Huadi, Zhou Village, Yuanqi regiment training camp.

After the Lantern Festival, with the two companies of the Yuanqi Merchant Regiment stationed in the camp, it began to be lively day by day, the regimental warriors recruited by Yuanqi from various prefectures and counties came one after another, and there were recruits who came to report every day.

In addition to the villagers and gentry from Zhou Village and several nearby villages who came to see the excitement, there were also many young scholars -- needless to say, these were all interested in joining the Yuanqi group training and came to inquire about the situation of the Yuanqi group training.

Yuan Qi recruited in the following prefectures and counties, each county only has a hundred places, and once hired, it is Yuan Qi's apprentice, even if the date of employment is the length of service, in addition to food and clothing, there is also a monthly money of two yuan, although the monthly money seems to be lower than the normal level of Yuan Qi workers, four yuan, but it is food and clothing, and in terms of top stocks, it is much more relaxed than the average Yuan Qi staff.

Yuanqi's assessment system is that all shopkeepers are assessed every three years, and they can be promoted to the top of the body stock through the assessment, but the assessment is not so easy to pass, everyone knows that the body stock is not easy to top, and it is generally difficult to top the body stock if it does not stay up for ten years or eight years.

But Tuan Yong is much more generous in terms of top body stocks, in addition to the normal three-year assessment, no fault, five years can be unconditionally top body stocks, after the news of recruiting Tuan Yong with Yuan Qi spread, although knowing that Tuan Yong is risky, various prefectures and counties are still enthusiastically signing up.

The group brave who can come to Guangzhou is not one in a hundred, but also one of the twenty or thirty people, and the branch shopkeeper does not dare to slack off on this matter, they are all carefully selected, and all the group Yong are strong and strong, and they are more than one meter six tall strong guys, and they look stronger than the green battalion soldiers.

Not far from the fence of the camp. On a temporary wooden platform more than half a person high, more than a dozen young scholars sat or stood and talked softly while watching, "Yuan Qi Tuanyong's uniform is really weird, no matter how you look at it, you can feel awkward, those Xiyi are not this style, they are not in the middle." West you West. ”

"Tuanyong clothing is made by Xiguan Quilt Factory, it is said that it was designed by the shopkeeper of Yuan Qiyi himself, from the inside to the outside, from head to toe, all are uniformly customized, as for it looks awkward, it is really a little."

"It's awkward, but it's simple. Better than the Green Battalion's thorn coat. ”

"Don't just talk about the number one coat, look at their drills, which are obviously different from the Eight Banners Green Battalion, and they are also self-created?"

"Yuanqi regimental training is the use of Western military training methods, to be precise, it is Citi country, originally Yuanqi Guardian Merchant Regiment, that is, these instructors now, are all trained by Citi officers and soldiers."

"I heard that Yuanqi is preparing to be equipped with firearms. Is it true? ”

"I'm afraid it's not groundless, before. Guan Junmen formed a volunteer bravery, Yuan Qi donated 3,000 Western muskets, and the artillery of the Humen Fort was replaced with Western cannons, which was also donated and purchased by Yuan Qi, and it is said that they were purchased with Citigroup, and Yuan Qi was not short of silver. There is also a doorway, besides, the two successive ministers attach great importance to Yuanqi group training, which is very likely to be true. ”

"Ah, you notice. What about their braids? It can't be a cut, right? ”

"Naturally, it's cut, haven't you seen those Tuan Yong take off their hats? His hair was shaved, and he had a small braid on the back of his head. ”

"Money rattail?"

"It's less than the money rat tail, and it symbolically has a pigtail that is more than a foot long with the thickness of the little finger, and you can't see that there are braids when you wear a hat."

"If we enter the Yuanqi group training, shouldn't we do the same?"

"It's really insulting to Sven, and the parents of the body are affected by the skin."

A twenty-year-old, rather handsome scholar sneered and said, "This forehead is shaved and slippery, what kind of parents are you talking about the body hair and skin?" I think the braids are hidden in the hat, and they look very neat. ”

"Brother Ji Rong is tempted?"

Feng Renxuan, who was called Brother Shaorong, tapped his palms with a folding fan and teased: "You are not interested in such a group practice, what do you want?" Directly give you a Yue family army and Qi family army? ”

As soon as the words fell, a scholar trotted over and said loudly: "The shopkeeper of Yida is here." ”

Feng Renxuan hurriedly asked, "Where are the people?" But marched into the barracks? ”

"No, I was stopped by Xuehaitang at the gate of the barracks."

