After showing Li Mingcheng a few takeaway weapons, he was treated to a simple lunch with only four dishes and one soup, and after lunch, Li Yongji invited Li Mingcheng to visit the upcoming military exercises of the Jingwu Army.

In fact, this military exercise was originally a demonstration show, and it was originally intended to target the local squires and wealthy families in Wuxi, including those who cooperated with the Jingwu Army and those who did not.

For example, in the process of establishing a military government, if it were not for Li Yongji's strong implementation and targeting the group of businessmen, I am afraid that no one would have been the civil servant.

However, after Li Yongji forcibly set up a military government, and took advantage of it to implement the household registration system and ID card, and then engaged in a disguised cash-for-work scheme, although most people were relatively cooperative, there were still a lot of murmurs. For example, those large families who think they have a bit of background or are more self-conscious neither take the initiative to apply for a household registration and ID card, nor send someone to explain the reason, putting on a posture of non-violence and non-cooperation.

In other words, they all think that Li Yongji's so-called city-wide search is to scare people, that the ID card and household registration policy are child's play and disorderly government, they do not think that as locals, most of them have meritorious reputation, and they will be arrested just because they don't have an ID card, and they also disdain the small favor that can buy a limited amount of cheap grain. They hold their own identities and play the three-nos policy of not opposing, not supporting, and not following the Jingwu Army and the lackey junta of the Jingwu Army.

This is obviously not what Li Yongji needs, these gentry don't look at the small number of people, but they control more than seventy percent of Wuxi's wealth, and they also have the right to speak locally, their support is not supported, and their policies here will not be able to be carried out smoothly in the future, and there is no way to talk about the new policy. What Li Yongji needs now is absolute support, and what he needs is absolute control, so he decided to directly open the knife to these people who do not know how to lift, but before the operation, he must always give them a chance to wake up to themselves, and this opportunity is the demonstration of this military exercise.

Li Yongji's idea was simple: to use this military exercise to support the military junta, and at the same time to let the gentry who represented the upper echelons of Wuxi have a long insight. If he repents and fully supports this military exercise, then it is enough, it shows that he still has brains, and if he still insists on non-violent non-cooperation after seeing this military exercise, then Li Yongji will cut the flesh of these diehards.

How to go under the knife? If there are many names and there are no big bad deeds, you can gently open a large amount of flat thieves to donate, and if you have bad deeds, you will naturally find out and play a public approval fight, and then play the trick of raiding the house.

Li Yongji can be regarded as having seen through, in China, which has not completely experienced the Second Opium War, the group of scholars is still resting on their laurels, and they still haven't woken up from the dream of the Celestial Empire.

Li Yongji doesn't need hard-boned stubborn readers, he only needs those soft bones and speculators, only soft bones and speculators will adapt to the times and open their eyes to see the world according to their own preferences, which is enough.

In short, those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me abandon, Li Yongji intends to use these eight-character policy to forcibly implement his own new policy in his own territory.

Therefore, this military exercise was not specially prepared for Li Mingcheng, but was originally prepared for those gentry who held their own identity, and Li Mingcheng really came in time to have a drill this afternoon.

Li Mingcheng wore a fake braid and pretended to be an ordinary businessman to participate in this military exercise, after all, his identity is sensitive, and it is impossible for him to come over openly as a general of the Heavenly Kingdom. After that, he climbed up to the reviewing stand prepared in advance with the other squires and merchants, and then stood behind the railing to watch like everyone else.

Li Mingcheng was very attentive to observing this military exercise. During the last Battle of Suzhou, because he was preparing money and grain logistics in Changzhou, he did not participate in that battle, and he did not know what happened in front of him, only that Li Xiucheng's 70,000-strong army was defeated and almost completely annihilated. After that, Li Xiucheng didn't say anything, and others didn't say it, and he couldn't know much about this defeat, he could only know that the Jingwu army was very capable of fighting, and Li Xiucheng's army was defeated from the front in the process of field battles.

Now, he can see with his own eyes what kind of fighting style the elite army can play, even if he knows that this exercise will not expose the full strength of the other party, at least he can see a rough idea.

Indeed, in this exercise, Li Yongji did not intend to expose all his strength, so weapons such as 56 assault rifles, 56 machine guns, and bazookas were all hidden. The strongest guard battalion did not participate, but only ordinary troops, not even mortars and grenadiers, and only Sharps rifles, Colt revolvers, and modified Napoleon guns were planned for firearms.

However, since it is a show, it is natural how to look good and how to come, so before the tactical exercise, there was a simple parade in columns, that is, the troops of the elite army formed a phalanx, and under the rhythm of the march, they walked through the review stand one by one and accepted the review. At the same time, Li Yongji also arranged in three directions in a triangle in advance and released three reconnaissance balloons, which could comprehensively monitor the entire exercise site in order to record the exercise in an all-round way.

The first to appear was the infantry phalanx, all of whom formed a large phalanx, dressed in new costumes, with hats and rifles with bayonets, marching slowly to the rhythm of the "March of the Hunt".

