Chapter 80: Training

Wu Yuanhua did not come to the United States empty-handed. He also brought two ships of goods to sell in the United States. Google search reading

He entrusted Liang Yao to take these goods to the best places in the United States for sale.

Liang Yao felt that Wu Yuanhua was too narrow-minded and underestimated the purchasing power of the people of California.

Although San Francisco and Sacramento have a population of only 70,000 to 80,000 people, this is a gold-producing area, and the purchasing power of the people is not inferior to that of the big cities in the eastern United States.

At this time, the California region was a very special region in the United States. Other places in the United States lacked sufficient currency, especially coins.

What California lacked the least was money, and what it really lacked was sufficient goods.

Take the local sawmill and brick factory as an example. Liang Yao did not have to worry about not being able to sell the building materials and bricks produced. A lot of people lined up at the factory gate with gold.

The various goods flowing in from the surrounding Indian tribes, Oregon, and even Central America were often snapped up before they could be sold in the market.

Trade is not well developed, and local manufacturing cannot meet local basic needs. This is the current situation in California.

The gold rush also gave birth to the first batch of middle class and small rich people in California, to put it bluntly, they are the management of various mining companies and shop owners who have made a fortune.

These people have no worries about food and clothing, and have higher material consumption needs than ordinary miners. The two ships of tea, porcelain, silk and handicrafts brought by Wu Yuanhua have no worries about sales. It is very likely that the goods in the two ships are not enough to sell.

Almost every transaction here is settled directly in gold, which is enough for Wu Yuanhua to make a fortune.

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Isaac and Elvis served in the Worcestershire Regiment of the British Army and were stationed in India. Finally, they came to Mexico and were employed by the Mexican government to help train the Mexican army.

Whether in the British mainland, the Indian colony or the Mexican government, the remuneration they received was not as much as the salary they received in California, not even a fraction of it.

The young Chinese employer in California was generous and offered them a higher salary than the British general.

Their daily salary is 1 ounce of gold, which is less than the monthly salary of a British Army officer. This is a salary they never dared to dream of before.

This is just their basic salary. If this generous employer is satisfied with their training success, there are additional bonuses and rewards to be received. The gold reward is also very considerable and often higher than their basic salary.

However, each time the bonus is only given to one of them, and the standard for the bonus is who has completed the training work better.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and Isaac and Elvis treat this job more attentively than when they served in the Worcestershire Regiment.

The only flaw is that this Chinese employer has very high requirements for them, or these guards.

Liang Yao asked Isaac and Elvis to train these Chinese guards to a level of combat effectiveness comparable to that of the British Army, otherwise they would pack up and leave.

At first, Isaac and Elvis thought this was an impossible task. The war ten years ago left them with a bad impression of Chinese soldiers.

Smoking opium, being thin, outdated equipment, low combat effectiveness, and no organization at all, this is the evaluation of the Qing soldiers by colleagues who participated in the "trade" war against the Qing Dynasty after returning to India.

Some colleagues even boasted after drinking that if they were given an infantry regiment, they would dare to fight directly to the capital of the Qing Dynasty.

It seemed that the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops were like paper.

But when they really started to contact and seriously train these Chinese guards, their stereotypes of Chinese soldiers began to change.

Compared with the soldiers of the Qing Empire, these Chinese guards did not have malnutrition problems, no one smoked opium, and their bodies were stronger.

Because the salaries of these guards were also very generous, they were also very serious about training.

The most important thing is that their mental outlook and discipline are excellent, and they are obedient. They are born to be soldiers.

Although their commands sometimes need to be conveyed through translation, the training work is generally smooth.

With the current training level of these guards, there is still some gap compared with the British Army.

But compared with the Indian soldiers and the lazy Mexican soldiers, they are much stronger.

"Fire!"

On the training ground, under Isaac's series of commands, the guards skillfully completed a series of tedious loading actions and decisively pulled the trigger.

The guns equipped by Liang Yao's guards are all rifled Springfield M1842, which can fire the new Minié bullet.

This gun has very advanced performance in the world, and even the US military has not yet completed the replacement due to cost and production constraints.

Only the US-Mexico border and the US military stationed next to the Indian territory have completed the replacement first.

Liang Yao spent a lot of money to buy 130 rifled Springfield M1842 from Griffin, and then got 57 from some deserters one after another, so that each of the 150 guards has a rifled Springfield M1842.

After Isaac's guards finished shooting, two dumber guards did not react fully and habitually stuck their guns on the ground.

For the same training subject, the guards trained by Elvis next door did better than Isaac.

All the guards retracted their right legs instantly after completing the shooting action and entered the loading posture. The position of the bolt was accurately stopped in front of the chest, and the height of the muzzle was also very naturally flush with the forehead.

"Is this the posture after you complete the shooting?!"

Isaac shouted angrily at the guards who did not complete the tactical action according to the manual.

The translators following Isaac were early Chinese immigrants hired by Liang Yao at a high price. They all had their own businesses in the local area, and the money for hiring them was not much cheaper than Isaac.

The translator repeated Isaac's words in Chinese in a stern tone.

The reason why Isaac was angry was not only because the two guards failed to complete the tactical action.

But he and his former colleague Elvis were in a competitive relationship. If the guards trained by Elvis were better than those trained by him, this month's bonus would be taken away by Elvis again.

Elvis had received bonuses for two consecutive months, which not only made Isaac very envious, but also made him feel deeply frustrated.

Elvis retired from the Worcestershire Regiment with the rank of captain, while he retired from the Worcestershire Regiment with the rank of lieutenant.

Isaac didn't want to be outdone by Elvis on the training ground in California.

"Very good!"

Elvis looked at Isaac with pride, and then Elvis gave the next instruction to the guards in broken Chinese.

"The next training subject is half-loading action!"

Liang Yao also assigned an interpreter to Elvis, but it was just some simple instructions, and Elvis preferred to convey them to his training guards in person rather than through an interpreter.

All of this was seen by Liang Yao who came to inspect the training ground.

"Elvis seems to do a better job in training than Isaac." Liang Yao said.

"Elvis has a better relationship with the guards. If the guards train well, he will pay for the guards to drink in his spare time. Therefore, the guards trained under Elvis are more attentive during training."

Deng Yan, who had shaved his hair for some time, has grown a thick head of black hair.

Deng Yan is a fugitive from the Qing Dynasty and does not plan to return to the Qing Dynasty in the future. Cutting his braids is not a big pressure for him.

After cutting his braids, his daily life and training are much more convenient. Deng Yan does not think there is anything wrong with cutting his braids now.