On a small pier on the seaside of Cang County, the easternmost part of Hejian Prefecture, Hu Yanyan took the county's master Bo and Dutou, and there were also some yamen runners waiting anxiously. Several people stretched their necks from time to time to look at the sea in the distance. Unfortunately, there were no ships except for the vast sea.

"County Master, have you remembered the wrong day? We have been waiting here for a long time, but we didn't even see a shadow of a boat?" At this time, the blind man asked. The head of this head was Zhang Hou. He used to be a soldier in the imperial guards. He had participated in the battle to destroy Xia. Unfortunately, he blinded one on the battlefield. In addition, he was older, so he retreated from the army and became the head of the yamen in Cang County, his hometown. He had met Hu Yanqing several times in the army and admired Hu Yanqing very much. Hu Yanyan happened to be Hu Yanqing's cousin. In addition, Hu Yanyan had no airs, so the two were not only superiors and subordinates, but also had a good relationship.

"It's impossible to remember it wrong. The date written in the letter is today. Could it be that something happened at sea, which delayed the time." Hu Yanyan also spoke at this time. Some time ago, he ran to see his cousin Hu Yanqing, and learned about the recovery of drought in other places in Hejian Prefecture. He found that the situation here was pretty good. At least they could also get some food from the sea to eat without having to drink porridge every meal.

"Here you come, you see a boat on the sea is coming!" At this moment, Li Cheng, the master standing next to Hu Yanyan, pointed to the sea and shouted loudly. He usually had some disagreements with Hu Yanyan, but the two of them had surprisingly consistent opinions about the matter in front of them. When they saw the ships on the sea, they screamed excitedly.

Hearing Li Cheng's cry, Hu Yanyan and Zhang Hou also looked at the sea. Sure enough, they saw a sail shadow appearing on the sea, which made the two of them very excited. Soon they saw several large ships appearing on the sea. It seemed that the style was the warship of the Song Dynasty Navy, which made Hu Yanyan finally relieved. He was waiting for the Song Dynasty Navy.

Soon the warships arrived at the outer sea of ​​Cangxian Wharf and stopped because the port here was too small and the water depth was not enough. Therefore, the warships could not enter at all and could only stop at the outer sea. However, there were small boats on the warships, and the people on the ship came to the dock on the boat. Hu Yanyan could see that all the people coming from the other side were generals of the navy.

Soon the boat landed. Hu Yanyan brought people forward to greet him. At this time, the general led by the boat also laughed loudly at Hu Yanyan: "I guess this is the magistrate of Hu Yan County. The last general Wang Tong met Hu Yan County Magistrate!"

Wang Tong is a big man with a burly body and a beard. He is a Yuhou in the navy. This time he came to be responsible for recruiting new recruits. Cang County, which Hu Yanyan is in charge, was his first stop to recruit soldiers. In addition, he also knew that Hu Yanyan came from the Hu Yan family of the general. Now the younger generation of the Hu Yan family is very dazzling in the army, such as Hu Yanqing of the Hebei Army and Hu Yanping of the Southern Imperial Army. They all have a bright future, so he is very polite to Hu Yanyan.

"General Wang is so polite. The general came from afar on a warship. It must be very hard. I have prepared a banquet in the city to welcome the general!" Hu Yanyan said happily.

Cangxian is one of the areas where drought is severe. Although the drought has passed and they are better at guarding the sea than the inland counties in the west, the situation is still very serious now. There are still a considerable number of people who can only drink porridge three meals a day, and their lives are even more difficult. It can be said that a severe drought has greatly damaged the vitality of the people in Cangxian. I wonder when I can recover?

"The magistrate Huyan is so polite. The last general and others came to recruit soldiers. They will definitely cause a lot of trouble to the county master in the future. Please don't dislike me!" Wang Tong said politely at this time. When he came to recruit soldiers, he would definitely be inseparable from the assistance of the local government, so he naturally had to establish a good relationship with the local officials. However, civil officials have always despised the military generals. Wang Tong has always been worried that the local officials would not cooperate. Fortunately, he learned that Huyanyan was from a general. So he chose Cangxian as the first stop for recruiting soldiers.

Hu Yanyan was polite again when he heard this, and then asked Wang Tong and other generals to go to the county town to attend the banquet. Hu Yanyan was indeed very happy with the arrival of Wang Tong and others. This was not only because he was from a general, but because the lives of the people in Cang County are too difficult now. If they can enter the army, it would be a good life.

The welcoming banquet prepared by Hu Yanyan for Wang Tong and others was not very sumptuous. Due to the impact of the drought, the economic situation in Cang County was hit extremely severely. Several larger restaurants closed because they had no business, and as for the small hotels, there was no business. Therefore, Hu Yanyan could only invite Wang Tong and others to the county government office, and at the same time invited a former chef from the restaurant to the county government office to cook and entertain Wang Tong and others.

