The imperial envoy has been welcomed and the silver has been paid. It is time to go back and continue training the troops. Zhu Ping'an bid farewell to his colleagues in the yamen and returned with Liu Dadao and others.
However, before leaving, Zhu Ping'an went to visit Xu Wei and Xu Wenchang again. Now that the war to suppress the Japanese pirates was about to begin, if Xu Wenchang could be asked to come out to help, it would definitely be a great help. Unfortunately, Xu Wenchang said that the provincial examination was about to begin, and he had to concentrate on preparing for the exam, so he rejected Zhu Ping'an's invitation.
Seeing that he was really concentrating on preparing for the exam, Zhu Ping'an had to give up. A forced melon will not be sweet, and you can't force someone to have a good future. Before leaving, he left him twenty taels of silver and returned to the Zhejiang Army camp with Liu Dadao and others.
After returning to Taohua Town, Zhu Ping'an went to the house to sit with Li Shu for a while and listened to the fetal movement. He didn't even bother to eat, and rushed back to the Zhejiang Army camp. The anti-Japanese campaign was about to begin, and the training could not be delayed.
Especially since we received a hint from Governor Zhang some time ago, Governor Zhang intends to dispatch the Zhejiang Army to garrison one area, presumably a small or medium-sized city in the Suzhou and Hangzhou areas. This area is most seriously affected by the Japanese pirates, and the Zhejiang Army must form combat effectiveness as soon as possible.
The curtain was about to be raised on the campaign to suppress the Japanese pirates, and the war was about to begin. Even with Governor Zhang's cautious nature, he would wait until the wolf soldiers arrived and everything was ready before he would mobilize a large force to destroy the Japanese pirates. However, during this preparation period, some small-scale battles were inevitable, especially after he took control of a place and maintained peace there, he would inevitably have to engage in close combat with the Japanese pirates. Therefore, the Zhejiang Army did not have much time left.
Military training is urgent.
However, the Zhejiang Army has been training for several months, and the conscripts have been here for half a month. It is time to test the effectiveness of the training. If problems with the Zhejiang Army are discovered before the war begins, it will only take some time and effort to correct them.
If the problem was exposed during the war with the Japanese pirates, the price to be paid would be blood and life.
Therefore, the first thing Zhu Ping'an did when he returned to the Zhejiang Army Camp was to notify the entire army to start the military parade immediately.
"Inform all battalions, squads and squads of the entire army, and start the parade on the training ground immediately. The winners of the parade will not only receive extra points for their performance appraisals, but also receive prizes. The ten soldiers with the best performance in the parade will be awarded a battalion commander's sword; the three squads with the best performance in the parade will have their squad leaders commended, and each will be awarded 3 taels of silver, and a banquet will be given after the parade; the sentry with the best performance in the parade will have priority in promotion when the army is expanded in the future, and the officers and soldiers under his command will enjoy priority in promotion under the same conditions..."
After the military order was issued, in less than half a cup of tea, more than 2,000 soldiers of the Zhejiang Army had assembled in the parade ground in neat armor.
The entire Zhejiang Army has been equipped with cotton armor. With the establishment of the equipment battalion, the efficiency of cotton armor production has been greatly improved. In particular, the equipment battalion was grateful for Zhu Ping'an's preferential treatment and worked overtime day and night to produce more than 2,000 pairs of cotton armor with guaranteed quality and quantity.
After putting on the cotton armor, the officers and soldiers of the Zhejiang Army also accepted the equipment camp from the bottom of their hearts. A good set of armor is equivalent to several more lives.
In addition to the cotton armor, the soldiers of the Zhejiang Army were also equipped with a leather water bag, an iron gunpowder box, an iron lead bullet box, and a first aid kit. The iron gunpowder box contained granular medicine wrapped in oil paper, which could greatly improve the efficiency of loading the musket. The iron lead bullet box contained lead bullets, and the first aid kit contained secret knife wound medicine and gauze. There was also a small gourd of highly distilled liquor for disinfection, but the soldiers often drank it secretly, so it was temporarily ridiculed.
