Qin Official

Together with the county magistrate and county magistrate, Heifu did not neglect his own job: training soldiers while advising the county to promote public toilets in Jiangling and other cities.

In late July, in the southern suburbs of Anlu City, golden drums were ringing continuously. Heifu and others stood on the city wall and looked down. They saw thousands of soldiers from different villages and pavilions on the wide field, divided into several groups. , or practice formation, or practice flags and drums, according to the sound of the golden drum, or advance or stop, or fight or retreat, it looks stylish...

Looking at this scene, Ji Ying, who was responsible for delivering orders to Heifu, sighed with emotion: "I couldn't help but think of the scene of training with the county lieutenant in the watch three years ago. Now, the county lieutenant has trained and commanded thousands of people. It's like a dream." !”

"Everyone is a recruit."

Heifu smiled: "I am no exception. I learned it step by step. When I watch the soldiers, I learn to be a good person. When I am a garrison commander, I learn to be a hundred generals. When I am a hundred generals, I learn to be the five hundred masters... "

Travelers also need to keep learning. Heifu has experienced more than a year of military career. He humbly learned the methods of training and managing troops from Yang Xiong and Li You, and now they are putting them to use.

It talks more about strategies and tactics, but is more detailed in training. Heifu was lucky enough to borrow this book from Li You, and spent half a year copying it, and now he is familiar with it.

In a chapter, it specifically discusses issues such as marching, combat, training, formation, and command.

Soldiers often died in battles due to lack of skills and unfamiliarity with tactics. Therefore, when it comes to using military force, training comes first. Once one person learns the skill of fighting, he can teach it to ten people. If ten people learn it, they can teach it to a hundred people. If a hundred people learn it, they can teach a thousand people. If a thousand people learn it, it can teach ten thousand people. If ten thousand people learn it, it can be taught to the whole army.

Applying this to the establishment of the Qin army, it is: "If the corps commanders are taught well, they will be united to become leaders. If the commanders are taught to be united, they will be united with the garrison commanders. If the garrison leaders are united with the garrison leaders, they will be united in leadership."

When finalizing the candidates for recruitment, Heifu gave priority to those who had served in counties and counties, plus young people who had served as guardsmen. These people were all considered reserve forces, and at least they were familiar with forward and backward movements.

In early July, they also completed the basic organization in their respective pavilions and li's. Each li had five to ten people, organized into shiwu, with Wu Lao or Li Zheng as the leader and wu leader. Every two pavilions are organized into a village, and the chief of the pavilion serves as the village chief.

This is also in line with the principle in the Art of War that "compared with the countryside, even more troops can protect each other". The officials can know the soldiers, and the soldiers trust each other and are familiar with each other, so it is easy to unite.

After these people gathered in the county town, they were stationed in separate camps, and Heifu organized them into a larger organization: Qu.

…

"Five hundred people from Zhenshui Township and Yunmeng Township are called Houqu, led by Wei Shi Lixian!"

"Five hundred people from the county seat and Beijiao Township are Qianqu, led by Dongmen Bao from Beijiao Township!"

Dongmen Leopard is not always on duty, and he is the head of the military officials in the township. In the past six months, he has gained considerable prestige in the county and Beijiao Township. It is in line with the rules to regard him as the leader of the five hundred.

And because of his contribution to the capture of Yun Man and Li Ping last time, Li Xian was promoted from a hairpin to a non-changer by the county, and he was also qualified to be the Lord of Five Hundred.

After the order was promulgated, everyone congratulated the two men. Li Xian accepted everyone's congratulations with a smile and was confident that he would do well in this position. But after the incident, Dongmen Bao came to Hei Fu worriedly and bowed down without saying a word:

"I am a rough man. When fighting, I only know how to rush forward. I don't know how to train and lead troops. I am afraid that I will not be able to be a leader of five hundred and let the county captain down..."

This guy is self-aware. Dongmen Leopard is an expert at charging into battle, and his ability in training troops is truly unknown.

But Heifu had his own plans in mind.

"Are you willing to be a little general forever? Listening to the command of Xiao Tao or Li Xian? You are not changing your rank now, and you are quite admired by everyone in the county and Beijiao Township. If so, not only will the soldiers complain about you, I think You don’t want to give in either.”