Wang Tong was a fisherman from the south and grew up in the south since he was a child. After participating in the navy, he has been in the coastal activities in the south. This is the first time he has come to the northern county town. Therefore, he is also very curious. After landing, he has been looking at the surrounding situation. What disappoints him is that the eyes are full of low houses, and even many people he meets are full of food, even young people are thin, which makes him very disappointed. If the people of Cang County are so thin, it will be difficult for him to recruit qualified soldiers.

After the banquet began, Hu Yanyan did not rush to talk about the main business, but just kept urging them to drink. The Hu Yan family was the rule that they would urge them to drink desperately as long as they were invited to the guests. Zhao Yan had experienced it at the beginning, but was surrounded by a group of men from the Hu Yan family. After that, his head hurt for a few days before he got better. Since then, he never went to Hu Yan's house to attend the banquet again, for fear that they would be drunk to death by accident.

Almost no one in the army did not drink alcohol, especially naval troops like Wang Tong, who often went to sea to drink some strong alcohol to remove dampness. Therefore, he and several of his subordinates also had a huge amount of wine toasted by Hu Yanyan and others. As a result, Hu Yanyan and Li Cheng could not drink it quickly and could not get up at the table. However, Zhang Hou was also from the army and also had a huge amount of money. Finally, he drank the same as Wang Tong and others, but they all got drunk and were drunk.

The next day, Hu Yanyan rubbed his head, which was extremely painful due to a hangover, and then found Wang Tong and asked him about the recruitment. In fact, even if Hu Yanyan didn't come, Wang Tong would still talk to Hu Yanyan about this matter. After all, the boss gave him not much time this time, but the task was very heavy. If he couldn't complete it, he might be punished.

"General Wang, I wonder how many soldiers you plan to recruit in Cang County this time?" Hu Yanyan knew that military generals were usually straightforward and always had straightforward things, so he was not polite. As soon as he came in, he asked straight to the point.

"To be honest, Huyan County Magistrate, the task assigned to me this time is very heavy. You saw that the warships I brought, and the warships were filled with new recruits before I could go back. There are time limits. So for me, I will recruit as many new recruits as Cang County can provide. If Cang County can let me fill up the number of people, it would be great!" Wang Tong saw Huyan Yan so direct, and he spoke without hiding it. He felt that the magistrate from the general in front of him was very fond of his appetite.

Hearing Wang Tong say this, Hu Yanyan also showed ecstasy on his face. He thought for a moment: "General Wang, since the severe drought in Cang County last year, the people have been in great difficulty. Many people have not had enough food. After receiving the news that you were coming to recruit soldiers here, I immediately asked someone to find the village security guard to ask. As a result, many young people want to join the army and eat food. Based on the population of Cang County, it is estimated that one or two thousand people are still OK to provide one or two thousand people!"

Cang County is a large county with 30,000 to 40,000 people in the county. In addition to the elderly, children and women, there are also men of inappropriate age. It is not easy to provide one or two thousand people to join the navy. This is even almost the number of men suitable for joining the army in Cang County. This is not Hu Yanyan’s own conjecture, but the data provided by him after investigation. Of course, the error of this data is a bit large, but it will not be less than a thousand people.

It is very rare to be able to recruit 1,000 troops in a county, but Wang Tong smiled bitterly at this time: "Magistrate Huyan, you may not know that our navy is different from the mainland division, and the standards for recruiting new recruits are different. Although the last general is eager to recruit soldiers, he does not dare to lower the standards!"

"Haha, General Wang doesn't have to make things difficult for him. I am also from a general, so I naturally know that the standards for recruiting soldiers are strict, so you can recruit them only if you want to recruit them!" Hu Yanyan also smiled at the moment. He naturally hoped that Wang Tong could recruit more people so that more people could have a way out. However, this kind of thing cannot be forced. You can't stuff everyone into the army, otherwise Wang Tong would not be able to explain it.

Seeing that Hu Yanyan did not force him, Wang Tong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, he also felt that the task of recruiting troops this time was not very difficult. If everyone supported him like Hu Yanyan, maybe he could get the full quota if he couldn't go to a few county towns.

Next, Hu Yanyan discussed some specific matters about recruiting soldiers with Wang Tong. Some things really need Hu Yanyan's cooperation, so Wang Tong explained in detail, but at the end he suddenly frowned again and said, "Magistrate Hu Yan, after I logged in yesterday, most of the people in Cang County I saw were relatively thin, even young men. If the people here were like this, they would probably not meet our standards for recruiting soldiers."

Hearing Wang Tong say this, Hu Yanyan patted his chest and promised: "General Wang, don't worry. You also know that the severe drought last year made the people here not even enough to eat, so naturally they are all very thin. However, our Cang County is close to Liao Kingdom, and the people are very strong in the people, and the martial arts style is prevalent. Men have been practicing martial arts since childhood, and they are not short of courage and strength, so they can definitely meet the requirements of the navy!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!