Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 195 Invitation to Training

Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but sigh, these three people are really not ordinary people, no wonder Wang Jinwu said that to him just now.

Since the people had arrived, Zhu Shenzhui didn't beat around the bush and told them directly that the purpose of inviting them here was to train troops.

When this request was made, there was no surprise on the faces of the three men. They had thought about this before. As three disabled veterans, this was all they could do. Otherwise, with their disabled bodies, they couldn't carry anything with their shoulders or hands. Could it be that Mr. Zhu Liu had spent so much money to invite them from afar because he thought there was too much food at home and wanted to invite them to eat for free?

As for Zhu Shenzhui's identity and background, the three of them tacitly agreed not to inquire, but one thing was certain: he could not be an ordinary person because he could mobilize the Jinyi Guard and have such power in the guard.

The three of them had also been in the Hundred Households Office for some time. Although they had not been out much during these days, they all had sharp eyes and could tell as soon as they arrived here that this Hundred Households Office was newly established. In addition, the architectural structure of the Hundred Households Office was like a barracks, and the site was carefully selected, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. This confirmed their guess.

Zhu Shenzui was a little surprised at the three people's frankness. He originally thought that the three people would ask him some questions, but he didn't expect that after listening to Zhu Shenzui's request, they agreed immediately and didn't even ask a single question about other things.

Zhu Shenzhui thought about it for a while and roughly understood what they were thinking. This was good, so he didn't have to explain it to them. Moreover, the Qi Family Army was different from the ordinary army of the Ming Dynasty. The Qi Family Army had always recruited soldiers. Since it was recruiting soldiers, it relied on generous military pay and rewards for military merits. As for other things, the veterans of the Qi Family Army never asked.

"Three seniors, how do you plan to train the soldiers? How long will it take for these soldiers to be useful?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

The three of them looked at each other, and Lao Jin asked Zhu Shenzhui what preparations he had made, what the situation was like for the soldiers in the Hundred Households Office, and what the preparations for equipment and other things were, even including military pay and so on.

Zhu Shenzhui answered all these questions one by one without hiding anything. Since he wanted to use the three of them, he had to let them know these things, otherwise he would not be able to do anything good.

After listening to Zhu Shenzhui's explanation, Lao Jin thought for a moment and said, "Sixth Master, my three brothers need to personally meet and re-select the soldiers. It's not that I don't trust you, Sixth Master, but the way I select and train soldiers for the Qi Family Army is different from that for the Guards, and even for the Border Army, it's very different."

"To be a soldier in the Qi Family Army, you can't just be physically strong. In addition, the manufacture of weapons also needs the approval of my three brothers. Without sophisticated weapons, even the best soldiers can't play a role in the battlefield. In addition, as for the military system and military pay, you also know that my Qi Family Army has always paid double pay. In addition to military pay, there are also rewards for military merits, etc. Without these, I'm afraid it will be difficult to train strong soldiers."

"These are all no problem." Zhu Shenzhui agreed immediately: "The three seniors are all experts, you can make the decision on this matter..." Having said this, Zhu Shenzhui turned around and greeted them. As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Jinwu and Lu Yisheng, who had been standing at the door and had not come in, hurriedly responded and walked in.

Pointing at Wang Jinwu and Lu Yishen, Zhu Shenzui introduced their identities to them. He had seen these three veterans before, especially Wang Jinwu, who had brought them all the way here directly from the garrison. He was very familiar with them and they had communicated with each other.

"You can directly raise your requests with Captain Wang and Captain Lu. I have already told them that they will fully cooperate with you. As for the military system and military pay, we will follow the rules of the Qi Family Army. You can rest assured that you will not be shortchanged. By the way, as for the military positions you can hold in the army, in addition to the remuneration promised before, you will also receive a military pay based on your previous military positions. What do you think?"

As soon as these words came out, the three men showed surprised expressions on their faces. They originally thought that Zhu Shenzhui would bargain over these requests, but who would have thought that Zhu Shenzhui would agree to them right away. Not only that, he also gave them an extra salary. Moreover, based on their previous military positions, this was not a small amount of money. You have to know that two of the three were team leaders and one was a sentry leader, who were low-level officers. According to the military salary system of the Qi Family Army, they received a lot of salary.

As for the number of soldiers to be trained, Lao Jin and the other two brothers discussed in a low voice and told Zhu Shenzhui that they suggested training a sentry first.

Hearing this, Zhu Shenzhu frowned and asked if the sentry was too few. According to the organization of the Qi family army, one sentry consisted of four teams, and each team had twelve people, which was only 48 people. However, the number of soldiers Zhu Shenzhu prepared in Zhaowuling far exceeded this number.

Lao Jin told Zhu Shenzhui that there were three reasons why Qi's army was able to win every battle. The first was the strict military system, the second was the generous military pay and systematic military reward system, and the third was Qi's army's unique Mandarin Duck Formation tactics.

Leaving aside the first two, the latter requires a long period of practice and adjustment, and it is not until one can move forward and backward with ease, as if using one's arms, that it can be considered accomplished.

Qi Jiguang, the founder of Qi's army, did not train his troops in one go. In the 35th year of Jiajing, Qi Jiguang conducted his first military training, which did not yield much results. However, he was able to discover a group of promising generals from the army, laying the foundation for the subsequent birth of the real Qi's army.

