Chapter Twenty-Two Military Training

  " Military training?"

  Sun Mingli listened to this somewhat unfamiliar term

  That's right, it was military training. For these farmers from the countryside, Sima thought of this very common way of training employees in later generations.

  Through short-term military training, these overly casual farmers are subject to disciplinary constraints and can get rid of their casual and bad habits.

  When Sima thought of this method, he was still worried that there were not enough military instructors to operate these matters. However, when the patrol team members who had run for over ten miles and were not scattered appeared in front of him with guns on their backs and footsteps that did not appear disorganized, and quickly reorganized themselves,

  Simarima's eyes lit up as if he had discovered a new continent, staring at these patrol team members, who were simply sent by heaven to him, making them the most suitable for these farmers from Guannei.

  "It's just military training. Borrowing Brother Sun's patrol team for over a dozen days, teaching these peasants how to march and form ranks. At the very least, it can change their appearance."

  Ten days or so is definitely not enough to turn a group of peasants into soldiers, but it is certainly enough to get them to accept discipline. The discipline that constrains them from dawn till dusk will definitely have some effect.

  Later generations of high schools generally conducted military training for students, with the original intention of letting students accept disciplinary constraints, so as to better manage students in the future. This method was very useful in a period when information was not developed, but later...

  Although the method of helping to manage students through military training has lost its effect in later generations, Sima still believes that in this era, it is still feasible to reform peasants through military training and then implement militarized management for a period of time.

  "Brother Sun, I won't lend the patrol team for nothing. Every day, each brother in the patrol team who goes to drill the peasants will receive two silver dollars as a subsidy, and another two silver dollars will be given to the station. As for Brother Sun's side, I must express my heartfelt thanks!"

  Simaz saw Sun Mingli still hadn't expressed his stance, but he had set out his own conditions. He hoped that Sun would agree to his terms, after all in this era probably no one has done such a thing before, being the first to take action is something everyone needs time to consider.

  "Haha! Brother, you're being too polite. This matter isn't a big deal, but it still carries some risk. If anything happens, I'll take full responsibility."

  Although he agreed to lend the patrol team to those farmers for some "military training" as requested by Sima, Sun Ming still didn't forget to mention that he was taking a risk in doing so, and sometimes things just had to be done this way.

  "Brother Sun is of noble character, I thank you first, Brother Sun!"

  It was unexpected that things would go so smoothly for Sima, and he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. After all, it wasn't easy to find someone who could help him train those farmers in this era. And Sima himself clearly wasn't the right person for the job either - after all, he had only received military training twice during his high school and university days.

  "Brothers, we've all run over ten miles today, so let's have some water and wine to show our appreciation. This money is a reward for everyone, two dollars per person, I hope you won't decline."

  Simmering with anger, Sima Gong said to the half-drunk patrol team members, "Although I don't understand this era very well, from many TV shows and movies, I've seen that if you want to win people's hearts, giving them silver is still the best way. Wasn't it like that in that era?"

  "Wow! Thanks for Brother Shao's reward."

  As soon as they heard that there was money to be taken, these patrol team members hastily thanked them loudly. In the past, when they were in the Old Northern Army, they had silver for opening roads and silver for wintering, and silver for summer.

  Although the money they got from the Road Mining Bureau was a few more than when they were in the Northern Army, these various example silvers basically disappeared. Everyone at this time saw that there was wealth to be taken and didn't care about so much, only feeling that Young Master Sima was indeed capable of handling things.

  "Alas! Thank you, Young Master, for the reward! From now on, if anyone dares to utter a single word against Young Master in this territory, our patrol team of over twenty guns will not stand for it!"

  The deputy captain of the patrol team, Cheng Yuanshan, patted his own pistol and said in a daze. After all, relying on the big tree above is not a bad choice, let alone this big tree occasionally drops some fruit for people below to eat.

  "Prepare 1000 sets of this military uniform for me, plus 1000 pairs of liberation shoes."

  Simma pointed to the "65-style" military uniform on the rack in a military uniform sales store near the local armed forces department, saying that Simma, who had participated in two military trainings, knew the benefits of neat and orderly dressing for military training.

  In this military supplies store, apart from the 65-style military uniform, Sima really couldn't find any other suitable military uniforms to take back to that era. After all, just those zippers on the military uniform were clearly not suitable for appearing in that era.

  This typical Zhongshan suit style of the 65-style military uniform is more suitable than those jacket-style military uniforms, whether in old photos during the Republican era or in movies later on. The army wore mostly this style of uniform during the Republican era, with only different colors.

  Mu Bai and Wu Man Tuan, who led the Dong family to appear in front of everyone, did not receive blame from the crowd for not showing up last time. Instead, people felt that the two were more capable and had entered the Dong family's good graces, making them even closer to each other.

