Chapter 38 5 Tiger General

Chapter 38 5 Tiger General

Chapter 38 Five Tiger Generals
"We chased the bandits' boat all the way, but my brothers couldn't catch up with them anymore, so I followed them on horseback, all the way to Qinhu Lake.

Lao Er, you guessed it right. They are indeed the pirates from Qinhu Lake, out looking for food.

I dismounted and wanted to follow them in secretly to find out their background.

Although they were not good at fighting, Qinhu Lake, as their base, was heavily defended.

There are only a few waterways in and out of Qinhu Lake. I walked along the edge of a waterway and was immediately discovered by a patrol boat.

Dozens of arrows suddenly shot at me, and I was only slightly injured.

I was unwilling to give up, so I changed to another waterway and finally got in by sticking to the edge, but there was a lake inside and I couldn't get in without a boat.

Just look at the waterways in the lake, they are like a maze.

If we rush in rashly in a boat, the pirates will be elusive and run away after shooting arrows. We won't be able to catch up with them. If we can't find them, we will have to bear the beating.

I say, we can’t fight in Qinhu for the time being.”

"Brother, you've worked hard. Go and take good care of your injuries. It's okay. I promised my fellow villagers that it would take three months.

Let them run wild for two months. When we have more people, we can block the exit, pump out the water to catch fish, and search the lake with nets. We won’t be able to kill them.”

Tian Xing agreed, "When the time comes, the most important thing is not to leak the news of the dispatch of troops.

Otherwise, if they knew we were going to use a large army to suppress them, they would probably scatter like the Green Camp did several times before."

The threat near my hometown must be eliminated. Even if I don't get any military merit from beating these pirates, I still have to fight them, otherwise I won't be able to explain myself to my fellow villagers.

"Brothers of the Speed ​​​​Travel Team, go to the kitchen to eat meat. Those who participated in the bandit suppression today, go and find Le Xiucai to claim your reward."

"Thank you for the reward!"

The sixty men in the Speed ​​​​Team are all street thugs who have some skills and do not smoke opium. The so-called real "heroes" in the city are probably like the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan.

They were all unruly, but they were unlucky to meet Tian Xing.

They were all completely subdued by this Wudang sword master, and were beaten into submission. One by one, they became Tian Xing's registered disciples, and now the military discipline is very good.

Without Shao Quanzhong's attention, he had been trained by Tian Xing into a high-level scout.

Shao Quanzhong met Le Xiucai in the kitchen. They ate and chatted, "Brother Le, how much money do we have now?"

"My lord, you left 10,000 silver coins when you went to Shanghai last time. Except for the rifles, our equipment and food supplies are all from Lord Wu's logistics account.

Of the ten thousand taels of silver, more than eighteen hundred taels were spent on the salaries of the right camp and the marching team, and a total of two thousand taels were spent on the salaries of the left camp and severance pay, leaving six thousand taels left.

You brought back another five thousand taels, plus the one sent by Lord Qiao this time, minus the one for Lord Wu's logistics, the total is a little over fifty-one thousand taels.

You ordered 500 guns from the company, which seemed incredible to me at the time, but now I have finally raised the money.

After deducting the money for purchasing guns, we are only left with more than two thousand taels, which is barely enough to pay the salaries of more than three hundred people for next month. We have no money left to expand the army.

Or, why don't you ask Master Qiao for some more?"

Shao Quanzhong laughed loudly and patted the revolver on his waist, "I can't ask my superiors for everything, otherwise what would my superiors need me as a subordinate for?
Lord Qiao just gave the money and we went to ask for it again right away. This doesn't show our ability.

This month is enough for expanding the army. If I don’t train the seeds, no one will help me expand the army. How can I rely on myself?

In this day and age, if you have a gun in your hand, why worry about not having money? Can't we still hold out for a month? First, train the soldiers for a month, and after a month, I will lead the troops to rob money."

Ah? Robbing money? Le Xiucai didn't dare to answer. Seeing the master's domineering look, he looked like a bandit. We are the government army...

Shao Quanzhong wiped his mouth after finishing his meal and said, "Siwen, go and call all the officers above the rank of platoon leader to the classroom. I want to give them a lesson!"

There are 300 militiamen, six platoon leaders in two companies of the right battalion, two in the marching team, plus Tian Xing, Hai Qing, Song Laosan, and Le Sen, a total of twelve officers above the platoon level. It is very convenient to notify them one by one.

Song Laosan followed everyone to the newly tidied classroom and saw two new wooden signs hanging outside the classroom.

One piece reads "Preparatory School for Overseas Students" and the other reads "Huai Army Headquarters Military Academy."

Brother Shao is really bold. His godfather Lord Qiao submitted a petition to form the Huai Army, but it hasn't been approved yet, but the name of the Huai Army has already been established.

Why build a military academy? Just a shabby house like this?
There were forty desks crowded together in the room, and on the desks were notebooks, ink, and quill pens.

Behind the podium in front, there is a blackboard bought from a church in Shanghai, and a box of chalk is placed on the podium, which really looks like the real thing.

