The seeds of ambition in Emperor Tongzhi's heart were planted by Xiao Letian himself. How could he not guess what this little kid was thinking? From the time he decided to join military training, Xiao Letian knew what he was thinking.
Imperial power is naturally close to military power. This has been proven by countless bloody examples over the past thousands of years. Even though the young emperor is young, he is quite clear about the history of coups over the past thousands of years.
Coupled with the new army's dazzling performance in front of the world, these deeply stimulated the little emperor, and his dream of having an army of his own became increasingly out of control.
Xiao Letian shook his head, "Zaichun, I can understand that you want to always have your own army, but have you ever thought about what the army needs most? Have you done all the preparations?"
"I can teach you all the methods of military training without any secret, but as for the funding for military training, a Western-style army is a gold-swallowing monster. Not to mention those foreign guns and bullets, just the auxiliary equipment of the new army. How much does it cost?”
"Don't underestimate the big-brim patent leather hats. Without them, soldiers can't open their eyes in the heavy rain. And the pure cowhide handmade armed belts crossed on the chest. Without these things, soldiers can't carry out effective operations." The long march..."
"There are also buffalo leather military boots worth two silver coins each. During the battle in Langfang, Li Hongzhang's soldiers also suffered the loss of not having good boots. High-top military boots can protect the soldiers' feet well in the mud. It can also increase the area of the soles of the feet to apply force, which makes it easier for the waist to exert force..."
"In an assassination battle, the side that uses strength more smoothly always takes advantage. However, Li Hongzhang's Huai army still wore cloth shoes and straw sandals, and got stuck in the mud when they stepped on it. After the battle, our military observers fully discovered Thousands of abandoned cloth shoes and straw sandals, you said such equipment can fight a war."
Xiao Letian took off his holster on the wall and unloaded a brass shell bullet from the revolver. "Zai Chun, this kind of bullet is called a fixed-load bullet. It is a pure copper shell. The gunpowder is wrapped in the shell. It is not afraid of water and does not need to be used." The cumbersome loading procedure greatly increases the rate of fire of the musket..."
"We have fired three or four shots with this kind of bullet, but the other side didn't even fire a single shot. How do you calculate the outcome? But no arsenal in Asia can make this kind of bullet. Buy it from Prussia and the United States at a high price, one pistol bullet costs two copper coins."
Xiao Letian touched the little emperor's head. "Even if we have our own arsenal in the future and can produce ammunition by ourselves, it will still be a big hole to burn money. It is so luxurious to use brass to produce bullets. The Qing Dynasty now casts copper coins." Copper is not enough, you are willing to use copper to process bullets."
Emperor Tongzhi was dumbfounded. He did not expect that arming a new army would require so much money. He thought that just as the court said, an army could be formed by allocating hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
Xiao Letian's blow was not over yet. He said to Emperor Tongzhi, "Money is only part of the problem. There is also the military spirit of your army. Have you thought about it? You still rely on rewards to fight the war like the Eight Banners and Green Camp in the past. No." If you don't charge if you give them money, what's the use of an army like that?"
"An army without a soul is just a double-edged sword. Even if you are the founder, you can easily command this army, but what about your successors? Can they still command effectively? An army without a military soul. Sooner or later you will become a slave to money and power..."
Emperor Tongzhi was so shocked by Xiao Letian that he rolled his eyes. An eleven-year-old child would not be able to understand such profound knowledge even if he is a god-defying person. "Then what should I do? Master, please teach me..."
"Haha, this can't be taught. You Manchus have to make your own decisions about what path you want to take and where you will go in the future. No one listens to me even if I say it... Forget it, don't think so much, you There won’t be too many troops at the beginning. You can get your four guards out first, and then bring a hundred more trustworthy direct descendants from the capital..."
"The four guards are qualified to be platoon leaders after military training. One platoon has three squads of thirty people, and four platoons have exactly one hundred and twenty people in one company. Master, I will spend money to help you raise these people and let them accompany you. If you grow up together, I estimate that after you return from studying abroad for a few years, these 120 people will be able to expand into at least one or two divisions..."
"With more than 20,000 elites in your hands, you will be confident. In addition, you should think about these questions carefully during your study tour in the past few years. When you find the answers, it is not difficult to cultivate an army..."
Emperor Tongzhi went back to sleep full of doubts. When he told the four guards about the sweet dream compiled by the prime minister, the eyes of Ma Ming, Duncheng, Bai Min, and Guan Lu all lit up.
"Your Majesty is very happy. If your Majesty really has 20,000 strong troops in hand, coupled with your great righteousness and the prime minister's help on the sea, you will be able to take control of the government. The prosperous age is finally here, it is finally here. …”
From this day on, the four guards no longer had the slightest resistance to military training. They only had one belief in their hearts, which was to get first place, strive to enter the military academy, and enter the officer training camp.
The emperor's personal soldiers, the four of them are definitely the immediate superiors of the new army, and the future military and political affairs of the Qing Dynasty may be in the hands of these four people.
All training was doubled. Originally, they were guards trained by their ancestors. They were all very good at martial arts. As long as they worked hard, their training results were astonishing and made the instructors look at them with surprise.
