Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 129 Training
When the soldiers of the Zhuang army went to the battlefield, Liu Daogui took advantage of the opportunity to gather the young and strong Zhuang people for a "training session".

Peace is always short-lived, and war can come at any time. Lanling is a buffer zone, and if the situation changes slightly, war will break out.

The men practiced using spears, swords and shields, and fighting formations, while the strong women practiced using bows and crossbows and defending the city.

Even children of seven or eight years old learned to chop and stab the straw man with a dagger.

These people were refugees from all over the north. They all had good foundations. Men, women, young and old were all proficient in swords, shields, bows and halberds. The only thing they were a little unfamiliar with was the formation.

There has always been a saying in military strategy that an army cannot be formed without formations.

The confrontation between two armies is definitely not a fight between two ruffians. Under normal circumstances, no matter how brave a person is, he cannot defeat thousands of troops.

At this time, the advantage of the eight flags was revealed. Once the flags were raised, the people in the flags automatically gathered under them.

Perhaps it was the first time such a large-scale gathering, with more than 3,000 young and strong people, and the scene was a bit chaotic.

The residents were pushing and shoving each other, vying for positions, and some even started cursing at each other because they disliked each other.

They all have hot tempers and are tough.

Not having to go under the knife is a huge improvement.

The village chief was busy and sweating, but he still managed to form the formation.

Liu Daogui originally wanted to set up a goose-shaped formation, and he was busy for an hour or two before he finally came up with it.

Commanding a hundred people and commanding a thousand people are two completely different probabilities. When the number of people is less than a thousand, the general rushes to the front and shouts, and the soldiers will follow with roars.

If there are more than a thousand people, you can’t just rely on shouting.

Soldiers must be able to understand the flag signals and hear the drums and horns.

Reaching a scale of 10,000 is even more of a threshold. Many generals in history were invincible when they led 10,000 people, but when the number exceeded 10,000, their combat effectiveness directly declined.

At this moment, the villagers didn’t even understand the flag signals, and the flags were waving in chaos.

Several village chiefs came over with shame on their faces to apologize.

"I don't blame you. This year we've either been clearing wasteland or cutting wood in the mountains. It's already very good to be able to do this." Liu Daogui encouraged everyone.

Zhao Yuan bowed and said, "I think it would be better to organize the households in the village into groups. Five households form a group, ten households form a group, and five groups form a team. In the future, whether it's land reclamation, farming, or warfare, this will work. The villagers will surely cooperate seamlessly."

"Good idea!" Liu Daogui slapped his thigh.

The biggest advantage of the Eighth Building is its mobilization capability and efficiency.

Look for the right signal, come when called, and fight when you come.

Zhao Yuan continued, "There's another thing. These flags are too complicated. Some people can't recognize the colors and often get confused."

"This is indeed a problem." Liu Daogui glanced at the eight-colored flags on the field.

Yellow, black, white, red, brown, gray, purple and green, the eight colors mixed together are indeed a bit dazzling.

Yellow-brown, pale green, and red-purple are difficult to distinguish and easy to confuse. These days, most people's eyesight is not very good, and they can't see clearly when it gets dark.

In the past, there were fewer people and fewer flags, so it didn’t matter.

Now that the Cao family has been absorbed, the eight buildings have a scale of more than 10,000 people, and the increase in flags not only makes it easy to confuse people, but also increases the cost.

Especially purple, which requires a special kind of comfrey, which needs to be repeatedly soaked, fermented, and steamed. It can only show color after multiple soaking and dyeing. However, once it encounters hot weather or rain, it will fade over time.

In the official uniform system of the Wei and Jin dynasties, purple was reserved for officials of the third rank and above, because it was precious...

"Do you have a solution?"

Liu Daogui was very busy, often running between Lanling and Guangling, and he did not consider many things carefully.

Liu Guangzhi, Liu Heipi and Liu Zhong focused more on military affairs.

Zhao Yuanze had always been with the villagers, and with more contact, he knew the problems they faced. Moreover, he had been the leader of the Red Mountain Village and had some management experience.

