Chapter 32: Training of the Yongwei Camp

After finishing the planning for the new city, Zhu Cilang began to inspect the training situation of the Yongwei Camp. Since the last time he had visited the Yongwei Camp and had Huang Degong change the daily training routine, he had rarely gone to see it, and did not know how the training was going.

During this period, the Yongwei Camp had been continuously patrolling the refugee districts and had not trained normally for seven or eight days. During the city construction period, most people were busy building their homes, and there was no longer any need for the Yongwei Camp to patrol, so the Yongwei Camp also began to resume its normal training plan.

The training of the Yongwei Camp, like that of the Eastern Palace personal guard, was strictly carried out according to the "Training Manual" compiled by Zhu Cilang. This was written by Zhu Cilang based on the training of later-era armies, combined with the training methods of the Qi family army—a combination of ancient and modern.

The "Training Manual" mainly covered formation drill, physical training, and tactical training. When formation drill first began, some soldiers in the Yongwei Camp could not tell left from right, which caused quite a few laughs, but within a few days they were basically presentable.

Alongside formation drill, the soldiers of the Yongwei Camp also needed to practice standing endurance and resistance to sun exposure—that is, the entire camp standing in formation under the sun for long periods without moving.

During this time, no movement was allowed and no talking was permitted. If anyone violated this, they would first receive twenty military strokes, then continue with extended punishment time. From the first day's half an hour at a time, the duration slowly increased.

At the very beginning, it was the end of the fourth month, and the weather was not yet hot. The soldiers standing outside felt as if they were just sunbathing, with no pressure at all.

When the end of the fifth month arrived, summer came and the weather gradually grew hot. Especially on certain days, the temperature exceeded thirty degrees. At noon, the scorching sun beat down on their bodies, and after a long time, their skin began to feel burning hot.

It was at this time that the soldiers of the Yongwei Camp came to understand the true power of this training. Several soldiers could not bear the heat and fainted. They were dragged away by the supervising Eastern Palace personal guards, doused with cold water, and placed in the shade.

Some soldiers who were born into wealthy families and had entered through connections could not endure it. They rushed out of the formation, shouting that they could not take it anymore and would not train. With these few soldiers causing a commotion, a hint of unrest quickly appeared in the Yongwei Camp.

Huang Degong did not say a word. He went up and kicked each one aside, shouting: "You bunch of cowardly trash, get the hell out of here as far as you can. My Yongwei Camp does not want trash. Anyone else who admits defeat, get out now!"

Huang Degong coldly watched these soldiers who had voluntarily given up, then looked at the entire camp on the field. His prestige in the army was extremely high. Wherever his gaze passed, the sounds of unrest immediately ceased, and the entire camp continued to maintain their posture standing on the field.

Following Zhu Cilang's requirements, Huang Degong did not punish these people. According to Zhu Cilang's reasoning, these people had poor discipline and weak willpower, and would be unlikely to accomplish much in the future. Forcibly punishing them to stay in the Yongwei Camp would only affect the others.

In the subsequent days of physical training, over a hundred more soldiers were expelled from the Yongwei Camp because they could not endure the training.

If it were not truly unbearable, no one would be willing to leave. The treatment of the Yongwei Camp was the best in the entire Ming army. Their equipment was the most refined, their monthly pay was five taels of silver, and their food not only filled them up but also included meat every day.

Moreover, as the direct personal army of the Crown Prince, they would all have merit for supporting the future emperor in times to come. Even if one was just a common soldier now, by casually accumulating seniority, one could later become a Company Commander or something when sent to the provinces. No one was willing to leave easily.

As part of the Capital Camps, although the Yongwei Camp was said to be composed of the most elite soldiers in the Capital Camps, there were still quite a few people from wealthy families who had entered through connections. These people mostly just coasted along—how could they endure such bitter training? This was precisely Zhu Cilang's purpose: to weed out this type of person.

The physical training of the Yongwei Camp consisted of a five-kilometer armed cross-country run every day, one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred high-knee runs, and one hundred weighted frog jumps.

These physical exercises were not too tiring and could be completed within one shichen (two hours). But if maintained over a long period, one's physical strength would be greatly enhanced.

After physical training, the remaining time was spent by each branch of troops conducting their own tactical training. The infantry trained in musket shooting, the cavalry trained in horsemanship, and the artillery trained in cannon fire.

