He doubled the money for the coachman who rented the carriage, and in order to reduce the weight on the way, he left his orderly and let him walk back slowly.

In this way, Liang Chengfu finally arrived at the barracks at 8:50, but arriving at the barracks was not the end, because he still had to arrive at the conference hall of the barracks, so it could be counted.

However, the rental carriage could not enter the barracks, so the carriage had to be stopped, and then Liang Chengfu directly borrowed a bicycle from the sentry guarding the gate and rode frantically to the conference hall.

This barracks is a brigade-sized barracks, so it covers a lot of area, but fortunately, the road surface is not bad, there is a cement road that is not too wide, and the speed of bicycles riding on it is not slow.

At 8:58, Liang Chengfu finally arrived at the conference hall, and when he ran in sweating profusely and almost stuck, he found that the entire conference hall was overcrowded, and he seemed to be the last person to arrive.

Fortunately, it didn't seem to be a formal meeting at this time, so everyone was talking to each other, so not many people noticed Liang Chengfu's arrival.

However, in the end, someone still noticed Liang Chengfu who was panting.

"Hey, Lao Liang, here." A young man suddenly spoke up.

"Huh?" Liang Chengfu looked back, but it was Lan Chengchun, who was still able to talk to him.

"Sit here!" Lan Chengchun moved to the side, took out a small Mazha, and then patted Mazha again, "You're late, there is no stool, let's sit together." ”

With a slight fist, Liang Chengfu didn't say much, just walked over, and then sat down on the pony, and after sitting down, he kept fanning the wind with his hands.

"Why are you here so late?" Lan Chengchun smiled, "I'm still sweating profusely, well, it's not like I'm going out to eat flower wine again." ”

"Hmph." Liang Chengfu snorted and felt a little inappropriate. So he immediately changed the topic and said, "By the way, let's come in such a hurry, do you know what it's for?" ”

"How do I know?" Lan Chengchun shook his head, "I'll know if I hear it later." ”

Hearing that Lan Chengchun didn't know, Liang Chengfu stopped saying nothing, and began to continue to gasp for breath.

Lan Chengchun originally wanted to continue to laugh a few words, but soon heard an order from the officer on duty: "Quiet, the chief has arrived, everyone stands!" ”

Now. Everyone in the room immediately stopped talking to each other and stood up at the same time.

Soon, a young man walked from the small door of the conference hall, it was Shi Dakai.

After Shi Dakai walked in, he walked directly to the small wooden platform, looked around first, and then stretched out his hand and pressed: "Sit down." ”

As soon as the words fell, everyone immediately sat down neatly, but they all sat straight. And the hands are placed on the knees in a regular manner, and the typical military standard sitting posture.

After seeing everyone sit down, he knew that this way of sitting was actually more tiring than standing, so Shi Dakai immediately said, "Hmm." Without further ado, I just received an order to immediately set off for the Satsuma Domain in Japan to carry out a punitive operation.

Everyone immediately packed up. If the plan remains unchanged, the ship will be boarded tomorrow, and it is estimated that it will land in Japan and enter combat the day after tomorrow at the latest. Well, that's it, whoever has a question, raise your hand and ask. ”

After finishing speaking, Shi Dakai stopped talking and began to look around the crowd below, only to find that no one raised their hands.

"Doesn't anyone have any questions?"

"Yes." Suddenly, a man raised his hand.

"Oh?" Shi Da opened his eyes and saw who it was not Chen Yucheng.

Although they are already very familiar with each other, it is not only their Taiping Army here, so Shi Dakai only nodded, did not directly say the other party's name, but said ambiguously: "Okay, it's you, stand up and ask." ”

After being named, Chen Yucheng immediately stood up, and then asked, "Sir, you just said that you want us to set off to the Satsuma Domain in Japan for a punitive operation?" What is the specific reason? ”

"That's a good question." Shi Dakai nodded, "I know that one of the subordinates of the lord of the Japanese Satsuma Domain recently killed a Chinese merchant in Tokyo City, and for this reason, the above asked us to set off immediately and cooperate with the naval fleet to carry out a punitive operation against the Japanese Satsuma Domain. ”

It turned out that after the establishment of the Chinese Empire, Chinese merchants, especially those in the south of the Yangtze River, began to boldly go abroad to do business overseas, while Japan was the first choice for Chinese merchants to march overseas because of the relatively low price of gold, the lack of living materials, and the proximity.

