Chapter Fourteen: The New Military System

  "Expel the Tartars and replace Heaven's way"

  Wang Feng and Zhao Yun didn't quite understand what profound meaning was hidden in these eight words, but after Wei Zheng's serious illness, the two men's trust in him could be described as 'unconditional'.

  So, for these eight words, both of them did not express any opinions and nodded in agreement at the same time.

  "We all believe in you, great leader, whatever you say goes..."

  He nodded and continued to correct: "There's another problem, since our mountain stronghold is going to be changed into a righteous army, then from now on, everyone should stop calling me 'Big Boss' and instead call me 'General'..."

  "Yes, General..." Both of them answered in unison with a hint of divinity.

  After determining this relationship to his own future, Wei Zheng immediately thought of another big thing. After the mountain stronghold changed into a righteous army, how should the entire army's troops be allocated to better suit the battles he might face in the future?

  After a brief moment of contemplation, he asked Wang Feng, who was still immersed in excitement: "Brother Wang, you personally experienced last night's battle. In your opinion, is there still a need for the big knife to exist in front of our long spear formation?"

  After glancing at Zhao Yun who was opposite him and seemed to want to say something but hesitated, Wang Feng replied hesitantly.

  "General, judging from the battle last night, in front of the long spear formation, those Tartars holding big knives can't even get close to us, let alone hurt us..."

  "Wang Dage's answer is very pertinent..." Wei Zheng smiled and nodded in affirmation.

  Then, facing Zhao Yun who was sitting on the other side with a serious face, he said: "Brother Zhao, you shouldn't have any complaints about Brother Wang either. I also went through yesterday's battle."

  "No matter what, there is one thing we can't deny: on the battlefield, if your weapon is longer than your opponent's, you can kill them before they can kill you..."

  "And our equipment of long spears and big knives is just this kind of long and short weapon. On the battlefield, under the attack of the long spearman, the big knife man has no chance to fight back at all."

  Zhao Yun racked his brains trying to find a reason to refute, but in the face of facts, he had no choice but to express his consent with silence.

  "With a last thread of hope, Wei Zheng asked: 'General, are you going to cancel the Big Sword Squad...'"

  Wei Zheng nodded without hesitation: "I have this intention... Now we have more than 240 people, I plan to form two hundred-man scale long gun teams, you and Wang Feng each lead a team."

  "The Hundred-Man Long Gun Unit..." Not only did Zhao Yun's brow furrow in concern, but even Wang Feng couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise.

  "Wei Zheng said affirmatively: 'Since we are the righteous army fighting against the Tartars, our military system must be different from that of the Tartars and the government army. My intention is that from now on, in our Tiger and Leopard Army, all units will be organized with ten men as one squad, with a squad leader. Thirty-two men will form one platoon, with a platoon leader and deputy platoon leader. One hundred men will form one company, consisting of three platoons, with a company commander and two deputy commanders.'"

  "And you are about to command a hundred-man unit with three ranks of long spears and nine squads of long spear formation..."

  An increase in military strength is undoubtedly what every general wants to see most.

  Wang Feng's face was shrouded in excitement for a moment, and Zhao Yun's tightly furrowed eyebrows also disappeared, with the entire face filled with nothing but excitement.

  It took a full ten seconds for Wang Feng's excited facial expression to slowly return to calm.

  Facing Wei Zheng, he asked thoughtfully: "General, according to your meaning, will our Tiger and Leopard Army only be equipped with long guns from now on?"

  Wei Zheng shook his head and flatly denied: "Of course not..."

  "We all know that the long gun can only exert its power in close combat. Our Tiger and Leopard Troops want to truly develop and grow, not afraid of the enemy's siege, must gradually develop into a composite army."

  "Not only should we be equipped with spears, but from now on, we must also find ways to equip ourselves with firearms, and even artillery..."

  "Of course, judging from the current situation, we can only give up those unrealistic dreams and temporarily replace firearms with longbows."

  "So, in our Tiger Leopard Army, apart from the two long spear teams commanded by you two, there is also a longbow platoon and a cavalry platoon. Since we are short-handed, I will personally take command and train these two platoons for the time being..."

  "Last night's battle, the six best performing long gunners were appointed as temporary platoon leaders of the six long gun platoons. The next best performers were appointed as temporary deputy platoon leaders of the long gun platoons. The remaining 18 long gunners all served as temporary squad leaders. From now on, in training and combat, if performance is not good, temporary officers will be demoted one level for use. If performance is good, the two words 'temporary' will be removed..."

