"Yes!" The three quickly responded.
Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment, then said: "The camp is not yet built, but we can start basic training! You must ensure that each soldier undergoes half a month of basic training! Not a day less!"
Time is insufficient, he can’t follow the previous training method to let all soldiers undergo two to three months of training. There’s no time for actual combat training, basic training can only be limited to within half a month.
Half a month of basic training is not intended to turn these soldiers into elite troops, but just to give them a chance to drink some Spiritual Spring Water, to strengthen their physique and enhance their strength.
According to Yang Zhenshan’s plan, forty thousand soldiers should complete the training in three months. During two of these months, they must build the camp and the port while training, and in the last month, they should undergo naval formation training.
After three months, they will look for an opportunity to take the initiative to attack.
As for whether the soldiers are willing to undergo the training, Yang Zhenshan is not worried about this.
Because he has money and grain, he has already instructed Zhang Hee to hire several dozen women within Zhao Wu Guard to prepare meals for the training soldiers and arranged for several teams from Zhao Wu Guard to purchase various meats from the surrounding counties and villages.
With good food and drink taken care of, and ample supply of grain and silver, if anyone still complains, they are simply ungrateful. Yang Zhenshan wouldn’t mind beheading a few hundred more.
After arranging the matters, Yang Zhenshan summoned two officers, Zhang Ruifu from the Ministry of War and Zheng Yang from the Ministry of Revenue.
"Weapons, we lack sufficient arms! Go see what kind of weapons the navy soldiers from those guards have, other than the Tenglong Advanced Guard. What are they? Sticks for stirring shit?"
Yang Zhenshan looked at Zhang Ruifu with a stern face.
Shipbuilding needs the Ministry of Industry, but armaments need to be provided by the Ministry of War. Both the Five Army Commandery and the Ministry of War have weapon forging workshops. Since the Four Seas Navy is now not under the jurisdiction of the Five Army Commandery, Yang Zhenshan can only ask the Ministry of War for armaments.
Quanhai Guard, Leizhou Guard, Hai State Left Guard, it’s bad enough that these guards lack naval ships, but they also severely lack armaments, and many of the soldiers’ weapons are rusted, it’s hard to understand how they were used previously.
Yang Zhenshan was really furious, Zhao Wu Guard was damn poor, and so were Quanzhou Guard, Leizhou Guard, and Hai State Left Guard.
Not to mention compared to Tenglong Advanced Guard, they are far worse than even Jin Hai Guard.
Yang Zhenshan was dissatisfied with Jin Hai Guard, let alone the other three guards.
Zhang Ruifu said with a pained expression: "Marquis, the Ministry of War can’t provide that many armaments in such a short time!"
"Then start forging them. The nine rivers and five guards haven’t arrived yet, and I guess their situation isn’t much better! Your Ministry of War had better prepare quickly, if the lack of armaments delays our deployment, I will definitely report your Ministry of War to His Majesty!" Yang Zhenshan said with glaring eyes.
Being harsh is necessary, he knows well the officials in the Capital City, if not pushed, they simply won’t take matters seriously.
"Yes, yes, yes, this humble officer will immediately send a message to the Capital City to have our superiors start forging the armaments!" Zhang Ruifu hurriedly said.
Yang Zhenshan glared at him again, "Write directly to Minister Wang, tell him if he can’t provide sufficient armaments for the Four Seas Navy, when I return to the Capital City I’ll tear down his family’s mansion!"
Minister of War Wang Lu, who was also an old minister left by Emperor Chengping, is quite capable but also has a flaw, which is that he always handles things at a slow pace.
Yang Zhenshan doesn’t have a good solution for dealing with him, but he can be stern. Regardless of the reason, if he decides to be tough, everyone in the court has to fear him by three points.
Because he really dares to tear down the Wang family’s mansion, and even after doing so, there won’t be much trouble.
At worst, he’ll just compensate some silver.