There is a big arena outside the city of Dengzhou Prefecture, which has always been a place for officers and soldiers in the town to review and exercise. As the first big arena of a town, the officers and soldiers of the whole town often conduct exercises here in peacetime, and the venue is naturally very large, enough to accommodate tens of thousands of officers and soldiers to arrange troops at the same time. At this time, the field was already full of flags, and they were standing in dense formations of officers and soldiers, forming one phalanx after another. Among these people, there are six battalions of soldiers stationed in the city, there are guards in Dengzhou Mansion, and the two thousand Haiyang guards brought by Song Youliang, all of whom are standing here. It is said that there are more than 10,000 people, boundless, and when you look at it, there is a black pressure on the field.

In addition to these officials and soldiers, the outside of the arena was also crowded with the people of Dengzhou Mansion who came to see the excitement from all over the world, including the townspeople in the city, and the people on all sides. It's rare, such opportunities don't come every day. On the high stage of the martial arts performance on the field, it was full of officials of Dengzhou Mansion, including Song Youliang, Yuan Shu, Chen Guoying, Wang Zilin and others, as well as military generals from all over the country who came to the town to meet Song Youliang. In addition, on both sides of the high platform of the martial arts hall, there are dense guards and flag-bearers, etc., and the Song-character banner is floating high and majestic.

Standing on the high platform, Song Youliang pressed his sword and looked around, surging with emotion, in stark contrast, the slack of soldiers and horses in Dengzhou, like child's play, has been vividly reflected in the officers and soldiers of the sixth battalion of Dengzhou. Not to mention that the stragglers of the sixth battalion were not in good clothes, and there were still many old and weak inside. The weapons on the ground are mostly rusty. It is the young man in the sixth battalion, and the clothes and armor are barely neat, but in this serious occasion, it is lax discipline. In order to make the current general soldier Song Youliang take a fancy to him, the officers of the sixth battalion tried their best to restrain their subordinates and bulge their stomachs. Take on a majestic look.

As for the guards next to them. It's even worse. Originally, these military guards had become professional Tuntian soldiers, and they rarely conducted a drill once in decades, and their food and salary were insufficient, so they fled in large numbers. Therefore, the original number of 5,600 officers and soldiers of the four guards is now less than 2,000, but all of them are in tattered uniforms, and most of them are old and weak.

On the other hand, Song Youliang brought 2,000 Haiyang guards, which can be called the real pacesetter elite! Everyone is young and strong, tall and sturdy, wearing refined subway armor on their bodies, and the weapons in their hands are also snow-bright, and their expressions are mighty and strong, full of evil aura after the bloody battle. In particular, they are very disciplined. After the queue. And every man stood still like a forest. They are arranged in formation. From every aspect, it was a straight line, which shocked the people next to it. They just understood. What is forbidden and what is what a soldier looks like. Not to mention the guards next to them, there were also some battalion soldiers, all of whom looked at these sergeants from Haiyang Wei with envy and fear

Song Youliang waved his hand, and the yellow flag, red flag, black flag, green flag, and white flag on the high platform were raised at the same time, and the field slowly quieted down. Song Youliang waved his hand again, and the flag-bearer on the high platform waved the flag, and immediately the Haiyang Guards changed their formation, whether it was a flag raised on the stage or a golden drum was blown, it was not chaotic at all.

The battalions under the stage were in a hurry, walking around, some to the east, some to the west, and the formation that had barely formed in a short time was already a mess. As soon as someone turned around, they collided with the soldiers of another battalion. As for those guards, they stood stupidly and had not practiced for many years, and they couldn't understand the flags on the stage.

Soon, the yellow, red, black, blue, and white flags on the high platform were all raised at the same time, and the Haiyang Guards immediately returned to their original solemn formation. And it wasn't until the old man for a long time that the battalion soldiers and guards beside them calmed down. And after exercising for a long time just now, their formation was even more chaotic.

Deng Youyang, Su Zixing, Li Yue, Liu Wenming, Wu Tingbin, and Zhang Guang knelt down on one knee in front of the high platform with sweating profusely: "Report ~~ Report to the general soldier, the drill ~~ The drill is over." ”

Song Youliang was angry and funny, "You call Fang Cai's trick a drill? ”

Deng Youyang, Su Zixing, Li Yue, Liu Wenming, Wu Tingbin, and Zhang Guang did not dare to raise their heads or answer

"Stand over there and look at them." With a wave of his hand, Song Youliang asked Deng Youyang, Su Zixing, Li Yue, Liu Wenming, Wu Tingbin, and Zhang Guang to stand in front of the soldiers of the Haiyang Guard

The six of them had no choice but to carry out the order, but the closer they got to the Haiyang Guard, the more they felt the aura of murder in the air. Especially when they approached, the tiger-like eyes of the Haiyang guards made them dare not look at them!

