With the cooperation of Ding Juncheng, the recruitment of troops went very smoothly.

Since the food and salary allocated by the imperial court and the money and food shipped from the Gaoling Marquis Mansion were not in place, Cao Liang proposed to Ding Juncheng to borrow a sum of money and food grains from Hedong County on credit first, and then repay it after the money from the court was in place.

Ding Juncheng agreed without hesitation. In his opinion, Cao Liang will have a bright future. If he can make friends with Cao Liang now, it will definitely be of great benefit to him in the future, not to mention that the money in the Hedong treasury will be used.

Money and food are not his personal assets. He is temporarily acting as the prefect. After the new prefect takes office, he will no longer be qualified to take charge of it. Of course, Ding Juncheng is very happy about such a favor.

With this amount of money and food, Cao Liang had the confidence to recruit troops. Otherwise, it would be strange if he could recruit troops by talking nonsense for a long time without any substance.

When Cao Liang recruited soldiers, he provided very generous food and salary packages, which were 30% higher than those recruited by the imperial court. Moreover, as long as they were recruited and naturalized, they would be given three months of food and salary to help these soldiers settle down.

As soon as the news came out, there was a huge crowd at the recruitment point, and people nearby rushed to come and watch.

Among them, the majority of people were watching the excitement. Driven by curiosity, even if they had no idea of ​​becoming soldiers, they couldn't help but come over to take a look.

Of course, there are many people who sincerely want to join the army. Ordinary civilians, who have faced the loess and turned their backs to the sky all their lives, will never get ahead in the end. Under the system of the ninth grade Zhongzheng, ordinary children from poor families generally have no education.

Even if there is a chance, it is of no use. The year and month of birth determines everything. There are no poor families in the upper class, and no noble families in the lower class. No matter how hard you work, it will be difficult to enter the official career.

Ordinary civilians have only one way to get ahead, and that is to serve as soldiers. As long as they kill the enemy and perform meritorious service on the battlefield, they will have a chance to change their destiny.

Although it is said that going to the battlefield is risky, and you may lose your life if you are not careful, wealth and wealth are in danger. Even if you stay at home and don't go out, how many people will starve to death in the famine years? Not to mention enlisting in the army.

, at least they have no worries about food and clothing. As for whether they live or die and go to the battlefield, it all depends on luck.

Therefore, those young men who were not willing to be trapped in the land for a lifetime were very active and enthusiastic when they heard the news that Anyi was recruiting troops.

After all, the treatment given by Cao Liang was very generous, and even the soldiers in Hedong County were a little jealous. If it weren't for the restrictions on the army, they would all hate to switch to General Pingbei.

Although there are quite a lot of people who have signed up, Cao Liang does not accept everyone. First of all, age. Cao Liang requires a minimum limit of fifteen and an upper limit of thirty-five. Those who are too young will not be accepted, and those who are too old will not be accepted.

After all, Cao Liang is looking at cultivating his own strength and quelling the Xiongnu rebellion. This is just a matter of the moment. In the longer term, the contest with the Sima family is a real protracted war. Cao Liang must do what he must do to recruit troops.

Looking at the long term, ten years or even longer, if we recruit some people in their forties or fifties now, they will be old in a few years and will be completely useless.

This is not a nursing home, so Cao Liang requires that the applicants must be young adults.

The second is physical condition and skills. The old, weak, sick and disabled will all be eliminated. Priority will be given to skilled craftsmen. For example, these craftsmen who were originally blacksmiths, carpenters and doctors will be given priority by Cao Liang. They will even relax the age limit based on their skill level.

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Many people didn't understand this. Cao Liang only recruited young men. This was completely normal. However, Cao Liang deliberately recruited some blacksmiths and carpenters into the army, which made them even more confused. The army is a fighting force, and these craftsmen are needed.

What can it be used for?

In this regard, Cao Liang just laughed it off. These craftsmen were of great use to Cao Liang. The improvement of the army's combat effectiveness did not only rely on brave and skilled soldiers. The quality of the ordnance and equipment could also determine the strength of the combat effectiveness. Cao Liang

It is planned to set up a special ordnance battalion to design, build and maintain ordnance equipment.

Only when he truly had his own army could Cao Liang dare to take out the counterweighted catapults, repeating catapults and repeating crossbows that had been hidden previously, carry out mass production, and truly equip them into the army.

Of course, there are many improvements to current weapons and equipment that Cao Liang needs to develop.

I have to say that Ma Jun is indeed a genius in manufacturing inventions. Not only did he develop the repeating catapult and repeating crossbow, he also had ingenious ideas for the improvement of many weapons. It's a pity that the thousand-mile horse often has a lot of problems.

It doesn't happen often. Because no one appreciates or reuses it, these inventions and creations of Ma Jun can only be sealed in the pile of old paper.

Later, Ma Jun simply handed over all these drawings to Cao Liang, because he knew that only Cao Liang in the world could truly turn his inventions and creations into physical objects and apply them to the military.

Therefore, when Cao Liang was building his own army, he urgently needed craftsmen to join him, and the more the better. Since the manufacture of ordnance involves many skilled craftsmen, Cao Liang has a great need for these craftsmen, and all come.

Don't refuse.

At the same time, Cao Liang gave these craftsmen higher wages and salaries. He divided the recruited craftsmen into three levels according to their level: low-level, intermediate and high-level. The low-level craftsmen were equivalent to the apprentice level, and Cao Liang gave them

The mid-level craftsman Cao Liang receives the same rations as ordinary soldiers, and an additional 20% is added to the rations of ordinary soldiers.

As for those senior craftsmen with exquisite skills, Cao Liang directly gave them double their wages.

Originally, no matter how skilled they were, these craftsmen were all untouchables, working in agriculture, industry, and business. Their status was still ranked behind the farmers, and their social status was extremely low.

But when they arrived at Cao Liang's place, due to the increase in food and salary, their status was invisibly improved. So after the news spread, many craftsmen rushed to the recruitment point one after another to see what happened.

Many people think this is a rumor. It is simply unbelievable that a low-status craftsman can get double the salary.

But when they got to the recruitment point, it was written clearly in black and white, so they couldn't help but not believe it.

Many craftsmen simply signed up on the spot, and the officials in charge of recruiting soldiers also paid them three months of food and salary according to their salaries.

A middle-aged blacksmith who was over forty received double his salary and was so excited that tears filled his eyes.
Chapter completed!