Total War: I'm building up an army to rebel against the Qing Dynasty in a heavily modified vers

Chapter 88: Oath to Overthrow the Qing, Establishment of the Destroyer Army!

"Commander, our 1500 new recruits are almost ready. After a month of training, they have mastered basic formations and shooting skills, and are qualified as militia members."

In a small meeting room in Rock's office, a young military officer saluted Rock and then presented him with a report on the recruits' training.

Rock glanced at it briefly and nodded in satisfaction.

In general, these new recruits are now able to fire two volleys of gunfire per minute, adjust their formation within half a minute, and ensure that their formation remains intact while marching in step and that they can fire in an orderly manner during volleys.

Although these are just basic data from the training ground, once they get to the battlefield, if panic or other situations arise, things could easily fall apart instantly.

However, judging solely from these figures on paper, the combat effectiveness of these new recruits may not be very reliable, but at least they do possess a certain level of combat capability.

"Excellent, very good. So, besides training, how is their morale?"

"Or rather, do they have any reservations about our upcoming attack on Kaiyuan City? Have we been effective in our usual public relations efforts?"

Compared to training, Rock was more concerned about the morale and psychological state of these soldiers.

In his view, training could be made up for later, and even practiced while fighting, but the soldiers' mentality and mindset had to be addressed first. He would never allow his soldiers to have strong rebellious emotions during battle.

Otherwise, if such soldiers were sent to the battlefield, it would be a miracle if they didn't cause trouble!

Regarding this question, Luo Ping walked over to Luo Ke and explained with a smile, "No, Commander, it seems that none of the problems you were worried about have occurred. Thanks to our long-term propaganda efforts, the vast majority of soldiers have no resistance to our upcoming war against the Qing Dynasty. They even generally support us raising the banner of rebellion."

Rock nodded. That was good. He was afraid that there really was a group of fools in his army who were not bright enough and insisted on being loyal to the court.

Of course, among these villagers, there were indeed some fools like this, especially many elderly people who were quite stubborn and whose reverence for the Qing Dynasty was deeply rooted.

But when Rock was recruiting soldiers, he specifically selected a group of simple-minded young men who were no more than 22 years old.

People in this age group have a great advantage: their thinking is not yet fixed, they are more receptive to new things, and at the same time, they have the passion and rebellious spirit of youth, and are more idealistic.

Unlike older people who have long lost their passion and enthusiasm and only think about maintaining stability and upholding tradition, they are not so easily cunning or sly.

In addition to the infectious atmosphere of the group and the constant propaganda that Rock had the young soldiers carry out during these days, the soldiers' thinking was further shaped after they came into Rock's hands.

In addition to training during these days, Rock has been focusing on propaganda among the soldiers, with the main emphasis on the following:

First of all, Rock has always emphasized that the Manchus were a foreign colonial force, and that they were just a foreign ethnic group that took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty to invade, and that they were different from the traditional Han people.

Secondly, Luo Ke consistently educated his soldiers on history, focusing on explaining the various atrocities committed by the Manchus during their conquest of China, their weakness and incompetence in foreign wars, and the Manchu court's policies of treating Han people as less than human.

If these two are combined, then Rock is now trying to arm himself with nationalism.

Although nationalism is a double-edged sword, easily turning into Nazism or other messy things, in this situation, Rock must first grasp this double-edged sword firmly.

This double-edged sword allowed his troops to quickly build cohesion, while also rapidly inciting their rejection and hatred of the Qing court, and giving Roc's war a sense of righteousness.

Although revenge is a very old-fashioned reason, old-fashioned does not mean ineffective. In particular, the Han people are a people who hold grudges, which further inspired the fighting spirit of the soldiers.

For the vast majority of villagers, their understanding of history is basically nonexistent, and they are completely unaware of what the imperial court did.

Because whether it was the education that landlords, gentry, and Manchu officials gave to ordinary people, or the small-farmer mentality of ordinary villagers, all these things combined made them feel that history and politics were things that only officials needed to care about, and had nothing to do with them, the common people.

But Rock wasn't afraid. He didn't give them serious history lessons on a regular basis. Instead, he used a lot of jokes and anecdotes from online marketing accounts to explain these things to them, just like telling stories.

Most soldiers would probably be reluctant to attend classes, but many would be happy to listen to stories after training.

Needless to say, the mere fact that a great commander like Rock would personally come to tell them stories was enough to make many soldiers feel extremely honored.

Although many marketing accounts may not be entirely accurate, and many short videos contain biased content, Rock has to admit that these things are still very effective at stirring people's emotions.

As he continued to explain the crimes committed by the Manchus and their cowardice in dealing with foreign powers, his soldiers couldn't help but grit their teeth in hatred towards the Qing court.

