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He went from commanding 25 people to commanding 230 soldiers, and the number of subordinates increased tenfold. As the commander, Vézé had already made all kinds of mental preparations.
In any era, the more complete the system and discipline, the less trouble the army would have. The key to the formulation of the system and discipline was to see what the purpose was. Now that the Taiping Rebellion was facing great pressure, Vézé felt more at ease. Any organization, as long as there was a consensus and external pressure, would have a strong motivation.
For example, the Tian Di Hui brothers who had just been assigned to Vézé's command, the highest ranking commander was only a corporal. Among them, the one with the most charisma was a corporal called Hu Chenghe. He was 25 or 26 years old and came from Wuzhou's Tian Di Hui.
Vézé arranged everyone's accommodations and then met with the 104 Tian Di Hui brothers. During the meeting, Hu Chenghe said in a tearful voice, "Wei Sima, we all know that if we are caught for rebelling, we will be executed by a thousand cuts. Those brothers who left also felt that they couldn't hold on here, so they took advantage of the fact that no one knew they had joined the Taiping army and quickly escaped back. But we are all famous, so even if we escape back, we can only hide! Since that's the case, we might as well fight our way out! "
Naturally, these words didn't have the lofty sentiments of the Communist Party changing the world, nor did they have the people's liberation as their own responsibility. Vézé didn't think there was anything wrong with Hu Chenghe's words. The establishment of the new China was China's self-salvation on the brink of destruction. China's true intellectuals stepped forward bravely and united with the people in the midst of blood and fire, finally obtaining victory in the revolution.
The current Taiping Rebellion, no matter what, could not reach that height in terms of ideology. It was already very difficult for the rebels to have a firm attitude and throw themselves into a war to change their own fate.
Wei Ze talked with the Tian Di Hui brethren for a while, and confirmed that these brethren basically had the same idea as Hu Chenghe. They had already given up hope for their own lives and hoped to rise up and overthrow the world that oppressed them to the point where they had no hope. And the "Little Heaven on Earth" proclaimed by the Church of God could indeed satisfy the spiritual needs of the brothers. The God Worshipping Religion at least outlined a very clear goal, which was to completely destroy the Manchu Qing. Just this point alone had broadened the originally limited horizons of these people. At the very least, they knew that they had joined a team that was going to "conquer the world". If they could "conquer the world" and overthrow their former oppressors, these participants would become members of the rulers.
Of course, Vézé would not preach any 21st-century political ideas to these brothers. It was not that Vézé was hiding anything or looked down on these brothers who dared to participate in the rebellion. Even if he explained it to them, they wouldn't understand it, and it was even more impossible for them to understand it correctly.
"Zhu Clan brothers, since we're all fighting together, I naturally trust you. During lunch, I had already said that since everyone hadn't left, since everyone was staying in Yongan City, I had already said that. What did those brothers who left without saying goodbye have to do with us? Scolding the brothers who didn't leave, isn't this the same as forcing everyone to leave? " Vézé's words were also very sincere. When the brothers saw that Vézé's attitude was so firm, they all relaxed.
Seeing that the troops had finally calmed down, Vézé continued, "Zhu Clan brothers, don't worry. Those who left have nothing to do with us. Everyone, rest well. We'll set off in a few days! "
After calming down his new subordinates, Vézé still had to contact the troops that Feng Yunshan had handed over to him. This soldier was called Ke Gongyu, a Cantonese man who had followed Feng Yunshan to join the Church of God. After the Taiping army's Jintian Uprising, he had moved from Guangdong to Guangxi to join the Taiping army.
Ke Gongyu knew that the Southern Prince, Feng Yunshan, valued Vézé highly, so he spoke very respectfully to Vézé. Vézé naturally couldn't put on the airs of a superior. He arranged with Ke Gongyu to meet with the other brother of the soldier the next day.
Since Vézé had been promoted, Vézé was given a single room in the camp. Vézé used this room as his own office. He called his five brothers in for a meeting. When Wei Changrong saw Vézé, he immediately volunteered, "Fourth Uncle, I want to be a major!"
"Changrong! Do you know what I'm thinking right now? "Vézé asked.
"I don't!" Wei Changrong replied bluntly.
Vézé said bluntly, "Look at you! You should be happy to be a major! "
Wei Changrong felt as if he had been hit in the head with a stick. His expression immediately turned ugly. Zhang Yingchen immediately tried to smooth things over. "Captain Wei, with Changrong's ability, it's indeed a waste of his talent to be a major."
With Zhang Yingchen's explanation, Wei Changrong's unhappiness immediately dissipated. He smiled a little embarrassedly. "Fourth Uncle, it's not appropriate for me to be a captain directly."
