“Alright, is there anyone who has not received their soldier’s pay?”Zhu Pingan stood on the slope and inquired aloud to the crowd.
“My lord, we have all received them.”The people at the bottom of the slope replied back in unison, feeling the one and a half silver pieces of soldier’s pay that was stashed close to them, everyone’s face was filled with happiness as well as a bright vision for the future.
“Very good!”Zhu Pingan nodded, then swept his gaze over the crowd and continued, “Gentlemen, the current soldier’s pay is one and a half silver per month. I know that it’s slightly lower, but the court’s finances are currently strained, so I hope that you all will sympathise with the court’s difficulties. In addition, please rest assured that you will be paid in full and on time every month, and this official will also do his best to apply to the court for an appropriate increase in your soldier’s pay in the future.”
“One and a half silver per month, not low ……”
“What? The soldier’s pay will be raised in the future ……”
After the people heard that Zhu Pingan would also apply for an increase in their soldier’s pay in the future, each of them could not help but smile with joy.
In fact, they were already satisfied with the one and a half silver per month soldier’s pay, and could even use the word pleasantly surprised to describe it. When they were mountain bandits, it was a luxury to have enough to eat, as for this legendary thing called soldier’s pay, they had only heard of it, but had never received it.
When they first agreed to submit, they boldly thought that they would be satisfied if they were fed three meals a day and given half a taels of silver per month for their soldier’s pay.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Pingan raised their bold dream by a full three times, paying one and a half taels of silver per month.
Now he also said that he would strive to raise it again in the future ……They were hit on the head by a huge surprise and were so excited that they could not contain themselves.
“The treatment of all of you, in addition to the soldier’s pay, there is also bounty silver. In the future, the bounty silver for all of you will be issued in squads, every ten of you will be a squad, that is, a troop, and later on, this official will assign you rows. In the future, if each squad kills a Japanese invader, I will reward you with 30 taels of silver. If you kill ten Japanese invaders, the reward will be 300 taels. If you kill a hundred, the reward will be 3,000 taels! Don’t worry, as long as you can kill, I will definitely honour the reward! Train well, and if you kill a few more Japanese pirates in the future, you’ll be rich.”
Zhu Pingan said to the crowd with a smile, giving them a wonderful and attractive “money” scene.
“A reward of thirty taels of silver for killing a Japanese invader? Even if it’s divided among ten people, each person will get three taels of silver! If you kill ten Japanese invaders, the reward will be 300 taels, and each person can get 30 taels. ……That’s a fortune, plus the soldiers’ pay, that’s 40 to 50 taels of silver a year, that’s enough money to build a big house and marry a wife, hehehe ……Then the future life can be very beautiful ……”
“I didn’t think that the Japanese head is so valuable! If I had known, I would have gone to rob the heads of the Japanese in the first place ……”
“You’re silly, we haven’t met our lord before, if you kill a Japanese invader, where will you get the reward?”
“Where are the Japanese pirates! I can’t wait to go and fight with them, hey, that’s not fighting, that’s collecting money, I’m going to get rich and marry them in the future!”
“I can’t wait to go to the Japanese pirates now, don’t let me meet them, I’ll kill their heads off!”
Hearing Zhu Pingan’s announcement of the silver bounty programme, the crowd immediately became excited, fighting and killing Japanese invaders, this kind of high-risk work that puts the head on the waistband of the trousers, which they used to avoid, but at the moment, in their opinion, it has become a way to become rich, and each of them was eager to give it a try, and couldn’t wait to find the Japanese invaders to do a battle.
“Well! All of you do not worry, later to kill the Japanese have plenty of opportunities! You have received this officer’s pay, and from today onwards you are this officer’s soldiers! This official name is Zhu Pingan, now as Jiangsu and Zhejiang as the Commander of the Department of Criminal Investigation Division, the official position of the fifth grade, this official by the order of the Emperor to rectify the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military, leading militia, the formation of regimentation. All of you are the soldiers of the regiment under the command of this official, the regiment formed by this official is tentatively named ‘Jiangsu and Zhejiang regiment army’, referred to as ‘Zhejiang army’! In the future, you will be part of the ‘Zhejiang Army’! I promise you that I will pay you on time, honour your rewards and punish you strictly! If this official violates this guarantee, you can all report this official to the Yingtian Ministry of War, to the Zhejiang Inspector General, and to the court!”
Zhu Pingan stretched out his hands and pressed downwards, calming the crowd’s excitement, and said to the crowd.
“We are the Zhejiang Army! We are the Zhejiang Army! Your Excellency is mighty! The Zhejiang Army is mighty!”The crowd shouted in unison.
The crowd was excited, from today onwards they had a name – Zhejiang Army! In the future, they would be part of the Zhejiang Army.
“This officer pledges to you all, and you must also pledge to this officer: obey the command and observe the military discipline! If there is any violation, you will be severely punished!”Zhu Pingan scanned the crowd with a burning gaze and said in a stern voice.
“Don’t worry, my lord, we will avoid obeying the command! Observe military discipline!”The crowd once again shouted in unison.
“Very well! Now start allocating the rows! Every ten of you will be a squad, i.e., a unit, with a unit commander; four squads will be a brigade, i.e., a post, with a post commander; four brigades will be a general, i.e., a general, with a general; four generals will be a battalion, i.e., a battalion, with a battalion commander! Do you all hear me clearly?!”
Zhu Pingan stood on the slope and said aloud.
“Hear me clearly!”The crowd at the bottom of the slope shouted back.
“Who is going to be this sergeant, sentry, general, and battalion commander? How will they be elected?!”
The crowd asked with curiosity and concern.
“This officer will first read out the composition of each army, and then announce the method of selecting the captain, post commander, general, and battalion commander! Now this official starts to read out the list of each army, the person whose name is read out, according to the order in which this official reads out the name, in order to the army as a unit, in the open space on the right hand side of this official, stand in a line, the ‘army’ that is read out first stands against this official, and the ‘army’ that is read out after that stands next to each other and arranges to the left!, all of you have heard it clearly ……”Zhu Pingan said aloud.
“Listened clearly!”The crowd said back.
“Very well, we will now begin to read out the list of the first Wu personnel, Zhu Daniu, Wang Ergu, Wang Tiezhu, Xia Beifeng, and Gao Coronet ……”
Zhu Pingan stood on the high slope and read the people’s names out loud, after reading once for each of the Ng, he repeated the reading again to make sure that the people heard them clearly.
Zhu Da Niu, Wang Er Dog and other people who heard the names came out from different parts of the crowd and came to the open space to Zhu Ping An’s right to get to know each other; then came the people from the second Ng, the third Ng, and the fourth Ng ……
Zhu Pingan’s formation of the people of the various wards was not a casual group, but rather, the people of the three cottages were disrupted and split up for reorganisation, to avoid the people of the various cottages from clumping together, tailing off, and not being easy to control and command. When the post and the general are formed later, they will also be reorganised on the basis of this principle, so as to make it easier to control the entire regiment.
