpses falling? Don't worry, your safety is covered by Dahu!"

Xu Dahu came out today without wearing armor, but with weapons, the other ten people dressed up like this, saying that they could ensure Ma Cheng's safety.

Ma Cheng nodded and said to Gu Changwei: "How is it, Gu San leads the way!"

Gu Changwei had no choice but to pull Lu Zhong over and whisper: "Inspector Lu, this second master is the legitimate son of the governor. If something happens to you on your land, don't take it anymore!"

When Lu Zhong heard Gu Changwei say this, he quickly promised that there would be no problems. After Lu Zhong said that, he even transferred all his subordinates, and 200 people came out to protect Ma Cheng's safety.

When Lu Zhong's 200 Inspection Office came out to line up, Ma Cheng frowned. This inspection office was no different from those who were about to die. The only thing better than the refugees was that his expression was better, and he could probably have a bite of food.

There are two hundred soldiers in the inspection department, all of whom are old and young. The oldest is seventy years old, and the youngest is less than twelve years old. Even standing there is not as tall as the spear in his hand.

Ma Cheng frowned and asked Xu Dahu beside him in a low voice: "Dahu, are all the soldiers in your garrison like this?"

Xu Dahu looked at the soldiers with contempt, and then said, "Second Master, the border army is much better than these peasants. These guys are deep inland and probably have never fought any wars. It is good to be able to stand in the team!"

Xu Dahu was right. He was born in Guizhou to recruit soldiers, so he naturally looked down on these military households. You should know that the only army with combat effectiveness in the late Ming Dynasty was Guanning Iron Cavalry, and the other was Qin Liangyu's Baigang Soldier. Baigang Soldier was a mountain elite soldier who could compete with the Eight Banners of Manchuria head-on, and Baigang Soldiers were from Yunnan and Guizhou, so Xu Dahu, who was also from Guizhou, still had a little proud capital.

"Dahu, what are the soldiers of Gao Jie like? How do you compare with these military households?" Ma Cheng is now anxious to know the combat effectiveness of the Ming army. After all, in history, the four towns in Jiangbei surrendered to the Qing Dynasty without fighting in a single battle.

When Ma Cheng mentioned Gao Jie and Xu Dahu, he said in admiration: "General Gao's personal soldiers are very powerful, but he has never seen the soldiers under his command before. He probably is better than these military households no matter what," he said.

Ma Cheng felt a little clear-headed when he heard Xu Dahu say this. Gao Jie was the strongest among the four towns in Jiangbei. Of course, it was not the most soldiers, but the soldiers were the most capable of fighting. At the same time, Gao Jie was also very loyal to the Ming Dynasty. If he had not been killed by the traitor Xu Dingguo's plan, Dorgon might not have been able to conquer Yangzhou. After all, Gao Jie's generals Li Benshen and Li Chengdong were all famous generals.

After hearing Xu Dahu's words, Ma Cheng felt that he could do something in the future to prevent Gao Jie from dying early, so that Shi Kefa would not lose Yangzhou in one day, and Nanjing would not simply open the city and surrender.

Ma Cheng was thinking about his own thoughts, and Lu Zhong led two hundred soldiers to protect Ma Cheng in the middle and slowly approached the refugee camp.

When he arrived at the side of the refugee camp, Ma Cheng discovered that although it was called the refugee camp, there was no size of the camp at all. Except for some shantytowns in the middle, a large number of other refugees lived in the open air on the Huaihe River embankment.

Some refugees who are able to work can also dig a hole on the ground. When the weather is cold at night, they can get in to avoid the cold. Other refugees who are incapable can only lie on the dam to resist. As for the freezing to death, they will have their own destiny.

Ma Cheng saw many people lying on the embankment without moving, even if their horses come over, they lie down and don’t know what they are doing. Are they not afraid of being trampled to death by horses?

Gu Changwei knew what was going on and scolded the inspector Lu Zhong around him: "How can you do this? Why don't you take care of these bodies? You're not moving these bodies out of the way!"

When Ma Cheng heard Gu Changwei say this, he realized that these people were not unwilling to move, but dead people. Seeing the soldiers of the inspection department carrying these thin dead people away, Ma Cheng was really touched.

Ma Cheng came from a later generation with a wealthy life. Although Ma Cheng was born in the countryside and had poor living conditions, he had no worries about food and clothing after all. Ma Cheng had never seen such a person who died of cold and starvation.

Ma Cheng sighed in his heart: It seems that Yuan Longping is the great hero of China. If it weren't for him, I really wouldn't know what the 1.3 billion people would eat!

Lu Zhong's team slowly came to the periphery of the refugee camp. At this time, a group of people came out of the refugee camp and knelt down on their knees in front of Lu Zhong to salute. Ma Cheng was far away and couldn't hear what they were saying, so he quickly asked Gu Changwei: "Gu San, who are these guys?"