Next came the horse-drawn artillery phalanx, which was staffed by a separate artillery battalion, that is, a Napoleonic artillery unit. Due to the existence of modern mortars, now this unit belongs to the more embarrassing storage zài, rarely dispatched in actual combat, more as a deterrent force or as an artillery to teach the troops, and now pulling it out can just shock others, after all, compared to mortars, or this kind of Napoleon gun with wheels is more terrifying.

Then there were the cavalry troops, which belonged to the 1st Cavalry Regiment, all of them rode tall horses, wore new clothes, held sabers in a standard knife-holding style in one hand, and controlled horses in the other.

Finally, there is a large row of relatively loose phalanxes, this phalanx is a militia phalanx, and the members are all selected from the Wuxi large-scale recruitment, that is, the group of people who are building a new industrial zone. Since they were basically workers, Li Yongji appointed this unit as the Armed Workers' Reserve, or Wugong Corps for short.

These men were all wearing hats, wearing a blue sleeveless waistcoat and cropped trousers, showing their arms and calves, wearing light straw sandals on their feet, and carrying a machete with a red ribbon on their backs. Although the formation is not very neat, their mental outlook is very good, and most of them are full of energy and excitement, especially the red ribbon machete behind them, which looks very angry.

In addition to strengthening the workers' guard force and defending this new group, the establishment of the armed workers also served as a powerful supplement to the regular army.

After watching such a military parade, the next step was a small-scale attack exercise.

The process of the attack is very simple, that is, there is a preset position in front, and many straw men representing the enemy have already been placed on the position, and our task is to attack the enemy's position and occupy this position.

After passing through the review stand, the exercise troops of the elite army automatically turned their backs to the review stand and lined up in front of the formation, which simply means that the infantry is in front, the artillery is in the center, the cavalry is in the back, and the militia is on both wings.

After the formation was completed, the artillery first opened fire, and after fifteen minutes of triggering explosive shells, the enemy position was in shambles.

At this time, the hunting march sounded, and the infantry phalanx began to move forward amid the constant sound of their own artillery, playing a cannonball-style infantry attack.

When the infantry came within 200 meters of the enemy camp, the infantry began to fire in a row, and at the same time, the artillery was still bombarding at a large elevation angle.

After five minutes of bombardment at a large elevation angle, the cavalry and militia in the rear began to move forward in small steps, while the infantry in front also began to shoot while advancing, and at the same time, the artillery in the rear also began to extend their fire, that is, to shoot at targets in the rear of the enemy formation, so that the artillery fire always kept a distance of 300 meters from the main infantry in front.

Finally, when the infantry approached the enemy line a hundred meters, the cavalry and militia followed, after which the artillery stopped firing, and then the whole army shouted, and the cavalry began to charge, the militia armed with machetes followed, and the musket infantry continued to march forward slowly in formation.

The cavalry soon came into contact with the straw man, and used the saber to slash hard, and did not stop, so he kept rushing over, and the militia who followed later, or the broadsword soldier, began to expand the gap, and kept chopping the straw man with the broadsword, while cutting the straw man, while running forward, it was also non-stop, even if the knife did not hit, it did not stop, but handed it over to the later people to cut.

Finally, the exercise ended when all the militia had cleared the guò position, the infantry had also cleared the guò position, and the red flag representing the enemy's command center had been captured.

The entire exercise was only a regimental scale, but this time the battle guns and artillery rang out in unison, the shouts of killing shook the sky, and the infantry and cavalry artillery were all there, and it can be said that it was not only a show, but also a relatively real attack drill, which not only stunned the visitors, but also meant great significance to themselves, especially to the militia units of the Wuxi Armed Forces Corps that participated in the exercise for the first time.

In summary, the flow of this attack was to first bombard, then the infantry to advance, and when it was determined that the enemy had collapsed, the cavalry charged, the lightly armed broadsword men followed, and the musket infantry continued to advance slowly to press the formation.

This new attack plan was also inspired by the Battle of Suzhou. In the past, the Jingwu Army has always emphasized frontal combat, constantly strengthening firepower, and paying insufficient attention to pursuit warfare.

In that battle, Li Yongji found that in the face of the fierce firepower of the elite army, it will often be a rout, at this time, if you use infantry to pursue, it is easy to cause your own fatigue, once the opponent has an ambush or reinforcements in the rear, in the face of their own exhausted pursuers, if you don't get it right, you will be counterattacked by the other side.

Therefore, the best way is to add a faster and cheaper cheap class, and cooperate with the cavalry to fight the pursuit battle to maximize the results.

To put it simply, these militia units do not need to fight frontal battles, they only need to chase and kill the defeated soldiers when the enemy is fleeing, so they don't need too strict training, and they don't need too good weapons, as long as they run fast enough and the people are ruthless enough, and the equipment is mainly lightweight. Such a class of troops naturally falls on the militia that can be trained a little, which does not affect the combat efficiency, but also saves a lot of money, and is a cost-effective combination of high and low.

