At the end of the 11th year of the Great Zhou Dynasty (1810), the French officer corps returned to China from France.

Zhou Lang set up a sumptuous banquet to entertain them, and for Zhou Lang, the sacrifice of these people was really great.

They were sent to France to learn the most advanced military experience, because the Chinese army, which had been fighting against the Manchus and bandits, lacked the experience of fighting against the excellent firearms army, and the best way to learn war experience was always to learn directly in the war.

So Zhou Lang sent them to study in the world's best army, the French Army. But this kind of learning is learning at the cost of life.

Of the 3,000 people sent out, only 2,000 returned to the country, of whom more than 300 died of illness and the rest died on the battlefield.

Dying for one's own country is called a well-deserved death, but dying for a country that does not know the so-called and an emperor who is stubborn and self-serving, and still dying in a foreign land, is called dying in a foreign country.

Although Zhou Lang feels that this kind of price must be paid, and it is definitely worth it. Because the experience they have learned now will save the Chinese army from countless detours. In the war with European countries, more lives could be saved, and they sacrificed a thousand people, but the most advanced military experience they learned could save 10,000 lives in a single battle in the future. The most important thing is to achieve victory, and only by achieving victory can we safeguard the security of the country and the interests of the nation. Let the country not be humiliated, let the people not be bullied, let people have personality, and let the country have national dignity.

Therefore, the sacrifice they paid was not for a certain person, not for Zhou Lang, but for the entire country and nation.

But Zhou Lang is the emperor, from the point of view of Westerners, he is a symbol of the country, and from the point of view of Chinese, he is an example of the people. Whether it is representing the country or the people, Zhou Lang must thank them.

None of them were serious officers, they were young sons of landlords' families selected from among the auxiliaries, who had read but did not know French. So after arriving in France, I learned everything from scratch, and it took a lot of effort to pass the language barrier, and after studying extremely hard, I graduated from various military schools in France. The process took as little as three years and as long as five years.

Then he joined the French army and fought on various battlefields, and a few people participated in Napoleon's most glorious battle of the Three Emperors. Most of them had actually come to the battlefield at the Battle of Jena, teaching Prussia and the Russians, and then fighting Austria, which had already bridged the gap with the French in the Fifth Coalition War, most often in Spain and against the British in Wellington.

They arrived in France in 1803, the earliest began in 1805, the latest began in 1807, and they all had three to five years of combat experience, and these valuable experiences exchanged for blood and life could not be wasted.

So they were given a two-month vacation, and then they were given a second month off, and then they were given the command of the army.

Following the example of the Sailors, they formed an army based on their experience in France, forming a new army.

When they were in France, most of them were soldiers, and now they are all promoted to captains.

Recruit new soldiers, let them train from scratch using the training methods of the French army, and two thousand men plus new recruits formed a reinforced army, and Gou Quan was the commander of this army.

Gou Quan already had the experience of leading a large army to fight, because he was so badly defeated in the battle with Russia, Zhou Lang even canceled the names of the three armies, thinking that they were a shame for the infantry.

At the banquet where they were entertained, Zhou Lang publicly promised that as long as their army could prove itself, they would be reinstated, and until then, they could only be called the New First Army and participate in the battle as auxiliaries.

It was encouragement and encouragement, and the fighting spirit of these officers who had just been killed from the sea of corpses and blood in Europe was suddenly aroused.

Especially Gou Quan, who seems to be quiet, but in fact, there is already a fire in his heart. Not to mention the defeat, his troops lost even their numbers, all the grassroots officers were disbanded, all the remnants of the army were disbanded, and he went to the West, and he knew that this was an unprecedented shame.

Gou Quan was different from other officers and soldiers, because he went to France as a high-ranking general, although he was older and his learning ability was worse, but he studied very seriously and solidly, and after studying, he caught up with the fourth and fifth anti-French alliance wars. And because he was a high-ranking general, Napoleon did not treat him like an ordinary officer in France, but invited him to follow him.

In the past two years, Gou Quan has been following Napoleon, standing from Napoleon's perspective and vision, watching how Napoleon commanded the battle, and figuring out Napoleon's command ideas. Comparing his previous command style and style, especially when Napoleon defeated the Russian army in Friedland, Gou Quan compared his experience of fighting with the Russian army, and felt extremely strongly, and accumulated a thick notebook of experience.

When Napoleon did not directly command the battle, Gou Quan applied to go to Spain to lead the French army for a period of time, Napoleon met his request, let him command three regiments of French troops to participate in the battle to suppress the rebel army, and also followed Junot, Soulte and other French generals to fight against the British army in Wellington many times, and the result was many heavy defeats, which made him feel the combat style of the British army in the island country that was different from the French army and other continental European armies.

Now Gou Quan has obtained the command of another army, although it is a brand new army, but he believes that as long as he is trained, if he encounters the Russian army, he will definitely not be as embarrassed as last time.

The recruitment of new recruits was done smoothly, and although they were auxiliaries, they were actually paid as much as soldiers, so they were very attractive to the poor children. This time it was a nationwide recruitment, and there were more candidates and the selection was very strict, so the physical fitness of the soldiers was better.

The officers did not even want soldiers from the Fujian-Guangdong region in the south of the Yangtze River, but rushed directly to Shandong, Hebei, Shaanxi and other places to recruit northern soldiers. He also went to the Mongolian region to recruit a group of stout Mongolian herdsmen as cavalry.

In terms of armament, in addition to the common infantry using brown bes, they also specially made the arsenal make 300 rifled guns with complex technology, imitating the An XII (Republic XII) infantry flintlock rifled rifled rifles designed and manufactured by the State Arsenal in Saint-Etienne, which was the standard equipment of the chasers in Napoleon's army.

It took a whole year to recruit soldiers, equip weapons, and organize training, and they completed all the training and preparations, and then they were ordered to go to the battlefield to attack the Qing army in Ili.