Chapter 115: Recruiting Soldiers

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Expanding the organization naturally meant delegating authority, and the most direct means was simply to raise the ranks of the current officers — for example, promoting a squad leader to platoon leader, a platoon leader to company commander — or, under the name of the Luoding Assistant Regional Commander, establishing posts such as Mobile Corps Commander, Route Commander, and Garrison Commander.

Compared to the latter, Zhou Shixiang favored the former, because the Taiping Camp did not actually control any territory, and therefore had no need for separate garrisons and stationing; posts like Mobile Corps Commander, Route Commander, and Garrison Commander were naturally of no use.

Given the actual situation at hand, using his self-proclaimed bogus battalion commander's authority to appoint officers below the rank of company commander was the more reasonable, and also the simpler, approach.

"Do not use those you doubt, and do not doubt those you use."

Of the two probationary company commanders and several platoon leaders under his command, apart from Tie Yi, who came from a mining background and could be counted as a man of good family, the rest were either of bandit origin or Green Standard origin — some of them not fit to be shown in public.

But for Zhou Shixiang, what he wanted was these subordinates' loyalty, not any illustrious background or lofty origins.

His subordinates' loyalty let Zhou Shixiang feel completely at ease delegating power to them; after all, the growth and rise of the Taiping Camp required not his effort alone, but the combined effort of everyone.

After a night of deliberation, Zhou Shixiang finally made up his mind.

He decided to change a squad of ten men into a squad of twenty, with one squad leader and one deputy squad leader; five squads, a hundred men, would form a company, with one company commander and one deputy company commander; five companies would form a battalion, with one battalion commander and two deputy battalion commanders.

The squad leader would hold the rank of squad flag, the deputy squad leader would be a rank-and-file soldier; the company commander would hold the rank of platoon flag, the deputy company commander would be a squad flag; the battalion commander would be a company commander, the deputy battalion commander a probationary company commander.

Ordinary soldiers would be camp soldiers; after taking three heads they could be promoted to rank-and-file soldier, after a rank-and-file soldier took six heads he could be promoted to squad flag, and so on — each promotion required the number of heads to double.

Of course, if someone rendered major meritorious service, there was no need to quibble over head counts; promotion would be decided separately.

In this way, one battalion's strength would be five hundred men. The vanguard battalion troops in Gaoyao city could be divided into four battalions, each commanded by a company commander.

However, Zhou Shixiang did not immediately produce the new company commander candidates, nor did he finalize the organization overnight; he decided to wait and see how the next day's recruitment went before making the division.

The next day, the Taiping Camp's recruitment notices were posted all over Gaoyao city, and from time to time runners escorted by soldiers went through the city beating brass gongs and shouting the announcement.

"The Great Ming Taiping Camp is recruiting soldiers! Any man under forty and over fourteen, sound of body, able to endure hardship, and unafraid to die may sign up!"

"Sign up to be a soldier, and the Taiping Camp guarantees that every recruit will have clothes to wear, food to eat, and meat to eat!"

"All who sign up must do so willingly — the Taiping Camp does not force anyone to join!"

"Those who want to sign up, hurry to the East Gate to register — if you're late, there'll be no more places!"

"........"

The runners were accustomed to this sort of shouting and notice-crying work, and when they shouted they habitually made it as smooth and catchy as they could.

Though their faces were all bitter, that did not stop them from making their voices as loud as possible, because if they did not, the black-clad Taiping soldiers behind them would curse at them, and if they ran into one with a bad temper, he would simply swing a club at them.

What they shouted sounded fine, but which of the runners actually believed it in their hearts? Recruiting men to be soldiers — it sounded good, all that talk of food to eat, meat to eat, and clothes to wear; who were they fooling?

In the past, when those troops said they were recruiting, which of them was not really press-ganging laborers? And what did those laborers do once they entered camp, and what good did they get in the end?

Others might not know, but could the men in the yamen not know? No need to look far — right nearby, the Gaoyao Green Standard had done plenty of labor-pressing in the city over the past two years, taking no fewer than three or four hundred men in all.