Gu Changwei was so sophisticated, looked ahead and said, "Second Master, this is the manager of the private camp. Generally, they choose strong and powerful people among the private camps. They are responsible for managing the daily affairs in the camp, including the government's porridge dressing shed! These guys are not good things!"

At this time, Lu Zhong brought a man to Ma Cheng. This man was in his thirties and had a bad head and a mouse-eyed look, but his face was much better than those refugees. He probably deducted the food of these poor people a lot.

Lu Zhong pointed to the guy in front of him and said, "Yanei, this is the Confucius who manages this private camp. If you have any instructions from Yanei, just ask him to do it!"

Ma Cheng looked at the annoying guy, then covered his nose and said, "Second Master, I'm going to pick 130 laborers today. Each person can give him five cents of silver, but he must sign a death contract!"

Death contract is a form of employment in the Ming Dynasty, that is, your life and life will belong to the master's family in the future, regardless of life or death.

After hearing Ma Cheng's words, Kongmu's eyes lit up. Each person had five cents of silver, and one hundred and thirty people had sixty-five taels of silver, which was a big income.

The Kongmu quickly kowtowed and said, "This is fine. What are the needs of the uncle? Should he need a woman of appropriate age or a child? Or a strong labor force?"

Ma Cheng thought for a while and said, "I want thirty craftsmen, preferably blacksmiths. If there are no blacksmiths and other craftsmen, it's fine. The remaining 100 people will have strong laborers around twenty years old! By the way, they all need men!"

Thirty people were prepared for the sugar factory, and the one hundred people were the personal soldiers prepared by Ma Cheng for himself.

Kongmu did not dare to neglect Ma Cheng's orders, so he quickly rushed into the private camp with his own gangs. After a storm, more than a thousand people rushed out.

The Kongmu smiled and said, "Uncle, these are the strongest men in the camp. Please choose them!"

Ma Cheng covered his nose with a handkerchief. The more than a thousand refugees gathered together and smelled very bad. Ma Cheng came to them and looked at it. They were all strong laborers in their twenties, but they were hungry and thin, with their eyes dark.

Ma Cheng casually selected strong men while walking. The selected people were gathered together, and soon Ma Cheng finished selecting 100 people.

Of course, Ma Cheng did not choose randomly, but based on the height, body shape, personality of the young man. Height must be about 1.65 meters, preferably 1.7 meters. Fortunately, most of the refugees in Fengyang are from Shandong and Henan. Northerners are originally tall, so they are all qualified in height.

It is difficult to deal with body shape. Everyone is a refugee and has no meal after eating. Everyone is hungry and thin, so it is difficult to see how the body shape is. However, Ma Cheng looks at his hands and feet. As long as he has big hands and feet, he keeps all the big hands and feet. According to Ma Cheng's understanding, his hands can grasp weapons, and his feet can walk as fast as he can.

As for personality, it is the most difficult to deal with, but personality is also the main factor that cannot be avoided when recruiting soldiers. If the recruits are all slick, then they will be a big fight. When the enemy comes, they will surrender directly, so choose the honest and honest personality.

This is mainly about Ma Cheng's eyes and appearance. As the saying goes, a good appearance comes from the heart. Those who grow sharp-mouthed monkey cheeks must not be required. Those with square heads and big faces and firm eyes are almost the same.

In this way, Ma Cheng picked one hundred people, and these hundred people were about 1.7 meters tall. Although they were skinny, they would definitely be heroes after eating for half a month.

After Ma Cheng's troops were selected, the craftsmen on Ma Shun's side had almost been selected. There were not many blacksmiths, only six people, and the rest were carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, etc. The most important one was a gunpowder craftsman, which surprised Ma Cheng.

In the Ming Dynasty, gunpowder was a control material, and all craftsmen who could make gunpowder were managed by the army. Today, one of them can be found in the private camp.

Ma Cheng stepped forward and asked, and found out that the gunpowder craftsman's surname was Wang and was named Wang Lin. He was originally a military householder of Henan Guards and was responsible for making gunpowder for generations. However, in recent years, Henan was very harmful to Li Zicheng. Wang Lin had no choice but to flee to Fengyang with his family.

Over the past hundreds of miles, Wang Lin's wife and several young children died on the way, and now only Wang Lin and his son are alive.

Ma Cheng looked at Wang Lin, who was in his forties and asked, "Your son can make gunpowder?"

Wang Lin knew that there was only one way to die in the refugee camp. He heard the young man in front of him ask, "This master, the villain has been a gunpowder craftsman for generations, and my son Wang Zong inherited the family and was more skilled than the villain!"
Chapter completed!