Fu Shanhe

Chapter 54 Army Expansion
After the pardon document was issued, Li Mu's residence suddenly became lively, with guests coming to visit in an endless stream.

In the past, everyone only knew through channels that a powerful captain had come to Yangzhou City, but they did not know the specific situation.

After witnessing his energy with their own eyes, everyone suddenly became enthusiastic.

Even if you are not involved in the rebellion, one more friend means one more way out. No one can guarantee whether it will be useful one day in the future.

The gentry not only organized young and strong people and raised money and food, but also gave him a generous gift out of gratitude, which he had no choice but to accept.

This made Li Mu feel a little embarrassed, and he even doubted whether the price he asked for before was too high.

He himself was well aware of the fact that he was considered to have great powers in the eyes of the outside world. The fact that things could proceed smoothly was purely due to the circumstances.

As an imperial envoy, Marquis Wuyang needed to maintain aloof status and it was inconvenient for him to have direct contact with the gentry, which gave him the opportunity to perform.

It's a beautiful misunderstanding that cannot be explained to others.

Judging from the information on the surface, he does have a good relationship with Marquis Wuyang, can also have a say in the Imperial Household Department, and is a member of the noble group.

Apart from a weak network of contacts within the civil service group, he basically has no shortcomings.

The last shortcoming cannot be made up, and perfect people are not allowed to appear in the officialdom.

If you want to be in a high position, you must find your own position. It is difficult to gain support by crossing multiple political groups at the same time.

……

“Sir, with the cooperation of the gentry, the recruitment of young and strong men has been completed in excess.

A total of 21,326 young and strong people were recruited this time, and 42,652 taels of resettlement allowance were distributed.

Fifteen thousand of them have already entered the camp, and the rest will not arrive until tomorrow because the journey is a bit far.

The biggest problem now is that Yangzhou’s arsenal is empty, weapons and equipment are scarce, and there is a serious shortage of city defense equipment.

Among the newly recruited young and strong men, only a few brought their own bows and arrows, and seven or eight out of ten lacked equipment.

According to your instructions, we have organized blacksmiths to forge weapons. However, there are only a limited number of blacksmiths in the city, and the government-run iron inventory is not much, so the output is very limited. "

After listening to the report from his master, Li Mu nodded slightly.

The conscription of soldiers in feudal dynasties was not as precise as that in later generations.

In order to ensure that there are enough 20,000 young and strong people, we must add more people when recruiting.

In case of any accidents or losses during training, the vacancies can be filled immediately.

For ordinary people, being recruited to defend the city was like the sky falling down.

Usually this kind of work is done for free, and the more demanding ones are required to bring their own dry food.

The reason why they were able to get the two taels of resettlement allowance, apart from Li Mu's efforts, was mainly because everyone was unsure.

When the rebels captured the county town, the militiamen defending the city were overwhelmed and a mutiny broke out on the battlefield.

We caught enough fish on this trip to Yangzhou, and everyone cherished their lives.

With previous experience in mind, everyone unanimously decided to show their generous side when dealing with the young and strong men who were recruited.

Anyway, it's the court's money, so there's no need to be so stingy.

The shortage of weapons is inevitable, but if the weapons and armor are complete, that would be the biggest problem.

In peacetime, storing enough weapons and armor to arm 20,000 troops in local arsenals is simply encouraging separatist regimes.

Not to mention civilians, most weapons are prohibited from private ownership. Even if you have a collection at home, you dare not take it out.

“Well done. Send someone to inform Marquis Wuyang that the conscription has been completed and let him decide on the allocation of troops.

Forget it, I'll go and talk about this myself.

Wu Da Ge, take your men over here and select soldiers immediately. First, fill my personal guard with 300 men!"

Li Mu immediately gave the order.

Workplace experience: If you want to get closer to your superiors, you should ask for instructions and report more often.

He had to run around and make himself familiar with other people, so that he could get some benefits. Besides, he did not go there empty-handed. The gifts sent by the Yangzhou gentry included one for Marquis Wuyang.

Li Mu dared not embezzle his boss's money. Even if he wanted to deduct it, he would only deduct the money from the Jinyiwei of the East Factory.

The two parties are unable to sit down together to reconcile accounts, and the specific amount to be paid depends entirely on the development of the situation.

If the nobles and relatives of the emperor are strong enough and have the dominant power on the issue of Yangzhou, they can just encourage Marquis Wuyang to come forward and say hello.

As for the emperor's pardon decree, it was purely a lie. At Li Mu's current level, he was not qualified to talk to Emperor Tianyuan.

At most, he could say a few nice words in the memorial to the emperor.

Li Mu didn't need to pay special attention to such matters. With the generous gifts prepared by the gentry of Yangzhou, it was enough to make Wuyang Hou treat him specially.

Compared with relying on connections, Li Mu paid more attention to expanding his own direct forces.

As a military general, he only had thirty servants around him, which made him feel very insecure during wartime.

When we were in the capital, the special situation made it inconvenient to expand the team. Now that we are in the defense of Yangzhou, the situation is different.

He chose to expand his direct lineage to three hundred because when he left Hanzhong, he only brought thirty servants with him.

Even though these people were trained as grassroots officers, they had never led troops before. If too many people were added, it would be impossible to manage them.

Deep down, Li Mu had already made up his mind to expand his family's servants to 100 people after the war.

If he is successfully promoted and sent to a local post, the team of servants can be further expanded.

Li Mu was actually envious of the generals in the Nine Frontiers who had thousands of servants.

With that much wealth, why would he defend Yangzhou City? He could just lead his troops to fight and suppress the rebels, which would be easy.

"As ordered!"

Wu Da answered first.

After saying that, he ran out in a hurry, as if he would miss the good seedlings if he went too late.

This is Li Mu's fault. When he was training his servants, he painted too many promises in order to get them to study hard.

This made all the soldiers under his command dream of becoming a general.

"Sir, Captain Wu is really impatient!"

Lan Linjie complained with a smile.

After following Li Mu for a few months, he became familiar with the group of servants and had a preliminary understanding of each other.

They are all very straightforward and don't know how to flatter others.

He seemed to be a different creature from the other servants he had seen.

"Ha ha!
This fool has always been impatient.

If Mr. Lan has time, he might as well help me train it.

They are all semi-illiterate. If I hadn’t forced them to do so, they probably wouldn’t even be able to write their own names.”

After hearing what Li Mu said, Lan Linjie regretted it instantly.

He had seen this group of people studying, and the scene was truly disgusting.

But a few days ago, I owed a favor to a big guy because of something happened to my classmate and it was really inconvenient to refuse.

"Don't worry, sir. After this war is over, I will introduce a gentleman to them!"

Lan Linjie decisively chose to let his friend die rather than himself.

There are so many down-and-out scholars, and there will always be someone who will bow down for five stone of rice.

Pick someone who has a strong ability to withstand stress, and he won’t be angry to death.

(End of this chapter)