The next day, Xu Guangqi, Sheng Yihong, Yuan Chonghuan, Zhang Ye and Jinyiwei Hundred Household Zhou Xiang, together with the other five members of the envoy belonging to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites, rushed to the Qimen in the north of Suzhou City. Zhou Xiang, from the Jinyiwei Hundred Household, was the one who drew lots The unlucky guy who won the unlucky lottery followed You Wenhui to Guazhou to contact the pirates. He was defeated by Liu Xiang's soldiers and captured. After You Wenhui returned to Yangzhou, he was still detained in Guazhou until Xu Guangqi led the imperial mission south. He was released and followed Xu Guangqi all the way to Suzhou.
Because it was still early, Xu Guangqi and his party, wearing their regular official uniforms, stood inside the Qi Gate and waited for a while. After the Qi Gate opened, a large group of people passed by them and hurriedly went to work in the city. To make money, you completely ignore the great angels who are so close at hand.
Xu Guangqi and others passed through the Wengcheng, squeezed out of the city gate, and crossed the suspension bridge. They saw the hard-working Jiangnan people coming from the four townships and eight towns. The citizens in Suzhou City rushed out of the city with their young and old. It turned out that this day happened to be On the second day of "Beginning of Summer", there is a proverb in Suzhou that "the three new things are seen at the beginning of summer". The three new things are cherries, green plums and wheat, which are used to worship ancestors. So these days, many people buy "three new things" and go to the countryside to offer sacrifices. Ancestor; At the same time, taking advantage of this season, farmers from the countryside also come to the city to buy and sell local products.
It can be seen that this war in the south of the Yangtze River did not have a great impact on the lives of ordinary people. Xu Guangqi and others could clearly see that although the lives of the local people were not rich, they were at least more stable and more stable than those under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. There is hope. Moreover, the three-year tax-free policy for the Chinese army, and the policies implemented after tax collection began, such as "officials, gentry and people all pay the grain together", "dividing small people into acres" and other policies are much better than the Ming Dynasty's heavy tax policy for the Jiangnan area. It has won the support of a large number of farmers, tenants and small and medium-sized landowners in Jiangnan.
A large number of local people participated in the training of the security teams, tax offices, and militia groups affiliated to the Zhonghua Company's factories, shops, and garrison offices. Even if the Ming Dynasty could take back the rule of these areas, it would be difficult to regain these people's hearts. .
Xu Guangqi and others felt deeply worried. At the same time, they wanted to know: How did the Chinese army maintain its army's logistical supplies without relying on scraping land, imposing heavy taxes, or robbing wealthy households or ordinary people for many years? Fighting morale.
Xu Guangqi originally had no high hopes for this trip to the "Navy Army" barracks, but now he began to hope that he could find answers to some of his questions in the Chinese Army barracks.
Chen Zhongji believed that he lacked formal military training, so he did not come to receive the Ming Dynasty imperial envoy to inspect the military camp. Zeng Yue, as Yin Feng's personal representative, accompanied Xu Guangqi and others to visit the military camp.
Xu Guangqi and others visited and inspected the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 4th Division. The camp is located one mile outside the Qi Gate in the north of Suzhou City and on the edge of the West Lake in Yangcheng. This camp was originally the old camp of the 4th Division and was built to accommodate a regiment of soldiers. Yes, there is currently only one infantry battalion, one sentry artillery and part of the Fourth Division's supply camp.
The commander of the Fourth Division, Lieutenant General Luo Quanxiu, the supervisory officer of the Fourth Division, Major General Mai Yangtian, and the commander of the First Battalion of the Second Regiment of the Fourth Division, Major Guo Huaiyi, were standing on horseback in full gear outside the barracks gate with flags on the side of the road. Zhaozhan, a hundred infantry soldiers armed with live ammunition lined up on both sides to greet the Ming Dynasty imperial envoys.
Guo Huaiyi has just turned 20 this year. He was originally from Tong'an, Quanzhou, Fujian. In the 42nd year of Wanli, he followed the great wave of immigration launched by Yin Feng and came to Taiwan. He was deceived by the company's recruiter and went to Luzon Island. He worked on a plantation, and because of his boldness and bravery, he became the small leader of the village team.
After that, Guo Huaiyi performed very well in the war to suppress the rebellion of the indigenous Pampanga people, and was selected to enter the accelerated course for non-commissioned officers of the Chinese Military Academy. Because he had attended a private school for two years and was proficient in writing, and he was diligent and studied hard, so he had good grades. , was selected to study in the infantry warfare department of the military academy, and then served as an intern at the staff of the Second Division Commander Mai De. On the Liaodong battlefield, Guo Huaiyi was transferred to the front-line combat troops and participated in several battles. Due to his merit, he was promoted to sentry commander and battalion commander. .
Now, Guo Huaiyi was just transferred to the battalion commander after last year's purge.
Guo Huaiyi was wearing full combat uniform and riding a horse at the door of the barracks with a helmet on his head. He looked out and saw the Imperial Envoy's Day flag waving in the distance. He snorted and said to Luo Quanxiu: "Lieutenant General Luo, it is necessary to give such a grand welcome. They?"
The order for the awarding of the first batch of generals' military ranks was just issued yesterday, but there is still a grand awarding ceremony missing.
Yin Feng has issued a military conferment order, and two large-scale general conferment ceremonies will be held in Luzon and Liaodong in August this year.
The newly minted Lieutenant General Luo Quanxiu was very satisfied with the rank Guo Huaiyi called him. He thought highly of this capable young man and said with a smile: "This is an angel who carries out recruitment on behalf of the emperor. Logically, we all have to kneel down and kowtow. According to you ,what should we do,"
"Kneel down and worship them. Why didn't I see this angel when my family was starving to death?"
