Chapter 27 A Bucket of Cold Water

  As for the outcome of this battle, Xiao Tianjian was quite satisfied. They won with fewer men and defeated the government troops, although these government troops could only be considered a mob. However, at least they achieved a great victory at a very small cost, which fully demonstrated that his training was still very effective. At least in doing so, the direction was not wrong, which strengthened Xiao Tianjian's confidence and determination to continue training like this, making his men have even stronger combat power. This is the capital for survival in troubled times!

  When Xiao Tianjian's whistle sounded again, those old subordinates heard the sound and immediately dropped their work, rushing to gather in front of Xiao Tianjian. They quickly formed a horizontal queue, following Xiao Tianjian's command, they swiftly turned right, looking forward. The formation was even more neat than before, and the speed was much faster. These men stood up straight, revealing a sharp and dignified demeanor. After all, they were real veterans who had seen blood in battle, and psychologically, they had matured a lot.

  And those new men from Zhaojia Fort, uncertain and timid, also gathered around, but didn't know what to do, each of them bowing their heads and shrinking their necks to listen for Xiao Tianjian's orders.

  Xiao Tianjian swept his gaze over the crowd before speaking loudly: "Everyone has seen what happened two days ago! My training for all of you is still effective! So, even if it's just for your own lives and families, you can't slack off! This training must continue!"

  As for the newcomers, you've all seen that in a chaotic world, survival can only be ensured by sticking together. Since you're following me, Xiao, then you must follow me in training as well. Only this way can we live a bit longer!

  I'd rather not bring up Li Ma Zi's matter, but I have to say it. Deserting at the critical moment is a betrayal for anyone. If I hadn't killed him that day and let him run away, you would all be in chaos. Probably, none of you would still be standing here now!

  "So no matter what, it's not an excuse to retreat in disarray. Even if we die, we'll all die together. Without this, we're still just a mob! Does everyone understand?"

  "Understood, boss!" The group of old brothers shouted in unison, their loud voices startling the new arrivals from Zhaojia Village. However, they also agreed with Xiao Tianjian's words and had seen the consequences of this group's actions.

  Next, Xiao Tianjian poured another basin of cold water on these guys: "Is it because of the battle the day before yesterday that everyone thinks we are invincible? Can we walk sideways from now on?"

  As soon as he asked this, Zhao Er Tuo, Tie Tou and the others really had a somewhat self-satisfied feeling, although they didn't dare to directly answer Xiao Tian Jian's question, but each person's face revealed their meaning.

  "Don't be too happy, in my opinion, your performance that day was not worth mentioning! We say we won a great victory, but in fact it was just luck! If I hadn't killed Li Ma Zi, I believe there would have been others who would have turned and run away like him! And you all knew that day, the government soldiers were lax, which allowed us to take advantage of the situation and catch them off guard! If we had pushed forward openly and given the government soldiers time to prepare, the outcome of that battle would certainly not have been this way!"

  "Musketmen, think for yourselves! That day I gave the order to fire, did your guns follow my command? When I ordered you to charge and kill, what was the result? Some went left, some right, some down, it was a complete mess. Some were even too scared to fire, just trembling with fear. And there were those whose legs cramped up, who could barely walk! Luckily, that group of government soldiers was also a motley crew, or else you would have been defeated and slaughtered without a trace! To be blunt, compared to the mob, you are only slightly stronger!" Xiao Tianjian sneered, his mouth curled in a cold smile as he yelled at them.

  After hearing Xiao Tianjian's evaluation of them, these guys suddenly lost their morale. Originally, they thought they were already quite good, but thinking back to their performance that day, it was indeed as Xiao Tianjian said - most people had a blank mind when taking action, and saying they had cramps in their legs was an exaggeration. Some people were even so scared when the officers and soldiers rushed up that they almost wet their pants. The reason they won was mainly because during this time, they had been beaten by Xiao Tianjian's bamboo rod to form a conditioned reflex of obeying orders. When shooting, some people still forgot left from right, and when stabbing, it was soft and weak.

  After realizing this point, these people really felt a little ashamed and looked down, no longer daring to make eye contact with Xiao Tianjian.

  Since training is useful, they no longer have any resistance to such hard training. After all, this is their life-saving method. If they don't train well, they might die at any time. So, in the following training, Xiao Tianjian also made it easier for them.

  Those new recruits were also incorporated into the team, but there was a problem - these people had no experience in battle, and it was difficult to select a few knife shield holders. Xiao Tianjian simply assigned all the new recruits as long gun soldiers, and during collective battles, the long gun soldiers acted uniformly, with considerable power. This was also a helpless move, and could only wait for these people to gain experience in formation battles before selecting people to serve as knife shield holders.

