Yu Baiyi was in charge of the entire army's baggage, and it was enough to get together with less than 30,000 soldiers. Last time, the last recruitment, even though the conditions were very strict, the recruitment of more than 20,000 soldiers was completed within one month. Although the number of people was a little more than last time, nearly 200,000 refugees entered Jinan Prefecture in the past two months. Most of them were poor people who had no livelihoods. As long as they operated a little, they should be able to recruit a large number of soldiers. Then some were recruited from other prefectures, and there were only 30,000 casually.

Therefore, Yu Baiyi thought for a moment and agreed directly.

Seeing that the matter was over, Zhou Xian smiled and said, "The second thing is that we have reached a consensus. Let's discuss the third thing, which is also an equally important thing. In the two newly occupied Dongchang and Yanzhou prefectures of our army, the court has not sent out corresponding candidates for prefectures. There is nothing in normal times, but if the jurisdiction cannot be unified during wartime, the prefectures and counties are isolated from each other, and it is inevitable that there will be no way to form a cohesion to resist foreign enemies. Therefore, I am going to ask the emperor to be promoted to the prefect of Qingzhou Tongzhi Gu Xianzheng to the prefect of Dongchang, and Xia Yunyi, the prefect of Tai'an, to the prefect of Yanzhou. Gao Futai, do you think this is good?"

Gao Mingheng frowned slightly and said for a moment: "Gu Xianzheng was promoted from Weixian County to Qingzhou Tongzhi, and he was in charge of Qingzhou government affairs for several months before the Wu prefect arrived in Qingzhou, and he had achieved remarkable political achievements. I had no objection to him as the prefect of Dongchang. However, Xia Zhizhou was less than a year in the position of Tai'an Prime Minister. If he was promoted to Yanzhou now, he would inevitably not be able to convince the public. I am not doubting Xia Zhizhou's ability, but this promotion must comply with certain regulations."

Xia Yunyi also stood up and said, "Thank you, the governor, for paying attention to the lower officials, but Gao Futai said it very reasonable. The governor has retired for several years and is not familiar with many government affairs. Currently, he is in a hurry to serve as the governor, and it is really unbearable to be promoted. I hope the governor will forgive me."

Gao Mingheng nodded slightly, very satisfied with Xia Yunyi's statement. It is impossible for both Dongchang and Yanzhou prefectures to be Zhou Xian's confidant. This is his bottom line.

Zhou Xian did not insist, "Who is Gao Futai thinks is more suitable? The position of Yanzhou magistrate cannot always be empty."

Gao Mingheng immediately said: "I have a magistrate under my command, named Peng Shiqi, Bo Youcai. If the Supervisor is willing, I will bring him to visit the Supervisor after the meeting. If the Supervisor thinks he is competent at that time, you might as well give him a chance. Otherwise, it is not too late to choose other candidates."

Zhou Xian asked: "Is it the Peng Shiqi who proposed to reduce agricultural taxes, increase commercial taxes, fill the treasury, and recruit loyal and brave men to destroy the thieves?"

Gao Mingheng's face looked a little embarrassed, "It's him. But he was just a bit crazy after drinking. Now he should be more cautious and serious in his actions."

Zhou Xian shook his head and said, "His proposal is not wrong, it is also something I have always wanted to implement. Since Gao Futai recommends him, then let him! Please write a letter with me to tell the emperor about this matter." Zhou Xian had not had much hope for Gu Xianzheng, Xia Yunyi and the two of them were promoted to prefect at the same time. Now one of them succeeded, which has been considered to have achieved his goal. Moreover, Zhou Xian has heard of Peng Shiqi for a long time. Although he is a confidant of Gao Mingheng, he is indeed a capable person. Having him as the prefect of Yanzhou is a good result.

Gao Mingheng was overjoyed, but said calmly on the surface: "Then let's follow what the governor said."

Zhou Xian continued: "In addition, the prefectures and prefectures under Yanzhou and Dongchang's rulers also need to be supplemented immediately. If you have suitable candidates, you can directly recommend them and then select the best to hire them. In a chaotic world, you need to pay more attention to talents. Whether Shandong can be stable does not depend on one or two generals, but on whether everyone here is united? Recruiting talents with talents, those with high talents are at a high position. This is the basic principle."

Wang Zhang suddenly interrupted, "What is the standard for this talent? Who will determine whether they have talent?"

Zhou Xianxiao said, "Is this talent? Everyone has different standards. Some people write good articles, some are good at governing the people, and some are good at making money. There is nothing best, just look at whether it is suitable. Why not do this? I sent two people, Gao Futai also sent two people, and then Prefect Wang and Prefect Wu sent one person to form a six-person team. Their main task is to collect the specific situations of the recommended officials, and conduct assessments on them, and then write the assessment situation into text to report. Finally, Gao Futai and I jointly decide who to appoint based on these situations. Do you think this is good?"

What Wang Zhang was most worried about was that Zhou Xian monopolized the power to appoint local officials. Now he discussed and decided with Gao Mingheng, which was very fair. He admired Zhou Xian's generosity and bowed, "He supported the resolution of the governor."

Seeing that Wang Zhang had already expressed his opinion, others had no objection and expressed their support.

