Zhu Ping'an ordered the Zhejiang Army to immediately train everyone in horse riding, archery and hacking. Currently, horse riding is the main skill, with archery and hacking as supplementary skills. It is not required to master archery and hacking in a short period of time, but everyone must be able to ride a horse.
Of course, the horse archery here refers to muskets, not bows and arrows.
It is easy to give orders, but difficult to practice.
First of all, the newly purchased horses and mules were not used to the sound of firearms. Once the firearms were fired, the horses and mules were frightened, neighing and running around. It took a lot of effort to calm them down.
In order to make them adapt to firearms as quickly as possible, Zhu Ping'an ordered the soldiers to practice using firearms near the horses so that they could adapt to the movements of firearms as quickly as possible.
This is how the horses in the previous army adapted.
In addition, it is not easy to fire muskets on horseback. Firstly, the existing muskets of the Zhejiang Army are too long and not very suitable for firing on horseback, which is not very convenient; secondly, loading firearms on horseback is too difficult, much more difficult than on the ground.
In fact, Zhu Ping'an knew that the most suitable firearm for shooting on horseback was not a matchlock, but a flintlock. However, his technology was limited.
Zhu Ping'an could only indirectly tell the equipment battalion the limited knowledge he knew about flintlock rifles, to develop their thinking, help them avoid detours, and develop flintlock rifles as soon as possible, but there was no hope in a short period of time.
The trigger alone is a deep groove that is difficult to cross, not to mention the hammer, spring and flint.
However, with the right path, their research and development speed can definitely be greatly accelerated.
The future is promising.
While the Zhejiang military training ground was dusty and the soldiers were sweating profusely in the cold winter, my uncle Zhu Shouren, Hu Wei and Xia Qiang were feeling quite proud.
At noon, when they reluctantly left the tent and were about to line up for food, a soldier came from a distance carrying a lunch box.
At first, Uncle Zhu Shouren and the others thought that they were delivering food to Zhu Ping'an. After all, Zhu Ping'an was the supreme commander of the Zhejiang Army, and it was his right to enjoy this privilege. As for waiting in line to the end to eat the soup base, there was no need for that.
"Haha, Brother Zhu, look at what we said. It still has an impact on Master Zhu. Look, this is not a small punishment."
Hu Wei smiled slightly and whispered to his uncle Zhu Shouren.
"This is a good start." Xia Qiang also smiled, "In the future, Lord Zhu will accept more of our suggestions."
"It would be great if we could have the same treatment." Uncle Zhu Shouren said with some regret, "It's really embarrassing to queue up with those soldiers for food. They can't even read a word, but they can queue in front of us."
"Yes, it would be great if we had this treatment." Xia Qiang couldn't help but nodded, his eyes full of longing.
He was not longing for a meal, but for the power and status embodied by the meal.
"That day will come." Hu Wei patted Xia Qiang on the shoulder and said slowly with confidence.
"Let's go quickly. My nephew has his own kitchen, so he won't have to queue up. I don't want to eat leftovers."
The uncle shook his head and urged.
"Let's go." Xia Qiang and Hu Wei nodded and walked quickly forward. They didn't want to eat the leftovers of the soldiers.
They walked forward quickly, and when they were about to meet the soldier carrying the food box on the opposite side, the soldier stretched out his hand to greet them, and took two quick steps with the food box, "Secretary Zhu, Secretary Hu, Secretary Xia..."
Clerk, hmm, that's good, this is a good title, at least it has the word "official" in it. After hearing this, the uncle felt as if he had drunk fine wine, the taste was indescribable, a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth, and he nodded with a smile.
The same goes for Hu Wei and Xia Qiang.
The three nodded and continued to move forward with no intention of stopping. They were in a hurry to get in line. They didn't want to cut in line again after their experience in the morning.
The soldier carrying the food box saw that they had no intention of stopping, so he called out to them again and again, "Secretary Zhu, Secretary Hu, Secretary Xia, where are you going? Aren't you going to eat?"
What are you saying? If we don't eat, we will eat air? We don't have the treatment of the nephew/Master Zhu.
"Go to the kitchen and line up for food." The three uncles thought the soldier's words were a little puzzling.
"Secretary Zhu, Secretary Hu, Secretary Xia, why are you still lining up? The master asked me to bring you food. The master said that you are different from us. Your situation is special. You need to think about problems and prepare for exams. So, from now on, let us deliver your three meals a day to your tent."
The soldier explained.
"Ah?! Is this the food sent to us?" Uncle and the other three couldn't help but open their mouths in surprise.
"Yes. From now on, the three clerks will not have to queue up for three meals a day. We will deliver them to you on time."
the soldier repeated.
"Did you hear that? This is the meal sent to us." Uncle Zhu Shouren and the other two looked at each other, and all of them couldn't help showing surprise on their faces.
They were just wondering when they would be able to enjoy this treatment, but they didn't expect it to happen so soon.
"Thank you, thank you. I'll trouble you in the future." Hu Wei was the first to react and nodded to thank the soldiers.
"Ahem, then let's bring it into the tent." The uncle coughed, and instantly became stylish again.
The three of them returned to the tent again, and after the soldiers who brought the food left, the three of them couldn't help but look at each other and laughed.
"Lord Zhu specially asked someone to deliver food to us. He must have recognized our abilities, so he treats us like this." Xia Qiang opened the lunch box, looked at the food in it, and couldn't help but said excitedly.
"Of course. As the saying goes, gold will always shine. The three of us are real gold that is not afraid of fire. It is only natural that we are discovered by your nephew." Uncle Zhu Shouren nodded without any modesty and echoed.
"It must be our answer last time that impressed Lord Zhu, so he gave us attention and treatment."
Hu Wei analyzed.
"Definitely." Xia Qiang followed up, and then said with regret, "It's a pity that the book that Lord Zhu read just now and the military officer who told us about our affairs did not inspire us. Otherwise, we could have impressed Lord Zhu again."
"It doesn't matter. As long as we have the right ideas, there will be plenty of opportunities. Let me tell you, my nephew likes to read. When he was a child, he would read with a book in his hand when he went to the toilet. When he returns to his tent at noon, he will definitely keep a book in his hand. When we go to his tent again in the afternoon, we will definitely gain something."
Uncle Zhu Shouren said indifferently.
In the afternoon, before they went to Zhu Ping'an's tent, another good thing happened.
This afternoon, the Zhejiang Army received their salaries, and they received one and a half taels of silver as salary, as well as five taels of silver as resettlement allowance.
This made them even more excited, and they were more certain that Zhu Ping'an recognized their talents and value, which was why he treated them so courteously.
More and more proud.