After the Zhoushan army had a full meal, Deng Ming asked them to train.

A manual laborer consumes about 3,000 calories per day, which is about the energy that two kilograms of rice can provide. If you want to conduct high-intensity training, you need to have enough food for the soldiers. In the past, Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi could not let the soldiers open their stomachs and eat enough, so they could not ask the soldiers to practice with confidence. Besides, that is not about training the troops but murdering soldiers.

The thousand standing troops brought by Deng Ming had learned how to train new soldiers. These standing troops were mainly the Zhejiang army in the past, and it was most appropriate to use them to train Zhoushan soldiers. When the Ming army was practicing, Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi were also accompanied by Deng Ming. Because Deng Ming was famous, Ma Fengzhi also wanted to take the opportunity to secretly learn some training skills - he didn't know that Deng Ming only came into contact with the army after he traveled through time.

Compared with the future hot weapon army, the current army has higher requirements for formation, and the Sichuan Army has long been popularized in left and right rotation training, and the first day of exercise content starts from this.

When training troops in Sichuan in the past, Deng Ming found that most people in this era were not distinguished from each other, and at least they could not respond quickly to the order. At the beginning, Deng Ming took great pains to help the soldiers identify the order first, but the progress was very slow and it took a long time to allow soldiers from the standing army to master this command.

When the standing army went deep into the pavilions during the training day and conducted military training for fellow scholars from Chengdu Prefecture, they also encountered the same problem. In practice, the Sichuan Army gradually found a set of effective methods. This method was effective very quickly and there was no need to spend a lot of time to help the trained soldiers identify the left and right before conducting formation training.

"Turn left-bare-foot-."

“To the right—wear shoes—turn.”

The instructors sent by the Sichuan Army shouted the command and directed the Zhoushan MILLION they were responsible for changing their formation. The trained soldiers only wore one shoe on their right foot, and the other foot was bare. This is the method used by the Sichuan Standing Army. It is obvious that the soldiers easily felt that they were wearing shoes on their own feet, so they didn't have to worry about which side was left and which side was right.

"Admiral Deng's method is indeed very good." After seeing this novel training method, Ma Fengzhi couldn't help but look admiring on his face. As an old military service, he certainly understood the role of quickly completing the formation transformation on the battlefield. In fact, Ma Fengzhi's deep understanding of this is still above Deng Ming, but of course he did not realize this, but mistakenly thought that this was Deng Ming's fantasy idea.

"This is an improved version. In the future, the words "barefoot" and "wearing shoes" will be removed, and the left and right will be used to order the soldiers." Deng Ming did not intend to hide his private interests against Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi. Under the general trend of the strong, the clear and weak Qing Dynasty, Deng Ming not only wanted to reach an agreement with Qing officials, but also tried his best to strengthen the alliance. If the heroes were destroyed, Sichuan would not survive alone. This time, the methods used by Deng Ming to train the Zhoushan Army were all the most advanced versions: "At the beginning, we did not add the words "barefoot" and "wearing shoes". As a result, after the training, although the soldiers turned very skillfully, they still could not identify the left and right."

The previous training version left many painful memories for Deng Ming. The first group of peers trained to react to "barefoot" and "shoes" - even if they wear shoes on both feet, they can quickly execute orders - thus even causing some calls, intending to turn these two words into a unique military term for the Sichuan Army. However, different instructors have different habits. Some people ask the trained soldiers to wear shoes on their left foot, while some people are the opposite, and the result is that the same order causes different conditioning reflexes. Zhao Tianba pointed out that if such misunderstanding occurs on the battlefield, it will have terrible consequences, and badly, it also increases the burden on the officers, because in addition to observing the enemy and setting the direction of formation changes, the officers also need to translate the left and right into "the unique military term for the Sichuan Army" in their hearts. If the translation is wrong in desperation, it is a joke.

Now this training method can eventually eliminate the "transitional military terms" in the middle, achieving Deng Ming's training purpose.