"Let's go, let's go check it out." Feng Renxuan said and walked down the wooden platform quickly, and the scholars of the platform also followed.

At the gate of the barracks, Yi Zhizhi was surrounded by a group of soldiers, and everyone who listened to them was gossiping and asking questions like cannons, he raised his hands and said, "Everyone be quiet." After everyone quieted down, he said: "The camp is noisy, and this is not a place to talk, so you can go in with me and ask slowly again, how is it?" ”

As he spoke, he beckoned several officers and soldiers of the Merchant Guard Regiment who were in charge of receiving the recruits to come over and ordered, "Lead them in and go to the conference room." As he spoke, he glanced at the scholars who were coming one after another, and said, "Bring in those who want to see me." ”

A quarter of an hour later, Yi Zhizhi slowly walked into the conference room, in fact, it was a very simple shed, not to talk about the wind, only to play the role of shading the sun and rain, the haste of the construction, everything should be simple to the extreme, however, there is still no shortage of tables and chairs.

glanced at all the scholars, and saw about twenty or thirty people, Yi Zhizhi nodded at everyone, and said with a smile: "Raise your hand to ask, who you point, who stands up and asks, otherwise it will be messed up." ”

As soon as the words fell, Qi Shushu raised more than ten hands, Yi Zhizu pointed to the person in the front, and the scholar immediately asked: "May I ask Yi Da Shopkeeper, when our scholar enters the group training, do we also have to train with the group Yong and dress the same?" ”

"Of course." Yi Zhicontent said without hesitation: "As a commander, you must lead by example in everything, once you enter the Yuanqi group training, you are no different from the recruits, at the end of a month of recruit training, you will be temporarily entrusted with the position according to your performance during the recruit training period, and then, it is a competition training, an exam in January, and the best are selected and the worst are selected." ”

"Yida shopkeeper." As soon as the scholar said this, he realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly closed his mouth and raised his hand.

Yi Zhishu smiled, pointed at him, and said, "Say." ”

"The shopkeeper of Yida is rumored to be in the outside world that the English will invade in the summer. Yuanqi group training was only formed at this time and began training, excuse me, is it too late? ”

"I guess there are a lot of people who care about this problem." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "How long does it take to train an archer?" The short is one year, and the long is three or five years. How long does it take to train a knife soldier and a spearman? It will take at least half a year, otherwise you won't be able to go to the battlefield at all, but do you know how much time it takes to train a qualified musketeer? ”

As he spoke, he raised his hand, stretched out three fingers, and said, "Short-term intensive training, three months, is enough to train a farmer to become a qualified musketeer." In half a year, you can train into an elite musketeer! Why can muskets quickly eliminate cold weapons such as bows, arrows, knives and guns in war? The main reason for this is that the training time of musketeers has been drastically reduced.

Do we have enough time? In my opinion, sufficient! The English invasion of Guangzhou had to be carried out by monsoon ships, and it was not until at least May or June that they could reach Guangzhou. Even if you attack, you can't fight in one fight. This can at least buy us another two months, and in half a year, Yuanqi's group training is enough to train into an elite! ”

"Yida shopkeeper, is Yuanqi group training all equipped with muskets?"

Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "The only ones who can be trained in half a year are musketeers." ”

"Let's enter the Yuanqi group training, do we enjoy the same treatment?"

"You have entered the Yuanqi group training. The salary is higher than that of the general group brave, because the treatment of Yuanqi group training is directly linked to the position, the higher the position, the higher the salary, and the greater the chance of topping the body. There are detailed rules for remuneration at all levels of office. ”

"Big shopkeeper, can we not shave our hair? Shaved like that, we don't dare to go out and meet people. ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "The reason why it is only symbolically left with a small piece of braid is because of the needs of training and combat, physical training, every morning is a ten-mile long-distance run, the roots of the hair are wet, and when I come back, it is queue training, military posture training, with long braids, one is in the way, and then it is dirty, and once the head is injured, it is not easy to bandage the wound." ”

After a pause, he said with a smile: "It's a little indecent to shave your head, but you can wear hats, there is no shortage of hats with braids in Xiguan and Guangzhou, you can buy one to wear." As he spoke, he took off the hat on his head, which was also a big bald head, with a small piece of braid on the back, and he smiled: "Do you want me to show you where to buy this hat?" ”

Everyone below burst into laughter, no one was embarrassed to mention this topic anymore, Yi Zhicontent, this big shopkeeper of Yuanqi led by example, what else did they have to say? It's no wonder that Yuan Qituan practiced up and down, and there was no resistance to shaving a big bald head.

