A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

That makes sense.

Just as the shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief, Li Huai kicked him to the ground.

"Men, send all the men in his family to the front lines to repair the roads. Seal the Cui family's grain storehouse and confiscate all grain carts. Anyone who mentions scheduling again will be sent to the soup kitchen in Golden City to queue with the starving dead."

After this incident, the prominent families of the capital fell into complete silence.

But Li Huai's knife was faster.

Some officials secretly conspired, saying that the military merit system was corrupting ancestral rules, and Li Huai arrested twelve people that very night.

If a temple or monastery fails to report the hidden land, and the abbot uses Buddhist teachings to intimidate people, Li Huai slams the land register onto the incense table.

"If Buddha needs land, let him come to me. You go to jail first."

A former official wrote a lengthy memorial denouncing the new emperor for establishing the country through murder and disrupting the social order.

Li Huai only wrote four words in his comments after reading it.

"Exiled to the army."

The former official fainted on the spot.

Li Huai watched the people being dragged away, but felt no emotion whatsoever.

Reasoning?

can.

We'll talk about it slowly after the millions of refugees in Golden City have eaten their fill, after the soldiers on the front lines have received their reward lands, and after people like Luo Shao have dug out all the silver from their cellars.

Now, whoever opposes the military merit system is blocking the blade of the new military system.

The person who took the blow can be killed.

When Su Qingyun slammed the third batch of military registers onto the table, the accountant's hands trembled.

"How many?"

The accountant swallowed hard.

"Reporting to Madam, the total number of people registered in the capital, Weinan, and Huangjincheng who wish to join the Xinwu Army is over 1,576,000."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Even Li Huai was stunned.

He was sitting by the door with his knife in his hand, waiting for some ignorant aristocratic family to jump out so he could take advantage of them.

Upon hearing the number, the fat on his face twitched.

"One and a half million?"

Su Qingyun pressed her fingers on the booklet page, but did not smile immediately.

Too much.

It's not a pleasant surprise, it's a hassle.

The fact that 1.5 million people were willing to risk their lives for land demonstrates that military merit has been achieved.

But it also shows that there are more people in this world who have been driven to a dead end than she thought.

If they weren't desperate to survive, who would be willing to risk their life on the battlefield?

She felt a tightness in her chest, but she couldn't show it.

If she were to frown even slightly at this moment, those below would assume that the imperial court had regretted its decision.

The most crucial thing the Xinwu Dynasty could not afford to lose was this message.

"Continue logging in."

Su Qingyun looked up, her voice steady.

The accountant nodded quickly.

Outside the South Gate, the conscription tents stretched all the way to the end of the street.

A boy of about seventeen or eighteen rolled up his sleeves, revealing his thin, bluish arms.

"Sir, I can draw a bow."

The registering officer glanced at him.

"pull."

The boy gritted his teeth, pulled the hard bow halfway open, and his face turned red.

Someone nearby laughed.

"You call this drawing a bow? Go back and hold your child!"

The boy's face flushed red, but he didn't loosen his grip.

The bowstring is drawn back little by little.

With a final snap, the arrow flew out and landed beside the target.

It's very crooked.

But the officer did not laugh.

He made a note of it in the register.

"You may join the archer camp and undergo half a month of training."

The boy was stunned.

"Really accepting?"

The officer looked up.

"Didn't you want the land?"

The boy's eyes immediately reddened.

"want."

His voice was hoarse.

"My father starved to death in Qingzhou, and my mother is in a soup kitchen in Huangjincheng. I want land, I want my mother to have a place to bury my father."

The people in line behind them fell silent for a moment.

Someone lowered their head and wiped their face.

Someone clenched their fist.

No one laughed anymore.

Su Qingyun stood by the carriage in the distance, watching this scene, and the tightness in her heart slowly turned into a hard feeling.

She finally understood why Fang Fuyao's words were right.

A tyrant is not someone who gives knives to the poor.

They are the kind of people who drive the poor to the point where they don't even have a knife, and then criticize them for being chaotic.

Fang Fuyao walked over from the other side of the carriage, dressed in clean white, holding a draft order in her hand.