"Or, let you be my short-term general? A short-term soldier must not be even half a step away from a general. If you stay beside me all the time and watch others charge into battle, you will not be able to rest at ease, and your strengths will also be buried. ”

Having said this, Dongmen Bao also found that he could not do these two positions. At this time, Heifu patted him on the shoulder again and said:

"Ah Bao, you are superb in martial arts and brave in battle. Although Qin's law stipulates that officials and above are not allowed to join the battle and behead people, but the five hundred masters also have to take the lead when the war is critical. Just look at my flag and listen to my orders. , when I ask you to stand by, don’t move even half a step; when I ask you to charge, wave the flag and march forward for me!”

Although Dongmen Bao had no enterprising ambitions before, after being stimulated by Heifu with his ambition to become a prince, he began to pick up his martial arts skills again, and coyly asked him about military training and management. At the moment, he just lacked confidence, not He had no ability to change, but when he was encouraged by Heifu, his brain became hot and he happily agreed!

Heifu divided the two five hundred men into the front song and the back song. Dongmen Leopard led the forward, while Li Xian was used as the reserve team. In this way, the different personalities of the two could be fully utilized.

In order to make Dongmen Bao feel at ease, Heifu also asked Xiao Tao, his commander-in-chief, to take a hundred county soldiers as personal guards to assist in his training.

This method is really effective. The county soldiers are a standing army, well-trained, and they all know the golden drum, the flag, and the advance and retreat at dawn. After training with soldiers from various pavilions and li, within five days, I became familiar with the formation again.

The changes in the formation of the army in this era were still "round and square, sitting and standing, walking and stopping, left and right, front and back, dividing and joining, and untying knots." Heifu did these. When he was in the army, he would almost vomit from practicing.

After that, there is the more complicated golden drum flag. Fortunately, everyone has served one or two times and has a foundation. It only took ten days for them to become familiar with the drums of Bu, Chu, Qian, Jiang, Shuai, and Bo. The low flag means rushing, and the continuous attack means fighting hard. They look a bit like an army...

"Wu Ziyan said that he learned every change and taught his troops."

It was not until the end of July that Heifu opened the county arsenal and distributed weapons to everyone.

It is said in the Art of War: "In order to teach war, the younger ones hold spears and halberds, and the older ones hold bows and crossbows."

Heifu asked the commanders of each camp to distribute weapons to the soldiers according to their physical fitness. However, the proportion of the five soldiers must be reasonable to meet different tactical needs. So among the five hundred people, there were 500 soldiers with guns, halberds, spears, and swords. There are a hundred people each with shields and bows and crossbows.

He also said: "The strong hold the banner, the brave hold the golden drum, the weak support him, and the wise make plans." So Heifu also completed the final recruitment, and in addition to the first and last two songs, he completed his middle song. military.

Although the number of Chinese troops was small, their types were very complex. Ji Ying, as the herald, led ten people to communicate with the front, middle and rear parts. Yu Shuo, the stable officer of Jiushui Township, was the cavalry officer, and he led ten cavalrymen to serve as sentinels.

If the two songs before and after are the hands, then the messengers and scouts are the mouthpieces and eyes of Heifu.

The soldier "M" who once served as a watchman with Hei Fu was a tall man. Hei Fu asked him and several equally tall and strong soldiers to help him hold the flag, and ten people were responsible for the drum chariot. This was considered "the strong man holds the flag." The flag, the brave man holds the golden drum.”

Shi Shi, a county engineer who had dealt with Heifu, was drafted into the army. Heifu asked him to take a hundred merchants and craftsmen to manage ordnance, grain, bedding and other supplies. Bu Cheng, who was skilled in medical skills, brought ten people as medical and first aid personnel. This was regarded as "supporting the weak".

In addition, beside Heifu, there was Le, the warden, as the military judge, and Quji, a public servant from Chaoyangli, as his assistant. This can also be regarded as "the wise man is the mastermind".

In this way, everyone practiced with weapons for another five days. Heifu ordered the military officers of each department to conduct the first joint training of thousands of people!

…

On the fifth day of August, just before the autumn harvest, at the invitation of Heifu, the county magistrate, the county magistrate and all the officials in the city came to watch on the south wall of the city.

The public fields near the county seat are already golden, and the harvest will be ready in a few days. But outside the gently rolling moat, in the open space on the outskirts of the city surrounded by rice fields, more than a thousand soldiers stood in two parts, kneeling on the ground, waiting quietly. The order was given.

