White Horse, Silver Spear, Grand Commandant Gao

That night, Gao Huaide tossed and turned, too excited to sleep a wink. Just as he was starting to feel sleepy, he heard someone outside calling softly, "Young Master, it's time to get up."

It was Fu An's voice. He had been on duty all night and hadn't returned. Gao Huaide jumped up.

It's still early, what time is it now?

"Aren't we supposed to leave at dawn?"

"It's past the fourth watch. We'll gather the troops at the fifth watch, conduct the general's inspection at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), and then set out. Now it's time to pack up and head to the camp."

Fu An didn't mention his concern that the young master would oversleep, so he allowed some time for him to get out of bed.

The military commander is strict in enforcing discipline; if he delays, a reprimand would be the least of his worries. Perhaps Gao Xingzhou is planning to seize this opportunity to teach his son a lesson.

Gao Huaide hurriedly washed up, a maid served him breakfast, and he invited Fu An to eat haphazardly together. He then picked up his spear and prepared to leave.

He had brought the spear to his room last night, but Fu'an stopped him: "The commander specifically instructed that you are not allowed to carry weapons this time; you only need to accompany him."

Gao Huaide's interest was immediately dampened. What was the point of going into battle empty-handed? He almost shouted that he wasn't going.

"With the might of the banners and three times the military strength, subduing a mere garrison commander is a trivial matter, requiring no intervention from you, young master."

Lu Qian was already waiting outside, trying to figure out the thought behind Gao Xingzhou's order: "The military commander probably doesn't want his son to be preoccupied with martial prowess and miss the opportunity to understand the art of war."

"Hmph, fine, don't bring it then."

Gao Huaide, unable to resist his curiosity about joining the army, pouted and arrived outside the government office. The groom, leading Xiaobai and the packhorse, waited, while Fu'an placed the bundle on it and secured it tightly with leather straps.

"Mother."

After seeing her husband off, Madam Gao hugged Gao Huaide and said, "Your father went to the military camp first. That heartless man, making you come along at such a young age. If this trip hadn't been relatively risk-free, I would have made a scene with him."

Gao Huaide broke free; his mother's doting sometimes became unbearable for him: "Sigh, I'll have to face the world sooner or later."

"My son, do you think war is fun? Every time your father goes to war, your mother is filled with anxiety. I wish the world would be peaceful someday."

Madam Gao reached out to hug him again, but Gao Huaide deftly dodged, took the reins from the groom, nimbly mounted his horse, and waved goodbye: "Mother, I'm off!"

"Go early and come back early, stay close to your father, and don't stray too far."

"Okay."

The city gates, which usually only opened at three in the morning, were wide open at this time. Gao Huaide went out of the city and came to the outskirts, where an army was already lined up neatly in the fields.

He had previously thought that a thousand people was not enough, but now, seeing the long, winding procession before his eyes, he realized it was quite a lot.

Lu Qian and Fu An knew the rules of the army; trespassing and disrupting the ranks was a capital offense. So they found a military academy officer to inform them and guide them to the central command.

Gao Xingzhou, clad in a brocade battle robe, sat upright on his horse, his hand on his sword, exuding the aura of a great general, with a large yellow banner erected behind him.

Seeing his son arrive on time, he nodded almost imperceptibly: "At least you didn't miss the appointed time."

Gao Xingzhou raised his arm and waved his hand, and the guards on the left and right understood and went to relay the orders.

"The five teams in the front, fly the red flag and go first."

"Follow the white flag on the left."

"Follow the green flag on the right."

"The rear guard will stand by and wait for the central army to move its banners before raising the black flags and setting off."

"The cavalry followed behind, escorting the baggage train." (Note 1)

When a general commands troops, he erects five flags, each corresponding to a different direction, with blue replacing black to ensure easy identification. The central flag remains stationary, so the general uses the yellow flag as the main flag of the four generals, allowing the other armies to easily discern his location.

Gao Xingzhou commanded his thousand men with ease, and each unit advanced according to the flags, marching in an orderly manner.

"The commander has ordered that the troops advance three she (a unit of distance) before stopping, and reach Bao'an Town in two days!"

……

The military system of this dynasty was structured as follows: ten men formed a gang, with a gang leader; fifty men formed a squad, with a squad leader; and one hundred men formed a unit, with a unit head, also known as a military commander. All of these were junior officers.

