Tibet

Since Liang Chongyi changed his banner, although the court remained silent, Liang Chongyi encountered strong resistance within Jingxiang. First of all, officials did not cooperate. Almost all officials in Jingxiang states fled, and no officials were willing to serve him.

This is complete political bankruptcy.

Secondly, the soldiers fled. This was the unacceptable consequence for Liang Chongyi. Most of the 10,000 soldiers stationed in Suizhou fled, leaving less than 3,000. Most of the 5,000 soldiers in Fangzhou also fled, leaving more than 1,000. people.

The 50,000-strong army in Xiangyang was slightly more restrained, but more than 10,000 people fled. As for the 20,000-person army in Nanyang, only more than 4,000 people were left.

Liang Chongyi had worked so hard to recruit 100,000 troops, but 40% of them broke up and fled.

This made Liang Chongyi frightened, so he had to put away the Chu flag and restore the Tang flag. The remaining officials no longer demanded loyalty to him, so he barely managed to stabilize the flow of soldiers fleeing.

After the New Year, the situation in Xiangyang gradually calmed down, and all kinds of inflammatory gossip gradually decreased. Liang Chongyi, who finally took a breath, began to think about how to recruit troops again.

The army is the foundation for Liang Chongyi's survival. Thinking that his 100,000-strong army now only has more than 57,000 people left, Liang Chongyi's heart hurts like a knife.

That morning, Liang Chongyi summoned three counselors to think of ways to recruit troops. Tang Huaizhi and Wu Qiong both lowered their heads and had no idea what to do.

Seeing that Shen Chenzhou was about to speak but hesitated, Liang Chongyi asked, "What can Mr. Shen do?"

Shen Chenzhou smiled bitterly and said: "There is a way, but it is a bit contrary to morality!"

Liang Chongyi waved his hands impatiently and said: "Don't talk to me about morality now. My fist is morality. If you have anything to say, just say it!"

"Your Majesty, we probably won't be able to recruit soldiers for low-level positions through formal recruitment. Another way is to trick young people from all over the country into coming to Xiangyang. Regardless of whether they are willing or not, we can forcefully recruit soldiers. After training for a period of time, they will obey. "

Liang Chongyi nodded, "It makes sense, so how can we cheat?"

Shen Chenzhou smiled slightly and said: "I saw a lot of giant trees in the warehouse a while ago. I was thinking that I could use the giant trees to build a palace! I suggested that the prince build a Xiangyang Palace and recruit craftsmen and young people from all over the country. The wages are high. One thing, now the labor cost for building a house is one hundred cents a day, so if the prince offers two hundred cents a day, there will definitely be many people willing to come."

"good idea!"

Liang Chongyi gave a thumbs up and praised: "Then just build a Xiangyang Palace. I need it anyway. After building the palace, a large number of craftsmen and young laborers will directly join the army, killing two birds with one stone!"

Liang Chongyi immediately adopted Shen Chenzhou's plan and sent people everywhere to recruit craftsmen and young men to build the Xiangyang Palace. The wages were very attractive, two hundred coins a day, including food and accommodation, and freedom of movement.

Under the temptation of the favorable conditions, a large number of craftsmen and young men rushed to Xiangyang from all directions. On top of the city, Liang Chongyi looked at a group of young men arriving from the official road with his hands behind his hands, and his eyes widened with a smile.

At this time, Liang Chongyi saw a group of more than thirty men coming from the north. They were all tall and strong, with military temperament.

Liang Chongyi was a little confused, so he sent someone to find the leader of the group.

The leader knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See Jiedushi!"

Liang Chongyi served as the governor of Bian and Song Dynasties, and he heard that the other party spoke with a standard Songzhou accent. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Are you a soldier?"

"Reporting to the Jiedu Envoy, my humble position was once the Songzhou Military Academy Lieutenant, and my name is Wang Dian. We are both from Yucheng, Songzhou, and we currently work at home to make a living."

"Why aren't you a soldier now?"

"Reporting to the Jiedu Envoy, the imperial court was unkind and issued large amounts of money to pay military salaries. We had no need to go out at all. In anger, we fled back to our hometown with dozens of fellow villagers."

