Northern Dynasties

Chapter 59
The township regiment in the county was reorganized, and Zhou Changming was appointed as the commander-in-chief. The Shangyang Garrison where he was stationed originally became the gathering place for the township soldiers.

As August draws to a close, the township regiments of surrounding counties also gathered and marched towards Shangyang Garrison, setting up tents around the Garrison Fort, and soon this place became a fairly large-scale military camp.

Guanzhong has been in turmoil for a long time. In addition to plowing mulberry fields, the villagers also learn more about the methods of marching in the army to gather people to protect themselves. They generally understand the general camp and defense laws.But because now they have to obey the dispatch as a regular army, the soldiers must also be proficient in the transmission of military orders such as advancing and retreating, gathering and dispersing.

When a part of the township soldiers gather thereafter, the relevant drills will officially begin.

A sloping field outside the Shangyang Garrison was cleared out as a school field. The captains and captains each held a few formation maps in their hands, tried hard to identify the orders of the flag and drums, and ordered the subordinate soldiers to form offensive and defensive formations one by one.

Although the village soldiers often practiced when they lived in the village, most of them were not so formal and on such a large scale. The formation diagrams given by Daxingtai were also more complex and changeable, and the transmission of orders was a bit confusing.

Some township soldiers reacted quickly, while others reacted a little slowly. After the flag and drum orders were issued, they responded differently, and there were many cases where two or more people lost ground, collided directly, and fell to the ground in a mess.

Some people couldn't help laughing when they saw this chaotic scene, and others were also affected by this emotion, and the laughter became even louder.After being so noisy for more than half an hour, a basic formation has not been practiced yet.

On the plateau, Zhou Changming looked at the chaotic scene, his face gradually became gloomy, and he shouted in a low voice: "After one drum, if you can't form an formation again, each team will be punished with ten sticks!"

His decree had some effect. The soldiers on the school field restrained their smiles and cheered up. The leaders of the teams also became extremely nervous. As the drums sounded, they held the formation map in their hands and pushed and kicked. The generals and soldiers were arranged to fixed positions one by one.

Once the drum order was completed, Zhou Changming ordered Li Quji to lead several supervisors into the battle for careful inspection.

"Fork out!"

In a small team, three soldiers were not standing at the same distance. Following Li Quji's order, the leader of the team was dragged out of the team for execution by pressing his shoulders and cutting his arms behind him.

On the side of the school field, the team leader was dragged to the torture rack covered by the curtain, and immediately there was the dull sound of the torture rod hitting the body from inside the curtain.

Although the soldiers on the school field couldn't see the specific scene of the torture stick, the muffled sound seemed to hit their respective heartstrings. All of them looked solemn and did not dare to make any more noise and laughter.

Several team leaders in a row were tortured with the cane, and those soldiers who were in the wrong formation were not spared. They were stripped from their own formation and practiced formation changes alone in a corner of the school field, and were deprived of the opportunity to rest in the afternoon.

When the day's practice was coming to an end, Zhou Changming and several governors under his command began to show embarrassment.

While the soldiers were still practicing formation on the school grounds, a few of them walked to the front of the fort, and a governor took the lead and said, "How to solve the meal for tonight?"

Right now, a meal for the township regiment consumes tens of shi of grain. Due to the large amount of millet and grain military rations being exported and sold, in the past few days, some old grains and miscellaneous grains have been used for cooking, and some dissatisfaction has been growing among the soldiers.

Zhou Changming also ran the army harshly and supervised harshly. The commanders and soldiers were punished for violations, which exacerbated this dissatisfaction.Even when the soldiers were counted early this morning, several of them fled back to their hometowns.In order to avoid greater panic, this was only covered up in advance, and people were secretly sent to search for it.

If this situation continues, it is really hard to say what kind of variables will happen.

When Zhou Changming heard this question, his face became a little ugly, but he said in a deep voice: "Shangyuan Li Lang has promised that he will definitely send in the military rations in the near future!"

"Li Lang, it's Li Lang again! He's a newcomer from Dongzhou, don't you know how much money he has in the village?"

A person who was the governor of the township regiment earlier frowned when he heard this, looked at the people with different expressions and said: "I don't care what you think, tomorrow at the latest, if tomorrow If the problem of military rations cannot be resolved, I will lead my troops away. Even if Da Xingtai convicts, it is not my fault!"

"Daxingtai entrusted me to supervise this military, and I will try my best to be thorough. Li Lang is a high moral man, and I can trust him to repeat his promise! If anyone threatens to disturb the matter, this sword will never agree!"

After Zhou Changming heard the words, his face suddenly sank, and his right hand had already pressed the handle of the saber.

"Everyone, please be safe and don't be impatient. The current situation is not hopeless, and it is still under discussion and still negotiable!"

Seeing that the atmosphere suddenly became tense, Shi Gong hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over, looked at the commander of the township regiment who was in trouble and said with a smile: "General Zhou supervised the township regiment, it was Daxingtai's instruction. Profound. Both of you are superheroes on the surface, this training of the township regiment is a good opportunity for us and the fellow villagers to rise and grow, and we should work together to promote the voice of the township!"

The governor of Wu was silent for a moment, seeing no one else making a sound, he slowly raised his arms and bowed to Zhou Changming: "Seeing that the fellow countrymen are exhausted from hard work, I made a sudden slip of the tongue, please forgive me, General Zhou."

Hearing this, Zhou Changming's face softened a little, and he said in a deep voice: "The hometown may be far and near, but Shangyi is the same in the world! Although Li Lang's entry into the hometown is short, he has benefited a lot from my hometown. I am not the only one who is grateful and kind. Since he is willing to take on this matter, I believe he will be able to solve it properly!"

