Qin Official

None of the leaders and five hundred commanders stationed in Yangcheng expected that Captain Li You would conduct a camp inspection just after arriving at the military camp.

"The captain patrols the camp! The captain patrols the camp!"

A slow drumbeat was beaten and messengers arrived at each camp to deliver the news, causing a flurry of excitement.

Then, surrounded by his subordinates, Captain Li You walked out of the camp and began to patrol the huge camp in clockwise order.

Li You is not too old, only 28 or 29 years old. He wears long clothes, leather armor, a flower knot on his chest, and pointed shoes. He wears a crown on his head, has a long face and a short beard. Although he is a military officer, his demeanor is graceful and elegant.

As the son of Tingwei Li Si, he received a good family education and could be said to be both civil and military. He entered Xianyang Palace as a Lang Guard at the age of seventeen. A few years later, he was promoted to Lang Guan and began to serve in the army.

What is strange is that although Li You is not young, he has not formally married a wife for a long time, and he does not know what he is waiting for. It wasn't until last year that he was able to marry the eldest princess of Qin, and a grand wedding was held at Li Si's mansion, that everyone suddenly realized.

The general that King Qin liked to promote the most was Li Xin, but the most important minister he used was Li Si. Even the Prime Minister Wei Zhuang could not compare with him in this regard.

Everyone sighed with emotion, saying that Li Youzhen had a good father.

After becoming the good son-in-law of the King of Qin, Li You, the fifth official, seemed to have a bright future. Sure enough, when the new war came, he was also appointed as a captain and accompanied Li Xin on the expedition.

But looking at the camp in front of him, Li You was not happy at all. Every family had its own troubles, and he also had his own troubles.

Compared to the elite troops from Guanzhong commanded by General Li Xin himself and the troops from Shandong counties under General Meng Tian, ​​the troops from Nanjun were really a useless force with doubtful combat effectiveness.

Li Xin gave Li You such a weak brigade for a very good reason: Li You was originally from Shangcai, Chu State, and he can still speak the Jingchu dialect of Shangcai fluently, so it was just right to give him a group of soldiers from his hometown of Chu State. Convenient for command and control. When the time comes, they can follow the army and use the language advantage to station themselves in various places. There is no need to fight a tough battle.

Although in Li Xin's view, this was to take care of Li You, so that he did not have to risk his own life.

But in Li You's view, his status as the son-in-law of King Qin not only did not allow him to receive preferential treatment, but was deliberately shown to be fair and became a victim. Seeing that Li Xin and Meng Tian, ​​who were both born in Lang Wei, were appointed as generals and deputy generals respectively, He felt a little unwilling in his heart.

But there is no room for complaining, let alone using the father's authority to adjust appointments for oneself. When Li Xin set out from Xianyang, the King of Qin personally gave him an ax and axe, and authorized him: "The left, right, and central armies all have assigned duties. Anyone who exceeds the assigned limit and asks for help will die. The army does not have two orders, and those who have two orders will be executed. Those who keep orders will be punished, and those who fail to command will be punished!"

No matter what your background is, the general has the power to kill a captain who reports beyond his level or is dissatisfied with an appointment.

Li You could only take his own bodyguard of 500 short soldiers, separate from Li Xin and Meng Tian in Yangzhai, and rush to Yangcheng, hoping to use the remaining time to master this army as soon as possible before the scheduled start of the war at the end of September. .

As soon as he got off the military chariot, Li You beat the drums to invite the commander and the five hundred masters to gather. He spoke kindly, and everyone communicated in Jingchu dialect, which invisibly shortened the distance between him and the soldiers.

Then, there was a turbulent patrol. Li You had to know what kind of army this was, and he also wanted to let the soldiers know who their captain was! The soldiers don't know the generals, and the generals don't know the soldiers. This is a big taboo in battle!

However, just from the simple camp layout in front of him, Li You could tell that the quality of these Nanjun soldiers was far inferior to the elite in Guanzhong...

The Qin army's camp had its own system, especially the permanent camp where it was stationed for a long time. It must be surrounded by an eight-foot-high wooden wall. An army of 5,000 men is also divided into the central camp and the left, right, front, and rear commanders. Each camp has its own camp. Each camp has a boundary trench dug around trees, and a clear prohibition has been issued. It is not the same as the "leaders". "People are not allowed to enter other camps. If soldiers from other commanders enter without authorization, the commander should punish them and make them sit down together with hundreds of generals or even ten soldiers. Otherwise, they will be punished with the same crime.

As for the roads in the camp, there are sentries set up every 120 steps to restrict pedestrian movement and ensure smooth traffic. No one is allowed to pass unless they hold a general's talisman!

In addition to strictly guarding against spies, this also has an important role, that is, starting from daily life, the soldiers will learn to obey orders, learn to follow orders and prohibitions, and get rid of all the laziness and laxity they had when they were leaders of Guizhou!

However, the Nanjun soldiers' camp was not done well enough. The ravines in the camp were diagonal, and the barracks were staggered according to the terrain. But in Li You's eyes, the trenches between different camps were dug hastily, the distance between sentries was too long, and the defense was lax. Those who went out to collect firewood and herd horses also came and went in twos and threes and did not move in a group.

Even when he was patrolling, he had already beaten drums to warn and had sent messengers to each camp to deliver messages, but there were still people walking carelessly on the road between camps! Making loud noises while walking.

Li You was not polite to such a person. He nodded, and the short-soldier guards following him immediately stepped forward and captured him! Then he escorted the two men to the gate of a camp and loudly announced: "When the general enters the camp, he will close the door and clear the way. Anyone who dares to do it will be punished, anyone who dares to speak loudly will be punished, and anyone who dares to disobey orders will be punished!"

