Chapter 2 Military Households

Chapter 2 Military Households

Chapter 2 Military Households
The ancient road of Changting is covered with wild grass.

The aroma of food wafted faintly in the south wind.

The corn rice in the steamer had been cooked, and the soldiers took their meals in wooden bowls one by one.

The food looks terrible and may even contain husks and sand.

There are no dishes, just some fermented black beans and pickles as side dishes.

Everyone's bowls were also black, with suspicious dirt on the bottom, but no one cared and they ate voraciously.

Zuo Sima Liu Qia was a little worried. The number of soldiers he brought was nearly five hundred, but what kind of people were they?
Before setting off, Mi Huang mentioned to him: "There are 490 soldiers in total, more than 150 of them are over 78 years old and under 16 or 17 years old; more than 200 of them are over 60 years old and under the age of 16..."

In short, one-third of the population are children under the age of 16 or 17, more than 40% are elderly people in their 60s and 70s, and there are only about a hundred people who are truly young and middle-aged.

The quality of these soldiers is extremely poor!
"Sima Liu." The Protector Mi Huang came over and after exchanging greetings with Liu Qia, he said, "We will be going to the capital tomorrow. How should we explain this to the Minister of Works?"

Liu Qia was stunned, and after a while he asked, "Mi Du Hu, do you think these soldiers are useful?"

Mi Huang was honest and spoke the truth: "The 200 people above the age of hearing can only eat rice porridge. Some of them are even blind, deaf and dumb, unable to see, unable to defend against bandits, and can only roughly warn against petty thieves. As for the children, they can probably drive away birds and sparrows."

Liu Qia sighed.

The East Sea Kingdom has an army of around 2,000 people.

The kingdom's soldiers are divided into three classes.

A large country has 2,000 men in the central army, 1,500 men in the upper and lower armies, a total of 5,000 men.

The second country has 2,000 upper troops and 1,000 lower troops, for a total of 3,000 people.

The small country only had an army of 2,000 men.

These soldiers are hereditary soldiers, or military households. They inherit their father's business and have been soldiers for generations. They farm in peacetime, train in their spare time, and go to war in times of war. They are equivalent to the local militia in the late Tang Dynasty - or even worse, because they have fought few battles and have not been to the battlefield for many years since the destruction of Wu, and their combat effectiveness has declined significantly.

Sima Yue, the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty and the King of Donghai, was not able to dispatch troops from Donghai to Luoyang, so he used his connections to ask Sima Mao, the governor of Xuzhou (also called the governor of Qingxu), for help. He gave Sima Mao a favor and recruited a group of soldiers to support him.

As a result, he overestimated his influence and had no face at all in front of Sima Mao. In the end, people sent such a batch of goods, which made Liu Qia and Mi Huang speechless - Sima Mao was really too much. He fooled Sikong like this, and he would definitely teach him a lesson in the future!

After dinner, Mi Huang assigned people to set up the camp.

Given the quality of the people in this group, it was impossible to march to the camp strictly in accordance with military law. After much thought, Mi Huang could only have his men surround the horse-drawn carriages and ox-carts, with the distinguished person living in the middle and he personally leading people to protect him, while the rest of the people would be dispersed in teams everywhere.

After arranging all this, he came to a gorgeous carriage.

"Is everything arranged?" A woman who looked to be about 22 or 23 asked as the carriage curtain was opened.

The maids gathered outside the carriage and put down a few tables.

There were more than ten food utensils placed on the table.

Seven servants stood in a row, each holding bottles, bowls, jugs, spoons, and teapots for their master to use at any time.

There was another person kneeling in front, holding up the first dish and passing the food in.

When camping in the wild, you have to keep it "simple". You can't be too extravagant and just make do with what you have.

"Don't worry, Princess. Everything has been arranged." Mi Huang replied with his head down.

The woman nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Mi."

The woman had a beautiful face, perhaps because she had been pampered since childhood, her skin was white and tender. At this moment, her body leaned forward slightly, and her chest seemed to be unable to contain and seemed to be about to pour out.

When it comes to the waist, the body curves are tightened in an exaggerated arc, which can be called a graceful grip.

There's something about this woman.

Perhaps she was bored, so the woman asked again, "Lord Mi has commanded his troops with great strategy, but I wonder how good are these troops?"

Mi Huang hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to tell the truth: "As the princess has seen, most of them are unusable."

The princess was silent for a while, then asked again: "Last year, the king recruited brave men from all over the country to come to the capital. Are there any who can be used?"

"There are a few." Mi Huang replied, "There is a brave young man named Shao Xun, from Qu, fifteen years old, with superb archery skills, and his sword and spear skills are also remarkable, he may be of great use."

"Whose family is this young man from?" the princess asked with interest.

"This..." Mi Huang paused and said, "Shao Xun's ancestors have been soldiers for generations."

"It turned out to be Shi Xi." The princess's expression returned to calm and she lost interest.

Shixi means soldiers' rest.

Shao Xun's status is too low.

If he was from a noble family, he could have been recruited and cultivated. What a pity.

Seeing that the princess stopped talking, Mi Huang bowed and said goodbye, then went to inspect the camp.

The night gradually darkened.

The evening breeze blew across the camp and towards the distant village.

In the dilapidated houses, ghost lights flickered and foxes and rats roamed around.

