bullyxtreme Chapter 53: Which force is buying up large numbers of people?
Chapter 53: Which force is buying up large numbers of people?
Chapter 53: Which force is buying up large numbers of people?
"Oh, it's normal for these people to buy guns; after all, the stronger the military, the stronger their voice."
Rock nodded, not finding it strange at all that bandits and security teams from certain villages came to buy guns.
If the bandits don't get more good guns, how will they compete with other bandits for territory, and how will they take down those tough nuts to crack and smash those solid kilns?
For villages, if they don't want to live under the thumb of bandits, or if they don't want the bandits to pressure them too much, they must have some form of armed force.
If you want to negotiate with bandits, you at least have to make sure you have the strength to knock out a mouthful of their teeth. Otherwise, you're just a piece of fat meat delivered to their mouth. Why would they negotiate with a piece of fat meat?
Only when bandits are afraid of breaking their teeth trying to bite off a tough nut will they try to negotiate!
But besides these people, aren't there any other people buying guns?
Rock asked with some curiosity, "By the way, are any of the local Qing troops interested in buying guns?"
Regarding this, Rock was somewhat worried, after all, he would have to face the Qing army sooner or later.
What if this group buys his guns and then trains a foreign-gun squad? Wouldn't that be aiding the enemy?
The Cossack cavalrymen looked at Rock with surprise upon hearing his words, then asked in bewilderment, "General, I don't understand, why do you think the Qing army would come to buy guns?"
Rock blinked. He didn't know how he had asked the question. Perhaps it was because in his impression, most of the Qing army's firearms were made with inferior materials, so the Qing army was in dire need of acquiring a batch of good equipment.
When Rock voiced his idea, the Cossack cavalrymen all laughed.
One of the cavalrymen laughed as he explained to Rock, "General, you're overthinking it. Those guys are the imperial army, after all. Their weapons are issued by the court; how could they possibly buy weapons secretly?"
"For them, it was already a sign of integrity that they didn't sell their weapons to supplement their household income. Expecting them to pay out of their own pockets to buy new weapons was wishful thinking. No Qing general would do that."
Rock slapped his forehead, realizing that he had ultimately misunderstood.
His initial plan was quite good: after these Qing troops purchased their own weapons, they would become stronger, suppress the local area more peacefully, and incidentally, deter the surrounding foreigners.
But in reality, what benefit could these Qing soldiers gain from doing such a thing?
With such a meager monthly salary, their superiors wouldn't even know where to begin embezzling. Under such circumstances, expecting them to contribute their own money to the government's cause is simply a joke.
They came here to take up their posts for promotion and wealth, not to become local warlords. Even if he really strengthened the troops under his command, the imperial court could transfer him to another place with just one order, and all his previous efforts would benefit the successors.
Moreover, doing so would not only fail to enhance his political achievements, but would also arouse the court's suspicion.
After all, while other officers are trying to cut military spending, you're trying to arm your soldiers with your own money. What are you trying to do? Are you planning a rebellion?
After figuring this out, Rock realized that he had overestimated those Qing generals.
He even couldn't help but wonder if, if he were to send these Cossack cavalrymen out to negotiate with the nearby Qing army, and if the price he offered was high enough, they might simply sell all the guns and cannons they had.
It's not impossible. Even the Green Standard Army cavalry would rent out their horses to others for grinding grain and plowing. If the price of their muskets was right, why wouldn't they sell them?
Just as Rock was laughing, a Cossack cavalryman suddenly remembered something, frowned and said to Rock, "By the way, Commander, I noticed something strange when I was selling weapons. I found that all the slave traders around here seem to have disappeared. It's as if someone has bought all the slaves they had."
Huh? That's really strange!
Rock knew that in this era, the city's slave trading houses had places that specialized in selling people. As long as you had money, you could buy almost any type of slave, and all of these slaves had slave status, so there was no fear of them rebelling.
In most cases, if a servant goes too far and the master wants to break off relations, he can simply file a lawsuit with the government and let the government punish these insubordinate servants.
It's very simple. No matter how much the servants abuse their power, as long as they cannot change their status as slaves, everything they possess belongs to their master.
If they dare to disobey their master's orders, the authorities can sentence them to death without even the master having to beat them to death!
