There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 18: Fooling Dad
He Shunan asked at the right moment, "General, how should we expand our army? Please give me your instructions."

"It's very simple."

Nie Yu said, "According to the current organization of the rebel army, every two wolf gendarmes, four spearmen, two hammermen, two sword and shield soldiers, plus a captain, makes a squad of eleven people. This is the basic organization and there is no need to change it for the time being."

"With this squad formation, every ten squads form a battalion. The battalion commander is called a battalion commander and is in charge of 110 men. He can be accompanied by ten personal soldiers, for a total of 120 men in a battalion."

"Each of the four small camps has a Thousand Commander in Chief. This Thousand Commander can be called a general and is in charge of the four camps, totaling 480 men. The Thousand Commander can also be accompanied by 20 personal soldiers, for a total of 500 men."

"For the time being, there will be no new military positions above the rank of Qianzong. The highest rank in the army is only Grand General."

"According to this charter, in the next few days, each of you will go and recruit soldiers to expand the army. This general has no other requirements, only one thing: it is better to have no soldiers than to have unqualified ones, and no White Lotus Sect members. If you want to join the rebel army, you must either not believe in the White Lotus Sect or give up the White Lotus Sect."

After hearing this, He Shunan, Xu Sanlang, Bai Nan and Chen Younian all understood.

In other words, they are the highest-ranking rebel generals except for the generals.

He Shunan was also very touched that the general trusted them so much that he allowed them to recruit soldiers and expand the army on their own instead of taking everything on himself.

In fact, Nie Yu also had his own considerations. He also knew that allowing generals to recruit soldiers on their own might involve certain risks, but who could blame him for having neither the time nor the talent now?

The news of Yidu County's loss could not be concealed for too long. Once the Qing army knew about it, they would definitely gather their forces to encircle and suppress him.

In order to quickly expand the army and form combat effectiveness, these rebel generals can only be allowed to recruit soldiers and prepare for war on their own.

But it doesn't matter. Nie Yu only temporarily released the power to recruit soldiers. The more than 400 people in the old camp who actually started the rebellion are still firmly under his control. Even if there is a problem, he can cover it up. Moreover, the food, grass, weapons and armor consumed by the army are also in his hands. Even when he goes back to the training, he has to go there in person to take part in the training, so that the new recruits of the rebel army will know that there is a general, not just a captain or a thousand-man commander.

Bai Nan was thinking about something. He was an educated man, unlike the other three rough guys. He figured out the general's purpose after just a little thought.

Winning over the people's hearts, expanding the military and preparing for war, consolidating power, killing two birds with one stone!
Even though he understood it, Bai Nan would not deliberately point it out. He did not say it casually when he said he would go through fire and water for the anti-Qing cause.

Nie Yu and the other four had almost digested the information before continuing, "After today's meeting, the four of you can start recruiting soldiers. Try to recruit 2,000 men for this general as quickly as possible. More is fine, but no less."

"As ordered!"

The four of them bowed and clasped their fists in unison.

He Shunan thought for a moment and then added, "General, how do we deal with firearms? I once served in the Shaanxi Green Camp for several years. Although the Qing army's Green Camp is weak in combat, they also have firearms. If we encounter them, we may suffer a great loss."

Nie Yu chuckled and said, "I've already thought about this. Go back to the county and find a few master blacksmiths. I have two blueprints for cannons and muskets. You can start making them first to see if they can be manufactured and put into practical use."

That's right, he really couldn't buy any artillery in the mall. Even the relatively backward Tiger Crouching Cannon was not available for purchase, let alone the musket.

However, if you can't buy the actual product, it's not a big problem to buy the blueprints and make it yourself.

In addition, in addition to the artillery blueprints, Nie Yu also has a trump card that he has not revealed!

Seeing that the general was confident, everyone stopped asking questions and continued to discuss the details of recruiting soldiers and expanding the army, then took their leave.

"General, the old man is here!"

Nie Yu closed his eyes and rested for a while, and a personal soldier came to report.

Nie Yu nodded, stood up, and went out to greet him. His father, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, had completely lost the reserved demeanor he'd worn upon entering the yamen. The furnishings were all ordinary, not much better than his own old house, but he found everything interesting, touching here and glancing there. "Dad, stop looking! It's just a threshold. It hasn't been repaired in ages," Nie Yu warned silently.

Nie Jieren, having been pointed out by his son, quickly straightened up and resumed his previous reserved demeanor. "Well, my son is thoughtful. I was just taking a casual look."

"...Come in! Dad, your son has something to tell you."

"okay."

Nie Jieren didn't think much about it and took Butler Liu into the inner hall.

After entering the inner hall, Nie Jieren didn't know where to sit for a moment. It was Nie Yu who came forward, took his hand, and let him sit in the main seat at the top.

"This is where the Yidu County Magistrate usually sits when he entertains guests."

Nie Yu first asked his father to sit down, and then he intentionally reminded him.

When he heard that it was the seat where the county magistrate usually sat, Nie Jieren stood up reflexively, and then sat down quickly again.

He originally felt that the stool was a bit hard, but now not only did he not feel the stool was hard anymore, but he felt more and more comfortable the longer he sat on it, and he even wanted to take a nap leaning on the stool.

Seeing his father's reluctance to get up, Nie Yu immediately asked with a smile, "Dad, is this seat comfortable?"

Nie Jieren nodded. "Well, although it's a bit hard, it's certainly quite comfortable. It's worthy of being the county magistrate's chair."

Comfortable?

If you feel comfortable, then it’s easy to deceive…it’s easy.

Nie Yu asked again, "Dad, are you satisfied with the reception at the yamen? That's the usual treatment given to us, the Yidu County Magistrate. Even the wealthy families in the county, or the scholars with honors, would hardly receive such treatment."

"Well, my son has a heart."

Nie Jieren became more and more satisfied after hearing this.

Nie Yu struck while the iron was hot and asked, "Dad, do you want to have this kind of life forever? To be greeted by the wealthy families and scholars in the county, as grand and prestigious as a county magistrate on tour?"

"Isn't it now?" Nie Jieren was a little confused.

Nie Yu shook his head. "Dad, this is different. Even though we easily took Yidu County, even that killer Zhang Zhengmo was intimidated by my military might and retreated to Changyang. We agreed that Zhijiang and Yidu would belong to my Nie family, and Changyang would belong to Zhang Zhengmo. But this is only under the premise that the Qing army doesn't arrive."

"We are now rebelling, and we have already captured the county. There is no turning back, nor can we defend Yidu County forever. We must either fight our way out and overthrow the Qing Dynasty, or be completely suppressed by the Qing army."

"Dad, if you're lucky, maybe you can even meet Emperor Qianlong when you go to Beijing to chop off his head!"

Everything was going well at the beginning, but suddenly the topic of beheading came up, which scared Nie Jieren instantly.

"Chop...chop off the head?"

"To be precise, our family is rebelling. If we're caught, we might not chop off your head, but rather we'll be subjected to Lingchi. Lingchi means cutting you into pieces while you're still alive!"

(End of this chapter)