The few families who were still alive did not dare to get angry and closed their doors early to avoid getting into trouble. Luoyang, the best place in the country, was in such a state, which was pitiful and lamentable.

******
The next day, this "eye-catching" team entered Luoyang City.

The common people in the city were amused by the sight of the soldiers, old and young, even though they were already overwhelmed by life.

But if you think about it carefully, there seem to be quite a few old people and children among the troops stationed inside and outside the city, but they are not as concentrated as this one in front of you.

The hereditary military system of the Jin Dynasty explicitly stipulated that military households under the age of seventeen and over the age of fifty could not be recruited.

But the law is one thing, and reality is another.

During the reign of Emperor Wu, an imperial decree was issued to order old soldiers over the age of 60 to return home. This shows that in actual implementation, the military generals did not completely follow the court's orders, they just cared about getting enough people.

Under the hereditary military service system, the son inherits the father's service. If your family is selected, you have to provide a son. Even if you have to pay someone to serve in the military, you have to get one person for me.

In fact, it was not only the Jin Dynasty. During the Wei Dynasty, Cao Zhi once submitted a memorial in which he bluntly pointed out that among the recruited soldiers, there were many children aged seven or eight, which was shocking.

But then again, Dajin has been recuperating for many years, so this kind of thing shouldn't happen again.

The people that Sikong recruited must have been the result of being turned down. It was rare to see so many old people gathered in one building.

These descendants of the Sima family are killing each other, and are physically united but spiritually divided. The common people are the ones who suffer. Alas.

The soldiers soon moved into an empty barracks.

The Luoyang Central Army originally had more than 100,000 people, which was the most elite and combat-effective force of the Jin Dynasty. Among them were not only hereditary soldiers, but also recruited soldiers, that is, professional warriors. They were well-equipped and well-trained. For many years, they had been the mainstay of intimidation for the various Hu people and even the aristocratic families.

To be honest, in that era, the Jin army's foreign war record was still acceptable. It was not because the Jin army was so strong, but because the combat effectiveness of the Hu cavalry was too poor.

More than 20 years ago, Ma Long led 3,500 infantrymen and marched more than a thousand miles to Liangzhou despite being surrounded, without supplies and cut off from news. He killed tens of thousands of Hu cavalry and left Tufa Shuji in tears.

In the face of the overwhelming grassland cavalry, the elite infantry with skilled skills and strong will are so arrogant.

But in recent years, the country has been in chaos, and the relatives of the Jin Dynasty have led their troops to fight repeatedly near Luoyang. The elite Luoyang Imperial Guards have also been divided into several factions, and they have been consumed a lot in the civil war, so many military camps have been vacated.

Shao Xun was living in the military camp at this time.

Soldiers have a system of "resting in turns", that is, they are not on duty or on the march all the time, they take turns to rest.

The rest period can be long or short, from a few months to several years. You can go home during this period, but you must return within the specified time. Violators will be treated as deserters, and not only the person himself will be guilty, but the entire family will also be punished with death. It is very harsh.

Being in Luoyang now, it is impossible for him to go home during his rest time, and the rest time will not be long. The most he can do is take turns with a few other people to guard the Sikong Mansion. Last year, the King of Donghai recruited forty hermit soldiers in his fiefdom, which was just enough to be divided into two batches for rotation.

After the newcomers entered the camp, there was a lot of noise and chaos.

Shao Xun looked at the dozen or so teenagers surrounding him and said sternly, "This has nothing to do with you. Keep learning to read."

"Yes." There were sporadic voices around, and they were answered by the dozen or so young men who were holding branches and practicing calligraphy on the ground.

Shao Xun stood up and looked at the newcomers, young and old, with some surprise.

Several sergeants and squad leaders also came over, equally stunned, and looked at Shao Xun.

"What a sin." Shao Xun sighed.

The sergeants and squad leaders all spoke up: "It is indeed a sin."

Although Shao Xun was only a squad leader and only fifteen years old, he was indeed skilled in skills and strong, so it was no problem for him to fight off several of them with weapons.

The family knows their own affairs.

Soldiers from generation to generation, it sounds nice, but in fact, they spend most of their lives farming.

Some people can't shoot arrows.

Some people only know how to use spears and not swords.

Some people don't even know the signals of the golden drums and flags.

To put it bluntly, they are just a bunch of farmers who have received military training.

Shao Xun's skills are simply outstanding among them.

Some people were puzzled and asked around, but in the end they got nothing.

It seemed as if such a brave and powerful man suddenly appeared in the Shao family of Qu County. His fighting skills were gifted by nature and made people extremely enviable.

The lower-level military camp is a very realistic place, where everyone competes to see who has the stronger fist.

Shao Xun was so brave that the other three squad leaders Zheng Gou'er, Yang Bao and Qin San did not dare to provoke him. As for what they were thinking in secret, only God knows.

When Shao Xun proposed to take a break, he took those young soldiers to learn to read. No one stopped him, but on the contrary, they were amazed - this guy can actually read?
At this time, some people had already suspected that the ancestors of the Shao family in Qu County were from a poor family and became military households after their family fell into poverty?

You know what, this argument still has a market and many people believe it.

Shao Xun didn't bother to care what they thought and just stared at the new group of people.

More than a hundred children, most of them are from Donghai Township...

"Be friends with time." This is an interesting sentence that suddenly popped up in his mind.

(End of this chapter)