"Fang Gong, you are making it difficult for me. Although the Emperor has granted me command of three thousand troops, training soldiers takes time! If I bring back five thousand prisoners at once without anyone to watch them, won't it cause an uproar?"
Fang Er spread his hands helplessly.
"Issue a receipt! Five thousand! You can take some back first, and come for the rest within a month!"
Fang Xuanling was truly out of options.
The national debt could not be sorted out overnight.
But without income, the daily consumption of grain by these prisoners was pushing the Ministry of Revenue to its limits!
This was nothing like eighty thousand pigs!
Pigs could at least be slaughtered and eaten!
Thus, Fang Er left a poorly written IOU and exited the Ministry of Revenue.
The prisoners would be directly escorted to Fang Family Village by soldiers from the Ministry of Revenue.
On one side of the workshops in Fang Family Village, a training ground had been enclosed.
Zhao Hu was already training new recruits.
Fang Er had allocated a quota of three thousand.
With the experience from last time, he had directly brought back five thousand men.
Train them rigorously! Drill them hard! Then, eliminate all those who were not up to standard!
There were plenty of men with two legs. When food was scarce, as long as they were given something to eat, people would flock to join.
Fang Er stood by the side of the training ground.
He looked at the new recruits before him.
After several days of drills, these men were starting to look like soldiers.
Of course, it was merely an appearance.
After watching for a while, Fang Er shook his head.
The methods for training soldiers were not good enough.
The training of the Fang Family Guard had been entirely handed over to Zhu Zi, and he had not intervened.
The Exterminator Army was drawn from various garrisons in Chang'an due to time constraints, and they were all veteran soldiers, so he hadn't worried about them.
But these three thousand men had to be trained properly!
He returned to the Fang residence, took out paper and a pen, and began to recall some of the training subjects he had seen in his previous life.
The pen was a quill.
The geese on the estate had grown.
It was made from the thickest and longest goose feathers.
It was much more comfortable to use than a charcoal pencil.
Drill formation.
Physical training.
Tactical training.
Battlefield first aid.
Marksmanship training.
Grenade training.
These were the subjects he could think of that the new army needed to train in at the moment.
He wrote a thick stack of papers.
That evening, Fang Er summoned Zhu Zi, Zhao Hu, Sun Zhou, Liu Meng, and Ma Chao.
"These are the training subjects for the future. You must take the lead. From today onwards, train yourselves in the evenings. If I have time, I will train with you. Only when you are qualified yourselves will you have the right to train new recruits. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Young Master, are these training methods?"
Zhu Zi and the others were illiterate, but looking at the thick stack of paper, they knew it was not simple.
After all, training methods were the unrevealed secrets of military strategists!
Any prominent families that had been around for hundreds of years almost certainly possessed their own training methods!
"Yes, they are training methods. Additionally, apart from these, you must also spend an hour each day at the school to learn characters and writing from the two teachers."
Zhu Zi and Zhao Hu were stunned.
They were all twenty-something years old and didn't know a single character, yet they had to sit with young children to study.
It felt incredibly awkward!
"Young Master, forget about learning characters, I'm afraid I won't be able to learn them!"
Zhao Hu said with a dejected face.
"You must learn. Otherwise, your position will be given to someone else!"
Fang Er looked at him sternly.
"In the future, firearms and artillery will be used at increasingly greater distances. Artillery can even strike dozens of miles away! Only educated people can achieve precision targeting. If you are illiterate and cannot do arithmetic, you can only shoot blindly. So, do you understand the importance of reading?"
"Ah? Strike dozens of miles? Young Master, is that true?"
Zhu Zi looked shocked!
"Dozens of miles? You can't even see people, how can you shoot?"
"Before we developed artillery, did you know that artillery would have the power it has now? Before Dragon's Tooth, did you know someone could be shot dead from two hundred paces away?"
"Therefore, nothing is impossible! Only by reading can your horizons be broadened, and only by reading can you avoid being eliminated in the future! Moreover, not only do you have to learn, but the soldiers you train must also learn! When you learn, you teach them! After a month, we will have an assessment. The three thousand new recruits will be divided into five groups of six hundred each. You yourselves will discuss the distribution. Those who perform well will be rewarded, and those who perform the worst, don't blame me for being ruthless in punishment!"
Fang Er explained his requirements to them one by one.
The five men were dumbfounded after Fang Er finished speaking.
Damn it! Not only did they have to learn themselves, but they also had to teach the new recruits later! This was too difficult!
"Alright. Now I will teach you how to do drill formations."
As Fang Er spoke, he stood up from his chair.
The five men quickly stood up as well.
"Heels together and aligned, toes pointing outwards at about 60 degrees; Legs straight; Abdomen slightly tucked in, chest naturally out; Upper body upright, slightly leaning forward; Shoulders level, slightly pulled back; Arms hanging naturally at sides, fingers closed and slightly bent, tips of thumbs touching the second joint of the index finger, middle fingers touching the seam of the trousers; Head straight, neck upright, mouth closed, jaw slightly tucked in, eyes looking straight ahead."
Fang Er spoke as he demonstrated the movements.
Although his movements were not entirely standard, he had undergone formal training.
As he explained to them, Fang Er felt as if he had returned to the passionate days of military training on the field.
The instructor's voice still echoed in his ears.
Watching the five rough men awkwardly learn the movements, Fang Er stepped forward and corrected their mistakes one by one.
After correcting their movements, Fang Er also stood with them in the basic stance.
After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the youngest, Liu Meng, was already struggling.
His legs were trembling slightly.
After half an hour, Liu Meng collapsed.
He felt as if his legs were no longer his own.
They were incredibly sore and numb.
Looking at Fang Er, who was still maintaining the posture rigidly, he felt a sense of shame.
Fang Er practiced the horse stance every day, and his nutrition was also well-guaranteed.
Therefore, his physical fitness had improved greatly compared to before.
After half an hour, he only felt slight discomfort in his legs.
After an hour, sweat was dripping from Zhao Hu and Sun Zhou's faces.
Zhu Zi also felt that he probably wouldn't be able to take a step.
Ma Chao was not much better off.
Seeing their state, Fang Er stopped.
"Alright, remember this stance. After returning, stand for half an hour every day. Tomorrow, I will teach the new recruits this! If I have time, I will come to check. Whoever teaches well will be rewarded. The worst will have to run ten laps around the training ground!"
The five men, with crestfallen faces, shuffled out of the Fang residence with legs that felt like they were filled with lead.
After returning to the training ground and resting for a while, they voluntarily resumed the basic stance. None of them wanted to be eliminated by Fang Er. That would mean they couldn't hold their heads up in the village.