After discussing for a while, Zhou Xian suddenly felt a little cold. He looked out and smiled faintly: "Unknown to me, the sky was almost dark. Han Chang, go and tell the kitchen and ask them to bring the prepared dinner and let you eat your stomach first. We will take advantage of this time to rest for a while, and we will discuss it later." After saying that, he stood up, shook his body, and smiled: "I didn't expect that it would be so tiring to discuss something. You can also go out for activities, but don't go far."

Zhou Xian left the lobby and walked into a side room under Xiao Leng's guidance.

There were three people in the room, one of whom was 31 or 2 years old, with a bronze face, and a little tired. The other two were in their early twenties and had a seven-point similar face. Seeing Zhou Xian, the three of them quickly stood up. The older one stepped forward and respectfully bowed to Zhou Xian and said, "The sinner Yang Yan pays homage to the commander-in-chief."

Zhou Xian waved his hand gently and smiled faintly: "No need to be polite, please sit down quickly. Which of these two people?"

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Yang Yan sat down, "These two are the convicts of the generals, Yang Cai and Yang Zhen."

Xiao Leng bent down and whispered to Zhou Xian: "They are both the sons of General Yang."

Zhou Xian glanced at the two of them and smiled and said, "General Huzi, it's really extraordinary. Please sit down, two young masters!"

The two of them bowed to Zhou Xian and then sat down in the side position.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Yang family was the first big family in Linyi. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty and the end of the Ming Dynasty, wars continued, and nine out of ten families in Shandong were empty. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the people from Shanxi to enter Shandong. The Yang family was one of the many people who moved to Shandong at this time. During the Wanli period, Yang Zhaoji was inherited by Wu Juren, and since then he started his career as a general. He served as the general of the three towns of defense against Japanese defence, commander of the Yizhou Weizheng, general general of Datong, and assistant governor. Later, he was promoted to the left governor and general. After his death in the army, he was posthumously awarded the title of Taifu Taishi by Emperor Chongzhen. His prestige was the first person in the early years of Chongzhen. His sons Yang Yuyin and Yang Yufan both served as generals in the army. Yang Yan was less than 30 years old and was awarded the title of General of the Cavalry. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Yang family was a general.

Yang Yuyin died early, and Yang Yufan was a member of the family. After Yang Zhaoji passed away, the power of the Yang family was not as good as before. Later, Sun Kewang successfully attacked Yangzhou. Yang Yufan was ordered to gather troops from the surrounding guards of Linyi to go south to reinforce and confront the bandits in Huai'an. But soon after, Liu Zeqing rebelled and took all the lands of the three palaces in the east and west of Shandong.

The military troops were not strong in combat, had loose discipline, and had a strong sense of rural concepts. After hearing the news that their hometown was attacked by the bandit army, most of them fled directly before Yang Yufan ordered to retreat. Li Dingguo took advantage of the situation to attack, defeated Yang Yufan, and besieged thousands of remaining troops under his command in Suqian City.

Yang Yufan did not have enough food and grass, and without a single reinforcement outside, he raised his flag to surrender. Li Dingguo led his troops north and encountered resistance, he ordered Yang Yufan to persuade him to surrender in front of the formation. His father Yang Zhaoji was famous all over the world, and the army commanded by Yang Yufan was the last official army in Huainan. Seeing him coming to persuade him to surrender, they all offered the city one after another. Li Dingguo's troops recovered Suining, Pizhou and other places without bloodshed, and finally even Xuzhou was taken into his pocket.

When Yang Yufan's actions were passed to the capital, the crowd was excited and impeached them. Emperor Chongzhen thought of Yang Zhaoji's past achievements and did not pursue his family, but included Yang Yufan and Yang Yan on the list of criminals and rewarded 1,000 taels of silver to take his head.

The Yang family is a local clan. Although Yang Zhaoji's wife, Old Lady Yang, directly claimed to expel Yang Yufan and Yang Yan from the family, most people still regard them as families of criminals. Especially the families of the soldiers who died in battle with Yang Yufan on the battlefield, they had to make trouble in front of the Yang family several times a day.

When Zhou Xian led his troops to Linyi, the Yang family was already a rat crossing the street that everyone shouted and beat. But even in this case, when Mrs. Yang was surrounded by Linyi, she took out half of her property to help defend the city and opened a porridge farm to help the victims.

After Zhou Xian learned about the feat of Mrs. Yang, he was deeply admired. He personally visited Mrs. Yang, who was responsible for the affairs of the Yang family, and worshiped Yang Zhaoji. After that, under Zhou Xian's leadership, the Yang family took out some money to the families of the soldiers who died in battle. At the same time, after Zhou Xian reached an agreement, he would not harass the Yang family again.

This matter was also solved. Zhou Xian was considered an unintentional move at that time, but later he received unexpected results.

In order to limit Sun Kewang's power, Longwu established a dynasty, many generals who had previously belonged to the court were activated. Yang Yufan was one of them. He was able to re-control the army. Although there were not many people and only three or four thousand weak soldiers, he had a certain degree of independence. He sent people to Shandong to contact Zhou Xian and proposed to return to the court.

Zhou Xian was of course very happy with this. He sent someone to tell him to ask him to find an opportunity to return north and he would send troops to support him. But not long ago, Emperor Longwu ordered Yang Yufan to be transferred to Yangzhou. Yang Yan took the opportunity to make a big fuss with Yang Yufan, led hundreds of confidants to flee the base, and eventually fled back to Linyi, and was sent to Jinan by the local guards.
Chapter completed!