Expansion of the army

  Luo Yi's men sent a message to the mining area, and Zhang Tianyou sent down dozens of miners, who carried the equipment up the mountain one by one. So far, the matter of the mine is still in a state of secrecy, except for the soldiers of the shock camp and the miners, the residents of the town do not know what kind of mineral is being mined on the mountain, so Luo Yi cannot let the residents help carry things up the mountain.

  The miners who came down the mountain had been given strict warnings beforehand, requiring them not to reveal anything about the mountain. After they came down from the mountain, they met with their relatives in town, picked up some clean clothes, and then moved equipment back to the mine. However, their relatives could tell from their faces that their usual diet was not bad, and working conditions were not too poor either, because most of the miners were a little fatter than when they were at home. This also stabilized the emotions of the miners' families, and the credibility of the assault camp's actions was verified.

  As soon as the equipment was in place, Zhang Tianyou immediately expanded production. All the ore mined was crushed directly on the mountain and then sifted out for gold particles, which were taken to town by Le Jialin to exchange for silver dollars. Luo Yi made a simple calculation that at this rate of production, they could earn around 60,000 yuan per month, enough to repay equipment loans and feed soldiers.

  Zhang Tianyou had a way of managing the mine, not only was he technically proficient, but also skilled in personnel deployment. He organized the miners into shifts, designated team leaders, and established a hierarchical management system. As a result, there was no need for the soldiers from the assault camp to guard the miners every day. Luo Yi withdrew Su Xiaofeng from the mountain as well, leaving only Tu Jiu with ten soldiers responsible for the mine's security. He had Tu Jiu choose a vantage point to build a fort, equipped with a heavy machine gun, which was more than enough to deal with ordinary small groups of bandits.

  The road repair and camp construction work has been ongoing, with sufficient funding, all projects are progressing very quickly. Le Jialin estimates that by next Spring Festival at the latest, the road will be connected to the outside highway, and cars can drive directly to Zhushan Town.

  The task of recruiting new soldiers was assigned to Lu Shuangyong and Wang Dacheng. Lu Shuangyong mainly examined the physical quality of the applicants, while Wang Dacheng was responsible for judging their moral character. Luo Yi proposed that new recruits must meet the requirement of "both virtue and talent", and soldiers with poor moral character would bring endless hidden dangers to the troops. Wang Dacheng had a good ability to judge people, so he took charge of "political examination".

  Zhushan Town itself has a small population, and there are limited young people willing to join the army. Wang Dacheng used his established intelligence network system to post recruitment posters in several other towns, expanding the recruitment range beyond Zhushan Town. Luo Yi's offer of 8 taels of silver as military pay for one month had great appeal to many young men from farming families, and soon there was a surge of applicants again.

  All applicants must undergo a series of rigorous tests, including sprinting, long-distance running, weightlifting, and long jump. The training ground in the barracks has been renovated and is now being used as a testing ground for new recruits. Lu Shuangyong is like a coach, staying by the field every day to test batch after batch of applicants. Su Xiaofeng was also called upon to help, but he doesn't think much of such strict selection standards.

  "Two brave men, not picking a son-in-law, what's the point of being so strict?"

  "This is what Luo Zi said, the strength of an army does not lie in its numbers, but in its quality. Now if we select carefully, it will be more comfortable to lead soldiers later." Lu Shuangyong introduced Luo Yi's theory.

  "With this selection method, it's unlikely we would have been selected back then either?"

  "Luózi said that the next step is that we also have to accept training, he said he wants to come up with an American special forces training program, and we all have to meet the standards of the Americans."

  "Where is America?" Su Xiaofeng asked bewilderedly, "When did Luozi go to America?"

  "Xin Luozi, that's right." Lu Shuangyong explained. What Luo Yi originally told them was: Xin Luo Ge, attain eternal life.

  Two people were chatting, and among the new recruits who were being tested, there was one person who caught Lu Shuangyong's attention. He tugged at Su Xiaofeng's clothes and said: "Xiaofeng, take a look at that person over there, I always feel like there's something strange about him, but I just can't put my finger on what it is."

  Su Xiaofeng looked in the direction that Lu Shuangyu was pointing, and among a dozen or so job applicants, there was a man of medium build who was doing exactly the same movements as everyone else, but somehow seemed different. Su Xiaofeng stared for a while before realizing: "The expression on his face is different from the others."

  Lu Shuangyu also noticed that the other candidates were all carrying a mixture of fear and excitement, while this man's face was a faint indifference, as if he had no interest in anything. When the soldier in charge of testing arranged an item to be tested, the other candidates would either not understand or do it wrong, but he succeeded at once, and then stood quietly on the side, waiting for the next one.

  "Hey, you over there, brother, come here for a moment." Lu Shuangyong shouted at him.

  The man didn't notice at first and didn't know he was being called. The soldier standing next to him heard it and hastily poked him: "Go quickly, our officer is calling you."

  That man was slightly surprised, but immediately covered it up. He jogged to the front of Lu Shuangyong and Su Xiaofeng, bowed slightly, and asked: "Two officers, what can I do for you?"

