Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 440 Recruitment
Xiao Yan did not expect that Chen Qingzhi's 10,000-strong Northern Expeditionary Army could achieve any amazing results.

In fact, what he hoped for was to establish a vassal state of 'Southern Wei' north of the Huai River, as a buffer between the Southern Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty, to alleviate the pain of the Southern Dynasty having to spend huge amounts of manpower and resources to maintain a defense line of thousands of miles at all times.

Taking advantage of the internal strife in the Northern Dynasty, it is indeed possible to succeed in stealing a chicken without much military force.

But before parting, Chen Qingzhi asked Xiao Yan a question: "If you had the opportunity to capture Luoyang, what would you do?"

Xiao Yan couldn't help but chuckle, never expecting that the cautious Chen Qingzhi would have such an arrogant side.

But he still answered seriously, "We should take it."

Isn't that obvious? Ever since the Jin dynasty moved south, the highest political ideal of the Southern Dynasties' rulers and ministers has been to launch a northern expedition to conquer the Central Plains and recover Luoyang. Although since the Yuanjia era, the northern expedition has become nothing more than an empty slogan…

But the problem wasn't with the Northern Expedition itself, but rather with the Southern Dynasty itself.

This is just like Chen Baxian constantly shouting that he wants to marry a princess; it's an empty slogan.

It's not that the princess wasn't attractive, but rather that he simply didn't have the ability.

If given the opportunity to successfully launch a northern expedition, even the most pragmatic Emperor Xiao Yan would not have said "do not take it."

Then Chen Qingzhi asked, "What if we take Luoyang?"

"I will personally lead a large army north to join you," Xiao Yan replied without hesitation.

"Then I have nothing to worry about," Chen Qingzhi said, bowing again before taking his leave.

~~
This Northern Expedition was carried out in a very low-key manner. The court did not even declare it a Northern Expedition, but only said that it was at the request of Yuan Hao that 10,000 troops were borrowed to send him back to his country.

While this approach may not be very inspiring, it has its advantages: no one pays any attention to this small Northern Expeditionary Army, whether it's the Southern Dynasty or the Northern Dynasty.

Chen Qingzhi can build this army entirely according to his own wishes.

This is extremely important.

The Southern Dynasties' army had always suffered from low morale and poor combat effectiveness. The reason was simple: in a society dominated by powerful clans, officers were considered inferior, let alone soldiers.
Soldiers were at the very bottom of society, and their lives were in danger, so no one wanted to join the army. There was no other way but to implement a military household system, forcibly conscripting soldiers. Local officials had to escort them like prisoners throughout the journey, otherwise, the soldiers would all desert before reaching the front lines.

How could the Southern Dynasty possibly win a battle with such a group of 'slave soldiers'? That's why the Southern Dynasty was repeatedly defeated by the Northern Dynasty's army, which was mainly composed of tribal soldiers.

Therefore, since his debut, Chen Qingzhi has always relied solely on his own loyal troops in battle, never expecting the support of the main force. This is the key to his consistent success.

"Moreover, being deep in enemy territory and fighting on foreign soil, having too many troops would be a burden. The logistical pressure alone could crush an army." He explained this to his generals:

"Furthermore, with a large army, the march will inevitably be slow, making it easy to fall into the enemy's encirclement. No matter how many troops there are, can they outnumber the North Dynasty, which is fighting on its home ground? They will still be surrounded by an enemy force several times larger."

"It would be better to lead a small but elite cavalry force, attacking like fire and thunder, leading the enemy by the nose." He concluded decisively.
"Therefore, even without the 10,000-strong limit, I will still follow the path of selecting the best troops rather than the worst!" "Understood!" The generals were enlightened and understood their commander's good intentions.

"So for the next two months, your task is to recruit soldiers!" Chen Qingzhi ordered his generals. "There are two requirements: first, it must be voluntary. You must volunteer to participate in the Northern Expedition; don't force anyone."

"Secondly, we must select elite soldiers and capable generals. One who can do the work of two is not enough; one who can do the work of five is better than one who can do the work of ten!" Chen Qingzhi emphasized in the end: "Recruit as many as you can. Better to have fewer but better. It doesn't matter if we can't gather 10,000 men. Take as many as you have."