"Wan Sheng!" Song Youliang suddenly pulled out his saber and shouted

"Wan Sheng! Wansheng! Sergeant Haiyang Wei drew his blade and shouted at the same time, and the sound shook the four fields! The six battalion officers standing in front of them, Deng Youyang, Su Zixing, Li Yue, Liu Wenming, Wu Tingbin, and Zhang Guang, were taken aback

Their high-spirited shouts led the surrounding battalion guards. And the people around also cheered involuntarily. The sound of "Wansheng" is getting louder and louder, wave after wave. It resounded throughout the capital city of Dengzhou. The overwhelming voice of Haiti was so shocking that even Yuan Shu, Chen Guoying and other civil officials were infected and shouted loudly

In the following days, there were many more people visiting the General Army's Mansion, in addition to some local civilian and military generals, there were also many merchants, and all kinds of gifts were sent to the General Army's Mansion. Song Youliang accepted them one by one with peace of mind, this is actually a normal financial road in the Ming Dynasty, and the officials of the Ming Dynasty have always been meager, even if they are the scholars with the official titles of the second grade in each ministry, their annual silver is only 152 taels. They want to maintain a luxurious life, which is not something that can be maintained by a mere amount of money. Therefore, the main income of the general Ming officials is to rely on the filial piety gifts of the merchant officials, and the gifts or gifts of the governors and governors of the provinces every year are between ten or even a hundred times their annual income. This gray income was reasonable and legal at that time, with ice in the summer and carbon in the winter. Song Youliang also didn't want to show how high he was, if he wanted to change this era, he first had to integrate into this era, so he was very happy to receive money and goods from everyone. For the person who gives the gift, the chief soldier is willing to accept his own gift, which means that the chief soldier can afford himself and trust himself. In this way, you and I are willing, everyone is safe and sound, and everyone takes what they need

Three days later, the battalion officers of the 6th Battalion sent the inventory data of each battalion. Of the more than 9,000 officers and men registered on the roster, only about 6,000 are actually registered, and the shortfall is one-third. All kinds of weapons and ships are also less than two or three. This is basically consistent with the situation found by Song Youliang sent Jinyi Wei Ximen Jian and Situ Gong.

Now it's time to get down to business. Song Youliang first laid off half of the 6,000 people with a single knife, and the old and weak who were laid off were given a one-time settling-in allowance, and then those who were willing to find a way out were at their own convenience, and those who were willing to continue to stay in the army were arranged to work in Dengzhou Wuwei.

Next, Song Youliang followed his own method of forming the Haiyang Wei Fifth Battalion, and asked the six battalion officers Deng Youyang, Su Zixing, Li Yue, Liu Wenming, Wu Tingbin, and Zhang Guang to recruit officers at all levels by themselves, and then officers at all levels recruited soldiers on their own.

Army Establishment

The small flag has 10 people, the general has 50 people, the 100 general has 100 people, the general has 500 people, the 1,000 general has 1,000 people, the battalion officer has 3,000 people, the staff general has 5,000 people, and the deputy general has 10,000 people.

Establishment of the water army

There is a deputy general of the navy to command the entire navy. Two generals, as commanders of the left and right wings. Each warship shall have a captain with the same rank as an army battalion officer; There shall be a first officer, a second officer, a sailor officer, and an artillery chief, and the position shall be the same as that of the army commander; The remaining positions are the same as those of the Army

Because of the principle that officers are accountable to their recruited subordinates, officers at all levels are very careful in selecting soldiers. In addition, the scale of this recruitment is much larger than when the Haiyang Wei Fifth Battalion was formed, so it took a long time.

In the process of building the army, Song Youliang set up a new post in the army -- a grain officer in a battalion-level unit, a chief grain officer in the staff of the general army, and Shen Lusu as the chief grain officer to take charge of the logistics work of the whole army. From then on, the application and distribution of military salaries, rations, and armaments were all the responsibility of the commissariat officer, and the battalion commissariat went to the chief commissariat to apply for it, and the commissariat was directly responsible to the commander-in-chief.

Song Youliang was the chief soldier of a town, so his parents, who were originally only temporarily in Beijing, became a long-term residence in the capital, unless Song Youliang gave up the military power in his hands. Even his father-in-law, King De, and several sons were ordered to live in the capital. The most depressing thing is that even his newly married wife, the county lord of Laiyang, was taken to live in the palace in the name of "the queen mother wants to see her niece".

Song Youliang couldn't smile bitterly, secretly saying that as the saying goes, there is no suspicion in employing people, and Chongzhen pulled all his almost valuable relatives to Beijing as hostages, how can this be embarrassed by a general who holds military power on the front line? If you make a heart, what is the use of having hostages in your hands?

However, Song Youliang can't care about these things at the moment, what he needs most now is a think tank and staff who can give advice to him.