Zai Chun reached out and touched an embroidered epaulette on the soldier's left arm. It had the words Minjiang Estuary embroidered on it. It was just three bright yellow embroidered words, but not every soldier had it.
"What's your name? What's with your armband?"
The soldiers were so excited that they were obviously a head taller than Zai Chun, but their knees were shaking, and it looked like they were going to kneel down in the next second!
Second Division Commander Bai Min stared at his soldier with knife-like eyes. Under the strong pressure of the division commander and the iron-clad military discipline of the New Army, the soldier finally did not kneel down.
"Report... report... Long Live Lord... my name is... Xie Ting... this armband..."
"Don't be nervous, you are the emperor's new army, my tiger warrior... you are the imperial guard!"
With the encouragement of Emperor Tongzhi, the soldiers finally spoke more fluently. Fortunately, the new army also taught the soldiers some Mandarin, which was the Beijing dialect of the Qing Dynasty, so the little emperor would not be unable to understand them.
"Your Majesty! This armband was issued for a total of more than 3,000 yuan. It was issued to commemorate our victory in the Battle of Minjiangkou... I resisted a box of artillery shells and ran a full 20 miles of mountain road..."
"No one in the whole army can run faster than me, so I was the first to issue armbands... Listen..."
Zai Chun saw Xie Ting keeping his eyes on Bai Min behind him. He knew that these were Bai Min's soldiers. The emperor said sharply without looking back, "What's there to see? I told you that you are the emperor's personal soldier. What worries do you have here?"
"Yes! Your Majesty... Our chief has said that this is the merit book. This is the first battle of the Guards. When more than 3,000 people retire in the future, each of them will be assigned one acre of paddy field or three acres of dry land because of this merit!"
"If you have more achievements in battle in the future, there will be rewards!"
Bai Min, Ma Ming and others quickly saluted the emperor and said, "Please forgive your Majesty. In order to boost the morale of the soldiers, we secretly formulated the rules for rewards without your Majesty's permission..."
"Hahaha... What kind of crime is there? If you don't reward merit and punishment, then you are guilty! What do soldiers want in war? Isn't reward and punishment clear?"
"Well done! Wear your armband and work hard... But I won't give you such a simple armband in the future. I will use gold, silver and other metals to create valuable medals for your future military exploits. In the future, your rewards will be more than you can imagine. !”
Only then did Bo Min and others put their hearts in their hearts: "Long live Lord... Please atone for your sins. We use bright yellow armbands without authorization..."
"I don't blame you. I told you when I sent you here to recruit troops. You are the new army of the Imperial Guard. You are allowed to carry the royal banner... It is not a sin to decorate it with a little bright yellow. You didn't secretly make dragon robes. It's okay. Damn it!"
"You don't have to be so cautious in the future! I'm back, and I'm your biggest guard of honor!"
After hearing the emperor's personal promise, the whole army suddenly became excited, especially the soldiers who had participated in the artillery battle at the mouth of the Minjiang River. They finally knew that their achievements had not been wiped out, and what the commander said was true!
Other soldiers who later joined the army were also inspired and excited, and the morale of the entire army suddenly rose!
"Let me see with my own eyes your fighting power... practice in actual combat and show off your majesty!"
There was a field headquarters set up by the troops on the mountainside, where Emperor Tongzhi could use binoculars to have an unobstructed view of the drills of the new Imperial Guards.
Ma Ming and others were no doubt trained through hard work in the Ryukyu military camp. Although they did not have much actual combat experience, they did a very good job in training the most basic recruits.
The 30,000-strong army selected 3,000 people to begin cooperation with infantry and artillery, shooting at moving targets, alternating cover attacks, heavy machine gun coverage and shooting... and even building individual soldier field pits.
Mawei Shipyard has become a military restricted area. No one is allowed to approach except the officials and gentry who issued the pass to Shen Baozhen and representatives of foreign engineers.
The four villages closest to the exercise site were even issued confinement orders. All villagers were not allowed to go out at will. Even if they went to the streets to fetch water from wells, soldiers had to follow them in person.
Night gradually fell, but Emperor Tongzhi's interest in the military parade did not diminish at all. The entire exercise venue was filled with loud killing sounds and gunfire rumbling.
In the early morning light of dusk, the British delegation couldn't help but exclaimed, "Sure enough, we have the prototype of a three-point iron army. If we experience two or three more actual battles... we will have a strong army!"
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, you have obtained a very good army. The tactical movements of these soldiers are even more standard than those of European soldiers!"
The British's army level is not world-class to begin with, and their praise is actually of little value, but for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, being praised by any foreigner is something worth celebrating.
"You lead good soldiers! Good soldiers! Pass on my will, and the new army will be remembered as a collective meritorious service... At the dinner, each person will be given a pound of wine, and I will treat my soldiers to a feast!"
Emperor Tongzhi was excited, but he didn't see Shen Baozhen's bitter face at the side, and he didn't know what to say.
When no one noticed, Shen Baozhen secretly stuffed a banknote into Da Sixi's arms, and then whispered for a long time.
It was already after five o'clock when the acting started. Even if I compressed and compressed again and again, by the time the dinner started, it was already half past seven on the pocket watch.
It is unrealistic for 30,000 troops to return to their barracks. They might as well go camping in the wild for training. The quartermaster began to distribute food. There were bonfires everywhere in the mountains and fields, and the aroma of cooking was everywhere.
After the military generals finished their performance, it was time for the civil servants and gentry to meet the emperor. The local gentry from Fujian, who had been hungry for a long time, lined up to enter the big tent and shouted long live for the little emperor. They were all excited. His face lit up.
Shen Baozhen stood next to the emperor and introduced these local gentry one by one, memorizing their ancestors' official resumes by heart!
These gentry also joined in the fun and presented gifts to the emperor one after another, including local specialties, cultural toys, calligraphy and paintings, and some simply sent silver coins, rice, flour, and labor force!
However, in this era, Fujian was not as prosperous as it was when maritime transport flourished in later generations. It was a mountainous place with few fields and had been banned from trading for a long time, so the largest gift did not exceed one hundred thousand taels.
Zai Chun had already seen the Western world and didn't care about these small coins at all, but he couldn't chill the hearts of the gentry, and he had to be patient and collect those useless antique calligraphy and paintings.
On the contrary, he changed hands and rewarded the troops with rice, grain, silver and so on!
After all this trouble, it was already half past eight, and it was too late. Zai Chun was so hungry that his chest was pressed against his back. Shen Baozhen and others persuaded him for a long time before forcing Long live the Lord to eat.
The dinner was originally planned to be held in Fuzhou City, but Emperor Tongzhi learned a lot of strange habits from Xiao Letian. He insisted on being close to the people and had to eat in a large outdoor tent, forcing Shen Baozhen to use a fast horse to deliver the ingredients early. Mawei Shipyard lets chefs prepare banquets at short notice. ,
Even the dishes prepared temporarily must be in line with the status of the emperor. If there are not 108 dishes, 88 must be prepared!
When the table was filled with hot and cold dishes like running water, and when Da Sixi and the others were preparing to serve Zai Chun, this restless little emperor had another trouble!
"I want to see if the soldiers have eaten first... If there is one soldier who has not eaten, I will never eat!"
