Li Xiao finally saw these soldiers. Not to mention that they were all wearing new military uniforms and holding obsolete ancient firecrackers. With two grenades strapped to their waists, they looked really... damn handsome.

Li Xiao has always entered into a misunderstanding, that is, the Ming Dynasty did not have many armies. Because in his eyes, the army is for fighting, and those who can fight are called armies. But he forgot that since the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty had

Its own unique military system and military household system!

The biggest advantage of this weird system is that it hides troops from the people. Military households own land and serve as soldiers in peacetime and war. This is a very good system, but once the good advice came to the mouth of a crooked monk,

I was stunned to read it wrongly.

The place where military households gather together is called a guard station, such as Tieling Guard, Tianjin Guard, etc. If there is a guard house, there will naturally be hundreds or thousands of households, and these officers will manage the military households.

Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the officers of the guard station have begun to occupy the fields of the military households. The military households of the guard station have gradually become slaves of the officers! In this case, the military households naturally spend much more time holding hoes than holding swords and guns.

With time, it is inevitable that the combat power will decline!

By Zhu Youjian's generation, it was even more corrupted. The Ming Dynasty had a huge military household, but there were not many armies that could actually fight.

Shandong, as a province with a large number of military guards, naturally has a lot of military households. There are more than 70,000 registered military households in the province, but after taking into account the number of people who are paid and sold short, it is estimated that there are only 30,000 to 40,000 people. There are 20,000 in the surrounding areas of Jinan.

There were many people. Sun Chengzong didn't know when he had picked out 9,000 guys out of the 20,000 people who looked like that.

Training all day long involves just one thing: walking in queue!

Those walking together are called marching in unison. If you look at it horizontally and vertically, it's still a line. If you look diagonally, it's still a line. It's not much different from the National Day military parade.

Listening to the "click" and "click" footsteps, Li Xiao's heart involuntarily adjusted to the frequency of the footsteps. Every step seemed to step on his heart rate.

"Look to the right!" A tall officer in the lead pulled out his command knife with a "swish" sound.

"Ka" "Ka" "Ka" three consecutive stabbing movements, the bayonet was as bright as a forest, and the bayonet made of fine steel reflected the cold light in the sun, making people shudder when looking at it.

"Okay!" Li Xiao waved and saluted. He had to admit that this was a very good honor guard. Wang Tiqian, who was not seen aside, was so excited that he must be a strong army with such military power.

Even Li Xiao was shocked. Zhu Youjian, who had never seen the world, saw it and fainted from joy. As for the difference between honor guards and combat troops, Li Xiao did not plan to tell Wang Tiqian.

"My lord, you see, these officers and soldiers are about to go on an expedition. But we in Shandong really can't afford any money. Look...!" Li Xiao looked down at the rows of soldiers passing by, and began to cry out to Wang Tigan.

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say. I've asked Bianyifang to exchange 50,000 taels of silver. Take the banknote. Biianfang belongs to your family. Just go and pick up the money yourself. I just don't know when the army will set off. Wanzai is there.

Looking forward to reinforcements!"

"It's easy to say, the day after tomorrow! We will leave the day after tomorrow!" Li Xiao took the money order and put it in his pocket with a smile. Ai Husheng has now even completed the exchange business, and recently I heard that he is engaged in savings and lending.

"Prince, don't worry. When this army arrives in the capital, it will definitely help Long live repel the Tatars." Sun Chengzong also came over to intervene. This was the culmination of his hard work in the past six months.

"Thank you, Mr. Sun. Please come back to the capital when you have time. Long live always talks about you. I hope you can come back to the capital and teach Long live." Wang Tiqian used his expertise in flattery to deal with Sun Chengzong.

"Please tell me, Prince, that I always want to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty. However, I am old and cannot go to the capital to work. The same goes for helping Long live herding in Shandong."

A group of guys on the stage praised each other insincerely, and the queue below chanted slogans and walked through the entire venue.

Wang Tiqian is very satisfied with the army in front of him. Being able to get reinforcements from Li Xiao this time and returning to the capital must be a great achievement. Long live my Lord! Long live my Lord! At the critical moment, I have to rely on Wang Tiqian.

