Chapter 27: Training the Guard Corps

  （0027）

  Zhang Jun gathered all the guards together and said loudly, "Why do we have to fight like this? Because in a real battle, everyone may only have one chance! On the battlefield, there is no assumption, no what-ifs, no ifs, no thinking about what could have been! If you die, you're dead, and you'll never come back to life!"

  "I hope each and every one of you will cherish your own life! Don't give up easily! One of our lives can be exchanged for ten enemies, or even a hundred enemies! Because we have received the strictest training, we have endured the most difficult hardships, we have tempered the most unyielding fighting spirit! The price we pay is ten times, a hundred times that of others! We have sufficient reason to win more!"

  "One for one! One for five! All are losing business! We don't do it!"

  "If we give our enemy an opportunity due to our own negligence, it is the greatest loss!"

  "The process of confrontation is the process of comparing the mistakes made by both sides! The more mistakes you make, the more loopholes the enemy will grasp, and the greater the loss. On the contrary, the fewer mistakes you make, the harder it is for the enemy to find your loopholes, and the smaller the loss!"

  He paused for a long time, giving each team member ample time to savor the words. His gaze swept across the face of each warrior, observing their level of understanding. Somewhat disappointingly, most of the warriors did not grasp the underlying trick, possibly because it was too profound.

  After a long while, Zhang continued:

  "Now, what I want to emphasize is team spirit!"

  "We are all not alone in this solitary fight!"

  "Remember, you are all on the same team! It's one team fighting!"

  "On the battlefield, the only ones you can trust, the only ones you can rely on, are your comrades! Comrades who have been with you through thick and thin!"

  "Everyone in the team has different tasks and roles!"

  "To bring out the team's combat effectiveness to the maximum, there must be a suitable formation!"

  "The combat formation, also known as the array, is an important means of winning on the battlefield. In ancient times, there were eight trigrams array, fish scale array, wild goose array, spear and arrow array, long snake array, crescent moon array, three talents array, five elements array and other different array methods. In modern times, General Qi Jiguang invented the Mandarin duck array and the reverse crescent moon array, which are all good combat arrays. When the array method is applied properly, it will greatly enhance our own combat effectiveness."

  "What kind of battlefield requires what kind of combat formation?"

  "Given our geographical location on Fuyun Mountain and the characteristics of the enemies we will face, I think that the Three Talents Formation and the Five Elements Formation are the most suitable for us."

  "Now, everyone practice with me!"

  "Start with the Three Talents Formation!"

  At the beginning, the warriors of the guard were obviously not very adapted to the formation, and it had been too long since they had last trained. The combat troops of the Ming Dynasty basically no longer had the shadow of a military household. Even if there were military households, they also had an additional identity, that is, "soldiers", namely recruited soldiers selected from the military households. They received the rations of "soldiers" and had nothing to do with the "army" anymore.

  Each member of the guard was very enthusiastic when training alone, and their progress was rapid. However, when it came to formation drills, even simple ones like lining up in a row, they spent a lot of time getting it wrong, with some members still unable to tell left from right. In the end, Zhang had no choice but to tie different colored ribbons around each leg of his team members, using them as a reference point, and barely managed to pass muster.

  To motivate everyone to make progress, Zhang Quan thought of many ways.

  Dividing combat skills into grades one through nine is one of the methods.

  Each warrior of the guard, when they first join the team, has a skill level of zero, meaning they have nothing, and are called new recruits. As their skills gradually improve, they are promoted to first class, second class, third class... all the way up to ninth class. Having a certain number of levels in a skill is referred to as being a soldier of that class.

  The assessment of combat skills is improved in mutual confrontation. Zhang Zhun insisted on the binary system, that is, two new recruits compete to produce a first-class soldier; two first-class soldiers compete to produce a second-class soldier; two second-class soldiers compete to produce a third-class soldier; Two third-class soldiers compete to produce a fourth-class soldier... and so on.

  The Guardian Corps currently has eighty people, and can produce twenty first-class soldiers, ten second-class soldiers, five third-class soldiers, and five fourth-class soldiers. Due to insufficient numbers, no fifth-class soldiers have been produced. A challenge match is organized every quarter. Those who think their level is high enough can challenge upwards.

  For example, if a private first class challenges a private second class and wins, he will be directly promoted to private second class, while his opponent will be demoted to private first class. Obviously, everyone is only willing to move up, no one wants to be demoted. To avoid being overtaken by others, the best way is to work hard, maintain the best state.

  However, challenges can only be carried out in a hierarchical manner and cannot skip levels. This is also to ensure that high-level warriors are not disturbed unnecessarily. For example, for a fifth-level soldier, only fourth-level soldiers are qualified to challenge him. At higher levels, the number of both parties is limited, making it difficult for challenges to occur. But once they do, they will definitely be very attractive.