Zhu Cilang also established a firearms custody system for the firearms. On ordinary days, the muskets and cannons all had to be cleaned and maintained on schedule. As for cavalry training, Zhu Cilang did not understand it well, so he could only leave it to military commanders like Huang Degong to handle themselves.

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Between the eastern part of the new city and the southern part of Tongzhou, there was a stretch of flat open wilderness, with the Liangshui River winding through it. Within a radius of ten li, there was not a single resident, and the area was designated as a restricted zone. The Yongwei Camp's main camp outside Beijing was set up here.

Zhu Cilang, surrounded by a crowd of personal guards, arrived at the main camp of the Yongwei Camp. Several training grounds around the camp were training with great fervor. There were cavalry practicing horsemanship, artillery rehearsing attacks on fixed targets, and musketeers conducting shooting drills.

"Bang, bang, bang—"

On the musketeers' training ground, gunfire rang out loudly and gunsmoke filled the air. Only the sound of rumbling echoes could be heard from afar. At a distance of one hundred paces, a three-cun-thick wooden target standing upright had been pierced through with a hole the size of a teacup.

Of the Yongwei Camp's three thousand six hundred infantry, more than half were now equipped with Lumi muskets, and a smaller portion were equipped with the flintlock muskets that Sun Heding had reverse-engineered.

The manufacturing factory under the Armory Bureau could currently only produce a little over a thousand flintlock muskets per month. As craftsmen gradually increased, production output also gradually rose.

The Lumi musket could penetrate a layer of iron armor within one hundred paces. To penetrate the Jianzhou barbarians' Eight Banners troops wearing three layers of heavy armor, it would probably require a distance of at least seventy to eighty paces. The effect was still quite good—compared to the bird-gun musket's fifty paces, it was much more advanced.

As for the flintlock musket, there was no need to even mention it—its performance was even better than the Lumi musket. Therefore, Zhu Cilang had the Armory Bureau mainly produce flintlock muskets. This was also the main development direction for firearms in the future.

"Stop!"

Following Huang Degong's order, the musketeers all ceased firing and came forward one after another to report their results to him.

Among the soldiers using Lumi muskets, within three minutes, the fastest shooter fired eight times, and the least fired five times. As for the soldiers using flintlock muskets, within three minutes they fired over a dozen times.

This shooting exercise was timed by a self-ringing clock that Zhu Cilang had brought. This clock had been presented to the Wanli Emperor by the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci. Originally there had been two, one large and one small. The large one, having been over thirty years old, had long since been damaged, leaving only this small self-ringing clock.

Zhu Cilang knew the future development trends of armies, and therefore placed particular emphasis on the training of musketeers. The musketeers' training plan was formulated jointly through consultation among Zhu Cilang, Huang Degong, and Sun Heding.

Zhu Cilang knew that the current flintlock muskets and Lumi muskets, lacking rifled barrels, had limited accuracy. Therefore, Zhu Cilang did not pursue the soldiers' hit rate, only requiring the speed of loading and firing—the faster, the better.

Every day, the soldiers had to take unloaded muskets and continuously practice a series of movements—cleaning the barrel, loading powder, tamping down, striking the flint, and so on—until they could complete this series of movements smoothly even with their eyes closed. Once familiar with this set of movements, they would then proceed to live-fire training.

Now that Zhu Cilang was in charge of the Armory Bureau, all firearms and ammunition were prioritized for the Yongwei Camp's use. Therefore, the training volume of the Yongwei Camp soldiers was far greater than that of any musket unit in the Ming dynasty before.

Under such repeated practice, the soldiers of the Yongwei Camp became increasingly skilled in their movements, and their firing speed improved from firing two or three times in three minutes at the start to the current level.

Huang Degong was extremely satisfied with these results, believing that even placed among the entire Ming army, the Yongwei Camp's performance could be considered outstanding and exceptional.

Huang Degong was very proud, even a bit carried away. When he saw Zhu Cilang coming to inspect, he eagerly ran over to report that the current musketeers' combat effectiveness was extremely strong, his face brimming with pride that could not be concealed.

Zhu Cilang looked at his smug appearance and did not say much, only telling him to go make preparations—in two days, the Yongwei Camp would hold a full-army exercise, and he would personally come to inspect it.

Upon hearing Zhu Cilang's instructions, Huang Degong immediately began making preparations.

Thanks: Qi 1-dian honorary member, Long 316497282, Xin Ying, Zhuguang zhi Lian, Fengniao, and several other book friends for their recommendation votes.

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