In order not to make too much noise and cause the grass to startle the snakes, Zhang Lixin only used the influence of Shengxian Village as a pilot for this kind of work in four villages close to the mountainous area. After all, what he intends to establish is only a "guerrilla base area," not a whole area of control.

Contrary to the previous imagination, in the absence of the risk of casualties in a large-scale war, in such a very poor place, as long as food and wages can be guaranteed and credit can be guaranteed, most people are still willing to "serve as soldiers and eat food." And that's not all: avoiding the fatigue of daily farm work was also an important motivation for people in the old days to plan to join the army.

However, in three or four days, because of the "big eaters" and some of the income in Hejian Province before, Zhang Lixin, who was not short of money and food for the time being, quickly pulled up a team of nearly 300 young people in the four villages. When they were put together for a simple initial training, these people also seemed to be "obedient". Of course, it often takes a lot of time to assemble and stand in line, and Zhang Lixin, who has served in the army, does not care. In my previous life, when I was a child in an elementary school, I didn't have such an experience, and it was not an easy thing to have more than 50 people.

However, when the initial training of the team was a little tired, and the discipline was a little strict, many people couldn't adapt to it and complained. In this regard, Zhang Lixin had already anticipated it, and had already prepared manpower to be responsible for "screening" those who liked to gossip during the initial discipline training and meals, and were obviously not very calm, at least nearly half of them were eliminated.

"Although this place is also considered a mountainous area, I am afraid that the level of soldiers is far away in the Dengzhou area?" Wang Wei sighed helplessly.

For those who have undergone simple initial training, Li Yi is not completely at ease: "I don't think the remaining half is necessarily reliable, and when I get to the battlefield, I am worried that it is far worse than the newcomers who came to Hejian before us... ”

Recalling the previous confrontation with the cavalry of the Zhongshun Battalion, which still made Zhang Lixin feel quite a lesson, Zhang Lixin also thought about it: let the recruits face the cold weapon melee hand-to-hand combat, or face the cavalry battle, which is too much of a test combat method, without any car shield to cover it is a very risky thing. It is most appropriate to let them work in the process of building fortifications or foxholes, operating trebuchets, and some tasks that require only manpower and do not require too high skills. Among them, those who are initially active and disciplined in discipline are assisted in the operation of firearms; It may be the right choice for those who have been tested on the battlefield and have outstanding performance to cooperate with some reliable people around them to take on the heavy responsibility of the first-line hand-to-hand defense line if necessary?

In this way, Zhang Lixin only selected nearly 30 people from among the newly recruited people who were more active and down-to-earth in the first few days of training and discipline and were assigned to the "freshman battalion," bringing the number of the entire freshman company to more than 100 to 100 and 5. The entire team was also reorganized to form four detachments, which were directly responsible for the four leaders of Zhang Lixin, Wang Wei, Li Yi, and Cheng Hai. In addition to the officers of each detachment, twenty-five soldiers and ten "first-class privates" were on hand to resist the enemy's heavy duties when necessary. Three projection groups, each with five people. Equipped with trebuchets or artillery, Zhang Lixin and other officers were personally responsible for commanding.

In fact, Zhang Lixin didn't want to expand the team again, and in the name of "battalion", he actually didn't even have the number of a company, and in fact it was only equivalent to a super reinforced platoon with four detachments. However, Zhang Lixin, who knows a little about military affairs, understands that as far as the current conditions of the team are concerned, there are too few people who can undertake the heavy responsibility of fighting under the mode he leads.

The other 130 local youths who were not so outstanding and relatively mediocre were selected and Zhang Lixin classified them as "reserve fighters." They don't stay overnight at night, they just accept the "night tube" of the official fighters sent by the freshman battalion, and they only stay together during the daytime training.

In this way, the entire "freshman battalion" will at least have the frame of a "reinforced company," and the idea that many auxiliary soldiers and baggage soldiers will be incorporated into the regular army in order to enhance their sense of honor is an idea that Zhang Lixin had long ago after drawing lessons from history. It's just that there were many contradictions and problems born in the Dengzhou Weiyuan camp back then, and I didn't experience such a thing as a general at that time. However, if he is only a "reinforced company commander", it will be a completely different matter.

When people with completely different training and battle formation experience, and even "qualifications" were incorporated into a company, various problems soon arose. First of all, some of the "veterans" recruited by Hejian Prefecture put on their qualifications and ganged up to beat and scold the recruits. In order to prevent the slightest problem, even if it did not cause serious consequences, Zhang Lixin resolutely announced the expulsion of the four so-called "veterans" who committed the crime from the freshman battalion in public, and classified them as "people's husbands" like those locals who were not selected, and locked them up for 10 days.

"Some of you are from Baoding Province, some are from Hejian, and some are from further afield. Geographical isolation restricts the flow of people, resulting in a variety of different accents. But we all have one thing in common: we are, or at least have been, one of those who have suffered and exploited the whole world. I don't want anyone to bring into the ranks some of the lowly and bad habits of bullying the weak. If someone refuses to change his teachings, he will not be like those before him. Because you can serve the interests of other newcomers within the small gang and small circle, without a trace of ideals and righteousness, you are likely to become the black sheep of the whole team on the battlefield... ”

While the team carried out the training of skills such as operating trebuchets and artillery, Zhang Lixin did not neglect to carry out step-by-step political propaganda and education for the entire team as before. Because at this time, Zhang Lixin realized that if some outstanding people could not be born and grow up among these people as soon as possible, it would be difficult to consolidate and improve the scale of the entire team.

The expansion of the entire team will inevitably bring about a decline in combat effectiveness and quality, and even if various methods are adopted, it will not be possible to achieve it overnight in ten days and a half months. However, what made Zhang Lixin more gratifying was that since he had obtained many military craftsmen in Hejian Yingcheng and some craftsmen and assets in Mancheng County, the special craftsman team had expanded to more than 40 people. From the craftsmanship to the conditions, it is much better than before the first month. In the first year of Chongzhen, the second month of the old calendar was not over, and according to Zhang Lixin's experience in casting cannons at the beginning of Dengzhou, eight "combined copper cannons" were trial-produced, each of which could spread out four bronze cannons weighing more than 30 catties and about 20 kilograms at a certain angle to cover a larger area, and try to avoid the waste of shotguns when encountering the enemy's horse team.