A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 1015: Religious Conquests Gather the Hearts of the Army, Daxia’s Military Funds Seek Their Own Benefits

September, the first year of the Great Xiapingning
Prince Bai Yu of Qian received the order from the Great Xia Emperor, Bai Xi, who had already left the mourning period and was also his nephew.

Daxia will assist Kuncheng in conquering Dali at the beginning of next year, so let the Prince of Qian's Palace be prepared.

October
Bai Yu, in the capacity of the "Great Black Dharma King", issued the "Call for Recruitment to Suppress the Heretical Dali Kingdom".

He summoned the various tribes along the Yunnan-Guizhou route to attack Dali City, the holy land of the Ming Cult, together with him.

The various government departments, which had already been informed by the monks of Tianlong Temple, sent troops to gather in Kuncheng.

Originally, when these tribes saw that Kuncheng was in danger, their attitudes became ambiguous, so that when Kuncheng was besieged last year, no one came to rescue.

This time, when he learned that the imperial court had sent troops to help and defeated the Dali army, he knew that the Central Plains dynasty was now free to take action.

So they became loyal allies of Kuncheng again, and took out nearly half of their young and strong men and rushed to Kuncheng for the alliance.

December 28

The 'Great Black Dharma King' Bai Yu and the 'Zandha II' Shi Tongtuo came to the military camp outside Kuncheng together.

At this time, the military camp had gathered 31 tribes of barbarians who had come for the alliance, with a total of 30,000 soldiers and horses.

Although we brought our own dry food, Kuncheng still needed to prepare some food.

Fortunately, this year Bai Yu rebuilt the Yunnan-Shu line and exchanged Yunnan's specialties for a lot of Shu's grain and cloth, enough to cover the expenses of tens of thousands of troops for half a year.

"Mahakala has sent down an oracle that heretics should be punished. In order to avoid suffering in the next life, you should not be stingy with your strength and wisdom."

"Under the leadership of 'Mahakala Dharma King', we fight for the glory of Lord Mahakala on the battlefield, protect our Dharma, protect our God, and praise Lord Mahakala."

As the words fell, Shi Tongtuo and hundreds of monks behind him began to chant mantras, make seals, and pray in unison.

The scene is so grand that it can be called a large-scale water and land ceremony.

In the parade ground, 30,000 tribal soldiers, regardless of their status, were sitting cross-legged on the mud ground, immersed in the monks' chanting, with calm and happy expressions on their faces.

After nearly an hour of chanting, 30,000 soldiers stood up and, led by their respective leaders, shouted in unison: "Praise to Lord Mahakala."

Then, Shi Tongtuo and other monks withdrew temporarily.

Bai Yu, with white eyebrows, white beard and a shiny bald head, was wearing a plain white cassock. He walked slowly to the front of the stage, spinning a pair of shiny sandalwood Buddha beads in one hand.

Seeing this, the tribal soldiers below the stage all knelt on one knee, put their left hands on their chests, bowed their heads and said, "Greetings to His Majesty the Great Black Dharma King."

Bai Yu's old words were heard by everyone as the messenger ran back and forth:

"For the glory of Lord Mahakala, I will donate 30,000 pieces of cloth to every soldier going out to war."

"For the glory of Lord Mahakala, I will donate 300,000 stones of millet to the families of every soldier who goes to war."

"For the glory of Lord Mahakala, I will donate thirty million coins to a tribe of soldiers going to war."

"My warriors, fight for the glory of Mahakala and to spread the Mahakala's beliefs."

"Praise to Lord Mahakala, praise to Aksāya, praise to Candarajutta."

The tribal soldiers were excited to hear that by going to the war they would not only receive blessings from the Buddha and a good rebirth in the next life, but would also receive a piece of cloth, ten stone of millet, and three thousand coins.

They jumped, called out, and waved their crude weapons made of stone, bone, bronze, and iron, shouting loudly:
"Praise to Lord Mahakala, praise to Candidasa, praise to Mahakala Dharma King."

