On 2 November, after the task of eliminating bandits was completed, Xiao Zhenlei led the army back to Baoshan, and ordered the army to be temporarily stationed near the Zhenhua Company, so that Chen Jizu and others could deal with the matter of reorganizing the prisoners, and he planned to draw out a part of the soldiers from several other battalions to set up a cavalry company based on the 60 or so horse bandits who had just surrendered, and each cavalry was equipped with a short rifle and a cavalry knife, with a total number of about 150 people, and the commander of the cavalry company was transferred by Wang Licheng, deputy commander of the first battalion. After all, the cavalry company is a separate military unit, which is only subject to Xiao Zhenlei's control, which is equivalent to the treatment of an independent company, and maybe the future development will be more promising than a deputy battalion commander.

Since he doesn't know where to go to camp for the time being, Xiao Zhenlei only let the troops camp temporarily, if it is determined that they will be reorganized into the 46th standard of the 23rd Mixed Association, then they are very likely to be transferred to Suzhou to station, there are two reasons for this, first, Cai Naihuang is not at ease with Xiao Zhenlei, so that this army is adjacent to Shanghai Beach makes him feel uneasy, and second, the station of the 23rd Mixed Association itself is in Suzhou, and it is reasonable for the 46th standard to be transferred to Suzhou to be stationed.

The situation was really similar to what Xiao Zhenlei expected, he asked the troops to temporarily camp near Zhenhua Company, and after explaining some things, he immediately returned to Shanghai with the guard platoon to meet Cai Naihuang. After seeing Cai Naihuang, Cai Naihuang took out the appointment letter and reorganization order of the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion, which said that Xiao Zhenlei's ** Eighth Patrol Battalion was reorganized into the 46th standard of the 23rd Mixed Association, and Xiao Zhenlei served as the standard commander, since receiving the reorganization order and appointment letter. Within half a month, he led the army north to Suzhou to garrison, and did his best to improve the vacant staffing of the 46th standard. In other words, let Xiao Zhenlei do his best to complete the number of troops that should be in a standard, and the establishment of the equipment should also be fully equipped. This is something that Xiao Zhenlei can't ask for.

According to the news sent by Xiao Zhenlei these days, it was learned that the Suzhou 23rd Mixed Association is still basically an empty shelf, the co-commander is Ai Zhongqi, the staff officer Jin Yunzhuo, and the 45th standard coach Zhu Xi have already arrived, but they have not yet appointed the standard commander, and the 45th standard has only recruited 700 people, which is far from enough, and it has not reached the point of becoming an army at all.

According to the provisions of the "Army Battalion Salary Seal", the establishment of the standing army is based on two towns and one army. The two associations are one town (12,512 officers and soldiers in one town), and the two standards are one association (4,038 officers and soldiers in one association), with three battalions and four teams per battalion. Each town also has jurisdiction over an artillery team (1,756 officers and soldiers), a horse team (1,117 officers and soldiers), a baggage battalion (754 officers and soldiers), and an engineering battalion (667 officers and men). Infantry, artillery, and sappers are each in three rows, each row has three sheds; The horse team has two rows, each row has two sheds; There are three rows of baggage teams, and each row has three sheds. The establishment of the standing army is completely different from the traditional Chinese battalion system, and it has become a unit in which the infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineer, and baggage arms of the armed forces work together, and this is a modern establishment that suits the needs of the form. Officers at all levels were renamed as commanders, co-commanders, standard commanders, pipe bands, team officers, platoon commanders, and chief and deputy officers.

The establishment of the mixed association is completely different from that of an infantry association under the town of the standing army, and each province organizes and trains itself according to its own conditions. The 23rd Mixed Association has two infantry battalions (the 45th and 46th battalions), an artillery battalion, a horse battalion (cavalry battalion), an engineer team (company), and a baggage brigade (company). Each step has jurisdiction over 3 battalions, each battalion has jurisdiction over 4 teams (companies), each team has jurisdiction over 3 platoons, and each platoon has jurisdiction over 3 sheds (squads). The artillery battalion has jurisdiction over 3 teams (companies), and each team has jurisdiction over 3 platoons. Each platoon has jurisdiction over 3 sheds (squads), and the whole battalion has 18 mountain artillery pieces and 18 ammunition vehicles. There are 3 parts vehicles and 6 camping vehicles. 410 horses and mules. The horse battalion (cavalry battalion) has jurisdiction over 4 teams (companies), and each team has jurisdiction over 2 platoons. Each platoon has jurisdiction over 3 sheds (squads), and the whole battalion has a total of 164 war horses, 149 miscellaneous personnel, 4 carriages with the battalion, and 12 driving mules.

However, these are only plans on paper, because the funds have not been allocated in place, and the officers have not been fully appointed, so the 23rd Mixed Association has not been completed for a long time, Xiao Zhenlei's 46th standard has been relatively complete in the past, and there are at least three infantry battalions that are not full, according to the requirements of the establishment, there are no artillery, engineers and horse teams below the infantry standard below the mixed association, these are all troops directly under the mixed association, but Xiao Zhenlei will definitely not hand over the artillery and baggage troops.

