The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 72 Still Not Satisfied
"Also, the salary I mentioned does not include the cost of your uniforms and other non-weapon equipment, nor does it include your food expenses. All your military needs will be taken care of by the Vanguard Army Camp Affairs Office."

"The amount of your military pay is for all officers and soldiers to support their families."

When Teng Yuzhao began to announce the pay standards for the Vanguard Army, the parade ground had already become quiet. After Teng Yuzhao finished announcing the pay standards for the Vanguard Army, he thought he had a very accurate grasp of the psychology of officers and soldiers of that era. The issue that soldiers were most concerned about was their pay. Once this standard was announced, it would immediately receive a warm response from these officers and soldiers.

Because the military pay standard he set is the highest among all the domestic troops today, higher than the highest military pay standard of the Wuwei Army. In particular, the pay of officers above the rank of platoon leader has been greatly increased, much higher than the already high pay of Wuwei Army generals.

How could such a high military pay not draw enthusiastic cheers from officers and soldiers?

But what surprised Teng Yuzhao was that after he announced the salary standards for the vanguard army, the large parade ground with more than 7,000 people fell into complete silence.

Looking at this strange scene, Teng Yuzhao's heart couldn't help but twitch.

Could it be that they are still not satisfied with the military salary standard that he had to grit his teeth to come up with?

Just when Teng Yuzhao was at a loss, thunderous cheers suddenly broke out on the parade ground. The old soldiers of the vanguard army were better off and did not dare to move. They just grinned and laughed happily in the team.

But those Green Camp soldiers and recruits who had just been assigned to the Vanguard Army, as well as the left-behind students of the Beiyang Military Academy who had newly joined the Vanguard Army, had already cheered happily in the team.

You should know that the military pay standard announced by Teng Yuzhao is more than three times that of their Green Camp. The military pay of the Green Camp and even the Wuwei Army includes uniforms, bedding and food expenses. After conversion, the military pay finally distributed to them is almost only half of that, and this is before the military pay is withheld by their superiors.

If calculated in this way, their military pay would actually increase by more than three times. With such a high standard of military pay, how could these officers and soldiers not be excited and cheer for joy?

Those students who stayed behind from the Beiyang Military Academy, including the former student platoon leaders of the Vanguard Army, were also extremely excited.

Nowadays, many of them have taken up the posts of captain, assistant, sentry leader, deputy sentry leader, and some have even been promoted directly to assistant to the regiment commander, or even to the level of regiment commander, such as Wei Jinghai, the chief of staff, who is at the level of regiment commander.

Regardless of whether they were former student officers of the Vanguard Army or students left behind at the Military Academy who had only been there for two days, the worst rank they could hold was now a platoon leader.

For these students, they are naturally even more excited to be entrusted with important tasks and receive extremely high military salaries immediately after graduation. This is something they have never dreamed of.

Moreover, with the speed at which the Vanguard Army was developing, all students would definitely be promoted, this could be said to be a foregone conclusion.

Because his master only recognized those who were students of the military academy, in time, it would not be just a beautiful dream for them to become a captain or even a regiment commander. Teng Yuzao did not want to see the situation where the salaries of officers were greatly increased, and even students who had just graduated and had no combat experience were appointed to become officers, but he really had no one to use now.

The wars we fight today are far different from those in the past. Even the experience gained from the First Opium War decades ago does not mean much for today’s wars. Today’s wars are already very different from those in the past.

Therefore, modern warfare must be commanded and led by people who understand the laws and skills of modern warfare. If we still stick to qualifications and experience, the Vanguard Army will suffer the same fate as the Wuwei Army, or in other words, the Vanguard Army will become the second Wuwei Army.

As for the lack of combat experience, it is entirely possible to learn and accumulate it in the war.

Experience is accumulated. Both victory and failure are experiences. Teng Yuzhao can fully bear a certain degree of failure. The lessons will become a valuable asset for him and the young generals of the vanguard army and will enable them to grow faster.

In Teng Yuzhao's view, failure is not terrible. He highly praises Zeng Guofan's famous saying "spin and rise". As long as you are an indestructible cockroach, you are a strong person, and you may even be the one who wins in the end.

Not until he heard the thunderous cheers on the parade ground did Teng Yuzhao's heart regain peace of mind. He knew that he had succeeded in the first step of boosting morale.

Teng Yuzao continued to speak loudly, "Also, not only will your food expenses not be paid from your military pay, but will be calculated separately, but I also promise you that unless there are special circumstances, I will try my best to ensure that each of you has at least two eggs and one meat meal every day."

"Boom!" The emotions of more than 7,000 people in the cathedral were completely ignited by Teng Yuzhao. They were given at least two eggs and one meal of meat every day!

This was something that everyone on the parade ground, including officers like Liu Yuzhi, Li Xianze, and Wei Jinghai, had never dared to think about before. What a luxury it would be!
You know, among the more than 7,000 people below, many could only eat meat during the Chinese New Year, but now they could eat meat every day, and at least once! How could this not surprise, excite, and even drive these officers and soldiers crazy?

Teng Yuzhao looked at the boiling scene below and knew it was time to add fuel to the fire.

Teng Yuzhao waved his hand, and Li Yulin immediately waved his hand to command twenty or thirty soldiers from the guard battalion to carry a dozen heavy baskets covered with red silk on bamboo poles, walked to the large parade ground, and lined up those heavy baskets on the ground in front of the reviewing stand. As Li Yulin's orders were given, the soldiers simultaneously lifted the red silk covering the baskets.

As the red silk was lifted, the reviewing stand was suddenly shone with silver light under the sunlight. The glittering silver light was so dazzling that the officers and soldiers could see clearly that the baskets were full of shiny white silver.

Teng Yuzao pointed to the dozen baskets of silver under the reviewing stand and said, "I have told General Manager Li of our Vanguard Army Camp Affairs Office that I will give each of the new recruits an extra five taels of silver as a reward as long as they can become qualified Vanguard Army soldiers within a month."

Teng Yuzao suddenly raised his voice, "In the military, one must keep one's word and fulfill one's promise. This time, we have more than 2,000 former Green Camp soldiers who passed the assessment, although many of them barely passed after I lowered the standards."

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(End of this chapter)