Five battalions were organized into one battalion, with the general called Commander, who commanded 500 soldiers; several battalions were organized into one army, with a Commander-in-Chief in charge of more than 2,000 soldiers, who were the backbone of the army.

Whenever an expedition is launched, several armies are combined into one wing, with each wing consisting of tens of thousands of men. The commander of such a wing must be a general of the rank of Jiedushi (military governor). (Note 2)

Some powerful armies cannot be generalized. A single unit can have hundreds or even thousands of men, such as the Hengchongdu and Tingzidu, and there are even units as large as the Heiyun Changjiandu with five thousand men and the Yinqiang Xiaojiedu with eight thousand men.

This time, Gao Xingzhou mobilized five squads of elite soldiers and two battalions of state soldiers, totaling about 1,200 men. They marched in a grand procession along the official road, causing the people who were planting in the fields on both sides to stop and watch. They quickly shrank back and lowered their heads, afraid of making eye contact with the soldiers.

Gao Huaide looked ahead and saw his commander-in-chief surrounded by his personal guards and surrounded by six large banners.

This set of banners and ceremonial guards was usually displayed in the White Tiger Hall, and he was so used to seeing them that he didn't think much of it. But when the army marched here, the flags fluttered and the leopard tails waved, the magnificent formation and the imposing manner of the army were evident. Being among them was an honor, and the morale of the entire army was boosted considerably.

For some reason, Gao Xingzhou did not have his son join him in the central army, but instead assigned him to the rear guard, where he was with the state soldiers.

Gao Huaide didn't mind. He looked around curiously and found that many of the soldiers from the prefecture also had tattoos on their faces, but they were tattooed with the words "Defend the Frontier Army".

"Those are all veterans with more than ten years of service. The Baosai Army is what the puppet Liang regime called. The rule of tattooing soldiers' faces to prevent them from escaping was invented by Zhu Wen."

The state soldiers were far less well-equipped than the local troops, lacking packhorses and using mules to carry their gear. These sturdy animals were widely raised in the northwest and were known as inferior horses. If their master was in a bad mood, they would not only be whipped but also cursed as bastards.

Bao'an Town is about 180 li from the prefectural capital, and the entire route is within the prefecture's territory. Normally, it would take three to five days to reach the town by military force. Gao Xingzhou ordered the town to be reached in two days, which is almost twice the usual marching speed of 50 li per day.

Besides intending to eliminate Bai Wenshen swiftly, there might also be an intention to train the state army and his son.

They set off at dawn and marched for three hours straight until the sun was high in the sky at noon. Gao Huaide, riding a horse, was curious about how the soldiers, who relied on their own two feet, managed to persevere.

Even if a soldier needed to relieve himself, he had to report to his superior and be accompanied by another soldier before he could leave the ranks. He would then relieve himself on the spot under the watchful eyes of his comrades who were passing by, and then quickly catch up with the group. There was no time to find a quiet, secluded place to relieve himself slowly.

After marching for more than fifty li, a black flag fluttered ahead. The adjutant spurred his horse and gave the order: "Rest for now!"

"Young Master, whenever the army marches, you must have scouts carry five-colored flags in front: yellow for ditches and pits, white for rivers and bridges, black for springs, green for forests, and red for wildfires, to inform the general that there will be a place to drink water ahead."

Lu Qian explained.

Sure enough, a stream flowed by. Fu'an laid out a curtain and invited Gao Huaide to dismount and sit on the ground.

Lu Qian comforted him, "The commander-in-chief instructed that all matters concerning this trip should be handled the same as those for the soldiers. Come, young master, have some dry rations."

Gao Huaide unbridled Xiaobai, letting it go to the stream to drink freely. He tore off half a dry biscuit and stuffed it into his mouth, finding it hard and gritty. He unscrewed the water pouch cap and took a big gulp, gulping it down his throat: "Is this what soldiers eat?"

"It's already good enough to have dry biscuits to eat. In the past, when the military could not be supplied with food, it was common for them to plunder the people. Things have only gotten a little better in the few years that the late emperor was on the throne."

"Young master, please bear with it. We'll travel for another half day, and once we set up camp in the evening, we can have a hot meal."

……

After resting, they walked for another two hours, with yellow dust flying everywhere. Gao Huaide's initial excitement faded, and he gradually found it monotonous and boring.

Finally, the sun began to set, and it was Shenshi (3-5 PM), also known as the feeding time because there are two meals a day.

