The first ray of morning sunlight shines in Yiwu County, a new day kicks off, people in the county are full of excitement and vigour to go out for activities as usual, the streets are already bustling with vendors shouting at the top of their voices.
From soya bean milk buns and doughnuts, to hair cakes and oil cakes and dumplings, early risers never have to worry about aggravating their stomachs.
When the early risers passed by the south gate and glanced at the square, they couldn’t help but stare at each other in wide-eyed amazement.
“Huh? What’s going on? Yesterday, the military collection ground was still empty, but today it’s only early in the morning how come it’s overcrowded?!”
“What on earth happened? Why are there so many people here all of a sudden?”
“Hey, folks inside the grounds, are you being forced to enlist in the army, if so just blink your eyes ……”
People looked at the crowded square in astonishment and disbelief, and couldn’t help but clam up, yesterday, on the first day of recruitment, this place was still empty, and the doors were bare, how come it was crowded today.
This is not normal ah.
“Quick look, there are still people continuously entering the city at the city gates, once they enter the city, they go straight to the recruiting grounds, they are all enlisted to join the army.”
“I go, it’s still true, how come so many people came to enlist, if it wasn’t for the pain in my thighs when I pinched myself, I would suspect that I am not dreaming, yesterday there wasn’t a single person who came to enlist in this column.”
People noticed that people kept coming in from the south gate, and as soon as they came in, they went straight to the venue to register their information for enlistment, and there was even more buzzing.
“I know why so many people come to enlist.”Among the spectator people on the periphery of the venue, someone suddenly let out words like they had solved the case.
“Why ah, quickly tell us.”As soon as the people heard these words, they urged them back and forth, their curiosity and confusion already at an extreme.
The man enjoyed being prodded by the crowd, and after enjoying it for a few moments, he reached out and pointed to the forefront of the field’s fundraisers and said, “Do you guys recognise who that guy at the front is? Don’t recognise him? That’s Chen Dacheng from Beilei Village.”
“Oh, it’s really Chen Dacheng.”
“Didn’t he say yesterday that he wouldn’t let the younger students from his village sign up for enlistment, but why is he the first to come today?”
“No wonder, if Chen Dacheng is the first one to sign up for the recruitment, their sons and daughters of the Chen Clan and the descendants of Beilei Village will surely follow him to sign up. Chen Dacheng is one of the best men in Yiwu, and when people from other villages heard that Chen Dacheng had come to enlist, they must have scrambled to come.”
People recognised Chen Dacheng at the front under the man’s reminder, and all of them came to a sudden understanding.
While the onlookers were talking, the number of people who came to the site to sign up for enlistment grew and grew.
After a while, the recruiting site was on the verge of being overcrowded.
Zhu Pingan looked at the increasing number of people coming to enlist, and couldn’t help but reveal a satisfied smile.
This is right! This is normal! Historically, Qi Jiguang came to Yiwu for the first time to recruit soldiers, originally planned to recruit 3,000 people, the result is too many people, more than 1,000 recruited, and finally recruited 4,000 Yiwu soldiers. Can not come to recruit their own troops, a person does not come it, now this is normal.
Valley</span> “My lord, there are at least three thousand people who have come to sign up for recruitment, and there are still people coming to sign up more and more, this is not worrying about fewer people, but more people ……”Liu Dazhou reported to Zhu Pingan with an excited face, then added, “With so many people coming, is it possible for our Zhejun army to recruit some more soldiers back.”
Zhu Pingan smiled and shook his head, softly saying, “We only have twelve hundred recruitment approvals, we can’t recruit more. Moreover, soldiers are not in numbers, but in precision. You can’t be greedy in recruiting more soldiers, it’s the selection of soldiers that’s important. There is no need to worry about the number of soldiers, if there are more, then we should choose the best among the best. This recruitment is a start, it must be a good start, there will be opportunities later.”
“Your Excellency don’t worry, this time we can definitely recruit a number of good seedlings to go back, I looked over, these Yiwu hans, many of them have a good physique, selecting the best among the best, we can definitely pick out a number of good soldiers. Hehehehehehe, when I go back, I’m going to pick the soldiers first.”Liu Dazhou said with a hefty smile, eyeing the new recruits.
“Hehe, granted.”Zhu Pingan nodded with a smile.
There were more people, so Zhu Pingan would definitely not be able to take care of picking the soldiers alone, and the efficiency would be too slow. Therefore, Zhu Pingan gathered Liu Dazhou as well as the fifty Zhejuns who had followed him and let them participate in picking the soldiers as well.
“The soldiers will be picked later and divided into more than fifty teams, each of the fifty of you will be responsible for the initial screening of one team.”Zhu Pingan said to them.
“My lord, how to pick soldiers ah, we don’t know anything.”The crowd of Zhejiang Army soldiers were at a loss.
Indeed, no wonder they were bewildered, picking soldiers was a learned skill. Throughout the dynasties, all the generals had different standards and methods of picking soldiers.
When Zhu Pingan came to Yiwu to recruit soldiers, he referred to Qi Jiguang’s standard of picking soldiers, which was also the most in line with the current situation. Moreover, the most crucial point is that Qi Jiguang’s standard for picking soldiers is simple, rough and easy to grasp.
“Picking soldiers is very simple, you guys listen up. Firstly, the first point of picking soldiers, look at the origin. To select the countryside honest people, that is, farmers and miners; for the origin of the county, and in the county towns and cities have been hanging out, engaged in traders and other trades, as well as in the Yamen stayed, as well as served as a soldier, all do not want.”
“The second point in picking soldiers is to look at age. Pick those over eighteen and under forty; those under eighteen, and those over forty, don’t want them.”
“The third point in picking soldiers is to look at the colour of their skin. To pick men who are dark and stout, with strong skin and flesh; no to those who look white and have fine skin and flesh.”
“The fourth point in picking soldiers is to look at character. Pick honest people, and don’t want anyone who likes to brag, talk a lot, is oily, or has a radical character.”
Zhu Pingan emphasised the four points of picking soldiers to the fifty Zhejuns, setting specific standards for what to want and what not to want, in order to let them have a number in mind, Zhu Pingan concluded with a simple and crude sentence, “Simply put, for this recruitment of soldiers, what we want are honest and robust countryside farmers and miners.”
“Sir, why is this?”The Zhejiang Army soldier said in disbelief.
“Because these types of people are honest and obedient, hard-working, and after drilling and education, they are able to strictly abide by military law and discipline, be loyal and obedient to orders, and won’t be sneaky, and carry out military orders, one is one, two is two. As for the marketplace hangers-on, the greasy ones, the braggarts, and so on, these people are mostly old greaseballs who can’t be relied upon at critical times, and can’t be entrusted with their backs in combat.”Zhu Pingan briefly explained it to them in an easy to understand manner.
“Hmmmm, your honour has a point, we understand.”The crowd of Zhejiang troops nodded their heads as they heard this.
“Alright, the grounds are already overcrowded, go pick your soldiers. Anyone who can’t decide, feel free to ask me.”
Zhu Pingan clapped his hands and ordered.
“As ordered.”The crowd of Zhejuns led the order and split up to go down and form a team and start working on picking soldiers.