As soon as he finished speaking, in front of the leaders behind him, the five hundred masters, and everyone in the camp who asked who had left the tent, the two unlucky soldiers who had returned from collecting firewood were pinned to the wooden stakes and guarded by short soldiers. He raised his copper ax and chopped off his head! Then it was hung high above the gate!

"The system in the army is that if there are five people in a group, the five will protect each other; if there are ten people in the group, they will protect each other. The corps commander, chief commander, camp commander, and hundred generals where these two people are located will all be flogged twenty times!"

The four people immediately came out of the queue, obediently took off their clothes, and were beaten on the shoulders and backs with rattan sticks made of bamboo strips. The sound was heard again and again.

As a result, no one of the Nanjun soldiers who had become accustomed to being loose in the past two months dared to ignore the ban, and they were all speechless.

Li You just watched the execution expressionlessly. The amiable boss who had previously talked enthusiastically with his leaders suddenly turned into a cold-faced captain. This is how the general's authority was initially established.

Li You studied civil and military affairs since he was a child, and was deeply influenced by the Legalist thinking advocated by his father. He also infiltrated this thinking into military management.

An embankment measuring a foot long will burst with the holes of ants; a room a hundred feet tall will be burned with a burst of fire.

Military regulations and disciplines are often corrupted starting from small things. Once they are corrupted, the general will not be able to enforce orders and prohibitions on the soldiers, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

After the execution was completed, Li Youye left the main road in the camp, walked into the small camp, and began to patrol inside the camp with one hundred people and one base.

When walking on the road, I couldn't see much difference, but when I entered the interior and looked all the way, Li You's face became more solemn, because none of the soldiers in the camp satisfied him.

The soldiers all ran out of their tents in a hurry after learning that the captain was coming. They looked a little messy. They stood on the roadside and looked at the new captain with curiosity and anxiety, although they did not dare to whisper to each other. , but there is a lot of eye contact.

After going down several camps, Li You finally understood what was the difference between this Nanjun army and the powerful Guanzhong army he had led before.

Not only the strict military discipline, not only the quality of the soldiers themselves, but also the overall morale!

The Nanjun soldiers were recruited in the battle to destroy Wei. Now they have been away from home for nearly a year. They had already taken steps to go home, but they were informed that the garrison period was extended and there was still another war. This is what everyone will feel. Dissatisfied. Therefore, the Nanjun soldiers were somewhat disorganized and demoralized, and they were not very enthusiastic about this war.

Li You could understand, but he couldn't let them relax like this.

"The art of war states that if the general is light, the base is low, and the masses are mobile, it can be attacked. With such an army in the camp, I am afraid that they will be defeated by the Chu army in one blow, let alone encounter the enemy in the field."

Before Li You set off, his father told him that he only had to make no mistakes in this battle and be careful in everything, but now it seems that with such an army whose morale has been low before the war started, it is difficult to even make no mistakes.

Thinking like this, Li You had almost walked down the entire camp, but when he stepped into the last camp, his eyes lit up!

One hundred soldiers were lined up here early. Although they were different in height, fat and thin, Li You felt that they were uniform at a glance.

Hundreds of people stood in ten rows and ten columns in the open space in front of the camp. Without exception, the people in the first two rows were all wearing armor. Although the colors, textures, and lengths of the clothes inside were different, they seemed to be a whole. The people in the back row also held swords and spears, held their heads high, and stood upright with their feet together!

Seeing Li You and others coming to the camp gate, a hundred generals wearing a single-plate long crown immediately came out of the queue, trotted to Li You, bowed to him, and loudly reported: "The 700th leader of the left, all One hundred and three people are here, waiting for the captain to inspect the camp!"

"We are waiting for the captain's inspection of the camp!" Everyone also bowed, and Dongmen Bao, Ji Ying and others who used to be sloppy now became honest.

Li You saw that the hundred generals had dark faces, but tall and straight figures, and were well mannered. Then he saw that the hundred soldiers behind him were well-organized and had high morale. The depression of patrolling the camp in the morning was suddenly swept away. He nodded and looked to the side. The leader of the crowd and the leader of the five hundred asked: "Whose subordinate is this?"

"He is under the command of a subordinate!"

The leader of the Five Hundreds, Cheng Wuyou, quickly came out, pointed at the Hundred Generals and said, "This Hundreds General is called Heifu!"

"Heifu Baijiang, your soldiers are arrayed in an orderly manner."

Li You just praised him, but he didn't look at the door and leave like he did in the previous camp. Instead, he stepped into the camp and glanced left and right.

He found that the camp was very neatly built, with deep enough ravines, compacted and smooth dirt roads, and no larger stones. The potholes had also been filled in, and the toilets were more than ten steps away from the camp...

"The camp was set up well." Li You looked at the little general again and asked him, "Where did you learn it?"

"I learned it from Master Cheng Wubai." Heifu was very good at life, which he attributed to his superior.

Li You smiled and disagreed. Could it be that he didn't know clearly that Cheng Wuyou was a rough man. The four hundred generals under his command were all in a mess, so they couldn't camp far away like this.

After looking around, he was very satisfied, but when he passed by the open tent, he seemed to see something. He immediately stopped and asked the soldiers to open the gray tent.

When he first took a look inside, Li You said "Huh" and made a surprised sound, which made the leaders and five hundred masters outside look at each other, wondering what was going on inside. Only Hei Fu smiled. Be confident.

Li You was really shocked.

When the captain patrolled the camp, the formation was orderly and the camp was well-organized. Li You had seen many similar armies in Guanzhong.

But the beddings in the tent were all neatly folded on their respective couches. This was the first time Li You had seen them since he was born!