In a sandy clearing at the foot of Huangzhu Mountain, about twenty and a half-year-old boys were arranged in a neat formation, constantly moving forward and then turning.
These half-grown boys, all of whom were only fifteen or sixteen years old, were obviously still unable to fully adapt to this dense formation, as well as the slogans of turn left and turn right spoken by Lin Zhe next to them.
When Li Xuan shouted to take a few steps forward, someone took three steps and someone took four steps, causing the originally neat formation to become chaotic in an instant.
And when Li Xuan shouted to turn right or turn left, there would always be people who followed the command and made the correct turn, but some people couldn't tell the difference between left and right, and then made the wrong choice.
Whenever there was confusion in the formation, the strong bandits who were wielding their swords would stop and look at Li Xuan as if they were looking at an alien.
They couldn't understand why their emperor wanted to drag these half-grown children to play in a queue.
Three days ago, Li Xuan told Fang Dongquan and others that he wanted to establish a Guards Army.
At first, Fang Dong expressed his opposition tactfully. His opposition was within Li Xuan's expectation, and it was nothing more than fear that Li Xuan would overtake him and take control of the military.
So Li Xuan directly said that the Guards would not be drawn from the backbone bandits, but only from the half-grown children between the ages of thirteen and sixteen. At this time, Fang Dongquan thought that Li Xuan just liked to play. So I just let him go.
In fact, if Fang Dongquan gave him those backbone bandits with bravery, Li Xuan wouldn't want them.
Because the Guards he wants to organize is not pursuing personal bravery, but discipline, absolute discipline!
Although Li Xuan was not a military expert in his previous life, he was not even an enthusiast, but he knew to some extent that if an army wanted to become a strong army, not to mention its weapons and equipment, tactics, etc., the first and most important thing One thing is that you need to obey orders.
Especially those modern armies that play queuing to kill, they need to face the enemy's shells and bullets, ignore the constant falling of their comrades, advance step by step, and wait until they are dozens of meters in front of the enemy before firing.
Li Xuan naturally cannot expect to develop a modern army now, but he feels that at least the formation must be necessary and basic battlefield discipline must be in place.
We can't be like those bandits who rush forward in a chaotic manner. In the end, only a few brave men actually participate in the fight, while more are waving flags and shouting from behind, fighting for the wind, and running away in droves when the opportunity comes.
Those adult bandits are basically veterans, and trying to bring them back to training again is as difficult as climbing to the sky.
However, it is easier and more convenient for these half-grown children to train. As for problems such as low personal martial arts skills and lack of physical strength, these are not big problems.
Because in Li Xuan's vision, after they go to the battlefield, they only need to obey the orders and execute the predetermined tactics. There is no need for any personal martial arts or strong bodies.
As long as they can maintain an orderly formation and obey orders, then Li Xuan's psychological expectations have been met.
As for what people in their twenties should do if they encounter heavy armored infantry, cavalry, or archers, what else can they do?
With just twenty or so people, you really want to have a decisive battle with the officers and soldiers. If you can defeat other weak bandits, and can hold off hundreds of officials, the county brave Li Xuan will be very satisfied.
Training such a group of half-grown children to line up, distinguish left and right, and obey orders is what Li Xuan has been most concerned about these past few days, or even his only concern.
Because this is related to the key to whether Li Xuan's subsequent series of plans can be carried out smoothly, he has to know that his training method is feasible.
It’s just that as the saying goes, the half-grown boys will eat me to death. Although these half-grown boys found by Li Xuan said that they brought their own dry food and even the spears and swords used for training, Li Xuan would never pay a penny.
salary.
However, when the intensity of training increases, the requirements for physical fitness are quite high. To maintain sufficient physical fitness, you must eat well.
If you don't have enough food and still do high-intensity training every day, it's easy for your soldiers to become skin and bones!
These half-grown families are not wealthy families. Food is already very tight, so it is naturally difficult for them to have enough to eat.
After discovering this problem, Li Xuan approached Liu Bagou: "Prime Minister, from now on the Guards will prepare an extra lunch for them, and the public will provide the food!"
After Liu Bagou heard this, he thought about it and said: "I obey the order!"
However, after agreeing, Liu Bagou added: "It's just that we don't have much food reserves. If we have to spend so much more, I'm afraid it will be even harder to hold on until the autumn harvest!"
Li Xuandao: "Didn't you discuss purchasing grain from outside in the past two days?"
Liu Bagou said: "We don't have much money in hand, and we have to buy some iron tools to make weapons. I'm afraid we won't be able to buy much with this food!"
Li Xuan had long known that this bandit's den was extremely poor. If this bandit's den was extremely rich, Fang Dongquan and the others wouldn't go out to plunder the countryside and caravans every year. It wouldn't be because they had no food.
.
The money Liu Bagou mentioned was actually brought out by Li Xuan and the others when they fled. The Li family was also a landlord before, and they still had some savings. When they fled, Mrs. Bai was very tight on time when she packed the soft bags.
, but I still brought out some silver, but not much, just over a hundred taels of silver.
"What about General Fang and the others? What can they do?" Li Xuan continued to ask.
Liu Bagou said: "General Fang said that after the summer harvest, they will go out to see if they can collect some food. However, the officers and soldiers are still looking for our traces. If we go out in large numbers, it will easily attract the attention of the officers and soldiers!
"
After hearing this, Li Xuan frowned slightly, and then said: "What about Shuilong Village?"
Going to rob Shuilong Village and play a game of black and white. Butcher Chen and the others had been discussing this matter many days ago. After Fang Dongquan came back, they just talked about it, but they never decided it.
However, whether they were to plunder the villages outside or to steal the Water Dragon Village, they had to wait until the summer rush was over so that they could free up enough manpower to take action.
So they still have a buffer time of at least half a month, so there is no need to be too anxious for a while.
Liu Bagou said: "They are still discussing it, but it won't be easy to make a decision for a while!"
"In that case, let's wait until Xia is busy before we talk about this matter!" After Li Xuan said this, he asked Liu Bagou to step back first, while he himself was thinking about how to train most of the children so that they could form combat effectiveness faster.
, become a real army, not just bandits.
He knew very well that whether he could survive in the future would depend on the army composed of these half-grown children. As for Fang Dongquan and other veteran bandits, they were unreliable.