The Standing Army basically had experience of serving in Zhoushan, and a considerable number of recruited soldiers brought out were the original Zhejiang Army. Therefore, wherever Zhang Huangyan went, he could enjoy the attention of the soldiers, and the officers rushed to come up to say hello to the Minister of War. In addition to their previous feelings, there was also the joy of reunion. Before these Zhejiang soldiers followed Deng Ming into Sichuan, Zhang Huangyan had personally done their work, but many people thought that this was breaking up with Zhang Shangshu. In this era, the distance between Sichuan and Zhejiang was almost the same, which meant a farewell. At that time, neither Zhang Huangyan nor these Zhejiang soldiers thought that they could meet here so soon. The officers of the Standing Army were all excited.

Zhang Huangyan was naturally very moved. During the training, he said to Deng Ming: "The people who came to join Zhoushan are all loyal and brave men. It is really right to let them follow Admiral Deng into Sichuan. Zhang was incompetent and could not provide them with enough food and weapons. He wasted the ambition of serving the country by these righteous men. When they arrived with Admiral Deng, they would become a strong army so quickly."

Deng Ming naturally had to be humble when he heard this, and at the same time comforted Zhang Huangyan: "After the Yangtze River channel is unobstructed, Zhang Shangshu will not be short of food, salary and weapons, and the Zhoushan army will become a strong army in the world at that time."

Zhang Huangyan nodded slightly, but he still had some questions in his mind: "Admiral Deng was indeed forced to compromise with these fake officials appointed by the imperial court, but this was a temporary measure after all. I wonder when Admiral Deng planned to end the agreement with them and restore the Southeast?"

"My idea is that we must first have the ability to restore the troops along the entire Yangtze River territory, be able to capture and control the troops on the front lines of Wuchang, Nanchang and Nanjing, and then consider taking down the entire Yangtze River with thunder and isolating the captive court from north to south. Before this, we need to concentrate our troops to attack those pseudo-officials who are stubborn and unwilling to reach an agreement with us, and let local officials from Wuchang to Nanjing sign a city alliance with us." Although Deng Ming's strength is not enough to control a province, it is enough to shock Zhang Changgeng and Jiang Guozhu, and make them pay an unbearable price: "We use the resources of this Yangtze River to accumulate our military strength until we can completely take over it. During this period, I think we should focus on the Qing army's navy, and we must never let them build a Yangtze River navy that can threaten us."

When Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan were talking, Ma Fengzhi never said a word. He watched coldly just now, and Zhang Huangyan's prestige in Deng Ming's army shocked Ma Fengzhi very much.

"Shangshu Zhang is far-sighted. It seems that except for the cavalry guards of Admiral Deng who were from the Xdong Army, all the officers under him were Zhang Shangshu's old subordinates." Ma Fengzhi once heard Zhang Huangyan say that he handed over 20,000 Zhoushan subordinates to Deng Ming in Anqing. Some people were reluctant to leave Zhang Huangyan and persuaded them one by one. At that time, Ma Fengzhi didn't say it on the surface, but he really disagreed with it. He felt that Zhang Huangyan was too visionary, and he actually gave his loyal subordinates to others. But now Ma Fengzhi was full of awe of Zhang Huangyan, and he had already thrown the initial contempt to the sky: "Shangshu Zhang must have known that he could not afford such a large number of soldiers, so he handed over his confidant to Admiral Deng and asked Admiral Deng to help him train a unit."

Ma Fengzhi also heard various rumors about Deng Ming's life experience. Compared to the Yongli Emperor who abandoned his country and refused to return, it was obviously a powerful competitor to the throne. Ma Fengzhi did not value great justice. As a military general in troubled times, he felt that having soldiers was everything. Now Deng Ming holds nearly 10,000 soldiers in his hand, traversing the Yangtze River. Sichuan probably has a group of direct descendants, and Gaodong seems to support him wholeheartedly. Even during these days when he was with Zhang Huangyan, Ma Fengzhi also felt that the Minister of War respect for Deng Ming was greater than that of the Emperor Ming. Especially after Zhang Huangyan came back from Xiamen, Ma Fengzhi felt that he seemed to have devoted himself to Deng Ming.