"Is this all we're going to eat?"

A handful of cooked and dried fried rice is sprinkled into a pot of boiling water and cooked. A small piece of salt is added, and a piece of cloth is cut into the pot and cooked into a thick soup without a trace of oil. This is what Lu Qian calls hot food.

With a sore buttock and boredom, Gao Huaide swallowed a mouthful of slurred food and asked, his mouth sticky, "Why are you boiling that piece of cloth?"

"This is vinegar cloth. Soak one foot of cloth in one liter of strong vinegar, then dry it in the sun until all the vinegar is used up. It can last for fifty days."

Lu Qian presented a dark, date-pit-sized, ointment-like object: "Young Master, eat this with your meal."

Gao Huaide took it, and before Lu Qian could stop him, he casually tossed it into his mouth and immediately spat it on the ground.

"Ugh, this is awful! What is this thing?"

"Young master, if you mix three liters of fermented soybeans with five liters of salt to make cakes, how can they not be salty? Just one of these can be used as a side dish with a meal."

Lu Qian demonstrated how to eat it, and Gao Huaide then realized that it was eaten by licking it.

After a hasty meal, Fu'an asked for some hot water to soak his feet. The warmth seeped into his whole body through the pores of his feet, and Gao Huaide groaned in comfort.

Lu Qian explained, "Soaking feet in hot water is the only way to build a strong army. Fighting on the battlefield takes only half a day or a day, but marching takes ten days or half a month. You can't do without a pair of iron feet."

Fu An suddenly blurted out, "There are also exiled prisoners who, after being bribed, are killed by officials who boil a pot of scalding hot water. They press their feet into the boiling water until they are red, swollen, and blistered. The next day, they are put on a pair of new hemp shoes, but after walking only two or three miles, the blisters will break open and bleed profusely, rendering their feet useless and unable to walk. They will then find a secluded place to die."

Fu An spoke earnestly, as if he had personally experienced such a thing. Gao Huaide was horrified and immediately lost the desire to soak his feet.

He poured out the foot-washing water, put on his shoes, and went to the commander's tent to pay his respects to Gao Xingzhou.

In addition to the six large banners surrounding the commander's tent, there were two red flags, eight in number, which were the flags of the general's guards; and two spears with leopard tails as blades, which stood upright on the left and right in front of the tent entrance.

After the six banners, twelve alarm drums were set up in front of the tent, six on each side of the row; twelve horns were placed on the left and right of the drums to replace the cymbals.

A troop of soldiers stood like iron towers protecting the commander's tent. When they saw Gao Huaide, their nominal superior, approaching, they made way for him.

He lifted the curtain and entered the tent, where a carpet was laid out, and Gao Xingzhou sat upright behind the commander's desk.

"Your son greets his father."

"Can you handle it after a day like this?"

Gao Huaide didn't actually feel too tired, and was about to answer truthfully when he thought that if he said he wasn't tired, his father might press him further. So he put on a worried face and said, "After being jostled on horseback for most of the day, I feel sore all over, like my bones are about to fall apart."

"Hmph, that's because you're spoiled, bad at riding, and lack willpower."

As expected, Gao Xingzhou admonished him: "You'll have to travel like this all day tomorrow, so go and rest early."

After leaving the command tent and returning to his own tent, Gao Huaide was about to lie down and rest when he suddenly heard a continuous drumbeat.

He could no longer lie still and suddenly sat up: "Could it be an enemy attack?"

"It's not an enemy attack. There are guards on duty. Young master, you can relax and get some sleep."

The drumbeats had just stopped when the horn sounded again.

Fu An said from outside the tent: "When the army is camping in the field, at the beginning of the fifth watch and at sunset, the drum is beaten once. When the drum stops, the horn sounds, and the horn sounds in succession. When the horn stops, the drum sounds again. Three drumbeats and three horn sounds complete the transition from dusk to dawn. This is the military strategy passed down by Li Weigong."

Gao Huaide listened attentively as the drumbeats and horn sounds alternated, with twelve horn sounds and a total of three hundred and thirty drumbeats in one round.

The sound of drums and horns, repeated three times in succession, signifies the beginning and end of a day in the military camp.

Gao Huaide lay down on the ground like the ordinary soldiers, wrapped in a large felt blanket. The excitement of the previous night had long since dissipated, and he quickly fell asleep.