sjar Chapter 52 New Recruits and Military Uniforms
Chapter 52 New Recruits and Military Uniforms
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Su Tui Da was one of the first new recruits to arrive at the barracks. Like the veterans, he was stunned by the barracks. The visual impact of the angular, towering concrete buildings was far superior to the low mud houses in his hometown.
Once inside the barracks, the clean and tidy environment made them feel like they didn't know where to begin. These new recruits usually didn't have enough to eat and were busy making a living, so they didn't have the time to clean and tidy up their homes every day. Besides, farmers raise chickens and pigs, so even if their homes are clean, they can't be that clean.
The first thing to do upon entering the barracks was to learn about hygiene. The new recruits, who were used to being slovenly, were ordered to take a bath, change into brand-new cotton clothes, fold their blankets neatly, and take turns cleaning. There couldn't be a single piece of trash on the ground, and even the outhouses had to be kept clean.
Speaking of the barracks' latrines, Su Da-tui had a deep impression of them; they were even cleaner than the houses he slept in at home. The first time he went in to defecate, he felt very uncomfortable and couldn't go at all. If you didn't follow the rules, you would be punished.
Su Da Tui witnessed a fellow villager being punished with ten strokes of the cane for sloppy cleaning during his shift, leaving his buttocks bruised and battered. So he learned his lesson and made sure to sweep the floor cleaner than his own face whenever it was his turn to clean.
After the new recruits had adapted to their environment, they began basic training. The instructors were the best of the three hundred veteran members. Having gone through incredibly tedious drills and bayonet training, they were exceptionally enthusiastic when training others, cracking their canes with great gusto.
Like everyone who is new to training, Su cursed the person who came up with this method when he stood and marched in the scorching sun. Was this boring and useless training even worthwhile?
Drill and assassination training were interspersed, with the new recruits complaining bitterly during assassination practice. If drill training was boring and grueling, then assassination training was an even more agonizing ordeal. Repeating the same few movements hundreds of times each day, especially the final assassination maneuver, left Su with arms that were nearly dislocated.
What made them happy was that after each day's intense training, they were given unlimited white rice and a meat dish every day, sometimes pork, but more often fish and shrimp. For Liu Ye, in a rural coastal area like Lingao, fish and shrimp provided sufficient protein and calories, and were much more cost-effective than livestock like pork and sheep. This brought tears of joy to the eyes of these strong young men who rarely ate rice. If training was like hell, then mealtimes were like heaven.
The only thing they found magical and interesting during the monotonous training was watching the veteran soldiers practice shooting. The power of the Patriot rifle shocked these country bumpkins, and the spectacular sight of hundreds of people firing simultaneously left them speechless.
After watching the shooting training, Su was convinced that he had come to the right place and found the right mentor—with such powerful firearms, how could the soldiers not be defeated? However, to their disappointment, he could only train with a spear and had never even touched the magical firearms.
All two hundred new recruits had arrived and undergone more than ten days of training. Liu Ye then gathered them together for a speech. Su Da Tui stood among the crowd, looking at Liu Ye on the wooden platform. He was very young, not much older than himself. Was this his new boss? How could someone so young accomplish so much?
Looking at the two hundred people below the stage, Liu Ye slowly said, "Since you have chosen to come here and become one of us, you must abide by the rules here. There aren't many rules, but they are very strict. If you don't follow them, you will be punished. I believe many of you have already tasted the cane. But don't think that's the worst punishment. On the battlefield, if you are afraid of death and disobey orders, even if you don't die on the battlefield, you will be punished when you return, even executed!"
The new recruits were in an uproar; they hadn't heard of this before! They were only helping their employer retain their land, not being paid to serve in the army.
As if knowing what they would think, Liu Ye continued, "You might say, I'm not a soldier for the imperial court, why should I treat you like this? Let me tell you why: First, I will provide you with food and lodging, and pay you a monthly salary of one tael of silver, which even government soldiers don't receive; second, if you join my guard, your families will receive preferential treatment when renting land, not only will you pay 30% less rent, but you can rent as much land as you can cultivate; third, I will treat you if you are injured in battle, support you if you are disabled, and if you die, your family will receive 50 taels of silver as a death benefit."
These conditions were an enhanced version to attract the local soldiers to join the guard, adding the requirement of farming. The new recruits were all from tenant farming backgrounds, their legs still covered in mud, unlike the hardened soldiers of the Zhanjiaodong tribe who treated fighting and eating as a daily affair. Faced with these three conditions, they hesitated somewhat, but their hearts were swayed. One tael of silver a month, even if they died, would amount to 50 taels; they could also have a full bowl of white rice every day and a meat meal every day—a life they wouldn't have dared to dream of before. Considering all this, serving as a soldier for their master didn't seem so terrible anymore.
Liu Ye noticed the new recruits' hesitation and added the final weight to their decision: "Those whose families have no male members to join the guard can only rent five mu of land, with the rent remaining the same, as you all know. If you feel the rules are too strict now and want to go home, I won't force you; you can leave anytime. However, those who withdraw must return the land and can never rent my land again!"
This is Liu Ye's well-practiced carrot and stick approach, and it has proven to be simple, brutal, and directly effective. If some people still value their lives in the face of the temptation of pay and compensation, then returning their tenant land under the current conditions to farm other landlords' land and continue to be exploited and oppressed by both landlords and the government is something they absolutely cannot accept.
One step further to heaven, one step back to hell. Even if some coward insisted on quitting, they would be drowned in the scorn of their families when they returned home. They had no other choice. In the end, not a single one of the two hundred new recruits chose to quit; they all stayed.
