Chapter 89: Five Days Later

Five days later, Zhu Gaoxu stood in the drill ground, the sound of "pop-pop" gunfire constantly ringing in his ears.

The Ministry of Works had delivered another batch of Daming Guns, and now there were five hundred Daming Guns in Zhu Gaoxu's Military Camp.

At this moment, a group of Embroidered Uniform Guards were instructing the new recruits on shooting.

After every round of volley fire, someone would report the targets.

This resulted in very low efficiency, and Zhu Gaoxu frowned secretly as he watched the soldiers running back and forth to report the targets.

It seemed it was time to produce some glass.

This material should be called colored glaze now, and it was considered a very precious treasure.

In any case, even Zhu Gaoxu hadn't found many pieces of it in the Imperial Palace.

Zhu Gaoxu mainly wanted to produce a telescope.

This thing had great utility, whether for fighting wars or doing other things.

It would be an indispensable tool for navigation in the future.

However, although Zhu Gaoxu had this idea, he did not implement it immediately.

For one thing, tomorrow was the Seven-Day Agreement, and he planned to handle tomorrow's affairs first.

For another, Zhu Gaoxu also had the intention of motivating the soldiers.

Currently, the soldiers reporting the targets were all those who had failed the previous test firing; letting these laggards report the targets could stimulate their competitive spirit, ensuring they would work harder in the next training session.

As for those qualified soldiers, they certainly could not let their guard down or relax, because if they failed the next assessment, they would be the ones reporting the targets.

Now, under this healthy competition, the effect had directly doubled.

Besides making this change, Zhu Gaoxu also changed the soldiers' units.

In these few days, whether they had voluntarily quit or been eliminated, there were about one thousand soldiers gone.

Currently, one Embroidered Uniform Guard led about thirty new recruits.

Zhu Gaoxu made new statistical units based on thirty men to a squad, one hundred men to a platoon, and three hundred men to a company.

Every day, evaluations were conducted within the squads; soldiers who ranked at the bottom in all categories for three consecutive times would be eliminated, and at the same time, evaluations were conducted between platoons every three days, with the last-place platoon eliminating one-fifth of its soldiers.

Subsequently, comparisons between companies were conducted every seven days.

The last-place company would not only have to cover the tasks of standing guard, cleaning, and maintaining weaponry for all other companies for a week, but would also have its headcount reduced by one-quarter.

The competition categories were mainly divided into firearms, close combat, weighted cross-country, obstacle cross-country, and internal affairs, among others.

It was entirely based on the training methods of later generations.

Among them, although internal affairs did not account for a large proportion, Zhu Gaoxu still attached great importance to it.

If a soldier did well in internal affairs, it did not necessarily mean they would stay, but if they did poorly, they would definitely have to leave.

Under such a high-pressure environment, the training effect of the soldiers had increased by who knows how many times.

The group of Embroidered Uniform Guards were also secretly competing, not wanting the teams they led to be at the bottom and suffer the ridicule of their companions.

And the soldiers, in order to stay and enjoy such benefits, also secretly exerted themselves.

There were even some generals who had secretly approached his father, Zhu Di, wanting to arrange some of their nephews into this New Army of his.

However, Zhu Di also knew that one should not lose the big for the sake of the small, and without Zhu Gaoxu having to say anything, he refused on his behalf.

From this, one could see that the treatment in Zhu Gaoxu's New Army was indeed good.

It was mainly because he had his own independent promotion system, which was the only chance for ordinary people to leap over the dragon gate!

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu's New Army at this time could be said to be full of vitality, with everyone holding a burst of energy in their hearts.

Listening to the gunfire in his ears, Zhu Gaoxu felt increasingly satisfied.

Regarding tomorrow's competition, Zhu Gaoxu was not worried at all, thinking about where to go to check on that grocery store in a while.

It shouldn't be called a grocery store now; it should be called a Brewery.

The goods inside had already been sold at a low price by Li Quan, and then, with some silver provided by Zhu Gaoxu, it had entered the final stages after these few days of renovation.

As for the blueprint Zhu Gaoxu gave to the Ministry of Works, it had also been produced long ago and had already been installed by Zhu Gaoxu at the Brewery.

After watching the soldiers shoot for a while, Zhu Gaoxu got up and left.

It was mainly because the smell of gunpowder smoke was too thick, and Zhu Gaoxu was still not quite used to it.

Looking at the Military Camp on both sides, it had already finished expanding, now more than five times larger than before.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu thought about the current rate of soldier elimination, fearing that in at most a month, only these one thousand soldiers would remain; by then, such a large Military Camp would be very empty with only one thousand people.

No, he had to find a way to find some more assets for this Military Camp.

Thinking this way, Zhu Gaoxu began to search his mind for that big sucker—oh no, that big philanthropist—to beg for alms.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu had a suitable candidate in mind; it just depended on whether the other party would jump into the pit.

After all, the big pit had already been dug.

If it really didn't work, he could only go find Lao Zhu again.

Having found the big philanthropist, Zhu Gaoxu was in a very pleasant mood, and he took Ada and the others out of the Military Camp, entering the city and heading toward his small shop.

Arriving at his small shop, it was indeed as Zhu Gaoxu expected; the renovation had entered its final stages.

The speed was even faster than he had anticipated.

Only some waste materials were left on the ground; as long as they were cleaned up, it would be completely finished.

At this time, Li Quan was ordering people to clean up; Zhu Gaoxu knew that the work of brewing could not rely solely on Li Quan and his daughter, so a few days ago, he had asked Wang Guanjia to bring some reliable servants from the Wangfu.

At this moment, these servants had almost finished cleaning.