Zhu Nao

Recruitment Office of Chengdu Mansion.

An official yelled loudly: "Applicants come here to line up, prepare your household registration, name, birthday, date of birth, and family status, and you will have to register in a while."

On the way Chen Wu approached the recruiting place, he heard the yelling and thought it was very lively.However, when I got closer, I saw only five or six people sparsely lined up in front of the recruiting booth.After being yelled at by the officials, three or four of the five or six people left, it was so deserted to the point of desolation.

Chen Wu's brows were suddenly frowned.

The official saw Chen Wu and quickly saluted him: "Chen Gongcao."

Chen Wu asked: "How is the recruitment situation?"

The official immediately looked dejected: "Oh! No way, only a dozen people have been recruited from today to now."

"Ten or so?!" Chen Wu choked his chest, "After increasing the military salary, is there still no one to apply?!"

The official said: "The first two days when the military salary was raised, it was effective and recruited about a hundred people. After that, it became less and less day by day, and today it is more than a dozen."

Chen Wu simply didn't know what to say.

After a while, he asked again: "Then just now I saw a few people walking away in line, why? Did they go back on their word?"

"It's possible that they repented." The official said, "It's also possible that they couldn't show their household registration status, so they left after hearing what I yelled."

Chen Wu didn't know about this situation, so he let out an "ah" in surprise.

The official explained: "There are very few ordinary people who are willing to join the army, but those refugees who have lost their livelihoods are more willing to join the army. But they do not meet our recruitment requirements, so there is no way to recruit them!"

Chen Wu frowned and said in thought: "There is such a thing..." After a pause, he asked again, "Are there many people like this?"

The official said: "Many. More than normal applicants."

In fact, many such refugees come every day, but when asked about their household registration information and their family members, these people either hesitate to answer, or they cannot produce proof, and they don't know if they are bragging or nonsense.However, recruitment has requirements for age, height, body length, origin, etc.Yuan Jilu recruited troops to fight wars, not to support a group of idlers, so these unknown people could not be recruited.The two voices that the officials yelled just now were also reminding these people to leave quickly, so as not to waste each other's time.

When Chen Wu heard that there were so many, he couldn't help being even more surprised.He hesitated for a moment, and waved to the official.The official saw that he had something to say, so he hurriedly followed him to a place where there was no one else.

Chen Wu whispered: "When you recruit troops in the future, you should relax your hands and find a way to recruit more people. The governor issued an order that all prefectures must recruit 2 people before Qingming. We have a large population in Chengdu, so don't talk about it." There must be 4000 people."

Chen Wu came to inspect the recruiting office today, but it wasn't that he was full and had nothing to do.He was also one of the officials in charge of recruiting soldiers.In the morning, due to the unsatisfactory recruitment situation, Yuan Jilu called these officials over and scolded them again, and warned them that if they could not recruit enough people, they would also go to the army themselves.

The officials can't help it. The military salary has already been raised once. Could it be possible to continue to increase it?You must know that raising soldiers is a very expensive thing. To support the sudden increase of 2 people, they already need to add several kinds of miscellaneous taxes to the people to fill the hole, plus military pay, where does the money come from?

But if they can't fulfill the governor's request, they will be punished again, so they can only find another way.

The official asked in surprise: "Chen Gongcao, what do you mean by loose hands?"

Chen Wu said vaguely: "You can figure it out for yourself, in short, just accept the passable ones."

The officials are still confused: "This... villain is stupid, please ask Chen Gongcao to clarify. The requirements for recruiting soldiers are very strict, such as age, height, physique, origin... Which ones can be broad? Which ones can't be broad?"

Chen Wu glared at him: "Didn't I tell you to do it yourself?"

The official was stunned: "Huh? But...but if there are no clear rules, once something happens, the villain can't bear it."

If the broad meaning is that even refugees without status can be recruited, then the risk is too great.You must know that many refugees have a record of committing crimes. What if a heinous murderer is recruited?As a low-level official, he really couldn't decide for such a big matter.

However, regarding the officials' questions, Chen Wu just flicked his sleeves irresponsibly, and said with a stern face: "What happened? What happened? Not enough people are recruited, and the governor gets angry. That's the top priority! Okay, I won't follow You said, I have to go to other places to see. Keep busy." After speaking, he turned and left.