Walking back to the post house with stern steps, Wang Tiqian had a sweet dream of being praised by Zhu Youjian in public.

Seeing Wang Tiqian return to the posthouse with satisfaction, Li Xiao felt a little unbearable. "Isn't it a bit too much for us to defraud people of their money like this?"

"Hey...! Your conscience has caught on. The money order is in your arms. It's still too late to rush over and return it to him." Sun Chengzong couldn't stand Li Xiao's ugly behavior of being a good guy after getting an advantage, so he turned around to visit the officers and soldiers who were being inspected. .

"Brother! When these people go to the capital to fight the Tatars, aren't they asking people to die? This is more than 9,000 lives!" Li Hu couldn't stand it, so he approached Li Xiao and asked in a low voice.

"Your brother, am I that cruel?" Li Xiao turned around and rolled his eyes at Li Hu.

"Let me tell you, there is news from insiders in the capital. Qian Qianyi and others are planning to withdraw the Nanjing Forbidden Army that is assisting in the defense of Zijin Pass back to the capital, and then they will protect Long Live as he marches south to Nanjing. This matter is currently confidential, and not many people know about it. Note Stop it! Don’t spread the word." Li Xiao whispered to Li Hu before leaving with Cao Wenzhao.

It's okay not to look at these honor guards all the time. The only ones who can really fight are Cao Wenzhao and the others.

"How is the military training going?" Li Xiao stepped onto the carriage and called Cao Wenzhao to come up with him.

"It's not bad. The officers are all veterans. But the soldiers are too new. This group of soldiers is so stupid that they have no ability to recognize left and right. It's been three days since the formation training, and there are still some who walk in unison. "When it comes to these soldiers, Cao Wenzhao has a headache.

"This is what a banker who has just joined the army is like this. I have promoted all the outstanding squad leaders from the first and second divisions to you as officers. For this reason, Mr. Ao and Yuan Chonghuan often said that I am partial. For training matters, I rely more on these squad leaders. They are all veterans. Several of your battalion commanders have been with me since we were in Phi Island. In terms of seniority, they are all senior.

These old guys are like loaches in the army. If you can't control them, you will suffer."

"Commander! I didn't mention this, my subordinate Tianqi was a general in the first year of Tianqi. He can deal with a few veterans, but he can't help but lose the commander's face sometimes. After all, these people started their career with you, commander-in-chief. .”

"Military law is military law, and you can't violate military law no matter who you follow. If you grasp this, I have no problem here. Mr. Sun will not interfere, so you can do it as you please. It's just out of favor, and decapitation is not a problem." Don't do it. If there are really disobedient people, they will be fired."

There are always such people in the army who rely on their old age and show off their old age, guys who followed him out of Pi Island. Many of them have retired from the army, and some have made it through. Many of them have reached the position of battalion and company commanders. Some of them are more literate, He also became a regiment leader. For example, Nie Dahu, the leader of the first regiment!

"No!" Cao Wenzhao cupped his fists. This was Li Xiao's great support for him.

"Commander, our division really won't follow us to the capital this time. If those soldiers went to the capital just now, they would die. The capital has a large population. If the rebels and Tatars enter the capital, many people will die!" Cao Cao Wen Zhao also thought that Li Xiao just sent those soldiers to die.

"You don't need to worry about the affairs of the capital. Your current task is to train your troops well. I will take care of the affairs of the capital." Li Xiao did not want the whole world to know about Qian Qianyi's conspiracy.

"No!" Cao Wenzhao quickly shut up. It was obvious that Li Xiao didn't want to talk about this topic.

Wang Tigan waited for two days like an ant on a hot pot. But he also understood that this was an army after all. When the army was about to set off, it had to prepare some practical things such as food, grass, and baggage.

After finally making it to the morning of the departure, nine thousand guardsmen were ready to go, carrying backpacks and muskets with bayonets on their shoulders. Suddenly, a Pegasus galloped over.
Chapter completed!