Chapter 794 Recruits

Chapter 794 Recruits
In the early part of the twelfth lunar month, some of the disaster victims who had come to Bianliang to seek food left.

They were mainly strong and capable, numbering about 10,000. Their destination was Hongnong, where they were organized into the Fifth Battalion of the Wansheng Army and would start farming next spring.

There were still tens of thousands of disaster victims stranded in Bianliang, including men, women, young and old, who joined the people who originally built Bianliang and continued to settle and cultivate the land.

Among this total population of less than 100,000 people, there are people from Qingzhou, Jizhou, Bingzhou, as well as a large number of mixed Hu people, which is a very complicated situation.

On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the canal had frozen, but the last batch of food was still transported to the disaster relief camp by land.

After the transaction was completed, Zhang Heipi sat on the edge of the field and wiped his sweat.

Zhang Chong began to check the bag to see if he had brought everything.

He is going to Luoyang.

There are some vacancies in the Heilong Youying Battalion, and they are recruiting new soldiers. As a good family man from Chen County, Zhang Chong successfully applies and is about to become a member of the Heilong Youying Battalion.

This unit was established in the twelfth month of the second year of Shengui (318), exactly three years ago, with a staff of .

Compared to three years ago, the personnel have been replaced completely, and some teams have even been replaced twice. Basically, they were disbanded and added to the Silver Spear Army and the Black Gun Left Camp.

There were not many vacancies this time, only about a hundred or so. Zhang Heipi, who had participated in the Battle of Zhamati, used his connections to send his eldest son Zhang Chong, who was determined to recruit soldiers and receive government pay, in.

Zhang Chong had a knife hanging around his waist, which was a gift from King Liang - at that time he was still the "Duke of Chen" - and it was an extremely precious treasure that he always carried with him.

Zhang Heipi wanted his son to keep the knife at home, but Zhang Chong refused, saying that he would not take it out easily as the army would distribute more weapons anyway.

"Is it what you wish for this time?" Although Zhang Heipi ran around recruiting soldiers for his son, he was not very willing to do so in his heart.

His family owns forty acres of land, located right next to the Sui Yang Canal, which makes irrigation convenient and the yield per acre is not low.

If there were no disasters, theoretically, within two years, one could harvest about 240 hu of millet and wheat and 60 hu of miscellaneous grains, which would be more than enough to feed a family of five.

Even if a disaster occurs, as long as it is not a major disaster like the one that occurred in Hebei for three consecutive years, we can survive. This has been the case since ancient times.

Is it really necessary to be a conscript?

Zhang Heipi had fought in a war and was injured. When he fell from the wall, his fellow villager Ma Jiu died beside him, with half of his head missing.

War is not a joke; it involves risking one's life.

However, he did not forcefully stop his son, because his current life was given by King Liang, and sending a son to work for King Liang was considered repaying his kindness.

This is his simple mentality.

There were many people like him in Chen, Liang, Nandun, Xincai, Xiangcheng, Runan and other counties, because they were all gathered and settled by King Liang during the years of drought and locusts.

After ten years of relative peace, it seems so unreal in this chaotic world.

"Grandpa..." Zhang Chong looked at his father and lowered his head.

Zhang Heipi sighed, stood up, patted his son's shoulder, and said, "Now that it's settled, don't worry about it. You don't need to worry about the family. If you are given leave, you can take a boat home to visit."

"Okay." Zhang Chong said.

Outside the straw hut not far away, the county military officer was already waving.

There were five boys about sixteen or seventeen years old standing beside him, all of them from Chen County, and all of them went to the Heilongjiang Right Camp to recruit soldiers.

Zhang Heipi led his son over.

Military clerk Zhang Dong nodded to him modestly.

Zhang Dong was a fellow villager of Zhang Heipi. The two families fled together. Later, because he could barely read a few words, he was transferred to the county. Over the years, he became a military official, responsible for conscription, and his family business grew visibly.

Only a completely rebuilt county like Chen County has this opportunity.

Compared with the counties outside Liang State, Zhang Dong, a military official who did not even have servants and had to work in the fields with his parents, wife and children, was too weak. At best, he could only be considered a wealthy farmer. Being a county official did not even receive a salary, so his work was completely in vain.

Of course, if he had not been a military official, he would not have been able to accumulate his current wealth, so that his parents, wife and children could eat meat from time to time. His salary was actually paid to him by the people of the whole county.

"Go back." Zhang Dong said only one sentence and turned and left.

The young men carried their bags and followed closely behind Zhang Dong and his two followers, heading west.

Zhang Heipi watched quietly for a long time.

Suddenly, he felt that letting his son become a conscript was not such a bad thing.

It's only been ten years and that bastard Zhang Dong has already started to act pretentiously.

When they first arrived in Chen County, both families were extremely poor and had nothing.

Ten years later, a vague gap has emerged between the two families.

"Bah!" Zhang Heipi spat indignantly.

This year, a new county lieutenant came. It was said that he was a disciple of King Liang. He was very young, only in his early twenties, and was still a student of the Imperial College (in name only). Zhang Dong was almost a generation older than the others, but he was busy running around, fawning and flattering, like a dog wagging its tail for mercy.

The son of the village head Feng Tong entered the Bianliang Martial Arts School. When he left home for school, Zhang Dong was polite and smiling.

This person is too shameless. However, this is the way the world is, what else can I say?
This generation may still remember the friendship and will not visit your home frequently when they are conscripted for military service. But the next generation will not have this kind of relationship. Everything will be handled impartially. It is not alarmist if your family is destroyed due to the corvée of transferring military rations.

If his son Zhang Chong could make a name for himself in the Black Legion Army, it would at least bring some benefits to his younger brothers and sisters.