Seeing the entire army quickly assembled and lined up in half a cup of tea, wearing uniform equipment and with high-spirited faces, Zhu Ping'an nodded with satisfaction. Judging from their spirit, the Zhejiang Army barely looked like a strong army.
The military parade begins.
Basic skills such as queues, formations, flag signals, advances and retreats were reviewed as the soldiers from each battalion marched around the parade ground.
Zhu Ping'an reviewed the troops one by one on the parade ground, and Liu Mu also led the inspection battalion to record the performance of the soldiers in each battalion.
The soldiers of each battalion performed well, especially the Yiwu recruits. Although they had not been training for long, their marching performance was even two points better than that of the veterans. The characteristics of the conscripts, such as hard work, endurance, honesty and obedience, were clearly demonstrated.
Next comes the highlight of the military parade - shooting.
Through Zhu Ping'an's unremitting efforts and the fact that the Ming army did not pay enough attention to firearms at that time, Zhu Ping'an obtained firearms from all sides, and the popularity of firearms in the Zhejiang army has reached a high level where every soldier has one.
The shooting review is conducted in sentry units, with each sentry conducting live-ammunition shooting with muskets.
Zhu Ping'an set up three shooting ranges, one is 70 meters, one is 150 meters, and one is 200 meters.
The review began at the three shooting ranges at the same time, with each sentry taking turns conducting live-fire shooting at the three shooting ranges.
Due to the limited accuracy of muskets in that era, and in order to test the firing rate of muskets, Zhu Ping'an ordered each soldier to conduct three live-fire shooting exercises at each shooting range, which means nine live-fire shooting exercises in three shooting ranges.
Zhu Ping'an ordered Liu Mu's inspection battalion to record the number of targets hit by each soldier in live-fire shooting, as well as the shooting time, shooting proficiency, etc., and give different scores accordingly. Finally, a score was compiled after the last nine live-fire shootings.
Zhu Ping'an also patrolled back and forth between the three shooting ranges to get a basic understanding of the shooting situation of all the soldiers of the Zhejiang Army.
"Come on, Jilang. Aim carefully and shoot again. If you hit the target with this shot, you will have hit all nine targets."
"Goudan, can you be more reliable? You hit the target three out of eight. If you miss the target again, I'll show you how I'll deal with you!"
"Don't worry, Wang Xiaoer. You've already hit six out of eight shots, which is an excellent score. Just perform normally for this shot."
"Tiesuo is awesome, he hit all nine targets, he is worthy of being the sharpshooter of our squad, let's see who else would not admit defeat."
The shooting range was bustling with people. The soldiers who had finished shooting cheered for the soldiers who were still shooting, and there was constant cheering.
Zhu Ping'an inspected the shooting of the soldiers on the training ground, sometimes nodding and applauding, sometimes frowning and shaking his head, but he was generally satisfied. The shooting proficiency and shooting accuracy of the soldiers in the entire battalion have reached the qualified line, and many of them have shown the potential of being sharpshooters. Using the backward and inaccurate fire guns of this era, their shooting hit rate has reached an astonishing eight out of nine shots.
By inspecting the shooting of the soldiers, Zhu Ping'an had a more intuitive assessment of the Zhejiang Army's firearms level.
The power of the musket is acceptable, but its range and accuracy are still somewhat insufficient.
The Zhejiang Army's gunpowder was improved black powder, which was almost twice as powerful as previous gunpowder. As long as it hit the target, it could cause quite fatal damage, which was incomparable to cold weapons such as bows and arrows.
However, due to the limitations of firearms manufacturing technology at that time, the range and accuracy of the musket were somewhat insufficient.
Zhu Ping'an estimated that within 70 meters, the hit rate of the Zhejiang Army's muskets was about 55%; within 150 meters, the hit rate of the muskets dropped to about 35%; and beyond 200 meters, the hit rate of the Zhejiang Army's muskets dropped to about 25%.
Zhu Ping'an also selected two whistles and asked them to test shoot at a distance of 300 meters and found that the hit rate was only about 15%.