  After the combat skill level was proposed, it immediately sparked great interest among team members, and everyone enthusiastically signed up to participate in the challenge match. Thus, a series of challenge matches unfolded. In the era of cold weapons, the cohesion of grassroots officers was basically reflected in their own combat skills. If one's own combat skills were not up to par, subordinates might not be convinced. Therefore, each squad leader and team leader performed quite actively.

  In the process of the game, Zhang Zhun's rule was that there were no rules.

  As long as you can defeat your opponent, no matter what means you use.

  Even if you are a despicable person, as long as you can defeat your opponent, any means is allowed. The battlefield was originally extreme, as long as the enemy is defeated, you have won, regardless of whether your means are upright or despicable.

  After the competition, Yang Zhiyuan, Hao Linyong, Yang Qiang, Yin Fengyi and Zhang Yatie became the highest-ranking fourth-class soldiers, known as the first batch of high-level warriors in the Imperial Guard. The skill level and military rank are different and can coexist.

  The insignia of each rank are embroidered on the left chest with silk thread. The insignia for privates first, second and third class are represented by one, two and three blue stripes respectively. The insignia for privates fourth, fifth and sixth class are represented by one, two and three yellow stripes respectively. The insignia for privates seventh, eighth and ninth class are represented by one, two and three red stripes respectively.

  Such a competition is obviously very effective. In the three days, each warrior of the guard has found a suitable way to fight. More importantly, in the heart of every warrior, the idea of striving for progress has been firmly established.

  Those high-ranking warriors, such as Hao Linyong and others, also dare not to be careless, because others can also challenge you. If you are defeated, this rank will come down, even if it is an officer. As the leader of the team, being challenged by a small soldier and losing would be a shameful thing!

  "Zhang Yatie!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Well done, kid!"

  “……”

  In the challenge match, no one was more dazzling than the new warrior Zhang Yatie.

  He joined the guard at the beginning of February and mastered precise assassination skills in less than a month. In the mutual challenge among third-class soldiers, he defeated Zou Mingjia, who was favored by everyone, and broke into the ranks of fourth-class soldiers. For such a dark horse, Zhang Zhun was not stingy with his praise.

  Some people are born with a natural talent in certain skills, and Zhang Yatie is one of them. If he focuses on catching fish, he can catch several hundred fish a day without any problem. Of course, it's a pity to use such a skilled warrior just for catching fish. However, this also shows that since Zhang Yatie joined the guard team, the warriors have been eating so much fish that they're getting tired of it.

  As the person in charge of Yangjia Village's security, Zhang Zhun had a lot to consider. Training, weapons, equipment, intelligence, personnel, organization, command... any one of these was a blank slate. The only thing he was most familiar with was assassination training, thanks to the support of five fourth-class soldiers including Hao Linyong and Yang Qiang, so Zhang Zhun only needed to be in charge of assessment.

  As for other matters, Zhang had to take care of them personally.

  The weapons of the guards are the primary issue.

  By collecting the entire Yangjia Village, the guards obtained a considerable number of weapons, such as waist knives, long spears, steel knives and other weapons, with a total of over 100 pieces, which are now hidden in the rock crevices behind, ready to be taken out and used at any time.

  However, the main training subject of the Imperial Guard at present is assassination. Zhang Zhun's intention is to master the art of assassination first before learning other subjects. Even if the assassination skills are practiced to a high level, other combat skills do not need to be practiced. There is nothing easier than stabbing to take someone's life, and there is nothing easier than stabbing to break through the opponent's defense.

  Under such a goal, the captured weapons are not very useful and can only be used as auxiliary weapons for people like Hao Linyong. Another use of these weapons is to kill fish and make sashimi. When cutting fish slices, the blade is still quite sharp.

  Unfortunately, there weren't enough raw materials, otherwise Zhang Zhun would have given each guard a real trident to experience the power of a true killing machine. A trident made of oil tea wood can't compare with steel after all, and it would be exposed when encountering a powerful opponent.

  In addition, Wang Shixing's family guards were also equipped with firearms, including the Swift Thunder Cannon and the Flying Bird Cannon. The range of these two firearms was over 50 meters, and their lethality was stronger than that of bows and arrows. Therefore, it was not enough for the guard team to be equipped only with tridents, they also needed to be equipped with long-range high-power firearms.

  What Zhang Jun wanted was not an ordinary fire lance, nor the so-called divine three-eyed gun, nor the large-caliber muzzle-loading rifle used by Napoleon's army in large quantities, but explosives, landmines, and cannons. Simple production and convenient operation were the primary conditions.