Not long after the meeting, Zhou Shaohuan brought over three people, all of whom seemed to be relatively young. The oldest was only thirty-three or four years old, and the youngest seemed to be less than thirty. After meeting Shang Yi, the three of them knelt down together and gave
Shang Yi kowtowed. Shang Yi also helped them up one by one and asked their names. The three people were General Qian Feng Jin, General Zhang Yiping, and Wu Lilin.
Shang Yi said: "How many people are there who want to defect to me?"
Feng Jin said: "Reporting to your lord, there are more than 1,500 people in total."
Shang Yi smiled and said: "But I want to know, why don't you want to stay with Mr. Liu and join my merchant army?"
The three of them looked at each other, and Feng Jin said: "Reporting to your lord, when we set out from Luzhou, your lord distributed the pay and silver issued by the governor to all the soldiers, and it was distributed directly to each soldier. And later it was
I heard from the brothers in the Merchant Army that the monthly salary is paid out regularly and rationed, and there is never any arrears or harsh deductions. To be honest with you, sir, when we eat food and serve as soldiers, we don’t just rely on these military salaries to support our families.
, we can at least guarantee the payment of military pay by serving as servants under the Lord, and we will be satisfied."
Zhang Yiping said: "Your Majesty sent out troops and defeated the bandits several times in a row. Now we only need to mention the one who doesn't praise your Majesty. Therefore, if you listen to your Majesty's subordinates, you will be able to earn a good fortune in the future."
Wu Lilin also said: "And I heard that the merchant army was not only able to win, but also suffered very few casualties. It must be some secret. Who wouldn't want to join such a team? Not to mention us, there are General Liu, General Xie and the others.
Many of his subordinates want to join the merchant army."
Shang Yi nodded and said: "Okay, I know all your reasons. It is only natural that you join the army and serve as soldiers, eat food and get paid. In my merchant army, I will never allow anyone to deduct soldiers.
Military pay and rations. But the same thing is true. Every soldier must also be worthy of this pay and rations. He must respect military discipline and rules, undergo strict training, go into battle and fight the enemy bravely, and must not disobey orders and prohibitions. As for our merchant army, we often win battles.
We have few casualties, so of course we have the trick."
He turned to look at Zhou Shaohuan, and Wu said: "Shaohuan, tell them what the key is?"
Zhou Shaohuan said with a smile: "Actually, it's very simple. If you practice hard in peacetime, you will sweat more in peacetime, and you will shed less blood in war. If you are more capable than the enemy and your martial arts are better than the enemy, then on the battlefield, you will naturally become the best.
You can kill the enemy, but the enemy cannot kill you."
Shang Yi said: "That's right, that's it. In our merchant army, training may be more difficult and tiring than going to the battlefield. Can you bear it?"
The three people looked at each other again and said in unison: "Don't worry, sir, we can all bear it."
Shang Yi chuckled and said, "Don't be too busy answering. This is easier said than done. Let's do it! You go back and tell those brothers that they are willing to come to our merchant army. I will definitely welcome them. As long as they
If you can pass my examination, I can give each brother three months to train with us, but only if you pass the examination can you become a member of the Merchant Army, so there will be no pay during these three months.
I only guarantee that your food rations are sufficient. If you cannot bear the training, you can withdraw at any time and stay as you please. And you must abide by the military discipline of our merchant army. Any violation will still be dealt with according to military law. After you return, you will
Proclaim these words to your brothers truthfully and let them consider it carefully. If you are willing to give it a try, I will send someone to bring you into the city."
After hearing this, the three of them all got up and said goodbye. When they arrived at the military camp outside the city, they also brought Shang Yi's words to the soldiers. At that time, more than a hundred soldiers backed down, but most of the soldiers still felt that they could go.
Give it a try. Anyway, Shang Yi said that if you can't stand it, you can quit at any time and stay as you please.
Therefore, on the next day, more than 1,400 people entered the city. Shang Yi gathered these soldiers together again and reiterated the principle of admission. However, the soldiers who entered the city had already thought about it, so
No one quit. So Shang Yi divided the soldiers into three parts, temporarily led by Feng Jin, Zhang Yiping, and Wu Lilin. They were allowed to watch the training of the merchant army on the first day, and were sent to the Shang Yi army on the second day.
The instructors came and began to train them for the formal test according to the standards of the merchant army.
However, Shang Yi estimated that being able to retain one thousand of the more than fourteen hundred people would be a very good result.
Although Liu Zeqing also knew about this matter, firstly, he did not dare to fall out with Shang Yi now. Secondly, those who defected to the merchant army were all left by Peng Rui after all, and could not be his subordinates, so they could not be his subordinates.
Didn't say anything?
But this matter soon spread to Liu Zeqing, Xie Ke, and Gao Junyuan's army. In fact, there were many soldiers in their army who had this idea, so they were all eager to try it after knowing it. Now they are waiting to see what happens.
Look at the results of this group of soldiers who first surrendered to the Merchant Army, and then decided on their own plans.