In the 38th year of Jiajing, Qi Jiguang conducted the second military training, which was the period when the Qi Family Army was truly established. During the second military training, Qi Jiguang's mandarin duck formation was perfected, and the army was constantly tempered through small-scale wars. It was not until the 41st year of Jiajing, when Qi Jiguang led his army into Fujian, that the Qi Family Army was truly formed.

From this, it can be seen that it took a full six years for the Qi Family Army to train and form an army, and for the Qi Family Army to truly enter the historical stage, and only then did it create an army that was invincible in every battle. Of course, now that there is a real Qi Family Army as an example, Zhu Shenzhu no longer needs to explore and continuously improve like Qi Jiguang did at the beginning, saving a lot of detours. He can directly follow the already perfected Qi Family Army training method, which will greatly shorten the time.

But even so, it is not easy to train an army. According to Lao Jin, it will take at least half a year to see initial results. If you want to achieve the ability to advance and retreat with ease, it will take even longer.

But even if this was just the beginning, the soldiers trained in this way only looked like something, but they were not a real army. Lao Jin and the others explained this to Zhu Shenzhui, and Zhu Shenzhui understood it as soon as he heard it.

The reason is very simple, just like the military training in later generations, short-term military training can make a group of children who know nothing understand what is formation, military orders and command, and make appropriate responses. But military training is just military training after all, no matter how well the formation is marched or how timely the command is responded, it is just for show.

To put it bluntly, these show-offs are like silver-plated spear heads. They look formal, but in fact they are not a real army at all.

To become a real army, this is still a long way off. The later polishing and training takes a lot of time, and the army still needs to see blood. An army that has never seen blood may look good, but it will be useless on the battlefield.

The Qi family army was a strong army that had been formed through real fighting, not just a group of soldiers that could display their formations, so "forming an army" as Zhu Shenzhui asked was not that easy.

The reason why Lao Jin proposed to train a sentry first was also based on this consideration. Lao Jin, Yan Laosi and Lou Laoer are both sentry leaders and team leaders. If they have more veteran soldiers of the Qi Family Army under their command, it will naturally be no problem to train more soldiers at one time by using the old to train the new.

But now it is different. The soldiers they want to train are all new recruits, and they are selected from the Luzhou Guards. Some of these new recruits may have decent personal bravery, but for the Qi Family Army, the battle formation of the Qi Family Army relies on overall coordination, and individual bravery is not important at all.

Even during military training, individual bravery would often disrupt the balance and coordination of the overall training. For the soldiers needed by Qi's army, new recruits who knew nothing and were honest and simple were more suitable.

There is an old saying that goes, "unpolished jade is better suited for carving into a useful tool." This is what it means. So before training, the three of them need to select one or two suitable talents from the soldiers prepared by Zhu Shenzui.

In addition, Lao Jin and the other two have no other helpers, so training one sentinel is the most they can do now. After this sentinel is trained and has some foundation, they can continue to expand the backbone on this basis, which is the real step of training.

"Two years! It will take at least two years to initially form an army. After the army is formed, it needs to be tempered in the battlefield, killing enemies and seeing blood. Only then can it be called a strong army." Lao Jin stretched out two fingers and said seriously. Yan Laosi and Lou Laoer on the side nodded at the same time, indicating that what Lao Jin said was right and what he meant was also what they meant.

Zhu Shenzhui had already figured out that although Yan Laosi was the oldest among the three, Lao Jin was actually the leader among them.

Although Zhu Shenzhu was slightly disappointed by Lao Jin's answer, the difficulty and time required for training soldiers far exceeded Zhu Shenzhu's imagination. However, after careful consideration, Zhu Shenzhu had to admit that Lao Jin was right, and there was no need for Lao Jin to lie to him in this regard. If he only wanted to train an army that looked good but would fail in battle, why would he tell him this?

After thinking about it, Zhu Shenzhui nodded in agreement. Since he was going to employ someone, he should have no doubts. Lao Jin and the other two were all veterans who had experienced many battles. They were also professional soldiers during the most prosperous period of the Qi Family Army. It was best to leave professional matters to professionals.

However, Zhu Shenzhui also put forward a condition, which was to let Wang Jinwu, Lu Yishen and other old members of Wangjia Village and Yangtou Mountain participate in the military training. Lao Jin and the other two were a little hesitant about this request. It was okay for others, but the identities of Wang Jinwu and Lu Yishen were not ordinary. They were actual centurions. Not to mention now, even when Lao Jin and the other two were in the Qi Family Army, their military ranks were not as good as the two. If they also joined in, what if...

"Three seniors, just treat them as new recruits. If they make a mistake, you should beat them or scold them! Don't worry about anything."

"Yes, yes, three old seniors, it doesn't matter whether I am a centurion or not. I have no complaints about being a new recruit under you three. If I do something wrong, you can deal with me as you please!" Wang Jinwu was very smart. He understood Zhu Shenzhu's idea as soon as he heard it. What's more, he had become familiar with the three of Lao Jin these days, so he patted his chest to make his attitude clear.

Lu Yisheng did the same and also agreed immediately. Seeing their firm attitude, although Lao Jin and the other two were still a little hesitant, they agreed to Zhu Shenzhu's request.

(End of this chapter)