That night, the General Military Mansion in Songshan City was naturally very lively. Yang Zhen showed a rare act of generosity and set up several banquets to warmly entertain Yuan Jin, who was promoted to deputy general, and Yang Zhan'ao and Yan Shengsan, who had returned from recruiting soldiers. Guo Xiaowu et al.

Yu Qi, Wang Jun, Zhang Tianbao, and Wang Yuyou were invited to the Songshan General Military Mansion for a banquet because of their meritorious service in assisting Yang Zhan'ao and others in recruiting troops in Denglai, Hejian and other places.

That was fine with Yu Qi. After all, he came from a wealthy family in Dengzhou and was used to such scenes. However, Wang Jun, Zhang Tianbao and Wang Yuyou were flattered.

Yang Zhenneng gave them a banquet with Tongzhi, the commander-in-chief of the Zuo Army and the governor of the Dudu Mansion of the Zuo Army before the Eastern Expedition, and welcomed them for enlisting to serve in the advance battalion of the Eastern Expedition. He made them feel a great honor, and a soldier would die for his bosom friend. Can't help but arise spontaneously.

The banquet at the General Military Mansion was quite simple, with no fancy dishes. Except for pots of hand-braised mutton stewed in salt water, the rest was the strong pot-shaking Laofen wine.

The feeling of strangeness and distance between the old man and the new couple soon disappeared without a trace as he filled his hands with the mutton and Laofen wine.

On the morning of the next day, Yang Zhen asked Fang Guangchen to write several letters of appointment, granting Yu Lewu, a martial arts officer from Dengzhou Prefecture who had recruited more than 800 young and strong soldiers to submit, as the chief officer of the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition. Wang Jun, Zhang Tianbao and Wang Yuyou were awarded the title of commander-in-chief of the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition.

As for the three people who have made the most contributions after recruiting soldiers this time, namely Yang Zhan'ao, Yan Shengsan, and Guo Xiaowu, Yang Zhen talked to them. In addition to promoting Guo Xiaowu to the rank of General Qian, Yang Zhan'ao and Yan Shengsan will not move for the time being. Leave it to the next time you go to the court to report your merits and discuss your merits and promotions.

Emperor Chongzhen was able to agree with the Ministry of War that during the preparation and training of the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition, General Qian directly granted Yang Zhen the power to appoint the chief officer and allowed him to appoint and remove him on his own. This was already a great decentralization of power.

In the appointment and dismissal of high-ranking military attachés in the imperial court above the garrison level, although the opinions of the commander-in-chief and town ministers in various places will be respected, it is impossible to delegate power to the border towns and appoint and remove them on their own in any case.

Therefore, although Yang Zhen was very satisfied with Yang Zhan'ao and Yan Shengsan and wanted to give them higher military positions, he could not overstep his authority.

However, this does not prevent Yang Zhen from reusing them.

By the afternoon of that day, this time more than 2,400 young men recruited by Yang Zhan'ao and others from Denglai, Hejian and other places were all assigned as recruits to the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition.

Yang Zhan'ao and Wang Jun recruited more than 600 Dengzhou soldiers. With Yang Zhan'ao as the supervisor and the general officer in charge, and the general officer Wang Jun as deputy, they were organized into the advance battalion musketry reserve team for the Eastern Expedition, and were all under the command of Zhang Chen.

It turned out that the chief executive, the shed chief, and Yang Zhenyi who they temporarily selected and appointed were all still the same and accepted them all.

Among them, six hundred generals were actually equivalent to the general officers in the battalion system, but Yang Zhen did not give them a formal appointment certificate, that is, a seventh-grade battalion general officer issued by the Ministry of War.

They played an important role in the recruitment process of Yang Zhan'ao and others, especially on the way from Dengzhou to Songshan City by boat. They finally reached Songshan City and were definitely unavoidable.

But these people and the recruits they brought, whether they were incorporated into the musketeers, grenadier corps, artillery corps, or cavalry corps, after all, they have not been in battle formation and cannot be treated the same as those registered combat soldiers who have fought many battles. .

These hundred generals can only be regarded as foreign commissioned generals. Whether they can successfully be appointed as seventh-grade battalion soldiers and general officers depends on their subsequent performance.

Yang Zhen now organizes them into the musketeers reserve team. This is the purpose. Only those reserve soldiers who train hard and meet the standards of the Zhang Chen musketeers can become the real musketeers of the musketeers.

Whichever general of the reserve team is the first to be selected as the left and right wings of the Musketeers, whichever general's foreign affairs committee will be the first to become a genuine seventh-grade battalion commander.

This can be regarded as an incentive system set by Yang Zhen for the upcoming military training.

Yan Shengsan and Zhang Tianbao recruited more than 600 Cangzhou soldiers, two sentries, six generals, and sixty sheds of new soldiers, which were divided into two.

