Chapter 95: High Position, Light Responsibility

Chapter 95: High Position, Light Responsibility

Chapter 95: High Position, Light Responsibility

Liao Rong's suggestion makes sense. Most of the children are twelve or thirteen years old. If they are trained in English and some simple math knowledge, they will be able to study abroad in two years.

When I went to the UK, I had to study at a military academy first, and then go on board a ship for internship. It would take at least ten years, and I would be twenty-four or twenty-five when I came back.

Isn’t it said that modern men can join the army at the age of 18 and can get married at the age of 22? Enemies are much easier to deal with than women.

In that era, most men got married at the age of sixteen, but Shao Quanzhong was late, getting married at the age of twenty.

Not counting the special case of Shao Quanzhong who became the leader of the Huai Army at the age of 20, Chen Yucheng had made outstanding military achievements at the age of 22 and was awarded the title of King of England. The ancients matured early, and the commander of the navy may need someone with more mature thoughts, and a mere captain does not need to be 24 or 25 years old.

Liao Rong graduated from St. Paul's College in Hong Kong. He is the first mate of a British cargo ship and has a wealth of knowledge in navigation.

Moreover, they were trained by the British, and their skills are in line with those of the British Navy, except that they lack the knowledge about warships.

If the students going to the UK receive good training in their own country in the past two years and have acquired some skills required for military academy and even shipboard internships in advance, they will be able to become young veterans of the sea before entering school.

In the UK, military academy students can graduate early and the time for shipboard internship can be greatly shortened without reducing the quality of talent.

Return home as soon as possible to use it. Japan will be undergoing the Meiji Restoration in seven years, so time is running out.

Warships can be bought if you have money, and new warships can be built in two to three years at most. Talent training cannot be rushed, the earlier you prepare, the earlier you will benefit.

This is the truth, but——

"Brother Liao, our future navy must use steam ironclad ships."

Seeing Liao Rong nod and agree with what he said, Shao Quanzhong, who thought he knew little about the navy, gained some confidence.

"As far as I know, a newly built 7,000-ton battleship-class ironclad ship costs 1.6 million taels of silver, and a second-hand medium-sized ironclad ship of more than 4,000 tons, the price of which is 1 million taels. Even if an expert haggles the price down, it will still be 600,000 taels. Where can you find a cheap ironclad ship?"

Liao Rong had no idea how Shao Quanzhong knew the insider price and was in awe of his well-informed mind.

"Sir, what we need now is just a training ship. It doesn't matter if it has armor or not. As long as it is steam-powered and has new-style naval guns, it will be enough for training."

Well, Shao Quanzhong, an outsider, doesn’t understand, so let’s listen to what the experts say.

"I know the commander of the British 'China Fleet', Mr. Hope. After the British and French forces withdrew from the capital, the 'China Fleet' anchored in Shanghai. In the fleet, there was a 400-horsepower steam frigate, the 'Fury', which was bombarded at Dagukou..."

“It’s bad—”

"It's just that its defense has declined after repairs, but it can still be used. Uncle Ho once applied for a new ship, but he only had a budget of 30,000 pounds. He once intended to sell the 'Fury' to the Taiping Army at a low price of 20,000 pounds so that he could buy a new ship with 50,000 pounds. But the deal didn't go through..."

"How much is twenty thousand pounds in silver?"

"About 67,000 taels. I'm an insider and have a good relationship with the British. I can bargain for the price. The Fury is equipped with six Armstrong guns and can carry 220 sailors, which is enough for us."

"Okay, this price is fine. Go to Shanghai and talk to Uncle Ho. Once we reach an agreement, we'll buy it right away. If possible, hire a few foreign soldiers who can fire artillery as instructors, and you can be the captain."

Liao Rong left in great joy. If the deal goes through, this will be the first real steam-powered warship in the Qing Dynasty. The previous one was a steam freighter that Lin Zexu bought from the Americans and had sunk off the coast of Humen.

…………

Outside Shaojiawei, more than 2,000 new recruits were shouting slogans and leveling the ground under the leadership of veteran soldiers.

The dike can only house two battalions. Although the training ground can accommodate 3,000 people, it is not big enough for training. The new recruits have to set up tents and live temporarily around the dike.

There is not enough room now, and if we recruit more than 10,000 people, there will be even less space. There is also no place to train the soldiers, so the first thing the new recruits do when they arrive is to level the playground by themselves.

Next to the dike, a large number of able-bodied men doing labor were building a simple military camp for the new recruits.

