After returning to Guangzhou from Sanjiangkou, Zhou Shixiang immediately began to reorganize the army, first of all, he ordered all departments to count the soldiers and horses, with a total of 21,500 soldiers and 14,000 young and strong people. Among them, the number of surrendered troops is 10,600, the reserve soldiers together with the baggage battalion are 5,500 people, and the soldiers of the left and right two battalions and new battalions of the Taiping Army are about 5,000 soldiers.

On the way back to Guangzhou, Zhou Shixiang had already thought about how to reorganize and expand the army, and he intended to set up the Taiping Army as four towns, select elite soldiers from various departments and organize them into the first and second towns, and the rest into the third town, and the rest into the fourth town.

The specific establishment of a town is: 20 soldiers are a team, and a team is set up with a small flag; 3. The team is a team, with a team leader and a general flag officer; The 3 units under the jurisdiction of a team are named after A, B and C, and the team is set up with 10 directly subordinate soldiers, who are in charge of guards, banners and drums, and 5 soldiers, so the number of soldiers in a team is 75 people; 3 teams for a guard, set up a guard, rank 100 households, the team under the jurisdiction of the guard to A, B and C, Wei Zheng has 20 direct soldiers, called the guards, the guards, the flag and the drum order, so a guard number of 245 people.

3 guards are a battalion, with a battalion captain and a thousand households. The guards under the jurisdiction of the battalion are named A, B and C, and the battalion lieutenant has 40 directly subordinate soldiers, called the battalion soldiers, who are in charge of the guards and the banners and drums, so the number of soldiers in a battalion is 775 people; The 3rd Battalion is a brigade with a brigade school and a commander of the same rank; The battalion is named A, B and C, and the brigade lieutenant has 100 directly subordinate soldiers, called brigade soldiers, who are in charge of guarding and drumming; Therefore, the number of soldiers in the first battalion is 2,425.

The 3rd Brigade is a town, with a town general and the rank of commander. The brigade under the jurisdiction of the town is named A, B and C, and the town will have 300 soldiers directly under it. It is also known as the town soldier, who is in charge of the guard, and orders the drums; Therefore, there were 7,575 soldiers in a town.

This reorganization is roughly the same as the Xiangshan army system, but the brigade commander and division commander are changed to brigade schools and town generals. The battalion officer is called the battalion lieutenant, and the guard officer is called the guard lieutenant. Each team has 2 deputies, who are small flag ranks, and one of them is a small envoy of the security army; There are 2 deputy guards in each guard, which is the rank of 100 households, and one of them is a lieutenant envoy of the security army; Each battalion has 2 deputy lieutenants, with the rank of 100 households. One of them is an ambassador of the Anjun Army; Each brigade has 2 deputy colonels, with the rank of 1,000 households, one of whom is an army envoy; There are 2 deputy generals under the town general. The commander has the same rank as the commander, and the Anjun envoy is led by the town general.

For the time being, the town general is to be equated with a general officer, the brigade school to be equated with a staff general, and the battalion lieutenant to be equated with a guerrilla. Wei Wei is equivalent to a thousand generals. The team is equal to the general. The formal appointment can only be implemented after it is reported to the Yongli Imperial Court, and Zhou Shixiang can only serve as the governor in the name of his chief military officer in Guangzhou.

The old soldier is good at fighting, called the sharp soldier; New recruits are called drafts; There are also those who are waiting to be selected in the township (security team), called the reserve army. The Taiping military system uses sharp soldiers and selected soldiers as regular soldiers, and those who are short in their quotas are supplemented by reserve soldiers. If the troops are prepared into the camp, they are recruited.

In addition to the four towns of the infantry army, there was a cavalry brigade. It is called the cavalry brigade, and its brigade structure is a town of synchronous army. The number of officers and soldiers is the same, with 2,425 soldiers in the first brigade; There are no directly subordinate soldiers in the brigade school, and the soldiers are also divided into sharp soldiers and selected soldiers.

There is also an artillery battalion, a battalion and a town of synchronous army, with a quota of 5,000 officers and soldiers, and the soldiers are divided into main gunners, deputy gunners, and auxiliary gunners, which are equivalent to sharp soldiers, selected soldiers, and reserve troops. The main gunner operates the gun, the deputy gunner mounts the gun, and the auxiliary gunner carries the gun.

