Chapter 95 Military Discipline
The next morning, Wang An arrived at the Jizhou Guard Command Post outside Baicheng early and used three drum beats to gather the soldiers of Jizhou Guard to the parade ground.

At this time, the soldiers were still immersed in the excitement of going into battle for the first time to kill the enemy and annihilate the Eastern Tartar. They were all unable to sleep at night, with huge dark circles under their eyes, looking at Wang An excitedly.

Wang An looked at the soldiers who had not slept all night but were still energetic, and a smile of relief appeared on his lips.

His eyes swept through the crowd and looked into the eyes of every soldier. Wang An saw pride and fighting spirit in their eyes!
Nodding, Wang An waved to the yamen runners he brought with him under the gaze of the soldiers.

Only then did the soldiers notice that the yamen runners who came with Wang An were carrying small wooden boxes.

The moment they saw the shape of the wooden boxes clearly, the soldiers became uncontrollably excited.

If Xu Huang hadn't been staring at them with his huge eyes like copper bells, I'm afraid these soldiers would have screamed in excitement.

Wang An was too lazy to continue teasing these soldiers, so he simply opened the wooden boxes one by one.

Suddenly, bright light leaked out from the wooden box.

What else is there besides silver?
The soldiers' guess was confirmed, and they became more and more excited. There was even a little disturbance in the neatly-ordered formation.

Wang An's face darkened when he saw this, and he scolded, "I brought four boxes of silver in total, originally to reward you for risking your lives and bravely killing the enemy."

"But I didn't expect that you would be so confused by just some yellow and white things. Have you forgotten the infantry regulations I wrote?"

Wang An scolded him for a few words, then looked at Xu Huang with a gloomy face and said, "Look at the soldiers you led. Did they recite the infantry regulations that I asked them to recite?"

Xu Huang immediately broke out in a cold sweat and half-knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, I asked them to carry it all."

As if worried that Wang An might not believe it, Xu Huang added: "Before going to bed every night, I will personally lead them to recite it once in the parade ground before allowing them to sleep."

Wang An's face was still gloomy, and he said coldly: "Bring your soldiers and recite it to me immediately. If you make a mistake in one word, I will hold you accountable!"

"Yes!" Xu Huang did not dare to delay for a moment. He immediately stood up and walked to the front of the army, shouting angrily: "Article 1 of the Infantry Regulations, in order to standardize the movements, formations and command of our troops... Start!"

"…correctly implement drills, cultivate good military posture, and maintain a neat military appearance…"

Suddenly, the sound of thousands of people reciting in unison resounded over the parade ground like thunder.

Wang An was not impatient at all. He just stood coldly on the reviewing platform and watched the soldiers below recite the "Infantry Regulations" which he had compiled based on the military regulations he had learned in his previous life.

It was not until a quarter of an hour later, when the soldiers had recited the entire regulation, that Wang An sighed and said, "Aren't they all remembered? How come when it comes time to demonstrate the effectiveness of the training, they have forgotten everything?"

"If the military law cannot be enforced, did I write the Infantry Regulations just for fun?"

The soldiers all lowered their heads, not daring to speak or make any unusual movements. Their backs were straight, but they all looked dejected.

It looked very strange, it was clearly a well-organized army, but it seemed to have no morale at all. It was no wonder that the soldiers were so frightened by Wang An's words, because they all knew deeply how good a job it was to be a soldier in Jizhou.

Especially those soldiers who had just been recruited from the countryside. In the past, they had to farm in the countryside, and they might not be able to save even a tael of silver even if they lived frugally all year round.

But now in Jizhou Wei, not only is food and accommodation provided, but there is also a salary of one tael and two qian of silver every month.

As long as you don't get involved in bad habits like eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, these one or two taels of silver can be almost all saved, and in a year that means savings of more than ten taels of silver!

In many small villages, some small landlords may not be able to save more than ten taels of silver a year, let alone these farmers who are unable to feed themselves.

Moreover, Wang An's treatment to them was more than that. Each of them was entitled to purchase one stone of low-priced grain from the government office every month.

One stone of grain is enough to feed a family of four three meals a day for two and a half months, and they can also have a dry meal every day!
Even a bachelor without any family can sell his share to another family.

In the past, when the grain shops in the city sold a stone of grain for one tael and five cents, their share could be sold for one tael and three cents or even one tael and four cents of silver.

Although it was said that later the grain shops in the city were visited door to door by the prince with a knife, and the price was uniformly reduced to one tael and two cents, causing their shares to become less popular, they could still be sold for one tael and one cent of silver.

I can earn an extra penny every month. Not only that, but I can also go out to eat out two more times, right?
This was something that was unthinkable before, but it became easily achieved after arriving in Jizhou Wei.

Therefore, almost all the soldiers of Jizhou Guard cherish this hard-earned job very much, fearing that they will be expelled from Jizhou Guard if they do not train hard enough or make mistakes.

As a result, their wives and children, who have only had a few full meals, will hate them to death.

Seeing that the soldiers had a decent attitude in admitting their mistakes, Wang An's anger gradually dissipated. He then thought that these soldiers were tired of being poor, and it was normal for them to be a little excited when they saw that there was a reward.

What's more, although these soldiers behaved very bravely last night, they were, after all, new recruits who had only been trained for less than a month. In their previous lives, they would have been genuine new recruits who had not even left the recruit company.

It is understandable that some problems have not been completely corrected.

Thinking of this, Wang An shook his head slightly and said, "You should have been punished for violating military discipline today, but considering that you are just new recruits, I can give you a light punishment and a heavy warning."

"So these rewards..."

Speaking of the reward, all the soldiers couldn't help but secretly glance at Wang An, wailing in their hearts.

Could it be that you lost the money you earned because of a little carelessness?
If I go back and tell my family about this, won't they hate me to death?
Seeing the soldiers' anxious expressions, Wang An's evil taste was greatly satisfied, and he couldn't help but laugh and said, "I'll still send it to you, but if there's a next time, don't blame me for not warning you!"

When the soldiers heard this, they suddenly felt as if a new light had suddenly appeared in their dark tunnel, and they were so excited that they wanted to cheer on the spot.

But as soon as there was a sign of it, he swallowed it back into his stomach out of fear.

(End of this chapter)