As for those regular infantry, they still have to play the role of pressing the formation, and if they are not necessary, they will no longer participate in the pursuit battle.

Obviously, this combat drill carried out this purpose very well, that is, the pursuit work was handed over to the cavalry and the military engineering team, and the infantry only swept in the rear.

During the whole battle, the three surrounding reconnaissance balloons will completely record the attack process, and the video taken at that time will be used as a teaching video for the soon-to-be-established military academy as teaching materials, so as to make the best use of this military exercise.

After the exercise, not to mention the value of the elite army itself, it will give a great shock to the big businessmen who have visited the exercise throughout the exercise, and the shock to Li Mingcheng will be even greater, because after all, Li Mingcheng knows a little about military affairs, and he is different from those who know nothing about military affairs.

Those big businessmen were just shocked by the strength of the firearms of the Jingwu Army, but Li Mingcheng saw something deeper, that is, the operation of the Jingwu Army was more like a machine, decent, step-by-step, and the fight was not as exciting as the Taiping Army, but it was strict without any loopholes, and it was able to use its firepower more completely.

At least when the other party attacked, Li Mingcheng felt that any of his own troops, let alone the same number, even if they had ten times the number of troops, would not be able to block a blow from such a force. If there are fewer such troops, it is fine, if there are many of them, not too much, as long as there are 12,000 and then keep up with logistics, then the combat effectiveness can definitely run rampant in the world.

The problem is that the half-grown kid named Li Yongji is said to have more than 10,000 troops of the same type, and they are still expanding, I really don't know where he got the money and weapons to build such an expensive and luxurious army in such a short period of time.

There is only one explanation, that is, the one named Li Yongji, who has received strong support from foreigners, and only this explanation can make sense.

Of course, Li Mingcheng also consciously saw the shortcomings of this army, that is, it costs too much money, whether it is those muskets or cannons, I am afraid they are not bargains, and fighting such a thousand-person exercise should be placed on the Taiping Army, at least it can fight a big battle of more than 10,000 people. Such a troop, when it starts a war, it is to smash people with silver, and it is probably not easy to maintain it in peacetime, so the scale cannot be too large, otherwise why would the other party recruit a broadsword team? Just to save money!

From this point of view, Li Yongji did not take advantage of the situation to attack, I am afraid that the biggest reason is the lack of money, after all, he has no ammunition without money, and without ammunition, he cannot continue to maintain combat effectiveness, and he can't complain that he wants to do business with us.

In that case, maybe you might have a chance on your side.

It was at this time that Li Mingcheng really attached importance to the secret cooperation agreement with Li Yongji before, and also understood why the other party did not sign a paper agreement with him as a guarantee, but only some child's play verbal promises.

This is not because the other party is afraid that the Qing court will know about this agreement, but because it has strong self-possession and disdains to sign any paper contracts.

If you think about it carefully, the current situation is that Li Yongji's strength is far greater than Li Xiucheng's, Li Xiucheng has asked Li Yongji for many places, and now Li Yongji has taken the initiative to release goodwill, Li Xiucheng should not be able to ask for it, if he is not particularly stubborn or has a problem with his brain, he will not refuse Li Yongji's proposal.

Thinking of this, Li Mingcheng realized that this time Li Yongji did not write a written agreement and took himself to watch the military exercise, which was actually a warning to himself, and the subtext was that either he would cooperate obediently, and everyone could continue to be safe, or if he did not cooperate, then he would immediately bring troops over.

In short, this news must be explained to the eldest brother as much as possible, and the eldest brother must be told that the elite army with the support of foreigners cannot be provoked by force, but can only compromise and cooperate first, let the other party be arrogant first, and then slowly try to do it later.

In addition, it is best to find foreigners who supply arms to Li Yongji, foreigners are greedy for money, and if they can support Li Yongji, they are just seeking money, as long as the price we give is high, they may not be able to support us, and when the time comes, we will not be able to see whose face he has learned.

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PS: I'm sorry that there have been fewer updates recently, it's all one chapter a day, and the plot of the director is advancing slowly, and it will even make people feel flat. But this can't be helped, there are some things that must be explained clearly, and the update is also required by the editor. Next week, the whole station will be strongly pushed, and it will reply to two changes a day, and once it is on the shelves, it will definitely start to break out in full force.

Therefore, I hope you will continue to support Lao Zhuang, you have been chasing for so long, don't give up Lao Zhuang at this time. Although Lao Zhuang is a little older, over thirty, he is still a newcomer at the starting point, he is clumsy, he can only write, and he can't play any operation, and he can only rely on your strong support to get to the present.

Therefore, whether you are rewarding, recommending or purely clicking, commenting, or collecting, it is my recognition and support, especially moral support, which is especially important. To be honest, every time I see a little bit of progress in my grades, Lao Zhuang will feel that there seems to be something more to this day, and I feel that the boring life has added a little bit of highlights.

Well, I don't know what else to say, and I won't open a single chapter to thank you, but I'm just saying a little extraneous words here, really please everyone, and thank you!