After the formation of the Fourth Town Infantry Army and the First Brigade of the Ma Army, the first town was stationed in Qingyuan, the second town was stationed in Guangzhou, the third town was stationed in Zengcheng, and the fourth town was stationed in Xiangshan, and the first brigade and artillery battalion of the Ma Army were stationed in Guangzhou. Outside the city, there is a camp in Guangzhou under Yuexiu Mountain.

The town generals are divided into the first town Ge Yi, the second town Tie Yi, the third town Jiang He, and the fourth town Shao Jiugong. The cavalry brigade was headed by Shao Chengguo, and Suna, a Manchurian, was in charge. Qi Hao, the general of the artillery camp town, served as it.

The first town and the second town are composed of elite members selected from the Taiping army and the surrendered troops, and they are also the two towns that the Taiping army can fight the most in the four towns. Therefore, he chose Ge Yi and Tie Yi as the town generals of these two towns, both of whom are brave and suitable for charging into battle. The bald Jiang He is also a brave general, but the gangster is heavier than Ge Yi, and he loves to drink, Zhou Shixiang is afraid that he will drink and make mistakes, so he only gives him the third town. Shao Jiugong is loyal enough, but he has no brave wind, he does things with his head and tail, and he does not dare to fight with his heart, which is heavy, so Zhou Shixiang gave him the fourth town.

The first and second towns were the main forces fighting against the Qing army in the future, and the third and fourth towns were to stabilize the rear, so the selection of town generals was naturally different. The artillery town is the attacking force, and it accompanies the first and second towns in wartime. After the scale of artillery was expanded in the future, Zhou Shixiang set up an artillery brigade under each town army to strengthen the fire attack of the infantry town.

Half of the Han army under the Jingnan Domain and half of the Han army under the Pingnan Domain were selected into the first town, and the following officers were appointed by the town generals to be mutually hostaged, such as the generals of the Pingnan Domain who were appointed as the captains and guards of the troops of the Jingnan Domain, and the generals of the Jingnan Domains were appointed as the captains and guards of the troops of the Pingnan Domain. Originally, all the officers above the rank of general and assistant under the command of the two feudal lords were sent to the military training hall as instructors, or changed to civilian officials, and only low-level military attachés were allowed to serve. Most of the officers above the battalion rank rank were from the Taiping Army, and more than half of the officers below the battalion rank were descended from the battalion commanders.

The original water camp in Yongle Township, Xiangshan was also transferred to Guangzhou, and the Taiping Army Water Camp was set up on Changzhou Island, where the original Qing Army Naval Division was stationed on the Pearl River, which was the location of the Whampoa Military Academy hundreds of years later.

The number of troops in the water battalion was tentatively set at 5,000 people, but due to the lack of warships in the water battalion, it could not undertake combat missions in a short time, so Zhou Shixiang asked Linghai general Chen Qice to dispatch a part of the naval division warships to Changzhou Island to ensure that the Pearl River was owned by the Ming army. At the same time, he provided food and grass supplies for Chen Qice, a sailor, and sent people to learn the tactics of the sailor from them.

Chen Qice, who had already occupied Zhaoqing with Zhu Tong, readily agreed to Zhou Shixiang's request, and sent Zheng Chengkui, a general, to lead more than 40 warships to Changzhou Island, and gave 12 warships to the Taiping army. This move made Zhou Shixiang overjoyed, although the 12 warships were few, but it meant that the water camp was no longer an inland water division, but a "navy" capable of operating on the Pearl River and even on the Lion Ocean.

Shuiying Town will be led by Zhou Shixiang, who gave Song Xianggong the task of building the shipyard of the Taiping Army within one year anyway, and the Taiping Army must be able to launch its own warships within two years at the latest. The powerful Zheng Navy's sailors have always been the object of Zhou Shixiang's jealousy and jealousy, but the sailors are too silver-hungry, too energy-consuming and time-consuming, and the current is not the force that determines the battlefield, so Zhou Shixiang can only develop the infantry army first, and then start to carry out the formation of the "navy" after obtaining all the southern provinces or Jiangnan.