The official was stunned: "Hey, hey! Chen Gongcao, don't just leave like this!"

However, Chen Wu walked quickly, without turning his head, and walked away in the blink of an eye.

……

After leaving the recruiting office, Chen Wu didn't do any more work, but plunged into a tavern.

Since the start of the recruitment, he has been depressed every day, and there are too many insincere and involuntary bad feelings.Just like just now, just now he didn't deliberately make things difficult for the official who was doing things, he knew very well that if he didn't explain the rules clearly, the official would be in trouble everywhere when he did things.But he also has his difficulties, some things he can't say, dare not explain clearly.There are old and young in his family. If something happens, he really can't bear the responsibility.

This is true of many things in the officialdom. Higher-level officials put pressure on lower-level officials, and lower-level officials can only continue to exert pressure.Things that are obviously impossible to finish have to be done even if the officer puts down a word and bites the bullet.So the rules on the surface are one thing, but it is another thing to actually implement them.

"Man, bring me a jug of good wine!" Chen Wu yelled at the clerk in the shop.Although it was daytime now, he was in such a bad mood that he couldn't help but want to drink away his worries.

The clerk responded: "Guest officer, wait a moment, I will come right away!"

While waiting for the wine, Chen Wu suddenly thought about his thoughts.Recently, he often thinks about what happened when he was sent by the Chengdu government to inspect Langzhou the year before last.

Before entering Langzhou, he hated Zhu Nao very much.But after entering Langzhou, seeing the scene of Langzhou, especially the clean government of Langzhou officials and the loyalty of Langzhou officials to Zhu Nao, he gradually changed his view of Zhu Nao.

He knew that Yuan Jilu was in a hurry to recruit troops just to get rid of Zhu Nao.I don't know what's going on in Langzhou now?Are you also recruiting troops to prepare for war?Will Langzhou be as chaotic as Chengdu Mansion when recruiting troops?

If, if Chengdu Yin was Zhu Nao, what would the situation of Chengdu Mansion be like now...

He couldn't help thinking of some outrageous thoughts, and he secretly fancied them without letting others know.But at this moment, suddenly a basin of cold water was poured over his head!

Chen Wu jumped up from the chair suddenly. Due to his guilty conscience, he was overstimulated and almost peed his pants.When he calmed down a bit, he stroked his chest and saw that there was a wet and slippery floor in front of his desk. When a clerk in the tavern passed by carrying a basin, his feet slipped and he accidentally splashed water on him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The young man turned pale with fright, and apologized hastily, and even helped Chen Wu wipe the water off his body with a table rag, "I, I, I, I'll wipe it for you..."

"Go away." Chen Wu pushed the guy's hand away in disgust.

After being poured with cold water, he lost his interest in drinking. He cursed "unlucky", wiped the water off his face with his sleeve, turned and left the tavern.

The guy could only stand there helplessly watching him go out.

Soon, the shopkeeper of the tavern came out from behind the counter, rushed up and punched the clerk on the head twice: "You clumsy idiot! Do you know who that person was just now? That's Chen Gongcao from the government!"

The clerk was terrified when he heard that he accidentally splashed an official. He could only bear the beating and scolding from the shopkeeper with his head down, not daring to return a word.

The shopkeeper slapped him a few times. Concerned that there were other guests in the tavern, he could only hold back his fists and said in a vicious voice, "Go, get out and sweep the floor in the backyard, don't get in the way here!"

The guy quickly ran away sullenly.

……

After a while, another guy opened the curtain and went to the backyard.He saw that the face of the young guy who had been beaten by the shopkeeper had turned a few bruises, and he immediately said distressedly: "Brother, does your face hurt?"

The young man shook his head: "Brother, I'm fine."

The two turned out to be two brothers who worked part-time in the same tavern to earn money.

There were no other guests in the tavern for the time being, so the brothers sat down to rest in a deserted place in the backyard.

The younger brother said dejectedly: "Brother, the shopkeeper is so fierce, and the wages are so low. I heard that the government has increased the military salary. Otherwise, I'd better join the army."