"Military law should also be promoted simultaneously."

Su Qingyun took it and glanced at it.

"The new army must not disturb the people before they have rendered meritorious service; anyone who steals even a single coin will be executed. Military merits cannot be bought or sold, nor can they be claimed on behalf of others. The military merits of those who die in battle belong to their wives and children; if they have no wives or children, they belong to their parents."

She looked up.

"You wrote something really sharp."

Fang Fuyao remained indifferent.

"If we're not ruthless, the military merit system will fall apart."

Su Qingyun did not refute.

She knows how to keep accounts.

The larger the system, the more it fears corruption among its subordinates. Once someone can buy military merits, claim credit for military achievements, or seize the land of those who died in battle, the anger of these 1.5 million people will turn against the court.

At that time, even without Han Dashan's intervention, Xinwu itself fell into chaos.

"I will have the accountant create a separate record of achievements."

Su Qingyun said.

"Verify the military register, household register, and merit register. Li Huai is in charge of killing people, you are in charge of regulations, and I am in charge of money and provisions."

Fang Fuyao nodded.

"Is half a month enough?"

Su Qingyun looked towards the conscription shed in the distance.

Is it enough?

Of course not.

What kind of battle-hardened soldiers can be trained in half a month?

It would be quite good if they could form ranks, listen to the drums, and handle guns without shooting their own people.

But Wei Zhao could not rise in Guiping.

Han Dashan and Zhou Laodao joined forces at Chenqiao, Du Heng retreated to Huainan, Qin Lie observed the situation, Ma Chengyi guarded the mine, and Xu Zhongmou blocked the grain route.

All the rebel kings were waiting for the new Wu dynasty to show signs of fatigue.

They thought Wei Zhao's troops were insufficient.

Then let's show it to them.

One and a half million new soldiers.

Even just 1.5 million unsharpened guns would be enough to keep those rebel kings up at night.

"enough."

Su Qingyun closed the order.

"First let them know why they're fighting, then they can practice the rest on the way."

On the drill ground, Xiao Guanyin was scolding a group of new recruits so badly they couldn't lift their heads.

"Raise the shield!"

She kicked a strong young man in the shin.

"If you go into battle like that, the first volley of arrows will pin you to the ground. The enemy won't miss an inch just because you're poor!"

The young man, his face covered in dust from the fall, got up and continued to hold up his shield.

Xiao Guanyin frowned.

She had seen grassland tribes train their troops, and she had also seen the Xianyuan cavalry fight for cattle, sheep, water, grass, and their tribes.

But these people in front of me are different.

They're stupid.

The movements are slow.

Queuing crookedly.

Some people can't even tell left from right.

But they didn't back down after being beaten.

The insults won't disperse them.

If you fall, get up.

The military officer had just hung the merit plaque on the wooden frame, with a line of text written next to it.

For each enemy soldier killed, three mu of land will be awarded.

Three mu of land.

For aristocratic families, even stables are not enough.

But for these people, it's fate.

Tuoba Yue stood on the other side, supporting her waist, her face pale, but she refused to sit down.

The female soldier beside her said urgently, "Madam, you're feeling unwell, you should rest."

Tuoba Yue waved his hand.

"I'm fine."

She watched a group of new recruits practicing with spears and suddenly shouted.

"Don't let your spear tip drift! If you encounter cavalry in the mountains, and your spear tip drifts, both the rider and the horse will trample you!"

The new recruits quickly adjusted.

Tuoba Yue touched her belly, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

She is a Western Qiang person.

Even after marrying into the Wei family and fighting so many battles with Wei Zhao, there were still people in the capital who looked at her with suspicion.

She used to hate that kind of look.

Now I don't even have time to hate anymore.

Because these new soldiers looked at her with very simple eyes.

Whoever teaches them how to live is one of us.

Xiao Guanyin and Tuoba Yue felt terrified when they were helping to train the new recruits.

It's not that it's scary now, it's that it will be scary later.

Once these men have seen blood and truly obtained land, they will become Wei Zhao's toughest soldiers.

Because they weren't fighting for the emperor.

They are fighting for themselves.