Zhou Shixiang set up the military marshal's mansion in Pingnan Wangfu, Guangzhou, set up personal soldiers, selected the whole army with a height of more than 1.7 meters to fill the position, selected 800, made iron armor, and called the iron guard. The commander of the Iron Man Guard was held by the blind Li, with the rank of general.

The military marshal's office has two military and civilian departments, the military department is in charge of Zhao Sihai, and the civil department is in charge of Song Xianggong, and at the same time, Song Xianggong is also the political envoy of Guangdong. According to the system, he could not appoint officials on his own, let alone a provincial envoy. Moreover, there is a governor's yamen in Qinzhou, and there are governors of four prefectures in Gaozhou, no matter how they are arranged, it is not Zhou Shixiang's turn to control the yamen of the political envoy in Guangdong.

In view of the fact that the literacy rate of the Taiping Army was too low, and it was impossible to organize a "literacy" campaign for the whole army in a short period of time, at the suggestion of Shao Jiugong and others, Zhou Shixiang built a military training center in the former Jingnan General's Mansion, and the officers above the rank of army commander in each town should be taught in batches and batches.

After the establishment of the four towns, one brigade and two battalions was decided, the military marshal's office presided over the transfer of troops. For a time, there was a movement of troops and horses everywhere near Guangzhou, and there was a commotion in the east and west, and it took seven or eight days to assemble the various units in place, and the officers at the top and bottom were also clearly implemented. During this period, Zhou Shixiang rarely slept, staring at the red eyes and listening to the reports of various departments, for fear that there would be a rebellion during the transfer.

After the establishment of the army was implemented, Zhou Shixiang set the military salary. Rui Bing fixed the military salary of 1 silver per month, and the family members were supported by the Taiping Army Treasury; The selection of soldiers is uncertain, and the family members are supported by the Taiping Army Treasury; The soldiers were not paid silver, but their weapons and equipment were allocated by the Taiping Army during the training period, and the farmland at home was also cultivated by the village offices to help reduce the burden on their families.

The officer's salary is 2 taels a month, 24 taels a year, and the number of officers and above is increased by 20 percent. Those who have made meritorious service in battle, regardless of whether the officers and soldiers may receive another reward, or silver, or food, or goods, or land.

After the establishment of the towns, Zhou Shixiang immediately asked Song Xianggong to open the public treasury to reward the soldiers of the three armies, and presided over the consolidation of the land in the actual control area.

The families of the Han army in the city of Guangzhou were divided into three batches of resettlement, one group was transferred to Qianshanzhai, one group was transferred to Renhou Township, and one group was placed in Panyu. After these Han military families were resettled in the local area, the local government allocated land for them to cultivate, and like the old Taiping army camp, they were also governed by separate villages. The Taiping Army only provided them with the initial necessities of life, farm tools, and seeds, and everything had to be self-sufficient, and their men could only enjoy the treatment of Taiping military dependents after three years of service in the army.

More than 4,000 Manchurian women were also expelled from the city of Guangzhou and resettled in Xiangshan, where the local township and village offices chose husbands for them, and they were supported by themselves like the families of the Han army. These Manchurian women were not favored by the Taiping soldiers of the city when they were in Guangzhou, but after they were sent to the countryside, they became sought-after goods, and they were sold out by local men in less than a month.

Song Xianggong served as the political envoy of Guangdong, and demoted Wang Zhangjun to participate in politics on the right, and Zuo Qing to participate in politics on the left. The prefect of Guangzhou was succeeded by Liao Ruixiang, and his Xiangshan prefect was given to Guo Shao, the ambassador of the salt class of Longyan Township, who had not yet returned. Xu Yingyuan, who returned from Taishan, got a senatorial position in the Military Marshal's Mansion.

At present, there is only one important thing to do in the Yamen, the political envoy of Guangdong, that is, to implement the establishment of township and village offices in the areas actually controlled by the Taiping Army, and to effectively integrate all manpower and resources. In addition to stepping up drills, the Taiping troops stationed in various localities also have one thing to do, that is, to suppress bandits. (To be continued.) )