The elder brother was taken aback, and immediately said: "No! Absolutely not! When the labor contract expires, we can work in another place. At worst, my elder brother will not marry a wife, and he can support you. You must not do stupid things! "

The common people also knew that the reason for recruiting soldiers in Chengdu was probably to fight, and it was Langzhou that was going to fight.Because Langzhou has a deceitful state shepherd who refuses to be obedient.But for ordinary people in Chengdu, they don't care about the pretentious prefect.It was even heard that Zhuzhou Mu was a benevolent and righteous person who was very generous to the people, and people even admired him.

Therefore, the people of Chengdu Mansion don't hate the shepherds of Langzhou, or the people of Langzhou. If they have any plans to join the army, they can only plan for the relatively generous military salary.But let's not talk about the discrimination against soldiers, just talk about fighting, it will kill people!Until the point of desperation, who is willing to lose their life for that little military salary?

The elder brother was afraid that the younger brother would continue to think wildly, so he hurriedly turned his head, half warning, half admonishing: "You listen to my brother, don't go to the army. Even if there is a day when we have nowhere to go, there must be someone in our family Joining the army is the only way to survive, so it’s my brother’s turn to go.”

The younger brother hurriedly said: "Brother, don't say that. What I said just now was just a depressing thing, not serious. Don't worry, no matter how vicious and hateful the shopkeeper is, can he be more hateful than Chengdu Yin? If he really became a soldier I'd rather be angry with the shopkeeper..."

Only then did the elder brother laugh, he patted his younger brother's head, and said, "It's fine if you're just frustrated, you scared the elder brother. That's fine, then I'll go back to the front hall, or the shopkeeper will scold me again if he sees me as lazy. ..."

The younger brother nodded hurriedly and said: "You go. Neither of us brothers will be a soldier!"

My brother felt relieved and hurried back to work.

……

On the other side, a recruiting office was also set up in Langzhou city.A pair of brothers were arguing in front of the recruiting office.

"Brother, you go back, let me do the soldiering!"

"Nonsense! I'm older than you, so I should come first if there is anything to do. You should go back and take care of your parents. When I come to Japan to make contributions, I will pick you up to live a prosperous life together."

"No, I don't take care of my parents as well as you do. You should go back and I'll be a soldier!"

"Father and mother love you more, and they will be even more sad if you join the army. I will go!"

The two brothers have already lined up in front of the recruiting booth, and the dispute has not yet come to a conclusion.The officer recruiting soldiers looked up at them and said, "Okay, don't argue. One of the requirements for recruiting this time is that applicants should be at least seven feet taller. I don't think you two brothers are here? There is a scale, so come and measure it first.”

The two brothers hurried to the column with scales.

Sure enough, the official had a vicious eye. The two brothers measured their height, one was six feet seven, and the other was only six feet five, which did not meet the minimum requirements for recruiting soldiers.

As a result, both brothers were confused.

"Why am I only six feet seven?"

"Me, I'm six feet five? Impossible, I should be seven feet one..."

The official waved his hands and said with a smile: "Okay, you two brothers don't have to argue, let's go back and take care of your parents together."

The brothers were suddenly embarrassed.Fortunately, the two of them quarreled all the way against each other, but the recruiting office didn't want them? !Then why on earth did they make it so heroic...

The official was about to call the next applicant, when the elder brother hurriedly said, "Wait a minute! I, I don't know why I'm only six feet seven, but...it's not far from seven feet! Can't you be more flexible?"

The official said: "No way. These requirements were drawn up by the state pastor himself, and we must strictly abide by them. It is really impossible to accommodate."

My brother still didn't give up: "However, our Langzhou has such a small number of people. If we still have such strict requirements, wouldn't we not be able to recruit enough soldiers? If we don't have enough soldiers, can we stop the army from the Chengdu government?" ?”

Speaking of this, the official in charge of taking care of it was also a little dazed: "Is this... I don't know, I just acted according to Zhuzhou Mu's order... Anyway, you go back first, I will definitely not be able to recruit you today. If there are not enough recruits, Zhuzhou Mu may have other orders."

When the two brothers heard what the official said categorically, they knew that they were really hopeless.They couldn't help but feel relieved, but also worried and regretful.

There was a long line of people behind, all of whom had come to apply.The recruiting situation in Langzhou is obviously much more lively than in Chengdu.