On the top of the city, the one hundred short-soldier guards led by Xiao Tao also put on new clothes. A group of sword and shield soldiers carried skinned shields and wiped their swords until they shined; a group of bow and crossbow soldiers also carried The crossbow machine seemed ready to shoot at the enemy at any time. There were ten strong men, including male and female, standing around Hei Fu holding flags. The flags were fluttering in the wind, but the ten men stood motionless.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Heifu personally beat the big drum at the top of the city!

As the first drum beat sounded, the soldiers began to line up again and spread out to the left and right, forming a battle formation.

After the second drum beat, the soldiers in the front row held swords and shields, and the back row held spears and halberds. They listened to the orders of Dongmen Leopard and Li Xian. When they heard the drum, they advanced, when the drum was heavy, they struck, when the drum was heavy, they stopped, and when the drum was heavy, they retreated. Time's swords and shields are like mountains, and swords and spears are like forests, which is spectacular. And from the top of the city, the whole place is also in order.

The third and fourth drums had passed, and there was a hint of sweat on the foreheads of the soldiers, but they still quickly regrouped. As Heifu's fifth drum beat, they began to line up in military formation, walking neatly under the city one after another, and even turned their heads to the top of the city and shouted loudly:

"Qin will win!"

The shouts of thousands of people shook the sky and made people's scalp numb.

The Qin army must win! This is also the idea that Heifu has been instilling in them every day for the past month.

When the county magistrate Yong He and others saw this, they were full of praise: "One drum to organize the troops, two drums to learn Chen Chen, three drums to attract food, four drums to argue strictly, five drums will do. Hear the sound of the drums, and then raise the flag. The county captain The order of the trained soldiers has already caught up with the county soldiers..."

During this month, everyone saw Heifu's hard work. He didn't even go back to his home near the county seat a few times. He lived in the barracks all day, and visited the camp every other day, talking to the soldiers in detail, and Take care of their food and clothing.

The military officials are all his close confidants, like armies, and the soldiers are all children of the county and know everything about him. In the past few years, Heifu's various deeds have made them famous, and Heifu himself is a typical example of jumping over the dragon gate because of his military exploits. Those soldiers who were aspiring to meritorious service regarded him as a role model, and were encouraged by Heifu to arrange for Ji Ying to accept " Influenced by the propaganda that the Qin army will surely win, people were very enthusiastic about the war.

However, Heifu just said humbly: "You sweat more in peacetime and bleed less in war, that's all."

Yong He nodded: "I heard that the county captain asked soldiers from all counties to assemble in Yancheng before the end of August. The county captain can train for more than ten days..."

"Not that much time."

Heifu smiled and said: "I plan to let the soldiers practice together once a day. By the tenth day of August, I plan to let them disband..."

"Disband!?"

The county magistrate Yong He was shocked: "The army is about to set off, why should we disband?"

Heifu said: "I talked with the soldiers during my inspection and found that they are most worried about two things at the moment. The first is that they have been away from home for more than a month and will go north to join the war. I am afraid it will take a year and a half before they can return. They are a little reluctant to leave, and they don't have winter clothes. , summer clothes are not ready yet. Secondly, the autumn harvest is around the corner. Without them at home, the autumn harvest will be delayed a lot."

"Therefore, I decided that on the tenth day of August, the entire army would be broken into pieces, and the village commanders, chiefs, and corps commanders would take everyone back to their hometowns to participate in the autumn harvest. This would last for seven days. When the pounding begins on August 18, Regroup here!"

Yong He and the county magistrate looked at each other. Although Hei Fu had the final say in military matters, they still had doubts: "The county captain... what should we do if the soldiers never return?"

Heifu smiled: "Kill."

"Military law is based on the number of troops protecting each other and the village. If one person does not return, the commander and the commander of the corps will be guilty of the same crime. If one is late, the commander of the camp will die. Those who run away will have their whole family become prisoners and serve as concubines. It's a shame! I will tell everyone about this in advance: I can love the other people like a child, but they must also fear my axe!"

"Hesitation is the greatest harm in using troops, and the disaster for the three armies is born from suspicion. I do this to let the soldiers know that I trust them, so that they can say goodbye to their families, and I also hope that they will not betray me. If they betray me, so What's the use of bringing your soldiers to the battlefield? At the critical moment, they will become black sheep, so it's better to kill them..."

Heifu held his sword and looked at the soldiers, and suddenly he had the demeanor of a general:

"The county lieutenant asked me to train elite soldiers. Only when a thousand people are united and happy after hearing the battle can they become elite soldiers! Only then can I do it!"