There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 23 Training new recruits

The rebel army's new recruit camp was built on the outskirts of the county town because the old military camp in the city was too small and could only accommodate a few hundred people for training and settlement.

With the Qing government continuously sending refugees from various provinces to the Sichuan-Hubei border, Nie Yu easily achieved the small goal of expanding the army by 2,000. In fact, due to the large number of refugees, he recruited more than 1,000 more.

These refugees don't care about the righteous army or the rebels, nor do they care whether Nie Yu and others are rebelling. They are almost unable to survive, and the Qing government cannot tolerate them. Whoever can give them a bite to eat is who they will work for.

Nie Yu wears casual clothes every day and does not carry any equipment. He only wears a stab-proof vest as protection.

It was noon when we arrived at the barracks.

After finishing half a day of training, the refugee recruits gathered in the training ground, waiting in line for their meals.

When someone saw Nie Yu coming to the training ground, they excitedly raised their rice bowls and shouted, "It's the general! The general is here!"

"The general is here? Where is he? Why didn't I see him?"

"General, please come and line up here. There are only two people in front of us. The dishes today are pretty good. The meat is all big chunks and even has fat on it!"

"..."

Nie Yu was not impatient and responded with a smile and a wave.

Strictly speaking, his smile was a bit fake, but for these new recruits who came from refugee families, it was just right.

A general who could smile and wave amiably at these lowly peasants, even if they were traitors... Pah! Anyone who dared to call the general a traitor would be killed by them!

Nie Yu came to the cook who was serving the rice and looked at the hot food inside. Today's dishes were indeed very good. Most of the rice was white rice. Although it was still coarse rice, the amount of old rice was very small.

Because they were all new grains moved from the official warehouse in the county, most of them were autumn grains that could not be transported to Beijing in time, as well as tax grains embezzled by the county government.

In addition to the white rice brought out from the government warehouse, there were also large barrels of meat and vegetables, most of which were fat. For the common people who had not been able to eat greasy meat for many years, fat, a high-fat and greasy ingredient, was extremely popular among these lower-class people.

Nie Yu watched the cook skillfully serve a large bowl of white rice to the lined-up recruits, and then scooped out a large piece of fat meat with a spoon. The fat meat was shining brightly in the sunlight, which made people very appetizing just by looking at it.

Finally, he poured a spoonful of green vegetables and two white flour buns. The new rebel soldier took the bowl of rice and went down to find an empty space. He didn't care that his hands were dirty. He grabbed the white flour buns in the bowl and started to eat them, eating them with the vegetables in the bowl.

It can be said that just with this meal of white rice and white flour buns, plus three meals a day, a combination of meat and vegetables, the new army trained by Nie Yu is not better than all the Qing troops, but at least compared with the Green Camp of the Qing army of the same period, the treatment is much better.

There is no way. As everyone knows, the Qing Dynasty guarded against the Han people more than against foreigners. Although there were hundreds of thousands of Green Camp soldiers, as an army composed purely of Han people, the Green Camp was both "relied on" and feared by the Qing court.

Because the Green Camp has too many troops and they are all Han people, what should we do if they rebel?

It is now the 60th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign. The Dzungar Khanate, the Qing Dynasty's three-dynasty enemy, has long been destroyed. Tsarist Russia, which has always been hostile, has also gradually restored the "tributary (Qianlong claimed that Tsarist Russia paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty, but in fact it was not)" trade relationship under the efforts of Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng (the cession of the land of Nerchinsk). Therefore, the Green Camp, which was almost useless, has also rapidly corrupted in recent decades.

Including the Green Camp of the Qing army's border towns, the combat effectiveness and treatment of most Green Camp troops have declined sharply. It is normal to conduct training every three to five days, and it is even more reasonable not to provide food and wages when there is no training. Even during large-scale training, the army's food and wages will be deliberately withheld and embezzled.

If you don't join the army, there are plenty of other people who can. If you really run away, it will just make it easier for the captains and lieutenants above you to collect empty salaries. It doesn't matter if the soldiers die during training. A soldier's life is worth nothing. If he dies, he dies. The pension is not enough to buy a concubine for the lieutenant. Even if the court ever needs to recruit soldiers for war, these Qing army generals who collect empty salaries can go to the local areas to forcibly recruit civilians and rely on the civilian brave camps to fill the vacancies in the army.