Just half a month ago, a Chinese businessman named Li Rongfa was shopping at Yoshidaya in Yokohama, when he accidentally got into a quarrel with several samurai from the Satsuma Clan, and after three words, the samurai moved his knife and killed the Chinese named Li Rongfa at once, which is the so-called Yoshidaya incident.

Of course, that was a foreign statement, but the reality was that Li Rongfa first took out a pistol, shot and wounded a samurai, and then the others came up and stabbed him to death with a knife, strictly speaking, it was the Chinese who were at fault first.

"In other words, just for a Chinese businessman who was doing business in a foreign country but was unfortunately killed, he mobilized his army to attack other countries?" Chen Yucheng asked again.

"That's right." Shi Dakai nodded, "What, there's a problem?" ”

"It's not a big deal." Chen Yucheng said, "I'm just wondering, this matter should be considered an international issue, or in other words, even if Japan is to be punished, shouldn't the Praetorian Guard or the Wehrmacht be sent?" What's the matter with sending us? We are nominally a private mercenary, not a country. ”

"That's right, it looks like you're doing your homework." Shi Da nodded with a smile, "That's the case, since Japan and my country have not yet established formal diplomatic relations, it is inevitable that there will be delays in handling things." After the incident, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already sent people to Japan to make representations, but it is estimated that it will be difficult to achieve results in a few months if it is to be properly handled.

Japan's situation, how to say it, simply put, is still a relatively loose country, the princes are divided, so even if diplomatic mediation is carried out, it is impossible to expect the Japanese government to compensate, so it is necessary to send troops to punish, and only if they know the pain, will they know that it is terrible.

As for why we were sent and not other regular troops, to be honest, I don't know very well, because it wasn't said above, but according to my personal guess. There should be two reasons:

First, the Chinese government is now in the process of diplomatic mediation with Japan, and it has not yet considered whether or not to formally declare war on Japan. We are different, we are a private army, and we can go to war in the name of a private person. By the way, the killed Li Rongfa is an employee of the Eastern Bloc, and we deserve to avenge the people of our own company.

Second. The war against Japan was an overseas war, which was different from the domestic war and the situation of the conquest of Korea. Why is it different? Because as far as I know, the Japanese have a very high level of modernization, equipped with a large number of advanced muskets and artillery, which are far from being comparable to the Koreans. Therefore, this battle is an opportunity to test the combat capability of our officers and men. To punish Japan, we can first familiarize ourselves with the process of overseas conquest, accumulate combat experience, and avoid going further afield in the Americas.

Well. That's my personal guess, and I don't know if it's right or not, but for whatever reason, we're soldiers. It is the duty of the military to obey orders, so let's fight Japan. Let's go to Japan, we can't be ambiguous at all, understand? ”

"Understood." Chen Yucheng said, "In short, this time I want to fight the Japanese, and the reason doesn't matter." ”

"I can't say that." Shi Dakai said, "No matter what, we're dead, aren't we?" In this world, the strong are respected, and we are already recognized as a country of the world's great powers, since it is a country of great powers, then the people of our country are also people of strong countries, and Japan, as a small country, treats our people with respect. Now that we have innocently died, it is unjustifiable not to punish in any way. There is a saying that whoever offends me in Huaxia will be punished even if he is far away, this is the truth. ”

"I don't have anything more to ask." After Chen Yucheng finished speaking, he sat down again.

After Chen Yucheng sat down, Shi Dakai looked around at everyone again: "Is there anyone else who has problems?" ”

After waiting for a while, and finding that no one asked questions again, Shi Dakai nodded: "In order to ensure the success of the punishment operation, we have been specially reinforced with a batch of Type 56 machine guns to make up for our lack of firepower." These machine guns were specially pulled out from the Praetorian Guard, although they are not brand new, but they are also eight or nine percent new, and their performance is still quite good.

However, the number of machine guns was limited after all, so each combat company had only two Type 56 machine guns. For this reason, each of your companies has set up a special machine gun squad to suppress fire. In other words, this machine gun is a suppression weapon that is attached to the company level, and you must use it well. ”

As soon as these words came out, the people below immediately talked about it, and it seemed that this topic was much more interesting than the previous one.

Also, they are all soldiers, and it doesn't matter who they fight, so most people are not interested in why they fight, on the contrary, they are quite sensitive to new weapons, and when they hear that machine guns are available, it feels so cool.

You must know that because machine guns are very rare, only the Praetorian Guards are generally installed, and like the Wehrmacht, they will only be issued under special circumstances, and they are not available in normal times, and as for the militia, they don't even have the opportunity to touch the machine gun.

