In the Changjia village, Zhang Cheng, after listening to the words of the old man Chang Tianshun, turned to the young men and asked: "Listen, although it is difficult in the army, it is not as comfortable as in this village, nor is it more severe.
Military regulations and orders require you to abide by them, can you abide by them?"
"Keep it!"
"Furthermore, I am very strict under my command. I especially require my subordinates to be loyal, courageous, and obey orders and prohibitions. Can you do that?"
“It can be done!”
"Okay, from now on, you and I will be my general's personal bodyguard. We will all go back to say goodbye to our elders at home. At the end of the day, we will gather in front of the mountain hall!"
After saying that, Zhang Cheng shouted to Chen Zhong: "Chen Zhong, these people are handed over to you, prepare to register them! Oh, by the way, each person will be given three taels of silver to recruit soldiers, don't forget it."
After everyone dispersed, Zhang Cheng and Chang Tianshun walked side by side to the mountain hall for breakfast. On the way, he said to Chang Tianshun: "Sun Dashan and Zhao Shihu are guarding the north and south ends of the valley in the west. They are both ours."
Under my command, if anything happens in this village from now on, you can go to them to resolve it."
…………
In fact, Changjiazhai is not isolated from the world. They just strictly guard their own village and do not frequently move around with other bandit villages. However, they frequently move around with Mayukou Fort in the north.
This is understandable, after all, people in Changjiazhai also have to live, buy many daily necessities, and sell their hunting income, so they naturally find these large forts for transactions.
Over time, there were some regular patrons in Mayukou Fort, and some old friends were made. These people also became the source of news for Changjiazhai.
They were originally deserters from the Jizhou mutiny and hid in this valley because they were afraid of being hunted down. Now more than forty years have passed since this happened. Few people mention what happened back then, and even fewer people still remember it.
Especially now that the world is in chaos, the younger generation has been practicing bow hunting and hunting since childhood, and they are confident in their abilities and do not want to hide in the valley.
For Zhang Cheng, they originally only knew about his deeds as King Qin. Yesterday, Chang Zhengbiao and others stayed with Liu Jinhai and his gang all night long, listening to him tell about his various experiences and bloody scenes.
These young strong men were all yearning and eager to try, especially when Chang Zhengbiao challenged Liu Jinhai. No matter how he attacked, Liu Jinhai easily defused it.
Chang Zhengbiao saw the capabilities of a real veteran soldier, but it also inspired Chang Zhengbiao's determination to refuse to admit defeat. That's why he forced himself into the hall during the banquet yesterday and begged to join Zhang Cheng's army.
But after the news about Zhang Cheng recruiting Chang Zhengbiao and the others into the army spread, all the young men in the village couldn't hold back their anger. Just last night, they all joined together, asking first for their parents and then for the old village master.
Chang Tianshun.
So, there was the scene just now!
…………
After breakfast, Old Man Chang accompanied Zhang Cheng and others to wander around the village for a while, waiting for the young men to gather.
Chen Zhong had registered them at this time. Including Chang Zhengxiong and Chang Zhengbiao, there were a total of twenty-four young men who were going to join Zhang Cheng's army. This should be his biggest gain from this trip.
These people are all skilled in bow hunting, and they can already cooperate very well with each other in hunting. Hunting not only requires coordination, but also disguise, and also requires high archery skills. They do not need to practice in this aspect, it is a natural skill.
Most of them can ride, and a few of them can even ride and shoot. They are all good soldiers. As long as they are trained well, they will soon develop combat effectiveness.
Therefore, Zhang Chengcai placed them in the escort team and trained them with Liu Jinhai, Li Changsheng and other veterans. Firstly, they could replenish his own escort team, and secondly, they could stay with him so that he could observe them carefully and cultivate their loyalty.
Spend.
During the chat, Zhang Cheng asked Chang Tianshun for another five kilograms of soju, so he chatted for a while about soju-related matters.
At this time, almost all the products in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty were rice wine, mostly rice wine, and very few high-strength liquors like distilled liquor. Zhang Cheng not only liked the taste of this kind of shochu, but also because he planned to popularize this kind of shochu in the army.
, used for debriding the wounded on the battlefield.
Although it is still not as effective as the 75% medical alcohol used in later generations for disinfection and infection prevention, it is still better than nothing.
Moreover, if the craftsmen were asked to study it carefully and increase the temperature by ten more to produce a 70-proof spirit, it would not be impossible. Zhang Cheng estimated that the bacteria of this era would not be able to use 70-degree spirit.
Almost killable.
Old man Chang Tianshun was also very generous. When Zhang Cheng asked for five kilograms, he directly gave away ten kilograms. In fact, this is not stingy. Ten kilograms of shochu is nothing, but the output of Changjiazhai's COFCO grains is also limited, and it is burned every year.
There isn't much spirit made, and it's rare to be able to produce ten kilograms.
…………
In the middle of the morning, in the square in front of Changjiazhai Mountain Hall,
The twenty-four young men had gathered together. Chang Zhengxiong and Chang Zhengbiao stood in front of the crowd, and the other twenty-two strong men lined up behind them.
Their families and relatives were standing around, with faces full of reluctance. In the past, large-scale hunts were organized in the village, and the young and strong people would go into the mountains together, sometimes taking several days or even ten days before returning.
But there is still hope. Now these young men are following Zhang Cheng. Once they leave the village, they really don't know when they can return. Fortunately, Zhang Cheng gave each of them three taels of silver.
They also left all the money to their families. At least in the near future, their families will not be in embarrassment because of the departure of their strong men.
Among them, only four people, Chang Zhengxiong, Chang Zhengbiao, Chang Zhengfei, and Chang Zhengcheng, were holding horses. Zhang Cheng ordered Chen Zhong to personally inspect the horses. Chang Zhengfei and Chang Zhengcheng's horses were not considered war horses, while Chang Zhengcheng's horses were not considered war horses.
Xiong and Chang Zhengbiao's horses are barely qualified, but they still need some training.
He then ordered Chang Zhengfei and Chang Zhengcheng to keep the horses they were holding, and ordered Chen Zhong to select another twenty-two horses from the escort and distribute them to the young men in front of the mountain hall.
Zhang Cheng divided the new sergeants recruited from Changjiazhai into two teams, each with 12 people. Chang Zhengxiong and Chang Zhengbiao served as team officers respectively, and they were all under the command of Chen Zhong, a member of the Qianhu Guards Corps.
Seeing that everything was done, Zhang Cheng assisted Sun Dashan and Zhao Shihu bid farewell to old man Chang Tianshun. The group left Changjiazhai and separated the north and south sides and went their separate ways.
Sun Dashan returned to Tietou Valley with ten guards, while Zhang Cheng, Chen Zhong, and Zhao Shihu rode their horses north toward Muzhajian Village.
Later, Liu Jinhai led the team's ten elite cavalry to mix with Chang Zhengxiong's twelve cavalry, instructing them how to march separately and explaining the meaning of some military gestures and military orders.
On the other side, Li Changsheng is also ordinary. The ten elite knights in his team are responsible for training the twelve knights in Chang Zhengbiao's team.
This almost one-by-one training method is suitable for the new sergeants recruited by Changjiazhai. Their personal skills are very good. Although there are differences among individuals, their foundation is very good.
This hand-in-hand, one-by-one approach can bring them up as quickly as possible.