It seems that the Zhejiang Army is indeed different from the officers and soldiers of the garrison. Whether in terms of military discipline or combat effectiveness, they are beyond the reach of the officers and soldiers of the garrison.
Chen Dacheng had to face it, put away the perfunctory expression on his face, and asked Zhu Pingan seriously, "I wonder what the conditions for recruiting soldiers are? Your army is a militia, if I enlist, what will be my future?"
After hearing Chen Dacheng's question, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but feel happy. Chen Dacheng asked about the conditions for recruiting soldiers and the future prospects after joining the army. Naturally, he was inclined to agree to let the clan members and villagers enlist in the army.
"As long as you are young and strong, you can come and sign up as a local farmer or miner, and you have brothers to support the elderly. We will select the best from among them. Although our Zhejiang Army is a militia, the salary is much higher than that of the officers and soldiers in the garrison, one and a half taels of silver per month. If you have excellent performance evaluation, you can get rewards and promotion opportunities. Killing one Japanese pirate on the battlefield will reward you with 0 taels of silver. The more you kill, the higher the reward. You can also be promoted for your merits, and your wife and children will be given titles. In addition, our Zhejiang Army is a militia, not a hereditary military, but a civilian one. When the time comes, you can retire, which will not affect your business and participation in the imperial examinations."
Zhu Ping'an briefly introduced the recruitment conditions, emphasized the treatment and promotion opportunities of the Zhejiang Army, and emphasized that joining the Zhejiang Army does not mean hereditary military status, there are no disadvantages of military households, and one can retire.
"Thank you for clearing up my doubts, sir. I have another question. I wonder how you will train the soldiers after recruiting them?" Chen Dacheng asked again.
Zhu Ping'an felt even happier after hearing Chen Dacheng's questions. The more detailed and in-depth Chen Dacheng's questions were, the more he wanted to know, which showed that he was inclined to agree with the clan members and villagers enlisting in the army.
In response to Chen Dacheng's question, Zhu Pingan replied seriously: "The more you sweat in peacetime, the less blood you shed in war. After I recruit soldiers, I will naturally train them strictly. However, the difference between my training and that of others is that I train soldiers with first military discipline, second ideology, and third firearms."
"I understand that Your Excellency attaches great importance to military discipline, but what is this ideology?" Chen Dacheng asked in confusion.
"The so-called ideology refers to ideological education. Simply put, it is to improve the ideological awareness of soldiers, let them know who they are fighting for and why they are fighting, and to focus their minds and energy on building faith. An army with faith and discipline will never be a mob. An iron will builds an iron army."
It was not surprising that Zhu Ping'an was doubtful about Chen Dacheng. Even Zhang Jing was puzzled by this, let alone him. The importance of ideological and educational work was not valued and discovered until hundreds of years later, and it became a powerful tool for military construction.
An iron will builds an iron army... Chen Dacheng felt awe-inspiring when he heard this.
"Sir, I have some understanding of military affairs. Firearms have always played a supporting role in our army. The Ming Shilu records: 'For every hundred households, there are ten musketeers, twenty sword and shield fighters, thirty archers, and forty spearmen.' Only one-tenth of the army uses firearms, and they are in a supporting role. Your Excellency's emphasis on firearms seems to be a bit of a reversal of priorities." Chen Dacheng raised a question.
"Does Patriarch Chen know about the Shenji Camp?" Zhu Ping'an asked.
"I know." Chen Dacheng replied.
"History is rolling forward, everything is developing, and firearms are no exception. The "Ming Shilu" was written during the Hongwu period, in which gunners accounted for one-tenth of the population. During the Yongle period, Emperor Yongle established the Shenjiying, a specialized firearms unit, and attached increasing importance to firearms. Firearms are ten or a hundred times more powerful than cold weapons. Whoever can use firearms effectively will be able to decide the outcome of the war." Zhu Ping'an said to Chen Dacheng with confidence.
