February 20, 259 BC.

On a plain about ten miles away from the south gate of Handan City, a new camp was built half a month ago. This is one of the two new troops newly established by Zhao State, the base camp of the Northern Army.

At noon that day, Zhao Dan's carriage, under the escort of thousands of palace guards, drove into the Northern Army camp in a crowd.

As soon as he entered the gate, Zhao Dan saw Le Cheng, the commander of the Northern Army who arrived after hearing the news.

Le Cheng bowed to Zhao Dan: "I've seen the king."

Zhao Dan glanced at Le Cheng and found that there were a few beads of sweat on the general's face. He couldn't help but smile and said, "General Le Cheng looks very busy."

Le Cheng felt a little Hao Ran and smiled apologized: "I didn't know that the king was coming, so I was unprepared, so I made the king laugh."

Zhao Dan waved his hand, jumped out of the car, and said to Le Cheng: "I am just thinking about it today. Come on, let's take me around to take a look."

Le Cheng did not dare to be negligent and hurriedly led the way for Zhao Dan in front.

Since the rainy season just passed and there was just a light rain in Handan City in the morning, the roads in the military camp were somewhat muddy and difficult to walk on at this moment.

Le Cheng pulled out his boots from the mud with some difficulty, looked back with some anxiety, and found that although Zhao Dan behind him was also deep and shallow, there was no anger on his face. Then he felt relieved and decided that tomorrow he would let someone level the road in the camp.

Zhao Dan did not think as much as Le Cheng thought, but looked at the surrounding scene with interest while walking.

Although this camp has just been built and looks a bit simple, the camp buildings and other buildings in the camp are quite regular and orderly, and organized, which makes Zhao Dan nodded secretly.

To see if a general will lead troops, you only need to go to his camp to see it.

Zhao Dan walked along the way and found that many soldiers were practicing under the leadership of their respective officers.

Although there was no formation in this era, it did not mean that Zhao Jun was indifferent to these things. On the contrary, Zhao Dan discovered along the way that the main exercise in the camp was collective cooperation.

Just in front of Zhao Dan, a Zhao army was in training.

In a wide school ground, hundreds of Zhao soldiers wearing armored, crossbows and swords were arranged in a series and slowly advanced in a marching posture.

Suddenly in the center of the army, a 2500-year-old Zhao army, who was about 40 years old, shouted: "I met the enemy in front of me, and the enemy was a thousand steps away, and the archer was outward!"

With the order of the 2500 Lord, the Zhao army's marching formation immediately changed, and the left and right wings spread out at the same time, from the original character "1" to a character "man" after just a few dozen breaths, and then it became the character "1".

Just as the queue was fully unfolded, the Lord of Two or Five Hundred issued another order: "The enemy distance is 600, the archer is in the string!"

After the Zhao army was ordered, the soldiers took off the powerful crossbows they carried from behind. The powerful crossbows were about one arm long and needed to be trampled with the power of their feet. The crossbow string was pulled to the crossbow teeth at the crossbow. Only after completing the entire stringing action was completed. This is the so-called "slashing crossbow".

Amid a harsh sound of mechanical skulls, many soldiers of Zhao completed the winding movement, raised the powerful crossbow in their hands and placed it in front of their right arm, and aimed the front with the assistance of Wangshan on the crossbow machine.

The Lord of Two or Five Hundred issued another order: "The enemy's distance is five hundred, shoot!"

Just as the two or five hundred commanders gave the order, the Zhao army archers pressed the dialing machine on the crossbow.

"Swoosh swish swish!"

Hundreds of crossbow arrows were fired out instantly, covering the front of Zhao army.

The order continues.

"One shot, two wind the string!"

The Zhao soldiers who had just completed a launch did not hesitate at all and continued to wind the strings.

"The enemy's distance is three hundred, shoot!"

"Two shots are done, three are turned on!"

···

The Zhao army's square formation looked orderly, and the soldiers' movements were very neat, which made Zhao Dan nod.

Although he is not good at military affairs, Zhao Dan understands one thing very well, that is, the more like a machine army, the higher the chance of winning in battle.

Zhao Dan smiled at Le Cheng beside him and said, "Why is this army?"

Le Cheng replied: "This is the leader of the Southern Captain of the Yulin Army."

The Northern Army had two armies, including Yulin and Huben. The Yulin Army had two army captains in the north and south, and the Huben Army had two army captains in the east and west, with a total of four army captains with nearly 40,000 people.

Although the Northern Army was the personal army of King Zhao, it was obvious that the 40,000 troops could not all defend Zhao Dan. Generally speaking, there were only 5,000 people in the "half school" as the palace guards, while the other troops were stationed in the Northern Army camp for training, with a round of duty every month.

The reason why Zhao Dan established these troops was certainly not on a whim, but—well, using history as a mirror.

The Han Dynasty mainly divided into two major arms: capital troops and local soldiers. The two armies established by Zhao Dan were built based on the capital troops of the Han Dynasty.

Of course, even if you use history as a mirror, you cannot blindly follow the trend. Zhao Dan has a reason to do so.

In terms of geographical location, since the capital of Zhao State Handan is located in the Central Plains, it is not far from other countries, and it is also a lesson for Jin Bi to station troops in Yecheng in the past few months to threaten Handan. Therefore, it is natural to protect the capital with heavy troops and take into account the Central Plains.

Although Zhao State had a standing army system before, the standing army at that time was only 30,000 to 40,000, and its scale was obviously no longer suitable for the new situation of fighting for the world.

After Zhao Dan's expansion this time, the Zhao State's standing army will increase to about 100,000, three times the original one.

With these 100,000 permanent troops, Zhao State only needs to recruit people from various counties during the war, and can easily use these permanent troops to form an army of 200,000 or even 400,000 or 400,000 to 500,000 troops, so that it can adapt to the need for dozens or millions of troops to participate in large-scale wars in the late Warring States Period.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness and morale of the standing army, Zhao Dancai did not hesitate to use high welfare as a temptation.

Of course, supporting such a unit with such high welfare is extremely heavy to Zhao's finances and resources, but Zhao Dan is also prepared for this and has a plan in mind.

After watching the infantry training, Zhao Dan went to see the cavalry for a while, and then under the leadership of Le Cheng, he went to the special "Selected Barracks" outside the camp for a while to watch the selection.

Although I had heard of it for a long time, the heads of the selection camp were shaking, and the shouts in the school ground were shocking. The lively and busy scene still surprised Zhao Dan: "There are so many people?"

Le Cheng smiled and said, "The king doesn't know. There are actually a fewer people these days. The number of people in the first few days made me wonder if the entire city of Handan was coming."

Zhao Dan couldn't help but smash his mouth. It seems that the national honor is not as reliable as the glory of wealth.

However, after seeing the grand occasion of the selection camp, Zhao Dan was relieved. After all, the Zhao army also lost tens of thousands of soldiers in the Battle of Changping. It was the time to urgently need fresh blood to replenish it.

After reading it briefly, Zhao Dan left the Northern Army camp. Before leaving, he specifically told Le Cheng: "Practice well and don't slack off. There will be a day to go out soon!"

Judging from the secret reports handed over by the supervisory guard and his own impression, Zhao Dan was quite satisfied with the Northern Army led by Le Cheng.

Just give it a while, Zhao Dan believes that this army will bring him a lot of surprises.

Of course, the rise of a country is not only about relying on the army alone, but also requires progress in many aspects such as internal affairs and diplomacy. These are the problems that Zhao Dan is preparing to solve in the coming days.
Chapter completed!