Seeing that the warlords were in chaos, Li Yunhao knew that political power came from the barrel of a gun. After thinking for a long time, he finally made a decision. Forming an army. To build an army loyal to Li Weiguo and himself. With this thought in mind, Li Yunhao began to make preparations.
First, he wanted to know how many troops the Li family could afford.
He didn't know, but he was shocked when he calculated. Every soldier and equipment (including cannons) would cost at least 1000 silver dollars a year. Other clothes, military pay, and training fees would cost about 300 silver dollars a year. It was really not easy to raise an army.
Originally, Li Yunhao wanted to have at least 3000 troops, but after some calculations, the Li family could not afford it. At the moment, they could only support 1000 troops. Any more would be difficult for the Li family to operate.
500 troops meant 500000 silver dollars a year. Although the Li family could afford more troops, this would definitely affect the development of the Li family, especially now that the Li family was in a weak period.
Now that the budget was out and the number of people to recruit was in place, the next step was to determine where to recruit from. Who did you recruit?
It was very simple to recruit people. They needed young people between the ages of 15 to 23. This was because in order to nurture them into direct descendants, where they recruited people was very important.
Li Yunhao did not plan to recruit people from outside for the time being. The main source of personnel was his own tenants, merchants, and guards.
The age limit was mainly because they were more malleable and could better accept some of the ideas they brought from their later generations.
After preparing for two days, Li Yunhao arrived at an empty plot of land a thousand meters away from the Li Residence on the morning of the third day. There was a small hill that was a few hundred meters tall, and it had become a wasteland due to the large amount of sand.
Although the sky had just brightened, more than two thousand youths had gathered.
These young men were all related to the Li family.
The scene was noisy, but Li Yunhao wasn't unhappy because they were a group of farmers, a group of untrained farmers.
The reason why so many people came was firstly because of the Li family's good reputation and secondly because of the high benefits Li Yunhao had promised.
Li Yunhao's promise was not the " one soldier brings glory to the whole family " of later generations, but " one soldier brings glory to the whole family ".
Don't look at this subtle difference." Eat your fill " was the common wish of the majority of farmers in this era. Therefore, Li Yunhao's slogan of eating your fill was very attractive.
It wasn't a slogan to say that the whole family would be fed, but it was real. Li Yunhao had chosen to pay for food and accommodation. As long as it wasn't personal expenses, he would also pay for all the other expenses.
Not only that, but there was also a high salary. According to the average living standard of this era, it was enough to feed a family of five.
Of course, Li Yunhao only recruited the Li family's guards, which were private soldiers. They were not organized and were equivalent to the local security corps during the Republic of China.
Li Yunhao didn't dare to use the excuse of recruiting soldiers. That would be courting death. They were still under someone else's rule. If they dared to raise an army, they would definitely be suppressed.
There were more than three thousand people, and it was a dark mass. How were they going to choose the soldiers they wanted? It was very simple. Running, the top 500.
Hence, the black mass of people began to run. How long? There was no limit to these. In any case, if they ran around the small hill and couldn't hold on, the last 500 people who could hold on would be the winners. They would be the people Li Yunhao wanted.
Li Yunhao also followed behind the group. Born in a chaotic world, if one wanted to survive, if one wanted to live better, then one had to be stronger than others.
" Quick, quick, quick." Li Yunhao shouted at the side, urging everyone to run quickly.
Although the weather was cold, they were drenched in sweat. Many people were already panting heavily.
Ten minutes, twenty minutes, no one gave up. It could be seen how much pressure there was to eat.
Half an hour later, there were still more than a thousand people running. Li Yunhao was running as well.
In this era, most farmers did not have enough to eat. Most of the people who were still running were thin and had yellow faces.
To be able to continue running, they had already reached the limits of their bodies. Compared to their long-term malnutrition, what allowed them to continue running was their will.
His body lacked nutrition, so he could recuperate later on. Li Yunhao had the confidence to do so. However, he could strengthen his willpower, but he could not change it fundamentally.
Only a few hundred people could survive 40 minutes. Many of them had already reached the limits of their willpower and their bodies. Some of them were already close to the limits of their willpower.
After running for another five minutes, Li Yunhao saw that the number of people was almost there, so he called them to stop.
At this moment, Li Yunhao was also panting heavily. His body was still quite good after eating and drinking well, but he had almost reached his limit. After all, he did not exercise much in the past.
The 500 chosen people stood to the side. Li Yunhao was panting in front of them. They were also panting. Some of them had pale faces and were even on the verge of collapsing.
Li Yunhao instructed the butler to give those who were not selected a meal and another silver dollar. It was enough for the family to cope for at least half a month.
In this way, those who were not selected were not dissatisfied. Instead, they were very grateful to Li Yunhao because they worked hard to survive. This allowed them to earn half a month's income by running in the morning. They were very happy.
There were 420 people left, and he didn't want the rest. He could use the system to exchange for soldiers.
Looking at this group of people, Li Yunhao didn't say much. He arranged for them to have a full meal and then each of them received a settlement allowance equivalent to 20 silver dollars. Then, he told them to go back and gather here at 8 am three days later.
When they received 20 silver dollars as a settlement allowance, many of them cried. This was because it could feed a family of five for two months. If they were frugal, they could eat for three months.
In this era where people were as cheap as grass, being able to eat a full meal was bliss.
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