Two days later, Shang Yi received another good news. The second group of troops sent by Mulingguan, the fifth regiment headed by Luo Yuanbin, also arrived in Guangzhou with a large amount of grain and grass supplies.
Among the materials delivered this time, there are 2,000 dan of grain, 300,000 rounds of custom-made paper shell ammunition, 3,000 rounds of various custom-made artillery shells, 2,500 hand grenades, 50 shoulder rocket launchers, and 20
Thirty container-type rocket launchers are installed in five units, and fifteen container-type rocket launchers are installed in thirty-six regiments. The other five regiments have one musket battalion and one artillery battalion. There are more than 900 muskets and nine artillery pieces. They accompany the team.
Also coming were twenty gunsmiths and thirty gunpowder craftsmen.
Because military rations are now supplied from Luzhou, there is no shortage of military rations in Shang Yi's army. However, because there are more than two thousand prisoners, and now more than a thousand new soldiers have been added, it may still be a little tight after a long time. This batch of food
Once shipped, it will last for quite some time.
After these fierce battles, the Merchant Army only used nearly 60% of its ammunition. The rocket launchers were completely used up, but the grenades were not used very much. Only more than 300 grenades were used. With the current amount of ammunition, it was completely recovered.
It is enough to fight another battle. But I am afraid there will be a big battle to be fought later, so it is good to reserve more ammunition. In addition, after these battles, the damage rate of the muskets has exceeded 10%, so these twenty musket craftsmen
We came at the right time and immediately started repairing the gun.
Moreover, the arrival of the fifth regiment also greatly increased the strength of the Merchant Army, which was no longer stretched. This gave Shang Yi a certain amount of leeway when deploying troops and generals, and he no longer had to be timid. Now the Merchant Army in Guangzhou City has a total of officially
There are more than 11,000 troops, and more than 2,000 craftsmen, laborers, doctors, etc., waiting for the arrival of Li Zicheng's army.
At the same time, the fifth regiment arrived in Guangzhou and brought letters from home to the soldiers of the Shang Army. Shang Yi received two letters from home, one from Ye Yaojia and one from Chen Yuanyuan, and the letters were naturally full of them. Missing Shang Yi. Zhou Shaohuan, who is married like Shang Yi, also received a letter from his newlywed wife Tang Juan. The content is naturally not enough for outsiders. Even though he had just been engaged, he had not yet met his fiancée. Yang Wucheng on the other side actually received a letter of greetings from Miss Meng, and also sent a robe. Others also received letters of greetings from family members, relatives and friends. Suddenly, the entire Guangzhou city was filled with people. thoughts, greetings, memories
Of course, Luo Yuanbin also brought another official document, signed by Zhou Shiqi and Ye Yaoyao, reporting to Shang Yi what happened in Guancheng from the time he sent troops to leave Muhuiguan until the departure of the fifth regiment. Some things, based on the progress of various things and projects in the past. Generally speaking, nothing happened at Mulingguan, and all the projects were basically carried out according to the plan made by Shang Yi when he left, and a few things Shang Yi Significant progress has also been made in matters of particular concern.
First of all, the Jinling Iron Mine has started production, and the first batch of 3,000 kilograms of pig iron has been transported back to Mulingguan. It is expected that it can produce 20,000 to 25,000 kilograms of pig iron every month. Pig iron in Mulingguan The source is finally self-sufficient, and at least ten thousand taels of silver can be saved every month. Another important mineral, Changle's sapphire mine, has also been confirmed by detection, and the first batch of samples have been developed. Sun Heding is polishing the work and making several drill bit samples to test the effect. It is estimated that when the next batch of supplies arrives, Shang Yi will be given one or two sapphires.
At the same time, the musket manufacturing workshop that Shang Yi is concerned about has also been expanded. Currently, it can produce more than 200 muskets of various types every month. If the steel jade drill bit can be successfully tested, the production efficiency can be further improved. The short musket produced by the wheel tunnel can also be Samples have been made based on the experience and are being further tested and perfected. In fact, Shang Yi hopes to produce at least 500 muskets a month, but Shang Yi also knows that based on the situation at Muling Pass, reaching such a scale would be almost After reaching the limit, if you want to expand further, you can only move to Qingzhou or Dengzhou to develop, so you should wait until you establish a base in the south.
The last point is that the first batch of self-made artillery at Mulingguan has been completed. After the test of ten artillery pieces cast with clay molds, four artillery pieces passed the test. Because the success rate of mud-cast cannons is not high, they are generally in the second or third place. Only the iron film casting method can increase it to more than 50%. Therefore, four out of ten cannons are qualified, which is a very good result. In addition, the iron mold used in the iron film casting method has also been made. Four sets are about to undergo trial casting. This is of course also good news. Shang Yi also has several ideas for improving the artillery structure, and they are all being implemented slowly.
At this moment, the scouts came to report that Li Zicheng personally led a large group of troops to Xinyang.