  "As for the 40 officers and men of the longbow squad and cavalry squad, they were all selected first in the new troops. After the selection was completed, the remaining ones could be divided into two long gun squads. The last few people were assigned to the logistics department, with Old Wang as the department head, responsible for the army's logistics and daily food distribution."

  Seeing both of them nodding in agreement, Wei Zheng took a glance at the increasingly dark sky outside.

  "Old Zhao, it's getting dark... Tonight is the first hot meal for over a hundred brothers who entered the mountain stronghold. Tell Old Wang from the kitchen to stew all the remaining two wild boars and also assign two people from the original Big Knife Squad to help him out. Get dinner ready early, so that our new brothers can understand that joining us is absolutely the best choice they've ever made in their lives."

  "General, I understand what you're saying..."

  More than one hundred and eighty new recruits lined up in three long queues, slowly walking towards the cafeteria when a pungent smell of meat suddenly reached everyone's ears.

  Some soldiers with keen noses subconsciously let out a cry of surprise: "It's braised pork, really didn't expect that even bandits have braised pork to eat, it's actually better than what we get at home..."

  A big bowl of braised pork with cabbage for each person, a large serving of rice...

  After being locked up for over a month, more than 100 new recruits who had been eating wild vegetable porridge and steamed buns were squatting on the ground, their eyes shining brightly as they hugged their bowls and wolfed down their food, afraid that someone would snatch it from them.

  At this time, sixty veteran soldiers from the mountain stronghold, under Zhao Yun's deliberate arrangement, appeared among these new soldiers with their rice bowls.

  Seeing the new recruit swallowing hard, he smiled and asked: "Brother, how is it? Is the food delicious?"

  "It's delicious, even better than at home... Before I came here, I could only eat pork during Chinese New Year. I really didn't expect that on my first day here, I could eat so much meat, it's too delicious..."

  The old soldier slowly swallowed a mouthful of pork and replied: "If it's delicious, eat more, we call it full here..."

  "But don't eat too much either, or you might get sick from overeating. After all, we can have wild boar meat every day here, it's not like..."

  The new recruit's face suddenly froze, and after quickly swallowing a mouthful of pork, he looked at the old soldier with an incredulous expression and asked: "Impossible, if we can eat pork every day, isn't that even better than the life of our village landlord?"

  The old soldier replied with a smug face: "I don't know what kind of life the landlords in your hometown live, but I only know that in our mountain stronghold, each person can get at least half a catty of meat every day. This is personally guaranteed by the big boss himself and he will never cheat us..."

  "You don't know our Big Boss, after his serious illness, he became incredibly fierce, just like a god descending to the mortal world..."

  "The wild boar meat we're eating now was caught by the master of the house himself, who took us to the back mountain..."

  Moreover, the master's archery skills are particularly formidable. Whether it is a wild rabbit in the back mountain or a pheasant on the mountain slope, as long as they are seen by the master, they will definitely not escape the master's bow and arrow...

  "Among the dozen or so Tartars we killed yesterday, four of them were shot dead by the master with his bow and arrow."

  "I'll tell you another secret, our Long Gun Squad is so fierce, it's all thanks to the big boss."

  "Before the Master was injured, our mountain stronghold of over a hundred people not only failed to take down Mushroom Valley, but also lost more than eighty brothers. However, after the Master recovered from his illness, he began to organize us to train in combat. And now, in less than three days, a dozen or so Tartars have been killed by our dozen or so long gunners, without us suffering a single loss."

  "You guys said, if the leader isn't a god descended to earth, why after one illness he suddenly knows so many things and is so fierce, easily leading us to kill more than ten of those Tartars that even the government troops are extremely afraid of..."

  "In our village, the big boss is like a god in our minds... In our eyes, there's nothing that the big boss can't do..."

  The new recruit's mouth was agape with shock, as if an egg could fit in it, and he even forgot to eat the big bowl of fatty meat in his hand.

  Facing the old soldier, he asked dully: "Brother, what you said is true, our great leader is really that powerful."

  "That goes without saying... Don't forget, the braised wild boar meat you're eating now was caught by the great leader for everyone. Without the great leader, there wouldn't be the wild boar meat and grain we have now, and you guys wouldn't have been rescued from the clutches of the Tartars..."