They had never realized before that the court above them was any different from the courts of the past. In the eyes of most villagers, whether it was the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, it was essentially the same court, just with a different name.

They never thought about why their past selves had to have a pig's tail on the back of their heads.

They also never considered why the literacy rate in the late Qing Dynasty was far lower than in the Ming Dynasty, nor did they consider why they had to leave their homeland and come to Northeast China to seek their fortune.

Before these soldiers came to work under Luo Ke, most of them did not know what Han Chinese clothing looked like. They only knew that everyone had to keep a rat-tail hairstyle, and that the court always had the saying that if you keep your hair, you lose your head. Not keeping this hairstyle was equivalent to being a traitor or rebel.

In the past, they felt that the reason they were having a hard time was simply because landlords were exploiting them. So almost all of them pinned their hopes on the day when a just and upright official would appear and severely punish the landlords and bullies.

They didn't know until Rock finished speaking:

The reason why I was living a bad life and even had to wander to this harsh and cold place beyond the Great Wall was not because of anything else, but simply because the Manchu Qing Dynasty itself was a behemoth that systematically exploited them.

Ultimately, all the grain they painstakingly grew was plundered by landlords, local gentry, bureaucrats, and the Manchus who colluded with them. The high-ranking Manchu nobles even exploited their own people; they didn't treat people like human beings at all!

Hoping for a just and upright official to emerge is useless, because such officials are themselves bureaucrats who exploit them and are in cahoots with those landlords and tyrants.

Even the Qing Dynasty court was never on their side; instead, it was the group that exploited them the most!

At that moment, the soldiers that Rock had just recruited suddenly felt as if the sky had fallen.

But then, they became even more determined in their beliefs.

"Rebel against the Qing! Rebel against this damned Manchu court!"

"Since these Qing dogs are so cruel and heartless, let's just rebel against them! From now on, I'll follow Commander Luo; at worst, I'll be a traitor!"

"Don't talk nonsense! What do you mean by 'traitors'? We are the honorable Po Lu Army, here to restore order and reclaim the Han people's land! We are the genuine righteous army!"

Such calls echoed throughout the military camp. When they first joined the Luo family army, they were uneasy about the fact that the regular soldiers in the Luo family army all cut off their queues, and they were always unsure of themselves.

But when Luo Ke explained the reasons to the soldiers and made them aware of the crimes committed by the Manchu Qing dynasty, they all voluntarily asked to cut off their queues!

Now that they have joined the Luo family army, or rather, the Po Lu army, they naturally have to stand firm and make their will clear!

For those soldiers who took the lead in cutting off their queues, Rock was generous with his rewards and immediately gave them an extra two months' worth of silver.

Immediately afterwards, Rock summoned all his soldiers and publicly praised those who had voluntarily cut off their queues. Then, he simply held a queue-cutting rally!

After cutting off their queues, Rock gave each soldier a bonus equivalent to a month's salary. Following that, he took the opportunity of the queue-cutting rally to hold a rally to rouse his troops!

All the braids were piled up to one side, doused with kerosene, and then burned. Standing beside the fire, Rock calmly addressed the gathered soldiers, saying, "Gentlemen, since you've all cut off your braids, you're determined to rebel against me, Rock!"

"Although we are rebelling now, you must remember that we have never been traitors; we are simply reclaiming what we have lost!"

"Our goal is to restore the Han people's land, to expel the Tartars, to restore China, and to reclaim our homeland! Although this cause may take a long time, and although there will inevitably be many dangers along the way, I, Luo, hereby swear to you:"

"I don't know where you all came from to Guandong, and I don't care where you were from before. As long as you're willing to follow me, Luo, one day I will definitely lead you back to your old home. Then no one will force us to come to Guandong again!"

"I, Luo, cannot promise you too much. Talking about being granted titles and high positions is just empty talk, something you can see but can't have. But I can give you one very basic promise:"

"As long as they are under my banner and willing to fight alongside me, I will ensure that everyone is well-fed and clothed, that everyone has clothes to wear, food to eat, and land to cultivate. I will never allow anyone to starve or freeze to death as they have in the past!"

"From now on, remember these words. If I ever break my promise, you can remind me at any time, or simply leave me. I will never blame you!"

"From this day forward, our army will no longer be called the Luo Family Army. You are no longer my servants or my henchmen. We are comrades fighting together for the same ideal! From this day forward, the banner of our Luo Family Army will be officially renamed the Breaking the Enemy Army!"

As soon as Luo Ke finished speaking, the soldiers present shouted excitedly, "Good! We've rebelled with Commander Luo! We're soldiers of the Po Lu Army now!"