This time, when he saw Deng Ming's letter, he immediately sent troops to help without hesitation, so Ma Fengzhi felt that if the Ming Dynasty was revived, the mysterious young clan would definitely be the mysterious young clan in front of him: "In the future, Admiral Deng will be surrounded by Zhang Shangshu's old subordinates and confidants. Not to mention his position as the Minister of War, even the Master of the Pavilion is ready to take advantage of him. What is the reason for persuading his subordinates to Sichuan for their better future? It's probably because Zhang Shangshu had already thought about it? I really believed it at the beginning, so stupid. I have to flatter Zhang Shangshu. In the future, Zhang Shangshu will definitely be hot and powerful in the court!"

"Admiral horse."

"Please speak with Admiral Deng." Seeing Deng Ming calling him, Ma Fengzhi quickly cheered up and listened with concentration.

"The location of Chongming is very important, and we need to stick to this place as the key point in the downstream." Since we have reached an agreement with Zhang Huangyan and intend to control the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, Deng Ming must pay attention to Chongming Island. The Qing court will definitely try to retake it for the sake of the security of Jiangnan. For Jiang Guozhu, Chongming Island is tantamount to being thorny in the hands of the Ming army. No matter what agreement there is with the Ming army, if there is a chance to get Deng Ming back, he thinks that Jiang Guozhu will most likely not care.

"Admiral Deng said it well." Ma Fengzhi knew the importance of Chongming. If the Ming army could gain a foothold in Chongming, it could threaten the canal transportation and the large tracts of territory along the river at any time, which was a sharp sword pointing to the heart of the Qing Dynasty.

"Although the navy of Yanping County Prince was powerful, he had sea ships in his hands, which seemed bulky in the Yangtze River." The last battle in Nanjing also exposed many shortcomings of the Fujian army. After Zheng Chenggong's sea ship entered the Yangtze River, it was very drifted and slow to move. Although it was enough to scare the Susong naval army to dare not fight, the Ming army would not want to catch up with the Qing army's warships in the Yangtze River. If the wind direction was unfavorable or the wind power was insufficient, the Zheng army's sea ship could not obtain enough power by oars, and it needed to be traction by boatmen to go upstream: "Although the ships in Zhoushan were smaller and lighter, it would not be good to navigate in the sea."

In the last battle in Nanjing, Zhang Huangyan's navy was much more flexible and agile than Zheng Chenggong's, and he could quickly go upstream without a boatman. However, these ships had poor ability to withstand winds and waves in the sea and needed to choose calm weather to sail, and could not undertake the task of large-scale harassment of coastal areas such as Jiangsu and Shandong.

"My idea is to establish a large naval base in Chongming, and there are sea boats and river boats stationed at the same time. For example, my army took a boat down the river from Sichuan, and when I arrived in Chongming, I could take a sea boat to attack the weak links of the coastal areas of Shandong. If the Prince of Yanping attacked the Yangtze River again, his army could put the sea boats there safely after arriving in Chongming, and instead attacked the Yangtze River by river boats." Deng Ming knew that it would take a lot of money to establish a water camp or a large boat builder, but the most important thing was to consolidate Chongming's defense: "I don't know if Admiral Ma was willing to station in Chongming?"

Ma Fengzhi was originally the Jiangnan admiral of the Qing Dynasty. He was very familiar with Chongming. He also had some connections in the Qing army in Jiangnan. He was indeed the best candidate to defend Chongming. In addition to military issues, Deng Ming also had political considerations. Ma Fengzhi was a senior military officer from the former Qing court who came here anyway. If Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan showed enough trust in him, it would also serve as an example for the Qing military officers.

Zhang Huangyan had no objection to Deng Ming's proposal. After Ma Fengzhi made a big fuss in Jiangnan, he basically had no chance of surrendering to the Qing court. Otherwise, he would be a little worried to hand over such an important place to him.

After hearing Deng Ming's proposal, Ma Fengzhi was also happy. It is of course much more dangerous to station in Chongming than staying in Zhoushan. The latter basically only faces the military pressure from Zhejiang, and with Zheng Chenggong on his side, Zhejiang's energy to focus on Zhoushan is limited, but Chongming must bear the pressure of the governor of Liangjiang alone, and there may be help from other provinces. However, stationing in Chongming means being alone, not comparable to Zhang Huangyan's follower in Zhoushan. If Deng Ming really plans to focus on developing Chongming as he said just now, Ma Fengzhi knows his status will become more important.