Taizhou is in the south, with a mild climate, so there is no need for complex houses. Simple military camps can be built very quickly. How do you think the basic unit of the Qing army, the "shed", came from? Military camps only need a shed, and people sleep on a large bunk bed.

The organization of the late Qing Dynasty was very chaotic, the treatment of the Green Camp was poor, and the shed leader was in charge of 40 people, which was basically equivalent to a platoon leader. When the new army was training at Xiaozhan, the housing conditions were good, and the shed leader was in charge of 10 people, becoming a squad leader.

This is also the reason why Shao Quanzhong had to change the grassroots military units into companies and platoons, otherwise it would sound confusing. Anyway, this kind of Western military system and foreign rifle teams are already in practice, so he is not being unconventional.

The smooth requisition of surrounding fields and transfer of laborers was related to Shao Quanzhong's promotion. He is now the governor of Taizhou.

Well, the governor of Taizhou spends every day in the military camp, doesn't he go to work in the provincial government?

Qiao Songnian originally lived in the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office. After he was promoted to the Governor of Jiangning, the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office had to be vacated for his successor. So where did he go?
Jiangning is Jinling. It is impossible for Lord Qiao to go to work next to King Hong, so he has to wander around Hailing and occupy the prefectural office.

The prefect who had no sense of existence had been transferred happily. Although it was a lateral transfer, he no longer had a mother-in-law to look after him and could finally make his own decisions.

Shao Quanzhong, the Taizhou prefect who took office, was now a "subordinate prefect" and worked in the same office with the governor. Under normal circumstances, this would be bad luck.

Those who work hard are given priority, those who take the blame and are scolded are given priority, and all the credit goes to the superiors.

But Shao Quanzhong’s situation is not normal, Shangguan is his godfather.

Qiao Songnian was in charge of three prefectures and two states under the Jiangning Provincial Administration except Jiangning Prefecture. Taizhou belonged to Yangzhou Prefecture, so Qiao Songnian was in charge of it directly.

All the yamen runners in Taizhou were retained and reported directly to the governor. Shao Quanzhong was just a prefect in name only. He had rank and power but no responsibility. He was a typical person with high position and little responsibility. He was free and easy. He just needed to concentrate on training troops and fighting wars as a garrison commander.

If he recruited 7,000 more soldiers, he would be in big trouble. Unlike the Hunan Army, Shao Quanzhong's Huai Army was basically organized according to the new army.

There are five infantry battalions, divided into left and right wings, with two battalions on the left wing and three battalions on the right wing, one cavalry battalion, one artillery battalion, and one engineering battalion.

Not only do they have to arrange officers from commander to deputy squad leader, but they also have to arrange clerks, committee members, doctors, scribes, buglers, guards, cooks, and foreman various civilian and logistical personnel. It is much more complicated than the original two officer training camps.

Shao Quanzhong was extremely busy arranging work for more than 10,000 people, and seven days passed in a flash.

Seven days later, the recruitment was over, but the artillery and medical soldiers were not recruited, and there were not that many people who knew medical knowledge and basic mathematics.

Medical soldiers are easy to deal with, but artillerymen are a technical branch of the army and need to understand geometry. Even if there are foreign instructors for training in the future, you can't just start from scratch without knowing anything, there must be some basics.

"Let's not make do with that. We'll use these 400 people first. Wu Ziyi, you can send people to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, and Fuzhou to recruit the rest. Anyway, our salary is high. I don't believe that such a big country like China can't gather more than a thousand artillerymen."

Shao Quanzhong was very busy when Liao Rong came back dejected.

Shao Quanzhong knew from his expression that the deal had not been done, "Why? Did the British change their minds and not sell the warships?"

"No, Uncle Ho was still willing to sell it, but the British Commissioner of Customs, Li Taiguo, who had the final say in Shanghai, stopped him. He was not optimistic about the war between the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Army, saying that he 'did not want to maintain close ties with a dynasty that might collapse.'"

Shao Quanzhong closed his eyes and looked up for a long time, then suddenly asked, "What day is it today?"

"March 22nd."

"Tomorrow I will go to Shanghai with you to buy the warship."

"Ah? You were injured the last time you went there, and you had to recuperate for three months. Are you going again? Will it work if you go?"

Liao Rong said that he just couldn't believe that Shao Quanzhong could negotiate something that he, an expert on Britain, couldn't, even though he couldn't speak English.

"It will work if I go."

(End of this chapter)