It's not that the people in Langzhou are more aggressive, but that they have more reason and awareness to join the war than the people in Chengdu.Before Zhu Nao took office, they had been oppressed by Yuan Jilu for many years, and they really didn't want to go back to the old days.Who wants to work hard for a whole year, and hand over half of the grain to the government when the harvest comes?

Moreover, although Langzhou has not been under the jurisdiction of Chengdu Mansion in the past two years, the absurd things in Chengdu Mansion have spread to the ears of the people of Langzhou.Now under the rule of the entire Chengdu government, Langzhou does not dare to say that it is the richest state, but it is definitely the state where ordinary people live the best life.The people of Langzhou joined the army because they were driven by the crusade against the dog officials and the overthrow of the tyranny.There are even some people from other prefectures who have traveled for several days to sign up when they heard that Langzhou was going to raise troops against the Chengdu government.

However, what is puzzling is that although Langzhou is small, the requirements for recruiting troops are not low.All the applicants who came to apply were obviously healthy men, but after screening, eight out of ten were eliminated.

As a result, the recruiting booth has been full of people who came to apply with high spirits, but finally left dejectedly...

=====

At dusk, officials from the recruiting office entered the state capital and handed over to Jun Nao the roster of personnel recruited today.

"This is today's roster, please take a look at it."

Zhu Nao opened it and glanced at it, and immediately shook his head distressedly: "Why did you recruit forty more today? Didn't I ask you to find a way to suppress it? Tomorrow, I will change the pillar for measuring the height again, and it will still be a problem. There are...if there are less than three brothers in the family, let them go back."

The official laughed and said: "Zhou Mu, the scale changed to seven feet is almost higher than eight feet, and many people feel that something is wrong."

Zhu Nao said: "Anyway, slow down. I plan to set up a recruiting office for a month, but I only need a thousand soldiers here at most, no more—you know this in your heart, so you don't need to say it outside, understand?"

The official hurriedly said, "I understand."

Zhu Nao stopped talking, no more words.After a while, he said gently again: "You've been tired all day, if you have nothing else to do, go back and rest early."

The official bowed and left.

Not long after, Cheng Jingzhe also came.

Cheng Jingzhe reported: "My lord, the construction of the city wall has started today, and it should be completed within a month."

Zhu Nao nodded and said, "Okay."

Although Zhu Nao has recently recruited soldiers in Langzhou, the recruited soldiers will be sent to training immediately and will not participate in fortifications.And Yu Changming, the refugee he asked Yu Changming to bring back from Jianzhou, has already brought back, and Lu Lianshan was also very happy to send the refugee he asked Lu Lianshan to send from Yuzhou - this kind of hot potato, of course he would be happy if someone would take it over !

There are thousands of refugees in these two prefectures. Zhu Nao did not organize them into the army. Instead, as he said before, he organized these refugees by recruiting workers, and let them invest in strengthening the city walls, digging mines, etc. Smelting iron and other fortifications.

The reason for this arrangement is that firstly, the identities of these refugees are unknown, and there are too many of them, so he dare not eat them whole, if he cannot digest them, he will suffer backlash; secondly, the refugees in other states do not have the awareness of the people of Langzhou , and may not be willing to join the army.However, the nature of recruitment is completely different. Refugees do not need to join the military, and they can get food and rewards as long as they work, and it is easier to obey.

As all kinds of recruiting and fortifications are in full swing right now, there is not enough manpower around Zhu Nao, and even Jing Zhe was sent out to supervise the work, which is another experience for him.

Zhu Nao asked, "Is there anything wrong with those refugees?"

Jing Zhe said: "My lord, don't worry. Give them a full meal before working. They are working very hard, so far there is no abnormality."

He said again: "By the way, young master, I passed by a tavern when I came here, and saw Big Brother Yu drinking in it. He seemed to be in a bad mood. I went to say hello to him, but he didn't pay me much attention."

Zhu Nao raised his eyebrows when he heard this.After a while, he smiled and said: "This guy has a kind heart. I'm betting big and taking risks. I'm afraid he's not happy in his heart."

Jing Zhe blinked.He didn't know what Yu Changming was thinking, and he didn't care, anyway, he would do whatever Zhu Nao asked him to do.

Zhu Nao stretched his waist: "Let's go, go back and rest."

=====

Chengdu.