Even the instructor could only do twelve round trips while carrying a fifty kilogram giant tree, but these four animals could actually do fifty.
There are also push-ups. The average soldier's limit is more than 200, but he can actually do 500 with four animals. There is also standing training with guns. Others hang 5 kilograms of weight from the muzzle, and the four of them can actually lift 20 kilograms. My arms are still shaking.
Everyone was convinced, and the four guards gradually integrated into the collective life. The barriers in their eyes gradually disappeared. The big-headed soldiers they had always looked down on became more and more familiar with them during the long training. got up.
Everyone trained together, ate together, made dirty jokes together, and even gave the instructors nicknames together. At that moment, they even forgot their identity as Manchus, and they had integrated into the new army.
…
At noon that day, the training camp served pig's trotters. Each person had a soft and glutinous pig's trotters. Everyone's mouths were full of oil after eating them. After the meal, everyone drank juice and gathered together to brag and chat to pass the rest time.
"You don't understand. If you want to play with walnuts, you have to say it's a lion's head. Lion's head can also be divided into apple orchards, four buildings, etc. And Emperor Qianlong also loved to play with walnuts. Every time he played with walnuts in the royal palace, When I was walking in the garden, I had a pair of them in my hands. I saw them in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they were so beautiful..."
"What are you talking about? How much is it worth? Oh my brother, that was played by the Emperor. It is a priceless treasure. Do you understand... Even if His Majesty plays with a pair of crooked ones, they are still treasures..."
"Wait a minute, what's the use of it? Oops, I can't talk to you anymore. Play... Do you know what play is? Rich people just make do with this. What can I do if a literati can write and draw? I don’t see anything good about it..."
The Eight Banners men in Sijiu City love to talk a lot, and the four guards are no exception. Whenever they have a break in training, they always listen to the stories told by the four of them, which is like a cross talk and really relieves boredom.
The delicious food, fun things in Beijing, and even the ghost stories in the Forbidden City are all gushing over the words, and the people around are mesmerized. The New Army are all honest farmers, who has ever seen such a talkative person? ah.
Just when everyone was stunned, suddenly a harsh rally horn sounded. All the new troops were stunned for a moment, and then they all jumped out and ran towards the square lifelessly.
The assembly call is a military order. If you don't assemble in three minutes, you'll have to wait for a meal.
"All training recruits gather...Open the camp gate...Enemies appear in the Nanshan woods to the west and are attacking the Prime Minister's guests...Rescue quickly."
"The enemy is closest to us, and our new army training camp must seize the lead... This is not a drill... I repeat, this is not a drill..."
Everyone went crazy. They didn't expect that Ryukyu, which had defeated the French, would still have enemies who dared to make trouble. The five hundred recruits in the training camp quickly rushed out of the camp gate and rushed towards the mountains and plains of Nanshan Forest.
The recruit camp was set up at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, with the sea a thousand meters to the west. At this time, a small Western clipper ship was being attacked by three Chinese-style hard sailing ships.
The attack seemed to be launched suddenly, because the speed of the hard sailing ship was no match for the clipper ship, and now the pirates on the hard sailing ship had completely captured the clipper ship.
There were gunshots and shouts of death everywhere. On the side of the clipper boat near the coast, countless foreigners were desperately swimming towards the shore. Behind them were several times the number of pirates pursuing them.
"How brave! Pirates actually dare to come to Ryukyu to cause trouble, brothers, please help me..." Today, Xiang Ying and Lin Zhen were patrolling Naha Harbor with a patrol boat, and they saw that pirates dared to do business in the Prime Minister's sphere of influence. , was so angry that he directly issued a killing order.
The gunshots were rumbling, the sea was red, and countless pirates were killed, but more than a hundred pirates still rushed to the coast and rushed into the jungle of Nanshan.
Ma Ming and the other four guards were sweating nervously now. The gunshots rang out in the forest were very dense. It seemed that they were equipped with repeating muskets like the new army, but looking at the recruits here who were in military training, they were holding If you don't even have a big blade, how can you fight?
The four of them ran all the way, collecting some sharp stones along the way. It seemed that they could only rely on their own skills at this moment.
The light in the dense forest was very dim, and countless animals and birds were startled while searching. After more than ten minutes, Ma Ming and the others were the first to discover the results of the battle. Two frightened foreigners ran across from them.
"Help me... We are friends of the Prime Minister... We are from Europe..." The strange Chinese accent proved their identities, and Ma Ming and others hurried over to protect the two foreigners.
"What happened? Who is chasing you..." Guan Lu roared loudly.
"We are from Nobel Company... Mr. Nobel was attacked by pirates... Go and save him."
Ma Ming's military training instructor was none other than Zhao Yidao, who had been on an expedition to Europe. When he heard the familiar name Nobel, he slapped his thigh anxiously.
"It's broken, it's broken, it's broken now, this is really the prime minister's distinguished guest, charging the new barracks, even if you lose your life, you have to save Mr. Nobel..." This book was first published from, be the first to read the authentic content!
