A group of soldiers dressed in gray-green uniforms, wearing octagonal brimmed hats with red five-pointed stars on their heads, wearing white cloth leggings, carrying muskets on their shoulders, arranged in a neat square formation, and walked in front of the rostrum with neat steps.
However, if you are not familiar with it, you will think that you are seeing the Red Army of the Jinggangshan era in the 1830s.
Shang Yi sat in the center of the rostrum and was very satisfied with the military uniforms he designed. This is what the army looks like in his mind.
Today is the sixth day after Shang Yi returned to Muling Pass. It is also the day when the merchant army held a medal ceremony for the meritorious soldiers in the Battle of Jinan. For this ceremony, Shang Yi made a special trip to ask the women in Muling Pass to make a
One hundred and twenty new military uniforms, military caps and a new military flag. The military uniforms and military caps are made of cotton, and the red five-stars are made of wood and painted with red paint. The only thing that makes Shang Yi regretful is that Qingzhou Prefecture cannot buy them.
Pure green cotton cloth can only be replaced by gray-green ones, and with the dyeing technology of this era, it is estimated that it will turn gray and white after a few washes.
In fact, the awards to meritorious soldiers in the Jinan Campaign have long been distributed. This time, commemorative medals are purely awarded to meritorious soldiers. On the one hand, it is to enhance the soldiers' sense of honor and cohesion, and on the other hand, it is also to prepare for the upcoming battle south.
Do a pre-war mobilization.
It has always been Shang Yi's wish to issue commemorative medals to meritorious soldiers. However, it has not been implemented because of various regulations in the past. However, after the capture of Jinan, the precious metals of gold and silver were extremely abundant, and it was finally possible to follow Shang Yi's wishes.
Yi's wish came true. Before Shang Yi left Mulingguan for Beijing, he gave the blacksmith department the task of making commemorative medals. Now they are all completed.
Except for a few standing guard and patrolling, all the soldiers of the army gathered on the large playground of Mulingguan. Each regiment and battalion were divided into five large square formations and two small square formations and sat on the ground. While Shang Yi and other officials were sitting on the ground.
The main administrative officials and military leaders of Lingguan were all seated on the rostrum, while all other officials and staff of the group, and several Western missionaries, including Ye Yaojia and Chen Yuanyuan, who had not yet officially married into a businessman, were present.
During the ceremony, sit on the VIP tables on both sides of the rostrum.
At the beginning of the medal ceremony, a flag-raising ceremony will be held first. This is also the purpose of making new military uniforms and military caps.
The entire flag-raising ceremony is naturally carried out in the form of raising the flag in later generations. First, the military flag guard enters. There are eight gun-bearing soldiers in the front and left rows, three flag-raisers in the middle, and one hundred soldiers behind them.
Twenty soldiers of the escort walked from the middle of the playground to the flagpole in front of the podium. Three flag-raisers were responsible for raising the flag, and the soldiers of the escort saluted with guns. Although the national anthem cannot be played now, this will not be difficult for Shang Yi.
The "Guerrilla Song" adapted from the chorus of the entire army served as the accompaniment to the flag-raising.
For people of this era, they may have seen or heard of receiving honors, but this was their first time seeing the flag-raising ceremony. They all found it fresh and interesting, thinking that Shang Yi could always come up with some weird tricks.
Come.
After the flag-raising ceremony is over, the next step is to get down to business and issue commemorative medals to the soldiers who have made meritorious service.
In this battle in Jinan, there were more than 3,000 soldiers who performed meritorious service, including 2,874 third-class merit officers, 527 second-class merit officers, and 87 first-class merit officers.
There were thirty-six people with special merit. This was also the first time that soldiers with special merit appeared in the Merchant Army. Those who were awarded special merit were the soldiers of the reconnaissance team who sneaked into the city and launched a riot among the people in order to capture Jinan Prefecture.
Soldiers with third-class merit are issued bronze medals, soldiers with second-class merit are issued silver medals, and soldiers with first-class merit are issued gold medals. All medals are in the same style, round, about two inches in diameter and about two inches thick.
Millimeters, the time and name of the battle are engraved on the front, and the names and merit levels of the soldiers are engraved on the back. Gold medals are also issued for special merit, but they are larger than the other three, and the others are the same.
Because there are too many third-class soldiers, it is impossible to call everyone to the rostrum to receive medals. The regiment commanders and battalion commanders can only go up to the stage to receive the medals, and then go back and distribute them to every soldier. And when the regiment commanders wait,
After the battalion commander took the medal back to his phalanx, the soldiers who knew they had the medal asked for it from the regiment commander and battalion commander. After getting the medal, they all touched and looked at it carefully. The surrounding people immediately gathered around
Several people came over and wanted to watch, and the atmosphere became lively.
Soldiers with second-class merit are all eligible to go up to the stage to receive their awards. Regiment and battalion units take turns to go up to the stage to receive their medals, and the soldiers in the audience are also applauding and welcoming them. After receiving the medals, they return to their place.