The scholars continued to ask questions for more than half an hour, and gradually no one raised their hands to ask, Yi Zhizhi was content to answer all questions, his mouth was dry, and he drank a cup of cold white to moisten his throat, and then he said slowly: "After asking so many questions, no one asked, why did Yuanqi Tuanlian hire a scholar to lead?" ”

Hearing this, all the scholars secretly said ashamed, they really ignored this most important issue, and they all looked at him attentively, they were indeed very concerned about this problem.

After a pause, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "Since the rise of firearms in the Ming Dynasty, it has been hundreds of years, and in the past few hundred years, we have developed slowly in firearms, but the wars in Western countries have continued for hundreds of years, which has greatly promoted the development of firearms.

What does this mean? It means that the war has completely changed, and the strategy and tactics, the command of the formation, the change of formation, the coordination of arms, the logistics and supply, and so on have all been completely different, and it can be said that earth-shaking changes have taken place.

War is fought with money and food, and it is fought against a country's comprehensive strength, and at the same time, it is also a confrontation of wisdom and strategy, which is the case in the era of cold weapons, and even more so in the era of hot weapons.

Yuanqi opened generous conditions to absorb you into Yuanqi's group training, which is to hope that you will personally participate in this war against Yingyi, deeply experience the war in the era of hot weapons, and then summarize and explore the road of strengthening our army in the Qing Dynasty, of course, it is also hoped that through this move to cultivate talents for war in the era of hot weapons.

There is a good saying, although the country is big, the belligerent will die, although the world is safe, forgetting the war will be dangerous, our Qing Dynasty has been in a corner of peace for too long, this war against Yingyi is not a bad thing for the Qing Dynasty! For you, it is the most important opportunity of your life! Yuanqi provides you with an opportunity to show your talents and discover your own talents, whether you can grasp it or not, it depends on you! With that, he turned and walked away quickly.

The group of scholars sat there in a daze, no one got up for a long time, they were all carefully pondering what Yi Zhishu had just said, and they were both shocked and excited in their hearts.

Ma Yinglong sat in the middle, looking at everyone's reaction coldly, and secretly laughed in his heart that Yi Zhixin would really incite people's hearts, even he, a person who didn't want to enter the Yuanqi group at all, was thrilled, not to mention these scholars who were already eager to try, in fact, Yi Zhizu came to the camp today, and the two of them made an appointment, otherwise Yi Zhizhi entered the camp, how could the scholars find out.

Leaving the humble conference room, Yi Zhifen slowed down, paced to the training ground to watch the recruit training, Yan Yangtian, who was wearing a new military uniform and an armed belt, trotted over and saluted: "Student Yan Yangtian has seen the principal. ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "What is the quality of this batch of group braves?" ”

"Very good, much better than our group of students." Yan Yangtian said with a smile: "Not to mention being strong and strong, the obedience is extremely high, how to say and do it, there is no need to shave your head and change your clothes at all, and you are full of training energy, no one complains about being tired, the only flaw is that you don't have good personal hygiene habits." ”

Personal hygiene habits have to be cultivated slowly, just get used to it, Yi Zhishu doesn't care much about this, and groaned slightly, before saying: "They know that the opportunity is not easy to come by, so they will cherish it extraordinarily, and now, what they are most worried about is not being officially hired and going home without a face." After a pause, he continued: "The training intensity is high, the food must be guaranteed, let's go, go to the room to have a look." ”

Yan Yangtian also said step by step: "Rest assured, the principal does not dare to be careless about the food, each room is inspected every day, and someone is also arranged to inspect the meal." ”

"Officers at all levels should not only pay attention to training, but also pay attention to the changes in their thinking." Yi Zhizu told as he walked, and when he raised his eyes and saw Ma Yinglong coming out of the conference room, he greeted him and said with a smile: "How is the response?" ”

"Even the people who are being told by the contented brother are itching, let alone them?" Ma Yinglong said with a smile: "Prepare to receive their scholar soldiers." (To be continued.) )