Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

In Zhang Shikang's opinion, a person can be poor and the clothes he wears can be old, but they must be clean; you can be poor, but you cannot be lazy.

The same goes for the military camp. The conditions are not good now, so wearing old clothes is helpless. But Zhang Shikang couldn't stand the stench of sweat wherever he went.

This is actually not the most important thing. According to Zhang Shikang's memory, during this period in the late Ming Dynasty, in addition to frequent droughts and locust plagues, the Black Death was also raging.

The Black Death was very famous in the 19th century. It spread across the entire Eurasian continent from Stockholm in Scandinavia to the Heilongjiang River basin in the east. At its worst, it killed 30% of the world's population.

This disease develops very quickly. Symptoms appear in the morning and the person is gone in the evening. The death is very tragic. Not only does blood flow from all seven orifices, but the body is also covered with pus and smells bad.

According to historical records, in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and even the capital region, when the situation was worst, entire villages were wiped out, and nine out of ten houses were left empty. This statement in history books is sometimes not an exaggeration.

The so-called Black Death is actually a term used by Westerners. In the Ming Dynasty, this disease was called plague.

The military camp is a place where people gather together, and there will definitely be hidden dangers if the hygiene is not done well. He cannot control other military camps, but in the Beijing Camp, he must follow his ideas.

"If you don't finish the work before dark or fail to meet the standards, you won't have food and you will be dismissed!"

Zhang Shikang didn't even assign specific people to specific areas. He just wanted to see if certain people had organizational skills. And it seemed that those guerrilla generals were very interested in this and took the initiative to step forward and start assigning tasks.

Soon, 23,000 people rushed in different directions to start the cleanup campaign.

The Yongding River is not far from the entrance of Xishan Camp, making it very convenient to get and use water.

At that time, the river water had no industrial pollution and could be drunk directly. After a busy day, Zhang Shikang felt sticky all over. He handed the barracks to Sun Weifan and took Sun Dasheng and others to the Yongding River to take a bath.

He found a place with shallow water, and everyone, without being shy, jumped into the water and started to bathe.

When the washing was almost done, Zhang Shikang lay by the river and said to his brothers:

"Brothers, I believe you have heard what I said to Zhou Dasheng and the others today.

The military camp is a place where people admire the strong. If you are stronger than them, they will obey you.

If you are a coward, even if I give you a military position, you will only be laughed at in secret, and on the battlefield, it will cause great chaos."

What Zhang Shikang said was what was in his mind. If you still can't change your bad habit of bullying others even after you get here, when you go to a chaotic place like a battlefield, maybe you don't even need enemies, some people will dare to kill you.

"Brother, what are you talking about? You look down on us, don't you? We are not less armed or legged than them. As long as we practice hard, how can we be defeated by them?" Xu Wenyuan said jokingly.

Sun Dasheng was also very unconvinced. He felt that those soldiers were no match for him in a fight.

"Brother, are you really planning to recruit us all as infantry?"

"What else? Do you know what the seven cuts and thirteen kills include? On the battlefield, do you know how the cavalry and infantry cooperate? Do you know the difference between crossbowmen and archers?

How many battle formations do you know? Where to set up camp? How to attack a city and how to defend it?

Do you know all this?

You all don't know.

So do you still think you are suitable to be a general?

This is not only irresponsible for the lives of those soldiers, but also for your own lives."

Zhang Shikang raised a lot of questions in a row, which stunned Sun Dasheng and others.

In fact, Zhang Shikang didn't know these problems either, he just said them casually, but he knew himself well. After all, everyone has their own expertise, so he just left it to Sun Weifan.

The most taboo thing on the battlefield is to give blind orders without knowing what is going on. In fact, everyone understands these principles, but do they really understand them?

The Ming Dynasty alone suffered countless defeats due to stupid actions taken by people who had no knowledge of military affairs.

Seeing that everyone was in a low mood, Zhang Shikang thought for a moment and said:

“You have an advantage that others don’t have, and that is literacy.

You can read military books, but they cannot. A true commander is never one who is brave and aggressive, but one who is able to make plans and win battles thousands of miles away. No such person is illiterate.

We wasted too much time eating, drinking and having fun together before. From now on, you and I, all of us, should work hard.

You can't achieve success by just talking about it. If you can have the same physical fitness as those soldiers, or even better than them through training.

In addition, if you can read military tactics and deploy troops, they will obey you and help you achieve military merits.

By that time, you will definitely not worry about the current problems. "

After arriving in this world, Zhang Shikang gradually realized the importance of knowledge. Being literate can help you understand reason, know right from wrong, and have insights. Only with these can you have a path to upward mobility.

The ruling class divides the world into two groups: one is the so-called upper class who control knowledge like them, and the other is the enslaved.

The world has not changed much in thousands of years, and the so-called upper classes are afraid that everyone will become literate and their privileges will be taken away.

They filled the already winding road with nails, causing those who had tried their best to learn to read to eventually fall on the road.

That road is called imperial examination.

The people from the Second Sons Group would naturally not take part in the imperial examinations again, but as Zhang Shikang said, with a family background like theirs, as long as they work hard enough, why should they be afraid of not being able to succeed?

In that case, why do you still worry about becoming an ordinary soldier? Your starting point is already high enough, surpassing the vast majority of people.

Zhang Shikang spoke sincerely, he really cared about these brothers. After all, given the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, training these soldiers would definitely not be in vain, as they were almost certain to go to war.

He didn't want his brothers to lose their lives in confusion.

After hearing this, Xu Wenyuan and the others seemed to be thinking about something, and no longer looked lost as before.

"There is one more thing I want to tell you." Zhang Shikang thought for a while and said.

"After the dismissal of the old and weak, the remaining 24,000 people include 18,000 infantrymen from the Fifth Army Battalion, 3,000 cavalrymen from the Divine Pivot Battalion, 2,000 firearmsmen from the Divine Machine Battalion, and 1,000 from the Fire Head Battalion.

I plan to reorganize the battalions, with each battalion having 5,000 men. The firearms battalion will be under my sole command, and I want to pick out another 3,000 from the infantry battalion to form a complete battalion.

I will personally train this battalion, and the training method may be different from that of General Sun, but I still suggest that you stay in this battalion."

He was just suggesting, not ordering, although he had the qualifications. Seeing that his brothers were all thoughtful, Zhang Shikang was very serious and continued in a firm tone:

"Believe me, the future is the world of firearms."