It was precisely because the speed of corruption and decay in the Green Camp of the Qing army exceeded the expectations of the Qing court and the White Lotus Sect, that the "Qianlong-Jiaqing" White Lotus Sect rebellion, which should have been extinguished quickly, started as a wildfire and turned into a raging fire that affected the southern provinces of the Qing Dynasty in just a few years.

How was the fire finally put out?
It was simple: they relied on the Han Chinese landlords. Because the Qing government was unable to suppress them, the Green Camp was corrupt, the Eight Banners were even more corrupt, and the Mongolian Eight Banners were equally useless. The desperate Qing government was forced to make concessions to the Han Chinese landlords and give them power...

"Give me a bowl of rice and two steamed buns."

Nie Yu was not polite either. He had not eaten lunch yet and came to the barracks just to have a hot meal.

Living and eating with the soldiers is an old-fashioned method, but it is convenient and practical.

Nie Yu had no experience in integrating with the army or brainwashing the army, so he could only follow the training from the beginning, eat the same food as the soldiers, and even squat together to eat, talking and chatting while eating.

After a few days, even if they didn't become complete friends, they were able to get closer, and the soldiers would remember him as the general who gave them food, land and settlement.

Nie Yu was eating a steamed bun while instructing He Shunan and the others, "I think today's meal is quite good. From now on, we should all follow this standard. Don't worry about saving money. If the General's Mansion lacks anything, the soldiers will not lack food and clothing."

"General, rest assured! I will strictly supervise and will not allow the officers and cooks below to withhold military rations and hinder your anti-Qing plan!"

He Shunan understood Nie Yu's implication and quickly bowed to make a promise.

Bai Nan also said, "General, the new recruits have been training for almost seven or eight days now. The most basic formation training is almost complete. The next step is to issue weapons to the soldiers and let them practice the battle formations and flags."

Nie Yu swallowed the steamed bun he was chewing and nodded, saying, "Well, the weapons are ready in the treasury. We will officially distribute the weapons to the soldiers tomorrow and prepare to practice the battle formations and flags. It's a pity that we can't get war horses now, and we can't train cavalry..."

Speaking of issuing weapons, the actual training of new recruits is not completely without physical weapons. The previous drill training is also interspersed with simple commands such as beating drums and flags. The only difference is that they are not given real swords and guns. Instead, they use wooden sticks and bamboo poles as substitutes.

Now, the formation training is almost complete, and the battlefield commands can be barely understood. We can use real weapons to practice real battle formations.

Speaking of his own strengths, He Shunan added, "General, I've observed the Mandarin Duck Formation we practiced earlier. It's certainly powerful, but it's not suitable for all battlefields. If we're really fighting on a large plain, facing a large army or cavalry charge, we'll easily be frustrated."

"I believe that in addition to the Mandarin Duck Formation, we should also conduct drills in conjunction with conventional battle formations so that the soldiers can cope with and adapt to more complex battlefield environments. Furthermore, the proportion of long spears in the army should also be increased."

"The spear is the king of all weapons. This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the spear is indeed much easier to practice than the sword and shield, wolf spear, etc., and it can also prepare soldiers for battle more quickly."

Nie Yu nodded. "I'll pay attention to what you said. Don't be too obsessed with the Mandarin Duck Formation during future training. We don't have that much time. We need to get the new recruits ready for battle as soon as possible and ensure they don't collapse once they're on the battlefield. That's the hard truth."

The Mandarin Duck Formation in "Ji Xiao Xin Shu" is indeed powerful, but it also has great limitations. Because the Mandarin Duck Formation is expensive, it cannot deal with large armies fighting on the plains, nor can it deal with cavalry. Nie Yu does not have chariots and muskets that can deal with these two yet.

Then we can only settle for the second best, which is to let the new recruits go to the battlefield first and prevent them from collapsing on the battlefield.

　The gun is the king of all weapons, and the automatic rifle is the king of kings!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)