Wei Yuan left scout Li Chuan with him as his personal guard.
It can be regarded as promoting him in disguise.
In his opinion, the elites who could survive the battle at Yanmen were all treasures.
Two days later, news came from Shi Xianzhi that some good fields had been found in Tanglin County, which could be used to house the old soldiers.
The discharge of thousands of old soldiers is a big deal. If you are not careful, it may cause a mutiny.
Wei Yuan personally summoned them to Tanglin and took them around the fertile fields.
These people have been in the army in the Yanmen area since they were young, and their relatives, friends, and children are all here.
It is no longer realistic to lead them elsewhere.
After walking half a circle around the fertile fields, half a day's work had already taken place. Wei Yuan smiled at the veterans behind him and said:
"What do you think of this place?"
The soldiers of the Xiang Army of the Great Song Dynasty fought when they were busy and plowed the fields when they were free. They were very familiar with the fields.
"This land is certainly excellent, suitable for growing crops."
"It just takes some time to clear up wasteland."
"..."
Hearing their praise, Wei Yuan smiled and said:
"What do you think if these fields are given to you?"
Hear the sound.
The old soldiers closest to him were all ecstatic,
"General Wei, is this true?"
"Don't try to lie to us!"
"All this for us?"
"..."
For a moment, everyone was excited.
Wei Yuan looked at everyone, thought for a long time, and finally said:
"This is for you, but the premise is...from now on, you leave the military."
The words just fell.
Many people were stunned for a moment, and then looked at each other from left to right.
One of the old soldiers said angrily:
"General Wei, what do you mean? You want us to retire?"
Retirement?
Hearing these two words, everyone panicked, and their faces looked a little strange.
"General Wei, we have been soldiers for half our lives and participated in countless battles, big and small, and now you want us to retire?"
"What's the difference between crossing a river and burning a bridge?"
"That's right! We have been soldiers for most of our lives, and now you want us to farm? We don't want to!"
"I don't want to!"
"..."
Everyone was furious.
Wei Yuan expected this, so he looked at an old soldier beside him and asked with a smile:
"Brother, if I remember correctly, you joined the army in the second year of Tiansheng's reign, right?"
Tiansheng is the first reign title used by officials today.
The old soldier was stunned. He didn't expect that Wei Yuan could remember so clearly when he joined the army.
"Returning to the general, it is true that he joined the army in the second year of Tiansheng."
Wei Yuan looked at his lame legs and said:
"You were once young and strong. You might as well ask yourself, who was stronger and who was weaker when you were young and now?"
The answer is self-evident.
"It turns out that General Wei thinks we are old!"
"But no matter how old we are, we can still go into battle and kill the enemy!"
"It's still not comparable to those new recruits who just joined the army!"
The old soldier's tone was a little fierce.
The rest all spoke one after another:
"My arm was injured five years ago during the war with the Xixia soldiers. When it is cloudy and rainy, it is extremely painful! If you ask me to leave the army to farm, I'm afraid I won't be able to farm well either! "
"General Wei, I have made meritorious deeds. Three years ago, when the Liao army invaded the border, I killed three Liao thieves! You can't cross the river and demolish the bridge like this!"
"General Wei..."
"..."
For a time, a thousand old soldiers were in chaos.
Wei Yuan sighed and said loudly: "Quiet! Quiet!"
"I know that you are all meritorious officials. Above, you are worthy of the country, and below, you are worthy of the people!"
"You have served the imperial court for half your life. The imperial court will always remember your merits. That is why you are asked to leave the army. I cannot bear to have you wait and continue to fight in battle!"
"Seniors, please rest assured. With me and other juniors here, it is enough to ensure that Yanmen is worry-free and Daizhou is worry-free!"
"Now, it's time for us, the juniors, to take care of you."
He saw the veterans becoming silent one after another and continued:
"Seniors who have been injured in the service of the country and have difficulty farming, this general will give you a sum of money to do business in the towns."
"Now, I ask you to watch carefully how we, the young people, guard the surrounding borders!"
The words just fell.
I saw many young and strong armored soldiers walking towards this side. They looked at the old soldiers and said in unison:
"Jiayou new soldiers, congratulations to the veterans!"
"Soldiers, don't worry. I'm waiting, Daizhou is here, and the border is here!"
Having said that, the new soldiers knelt down on one knee to send off the veterans!
They have served the country for half their lives, or even stayed in the army for their entire lives. They deserve such courtesy!
Wei Yuan bowed deeply and said: "Wei Yuan, the new soldier, would like to send you the veteran soldiers!"
----------
After sending away the old soldiers, Wei Yuan began to reform the methods of training soldiers.
In the past, the main purpose of training soldiers in the army was to make them proficient in using various weapons and understand flag language.
However, the disadvantages of this are obvious. Training of individual arms is easy to solidify, and it is impossible to achieve perfect fit between multiple arms.
In response, Wei Yuan boldly trained his soldiers in various aspects such as tactics, physical fitness, teamwork, and temporary first aid on the battlefield.
The first is tactical training. It is necessary to ensure that after passing this training, the soldiers can master various methods of close combat and long-distance combat.
Next comes physical training, such as weight-bearing cross-country, training on outdoor survival ability, and also includes some basic horizontal bar pull-up training, parallel bar arm extension training, supine training, obstacle course training, etc.
It almost copied all the modern methods of training individual soldiers.
It also includes some simple military discipline training.
As for teamwork, it is the secret cooperation between various arms to simulate the battle between the red and blue forces.
Wei Yuan dare not say that the modern way of training soldiers is better than the ancient way.
But at the very least, it can greatly improve the survivability and physical fitness of the soldiers.
"If the effect of this training method is beyond imagination, if it is implemented throughout the army over time, it can greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. In the future, many fewer people will die on the battlefield."
Wei Yuan murmured.
The basic training method has been determined, and the new year is approaching.
This is his third year on the border since he joined the army.
Time flies by, as if everything is gone, but also as if everything has just begun.
"Changzhi, after the new year, you will come with me to the capital to thank His Majesty, but before going to the capital, you must first go to Yangzhou with me."
Wei Yuan said to Xu Changzhi.
As Wei Yuan was promoted to a higher rank, Xu Changzhi's status in the army also increased, and he was already the deputy regimental commander.
"I'm also going to the capital? Isn't this against the rules?" Xu Changzhi said subconsciously.
Wei Yuan smiled and said: "Now that you have achieved military success and have a bright future, don't you want to go home and feel proud?"
"Don't worry about the rest. I'm here. If I can't do it, Master Zhang is here."
Xu Changzhi smiled and said, "Then just listen to Brother Wei."
----------
The Master Zhang mentioned by Wei Yuan was naturally the British Duke Zhang Fu.
Now, Zhang Fu leads the army and is approaching the capital.
On the way, something happened about Wei Yuan.
Or Gu Yankai accidentally remembered,
"My lord, Wei Yuan, this child is about to reach the age of weakness. His parents died young. As the saying goes, once a teacher, always a father. As a teacher, you should also consider finding a marriage for him."
Hearing this, Zhang Fu's expression suddenly changed, as if facing a formidable enemy, and said:
"It's not something you should worry about. Don't worry about it. Just take care of your son."
"Yuan'er is still young, so there is no need to worry about getting married."
Eighteen and still young?
Gu Yankai frowned, suddenly realized something, and smiled:
"Zhang Shuai, do you think your precious daughter is still young?"
Zhang Fu blushed from his neck to his face and cursed angrily: "It's none of your business!"
