The best thing to distinguish the ranks in the military is naturally the military rank.
Especially on the battlefield, after the inherent organization is broken up, the best way to let the soldiers find the backbone is to confirm the military rank.
Those with lower military ranks only need to obey the orders of those with higher military ranks, and the team will quickly gather and regain a certain combat effectiveness.
Bai Xiaoqi reminded Zuo Mengeng that he decided to implement a military rank system in the rear camp.
"Military rank?"
"What is a military rank?"
Zuo Mengeng explained: "Although military ranks are new names, their uses have existed since ancient times. For example, marshal and general are actually military ranks. Specifically, for example, Huo Qubing's Cavalry General, you can also think of it as a military rank. We want What it does is to display the rank in a way so that the whole battalion can quickly confirm the opponent's rank, which is conducive to the establishment of the army's command system."
Everyone digests it slowly, and they can understand it. It is necessary to know this.
Ancient armies also had methods of distinguishing ranks.
The armor of marshals and generals is different from that of others. It is particularly visible on the battlefield, and of course it is also easy to become a target of concentrated fire.
Even at the bottom level, the military uniforms of team leaders and Xiaoqi are slightly different from ordinary soldiers.
When we get to the rear camp, the uniforms from top to bottom are the same, so there must be an obvious sign to distinguish the ranks.
Of course, this sign cannot be too obvious yet.
Otherwise, on the battlefield, the enemy will see that you are a general from a long distance away, and they will definitely attack you.
During this period of time, Zuo Mengeng had already thought properly.
In front of everyone, he drew a simple military uniform pattern on the blackboard, and then pointed to the left chest part of the military uniform.
"We can sew different numbers and colors of cloth strips here to distinguish military ranks."
He drew a slender strip of cloth on his left chest, about slightly longer than his index finger.
"Recruits who have just joined the army are called corporals. The rank mark is a bar, colorless."
Colorless is white.
Because the military uniforms of the rear battalion are blue, the use of white rank bars is more obvious.
"Soldiers who have served for a certain number of years, or who have meritorious services, are promoted to sergeants. The rank mark is a bar with two colors."
It was a very simple way. As soon as he said it, many people understood it on the spot.
If two soldiers who are separated on the battlefield meet each other, just look at the military rank on the chest. You are a corporal, and I am a sergeant. Listen to me.
It's simple and easy for soldiers to remember.
"One line with three colors is a sergeant. He can be the backbone of the team, or he can serve as deputy team leader."
A small team in the rear camp was equivalent to a platoon in later generations, so the deputy team was holding the rank of sergeant and had to make do.
"If the two lines are juxtaposed, the colorless one is the second lieutenant and can serve as the team leader."
The rank of the squad leader is obviously different from that of other officers of the same level, which helps to maintain the authority of the squad leader and better command the squad.
"Two lines and two colors represent a lieutenant, who can serve as a squadron commander or deputy squadron officer."
A squadron consists of one hundred people, equivalent to the company level, and a lieutenant happens to be an officer of this level.
"Those with two stripes and three colors are captains and can serve as squadron commander or group deputy officer."
The people present did not care about the military rank at the squadron or squad level. After all, everyone is an officer at the brigade level, and they are more concerned about what military rank they can get.
"A person with three stripes and no color is a major and can serve as a senior officer in the brigade."
"Ah? I'm a major."
Zuo Hua shouted, quite disappointed.
Zuo Mengeng laughed angrily.
"With a group of more than 300 people, do you just want to be a general?"
Zuo Hua was taught to lower his head, making everyone laugh.
However, everyone also feels that this military rank will obviously have great room for improvement in the future.
After all, the rear camp is just a very small military unit and will definitely expand in the future.
"Three stripes and two colors represent a lieutenant colonel, who can serve as brigade commander, battalion-level adjutant, and battalion-level commander."
Zuo Yong asked: "Qianzao, then you are the lieutenant colonel, right?"
Zuo Mengeng shook his head.
"I'm not."
Everyone was confused.
He is obviously Commander Qian, why is he not in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel?
Zuo Mengeng ignored everyone's doubts and continued to popularize the next military ranks.
Three stripes and three colors represent a colonel, corresponding to the Dusi, and the specific organization is unknown.
Zuo Menggeng didn't say, because the Ming army did not have a specific organization above the battalion level. The number of troops commanded by officers at all levels varies, and there is no unified standard.
He had made up his mind that once the rear camp expanded in the future, he would not continue to follow the Ming army's organizational habits.
The four bars represent general-level officers, which are also divided into three colors: colorless, double-color, and three-color, corresponding to major generals, lieutenant generals, and generals.
