Chapter Forty-One: Reorganization

  After this battle, Xiao Tianjian's subordinates doubled again. In addition to the more than 20 original subordinates, there were more than 30 people who had been transferred from Sha Erbao, making his total number of subordinates nearly 60, which can be said to have greatly increased in strength.

  However, for these newcomers, Xiao Tianjian still had hidden worries. After all, these new partners were forced to join him, and they used to be enemies, unlike his previous subordinates who appeared as benevolent masters.

  So how to subdue these people became something that Xiao Tianjian needed to consider carefully. Fortunately, these people were originally peripheral members under Sha Erbao's command and had no loyalty to Sha Erbao. Moreover, among them, Yan Chongxi and Luo Yingjie had already expressed their allegiance, so the rest of the people would be easier to handle.

  After all, they followed Sha Er Bao just to make a living, and as long as someone provided food, it was fine. However, Xiao Tian Jian was not satisfied with these people simply following him for the sake of making a living. He had a deeply rooted idea in his heart - he must ensure that those under him were absolutely loyal to him. Otherwise, no matter how many followers he had, they would ultimately be like sandcastles on the beach, crumbling at the first wave.

  So after bringing these people back to the nest, he repeatedly emphasized that it is not allowed for his subordinates to form cliques, distinguish between you and me, and even more so, not allow old brothers to discriminate against these new subordinates. Moreover, in terms of food, everyone is treated equally, regardless of status, all eating from the same pot, what he eats, others also eat.

  Although this is the requirement, it is still impossible for two groups of people to quickly merge together. After all, there is a natural sense of superiority among old brothers, while new people have a sense of inferiority. Even if Xiao Tianjian strictly forbids factionalism, people are used to staying with familiar people, and there is still an invisible distinction between the two groups.

  For those who followed Xiao Tianjian to eat, the new group of people were a bit stunned on their first day. Because when they followed Sha Erbao before, Sha Erbao only took care of them for two meals a day, one of which was just vegetable porridge and couldn't be full. But after arriving here, they found that Xiao Tianjian would provide them with three meals a day, all of which had staple food, and even had bone soup to drink at noon. Moreover, everyone ate the same thing, and there was also a fresh rule that made them feel new, that is, everyone had to line up to get their meal, including Xiao Tianjian, who was in charge of serving food, without any special privileges, and had to hold his rice bowl in line with them to get his meal.

  This shocked all the newcomers and made them think that Xiao Tianjian's behavior was somewhat undignified, so someone secretly asked the older brothers to investigate.

  "What's so strange about that? We've always been like this, we were the first to follow Boss Fan, and at first, we didn't get used to it either. But Boss Fan is a righteous person, he's always been like that, as long as he has food to eat, he won't let his brothers go hungry! Following Boss Fan is like hitting the jackpot! You guys are lucky to have met him, just follow him and work hard, and he'll never treat you unfairly! Look at yourselves, hunching over like a bunch of bears, learn from me, stand up straight, don't embarrass yourselves!" Feng Gouzzi said with a smug expression, speaking as if he was the senior one.

  Everything in this world is afraid of comparison. After comparing, the new ones saw the benefits of following Xiao Tianjian, and their hearts were much more at ease.

  Three days later, Shi Rang and Da Niu, who had stayed at the Mountain God Temple, also rushed back to their old nest. The several meat tickets they had previously obtained from Gu Zhuang Sha Er Bao were also redeemed by their family members with money. Moreover, they thanked Shi Rang and others for the reduced ransom, calling them "恩公" (Benefactor). This matter is somewhat laughable and cry-worthy, but it also makes some sense. After all, there was the high ransom initially proposed by Sha Er Bao, and suddenly being able to pay half less money made those poor people happy.

  Apart from the ransom, they also solved the problem of salt this time. Among the meat tickets they obtained, there was a person who had a relationship with a private salt smuggler. After being rescued by Xiao Tianjian and his gang, he saw that Xiao Tianjian's subordinates treated him well, gave him food to eat, water to drink, and didn't beat or scold him. So he guaranteed to help them contact and guarantee the supply of a batch of salt.

  Later, Shi Yan simply took the initiative to exempt his ransom and let his family send some salt as a substitute. As a result, the other party unexpectedly sent them a stone of salt as a thank you, which was also transported back by Shi Yan and others with a donkey.

  Having many subordinates also has its troubles. Xiao Tianjian suddenly found that after having many subordinates, he was already somewhat unable to manage them effectively. Because in his later years, he had taken some management courses and knew that management is a pyramid shape. A person's energy is limited, and the number of subordinates they can effectively manage is generally around seven or eight people, at most not exceeding ten people. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to achieve effective management, even if implementing flat management, it would not be possible for one person to manage so many dozens of people.