Liang Chongyi suddenly realized that it turned out to be a big-money mutiny in the army that broke out in November last year. More than 30,000 of Li Guangbi's 100,000 troops fled.

"Are you coming from Songzhou?"

Wang Dian shook his head, "We came from Yuzhou. The Songzhou government was arresting deserters. We fled to Yuzhou. We heard that people were recruiting to build palaces here and the treatment was good, so we wanted to make some money."

Liang Chongyi nodded, "Now the government has started catching deserters?"

"Exactly, the court said it would not pursue the case, but after the New Year, the villain's relatives in the county told me to hide us, saying that the county had received a notice from the state government to arrest the soldiers who mutinied and fled back to their hometowns last year. , I fled to Yuzhou with this group of men and worked on the docks. Not to mention the low income, I was also bullied by the locals. The villain happened to see the notice recruiting craftsmen in Xiangyang, so I took my brothers to try my luck. "

Liang Chongyi pointed to the three hundred kilogram stone lock next to him and said, "Can you lift it?"

Wang Dian stepped forward and picked it up, shouted loudly, and raised one arm high above his head.

Liang Chongyi was overjoyed, what a fierce general!

He immediately smiled and said: "Are you interested in serving under me? I will make you a captain."

A flash of surprise flashed in Wang Dian's eyes, and he quickly knelt down and clasped his fists, saying: "I am willing to serve Jiedushi in this humble position!"

Liang Chongyi quickly helped him up and said with a smile: "General Wang, no courtesy. According to my rules, I may send people to your hometown to investigate. You must not mind. I don't care about the soldiers, but I will check out all the generals. "

Wang Dian nodded, "Beizhi is from Xiahe Village, Yucheng County. His parents are still alive. Jiedushi can send people there, but Beizhi doesn't mind!"

Liang Chongyi was suspicious by nature, and he would send people to find out about generals whose origins were unknown. This was indeed Liang Chongyi's rule, and it was not against Wang Dian. He had also agreed to send people to find out about Shen Chenzhou before, but it turned out that Tangyin County had perished.

Liang Chongyi saw that Wang Dian didn't care that he sent people to his hometown to find out. He trusted Wang Dian even more and said to Wang Dian: "I estimate that among the workers who built the palace, there are many fugitive soldiers like you. You can call them together." Get up, raise a new army, and give them a place to eat.”

"Let me give it a try. If I am from Bian and Song Dynasties, I estimate that Jiuzong is probably a mutinous soldier who escaped."

Wang Dian and his men all changed into Liang Chongyi's armor and military uniforms. At the same time, Liang Chongyi sent a confidant to Yucheng County, Songzhou to investigate Wang Dian's background.

This Wang Dian was naturally Zhang Dian, the general of Hu Benlang who was a scout of the Helong Army. In order to seize Xiangyang City, under Li Mi’s planning, the Helong Army invested a lot of resources and even killed the villagers of Xiahe Township in Yucheng County. They replaced them all and bribed the county magistrate and county magistrate of Yucheng.

In the room, Liang Chongyi was listening to reports from his confidants.

"Your Majesty, that Wang Dian is very hard-working. I saw him talk to people one by one in his humble position, and he really convinced a lot of people. Today he even beat people up, and they were so badly beaten!"

Liang Chongyi was startled, "Why did you hit someone?"

"I inquired about it from my humble position. I found out that a few days ago he spent a lot of time persuading more than a dozen deserted soldiers from Chuqiu County in Songzhou to join the army. However, a few of them went back on their word today. It is said that their fellow countrymen encouraged them not to agree. Wang Dian was furious. , led his men to find the fellow countryman, and beat him up severely. The fellow countryman was beaten until he was covered in blood, and ran away crawling. Wang Dian tried hard to persuade the repentant soldiers, and it seemed that he came back. "

Liang Chongyi admired in his heart and nodded repeatedly: "That's right! Generals who persevere like this are real talents."

He secretly made a decision in his heart. If the investigators came back and there was no problem with Wang Dian's identity and background, he would promote Wang Dian to the capital commander and make him one of the eight capital commanders under him.