Finally, Zuo Mengeng said: "Those with four bars and above are marshals, regardless of color. There is only one type. Five bars and five colors represent the general, and I will lead it myself."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.
But no one raised any objection to this setting.
Although Zuo Menggeng is only a Qian president now, he is the leader of everyone. There is no point in discussing whether to be promoted or not.
On the contrary, it is better to do it in one step and go directly to the top.
But this also tells everyone that from now on, the highest rank in the rear camp army will be the general.
But if you think about it carefully, the general is also very majestic.
The reason why Zuo Mengeng wanted to mark his rank on his chest instead of on his shoulders was after comprehensive consideration.
First, he unified the ranks and seniority chapters.
There is no need to get seniority badges in this era. Don't expect soldiers of this era to recognize them at a glance. On the contrary, it is not as simple and direct as military rank, and it is easier for soldiers to remember.
The second is to save costs.
It doesn't take much to sew epaulettes, but sewing epaulettes for every military item is a huge expense.
Moreover, the epaulettes are not very secure anyway and can easily fall off.
The armies of later generations only added epaulettes to their regular uniforms and formal uniforms, but never seen them on field uniforms.
Instead, collar badges are used to indicate military rank.
Now that the seniority seal and military rank were combined into one, Zuo Mengeng simply placed the display of his rank on the left side of his chest.
When making military uniforms, just use more stitches and stitches to sew them on. The positions are obvious and easy to identify.
This was only possible after the armor plates and rivets were removed from the military uniforms of the rear camp. The traditional Ming army uniforms with helmets and armor would hide their rank.
The military rank system was unanimously recognized by everyone and was quickly promoted throughout the army.
Wang Xiuqin's military uniform factory quickly added military ranks to the new military uniforms, and supplemented the already issued military uniforms.
Through military ranks, soldiers quickly clarified the relationship between superiors and subordinates, and the progress of training was greatly accelerated.
After solving a problem, Zuo Mengeng hid in the laboratory again and concentrated on solving potassium chlorate.
The overall development of the percussion cap gun has come to an end, but the percussion powder is holding it back.
The progress of preparing mercury fulminate gunpowder through laboratory methods is very fast. After ten days of hard work, Zuo Mengeng finally came up with potassium chlorate.
After the fusion of mercury fulminate and potassium chlorate, it becomes a stable mercury fulminate explosive.
To get mercury fulminate, the material of the flash cap is the simplest.
If you are more particular, you can use copper. If you are not so particular, you can use paper.
After much deliberation, Zuo Mengeng chose iron.
Paper is easily damaged and causes a lot of waste.
Copper is too expensive and hard to come by.
Iron is much simpler. Zuozhuang is already smelting iron.
Blacksmiths have the ability to hammer out iron sheets as thin as cicada wings, making flame caps a no-brainer.
The next thing to do is to carefully record the production process of mercury fulminate.
Zuo Mengeng divided it into dozens of links and taught it to Zuo Dai.
This is an absolute killer weapon and can only be mastered by trustworthy people.
After Zuo Dai accepted the order, he immediately began preparations for the mercury fulminate factory.
The location of this factory is more remote and the security is tighter.
Even in order to meet the confidentiality requirements, many production links are not included.
After such a layout, unless someone leaks secrets in all aspects, the preparation method of mercury fulminate will be foolproof.
At the same time that Zuo Mengeng produced mercury fulminate, a carriage drove leisurely into Linqing City and finally stopped in front of the Bingbei Road Yamen.
After Zhang Jimeng received the news, he quickly came out and greeted an old man who was nearly sixty years old.
"Teacher, why are you here?"
The old man has a leisurely demeanor and does not care about anything.
"I resigned."
"What?"
Zhang Jimeng was shocked.
"Teacher finally recovered, and it's time to show off his ambitions. How can he resign?"
The old man scratched his beard and didn't care.
"It's just a mere envoy to Nanjing who is bored and wasting his time."
Without waiting for Zhang Jimeng to say anything else, he asked: "Where is the boy who made the self-made fire gun?"
Zhang Jimeng was extremely helpless.
"The teacher's temper is still the same as before."
The old man blew his beard and stared, very angry.
"Stop talking nonsense and take me to see him quickly."
So Zhang Jimeng took the old man to the military camp and appeared in front of Zuo Mengeng.
Zuo Mengeng was confused and didn't know what Zhang Jimeng meant by bringing an old man here.
The old man looked at him as if he were looking at a peerless treasure, smiling as if he could take out the golden ax at any time.
"I'm Bi Maokang, I'm here to pay a visit to my little friend."