  So he had no choice but to select some people from his own hands to act as small leaders.

  After some consideration, Xiao Tianjian still selected a few people with relatively strong abilities from the old brothers and let them replace some of his own work.

  These people are Tie Tou, Feng Gouzi, Shi Rang, Zhao Er Liu, Li Shuanzhu and Jing Fuzi. Except for Jing Fuzi continuing to serve as the temporary logistics manager, the rest were appointed by Xiao Tianjian as class leaders.

  After Xiao Tianjian came to this era, although he had some understanding of the military officer system of this era, and knew that in the Ming Dynasty, from top to bottom, there were officials such as Zongbing, Fuxiang, Canjiang, Shoubei, Qianzong, Bazong, Zongqi, and Xiaogui, Xiao Tianjian was quite skeptical about it.

  Because he was still accustomed to the military titles of later generations, and the evolution of the army was also in an era of transition between old and new, when the West was undergoing various military reforms, here everything was up to him, he had no need to imitate the military system of this era, so he simply brought the military system of later generations to organize his troops.

  And so these newly-minted class leaders took office immediately.

  Xiao Tianjian also listened to the opinions of Yan Chongxi, who came from a military background, and learned about the distinctions between "family soldiers", "warriors" and "auxiliary soldiers" in this era. Family soldiers were, of course, the most trusted subordinates of the general, as well as the most combat-effective soldiers, and were considered to be the backbone of the army. In addition to family soldiers, there were also warriors who would serve as the main fighting force during wartime, working together with the general and family soldiers to fight on the battlefield. As for auxiliary soldiers, they were simply support personnel, mostly composed of old, weak, sick or disabled soldiers, responsible for miscellaneous tasks such as taking care of horses, cooking meals, fetching water, etc., when the army went out to battle, and had no combat effectiveness whatsoever, nor would they be used for fighting on the battlefield.

  As for what Yan Chongxi said, Xiao Tianjian's later generations still have some understanding of it. After careful consideration, he felt that he absolutely could not do something like a family soldier. If he did so, it would be equivalent to destroying his own team. If he did this, his team would soon become like the Ming army, and the military would quickly lose its combat effectiveness.

  In his vision, his team must ensure that everyone is of one mind, with strict discipline constraining each individual, making every person a capable combat member, rather than relying solely on those few family members to maintain personal interests. His team must be a cohesive whole, sharing honor and loss together, with all individuals subject to the collective will, fighting for the collective interest, and absolutely not allowing any small interest groups like those of generals and their retainers.

  But he also cannot deny the value of auxiliary soldiers, in every team, there are indispensable auxiliary members, and he cannot guarantee that everyone under his command is a qualified combat soldier. So for the issue of auxiliary soldiers, he is not very opposed to it, after all, similar auxiliary forces exist in later armies, such as transport troops, clerks, etc.

  For the time being, he cannot clearly divide the troops like the later generations, so for the time being, he can only divide them into two types of soldiers: combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, as the basic framework of his team.

  After realizing this point, Xiao Tianjian immediately began to reorganize the dozens of people under his command. He selected a dozen or so new and old members from among the sixty who were not suitable for frontline combat due to various reasons and handed them over to Jing Fuzi for management. They were temporarily used as auxiliary soldiers, responsible for some miscellaneous tasks in the old camp during peacetime, and could be responsible for transportation, cooking, and other tasks during battles, allowing the remaining people to focus on combat and training.

  However, being relegated to auxiliary troops does not mean they have completely abandoned training. For these auxiliary troops, Xiao Tianjian also requires them to undergo training, only with a reduced intensity compared to the remaining combat troops. They still need to follow the morning run, complete at least three kilometers of cross-country running, and participate in formal formation and spear thrust training in the afternoon. This way, when they really encounter enemies, they won't become a group of sheep waiting to be slaughtered. This most basic combat capability is still necessary.

  The remaining forty or so people were all assigned to be combat soldiers, and these people were completely withdrawn from production. Except for those who took turns standing guard at the mountain pass every day, the rest had to undergo high-intensity training throughout the day.

  But then Xiao Tianjian encountered a problem, that is, the treatment of war soldiers and auxiliary soldiers. War soldiers are going to face real knives in the future, facing each other and fighting for their lives, which is much more dangerous than auxiliary soldiers. If there is no difference, who would be stupid enough to be a war soldier?