At the moment when he saw the letter of appointment and the reorganization order, Xiao Zhenlei decided to use this half month to recruit soldiers in Shanghai, to fill up his 46th standard, and improve the other establishments, anyway, recruiting soldiers in Shanghai is much better than recruiting troops in Suzhou, it is easy to recruit soldiers here, but it is not easy in Suzhou, the place is relatively rich, and young and middle-aged men are not willing to be soldiers, otherwise how could the 45th standard of the 23rd Mixed Association recruit seven or eight hundred people? In addition, Xiao Zhenlei also decided to send people to other local prefectures and provinces to recruit troops, and set up a few more recruitment locations to make it easy to obtain soldiers.

Xiao Zhenlei asked after reading the reorganization, appointment and appointment letter: "My lord, after arranging the affairs of the family, I will lead my troops north to Suzhou to garrison and train the army to replenish the soldiers, but you see that it will take a lot of silver to improve the establishment and buy guns and ammunition, do you think this silver is made up for the lowly position?" ”

Cai Naihuang stretched out his hand to ask Xiao Zhenlei for money, and immediately pretended to be poor: "Oh, Xiao Biaotong, you also know that the old man is recruiting soldiers to supplement the patrol battalion recently, and it also costs money, and now he has only recruited a few hundred people, and there is still a big gap, and Zhu Xi, the coach of the forty-fifth standard, is also crying poor to the old man, the old man can't give it to you, right?" Otherwise, the people below are no longer allowed to talk about the old man's favoritism behind his back, right? In this way, the old man has no extra money to spare, so he will give you 20,000 taels of silver first, and you can think of a way to complete the soldiers and prepare all the firearms for the insufficient part! ”

Twenty thousand taels? What does this do? Xiao Zhenlei hurriedly said: "My lord, this is too little, this is not enough to recruit troops and pay settling-in expenses, it takes at least 100,000 oceans to match all the weapons of all the people, besides, Zhu Xi of the forty-fifth standard is the person of the governor of Baodi, if his forty-fifth standard is short of money, it will naturally be raised by the governor, my forty-six standard is your person, it is only you who are the first to look forward, you have to take care of one or two, you can't let the brothers fight empty-handed, right?" ”

Hearing this, Cai Naihuang looked up at Xiao Zhenlei and asked, "Xiao Biaotong, are you and Forty-six Biao really willing to follow the old man's lead?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei saw that there was a play, and hurriedly said: "My lord, look at what you said, my standard is still the way you thought of from the governor Zhang, and the forty-sixth standard is also adapted from you to say good things to the governor, who else can we look forward to?" Although it is the first time for us to be an official, we also know the truth that it is good to enjoy the shade with our backs against a big tree, right? From now on, I will kill whoever you ask me to kill, even if you want to rebel, I will immediately pull up people and fight the world with you! ”

"Wait, wait!" Cai Naihuang was frightened, and hurriedly spoke out to stop Xiao Zhenlei's big mouth, he really dared to say anything, he shook his head and said: "Don't talk nonsense, the old man is loyal to the emperor and the court, and he will never dare to do anything to rebel." Well, since you have said everything to this, the old man can't help but express it, so let's do it, if you agree to a condition of this officer, this officer will not only allocate enough military funds for you to establish the forty-sixth standard, but also pay you a penny of monthly military salaries on time! ”

Xiao Zhenlei immediately said: "My lord, please say, as long as the humble position can be done, the humble duty will definitely die!" ”

"I don't need you to die!" Cai Naihuang smiled and waved his hand, just smiling as if there was a conspiracy in Xiao Zhenlei's opinion, he continued: "The conditions of this official are very simple, there are three people here in this official and there is no place to place them, I heard that there is no staff officer in your forty-sixth standard, this officer wants to arrange one of them to be your staff officer, and the other two, you just look at the position of arranging a deputy pipe belt for them, the conditions of this official are not too much, right?" ”

Cai Naihuang also knew that it was a little difficult to arrange people into Xiao Zhenlei's forty-sixth standard, so he didn't directly ask for the position of chief officer, as long as a staff officer of the standard department and two battalion deputy positions, after all, this army has now taken shape, and the people who are in charge of the chief officer and other important positions in this army are all people who have made meritorious contributions in this crackdown on bandits, and it is basically impossible to take away their positions, and he also knows that Xiao Zhenlei will definitely not agree for the stability of the troops, so he asked for a staff officer and two battalion headquarters deputy positions, but this is enough for him, he can only mix sand in Xiao Zhenlei's troops, and his goal will be achieved.

Xiao Zhenlei immediately agreed without the slightest hesitation: "My lord, this is not a big deal, you can go to me to report after you let them settle down at home, but how much can you allocate for this military budget?" When will it be disbursed? ”

Cai Naihuang snorted coldly: "What are you anxious about? You're indispensable, isn't there still half a month left? You'll have to let the old man think of a way, right? Half a month later, before you lead your troops north, the official will allocate 100,000 taels to you, which is always enough, right? Within three months, the old man wants you to prepare the horses neatly, and the firearms and firearms must be one for each person! ”

When Xiao Zhenlei heard that there were 100,000 taels, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted: "The humble duty must be in accordance with the will of the adults to form an army, and live up to the expectations of the adults!" ”

Cai Naihuang wants to mix sand in Xiao Zhenlei's army, and slowly win over and divide to achieve the goal of controlling part of the army, and Xiao Zhenlei hopes to knock more military expenses from Cai Naihuang, so that Cai Naihuang can pay for it, anyway, it is the money of the Qing court, and it is in vain to be greedy for those corrupt officials, it is better to use it for himself on the right path, the two can be said to have their own ghosts. (To be continued......) R1292