After careful consideration, Ma Fengzhi said that he vowed to defend Chongming for Deng Ming to the death, but he was still a little worried about the funding issue. When Zheng Chenggong attacked last time, Ma Fengzhi felt that he had the opportunity to become a prince, but after half a year of hard work, Ma Fengzhi realized that he was not the material. Being defeated by Dasu was secondly. The most important thing was that Ma Fengzhi found that he did not have the ability to operate a territory and could not help at all in Zhoushan. He could only lament that there was not enough supplies.

"Admiral Ma doesn't have to worry." After hearing Ma Fengzhi's explanation of his concern, Deng Ming smiled: "As long as the Governor of Liangjiang cannot rebuild the navy, we can run a business in the Yangtze River. In the future, the local products from all over the country will be transported to Chongming and then transferred to Zhoushan. In addition to our army, there will also be great merchants. Admiral Ma just needs to charge a transit fee."

After listening to Deng Ming’s rough talk, Ma Fengzhi felt relieved: “Isn’t it just counting the money? I’m fine with this.”

...

Deng Ming did not continue his inspection and training work in the afternoon. In the past few days, the surrounding merchants kept coming to visit Deng Ming. He purchased some local nitro meat and eggs from Zhenjiang, all for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. After hearing that the Governor of the Canal Transportation was about to transport the grains requested by Deng Ming, Deng Ming recruited pastry chefs in Zhenjiang Prefecture. He had ordered some black beans and needed a large number of people to make moon cakes.

Now Zhenjiang Prefecture is basically an empty city. Jiang Guozhu has transferred all the guards, but Deng Ming never stepped into Zhenjiang. He also made a special announcement to the public. After the Ming army left last time, Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu led their troops to plunder in Zhenjiang. Deng Ming is still vivid in his mind. Now Zhenjiang has finally replied a little angry. He hopes not to give the Qing army an excuse to plunder the city again.

When Zhang Huangyan came to Deng Ming's camp, he saw Deng Ming personally meeting several merchants from Nanjing and Suzhou.

"I need glutinous rice and must be shipped to Zhenjiang tomorrow..."

After several merchants left, Deng Ming explained to Zhang Huangyan: "Shangshu Zhang also knew that there were many Jiangsu and Zhejiang people in our army. They were obsessed with meat dumplings. When they were in Sichuan, they always said that Jiaxing’s meat dumplings were the best in the world (Mu Tan repeatedly expressed his disagreement). This time we didn’t have time to go to Jiaxing, and 50,000 rice dumplings could not be transported, so we could only make them in the military camp. I have bought live pigs, chestnuts and other items, but the glutinous rice is still a little short of it."

"How much money did Admiral Deng spend?" Zhoushan has been poor, and Zhang Huangyan couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.

"The silver can always be earned again, but what if the soldiers don't let the Mid-Autumn Festival live well?" Deng Ming did spend a lot of money, but he thought it was right: "The soldiers fought on the battlefield and went out to fight. Sometimes they had a headache and fever and they were gone. These heroes sacrificed their lives for the country one day. All I could do was to let them eat better, which was the only thing I could do."

After sighing, Deng Ming asked, "What's the matter with Zhang Shangshu coming to me?"

"I just heard that Admiral Deng set rules to leave the army after serving in the army for three years or making enough contributions?" Zhang Huangyan felt very puzzled when he heard about Deng Ming's rules. However, seeing that Deng Ming's various training methods were very novel, he guessed that Deng Ming might have any profound meaning, so he came to ask.

"If you can be promoted to an officer during this period, the service period will be extended." According to Deng Ming's regulations, if you are promoted to an officer, the service period in the regular army will be extended to ten years, and if you are promoted to a school officer, it will be extended to twenty years, but ordinary soldiers will only have three years. If the Qing army attacks Chengdu in large numbers, these people will also join the army in crisis, but if there is no special situation, they will not be recruited into the regular army again. Deng Ming briefly explained to Zhang Huangyan and nodded: "Yes, ordinary soldiers will leave the army after three years of service, either making first-class merits or two second-class merits."

Zhang Huangyan was puzzled. In his opinion, these veterans were precious military forces, especially those soldiers who made military achievements, and were even more rare elites. How could they drive them out of the army?
Chapter completed!