"Expel the Tartars, restore China, and reclaim our Han people's land!"

"We must ensure everyone has enough to eat and wear, so we'll never have to live those miserable, miserable lives again!"

Besides the ordinary soldiers, even Rock's system soldiers were infected by the atmosphere and joined in the shouting.

Although their loyalty to Rock is tied to him, and Rock's will is their will, this does not mean that they do not aspire to a greater ideal.

The idea of ​​ensuring everyone has enough to eat and wear sounds simple, but looking back at the past dynasties, which one could truly achieve this?

If someone could truly achieve this, then even without any other merits, he would undoubtedly be a worthy emperor of all time!

Seeing the incredibly enthusiastic scene before him, Rock couldn't help but burst into laughter. From this moment on, he could be considered to have officially raised the banner of anti-Qing.

As for the promise he made, Rock believed he was absolutely capable of fulfilling it!

Once the Industrial Revolution takes place and productivity increases further, and social distribution is well controlled, ensuring that everyone has enough to eat and wear will not be difficult. He had already witnessed such a prosperous era before he transmigrated here.

Although there may have been many unsatisfactory aspects in his life before he traveled back in time, people back then would never starve or freeze to death as long as they were willing to work diligently.

He refused to believe that he had so many system soldiers under his command, who were 100% loyal to him and could unconditionally carry out his will. These soldiers were Rock's most powerful henchmen.

In this situation, he could rely on these soldiers to transmit his will to every corner of the grassroots in the future. And at that time, as long as Rock did not forget his original intention, the world would never have degenerated to such an extent.

Therefore, Rock is fully confident and willing to make such a bold claim because he truly believes he can absolutely do it!

"Fellow soldiers of the Broken Army, since that's the case, then get ready!"

"Everyone, rest immediately and prepare for battle. Two days from now, we will officially launch an attack on Kaiyuan City and liberate all the people of Kaiyuan from the Tartars!"

"This Battle of Kaiyuan is our first battle. As the saying goes, 'Kaiyuan opens the new era,' we must win this first battle and boost the morale of our Po Lu Army!"

After saying this, Rock left the place amidst the soldiers' excited cheers.

Two days later, he would definitely lead his troops to take Kaiyuan in one fell swoop, fire the first shot well, and complete the mission he had accepted in the system.

While Luo Ke was formally forming the Po Lu Army and had already held a rally to swear an oath, Wan Fu, the garrison commander in Kaiyuan City, was completely unaware of the earth-shattering changes happening outside.

Of course, this old man Wanfu was not idle either. At this moment, he was ordering his subordinates to gather soldiers and recruit a large number of local militia with a pained expression.

Wanfu had a good plan: while the Luo family army was busy fighting the bandits, he would send troops from behind to reap the benefits. He would not only be able to get a larger share of the gold mine, but also teach the bandits a lesson and let them know who the "king" of this area was!

But he never expected that the Luo family army would be so fierce. They had just finished a major battle with thousands of bandits, and then they turned around and wiped out the troops he had sent. Not a single one of them even made it back!

This is simply illogical. The troops he sent clearly brought the latest batch of opium, so logically, after consuming that stuff, the morale and spirit of the troops should have been boosted.

He knew this thing was harmful, so he didn't want his soldiers to use it normally, but when it came to a critical moment, he would never hesitate to use it.

But he never expected that even after using such a trump card, he would still be unable to defeat the Luo family army, which was besieged on all sides. This really made him panic.

In the first ten days after Wan Fugang learned of his army's defeat, he went through what was arguably the most difficult period of his life.

On the one hand, he had to try his best to cover up the military defeat and block the news in the entire Kaiyuan City to prevent others from knowing about it. On the other hand, he also had to be prepared for defense, fearing that the Luo family army would attack directly.

He didn't know if the Luo family army would attack. Although the probability was probably small, if the Luo family army did attack, he would be in big trouble.

Moreover, he absolutely could not let anyone know that his army had been wiped out in an attempt to seize a gold mine.

Otherwise, if the Shengjing General finds out, he might lead his troops to wipe out the Luo family army to help him get revenge, but then he would be in big trouble!

Because the imperial court had very strict control over the Northeast, according to the imperial laws, it was illegal to cut down trees, mine minerals, or even farm in the Northeast without permission. The gold mines, which were controlled by the imperial court, were of paramount importance.

If this matter were to be brought to the top, he would be severely punished, even if he didn't die.

Therefore, even now, Wanfu is not thinking about asking the imperial court to help him quell the rebels, but rather about recruiting local militia on his own, suppressing the matter privately, and ideally wiping out the Luo family army altogether.