On the wall of Kuncheng, the two thousand Luzhou Guards from Luzhou looked at the excited tribal soldiers below the city and said in confusion:

"These people are crazy, don't they know that they are going to attack the city this time? With these crude weapons in their hands, they are no different from committing suicide." "Not only that, the salary is too little, a piece of cloth, ten stone of millet, and three thousand coins. If it were in the mainland, even an ordinary soldier would not be tempted."

In Daxia, military pay was divided into three levels.

The top class were the central imperial guards serving in Kaifeng Prefecture, and they had the best treatment.

A fixed amount of money, grain, cloth and salt was distributed every year, and not much was spent in the military camp.

Therefore, the annual salary of an ordinary soldier is enough to support a family of five, and the imperial court will also issue rewards on special holidays.

In addition, it is close to the central government and has the most opportunities for promotion.

The middle class are frontier garrison soldiers. In addition to the output from a small amount of farmland allocated by the local military governor's office, the imperial court will also allocate a sum of garrison money every year.

From time to time, the imperial court would reward frontier soldiers with extra income out of gratitude for their hard work in guarding the border.

Ordinary garrison soldiers spend most of the year in the barracks, eating and living, so their annual income can support a family of four.

Moreover, there are many wars on the border, so there are many opportunities and promotions are the fastest.

The lowest class were the military households in the interior. The local governor's office would only send them a meagre salary during festivals throughout the year, and they could hardly expect any reward from the imperial court. They were not loved by their grandmother and uncle.

They spend most of the year dealing with farmland, and only during the slack season do they concentrate on training in the Governor's Office.

Their income was the lowest, but the harvest from their farming was enough to support their family, though their life was a little tight.

These ordinary soldiers of Luzhou Guard were the lowest-ranking military households.

Daxia wanted to fill up its army and make up for the shortage of manpower.

After the establishment of the system of military governors and garrisons, in addition to setting up a large number of garrisons on the border, in order to pacify the local areas, a garrison was set up in each state, with as many as 5,000 people and as few as 1,000 people.

Since these garrisons were not in the governor's district, they were all managed by the "Bingmasi" of the route.

The Luzhou Guard was the Luzhou Guard under the Jiannan West Route Bingmasi, and was under the dual jurisdiction of the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office.

It was just that they were transferred to Kunzhou this time, and the imperial court issued a large amount of salary, so their desire to fight was very high, and they all wanted to gain a status.

Some were transferred to the Chengdu Military Governor's Office to enjoy a good life, some were transferred to the Qianfu Military Governor's Office to comfort the local people, and some were transferred to the Jiangling Military Governor's Office to make meritorious services at the front line.

"You tell me, should we ask the commander to ask the King of Qian to keep us here? It would be better than going back to Luzhou to farm."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the soldiers present looked at the person who spoke, who was a young soldier named Zhu Xiaoer.

His immediate superior, Xiaoqi Liuyi, looked at him with admiration: "Is it difficult for you?"

Then he patted him on the shoulder and went straight to seek advice from higher-ups.

It was the end of the rally outside the city. Without the constraints of military discipline, people gathered around him and said, "Xiaoer is worthy of being the son of the general flag. He has a smart head."

Regardless of the discussions and expectations of the Luzhou guards on the city wall.

After returning to the city, Bai Yu met Hou Wenjian, the commander of Luzhou Guard, who came to help and was temporarily staying here, and learned the thoughts of the soldiers of Luzhou Guard.

Bai Yu did not refuse, and took the initiative to propose to the court to transfer all the people of Luzhou Wei to Kunzhou and bring their families over.

As for Luzhou’s lack of defense force, it can be reorganized.

Anyway, there are many people in Shu who want to become military households and achieve class transition. After all, it is easier to gain military merit on the battlefield than to pass the examination.

(End of this chapter)