  Xiao Tianjian, after summarizing the experience of this battle, still felt that they had a very serious problem, which was the lack of long-range weapons. The reason why they won this battle so easily was largely because they caught those government soldiers off guard, giving them no chance to shoot arrows. If this time they went to war and the government soldiers were prepared, as long as a few archers shot arrows, they would not be able to push the government soldiers forward, and due to their own poor quality, they would not be able to withstand the losses and would disperse on their own.

  There are two ways to solve this problem. One is that our side also has archers or gunners as long-range suppression means, suppressing the enemy's long-range firepower. The second way is to let everyone wear armor and use armor to resist the enemy's arrow attack.

  But at the moment, Xiao Tianjian still can't do any of these things. The equipment level of this group of defeated soldiers is not much better than theirs. Almost none of them have armor, and although their tattered uniforms can provide some defensive power, it's only limited to defense against bows and arrows. When facing spears and swords, these tattered uniforms are basically useless. Only the leader of the group was wearing a quilted armor, but after being captured, this armor could only be provided for Xiao Tianjian to wear, and couldn't meet the needs of others.

  Xiao Tianjian was very interested in the armor of this era, and after capturing this set of quilted armor, he carefully observed it and understood its defensive capabilities. The quilted armor of this era is actually made by sandwiching cotton between coarse cloth, and according to the blacksmiths of Zhaojia Fortress, after sewing the cotton into the coarse cloth, they would soak it in water, trample it on the ground, and then dry it in the sun. Better-quality quilted armor also has iron plates sewn inside with copper nails, increasing its defensive power, which can effectively defend against long-range arrow and gunfire attacks, and also has some warmth in winter.

  And the cotton armor they captured was already quite old, the red cloth on the outside had severely faded, and it's unknown what year it was made in. Although there were some iron plates inside, it was clearly a product of shoddy workmanship, with only a few iron plates nailed to the vital parts, and even those limited iron plates were heavily rusted, and several pieces were missing. Who knows if they could provide effective protection? It's really not something that can be considered good, at best it's just slightly better than nothing.

  As for training, with previous experience, Xiao Tianjian has become more familiar and proficient. Now that he has a lot of food to feed these guys, there is no need for them to work hard, just train them intensively and let them form a certain combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

  With a full stomach as the foundation, physical training can also be guaranteed. In addition to running 5 kilometers in the wilderness twice a day, there is also team formation drills. The effect of stick education is much more effective than verbal reprimand. Xiao Tianjian is naturally ruthless and will beat anyone who makes a mistake. He doesn't care if they don't obey him, beating them until they cry out for their parents, complaining endlessly. However, the effect is still good, and after being beaten many times, they naturally remember better. Soon, these people know how to line up, march in step, and change formations.

  With the old brothers leading the way, one person in charge of bringing a new comer, training is much faster than the first time. In just a few days, these newcomers can form a relatively neat line with the old guys.

  Then comes the assassination action training, Xiao Tianjian didn't have much skill either, the only thing he could teach them was straightforward assassination, just asking them to listen to orders and act uniformly when they came out, the action had to be as fast as possible, and use enough force, without any fancy words, and strictly required not to bring other actions. Every day, such assassination actions, each person has to do at least a thousand times, in this way, the training speed is actually very fast, in less than ten days, these new and old guys have practiced the assassination action with a good model.

  But people are different, although some newcomers practice this somewhat vaguely, it must be admitted that there are also people who seem to be born with the ability to do this. At least among the new arrivals, a man named Li Xuanzhu is particularly outstanding.

  This Li Duanzhu used to be a blacksmith from another town, and only moved to Zhaojia Village recently. Perhaps due to his experience in hammering iron since childhood, he has exceptional waist and arm strength. When practicing stabbing movements, his arms are very stable, the gun handle doesn't shake at all, and every stabbing movement is precise and powerful. In just a few days, his stabbing movements have already taken shape! Even compared to most older brothers who have been training for some time, his movements are much more standardized. Even Zhao Er Liu couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, saying that this person is really infuriating!

  Although this training is very hard and monotonous, the old soldiers have already tasted the sweetness that this training brings to them, so when they are practicing, they are very dedicated. The new recruits also saw how good they were at it, although they were beaten until they were exhausted, but these people could only endure it. After all, although it's hard here, the boss is not stingy with food and lets them eat their fill. In this world, for a full meal, suffering a bit of hardship and taking some beating is also worth it.

  Especially when these new recruits saw that the old soldiers had each received a reward of two taels of silver, they became even more spirited. Usually, when they were farming, it was not certain that one family could save up so much money in a year. Now, seeing that they could receive such a large sum of money after just one battle, this was indeed a huge temptation for these peasants who rarely saw any money. Moreover, Xiao Tianjian had really saved them and avenged their blood feud, so even though the training under Xiao Tianjian was extremely tough, these new recruits still gritted their teeth and persisted.

  (Third update! Isn't it exciting? Now those who haven't collected should collect, right? Hehe! Red tickets, red tickets, I want red tickets!)