  Wu Mantun and Mu Bai led the way, wearing green clothes, looking at the brand new clothes without a single thread, the two of them couldn't believe it was true. To know that during this time of year, being able to get a new set of clothes for the New Year's festival was already good enough, but now the master had given them a full set from head to toe, including shoes and socks.

  "Brother! This is actually the first new set of clothes I've worn, this family has been too good to us!"

  Mu Bai's heart was overjoyed, and he couldn't help but feel even more pleased with his original decision. Whether it was the people of Shandong or Yima Ridge, whoever received the new clothes would have no more grievances in their hearts, only gratitude towards Dongfang. It seemed that this act of distributing clothing had never happened before.

  Took a cool water bath, everyone shaved their heads clean, put on the green clothes on their bodies, although everyone was somewhat reluctant, but the master had already spoken, and still wore the green hat on their heads.

  Ma Si looked at everyone wearing the same uniform, plus this military-style clothing, and his heart skipped a beat with a bad feeling. Could it be that the host was not letting everyone come here to work? Or eat army rations? It didn't look like it!

  But this uniform is obviously only worn by the military, what does this master want to do?

  As a modern person, Sima found it difficult to understand the difficulties that would be encountered in conducting military training for peasants who did not recognize a single character of the year 1915. In Sima's view, conducting military training was the simplest thing to do.

  But looking at the team below the stage, although they were dressed neatly, but in a chaotic queue, Sima began to feel desperate.

  "Master, don't worry. It's always like this at the beginning. Look at my soldiers, they were all like that when they first started out. Don't expect those poor, illiterate guys to know what 'left' and 'right' are, these bear-like soldiers have been trained since the Qing dynasty, we've got a way."

  Cheng Yuanshan had an unexpectedly calm expression. As someone who had been in the Northern Army for over a decade, Cheng Yuanshan clearly knew how to handle this kind of situation.

  When soldiers eat this bowl of rice that can knock their heads off, they have always been poor. How to train them? Those who have been soldiers and eaten this kind of food will understand.

  "Ma Liu, come over and take off the cloth shoes on my left foot and put on the grass shoes."

  Cheng Yuanshan shouted at the top of his lungs, since Ma Liu had beaten up Sima last time, Sun Mingli was afraid to let him cause trouble outside, and coincidentally Ma Liu asked him to find a job for him, so he directly threw him into this patrol camp as an errand boy.

  As soon as Deputy Captain Cheng called him, Ma Liu hurriedly ran over, pointing at the back of his head to take a look and see if Deputy Captain Cheng could get himself into the team instead of doing this listening job. This work is exhausting!

  Upon hearing Ma Liu's name, Sima turned his head to take a look, and wasn't it the very same Ma Liu who had swindled him out of several dollars when he first arrived at Kong Family Village?

  How did he end up in the patrol team? If it weren't for his sake, I wouldn't have gotten to know Gao Chuanliang either. Otherwise, things might not be going so smoothly for me now.

  What's more, Sun Mingli had already apologized yesterday, and he still has the nerve to hold a grudge against him. It's clear that this kid got some information from his brother-in-law, otherwise he wouldn't dare show his face like this.

  "You watch, just like him, watch which foot he wears straw sandals on and then switch that foot to wear straw sandals for me."

  Cheng Yuanshan made his move, and as soon as Ma Si Guang heard him say "let's change shoes", he knew what method he was going to use. This method had been passed down since the time of Zhang Sanfeng, and although it was a bit unorthodox, it was simple and effective.

  "Straw sandals turn, cloth shoes turn..."

  Simma stared blankly at the stage below, where those patrol team soldiers were holding batons and shouting strange but domestically characteristic commands.

  If that person reacted a fraction of a second slower, the soldier would ruthlessly hit his thigh with the stick. If that person dared to rub their thigh in pain, the soldier would continue to beat them. Just because a few people were beaten at the front and back, those people began to walk in an orderly manner.

  Sima never thought they would use such a method to train soldiers, simply using one grass shoe on the left foot and one cloth shoe on the right foot.

  Soldiers can't tell left from right, but they can distinguish between the different shoes on their own feet. And then add this absolutely rough training method.

  "This...this is also too much!"

  Looking at this bizarre scene in front of him, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Sima would never have believed that in this era, they actually relied on such a method to train soldiers.

  This method of training soldiers to distinguish left from right by using cloth shoes and straw sandals is a true story in the Republic of China era. At that time, farmers who were the main body of conscription could not tell left from right at all, so they had to use this primitive method to teach farmers how to turn left and right for team formation training.

  "Young master, if you want to train these poor rascals well, you can't be soft-hearted. My brothers and I all came up this way back in the day, and we wouldn't have learned a thing if we hadn't been beaten."

  Cheng Yuanshan was very satisfied with the achievements of his brothers under his command, although this military training had been going on for almost a year. However, the half-column incense's work could make these poor guys walk a good path, which was not much different from before. It was still comfortable in the Northern Army in the past!