  Lu Shuangyong was shining from head to toe, this man was about twenty-seven or eight years old, with a hint of humility on his face, but there was a faint light in his eyes, looking quite different from ordinary farmers.

  "What's your name?" Lu Shuangyong asked.

  "My name is Xu Liangqing."

  "Where is he from?"

  I am from Pengjiacun.

  "Are you a foreigner? Your accent doesn't sound like that of a native Tongzhou resident." Lu Shuangyong asked. Xu Liangqing's Tongzhou dialect sounded very stiff, not like the accent of a local person.

  "As for what you said, sir, I am an outsider and became a son-in-law of the Peng family through uxorilocal marriage."

  "This big brother, you're a Northeasterner, right? Which village are you from?" Luo Yi happened to come over and see the recruitment scene, heard Xu Liangqing's words, but came up and casually threw a sentence of Northeastern dialect at Xu Liangqing. In that era, southerners rarely heard Northeastern dialect, let alone spoke it. But Luo Yi was from a later generation, TV shows were always playing Northeastern sketches, he had been influenced for a long time. As soon as he heard Xu Liangqing's accent, Luo Yi judged that this guy must be a Northeasterner.

  As expected, Xu Liangqing's eyes lit up when he heard Luo Yi's words: "Is the officer also from Northeast China?"

  "Hmm?" Luo Yi playfully responded with a single word, "You haven't said yet, which one is it?"

  Xu Liangqing did hear it, and Luo Yi was just learning to speak Northeastern dialect. When he spoke, his pronunciation still had a Southern accent. A faint smile appeared on his face as he replied, "To answer the officer's question, I am from Liaoyang."

  "How did you get inside?"

  Xu Liangqing said with a tone of self-mockery: "After 9/18, many Northeasterners came into the pass. Even our Young Marshal entered the pass, what am I, an ordinary citizen? If we don't enter the pass, are we waiting to become slaves of a lost country?"

  Luo Yi's heart skipped a beat as he asked, "Are you from the Northeast Army?"

  Xu Liangqing hesitated for a moment before answering, "It's not that... I wore military uniform for a few days, then the troops dispersed and the officers disappeared. No one gave me any pay, so I wandered all the way to the south."

  "So you used to be a soldier, are you thinking of becoming one again?" Luo Yi asked curiously.

  Xu Liangqing said: "I won't do anything, I won't even farm the land in the south. At least by being a soldier, I can earn some money for my family to spend, and I won't be considered a useless person."

  "Being a soldier means you could lose your life at any moment, now that you have a family and children, can you bear to part with them?"

  "A life is a life, if you kill him it's his fault, if you don't kill him it's mine. What's there to be reluctant about?"

  "Do you know how to use a gun?"

  "I've learned a bit."

  Luo Yi handed over a rifle that had been unloaded, and gave it to Xu Liangqing, saying: "If you can disassemble this gun, I'll take you in."

  Xu Liangqing looked at Lu Shuangyong and Su Xiaofeng, unable to tell who was the superior among the three. He didn't know if Luo Yi's words counted or not. Lu Shuangyong knew what he was thinking and smiled, saying: "This is our battalion commander, if he says you're invited, then it counts."

  "Then, thank you, Captain Luo." Xu Liangqing bowed to Luo Yi.

  Luo Yi said: "Don't be in a hurry to thank me, can you or can't you dissolve it?"

  "Sir, please take a look." said Xu Liangqing.

  Luo Yi and others looked down, the rifle that was still in Xu Liangqing's hand just now had become a pile of scattered parts in the blink of an eye, neatly arranged on the ground in order. It turned out that when Xu Liangqing bowed to Luo Yi, his hands were not idle at all, and he had already disassembled the gun.

  Lu Shuangyong and Su Xiaofeng were both stunned. Disassembling a rifle was a basic skill for soldiers, but no one could do it so quickly with their hands and feet, without even looking at the gun. The two exchanged a glance, silently praising him: Not bad, he's a good soldier.

  "Great, buddy." Luo Yi couldn't help but go over and pat Xu Liangqing's shoulder. "Alright, you've been hired, go to the accounting room to get your living expenses, find Wang Lianzhang to register your name. You... can be a squad leader in the new recruit regiment for now."

  Wang Dacheng came over and took Xu Liangqing away. There were still a lot of formalities to be done afterwards, including finding elderly villagers to verify his identity, explaining whether he had any bad behavior, and producing something similar to the "political examination materials" of later generations. Lu Shuangyong asked Luo Yi: "Luo Zi, how did you take a liking to him all at once?"

  Luo Yi looked at the back of Xu Liangqing in the distance and said: "I think this guy is a bit extraordinary, I heard him say that he was in the Northeast Army before, and he should have some military skills. He's probably an old soldier. Our troops are currently lacking such experienced veterans, and he might be able to play a big role. However, let Da Cheng keep a close eye on him, just in case he's a spy and ends up messing things up for us."

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