Hearing what Zhou Changming said, Shi Gong's face suddenly became embarrassed, and he wanted to have the courage to refute a few words, but when he saw Li Qu walking quickly, he immediately lowered his head, looking at his nose and his heart.

"General, my master's envoy sent a message that the army rations are coming from Shangyuan, and they will arrive in the evening! He also told the camp that there is no need to rush to cook, and the campers will definitely have new meals tonight."

Li Quji walked up to him and said to Zhou Changming with a happy face.

Zhou Changming was also overjoyed when he heard the words, he immediately led a group of soldiers to meet him, and ordered several governors to lead the troops back to the camp.

Not long after the soldiers on the school grounds dispersed and returned to the camp, they heard that a large righteous family in the village would send food to the camp, and that there was no need to eat those hard-to-eat stale rice bran for this meal tonight. Full of anticipation, each waited eagerly in front of the camp.

As the sun set, more than a dozen carts slowly approached from Shangyuan in the north. Seeing the size of the cart team, the soldiers were delighted, but also somewhat disappointed.

"There are only a dozen or so cars, and a full load is no more than twenty or thirty stones. It can last for ten days at most, and it will be shabby after that..."

"Three or two meals are fine. I'm full of chaff in the valley, and I don't feel comfortable defecating. If I knew that being a soldier is so difficult, I might as well be a servant in the village!"

Accompanied by the various discussions among the battalions, the convoy transporting food slowly drove into the fort.

The commanders of each battalion were also waiting in front of the gate of the garrison. Seeing that there were only so many vehicles transporting grain, their faces were all different. Dudu Wu, who had been dissatisfied before, stepped forward and watched as he got off his horse. Li Tai frowned and said, "Excuse me, Li Lang, this is the only grain and goods sent? But I heard that the county has already provided enough grain and fodder, and there are thousands of stones for the millet alone..."

Li Tai glanced at this person, but didn't answer, until Li Quji whispered a few words in his ear, a smile appeared on his face.

"It turned out to be the governor of Wudu in Nanwuquan. There is only this amount of military rations, and there is no further approval."

Li Tai looked at Dudu Wu and said: "I heard that Dudu Wu doesn't want to work with the folks. It's really regrettable. Since Daxingtai was given the job, Dudu Wu can only be wronged and tolerate things temporarily. Wait until autumn After the final reading is completed, I will definitely ask for advice to help Dudu Wu find another good place for you."

"It's not too much trouble for Li Lang! But if someone can make a contribution, he must be in front of Daxingtai and report the schemes of the village evil and the embezzlement of military rations!"

After Wu Dudu heard the words, his face changed again, he stood up with his sword, pointed to the dozens of grain trucks and said to the few people present: "The result of the matter is in front of you, you all believed in vain, and you still don't regret it? "

When the few people present heard this, their faces became ugly. These dozen or so trucks could not transport thousands or even tens of thousands of grains of grain, which meant that the previous promise had failed, and even the original Part of the military rations of their township regiments were withheld.

"Li Lang, this..."

Shi Gong originally stood timidly behind others, but now he couldn't help but stepped forward to question him.

"Shut up! Either stand there or stand here!"

Li Tai's eyes slanted, and he scolded coldly.

When Shi Gong heard this, his shoulders trembled, his expression was tangled for a moment, and he walked silently behind Li Tai and stood still.

Seeing this, the other two newly awarded governors also walked behind Li Tai: "I trust Li Lang, there will be an explanation!"

The old governor was left in the same place. He looked at Shi Gong and the others, then at the cold-faced Governor Wu, and finally his eyes fell on Li Tai. Lang has no obligation to the righteousness of the country!"

"I'll give you an explanation!"

Li Tai laughed loudly after hearing the words, turned around and slashed at the hemp rope that sealed the car, and ordered: "Unload the cargo!"

As the sackcloth covering the goods was lifted, it revealed the neatly stacked round cakes on the cart.

Li Tai held up a large cake with both hands, and said to Zhou Changming with a smile: "This cake is made of flax crumbs mixed with oatmeal flour, mutton fat, and made into a compact cake. One cake, two jun, can be used as a ten-day eclipse. Eight thousand cakes, mixed with various grains and shrubs, is enough to feed the township group for two months!"

Zhou Changming had no doubts about Li Tai, he took the compacted cake with both hands, first weighed it, then put it upright in front of his face, and said with a humorous smile: "This cake can not only be used as food, but also can be used as a shield." Woolen cloth!"

Seeing this, several other governors also came up one after another, carefully looking at the military rations they had never seen before, touching and weighing them, very curious.

Such a piece of cake is one and a half feet in diameter and several inches thick. According to the current standard, it weighs sixty catties, but when converted into later generations, it would be more than twenty catties.Because it has been fully dried and compacted, the heat provided is much higher than that of millet of the same weight, and it is easier to produce a feeling of satiety.

But after all, this is not a compressed biscuit manufactured by later generations, so it cannot reach the energy and nutrition provided by the compressed biscuit.But one piece of cake can last ten days' food, which can still be guaranteed.

Soon, the whole camp was filled with the smell of rice, and the food fried with mutton oil, salt, ginger, etc. must be more delicious than the monotonous corn rice.Coupled with the old rice bran that these campers have eaten for several days, the contrast in taste is even more obvious.

Some members of the Li family who went through the camps to distribute military rations heard the praises from the soldiers, and they continued to say proudly: "These delicious military rations are provided by Li Lang, the owner of my family who lives in Shangyuan. You campers are blessed!"

(End of this chapter)