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As the sun slowly set toward the horizon, as the setting sun stained the sky red, on the school grounds, a group of soldiers walked side by side to the rhythm of the command, which had been almost their only training for the past ten days.

And the so-called school field is just a field outside the city, after the thick snow is trampled on, it becomes the school field, and after more than ten days of spreading, the high salary of four taels of silver did attract the people of the vicinity to join the army as originally expected.

Set up a recruiting banner and have its own food eaters.

On the one hand, it is a generous salary of four taels, and on the other hand, it is eager to recruit troops, so naturally there is no pickiness about those who join the army, and the so-called rules of recruitment have been temporarily ignored. As long as he is not blind or lame, and seems to be still in good spirits, he will try his best to accept it, but in ten days, a team of more than 3,000 people will be recruited, and the soldiers will see that there is one, but training is still a troublesome matter.

Although most of those people know what "left and right" is, at least they know the "left and right of men" who read palmistry, but when they give military orders to "look to the right", turn left, and left and right, they will always make a mess. Either they saw it the other way, or they took the wrong step, and even when they lined up in a square, they had to be greeted by the officers with the wooden sticks in their hands.

At this time, the more than 5,000 soldiers formed a dozen square teams with their legs moving their legs to the sound of the command, lined up in a neat or messy line, marching on the snowy field, each square has a pair of flag bearers in the middle, sometimes they will adjust the direction of action according to the change of orders, or change from horizontal to column, sometimes also into a square against cavalry.

Although James is not necessarily qualified as an instructor, a group of sailors who can only use muskets are also unreliable, but it is this group of unreliable people who spent ten days training these troops into the first time in China to practice "Western-style foreign classics" in this era.

However, this Western-style drill code has also been modified according to the actual situation, at least not James's English password, but Zhu Yifeng's experience in high school and university military training, combined with the "password" given by James and modified into Chinese one by one, just like this soldiers stepping and shouting "left and right" passwords,

Although the guidance of this password reminded them which step to take, a loose pile of snow or a grave in the middle of a field would disrupt the neat formation. When some soldiers make the wrong step, they have to adjust quickly in order to keep up with the other soldiers, and when they do, they may fall behind. And when they catch up, others quickly make the wrong step. In this way, the whole advancing formation became so chaotic that it had to stop and regroup.

Despite this, compared to the initial mess of a flock of sheep, their queue is now finally a little more like it is most of the time. Although the faces of most of them were still the same as vegetables, they walked with their heads held high and full of energy, especially the uniform pace, which made the unit show a bit of awe-inspiring momentum. Even this occasional messiness does not hinder its faint momentum.

"Stay in formation!"

Whenever the queue changed, Lin Yuqing, as the commander of the first battalion, kept shouting, in order to maintain the formation from chaos, as the commander of the pawn, he would often use the most direct means - with the bamboo stick in his hand directly to the head.

"Horn ......"

A finger-wide bamboo strip was pumped straight on Tian Chengyi's head, and it hurt his heart, and at that moment, he even burst into tears. Without waiting for the commander to reprimand, he quickly adjusted his steps so that he could follow the ranks, while he also held a wooden gun in his right hand. At this time, he just numbly followed the commander's command and took steps.

The military salary of four taels ...... Whenever the pain in his head came, Tian Chengyi would always silently muttered such a sentence in his heart, although he knew that the four taels of military salaries would have to be deducted from food and military uniforms, but the three taels of silver in white flowers still drove him to grit his teeth and endure these "tosses".

"Left and right, left and right, left and right, left, left, ......"

On the vast snowfield, the password is constantly repeated, and these people in earthy yellow cotton clothes and pants on the snowfield are mechanically and numbly dragging heavy steps, walking in the ice and snow, with the commander's password, changing the queue from time to time, perhaps in the eyes of Western soldiers, their movements still seem extremely rusty, but in China in 1853, this is the first army to practice "foreign exercises", but it is barely the most "modern" army in China.

"In the future, we must build a military school!"

Looking at the plausible steps in front of him, the plausible square formation, and the troops practicing the queue on the snow in these nine cold days, Zhu Yifeng said to himself.

"Military Academy?"

Li Ziyuan, who was sharp-eared, asked in surprise after hearing it.

"My lord, what is this military school?"

"Military academies are places where officers are trained,......"

Looking at the officials who maintained the queue with bamboo strips and voices, Zhu Yifeng said with a serious expression.

"Those Westerners, who can get the compensation for the land cessed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, not only rely on the strength of the ship and the artillery, but also the army, the modernization of the army, not to take foreign guns, practice foreign exercises, in contrast, officers are the soul of the army, training soldiers without training officers, in the final analysis, it is ...... in vain."

Thinking of the Huai army in the other plane, who practiced foreign exercises, although they were invincible with guns and artillery when pacifying the Taiping Army and the Twisting Army, they were defeated by the Japanese army that encountered modernization.

"As the saying goes, a strong army first strengthens generals, and training soldiers first trains officers. So, wait until ......"

Thinking in his heart, Zhu Yifeng's eyes couldn't help but look in the direction of Wuchang, it seemed that he could only wait a little longer to capture Wuchang......

A seemingly unintentional sentence, listening to Li Ziyuan's ears, made him tremble, and when he looked at the adult beside him, his gaze became complicated, in fact, in the past ten days, he witnessed how this adult turned this group of rabble into a battalion of elites, not to mention anything else, just to that station, the momentum shown was enough to make people believe that this was an elite.

Now that he wants to do this, Li Ziyuan hurriedly complimented him.

"A strong army is a strong general, and a military training is the first to train an officer. What the adults said is extremely true, as the so-called soldiers are the courage of the generals, will be the soul of the soldiers, which since ancient times can have famous generals and strong soldiers, my lord ......"

didn't wait for Li Ziyuan to finish shooting the sycophant, but Zhu Yifeng's words exploded in his ears like thunder,

"Okay, don't pat me on the back, now our military training is almost the same, I heard that Lin Fengxiang took Qizhou with only 2,000 people, Zilin, what do you ......say?"

After a slight pause, Zhu Yifeng said in a slightly playful tone.

"We're almost trained now, we have an army of 5,000 now, and it's not a way for the big guys to nest here all day, why don't we go and take down Na Luo Tian and Qi Shui? If you have the opportunity, you will take Macheng and Qizhou all over! ”

Zhu Yifeng's words reached Li Ziyuan's ears, which made him tremble even more, he wanted to take down the entire Huangzhou Mansion!

"My lord, do you want to take the entire Huangzhou Mansion?"

"Of course, otherwise, how can a small Huangzhou alone take Wuchang Mansion, well, and Wuchang County across the river (1), I personally led the troops to take it over, and after training for so long, it's time for the brothers to move their muscles......"

"Your Excellency, you don't have to wait for the Pacific, after all, ......"

After all, although it seems that there are 5,000 troops now, in fact, there are only more than 230 foreign guns, and this is the crux of the matter.

"Humph......"

Looking at the soldiers with red tassel spears lined up in the phalanx, Zhu Yifeng's lips raised and he sneered.

"I still don't believe that the Taiping Army can use the Taiping Knife to cut all the way from Guangxi to here, and I, Zhu Yifeng, can't take Wuchang County!"

(1): This Wuchang County is not the Hubei Provincial Government in Wuchang, that is Wuchang Mansion, the Wuchang County mentioned here is opposite to the Huangzhou Mansion across the river, that is, the current Echeng City, the book used the place name at that time, Huangzhou Mansion, which is today's Huanggang City.