"Yes, sir!" the generals responded in unison.

~~
So in the summer of the second year of Datong, Ren Yuan, Hu Longya and others all transformed into conscription officers, digging people up everywhere to recruit soldiers.

In reality, the Northern Expeditionary Army was still based on the troops of the Gouchen Division. In addition to the two thousand elite cavalry who had already followed Chen Qingzhi, the officers and soldiers who had left the Gouchen Division also responded to the call and signed up to join the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Of course, Chen Qingzhi's efforts over the past year have not been in vain. His brilliant achievements in Pengcheng, Shouyang, and Woyang, as well as his excellent reputation for loving his soldiers like his own children and being fair in rewards and punishments, have attracted many soldiers, and even many young men from military families are willing to serve him.

In addition, each officer had a network of relatives or fellow villagers, so the Northern Expeditionary Army didn't lack applicants. However, Chen Qingzhi's requirement of "better to have none than to have bad ones" was not just a slogan, but a genuine and rigorous screening process with ruthless elimination.

When the recruitment period ended, only seven thousand soldiers were recruited, falling short of the emperor's limit of ten thousand. Chen Qingzhi, however, resolutely announced that once recruitment was over, he would lead these seven thousand soldiers on a northern expedition!

Oh no, I mean, escorting His Highness Prince Wei back north...

~~
Of the seven thousand soldiers, the majority were heading towards Chen Qingzhi. The second largest group was heading towards Ren Yuanlai... a total of more than five hundred men, which greatly surprised Hu Longya and his colleagues.

They originally thought that Ren Yuan was young and had no relatives or friends in the capital, so he probably wouldn't be able to recruit many people. Unexpectedly, he recruited more people than all of them combined.

Actually, Ren Yuan deliberately reduced the number of recruits, and the selection process for the Northern Expeditionary Army was indeed very strict; otherwise, he could have recruited another one or two thousand more.

These people were all there because of his status as the leader of the Taoist alliance, and they were mainly divided into two groups.

Some of them were the nearly one thousand Taoists that Master Bao had brought to Ningzhou. With a peaceful cultivation environment and Ren Yuan providing them with a constant supply of elixirs, the Taoists, both big and small, grew rapidly, and it was time to bring them out for some experience.

The other part consisted of disciples secretly trained by Tao Hongjing, as well as fellow disciples he secretly supported. Tao Hongjing, as expected of someone who had served as an imperial tutor, possessed astonishing influence; this group even outnumbered the main headquarters in Ningzhou.

In fact, the reason these Taoist priests and former Taoist priests were able to survive was largely due to Emperor Xiao Yan and Chen Qingzhi's leniency. Although Emperor Xiao Yan was forced to issue an edict to promote Buddhism and suppress Taoism, he was well aware of the dangers of allowing Buddhism to dominate.

Although he couldn't fight city hall and couldn't protect them completely, he still instructed Chen Qingzhi to leave the Daoist sect a way out as much as possible. Otherwise, Fifth Dimension wouldn't have let Bao Ren go and even helped him break the cauldron to make pills. Not to mention helping the Daoist sect fight the ghost army in Peach Blossom Spring.

After the great battle between Emperor Xiao Yan and the Buddhist sect last year, he completely dropped his pretense and directly ordered Chen Qingzhi to openly supply external elixirs to the Taoist sects. Over the course of a year, countless individuals with supernatural powers of four, five, or six apertures were created, and there were even those with great supernatural powers of seven apertures.

But medicine alone cannot cultivate true masters; the revival of Taoism still requires the tempering of blood and fire.

After discussing it with Tao Hongjing and Bao Ren, Ren Yuan agreed that they could reciprocate by sending a group of Taoist priests to participate in the selection for the Northern Expeditionary Army. Firstly, the battlefield was the best place to hone one's supernatural abilities, and secondly, Ren Yuan, as the leader of the Taoist alliance, could not remain a commander without troops forever.

(End of this chapter)