"My lord, Emperor Yongle built the Shenji Camp to assist other military camps. Emperor Yongle proposed the combat method of 'Shenji guns in the front, cavalry in the rear'. It is still the same today. Firearms are used before engaging the enemy and are not the main weapons. After engaging the enemy, swords and guns must still be used to kill the enemy. In addition, firearms are difficult to use in rainy weather, and gunners need protection from spearmen. Firearms can only be in an auxiliary position. My lord attaches importance to firearms. Isn't this reversing the priorities?" Chen Dacheng insisted on questioning.
Zhu Ping'an was not surprised to hear this. This was the limitation of this era and also the limitation of history. It was not his fault. Even Qi Jiguang, who attached great importance to firearms in the future, believed in the theory of limited use of firearms. Qi Jiguang also emphasized that "firearms are used before engaging the enemy and cannot be relied upon as the main weapon of war." Although half of the Qi Family Army's troops were equipped with firearms, their standard weapons were not firearms, but cold weapons such as rattan shields, wolf-whips, and Qi's sabers. The Qi Family Army's combat method was also mainly cold weapons and the mandarin duck formation, and firearms were only used before engaging the enemy.
But Zhu Ping'an is different. He has hundreds of years of historical experience beyond theirs and knows that it is inevitable that firearms will replace cold weapons. Whoever can use firearms effectively will have the final say in the war. It is no exaggeration to say that whoever can use firearms effectively will be the king of the army in this world, no doubt about it!
To be honest, Zhu Ping'an's advantage in training soldiers lies in firearms and hundreds of years of experience in the development and use of firearms. Compared with this era, whether it is Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and other outstanding generals of the Ming army or the Portuguese, England and other Western countries that have begun to pay attention to firearms, they are far inferior to Zhu Ping'an, and even if they are combined, they are still not as good as Zhu Ping'an.
Of course, when it comes to cold weapons, no matter how many military books Zhu Ping'an reads or how much experience he has, he cannot compare to Qi Jiguang and others.
The more Zhu Ping'an studied Qi Jiguang's future masterpieces, such as "Ji Xiao Xin Shu" and "Lian Bing Shi Ji", as well as the ancients' military books such as "The Art of War" and "Wei Liao Zi", the more he felt that the ancients were powerful. When it comes to cold weapon combat, Zhu Ping'an feels inferior to them.
This cannot be made up by experience alone, it also requires talent. In terms of cold weapons, Zhu Ping'an thought that no matter how hard he tried, he could not catch up with them, nor could he do better than Qi Jiguang and others. However, when it comes to firearms, Zhu Ping'an has confidence.
As long as he could train an army equipped with firearms, Zhu Ping'an was confident that he could defeat the Japanese pirates so badly that they would kneel down and call him daddy!
Zhu Ping'an even had enough confidence to step on Japan and Fuso, tie up their crappy emperor and generals with long ropes and hold them accountable.
On the one hand, we should play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses; on the other hand, we should lead the military trends.
Therefore, Zhu Ping'an's training goal was to train an army that was mainly equipped with firearms and used firearms as the main combat method.
"Chief Chen, the wheel of history rolls forward, those who follow it prosper, and those who go against it perish. Although firearms have many drawbacks, as long as they are improved and perfected, they are not a problem. Although I am not talented, I have unique research on firearm tactics and firearm improvements. For example, I have tripled the efficiency of gunpowder loading and innovated the tactics of using firearms, etc. However, since it involves military secrets, please forgive me for not being able to talk more."
Zhu Ping'an shook his head slightly and said firmly, his eyes were like the sun, full of confidence.
Improved gunpowder loading efficiency by three times...
This means that instead of being able to fire one round of musketry originally, three rounds of musketry can now be fired, tripling the lethality; improving the tactics of using firearms... ... Although I don't know how to improve it, it looks like it should be no worse than gunpowder loading.
In this way, the effectiveness of firearms is increased by at least five or six times, which makes sense why Lord Zhu attaches so much importance to firearms.
"I understand. Thank you for clearing up my doubts." Chen Dacheng clasped his hands together and bowed deeply to Zhu Ping'an. (To be continued)