Now, just to fight Japan, they have issued machine guns, which is a great thing.

"Silence!" The officer on duty soon shouted loudly and began to maintain order in the chamber, and when he heard the shouting of the gendarmerie officer on duty, the officers present finally stopped the exchange of words and returned to their original appearance.

"Well, that's what it is." Shi Dakai said, "Because the departure time is very tight, there is not much time for you to slowly familiarize yourself with the new weapons, so you must hurry up and familiarize yourself with the performance of the machine gun, don't go to the battlefield and drop the chain for me, do you hear?" ”

"I heard you!" The officer below replied neatly.

"Good." Shi Dakai nodded, "The task has been explained, so let's disband." By the way, the machine guns are now in the quartermaster's office, you can go and get them yourself. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the gendarmes on duty shouted again: "All stand up!" ”

brush, all the officers stood up.

"Congratulations, sir!" The officer on duty shouted.

After shouting, the officer on duty was the first to salute, and the other officers also looked at Shi Dakai and wanted him to salute.

This is the rule of the Wehrmacht and the Praetorian Guard, although the expeditionary force does not nominally belong to the sequence of these armies, but still maintains the original style, that is, the upper and lower classes are clear, the etiquette is strict, and the slightest mistake is punished, or in other words, it is necessary to pass the strict etiquette of guò. to regulate order in the army.

In short, in the army of the Chinese Empire, there was no equality of officers and soldiers, but great attention was paid to the upper and lower classes and order, and the subordinates had to be absolutely subordinate to the superiors, even in ordinary life.

Shi Dakai nodded again, and then didn't speak, and quickly left in the send-off of everyone, leaving everyone to discuss by themselves.

As soon as Shi Da drove away, everyone's mood immediately relaxed. The officer on duty no longer shouted with a straight face, but just didn't see it, and even chatted with his colleagues next to him.

"Two Type 56 machine guns per company." Lan Chengchun poked Liang Guofu, "Good thing, I have to get it myself anyway, Lao Liang, how are you?" ”

"Me? I'm sure I'll have to play it myself, too. Liang Guofu pointed to the other officers wearing the company commander's badge, "Look at the others, I dare to say." The people here promise to play for themselves first, and then give their cronies a boost, believe it or not? ”

"Believe it or not." Lan Chengchun smiled, and then his face changed. "Not good! Come on! ”

Speaking of this, Lan Chengchun immediately stood up.

"Huh?" Liang Guofu was stunned for a moment, but when he saw that the others left their seats and ran out, he quickly reacted. They're going to get guns.

Also, the sooner you get it, the sooner you can touch the gun. And you can also have time to pick up some good colors.

You know, although they were given a batch of machine guns, they were actually second-hand goods from the Praetorian Guard, and although the performance was still good, there was still a difference.

Liang Guofu, who wanted to understand, didn't care about others, relying on his burly figure and being close to the door, he just squeezed out a passage, and then pulled Lan Chengchun to run out first, which was a relatively early group of people.

After that, these company commander-level officers rushed to the quartermaster department like a swarm, but at this time, Liang Guofu grabbed Lan Chengchun, who was also about to run, and then in his puzzled eyes, he pointed to the bicycle parked on the side: "I'm here by bicycle!" ”

Looking at the bicycle lying in the corner, Lan Chengchun was stunned at first, and then overjoyed.

Also, when most people come to the meeting, they all walk, not ride, but Liang Guofu is in a hurry, so he comes by bicycle, so he will not use it at this time.

Liang Guofu didn't talk nonsense, he ran over directly to help the bicycle up, then rode on the bike, and walked forward slowly, and when Liang Guofu finished riding, Lan Chengchun trotted a few steps and sat on the seat behind the bike.

"Sit down!" Liang Guofu smiled, and then used his feet hard, instantly surpassing most people.

"Why don't you go?" Looking at the conference hall that suddenly changed to only two people, Chen Yucheng asked the other remaining personnel, Li Hezhang, the head of the first regiment at the same level as himself.