  Originally, Xiao Tianjian hadn't thought of this matter, but rather it was brought up by several of his subordinates, and only then did he realize the issue. However, at present, apart from going out to do tasks and distributing rewards to his subordinates after reaping gains, he normally didn't give them a salary. Therefore, wanting to differentiate between the treatment of combat troops and support troops was indeed somewhat troublesome.

  After some deliberation, Xiao Tianjian finally decided that from now on, the combat troops and support troops would eat separately. The combat troops could enjoy three meals a day, while the support troops and other personnel could only have two meals a day. Moreover, the combat troops' food would occasionally include meat dishes served at fixed intervals, which was much better than what the support troops were given.

  In this era, ordinary people generally eat two meals a day, but he lets his subordinates have three meals a day so that these severely malnourished subordinates can quickly become strong and healthy, making them very satisfied with this quality of life.

  After Xiao Tianjian made this decision, the people under him didn't have much to say. After all, everyone understood that when it came to fighting, they had to put their lives on the line. Auxiliary soldiers were generally not required to go into battle, and their training was less intense than that of the combat soldiers. They also got beaten up less often. Once they realized this point, no one had any further opinions. Although they only ate two meals a day, it was still difficult for them. At least these two meals, Xiao Tianjian guaranteed that they would have both dry and wet food. Even if their treatment couldn't compare to that of the combat soldiers, at least it was much better than when they didn't do this job before. They could basically eat their fill without any problems.

  With this distinction in treatment, the morale of the warriors was immediately boosted. Even when lining up in formation, their chests were puffed out a bit higher, making an effort to show off their differences from the auxiliary soldiers, causing those auxiliary soldiers who had not been selected as warriors to envy them one by one.

  After settling this matter, Xiao Tianjian dispersed the more than 40 soldiers selected and reorganized them with new and old members mixed together. The old led the new, basically doing one-on-one pairing of an old brother with a new partner to quickly familiarize each new member with their training methods and various rules.

  These more than 40 people were divided into four classes by Xiao Tianjian, with each class having ten people, led by a class leader, and at the same time, an older brother was also selected as the deputy class leader. In case of necessity, if the class leader died or was injured in battle, the deputy class leader could take over to ensure that each class had leadership.

  Apart from these four classes, he also picked out several people who could ride horses, including Big Cow, and handed them over to Shi Yan to lead as his vanguard squad. Shi Yan was also appointed as the class leader, and Big Cow served as the deputy class leader. When necessary, these people could also serve as cavalry.

  In this way, he initially established a foundation, which will play a good role in the future expansion of his team.

  For each battalion, Xiao Tianjian had Tie Tou select a few more elite subordinates, all equipped with shields and waist knives, as close combat soldiers. This changed the previous composition of almost all long gunners, making their team's formation more reasonable, and also avoided the situation where they would suffer heavy casualties when encountering opponents who used bows and arrows to counter them, or even a complete collapse.

  The remaining three classes of Zhao Er Liu, Feng Gouzi and Li Shuanzhu were still required by Xiao Tianjian to be fully equipped with long guns, so that they could form combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

  However, Yan Chongxi was not quite satisfied with this arrangement. In his view, the team must have a group of people equipped with bows and arrows to provide them with basic long-range firepower. Moreover, they also had these things in their inventory now, although the arrow shafts were insufficient, but they could be made by themselves, and it was completely possible to equip a group of archers.

  However, Yan Zhongxi's proposal was vetoed by Xiao Tianjian. His reason was that there were basically no qualified archers in the team at present, and training archers would take too long a time. Even within one or two years, it is not certain whether a batch of qualified archers can be trained. Therefore, it is better to quickly make their swordsmen and spearmen form a useful combat force rather than wasting time on training archers.

  As for Xiao Tianjian's persistence, Yan Chongxi thought about it and felt that it made sense. After all, he was more aware than anyone else that training a qualified archer was extremely difficult. With this time, it would be better to follow Xiao Tianjian's suggestion and train some qualified long gunners or knife shieldsmen instead.

  Moreover, Yan Chongxi also saw the might of Xiao Tianjian's long gun soldiers in formation. The dense rows of long guns, when facing the enemy, were like a forest of spears thrusting forward in unison, and even he, an old soldier who had seen many battles, felt his hair stand on end. And this was only the combat power that Xiao Tianjian had trained them to form in a very short period of time. In general, when facing opponents with roughly equal numbers, they could basically hold their own without losing.

  A 4,700-word big chapter is presented, brothers and sisters, come and vote!