Chapter 23 Step by step

Chapter 23 Step by step

Chapter 23 Step by step
It was raining heavily in the sky, and inside the Biyong Pavilion, there was a drizzle.

This was considered a key institution of the Jin Dynasty, yet it was in such a dilapidated state, just like the entire Jin Dynasty, which was riddled with holes.

Food and military supplies were piled up in several relatively intact houses. After Mi Huang personally checked them, he came to the corridor and looked at the dark sky, feeling bad.

"The day before yesterday, several Yamen troops stationed in Henei County defected and surrendered to Ye." It was hard to tell whether Mi Huang's expression was crying or laughing.

"How many people are there?" Shao Xun asked.

"No less than 10,000 people."

"Elite or weak soldiers?"

“I think I can fight.”

Now both of them were silent.

In fact, this is what Shao Xun has always been worried about.

During the reign of Sima Lun, the King of Zhao, the imperial guards fought against each other. Last time, they all stood aside and watched, but can you guarantee that they will do the same this time?
After the King of Changsha came to power, his first task was to reorganize the Imperial Guard. He made big moves, and at one point he personally served as the Northern Army Lieutenant, wanting to completely control the Seven Guards and the Yamen Army, which really scared a lot of people.

But the Luoyang Central Army system had existed for so many years and had become an independent entity. How could it be so easy to change? As a result, the imperial guards, who had been flirting with the two kings of Chengdu and Hejian and had relatively good combat power, were actually split.

The more than 10,000 people who surrendered this time were most likely not the only ones, and the situation could be said to be quite serious.

"This is really discouraging." Shao Xun said with a wry smile: "In this case, the Grand Commander (Sima Yi) may have no choice but to shrink the battle line and retreat to Luoyang to defend it."

"Thank you for the trouble." Mi Huang nodded in agreement.

If Sima Yi no longer trusted the troops stationed outside, he could only order them to retreat to the vicinity of Luoyang and keep all the armies under his nose and under strict supervision.

But shrinking the front line is not without consequences.

First of all, it will hurt morale.

How will others view you if you retreat before the battle? This is actually very fatal when the enemy outnumbers you.

In particular, many scholars do not understand military affairs. They only judge the strength of the army based on the number of troops, and do not consider things like the quality of the soldiers, the level of equipment, and the degree of eliteness at all.

Three thousand people are fewer than thirty thousand, but sometimes three thousand elite soldiers can beat up a mob of thirty thousand, and it is not surprising to capture and kill ten thousand or twenty thousand people.

Therefore, it is very foolish to judge the strength of each party simply by the number of troops.

But the battle lines don’t lie…

There is something wrong with your retreat. Are you afraid? Are you really unable to win?
The second negative impact is that it will lead to the loss of a large number of outlying strongholds.

These strongholds are not insignificant, some are very critical, such as transportation nodes, water sources, material warehouses and even pastures.

After losing these places, it is unknown how long Luoyang, an isolated city, can last.

Both of the above are very realistic difficulties.

Although Mi Huang was not very knowledgeable about military affairs, he was able to figure it out. Shao Xun was extremely familiar with marching and fighting, so he could see it even more clearly.

It's a bit difficult to do.

"Why think so much! Just take it one day at a time." Mi Huang suddenly stamped his feet heavily and prepared to leave. Before leaving, he turned his head and said, "I have already petitioned the Minister of Works to recruit more than a thousand people from the people on Kaiyangmen Street. It won't be a problem to build walls and fortifications. If there is a shortage of materials, you can just demolish the houses yourself."

"Yes." Shao Xun replied.

He felt more and more that Mi Huang was a good person.

He spoke politely, unlike other scholars who looked down on him.

He is a very honest person. He won't play tricks on you. He just says things as they are.

His military ability is indeed weak, and he doesn't often stay in the barracks, but if you have any problems, he will do his best to solve them after he knows about them. As the saying goes, one should do his job well in his position, and he will do his best to take responsibility for every day he is in the position of the leader.

Such people are very good.

"After the outer walls and the building are repaired, you can discuss with Yang Bao whether to release the people or not." Mi Huang took two steps and added.

The so-called thousands of common people are the real common people, or in human terms, ordinary people without power or influence.

As for the children and families of the rich and powerful, not many of them stayed in Luoyang at this time, and they all fled to the suburbs for refuge. Some even went very far, taking their followers and servants with them, and fled to the mountains in the south around Xincheng and Luhun.

Those who really cannot leave try to move into the inner city, or several or even dozens of families live together to help each other.

That's what war is like.

When the rebel army comes, no one is nobler than anyone else, and even the wealthy and powerful are more likely to become targets of looting.

******
The rest of the month flew by.

After entering August, the news became more and more tense.

Almost every day, troops were moved out of the city, and some troops, covered in dust, were withdrawn.

I haven't seen Concubine Pei for a long time. In recent days, only one official from the palace came to convey some news: Actually, there is nothing special, just to stay calm and be patient.

Shao Xun took the opportunity to ask for a large number of arrows, medicines, equipment, food, cloth and other supplies, and even a lot of pens, ink, paper and inkstone.

He continued to teach the children and teenagers step by step, telling them not to worry about outside things and to concentrate on their studies.

Of course, training is also essential.

Today, everyone is practicing archery. Before, Shao Xun had been thinking about how to train soldiers.

In this era, spearmen were spearmen, and they had few skills other than stabbing people with their spears. Sword and shield soldiers were sword and shield soldiers, and even archers and crossbowmen had their own special units - this was called a "pure unit".

However, the military level continued to develop with the times. By the Tang Dynasty, the requirements were very high and all soldiers had to be able to shoot arrows.

