"Okay, is there anyone who hasn't received his military pay?" Zhu Ping'an stood on the slope and asked loudly to everyone.
"Sir, we have all received it." Everyone at the bottom of the slope responded in unison. Feeling the one and a half taels of silver in military pay hidden close to their bodies, everyone's face was filled with happiness and beautiful visions of the future.
"Very good!" Zhu Ping'an nodded, then glanced at everyone and continued, "Everyone, the current military pay is one and a half taels of silver per month. I know it's a little low, but the court is currently in financial difficulty, and I hope you will understand the court's difficulties. In addition, please rest assured that the full amount will be paid on time every month, and I will do my best to apply to the court to appropriately increase your military pay in the future."
"One and a half taels of silver per month, not low..."
"What? The military pay will be increased in the future..."
When everyone heard that Zhu Ping'an would apply for an increase in their military pay in the future, they couldn't help but smile.
In fact, they were already very satisfied with the monthly salary of one and a half taels of silver, and could even be described as pleasantly surprised. When they were bandits, having enough food was a luxury, and as for the legendary thing like the salary, they had only heard of it but never received it.
When they agreed to surrender, they boldly thought that they would be satisfied if they were provided with three meals a day and half a tael of silver per month as a salary.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Ping'an increased their bold dream by three times, paying the soldiers one and a half taels of silver per month.
Now they say they will strive to improve further in the future... ... They were hit on the head with a huge surprise and were so excited that they couldn't control themselves.
"In addition to the military pay, you will also receive a reward. In the future, your reward will be distributed in teams. Ten of you will form a team, which is a squad. I will assign squads to you later. In the future, if each team kills a Japanese pirate, I will reward you with thirty taels of silver. If you kill ten Japanese pirates, you will get three hundred taels of silver. If you kill one hundred Japanese pirates, you will get three thousand taels of silver! Don't worry, as long as you can kill them, I will definitely pay you the reward! Train well, and kill more Japanese pirates in the future, and you will become rich."
Zhu Ping'an spoke to everyone with a smile, painting a wonderful and tempting "money" scene for everyone.
"A reward of thirty taels of silver for killing one Japanese pirate? Even if it's shared among ten people, each person can get three taels of silver! If ten Japanese pirates are killed, the reward will be three hundred taels of silver? Each person can get thirty taels of silver... Isn't that a fortune? Add to that the military pay, and you can get forty or fifty taels of silver a year. Is this enough to build a big house? To marry a wife? Hehe... Then life will be wonderful in the future..."
"I didn't expect the pirates' heads were so valuable! If I had known, I would have gone to rob them..."
"Are you stupid? We haven't met our master before? You killed the pirates? Where can you get the reward?!"
"Where are the Japanese pirates? I can't wait to fight them? Hehe? That's not a war, that's picking up money. In the future, I will become rich and marry a wife by relying on these Japanese pirates!"
"I wish I could go find the Japanese pirates right now. Don't let me run into them. I must kill them!"
Hearing the reward plan announced by Zhu Ping'an, everyone was immediately excited. Fighting and killing Japanese pirates was a high-risk job that would put your head on the line. They used to avoid it, but now it seemed to them like a way to get rich. They were eager to try and couldn't wait to fight the Japanese pirates.
"Alright! Everyone, please be patient, there will be plenty of opportunities to kill the Japanese pirates in the future! You have received my salary, and from today on, you are my soldiers! My name is Zhu Ping'an, and I am now the assistant of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Criminal Investigation and Surveillance Commissioner? I am a fifth-rank official. I am ordered by the emperor to rectify the military preparations of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, lead the militia, and organize militia. You are all soldiers of the militia under my command. The militia I have organized is temporarily named the 'Jiangsu and Zhejiang Tuanlian Army', abbreviated as the 'Zhejiang Army'! From now on, you will be a member of the 'Zhejiang Army'! I promise you that in the future, I will pay the soldiers' salaries on time, pay the rewards in full, and strictly enforce rewards and punishments! If I violate my promise, you can report me to the Yingtian Military Department, the Zhejiang Provincial Supervisory Censor, and the court!"
Zhu Ping'an stretched out his hands and pressed them down, calming everyone's excited mood, and said to everyone.
"We are the Zhejiang Army! We are the Zhejiang Army! Your Excellency is mighty! The Zhejiang Army is mighty!" everyone shouted in unison.
Everyone was very excited. From today on, they had a name - Zhejiang Army! From now on, they would be members of the Zhejiang Army.
"I promise you all, and you all must promise me too: obey orders and observe military discipline! If there are any violations, there will be severe punishment!" Zhu Ping'an glanced at everyone with a burning gaze and spoke in a stern voice.
"Don't worry, sir. We will obey your orders and abide by military discipline!" everyone shouted in unison again.
"Very good! Now let's start assigning troops! Every ten people form a squad, which has a squad leader. Four squads form a battalion, which has a sentry leader. Four battalions form a battalion, which has a captain. Four battalions form a battalion, which has a battalion commander. Did you hear that clearly?"
Zhu Ping'an stood on the slope and said loudly.
"I heard it clearly!" the people at the bottom of the slope responded loudly.
"Who will be the sergeant, sentry, captain, and battalion commander? How are they selected?!"
Everyone asked curiously and concerned.
"I will first read out the personnel composition of each squad, and then announce the method for selecting squad leaders, sentry leaders, captains, and battalion commanders! Now I will begin to read out the names of each squad. Those whose names are read out will stand in a line in the open space on my right hand side, in the order in which I read out their names, by squad. The 'squad' that was read out first will stand next to me, and the 'squad' that was read out later will line up to the left. Did you all hear clearly..." Zhu Ping'an said loudly.
"I heard it clearly!" everyone replied.
"Very good, now let's start reading out the list of the first team members: Zhu Daniu, Wang Ergou, Wang Tiezhu, Xia Beifeng, Gao Mian..."
Zhu Ping'an stood on a high slope and read out people's names loudly. After reading out each group, he repeated it again to make sure people could hear clearly.
Zhu Daniu, Wang Ergou and other people who heard the name walked out from different directions of the crowd and came to the open space on the right hand side of Zhu Ping'an, and got to know each other; then came the people from the second group, the third group, the fourth group... ...
Zhu Ping'an did not organize the personnel of each squad randomly, but disrupted and separated the people of the three strongholds for reorganization to prevent the people of each stronghold from sticking together, which would be difficult to control and command. When organizing sentries and generals later, he would also follow this principle and disrupt and reconstruct them in order to control the entire group training.