The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 71 Unexpected
Next to the newly organized First Regiment, Artillery Regiment, and Cavalry Battalion is the Second Regiment. Since the number of available people selected from the first batch was very limited, Li Xianze's Second Regiment did not receive any reinforcements, so they were the most neatly arranged in the entire parade ground. It can be said that the Second Regiment is now the model unit of the vanguard army.

Behind them were the remaining 3,000 Green Camp soldiers and more than 1,000 newly recruited soldiers.

The two parts were also divided into two teams, and Sun Shijun's student soldiers and the students of the Kaiping Camp School who had just arrived were assigned to help organize the team. Among them, instructors Zhang Xiyuan and Su Xilin were extremely hard-working and helped Sun Shijun run around all the time.

Of the two groups, the remaining nearly 3,000 Green Camp soldiers were the most disorganized. Although they had all received military training, their formation was still staggering.

On the contrary, the team of more than 1,000 new recruits was relatively orderly. Although they did not have any military posture, they were all tall and strong, and very majestic. The most commendable thing was that these new recruits were very obedient. No matter whether they were commanded by the instructors or the students, they would respond quickly.

On the reviewing stand in the chaotic and noisy parade ground, Li Yulin held a tin horn in his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs for a long time, and the noise below finally died down a little.

In Teng Yuzhao's previous life, he thought that there were no electric horns at this time, but now he knows that the electric horn had already appeared five years ago and was invented by Norwegian physicist Lorsen.

The only shortcoming of electric horns at that time was that, since the amplifier had not yet been invented, the volume of the electric horns was still a bit low and the distortion was a bit high.

Teng Yuzhao, who could no longer wait, strode onto the reviewing stand in military uniform and shiny black riding boots.

Teng Yuzao took the iron trumpet from Li Yulin and shouted to the more than 7,000 people below, "All officers and soldiers present, I am Teng Yuzao, the commander-in-chief of the Vanguard Army, and your highest commander."

Teng Yuzhao's words not only failed to reduce the noise from below, but on the contrary immediately attracted even louder noise from below.

These people were not disrespectful to their superiors. A second-rank official like the President was still very intimidating to these soldiers. To them, he was almost like a god.

These soldiers did not quiet down because Teng Yuzhao announced his name, but because he said he was the commander-in-chief of the vanguard army.

Although many people in the Green Camp and the new recruits knew that their highest officer was a young man in his twenties, Teng Yuzao looked a little young. If people who didn't know his age saw him for the first time, they would think he was only in his early twenties. In fact, his real age was already 28 years old. This surprised the Green Camp soldiers and new recruits who saw Teng Yuzao for the first time in the parade ground.

A young man who looked to be only in his twenties was actually the chief officer of their vanguard army. He was a second-rank official of the imperial court! In the past, officials who could reach this position were in their early forties, and they were rare. However, this man was only in his twenties.

Although the situation was somewhat beyond Teng Yuzhao's expectations, he didn't care about it. The purpose of his coming today was not to let his soldiers recognize him, but to boost the morale of the vanguard troops.

The current vanguard army is more like a piece of fine steel that has harmful metals mixed into it during smelting. He must find a way to continuously heat and forge it in order to transform those harmful metals into beneficial alloys that can improve the performance of the fine steel.

His "forging" methods are high morale, hard and scientific training methods, and today's military tactical thinking.

Teng Yuzao knew what these soldiers cared about most, so he didn't plan to lay the groundwork, but got straight to the point. Teng Yuzao continued loudly, "In our Vanguard Army, no one is allowed to withhold the soldiers' pay. In order to prevent some bad guys from withholding your pay, I will now announce to you the pay benefits of the Vanguard Army. Once you find someone withholding your pay, you can not only report it to your superiors, but also find me. As long as any of you find me and report that a certain officer withheld your pay, I will definitely meet with you and make the decision for you."

Teng Yuzhao's words about not withholding military pay did not arouse much enthusiasm among the more than 7,000 officers and soldiers in the large parade ground below. At least Teng Yuzhao did not hear the cheers he expected.

He knew that simply not withholding military pay was not enough to impress them. Many troops were like this. Even if the superiors said openly that no one would withhold pay, there would still be people below who would secretly do something about it.

In addition, there were troops that did not withhold military pay, or at least did not dare to withhold military pay openly. Among the Wuwei Army were Nie Shicheng's Wuwei Front Army and Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army. But where did Yuan Shikai get the huge amounts of money he spent to make friends with the powerful and wealthy?

Although the Yuan family had considerable wealth, they were unable to continuously come up with large sums of money.

Teng Yuzhao knew that he had to throw out more practical information.

"Now I announce the salary standards for the vanguard troops."

Only at this point did the parade ground finally quiet down. The soldiers stretched their necks, pricked up their ears, and prepared to listen carefully.

In this era, the Chinese people have a very weak sense of nation and ethnicity. In Teng Yuzhao's opinion, this should be related to the fact that the emperor of the time was not Han Chinese. The Chinese people now only have ethnic concepts but no concepts of nation and country. This should be the reason. To change this situation, it will require considerable long-term efforts.

Therefore, talking to them about national justice at this time is like talking to a cow; they need something tangible and real to them.

Teng Yuzao cleared his throat and tried to raise his voice so that everyone in the training ground could hear him clearly.

"The monthly salary standard for the vanguard troops is: for the infantry, the squad leader is 8 taels, the deputy squad leader is 7.5 taels, the soldiers are 6 taels, and the cooks are 4 taels; for the artillery and cavalry squad leader is 10 taels, the deputy squad leader is 8 taels, the soldiers are 7 taels, and the cooks are 4 taels."

"As for the salaries of officers above the rank of platoon leader, you should also listen carefully. This is related to each of you, because as long as you work hard, everyone has the potential to become an officer."

In order to further stimulate these more than 7,000 soldiers, Teng Yuzhao vowed to the soldiers of the vanguard army.

"The Vanguard Army will cancel the public expenses of officers at all levels. The monthly salary of platoon leaders is 50 taels, deputy platoon leaders 40 taels, sentry leaders 160 taels, deputy sentry leaders 120 taels, captains 300 taels, assistants 200 taels, regiment commanders 600 taels, assistants 300 taels. The monthly salaries of officers above regiment commander will also be greatly increased step by step."

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(End of this chapter)