Moreover, no one would forgive such a thing as a wicked servant betraying his master, since those masters all had a bunch of servants in their homes. If this kind of behavior spread, how could they continue to ride roughshod over people?
However, according to what Rock knew, unless there were special circumstances, very few people would go out to buy slaves in the dead of winter.
The reason is simple: in the dead of winter, these servants are all starving and freezing, and their health is at its worst. If we buy them, they might get sick. At the very least, we should give them more food to supplement their nutrition.
Besides, most households are busy hibernating in the winter and there's not much work for these servants to do. If we were to buy them back, wouldn't these people be eating and doing nothing for a long time? Wouldn't that be a loss?
That's why Rock was surprised and didn't understand why the brokerage firm had no one to sell at this time, or why all the servants had been bought at this time.
Thinking back to before, when those bandits were busy plundering passing refugees fleeing famine, they seemed to have said that there was a place nearby that was buying people, so there was money to be made from buying and selling people.
It seems there really is a place nearby that is buying slaves, or rather, buying human beings. It's just unclear what they intend to do with these people.
"If we could find out more about this, it would be wonderful if we could find out who is buying people and what they want to do with so many people."
Rock gave instructions to the Cossack cavalry and issued the mission.
These Cossacks traveled extensively throughout the country, gaining not only broad knowledge but also numerous opportunities to interact with all sorts of people, making them the most well-informed.
If they can't get certain information, then it's unlikely that Rock will be able to get it from other sources either.
With ample food supplies, Rock no longer cared about anything else. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to train regularly during the dead of winter, practicing everything from formation drills and target practice to bayonet fighting.
This is especially true for the militia!
In the previous battles, Roque selected 20 militiamen who had performed reasonably well, promoted them to his first batch of regular soldiers, and issued them a set of the most ordinary French military uniforms.
Upon receiving the uniform, almost all the soldiers who had been promoted to corporals wept with joy. They then wore the uniform every day, showing it off to their comrades.
After all, this outfit is a symbol of status and position!
This not only meant they could get higher pay from Rock, but also that unless they made some serious mistake, they would not be easily dismissed from the army by Rock.
To put it bluntly, this uniform and the identity of a soldier symbolize a secure job, and for these villagers from poor backgrounds, it truly represents a leap in social class.
The other militiamen, seeing their demeanor, couldn't help but feel envious. Even during training, they became more serious than before.
After Rock had performed the promotion ceremony for these soldiers and issued them rifles, he immediately told the other militiamen who had not yet been promoted:
If they perform well in training, they also have the opportunity to be promoted ahead of schedule!
Upon hearing this, the remaining militiamen began to secretly compete with each other during training. Even the soldiers who had just been promoted to regular soldiers showed a competitive spirit during training, fearing that they would be surpassed by the militiamen.
After all, they had only just been promoted. If they were to perform worse than the militiamen in training, wouldn't that mean they were unworthy of their titles?
If they were to be outdone by a group of militiamen during training, they would be incredibly humiliated.
Seeing the soldiers' enthusiasm for training, Rock felt satisfied, but at the same time, he felt a little distressed about the food consumption.
He used to not understand why ancient soldiers could be considered elite if they trained every three days, but now he understands that once they start training, their appetite really increases dramatically!
If ancient armies were all trained according to modern standards, undergoing high-intensity training every day, only two possibilities would arise:
Either this army eats too much and bankrupts the country before even fighting, running out of military rations; or this army trains all day long but doesn't get enough nutrition, eventually ruining themselves.
Despite feeling a pang of heartache at the thought of such food consumption, Rock insisted on keeping the soldiers training.
We are in a chaotic world now, and a major war could break out at any time. If we don't train our troops now, are we going to wait until a real war breaks out to start training?
As long as he trains his troops well now, the benefits he can gain in the future will definitely be much greater than his current expenses. This army is the foundation of his livelihood, and he must not slack off in the slightest!
While training his troops, he also increased the activities of his soldiers outside, sending them more frequently into the mountains to hunt.
Hunting in the mountains can train their ability to fight in complex terrains and also supplement their meat supply, so why not?
As for the issue of protecting wild animals, Rock thinks we should protect people first, and then consider the animals.
People are struggling to get enough to eat these days, so where do they find the time to think about animals?