How many of them ever came home alive? But believe it or not, they still had to shout, and moreover had to put on the appearance of crying out a great good thing — otherwise they were just asking for a beating.

Gaoyao city was not large to begin with, and with all this shouting throughout the city, very soon every resident knew that the Taiping Camp, which had defeated the Green Standard and the banner troops the day before, was recruiting soldiers.

In an instant, every household with grown men was terrified. But as they waited and waited, they did not see the Taiping Camp burst into homes to drag men away; instead, the soldiers just stood outside shouting at the top of their lungs.

Combined with the previous night's actions before the great households' gates, this made quite a few residents feel well-disposed toward the Taiping Camp, and stirred the minds of not a few young men who still had some fire in their blood.

Young men are always restless and fond of martial things; staying at home meant they could not eat their fill anyway, so they might as well take the risk and give it a try. If what the Taiping Camp said was true, would they not then have food and clothing secured for the future?

Besides, the Taiping Camp could really fight — the banner troops and the Green Standard were no match for them. Following such a mighty, battle-worthy force could not be wrong.

But many of the young men whose hearts were stirred had not yet made a move before their parents stopped them. The children did not know any better — but could their fathers and mothers not know?

In the morning, no one came to sign up. The registration point set up at the East Gate was quiet; the few minor clerks who had been forced to handle registration sat there with wry smiles, not knowing what to do.

When word reached Zhou Shixiang, he was neither anxious nor angry; he simply had the men keep shouting the recruitment call. A melon forced off its vine is not sweet.

He did not want soldiers who had been dragged in by force, and even less did he want whole families coming to join together. He wanted only those who were willing to cast aside their attachments and follow the Taiping Camp.

In the past, Zhou Shixiang would certainly not have accepted local ruffians and hooligans, but now he relaxed that rule: those recruiting were simply to bring men in, and whether the man was of good family or a scoundrel was not to be questioned.

Before, when the Taiping Camp was small, Zhou Shixiang naturally paid attention to the composition of the troops; now, even if he wanted to pay attention, he could not, because the composition of the camp's troops was already very mixed.

After all, a camp founded by bandits — what was the point of caring about the quality of later recruits?

Moreover, with his experience of military service in his previous life, Zhou Shixiang was not afraid of those slick operators and idlers, because once you entered the Taiping Camp, no matter what sort of slippery character you were at home, once the military discipline of three rules and six regulations — with beheadings and beatings — was laid down, even if you were the Monkey King himself, you would be made to lie flat!

In the afternoon, the shouting began to take effect. Perhaps the promise of being fed until full, with meat to eat besides, had moved some people's hearts. Starving and afraid, true or not, they might as well come and try — who knew, it might be real.

The first to come and sign up were a dozen or so beggars. They were all young, dressed in rags, and did not even have names, which truly gave the few registration clerks a headache.

The clerks were troubled, but the beggars were even more afraid. However, when they saw that after being accepted they were immediately given a flatbread and a bowl of thin porridge, their minds were set at ease.

In times like these, having something to eat was all that mattered!

When the beggars came to sign up, many pairs of eyes had long been watching.

When they saw that the Taiping Camp really did feed people until they were full, whoosh — people appeared from who knew where, some walking to the registration point without a care for anything else, some advancing hesitantly and haltingly.

Among them, several young men who had long been anxious and impatient in their hearts dashed over with swift strides, shouting from far off that they wanted to sign up.

Compared to the beggars in rags who had come before, these young men were also poor, but at least they were dressed a bit more neatly. Though their clothes were patched with scraps of cloth, they still looked somewhat more spirited.

The young man who rushed over first said nothing else, only asked: "If I become your soldier, will I really be fed until I'm full?"

The squad flag in charge of recruitment glanced at him and pointed toward the gate archway: "Give your name and go over there to get food. I can't guarantee you anything else, but I do guarantee you'll eat your fill."

"Done! As long as I can eat my fill, that's fine!" The young man spat. "My name's Zheng Qi, nineteen years old." Without waiting for the clerk to finish writing the name down, he ran quickly toward the gate archway.

"Give me two flatbreads, give me two flatbreads!" (A great pie-in-the-sky event — cool phones waiting for you!

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