In the quiet wing room, Xu Yu and Lu Qinghui sat at two ends, drinking and chatting.Today, Xu Yu happened to pass by Lu Qinghui's Beppu on business, and Lu Qinghui just came back from another place, and the two bumped into each other on the street.The two who used to meet every day came in, it was rare to see each other, and they were both a little bit embarrassed, so they went to Beppu for a drink.

The wine in Lu Qinghui's glass was almost finished, Xu Yu picked up the jug to fill it up for him, and said with a smile: "It seems that I haven't had a drink with you for a long time, it's really rare to have this opportunity today."

Lu Qinghui took a sip from his wine glass and said, "On the way I came here just now, I happened to see a store that was not a traitor store open. This seems to be the fourth store in Chengdu."

"Oh?" Xu Yu said with a smile, "It seems that the owner of the non-traitor grain shop has very outstanding business skills, and the business is expanding really fast."

Lu Qinghui gave him a cool look, but finally said nothing.

After a while, he asked, "How's the recruiting situation recently?" Yuan Jilu didn't let him participate in the recruiting at all, and all the hands belonging to his faction were also isolated.Obviously, Yuan Jilu was guarding against him.

Xu Yu had nothing to hide, and replied: "It's not very good. The military pay has also been increased, and the amount of tax exemption has also been increased, but there are still not many applicants. The governor asked to recruit 2 people before the Qingming Festival. I heard that the officials at the bottom I’m in a hurry, anyone who volunteered to sign up will be accepted as long as they don’t lack arms or legs. This is still not enough, and I’m afraid they will use other means in the future.”

The expression on Lu Qinghui's face changed a few times, and he finally picked up the wine glass and drank it down in one gulp.During this period of time, he was much more restrained than before. If it had been the past, he would have started to poke Yuan Jilu's spine, but now he is too lazy to poke, or he knows that poking is useless.

Xu Yu was a little puzzled, and muttered, "I haven't heard any news from Langzhou. It's really strange. Don't they plan to recruit soldiers?"

Lu Qinghui scoffed: "I think Zhu Nao just didn't dare to make any noise, and he didn't know what kind of panic he was. Hehe, even if he was killed, he would never have thought that the imperial court would suddenly let go of military power, right? He must be very regretful now, regretful Why were you so arrogant before?"

He added: "In the current situation, Yuan Jilu has already started to recruit soldiers, and once recruited, he recruited 2 soldiers. The more ostentatious Zhu Nao is in Langzhou, the faster he will die. If you keep a low profile, you can live a few more days. But I guess He won’t just sit and wait to die, he’s probably pretending to be a fool, while secretly recruiting soldiers. Anyway, I don’t think he dares to act in a high-profile way anymore!”

Just as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door outside: "Lu Shaoyin, A Bing is back."

Lu Qinghui was surprised: "What a coincidence, the person I sent to Langzhou to inquire about the news has returned." Looking at Xu Yu, he hesitated for a moment, and said, "Let him in."

Soon, a spy named A Bing came in.

Lu Qinghui asked, "Ah Bing, what's the current situation in Langzhou?"

A Bing said: "Tell Shao Yin that Zhuzhou Mu has also started recruiting soldiers."

"What?!" Lu Qinghui exclaimed in surprise, "Is he recruiting openly, or secretly?"

This question stunned Ah Bing for a moment, and he hesitated: "It's, it's quite aboveboard... The queue is very long every day, and it can be lined up from the city to the gate of the city quickly."

Lu Qinghui's eyes widened.

A Bing hasn't finished yet: "In addition to recruiting soldiers, Zhuzhou Mu has also recruited thousands of refugees from Jianzhou and Yuzhou, and has begun to build city walls and expand the school's barracks. He recruited these thousands of people in the form of recruiting workers. He came here, but he was not incorporated into the army. The subordinate guessed that he might be worried that Jianzhou and Yuzhou people would not be easy to domesticate, so he set up a new name, recruited people first, and then gradually domesticated them?"

He also said: "He also used these people to mine mines, smelt iron, train soldiers, and build armor..."

Now Lu Qinghui's face is so colorful that he can open a dyeing workshop.

Not only did he recruit soldiers himself, but he even recruited soldiers from other states, and all kinds of pre-war preparations were not left behind.Is this low-key?This is obviously more high-profile and arrogant than before!

Could it be that Zhu Nao lost his mind and went crazy? !