"Why not imitate the white and green flags and embroider dragon and tiger patterns on them to make it easier for soldiers and civilians to distinguish them." Zhao Yuan pointed at the white and green flags.

The flag fluttered in the wind, and the tiger on it was lifelike with its fangs and claws bared, full of a sense of primitive power.

This was embroidered by Cao Sifei.

"From now on, we will use the four colors of yellow, black, white, and red. The brown banner will be embroidered with yellow, the blue banner will be embroidered with black, the purple banner will be embroidered with white, and the green banner will be embroidered with red."

The shapes of dragons and tigers in this era were similar and difficult to distinguish, so Liu Daogui simply chose the tiger shape.

The tiger is the original worship of Chinese civilization.

On the second day, the flags were changed to only four colors: yellow, black, white and red, with an additional four flags embroidered with tiger patterns: yellow, black, white and red.

It was a bit confusing at first, but after five days, once I got used to it, the results were much better.

The formation became more organized, with measured advances and retreats, instead of the previous overwhelming rush.

Anything can be done with half the effort as long as you find a way.

After a few days of training, the villagers had adapted to the situation and were sweating profusely on the training ground. Although they were not as good as the soldiers, they were more than enough to serve as a defensive force.

Even the strong women followed suit. When the drums sounded, arrows, battering rams and stones rained down.

On the sixth day, Liu Heibi led fifty cavalrymen, escorted three hundred young and strong captives, and returned pushing seven or eight carts. Women and children were sitting on the carts. They looked calm and not frightened, as if they were used to it.

Following behind were more than a thousand cattle and sheep, forming a mighty procession.

From a distance, he triumphantly shouted, "Report to the general, our army has captured Zou County!"

Zou County is located at the northern foot of Mount Niqiu and belongs to Lu County. It nominally belongs to the Jin Dynasty, but in reality it is a lawless area. The Jin Dynasty has no interest in managing it, Zhai Wei is not strong enough, and the Yan State is out of reach.

It was gradually occupied by Hu people and bandits.

"Is this all there is for a county?" Liu Daogui looked disgusted. He saw no money or food.

Liu Heibi defended himself, "That's pretty good. Zoucheng is already a big city."

The Hu people were not good at business, and for more than 80 years after the Yongjia Rebellion, the north was plagued by burning, killing and looting.

During the reign of Shi Hu of Jie Zhao, Shi Hu and his sons frequently went on hunting trips, building thousands of hunting chariots and driving over 100,000 men. They kidnapped wives and daughters and looted their property. More than 10,000 soldiers died of starvation and cold. In the three prefectures and fifteen counties they passed through, no supplies were left.

The Former Yan was not in a better situation. Having just conquered Ran Wei, Murong Jun ordered the prefectures and counties to review the men and women, carefully covering up any missing persons. Each household was to retain only one man, and the rest were to be sent out. He intended to raise 1.5 million men to attack Jiangzuo, causing rebellion throughout the country...

The Jie Zhao and Former Yan were only established more than twenty years ago.

When the Di Qin destroyed the Former Yan, although Fu Jian implemented many benevolent policies, after a few years, he rushed south and suffered a major setback at the Battle of Feishui.

In addition, the scars left by the Eight Kings Rebellion and the Yongjia Disaster have not yet recovered.

This is also the reason why the Sima family was unwilling to go north.

One can live a life of luxury in Jiangdong, but once one goes north, one will have to invest huge financial, human and material resources in reconstruction. Not only will the nobles and wealthy families be unwilling to do so, but the common people in Jiangzuo may not be willing either.

The only people willing to go north are probably the refugees who have moved south in the past twenty years.

Liu Daogui also knew that he was telling the truth. "Kill the sheep. All the people in the training camp will have a good meal tonight!"

After so many days of training, we are short of oil and water, relying only on two meals of whole grains a day. Even a god can't stand it.

As the news spread, the villagers cheered as if they had been injected with chicken blood, "Thank you for joining the army!"

Morale is visibly rising...

(End of this chapter)