Luo Quanxiu sighed secretly. Guo Huaiyi went to Taiwan because he couldn't survive in his hometown. After he left home, many people in his family starved to death in the famine.
Guo Huaiyi was young after all. He put aside the tragic life history in the blink of an eye, touched his forehead and said with a smile: "In my opinion, why should I be so polite to them? I just let them go to a real combat exercise to scare them with real swords and guns." them,"
Luo Quanxiu laughed: "That's not necessary. Our army has already frightened them enough on the battlefield. Now, let's show you the daily training in our military camp. The true strength of an army can not only reflect On the battlefield, it can also be reflected in the military camp,"
When Xu Guangqi and other imperial envoys arrived at the gate of the military camp, they saw people standing on both sides of the road in complete silence. The troops were in good order, and the bayonets on their muskets were shining. They couldn't help but become serious.
There is no etiquette of kneeling down in the Chinese Army, and no officers are called to greet them. This makes Qianhu Zhang Ye and Baihu Zhou Xiang very uncomfortable as military generals. Not only that, in front of these angels, in front of the Chinese Army and the Chinese Company , all kinds of people in the guard house treat them with equal confidence. This is something that Xu Guangqi and others are deeply uncomfortable with. However, they have nothing to say about it, and even if they say it, the other party I won't pay attention to them either.
Seeing that the Great Tomorrow Angel and his party had approached the camp gate, Guo Huaiyi loudly ordered: "Put the gun on your shoulder."
One hundred honor guards took corresponding actions almost simultaneously.
"Raise your gun,"
"put,"
One hundred soldiers fired their guns into the sky at the same time. The gunshots suddenly rang out, almost frightening Zhou Xiang, a member of the Imperial Guards, to the point of losing his legs. He has been deeply afraid of the Chinese army since he was captured by Liu Xiang's men. .
At this time, a continuous salute sounded in the barracks.
Xu Guangqi and others stopped and looked around. Zeng Yue took a few steps forward and explained: "Master Xu, this is the highest military salute in our army."
Xu Guangqi nodded and remained silent. Guo Huai pulled out his sword, jumped off his horse, walked to Xu Guangqi, stood at attention, saluted, and said loudly: "All the soldiers of the first battalion of the second regiment of the second division of the Chinese Army respectfully welcome the imperial envoy of the Celestial Empire. "
Xu Guangqi returned the salute with his hand, and also raised his hand to Luo Quanxiu and Mai Yangtian who were behind Guo Huaiyi.
Surrounded by the Chinese army, Xu Guangqi and his party stepped into the military camp amidst the rumbling salutes.
Zhang Ye, a member of the Jinyiwei Qianhu family, was born in a military family. He was a hereditary Jinyiwei military officer after his meritorious service in Jingnan. He had been in and out of military camps since he was a child, and he knew the actual situation of the Ming army very well. However, regarding the camp of the Chinese army in front of him, he It feels very strange.
The Ming army's management system for military camps was once very strict, which was the set of rules and regulations revised and established by Qi Jiguang. But now, the Ming army has been completely decayed. Needless to say, the Weisuo army has long been degenerated into peasants and is completely useless. After Qi Jiguang, the imperial court recruited troops, and by this time, the soldiers were already corrupt.
The Guanning Army in western Liaoning has shown a tendency to become warlords. After Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun reorganized the Nine-Border Army, and after decades of changes, it has also formed a situation where local generals use a small number of private soldiers to control many small soldiers. The posture of the troops.
A few years ago, the Chinese pirates attacked the eastern suburbs of the capital. Zhang Ye once saw the Ming army troops from all over the country who came to serve the king. Many soldiers brought their families with them in the military camp, and even drank and gambled in the military camp, making the military camp look more like A market.
Even for the troops in the three major battalions of the capital, there is a serious shortage of soldiers in the military camp. Many soldiers only exist in the account books. Every three or five days at midnight, local ruffians, old, young and disabled come to fill the number. Every five days, there is a small army. Shit, during a big drill on the 10th, the officers often hired some strong men on the streets to stand in line and show off to their superiors. On weekdays, the military camps were sparsely staffed, and the soldiers were often owed pay. Even if they had some military pay, they could rely on this little military pay. He couldn't make ends meet, so he could only go out to work as part-time workers and farm to earn money to survive.
During the battle, the officers and generals relied on the private soldiers they supported on daily basis as their backbone, and ordinary soldiers as cannon fodder. In short, in the memory of Zhang Ye, Qianhu of the Imperial Guard, most of the military camps were smoky and messy. The military camp that turns off the lights and stands in line upon hearing the sound of the golden drum is already a strong and disciplined army.
But the Chinese army camp in front of him was completely beyond his imagination. Not only were the tents set up in an orderly and neat manner, but the ground everywhere had been leveled and cleaned.
All the soldiers in the entire military camp were in lines of three and two in line. When superiors and subordinates met, they saluted politely. No one made any noise. Before seeing the actual training and living conditions of the Chinese army soldiers, Zhang Ye could say with certainty: Throughout the entire Ming army, no Ming army could have such a military camp.
At this time, the soldiers of the first battalion gathered in the large playground and lined up in a tight square formation waiting to be reviewed. A wooden high platform was temporarily built in front of the square formation. Xu Guangqi and others were invited to the stage and sat in a row of simple On the bamboo chair, Guo Huaiyi stood at attention and saluted Xu Guangqi: "The number of the first battalion of the second regiment of the second division is 550, but the actual number of registrations is 545. They are all here now, waiting for your review."