Let us, a bunch of illiterate soldiers, go to school? Spare me, how can I learn this?
Then, Song Laosan was shocked to find that the twenty desks in the front row were already occupied by twenty students who were preparing to study abroad. Except for Le Sen, the remaining eleven people could only sit in the back row.

Song Laosan found a seat and sat down. Shao Quanzhong strode in, followed by Zhang Siwen and nine personal soldiers. Shao Quanzhong waved his hand, and the nine personal soldiers sat in the empty seats. Now the classroom was full.

Song Laosan knows Shao Quanzhong best. He has never been to school. What can he tell everyone?

Not only did he have doubts, but Le Sen and Zhang Siwen who were standing at the door also had doubts.

Classes had already started in the classroom during the day. Le Xiucai had taught two literacy classes and would also teach reading and composition in the future. Evan had taught two German classes, and the children spent the remaining half of the day participating in military training.

Le Xiucai is the one who is educated. I don’t know whether Evan is educated or not, but he speaks German. Anyway, both of them have something to say.

Shao Quanzhong walked up to the podium, picked up the pointer and knocked on the blackboard, "Song Laosan, don't look around and don't pay attention to the lecture. Even if you are my brother, I will still hit your palm with the ruler.

Today, in the first lesson, I will talk about something interesting. You all know how to sing military songs, right? Today, I will talk about the battle examples in the "Song of Fighting Soldiers" and the "Song of Scouting".

Once I led some people out to suppress bandits. There were twenty people in our insurance team, and there were more than fifty bandits with guns. How did we win?

The terrain was like this... We threw a lot of silver at this location along the way, and the bandits immediately dispersed. Then I asked a few of my brothers to shoot from the side, and the bandits became confused and ran through this pass...

Several of us are lying in ambush here, and we can kill them one by one with one shot. Don't say that I am an accurate shooter, even if I can't shoot accurately, none of them can escape in this situation.

So, 'Don't be greedy when you see treasures, and beware of the enemy's hidden schemes', there are many things to learn in fighting a war..."

Song Laosan knew that the insurance team had just been established, so how could Boss Shao take them to suppress bandits?

Okay, this is supposed to be an analogy, but how can it be made up to be true? Very interesting...

In one class, Shao Quanzhong talked about six battle examples, and everyone listened attentively. Le Sen didn't need to attend the class, but he stood at the door with Zhang Siwen and listened for three quarters of an hour.

"Tomorrow we will start to discuss the formal content, including "Military Training Principles", "Payroll", "Camp System", "Tactics", "Strategy", "New Land Warfare Methods", "Military and Political Essentials", and "Tactical Lectures"..."

Song Laosan was very worried at that time.

After one class was over, the officers were ordered to take a break. The next class had the same content, but the students were replaced by a pure group of forty schoolchildren.

Now Song Laosan knew what the big building being built in the dike was used for. It must be a new classroom that could at least accommodate the sixty students, twenty officers and their personal guards.

After the two classes, it was already eight o'clock in the evening, and the students went to bed. The officers still had to listen to Le Xiucai's two literacy classes, which lasted until ten o'clock.

Shao Quanzhong had finished two classes in a row and was about to go back to rest when he met Song Laosan who came to learn literacy.

Song Laosan grabbed Shao Quanzhong and said, "Brother, since you can speak and have so many new military tactics, why do you still spend a lot of money to send these kids to Europe?"

Shao Quanzhong patted his childhood friend on the back and said, "Brother, if you learn all my knowledge, you will be invincible in the country and can even defeat the British and French invaders. But it is still far from enough.

Prussia produced a military saint named Clausewitz, who can be compared with our ancestor Sun Wu.

I only have a rough idea of ​​what he does. If I want to fully master it, I have to send someone to Berlin to learn the authentic ones.

His knowledge is not well-known now, but once Prussia and France fight, these British and French devils will know how powerful he is.

By then, the foreigners will have learned the skills of the military saint, and we won’t have them. If we fight them, we won’t be able to defeat them.”

Shit, Brother Shao is not focusing on destroying the Taiping Army and the Nian Rebellion, but is already preparing to fight the foreigners?
"Then, big brother, can I also go to Prussia to study?"

"You don't have to go. When they come back after completing their studies, they can all become generals. Just use them well and don't be self-righteous. Prepare to become a general in the future."

Song Laosan pointed at his nose and said, "I—, become a general?"

"Why, you don't look like one? I think you look like one. I think there are at least five generals in this room."

When Song Laosan walked into the classroom, his mentality suddenly changed. He held a quill pen, dipped it in ink, and carefully memorized the words that Mr. Le taught him. His handwriting was crooked, but he was very serious.

No wonder Brother Shao asked everyone to use a goose feather pen. This thing is much easier to use than a brush.

By the way, in the future I will be one of Brother Shao’s Five Tiger Generals, so I have to have a formal name. Five Tiger Generals Song Lao San, this sounds too lame.

…………

Apart from training every day, everyone’s schedule is fully scheduled and a month passes in the blink of an eye.

On the third day of November in the tenth year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign, there was still half a month before the next salary payment, but the next military salary had not yet been settled.

Shao Quanzhong blew the whistle to gather the troops, "Come on, follow me to get next month's pay!"

(End of this chapter)