Hearing Wei Changrong's thoughtfulness, Vézé knew that he had been thinking about the position for a long time. He was afraid that Wei Changrong would dare to promise official positions to his brothers, such as the position of a few corporals.
Not mentioning this matter, Vézé slightly lowered his voice. "I called everyone here because I have something to tell our brothers. I've already decided to separate official positions from salary. Everyone's position is only related to the amount of rations they receive. As for how to arrange it, we have our own way. "
"Why?" The five brothers didn't expect Vézé to do this. They didn't understand the current structure of the Taiping army, let alone the structure that Vézé hoped for.
Vézé faced the core strength of his troops and said calmly, "We're all on the same side, so I'll make it clear to my brothers. If we change the structure given by the higher-ups, it'll be a capital offense. So, we naturally can't change it like this when facing the higher-ups. We can call them whatever we want. But we can't do this when we're fighting. So, we can't talk nonsense when we're facing outsiders. I want you to remember this clearly. "
"Of course!" Zhang Yingchen took the lead and said. Wei Changrong and the others were Vézé's relatives and former subordinates, but they only nodded.
"I think the key to fighting a war is to establish four systems. General Staff, Instructors, Officers, and Logistics. Although we only have 26 old brothers, the new 200 brothers have to be gradually integrated into our troops. We can't just let them gather on their own … "Vézé began to explain his ideas to his core members.
From the second day onwards, Vézé met with his new brothers and began to carry out the tasks that he had arranged.
All the brothers first went through drills. Those who were better at identifying directions and had quick feet were naturally assigned to Marches Commander Zhang Yingchen's subordinates. The Marches Commander led the reconnaissance troops. They were the eyes and ears of the army and were responsible for communication.
Those who were physically fit but had weak combat abilities were temporarily assigned to the troops that Lin Asheng was in charge of. Lin Asheng was originally a Corporal, but he was suddenly promoted to Deputy Corporal and became the Deputy Corporal sent by Southern King Feng Yunshan to be Ke Gongyu's assistant.
Vézé didn't care what Ke Gongyu said to Southern King Feng Yunshan. What Feng Yunshan needed was Vézé's combat abilities, not Vézé's subservience to Feng Yunshan. As long as Vézé didn't openly overthrow the Taiping army's military system, it was Vézé's responsibility to make use of the existing military system.
Ke Gongyu wasn't a particularly self-assertive person. Whatever Vézé did and what he ordered, Ke Gongyu followed. He had no intention of competing with Vézé at all. This saved Vézé a lot of effort. He reorganized his subordinates. The army's core combat force was made up of three battalions of about 70 people.
The combat force was only equipped with two types of weapons: flintlocks and pikes. When marching, they only carried backpacks and weapons. They didn't need to carry heavy baggage like last time.
Wei Changrong was naturally the first rank major. The second rank major was Hu Chenghe. The third rank major was Zhou Shengde, who came from Tian Di Hui and was originally an ordinary soldier. Zhou Shengde's promotion was out of everyone's expectations. Although he knew how to use a spear and fire a gun, he didn't have any special abilities. Vézé's reason for promoting Zhou Shengde was a bit vague. If this reason was made public, it wouldn't be convincing to the public.
The most basic training for a modern army was to report numbers. In the 21st century, even a three or four-year-old child could do this, but in the Taiping army, it was a completely new training subject. Vézé's goal before he set out was to have a relatively strong marching ability. Therefore, after adjusting the internal organization of the army, he ordered his subordinates to report the names of the injured brothers.
Among all the squad leaders, only Zhou Shengde said, "This subordinate is the third and third rank major. Two of my brothers sprained their ankles …" Just this sentence alone made Vézé look at Zhou Shengde in a new light.
If an officer couldn't understand the army digitally, then he could only forcefully memorize the names of the commanders of each unit. In the face of the complicated numbers, the efficiency of doing so was frighteningly low. With Zhou Shengde's ability, he could be a major. What Vézé valued was his way of thinking. If Zhou Shengde was competent, then he could naturally be promoted. If Zhou Shengde wasn't competent enough, at least Vézé could give Zhou Shengde another chance by transferring him.
In the early morning of February 16, 1852, Vézé's troops were woken up from their sleep. All the troops had their hair tied up in a bun under the dim light. All the soldiers wore headbands. The squad leaders wore linen hats that revealed their hair bun. The linen hats were tied with headbands. The major had a small cowhide crown on top of their hair bun. The soldier leader and deputy soldier leader had the same hair bun as the major.
The entire army wore the same uniform, but every soldier was equipped with an epaulette and armband. With the epaulette and armband that indicated their rank, Vézé didn't have to worry about violating the military rules of the Taiping Rebellion at all. According to the ranking list of the modern army, Private, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Field Officer, the different ranks of the soldiers could be seen at a glance.
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