Training continued day after day, and the new recruits gradually adapted to the new environment and the intensity of the training.
Having resolved the issue of new recruits, the next step is to obtain a set of military uniforms for our army.
A few days later, Liang Xiaoming brought a set of red military uniforms to Liu Ye for inspection.
Liu Ye picked up the garment and examined it carefully from all angles, praising, "The design is excellent, and the craftsmanship is superb. This is exactly the military uniform I wanted—simple and practical. Moreover, from a distance, it even resembles the mandarin duck battle jackets worn by the Ming army."
He examined the belt: "I hadn't thought of that. Akiko is very thoughtful." This primitive belt was naturally not as refined as those of later generations. It was simply tanned and secured with an iron buckle. It was very rudimentary, but once tied around the waist, it did enhance one's image.
Liang Xiaoming said, "Soldiers won't need it; it's for officers only. In the future, they can carry command swords, and when we develop short guns—which are pistols—they can also carry pistols. But you're always thinking of wearing the same mandarin duck battle jackets as the Ming army. Are you waiting for the day you'll be recruited by the government?"
"It's always good to be well-prepared," Liu Ye laughed. "If I have the opportunity in the future, and there's a powerful figure who can speak for me, I'd still be willing to infiltrate the military system and get involved. With this identity, things will be smoother in the future. It's like accumulating resources and waiting to declare yourself king."
Liang Xiaoming tried asking, "Since it's all red anyway, why not just make it look like the uniforms of the 18th-century British 6th Army?"
As a former empire on which the sun never sets, Britain's influence is widespread globally: the parka is the traditional clothing of British fishermen, and the tailcoat was created by cutting off the front of a British cavalry coat. The uniform of the modern British army consisted of a uniform red overcoat with a black collar, white trousers and stockings, a tricorn hat with a brim, and black leather shoes with overcoats, exuding a gentlemanly air. Because the British soldiers in their bright red uniforms resembled cooked lobsters from a distance, they were known as "lobster soldiers." This uniform remained largely unchanged for two centuries.
Upon hearing the word "bright red military uniform," Liu Ye immediately pictured the flamboyant costumes worn by soldiers from 17th and 18th century England and France in European and American films—colorful, elaborately decorated, and with feathers in their hair.
"No! I don't want those flashy but impractical clothes. Besides, they offer terrible concealment; wouldn't I just be a sitting duck on the battlefield?"
Liang Xiaoming attempted to explain the difference between the flintlock era and the rifled gun era: "In the flintlock era, range and accuracy were major issues. There was no need for concealment in military uniforms. Everyone was just shooting in formation, firing face-to-face. Besides, our opponents didn't even have flintlock guns, so we didn't have any opponents when it came to shooting in formation."
Liu Ye still shook his head: "The range of the matchlock gun is no shorter than that of the flintlock musket. Weren't the Ming army's arquebuses a threat? The Later Jin army will also have cannons in the future, and they can also attack from a distance. Anyway, it's no good to be like a turkey. If we say that the Ming Dynasty started to lag behind the West in terms of warships and cannons, it's understandable that we should learn from the West to emulate its mistakes. But for other things, I think our ancestors' methods are good. Why do we have to learn from foreigners?"
Liang Xiaoming scratched his head. Although he thought Liu Ye was worrying unnecessarily, and that the Ming army's arquebuses with questionable firepower and the Later Jin's relatively primitive cannons would obviously not pose much of a threat to the guard, he couldn't say that Liu Ye's thinking was wrong. After all, the trend in the evolution of military uniforms was towards practicality, and the emergence of camouflage uniforms was due to the pursuit of concealment.
"How about we learn from the German army? Their uniforms during WWII were incredibly cool!"
Many military enthusiasts believe that the uniforms of the German army during World War II were very stylish, with a three-dimensional cut, a reasonable waistline, and harmonious proportions of medals and accessories. This has nothing to do with political stance; it is purely from an aesthetic point of view.
"Nazis?" Liu Ye shook his head repeatedly upon hearing this. Although no one in this timeline knew about Hitler and it wouldn't cross the red line in people's hearts, he still couldn't get over this hurdle in his own mind.
“It’s not the SS, it’s not the Gestapo, it’s the German Wehrmacht…” Liang Xiaoming insisted softly, but it was clear that explaining the difference between the Wehrmacht and the SS to someone who was only partially military-illiterate was a difficult task, and he quickly gave up.
It's a real shame. He really liked both the German uniforms from World War II and the British uniforms from modern times. The German uniforms, aside from the Nazi influence, were incredibly stylish, while the British uniforms exuded a gentlemanly air. This "boss" in front of him really doesn't know what's good for him.
Seeing him scratching his head, Liu Ye chuckled and said, "Whether it's German or British uniforms, just give up that idea. I've seen Hollywood blockbusters, and German uniforms are indeed nice, but do you think malnourished Chinese peasants in the 17th century could pull off those uniforms? What's national is also international; what suits our national conditions is the best."
Liang Xiaoming was speechless. He had seen online military enthusiasts buy replicas of WWII German uniforms, but because they didn't have the physique of Germans, they looked rather slovenly in them—a stark contrast between the buyer's and seller's photos on Taobao. The natives of this era were generally thin and short, so naturally they couldn't fill out the tall and well-fitting German uniforms.
"Alright, I can't argue with you. Your idea is the most suitable for the current situation." Liang Xiaoming finally gave up. The initial version of the guard's uniform was decided to be a modified version of the Ming army's mandarin duck battle jacket.