Yan Shengsan had been working in the navy for so many years, so naturally he still wanted to be used as a navy engineer now.

Yang Zhen ordered him to lead more than 300 self-recruited brothers and fellow villagers from Zaohu, and rely on more than 20 large and small sea ships prepared by Dengzhou tycoon Yu Lewu to form the third direct ship of the advance battalion for the East Expedition.

The team, led by General Qian, was stationed at Shuiyingshazhou Island at the mouth of Xiaoling River, and was controlled by Yu Liangtai.

Nowadays, Yu Liangtai's fleet often travels between Hongluo Mountain and Songshan City along the Xiaoling River, Wuxin River, and Xiaosha River, so the Sailor Ying Shazhou Island has a serious shortage of troops.

Although the deep trenches, high fortresses, granaries, barracks, watchtowers, and wharves on the island have begun to take shape, the cofferdams, dikes around the island, and the highland forts guarding the island are still far behind and need to be completed as soon as possible.

Let Yan Shengsan take the more than 300 Zaohu children he recruited to station on the island, which can replenish the island's strength and strengthen the fleet.

Furthermore, the layout of Songshan City is not large, and there cannot be too many people stationed at one time. Even if we can make room for them to stay in the city and have enough to eat all day long, it is not an option.

As for Zhang Tianbao and the more than 300 people he recruited to surrender, Yang Zhen organized them into the grenadier reserve team of the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition, with Zhang Tianbao as the leader of the grenadier reserve team, and they were all under the command of Li Lu.

As a branch of the military, grenadiers have little technical content. As long as they are physically strong and courageous, it can be done by just one person.

The three temporary commanders and thirty shed chiefs below him were also retained. The temporary commanders will continue to serve as officials. They will be formally appointed after they have meritorious service in military training or combat in the future.

In addition, about 300 gold diggers led by Guo Xiaowu's brother-in-law Wang Yuyou were transferred by Yang Zhen to the newly promoted guard Jin Shijun, who asked him to take charge of them. They were stationed outside the east gate of Songshan City and put into action.

Go up to the bastion project outside the east gate.

Wang Jun, Zhang Tianbao, Wang Yuyou and other people with rude backgrounds were awarded the seventh-grade military rank by Yang Zhen when they first arrived, and were responsible for more than 300 people. They were grateful to Yang Zhen in their hearts. Naturally, they were grateful for Yang Zhen's assignment.

No words.

The only person who had some setbacks was Yu Lewu, a powerful martial artist from Dengzhou.

Yang Zhen originally wanted to use Yu Lewu's troops to set up a separate team specializing in fortification construction in the advance camp for the Eastern March, but as soon as this idea was proposed, Yu Lewu politely rejected it.

Yu Lewu, who was born in martial arts, relied on his superb martial arts skills, and was proficient in swords, guns, swords, halberds, bows, horses, horses, riding and shooting, so he wanted to be a cavalry so that he could charge into battle and avenge his father.

In view of this, Yang Zhen had no choice but to propose that the more than 800 people raised by Le Wu be divided into two.

Yu Lewu himself, along with the Yu family's own servants and some trained Qixia soldiers, totaling more than 400 people, were transferred by Yang Zhen to Zu Keyong's command, and were given spears, crossbows, and armor.

Three-eyed muskets and saddled war horses are equipped and trained according to heavy cavalry.

The remaining four hundred or so gold diggers, under the leadership of Yu Lewu's uncle Yu Kejin, who also joined the army, were unified into the artillery reserve team of the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition, and were dispatched by Yang Zhen to Yang Zhen.

Shen directs.

Of the more than 1,200 Xuanfu soldiers that Yang Shen had previously recruited from the Xuanfu area, 400 were taken up by the musketeers and 400 by the grenadiers. In the end, only 400 were left for the artillery team.

Multiple people.

Regarding this point, Yang Shen had nothing to say, but as a result, the artillery team was relatively weak. Adding in the manpower that had been gradually replenished, the artillery team of the Zhengdong Advance Battalion now totaled only about 600 people.

.

If there were no large-scale casting of sky cannons, then these people would be responsible for the general cannons, Folang machine guns, and other miscellaneous small cannons such as squatting tiger cannons, bowl-mouth blunderbuss, and nine-headed birds, which would be almost enough.

But now, after the successful test firing of the sky cannon and the mass casting, according to the allocation of ten people to one sky cannon, the manpower of the artillery team suddenly seemed to be stretched thin.

At this point, Yang Zhen had replenished the artillery team with more than 400 people at a time. The artillery team finally had more than a thousand people, which was almost the same as the musketeers and grenadiers.

By the evening of that day, the newly recruited troops brought back by Yang Zhan'ao and his party from Denglai and Hejian were finally assigned and arranged properly. At the same time, the land of western Liaoning, which had been gloomy and hot for several days, finally ushered in a new wave.
Chapter completed!