Soldiers in formation will receive warm cheers from their comrades in the regiment and camp.
The soldiers with first-class merit went on stage together to receive their medals, because the medals with first-class merit were made of gold. After everyone received them, they had to put them in their mouths and bite them, as if to confirm, and at the same time on stage
The cheers were louder, and the whole army was cheering for them. The soldiers who had received medals were also proud, and each one of them walked off the stage with their heads held high and their faces proud.
The last ones to take the stage were the soldiers who received special merit medals. This time, Shang Yi personally handed out medals to them and carried them on their chests. After each medal was given to them, he would pat each person on the shoulder and say a few words.
If you encourage me, you will learn a lot about what future national leaders will look like. The decorated soldiers have practiced in advance, and after wearing their medals, they will immediately take two steps forward and salute the soldiers in the audience, but everyone will get
The most enthusiastic response. Because everyone knows that this is the highest honor, and the atmosphere in the audience has reached its highest peak.
The soldiers in the audience were very envious when they saw it. The soldiers who had not received the medal secretly made up their minds to perform well in future battles and strive to receive one next time. And those who had received the medal also
Not satisfied with anything, he still wants to get a higher medal, so invisibly, a person's desire for honor is greatly strengthened.
After the audience calmed down for a while, Shang Yi spoke: "Soldiers, just now we issued medals to every soldier who has made military exploits to commemorate their hard work on the battlefield. They are all our combat heroes.
, worthy of respect and learning from every one of our soldiers. But there are still a group of soldiers who have also made meritorious service and contributed to our victory. However, they all died gloriously on the battlefield, but there is nothing they can do today.
Come on stage to receive their deserved awards. But we will never forget them. Now let’s invite their families to come on stage.”
No one thought that something like this would happen at today's honor ceremony, which immediately caused a burst of noise from everyone. In the midst of everyone's discussion, dozens of men, women, old and children came to the podium one after another. They were all involved in the Battle of Jinan.
Of course not all of the families of the soldiers who died in the war, just some of them.
Shang Yi personally awarded each family member a bronze medal, which was about one foot long and four inches wide. On the front were engraved the six words "Glorious Family of Military Martyrs", and on the back were the names of the soldiers who died in the battle, parents, wives,
Names of the children. Shang Yi distributed the bronze medals to each family one by one. Then all the family members gathered together and solemnly said: "Your relatives sacrificed for us all. We will never forget them. This plaque
You must keep it well so that their descendants and future generations will know that their ancestor’s glorious deeds were a great hero.”
Then Shang Yi ordered the entire army to stand up and salute the family members on the stage.
All the family members were moved and cried. An old man raised the bronze medal high above his head and cried: "Son! Have you seen it? This is the medal that the general gave to our family. Your death was not in vain!"
All of us, our children and grandchildren, and future generations will remember you."
His words were extremely contagious at this time, and cries immediately broke out on and off the stage, which greatly exceeded Shang Yi's expected effect.
Although in this era, it was common to sympathize with the families of soldiers who died in battle, especially when the dynasty was more prosperous and the finances were relatively loose, the sympathies to the families of soldiers were quite good, but in the late Ming Dynasty,
At this time, the imperial court basically couldn't care about it. If you die, you will die in vain, and the imperial court will have less burden. This is one of the reasons why the Ming army's combat effectiveness is not strong. However, the merchant army can have such tenacious combat effectiveness. Shang Yi has always
Insisting on providing generous support to the families of soldiers who died in battle has reduced many worries for soldiers, which is also an important reason.
Shang Yi not only showed sympathy to his family members, but also awarded them considerable honors, which further stimulated the soldiers' enthusiasm for joining the army and their will to fight.
After the military subordinates went down, another fifty or sixty people came up. As soon as these people came on stage, there was another commotion, because this time the soldiers who came on stage were all missing arms and legs, or were blind soldiers. They were all like this.
Shang Yi also announced that soldiers who were permanently disabled in the Jinan battle would enjoy the treatment of family members of military martyrs, and each of them would be awarded a battle commemorative medal.
In fact, for soldiers, dying in battle is not the most terrible thing. The most terrible thing is to be permanently disabled and live or die. That is the worst result. But no one thought that Shang Yi would do this to him.
The soldiers also received commendations and pensions, which naturally greatly moved the soldiers on and off the stage, especially the disabled soldiers. They originally thought that they were done with this life, but now they not only have a guarantee for the rest of their lives, but also
It was such a great honor that many people shed tears and cried bitterly.
A few disabled soldiers even knelt down to Shang Yi on the rostrum and cried bitterly: "Sir, although we can't fight anymore, we can still do other things, even if it's guarding the hospital.
As long as we can do whatever we can, we will do our best, and we must not live like this for free."
Shang Yi also sighed secretly in his heart. China's farmers are indeed the most practical group of people. As long as you are kind to them, you will get doubled in return immediately. It's a pity that many people don't realize this. He hurried over and took care of them.
They helped him up and said, "Okay, don't worry. As long as you are willing, I still have important things for you to do."