After Zhu Ping'an left Master Zhang, he visited the other master craftsmen and all the apprentices one by one, asking about their well-being and chatting about family matters, leaving no one out. This made everyone feel valued. Although they were not grateful to the point of tears, they were all deeply moved. Their sense of belonging to the Zhejiang Army soared, and their body and mind calmed down.
There is no other reason. The status of blacksmiths in that era was too low. In the feudal era with strict hierarchy, it was hard to imagine that a fourth-rank official would ask about their well-being and chat with them. This kind of thing is more common in modern society.
Among these craftsmen, there was a craftsman named Liu Jin who also came from the Armament Bureau. Later on, he also participated in the manufacture of cannons. However, he was not a professional firearms craftsman. He only participated in the casting of the cannon body several times. He was also a cold weapon craftsman and was good at making armor, casting swords and other cold weapons.
However, in this age of cold weapons, Zhu Ping'an was already content to have two excellent firearms craftsmen at one time.
"I planted a seed, and sooner or later it will bear fruit, and after a while it will be a great day..."
Zhu Ping'an hummed a little song as he walked towards the training ground.
Zhu Pingan was a liberal arts graduate, so he only knew the general direction of firearms, but he had no idea about how to do it specifically. However, he believed that with these directional guidance, Ou Zhige, Zhang Hong and others could be on the right path, and it could also save a lot of time, energy and cost. As the saying goes, "Success is 99% sweat plus 1% inspiration, and in many cases this 1% inspiration is more important than 99% sweat." The directional guidance he gave them was the inspiration among inspirations.
I am looking forward to the day when Ou Zhige, Zhang Hong and others will give me surprises. I believe that day will not be too far away.
Zhu Ping'an hummed a little song all the way to the parade ground. When he arrived at the parade ground, he found that the selection of sergeants had come to an end. Only the last seven sergeants were still in fierce competition, and the others had already been selected.
Zhu Ping'an asked Liu Mu for the newly released list of sergeants, and was surprised to find that most of them were new recruits from Yiwu.
To be precise, in addition to the 55 sergeants who were directly appointed as sergeants based on the top-notch disciplinary performance assessment, there are still seven sergeants competing for the remaining 65 sergeants. Among the 58 sergeants who have been selected, Yiwu recruits actually won 35 sergeant positions in one fell swoop, while the veterans only won 23 positions.
With the end of the competition for the last seven corporals, the final places were determined.
The people of Yiwu are indeed natural soldiers. Their years of experience in the front lines of armed conflicts, coupled with their natural talent, have allowed them to shine in the competitions for the rank of sergeant. Yiwu recruits won a total of 38 rank of sergeant, while the veterans only won 27 rank of sergeant.
In fact, the old soldiers are no pushovers either. They were born as bandits and have lived on the edge of a knife. After joining the Zhejiang Army, they took several months off from work to focus on training. They also fought against the Japanese pirates once, so they are actually not weak.
Unfortunately, the new recruits from Yiwu are too aggressive.
"Da Dao, you guys really managed to recruit a great group of new soldiers this time with the adults."
During the competition for sergeant leader, Ruofeng and other battalion commanders and captains witnessed the vigor and vitality of the Yiwu recruits and could not help but express their admiration.
They originally thought that the old soldiers would definitely have the upper hand in this sergeant competition and would probably snatch most of the sergeant positions. However, they never expected that the Yiwu recruits, who looked honest and simple, had excellent physical fitness and skills. Each of them was better at fighting, better at resisting, and more powerful than the other, and actually snatched more than half of the sergeant positions from the old soldiers.
These new recruits are really fierce.
However, both new recruits and veterans are their soldiers. They are captains and battalion commanders, and the more powerful the soldiers under their command, the better.
"Haha, of course. You didn't see the Yiwu people fighting. They really responded to the call and fought bravely, fearing no death. When the father died in the fight, the elder brother took over. When the elder brother died in the fight, the younger brother took over. When the men died in the fight, the women took over... ... When we fight the Japanese pirates in the future, you will admire the Yiwu soldiers you recruited with your adults. In addition, when you recruited soldiers for us, you specially selected those who were honest, obedient, and hardworking. When you train them, you will know how good they are."
Liu Dadao said with a proud look on his face.
"Da Dao, you did a great job! The soldiers you recruited this time are all top-notch. The adults said that our Zhejiang Army still has several thousand vacancies. Next time we recruit soldiers, we should go to Yiwu."
Ruofeng and others praised the new recruits highly. Thinking that there were still vacancies in the Zhejiang Army, they would have to go to Yiwu again to recruit more soldiers.
"Of course we have to go to Yiwu. Let me tell you, this time we went to recruit soldiers, because the number of recruits is limited, we selected the best from the best, and there are still many strong and honest young men who failed to be selected because there were no vacancies. Don't mention how sad it is. If the recruitment is relaxed, we can recruit at least 120,000 to 130,000 strong and honest young men who meet the requirements. This is just Yiwu County. In addition to Yiwu County, the people of Yongkang next door are not bad either. The people of Yiwu mainly fought with the people of Yongkang. After so many years of fighting, the people of Yiwu did not gain much advantage. It can be seen that the quality of the people of Yongkang is not much different from that of the people of Yiwu. These two places can provide at least 30,000 excellent soldiers."
Liu Dadao said with a solemn oath.
"I'm really looking forward to the further expansion of our Zhejiang Army." Upon hearing that there were still nearly 30,000 excellent soldiers, Xia Laoqi and others couldn't help but imagine.
"Haha, if you want to expand the army, you should quickly train the new soldiers, and then fight the Japanese pirates with real swords and guns, and make achievements that can convince people. It takes money to raise soldiers, especially since our Zhejiang Army is treated so well, we need more money. The reason we are expanding the army this time is that we performed well under Yingtian City last time, drove away the Japanese pirates, and wiped out the Japanese pirates at night. The superiors are satisfied, so we are expanding the army this time."
Ruofeng rolled up his sleeves, looked very motivated, glanced at the new recruits in the field, and said to Xia Laoqi and others.
"We have the wise leadership of our Lord, and our battalion commanders are all ruthless characters who are willing to risk their lives. The veterans under us have seen blood, and the new recruits are all so fierce and vigorous, and the weapons and armor are so complete... The most important thing is that the Japanese pirates outside are getting more and more violent, and there are more and more of them. Are you still afraid that there will be no chance to make merit?!"
Xia Laoqi and others looked at the new recruits in the field and said with confidence.
"Hmph, don't think of war as being so simple. The last time we fought the Japanese pirates, our Zhejiang Army had a lot of cowards. If it weren't for your careful planning, the outcome would be hard to predict." Ruo Feng said with a snort.
"Don't worry, we know all about those wimps. Although we didn't name them in public, we dealt with them in private. They have also changed their ways and have been reborn after these days of training. In the future wars, we will have the law of collective responsibility. If they dare to be wimps again, we will kill them without mercy!"
Xia Laoqi and the others couldn't help but blush when they heard this. Most of those wimps were in their camps.
"Yeah, that's right." Ruofeng nodded. With the law of collective responsibility, there was no need to worry that they would not fight bravely.