In this world, there will always be someone who has to endure the tragic fate of having his family torn apart and lost loved ones, and Zhang Heipi doesn't want that to be his family.

******
In the wind and snow, Luoyang is vaguely visible.

Under the shack outside Shiqiao Posthouse, Zhang Chong and six others sat together, shivering with cold.

Smoke rose from within the walls of the post station, and fragrance wafted in the wind.

There was a row of carriages parked in front of the main gate, and officials were coming in and out, talking loudly.

The officials' grooms came to the shack and chatted with everyone.

"You are a new recruit of the Heiliang Army." The groom Gao San stood in awe, bowed and saluted, and said, "My family used to live in Hanoi, it was very chaotic, but now we still have relatives. Since the Heiliang Zuoying moved there, the bandits have disappeared, and it has been much more peaceful. The Shangdang Jie people used to go south from time to time and rob on the road. In the middle of winter, they even took off your clothes, but now there is no such thing."

Zhang Chong blushed a little when he heard this.

He hasn't even entered the camp yet, how can he be considered a black soldier? However, after hearing this, a sense of pride gradually welled up in his heart. It turned out that the Black Army was so powerful that in addition to killing bandits, it also frightened the Hu people so that they would not dare to act recklessly.

"Who is your husband..." Zhang Dong, a military clerk from Chen County, asked casually as he came back with a bag of Hu cakes.

"Shanzhizhong, Bingzhou." The groom took a look at Zhang Dong's attire, and with his sharp eyes he could tell at a glance that this man was a county official.

"It turns out to be Sanji." Zhang Dong's face was full of admiration.

In fact, he didn't know who this person was at all, but the Zhizhong Congshi was an important aide to the governor, and he was no match for him.

The groom ignored him and continued to talk to Zhang Chong and the others, "The Heilongjiang Right Camp is stationed in the suburbs of Luoyang, but I don't know which county between Luoyang and Henan it is in. If you get married in the future, you can also get married here. Hey, where are the people from Luoyang?"

"How can people from Luoyang be better than people from Bianliang?" Zhang Chong couldn't help but say, "At worst, it's good to be a Pingyang person."

Zhang Dong began to distribute Hu Bing to everyone, one per person.

When it was given to Zhang Chong, he saw the sword at his waist, his eyelids twitched, and he asked someone to scoop him a few spoonfuls of fermented black beans.

This is special treatment!

The sword bestowed by King Liang himself has saved the Zhang family from countless troubles.

If Zhang Chong killed him with this knife, the government probably wouldn't dare to sentence him to death immediately, and would have to ask for permission - Prince Liang had a good memory and he patrolled everywhere from time to time, so the palace couldn't hold him.

What the fuck!

"You don't understand this." The groom also took out half a Hu pancake from his arms and ate it while saying, "The left camp of Heilongjiang is in Henei, the right camp is in Henan, and if a central camp is built in the future, it may be in Hongnong, guarding Luoyang on three sides. The King of Liang will return to Luoyang eventually. The status of Bianliang is like Chang'an and Yecheng in the imperial court, while Pingyang is nothing. The King of Liang will only live there for a few years, and he will definitely forget it after that."

"It would be better to make Chen County the capital." Someone next to Zhang Chong muttered quietly.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone laughed.

Zhang Dong shook his head and said, "If the King of Liang can make this place his capital, it will be called 'Chenchang' in the future, just like the story of Xuchang."

Xuchang was originally called "Xu" County, and became "Xuchang" after it was established as the capital.

"Chen County is not impossible." Zhang Chong said, "We are all the earliest countrymen of King Liang. If there is any change in the world, we can easily get tens of thousands of soldiers with just a wave of our arms. Who can stop us? Can the people of Luoyang be so dedicated?"

"There aren't many Luoyang people now." The groom laughed, "But what if tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of new Luoyang people come? That would be very different. You, the Heiliang Right Battalion, are actually new Luoyang people."

"Where is Senior Gao?" A man standing outside the gate of Shiqiao Station shouted loudly.

"Sir!" Gao San hurriedly stuffed the unfinished Hu Bing into his arms and walked out quickly.

Shan Shihui slapped him and scolded him, "Why are you running around instead of watching the car? You didn't even know that the emperor's tribute was stolen."

Everyone in the shack laughed again, as if the weather wasn't so cold anymore.

"A tribute to the emperor..." Zhang Dong walked a few steps outside, frowned and said softly.

Zhang Chong also looked at it curiously. There were actually people offering tribute to the emperor?
I don’t know if the emperor is hungry.

He suddenly thought of a nonsensical question: What should he do if one day in the future, the Heiliang Right Camp was ordered to enter the palace and kill the emperor?
This question made him very anxious and his mind was in a mess.

The emperor is almost like a god. Can he really be killed? If he is killed, will he be struck by lightning? Will his life be shortened? Will he bring disaster to future generations?
The more he thought about it, the more panicked and terrified he became. In the end, the only thing left in his mind was the scene when he fled with his parents: corpses were scattered all over the grass, and there was even someone holding a knife and cutting meat from the legs of a crying child, muttering "No meat is sweeter than meat on bones skinned alive."

"This thief must be killed!" This thought suddenly popped up in his mind.

"Let's go! We must get to East Market before sunset." Zhang Dong stepped forward and kicked them one by one.

When he came in front of Zhang Chong, he only reminded him once.

Zhang Chong slowly stood up and packed his bag silently.

Amidst the wind and snow, they finally arrived at the temporary camp in East City.

Zhang Chong looked at the barracks, then at the towering Luoyang City not far away, and something seemed to dawn on him: they were the swords of King Liang, and they could chop down anyone they told them to, even the dignitaries in Luoyang City and even the emperor of the Jin Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)