"I'm the head of the regiment." Li Hezhang smiled, "My task is to command regiment-level operations, is there such a thing as a machine gun, since it is a company-level support weapon, it doesn't matter if I go or not." In other words, I just need to know the performance of the machine gun, and then arrange the tactics accordingly. ”

"Yes." Chen Yucheng said, "But as you said, you must first know the performance of the machine gun before you can reasonably formulate tactics, if you don't personally understand the performance of the machine gun, how can you accurately formulate tactics?" You see, even Peng Yulin of the 3rd Regiment went, didn't he just want to get acquainted with the performance of the machine gun earlier? ”

"Hehe, about that." Li Hezhang smiled again, "I'm sorry, although things like 56 machine guns are rare, I still use them." In the Qingpu Military Academy, almost all kinds of weapons, such as those used by the Praetorian Guards, are all big road goods in the school. So, although I used to learn artillery, I didn't miss the machine gun, so I still think I'm familiar with it in terms of performance. ”

"Oh, that's right, forget that you are a protégé of the Son of Heaven." Chen Yucheng nodded.

That's right, although the principal of Qingpu Military Academy is Yu Hongrui, but in fact, because this school was founded by Li Yongji himself, not only the school site is the place where the Jingwu Army started, but also the early lecturers, including Yu Hongrui, were also taught by Li Yongji, so Qingpu Military Academy is known as the origin of the imperial army, this military school is called the Son of Heaven Military Academy, and those who study in the military academy are called the protégés of the Son of Heaven.

This is also related to the change in social atmosphere, because after the establishment of the Chinese Empire, a series of martial arts policies were implemented, and serving as a soldier became the most popular industry in society, so that the most prominent people in society were no longer those who read poetry against them, but served as soldiers, especially the Wehrmacht and the Praetorian Guard.

Of course. This new social atmosphere is not deliberately propagated, and this has a lot to do with the relatively high remuneration of military personnel and the fact that they can directly go to the local government to become officials after changing jobs.

You must know that after the founding of the empire, Li Yongji implemented a new administrative system, and did not vigorously promote the original old bureaucrats and intellectuals, but vigorously supported businessmen and soldiers, so that eighty percent of the grassroots officials in various places were businessmen or soldiers.

It's just a businessman, and many of them are barely counted as scholars, but the rules for soldiers to become magistrates after changing jobs. However, it broke the unspoken rule that scholars monopolized the official market, and it became a new trend.

Generally speaking, if a soldier is not willing to go home to work as a farmer after retirement, the army will arrange a job for the soldier, but because China is still an agricultural country and there are not many jobs to offer, most of them are arranged to go to the local government to be a petty official, such as a policeman. Or go to the grassroots officials at the township level.

That's right, it's the township, and in the planning of the Chinese Empire, the most basic officials who eat the state's money are no longer to the county. Instead, it is directly assigned to the township, that is to say, the township chief and the town mayor are civil servants of the state, and they must be appointed by the imperial court and eat the imperial court's salary every month. It is no longer the same as in the past, it is all elected by the locality, and there is no money to take.

Originally, Li Yongji wanted to go directly to the village. Later, however, in consideration of the financial situation and his intention to continue the democratic election system at the village level, the grassroots officials only went to the township level.

To put it simply, in townships and even at the county and city levels, those who serve as soldiers can serve as any administrative official, and once they become officials, they are officials, and they are naturally superior in the eyes of the common people.

In addition, the treatment of being a soldier is indeed good, even better than the old treatment of scholars, and the scholar class that implements the new imperial examination system has not yet risen, so for the time being, joining the army and then changing to become a magistrate has become a shortcut to promotion and wealth.

In the past, the reason why good men should not be soldiers is because of the poor treatment of soldiers, loose management, and heavy ruffian habits, so it can be said that they have no money and no power, and because of the high mortality rate, they are often precarious, which makes people disgusted.

However, in the army of the Chinese Empire, the mortality rate is quite low, and the treatment is above the standard, plus after changing jobs, you can usually become a policeman or a magistrate, have a lot of power, and even be promoted normally, so it has slowly become an enviable profession.

Up to now, the girl is no longer most willing to marry those who read, but soldiers, and being a military family is the most enviable thing.

The method of changing soldiers to become magistrates, Li Yongji also learned from the Red China of later generations, it was no problem at that time, and there should be no problem at this time.

Naturally, compared with traditional readers, the knowledge level of soldiers is relatively low, which must be admitted, but specifically, professional soldiers such as the Praetorian Guard and volunteers are recruited and the literacy rate is one of the hard indicators, so the knowledge level is still above the level.

In addition, during the period of serving in the army, a lot of time should be devoted to the study of cultural classes, that is, the so-called policy of teaching the soldiers, so when the military period expires and they have to retire to the localities, the cultural level of the soldiers is still quite good.