The spear, bow and saber are everyone's standard weapons, which means that at the very least you have to be proficient in three skills, namely sword, spear and bow.

In fact, there are far more than that. A standard battalion also has weapons such as long-handled axes, hook-and-sickle spears (for fighting cavalry), wooden clubs, crossbows, heavy swords, and Mo Dao, which are distributed to some soldiers.

After the Jin army's crossbowmen have finished shooting, that's it. There's nothing for you to do.

After the Tang army crossbowmen finished shooting, they would take up their Mo Dao and fight in close combat.

This is called "flower team".

If soldiers are scored, pure team soldiers will score lower, while flower team soldiers will score higher, because they have more skills, are more adaptable to complex and changing battlefields, can use weapons as soon as they pick them up, and officers can use more tactics.

But the problem is that the training cost of the flower team is too high, and they can only be conscripted soldiers who eat food. Traditional soldiers who work in the fields have to do farm work and cannot leave their jobs, so they can't do this.

This is a real and difficult problem that involves military reform.

In the upcoming battle to defend Luoyang, it is obvious that the advantages of the Hua team's soldiers have been infinitely magnified.

The more complex the environment, the more it tests the soldiers' comprehensiveness and individual combat capabilities.

Shao Xun thought about it and realized that given the level of the people under his command, it would be too late for them to learn to use knives, swords, guns, axes, lances, and bows. So he could only be realistic and learn the most important thing first: archery.

"There are only about thirty people who can shoot arrows." On the temporary fighting field, Shao Xun looked at the soldiers who were practicing archery repeatedly and ordered: "Form them into a separate team, and let Li Zhong be the team leader."

"Yes." Li Zhong, who was following beside him, responded immediately.

"Pick four other tall and brave men, come to me and listen to my orders, and then -" At this point, Shao Xun looked at Chen Yougen and said, "You will be in charge, and you will be the squad leader. During the fight, if there are any cowards who are afraid of fighting, they will be killed immediately."

"Yes." Chen Yougen said excitedly.

"Let's use the newly made heavy sword." Shao Xun added.

He prefers to use the heavy sword - or long sword - a two-handed weapon.

This weapon evolved from the Mo Dao in the Tang Dynasty and was very popular in the late Tang Dynasty. Each town had a two-handed heavy sword unit, such as the Black Cloud Long Sword Army, the Left and Right Long Sword Army, etc., which were generally elite troops.

Those who are good at using heavy swords are very famous, such as Zhang Shenjian of Huainan, Shao Shenjian of Wei Bo, etc. People have even forgotten their original names.

The heavy sword abandoned defense, and moved wildly, exchanging injuries for injuries, fighting for life. Facing the enemy's spear formation, he swung the heavy sword and killed them.

This is a weapon very suitable for desperadoes.

When in Pan Garden, Shao Xun personally instructed the blacksmith to make a two-handed heavy sword.

When Chen Yougen saw it, he liked it very much, so he made two more swords and carried them with him as backup - it is normal for the blade of a weapon to bend during battle, so it is best to be able to replace it at any time.

After arriving in Luoyang, Mi Huang asked a blacksmith to make ten more swords.

Shao Xun planned to let Chen Yougen take four tall and sturdy men with extraordinary physical strength as his personal soldiers to supervise the war. They would be given a set of iron armor, a crossbow, and a heavy sword, and follow him all day long - Du Bo, originally meant "chief supervisor of the war".

"The other three teams, take time out every day to practice the bow." Shao Xun continued to instruct: "I will teach you personally. Remember, you are recruiting soldiers. It is understandable that the soldiers have to do farm work all day long and don't know a few skills, but recruiting soldiers cannot be so lax and must be worthy of their own food and wages."

"Yes." Huang Biao, Zhou Ying and Zhong Huaner responded at the same time.

"Training soldiers for war, after all, training soldiers is the key." Shao Xun said, "There are always people who pull a group of young men from the fields and hope to win by clever strategies. This is pure gambling. Everyone, even if you have to fight in the battlefield tomorrow, you must train well today. Take a short rest, and after two incense sticks, we will continue to practice archery."

While everyone was resting, Shao Xun came to the children and teenagers from teams one, two and three.

They practiced yesterday and today they mainly studied cultural knowledge.

Seeing Du Bo coming, the young men bowed to him.

"No need to be so polite, just study hard." Shao Xun said gently.

His attitude towards these children was relatively good, although he would whip them during training.

These are the people the refugee army lacks.

Without reserve cadres, you cannot govern the local areas. If you cannot govern the local areas, you cannot gain a foothold in the long run.

There is only one time traveler, so even if he has any good ideas, he still needs someone to execute them.

A reserve cadre team that suits one's own wishes is the main reason why the time traveler's will can be effectively implemented.

There are several new instructors in the camp.

With the war approaching, prices are soaring and many people are left without food and clothing, especially those ordinary scholars with no power or influence - mainly businessmen or children of local tycoons.

Due to various reasons, they were temporarily unable to return to their hometown. In order to make a living, they accepted the offer and came to Biyong to teach young people to read and write.

This makes Shao Xun's daily time more abundant.

Most of the time now he only teaches arithmetic and martial arts, and occasionally teaches "Thousand Character Classic", but he will be deeply involved in the daily management of the teenagers, and Wu Qian is his agent.

There is nothing to be ashamed of, these young people are his greatest asset. If he has the opportunity in the future, he will open a school near the garrison and serve as the principal himself, so as to "produce" batches of officer seeds and reserve cadres.

The aristocratic families do have a monopoly on education, and that is precisely why you need to break it.

Without a group of talented people outside of the aristocratic families, what else can you do except rely on them?
(End of this chapter)