In the courtyard on the north side of Xinzhuang Fort in the northwest of Xuanfu Town, torches shine.
Zhang Chenggang took Chi Chengfang and other thirty-eight people under his command, changed his name to Zhang Chengfang, and considered him his adopted son. After everyone retreated, Zhang Cheng led Zhang Chengfang and others back to the house.
He asked: "Chengfang, how old are you this year?"
"Repay my adoptive father, Chengfang has just turned fifteen this year." Zhang Chengfang knelt on the ground and repaid him.
Zhang Cheng nodded and said: "Chengfang, in a few days, I will send my husband to teach you how to read and write. Before that, you will practice weapons and riding skills with Captain Lin.
You have to take these children seriously and practice them seriously, and don't dare to be lazy."
Then he said to Lin Fangping: "Xiao Linzi, all ten of your sentry team will stay. You choose five people to be responsible for teaching these children boxing, footwork, horseback riding, gun and stick martial arts, bow and arrow shooting, firearms discharge, and war horse riding."
technique,
Remember, they should be taught separately according to their age. Those under twelve years old will only be taught boxing, footwork, horse footwork and gun and stick martial arts; those between twelve and fourteen years old will be taught archery and war horse riding; those between twelve and fourteen will be taught archery and war horse riding;
Children over the age of 10 can then start learning how to discharge firearms;
Just go to Wu Zhizhong to get the muskets, bows, arrows, armor, ordnance you need, and only choose the best quality."
Lin Fangping stood aside and responded loudly.
Zhang Cheng then continued: "There are hundreds of strong women over there at Su Zhenxiang. The remaining five in your team will be responsible for teaching them to stand in formation, starting with the spear thrusting technique.
There is no need for any pretense, just practice stabbing. Put twenty of them into a team and assign one guard to teach them. They need to know how to stand in line and basic military orders.
Learn how to stab with a spear in a neat and orderly manner, and thrust quickly, accurately, and hard, that's all;
You must put more thought into it. These people have not practiced before and may have some difficulties. You must try your best to overcome them. But if you need it, just come to me."
"Please rest assured, general. Fang Ping will do his best to live up to the general's expectations."
Zhang Cheng sat in the chair, took a sip of tea, and then said: "Su Zhenxiang, in the next time, you have to put more thought into it. In addition to selecting a hundred fitness women for training, you also have to make clear decisions about the remaining women.
division of labor,
According to what everyone is good at, they can be divided into laundry, cleaning, sewing, cooking, etc., so that everyone can have a division of labor and cooperate with each other according to their division of labor.
Furthermore, all the boys and girls should be organized and divided according to age so that they can participate in the work. Those orphans and young children who have no family should all be gathered together and a few strong women should be arranged to take care of them and live together."
At this point, Zhang Cheng paused and thought for a while before continuing: "Hu Cheng, the village fort here has been renamed Xinzhuang Fort, and you are still the head of the village;
He Shihui, starting from tomorrow, men and women will no longer be separated in this village. Anyone with a family can be assigned a house and live together as a family. Those without a family will still be separated by men and women. Every four people can be assigned a house and live together;
In this matter, Ma Zhongli, Feng Yuanshan and you two need to assist He Shihui and carefully identify each person's situation. There must be no mistakes in this matter. Hu Cheng, you must also cooperate with He Shihui seriously to do this."
After everyone accepted the order, Zhang Cheng continued: "He Shihui, now that the construction of canals and reclamation of wasteland in this village has come to an end, you can select those with strong bodies among the more than 700 young people to join the army.
Remember, he selects honest people and those who cheat and cheat. No matter how strong he is, the general will still be useless, and there is no need to have too many. Let’s choose based on the two hundred people first.”
After everything was assigned, Zhang Cheng did not wait long. Under the watch of He Shihui, Lin Fangping, Ma Zhongli, Feng Yuanshan and others, he and Chen Zhong rode towards the town of Xuanfu under the moonlight.
…………
In the past few days, Zhang Cheng had not been able to take a good rest. He went to visit the hundreds of craftsmen who had followed them to Xuan Town. They were temporarily placed in a small school field on the eastern outskirts of Xuanfu Town.
A military tent was set up. Fortunately, the weather had warmed up at this time. In addition, they had always lived in poverty. Such living conditions were really good for them, especially since they could eat well.
Although they had only eaten one meal of meat after arriving in the town for nearly ten days, they were full on weekdays. Moreover, Zhang Cheng also rewarded each of them with one tael of silver. The craftsmen were extremely excited. This was just a simple matter.
He was treated like this when he repaired some armor and weapons, and everyone talked about how good Zhang Cheng was.
At the same time, Wu Zhizhong's recruitment of soldiers was also quite smooth. Zhang Cheng did not recruit sergeants according to the food and salary standards stipulated by the court. In fact, everyone was well aware of this.
Although this Xuanfu town has a large population, 90% of them are from military households, and there are very few civilian households. These long-term disadvantages in the military are caused by everyone from the governor and the general soldier to ordinary military households.
It's crystal clear.
In the entire Xuan Mansion, not a single military camp was fully disbursed with rations and salaries. The rations and salaries were already insufficient, and coupled with layer upon layer of deductions, it reached the hands of various military commanders and all expenditures were reduced.
They divided their soldiers into three parts. The old and weak didn't care at all, but some young and strong people would be given some food and salary from time to time to make them feel the grace, so that they could select the best and strong people to join their own servants.
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And almost all the money they saved was used to support their servants who were good at fighting. Some generals even gave money to support these servants, because this was the basis of their wealth.
In the late Ming Dynasty, one criterion for evaluating the strength of generals was the number of servants they supported, and these servants were indeed useful.
They are really powerful in battle. If the general is alive during the war, they will really fight on the battlefield. If the war goes unfavorably, they will protect the general and escape, so the generals from all over the country pay money to support them.
Here are some loyal and brave servants.
When Zhang Cheng recruited sergeants outside the town this time, he raised a banner and made it clear that each recruited sergeant would be given three taels of Anjia silver first, and then one tael of monthly salary thereafter, with no default.
At this time, the initial recruitment of soldiers in various military towns in the north of the Ming Dynasty cost about two to three taels of Anjia silver. However, many generals were recruited directly from various garrison posts, so there was no need to pay Anjia silver.
This is also a shortcoming. Zhang Cheng doesn't care about it. Military households will still give Anjia three taels of silver when they come to collect money. This is especially true for civilian households. This alone is enough to attract people's attention.
In addition, the camp soldiers also received monthly rations, salt, etc. according to the system. However, at this time, they were all converted into silver taels for settlement. The monthly salary was about 1, 25, or so for infantry, and about 2, 2, or 4 for cavalry. In addition, for cavalry,
There is also soybean silver, which is more than twenty taels per point.
However, at this time, the salary and silver deductions among the armies were serious, and almost no one was actually paid. Wu Zhizhong held up a banner and said that the Anjia silver was three taels, and the monthly salary was about one tael. There were many onlookers, but there were only a few believers.
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Even though some of Zhang Cheng's deeds as Queen Weiqin were being spread throughout Xuan Town, making many young people in Xuan Town envious, at the beginning, no one dared to believe it.