As for the conscripts, although the conditions for conscripts are lower, they also have to study cultural classes during their military service, so they will also learn a lot of new knowledge, such as Chinese pinyin, which must be learned all during the conscription.

Of course, because of the different natures of compulsory soldiers, strictly speaking, it is a kind of military service, so after the expiration of the service period, it is not called a change of job, but a retirement, and only when a volunteer retires is called a change of job.

Retirement is not to be assigned a job, but the retired soldiers will be given a sum of money, and the qualifications of the soldiers will be retained, they will automatically enter the reserve, and reserve drills will be held in nearby places on a regular basis, thus forming a military class, at least the people nearby dare not bully, and have a certain social status, so overall it is quite good.

In this case, Qingpu Military Academy is a non-commissioned officer after graduation, and it is directly a professional army, and it can directly enter the Praetorian Guard, so even if you don't join the army, it is also a transfer treatment, and you can go directly to the local government to become an official, and it is usually fat, and you can even directly enter the central government as an official, so it is called the protégé of the Son of Heaven, which means a group of people who are favored by the royal family.

"The protégé of the Son of Heaven? Perhaps. Li Hezhang smiled, "Actually, you can also apply for the exam, anyway, Qingpu Military Academy has no restrictions, even if you have already joined the army, you can also apply for the exam." You must know that the purpose of our Qingpu Military Academy is to meritocracy, regardless of background. ”

"Hmph." Chen Yucheng said noncommittally, "But I don't understand, since you are a protégé of the Son of Heaven and have a good background, why are you not doing well, you have to come to join the expeditionary force?" As far as I know, you people can directly become the Praetorian Guard after graduation, and if you don't want to be a soldier, you can also be arranged to be an official, so why do you have to come here to suffer? ”

"Why? Hey, why do you have to ask us why? It seems that Li Hezhang has encountered Chen Yucheng's problem many times, so his face is a little helpless, "You guys are like this, we always ask why when we meet...... Well, I've explained it many times, but for the sake of who you are, explain it again. ”

After speaking, Li Hezhang cleared his throat, and then said: "Listen, first of all, the salary of the expeditionary force is high enough, it can be compared with the salary of the Praetorian Guard, and like casualty insurance or something, it is the same as that of the Praetorian Guard, which means that the treatment is good enough."

Secondly, if I become a Praetorian Guard, there is no war in the country, I don't know when I will be able to give full play to my strengths and achieve military exploits, and without military merits, I can't be promoted quickly, I don't want to boil up my qualifications and wait for a lot of beard to become a general. The meritorious rewards and punishments of the expeditionary force are on the same level as the domestic Janissaries, that is to say, my qualifications in the expeditionary force can also be used as the standard of the same rank, in other words, if I have merits in the expeditionary force, I can still get corresponding promotions according to these merits when I return to China.

Thirdly, well, this is somewhat similar to the second point, that is, if I do not participate in this expeditionary force, with my qualifications, how can I be a regimental commander? Do you think you can be the head of the regiment by yourself? Like you and Peng Yulin, they are both famous, me, hehe, if I don't participate in the expeditionary force, as far as my qualifications are concerned, even if I graduate, I am just a small artillery non-commissioned officer, not cost-effective. ”

"That's right." Chen Yucheng nodded, "You joined this expeditionary force in order to be promoted quickly, so that you can become a senior official as soon as possible?" ”

"Or what else could it be for?" Li Hezhang smiled, "Could it really be for the great cause of the empire?" Oh, of course, that's what we've said to the outside world, but now it's just you, I'll do it. Well, if you want to go out and tell outsiders, I will never admit it. ”

"By the way, there is a question I have always wanted to ask, how did you become the head of the regiment?" Chen Yucheng asked again.

"Speaking of which, it's easy." Li Hezhang smiled again, "Because we are all students, our original identities are the same, and what we have learned is also the same, so this officer is all evaluated by the guò exam." That is, a comprehensive examination is held, and then the officers are divided according to the overall score of the examination. The highest achiever, such as me, will be the head of the regiment, and the second place will be the deputy commander, and so on, understand. ”

"Using the test to determine the officer, such a child's play?" Chen Yucheng frowned.

"If it's child's play or not, you'll know later." Li Hezhang narrowed his eyes, "Don't underestimate our protégés of the Son of Heaven, you will know in the future that those people in our military academy, except for a very few exceptions like me, are a group of high-IQ madmen, at least in terms of fighting, they will definitely not lose to anyone!" (To be continued......)