Chapter 13 Is this Laozi's army?

  This? That!

  What army is this? Which country's army is this?

  Although I had mentally prepared myself beforehand and didn't have high hopes for the new army, after all, it still has the words "new army", how much worse can it get?

  But what appears in front of me at this time is what?

  Wang Hengyue felt defeated for the first time since coming to this era!

  Excitedly rushing to Rong County, he went straight to the military camp in the west of the city. Originally, he thought that after formally taking office, he could start working hard and making a big impact. But what appeared before his eyes was something else entirely?

  A few dilapidated thatched cottages, surrounded by a fence on the outside, are considered to be a "military camp", and there is not even a sentry at the gate.

  The harsh conditions can still be tolerated, but those "new troops" are simply unbearable.

  There were about forty or fifty people in total, with the oldest being old enough to be Wang Hengyue's grandfather and the youngest probably only thirteen or fourteen years old. What was even more deadly was that more than half of them had obvious nicotine stains on their faces, clearly indicating that they were opium addicts.

  Take another look at the weapons, good guy, Wang Hengyue thought he had arrived in primitive society.

  A dull, irregularly-shaped large knife, a bundle of javelins tied with rope... Alright, at least this can still scare people off. But there were over ten people holding them, and yet...

  It's actually a wooden stick!

  This "new army" is still far inferior to those of Lu Baogen's bandits who have fought against me!

  "We've come to the wrong place, haven't we?" Pete shouted again, then he nodded very firmly: "Yes, the guide was bad, we came to the wrong place. Thank you, where is the army? Please tell us where the army is."

  The "Xie" referred to by Pitt is Xie Shui, also known as Dongliu, who acted on behalf of Wang Hengyao when he was not in office.

  Xie Shui's origin was quite proper, having graduated from the Nanjing Army Academy. He was originally supposed to stay at the school, but he insisted on returning to Sichuan to assist in training the new Sichuan army.

  Xie Shui pointed lazily at the "soldiers" in front of him and said, "Hey, isn't this an army?"

  "This is an army? No, it's not even an army, worse than bandits!" Pitt was so excited that he waved his fist and shouted: "Any small team of children can defeat them! This, this is simply, simply unheard of!"

  Pete rarely uses idioms, unfortunately everyone has their own worries and there is no personal praise.

  Xie Shui glared at Peter White: "What does a foreign devil like you know? I also want to train a decent army, but where's the silver? Where are the weapons?"

  "Speaking of which, he turned to Wang Hengyue: 'Officer Wang, I originally wanted to decline this task when I received it, but Shi Guandai repeatedly refused and said that I should come first, and the silver would arrive later. But I have been waiting here for more than two months, and not a single piece of silver has arrived. These are the original Green Camp soldiers, and I have really done my best.'"

  Wang Hengyue understood the bitterness in his words, and Yu Lei suddenly asked, "Where did Lord Xie offend Shi Guandai?"

  Xie Shui smiled wryly and didn't respond. If he hadn't offended Shi Fengrong, how would he have ended up in such a predicament?

  At this time, everyone was disheartened and disappointed, but Yu Lei bowed deeply to Wang Hengyue: "Congratulations, sir, congratulations, sir, you have unexpectedly obtained an elite army, a tiger wolf army!"

  "Get out of here!" Wang Hengyue finally couldn't help but curse: "Take this army and go fight a battle for me!"

  Yu Lei didn't care: "Your Excellency, in fact, many of the imperial court's armies are like this. What is called a 'new army' often has half of its troops reorganized from the original old army. Your Excellency wants this title, and with the new army title, can't you just disband these people and recruit again? It's not difficult to do, it's just that there are people who have ulterior motives. When Yuan Shikai was training troops at Xiaogan, his subordinates thought he wouldn't be much better than Your Excellency, but what Yuan Shikai could do, Your Excellency can also do."

  Wang Heng's anger gradually dissipated in his heart. Yu Lei's words were reasonable, but putting them into practice was really too difficult.

  To re-recruit, the first thing is silver! But this is difficult because of the silver. Where can I get the silver? There's less than 10,000 taels of silver in my own pocket, which is enough to recruit soldiers, but where can I get the silver to buy weapons?

  Yu Lei actually dares to compare himself with Yuan Shikai? When Yuan Shikai was training troops in a small station, what kind of background did he have? What kind of background does Yu Lei have?

  "Thank you, sir. May I ask how much is the new military pay?" Yu Lei asked slowly.

  "Is it wartime or peacetime?" Xie Shui asked, not understanding what Yu Lei meant.

  "How much during wartime, and how much in peacetime?"

  "In wartime, a soldier's pay is seven taels and two mace, a lower-ranking officer gets eight taels and two mace, a mid-ranking officer gets nine taels and two mace... Normally, we can't compare to the Beiyang army, which has plenty of money, but our regular soldiers only get two taels and six mace, and the reserve troops get even less... Xie Shui's familiarity with military affairs allowed him to rattle off these figures without hesitation."

  Yu Lei's eyes rolled around for half a day, then he pulled Wang Hengyue to one side: "Sir, I have an idea. These soldiers are completely useless, let's recruit a new army of 150 men, and every qualified soldier will receive three taels of silver per month, with three months' pay in advance, which adds up to 1,350 taels of silver, not too much expense..."

  This thousand or two silver coins Wang Hengyue could still afford, he didn't say a word, and listened intently as Yu Lei continued:

  "Now adults can immediately send someone to report to Shi Guandai, saying that we have recruited 150 new soldiers, but only take the salary for 100 people..."

  Wang Hengyue immediately understood that the remaining fifty people's salary would be considered as a tribute to Shi Fengrong, Shi Guandai and Shi Daren.

  When the opportunity for military officers to make money is scarce, they can only think of ways to do so from their military salary. Embezzling or deducting silver from salaries is the only way to make money. At present, it's a new army, each battalion and company has a fixed number of soldiers, otherwise, recruiting up to 200 people would be no problem.

  "Although adults can only get a hundred people's silver pay per month, it's better than nothing. Moreover, doing so will make it more convenient to deal with Shi Fengrong in the future. Besides, Shi Fengrong's military pay for fifty people won't all fall into his pocket, and he'll have to offer some to his superiors."

  Yu Lei's words, Wang Hengyue hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "You go and do this, set off immediately, and bring 100 taels of silver with you!" Wang Hengyue gritted his teeth: "Bring 200 taels of silver with you, and ask Shi Fengrong to arrange for me a batch of new-style weapons no matter what!"

  As he spoke, he suddenly became suspicious: "Yu Lei, you won't run away with the silver, will you?"

  Yu Lei surprisingly wasn't angry at all: "Sir, as a student following you, I have a great future ahead of me. How could I possibly abandon my great prospects for just 200 taels of silver? Sir, please don't worry!"

  It's true what they say, Wang Hengyue also slightly put his mind at ease!