"It is decided that there will be thirty-two people, fourteen will do the funeral, nine will paint the sand, and nine will tire the soil." [Juyan Han Slips]
August 20th, the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Chuping of the Han Dynasty.
Zuo Fengyi, Wannian County.
In the afternoon, Uncle Wu Zilan was directing about thirty of his men to dig soil and build ditches. Originally, building forts was the responsibility of the army. In the past, it only needed to set up the forts, antlers, watchtowers, and earthen stoves, but recently
During this period, there were many new changes, mainly because the emperor discovered many shortcomings in the army during his personal expedition and corrected them.
"I really don't understand!" A soldier shoveled the soil in the ditch, turned it over, and complained in a low voice: "If it's more convenient, why not just find a corner? We are soldiers fighting outside.
Is it necessary to specially dig a toilet like in a wealthy family? It would be very troublesome if one had to dig one everywhere."
"Don't come to the Northern Army if you find it troublesome." Wu Zilan immediately heard the complaints below and said: "Shang Hong, if it weren't for the fact that you surrendered soldiers are pretty good, how else would you have the chance to sneak in? Now let me dig you up.
You only work so hard on the toilet, do you want me to kick you out and become a soldier in the field?"
The man named Shang Hong was startled. He was very strong. He was a thief and became a strongman when the Bai Bo army invaded Hedong. Later, he surrendered with the remnant soldiers and became a soldier under the county captain Cheng Yin. Ansheng did not live long enough.
, he was inexplicably led to participate in the rebellion, and then returned to the court again.
This time, the emperor made large-scale adjustments to the military deployment of Bingzhou. He transferred more than 10,000 troops from the northern and southern armies to Xu Rong, Duan Xuan, Zhang Liao and others to strengthen local control. After that, he naturally began to expand the army on a small scale, and re-
An imperial edict was issued to recruit the knights of Sanhe, and the good men from the six counties joined the Northern and Southern armies, which increased the number to 38,000 on the original basis. In addition to the soldiers who surrendered from Hedong and returned to the military camps, some of the strongest soldiers were selected to join the imperial army. Shang Hongyou
This inexplicable completion of the transformation from a white wave moth thief to a county soldier, and then from a rebel soldier to a forbidden army of the imperial court.
However, he is only a member of the Northern Army in name only. In fact, he is an auxiliary soldier who is responsible for building fortifications. He is still far from the official establishment of the Northern Army.
Despite this, Shang Hong was lucky enough to sneak into the Northern Army with the best treatment from a bandit. He said that he would never go to work as a field soldier. He stopped complaining at the moment, lowered his head and shoveled a few times in succession, and his body rose and fell rapidly.
, and after a while, he piled a small mound on the ground.
Wu Zilan looked at Shang Hong's arm strength and endurance with some surprise. He didn't say anything on his face, but he was thinking in his heart: I heard that both the Northern Army and the Southern Army would set up an auxiliary barracks to take care of supplies, transport baggage, and
Build fortifications. Although the auxiliary barracks are all chores, the rank and treatment of the officers are exactly the same as other soldiers, and the training is much easier than that of other barracks. If you have some connections, you can go to the auxiliary barracks with little effort.
As a military commander, Shang Hong might be able to promote him as his assistant.
While thinking about this, Wu Zilan didn't notice that there was someone suddenly beside her: "May I ask what they are repairing? If this ravine is not repaired in front of the army, what is the use of repairing it here?"
"Don't you know? This is the toilet." Wu Zilan replied smoothly, suddenly he woke up, he turned around and looked: "Who are you!"
I saw that the man was about twenty-six or seven years old, with a broad back and narrow waist, a high nose and deep eyes, and an extraordinary heroic appearance. At first glance, Wu Zilan thought he was a young general in the army, or Mr. Habayashi in front of the emperor.
But if you listen carefully to his Qingzhou accent, you can tell that it's not because most of the northern and southern armies are from Kansai, and most of the generals above are from Kansai. It's rare to hear that a general is from Qingzhou.
Wu Zilan looked at the opponent with an unkind expression. Suddenly, such a person sneaked into the army. Although the opponent had no armor, it was enough to make people wary.
"I'm Tai Shici, Donglai." The man was stunned for a moment. Knowing that there was a misunderstanding, he quickly explained: "He is the leader of the escort team that accompanied Mr. Lang Kong into the court."
Wu Zilan remembered that when the army arrived here this morning, they were greeted by none other than Wu Kuang, the captain of the Hongnong Diannong School. He came to report in person on the quelling of the Hongnong bandits' rebellion, and secondly, he came with the instructions he received from Beihai Prime Minister.
Kong Rong, the Yilang who entered the imperial court, saw him. Thinking of this, the vigilance in his eyes was reduced a lot: "Having said that, you are not issued a voucher in this important military camp. Don't run around, lest you be regarded as a spy.
."
"Wei, Wei, thank you for reminding me." Tai Shici's attitude was very humble and polite, and he stared at him with a pair of bright eyes, which was very helpful to Wu Zilan.
He thought to himself that this was not a confidential matter, so he began to introduce it as if he was boasting, as if introducing a family heirloom: "This is the latrine. According to military regulations, every song must have a latrine.
The inside is separated by earthen walls and wooden boards, and it must be able to accommodate at least thirty people using the toilet at the same time. Look at the loess being sifted next to it. The excavated soil will be sifted into fine powder and placed in a basket. After each person uses the toilet,
Dig a handful of loess and cover it with water to avoid the smell and prevent mosquitoes from breeding."
Taishi Ci was surprised to see Shang Hong and others digging trenches in full swing, with a serious look as if they were digging a trench to block the enemy. Who knew they were actually digging latrines. In fact, it is not that there are no latrines in the army. Among the scholars and
In the mouth of the general who was a scholar, it has a more elegant name, called '圊溷'. However, this kind of toilet has always been reserved for generals and other officers in the army. Ordinary soldiers can only defecate everywhere except in front of the officer's tent.
Other than a quasi-solution.
The last time he entered the military camp was in the army of Wu Kuang, the captain of Diannong School. Wu Kuang used to be the old subordinate of General He Jin and was a veteran who had led troops for many years. However, the camp he managed was still a bit disorganized, although it was not that...
There is gold everywhere, but you can still smell the stench and buzzing mosquitoes everywhere in the army.
As for the Lu Bu military camp that Taishi Ci visited in Qingzhou, it was even more unsightly.
Once the population lives in groups, it is easy for diseases to breed, not to mention large-scale troop mobilizations. In addition, ancient marches rarely paid attention to the personal hygiene of soldiers. Poor health conditions often lead to widespread diseases and cholera in an army, leading to attrition of the army.
, morale was low, and combat effectiveness declined. Throughout the ages, countless armies have died from epidemics. In the famous Battle of Chibi in history, the spreading epidemic was out of control among the army, which was also an important reason for the failure of Cao's army.
Therefore, in ancient times, armies that not only had well-arranged fortifications but also had a good internal sanitary environment could often be called elite soldiers, and their leading generals had always been called talented soldiers.
"I finally understand why the Northern and Southern armies were able to wipe out 100,000 rebels in just ten months." Taishi Ci was initially puzzled by the imperial court's rapid progress in Hedong, but now he can see the whole story at a glance: "The imperial court has
With such a strong army, why should the world worry about injustice?"
"That's natural. Our Northern Army is the strongest in the world!" Wu Zilan said proudly, omitting the Southern Army intentionally or unintentionally.
"I wonder which general is in charge of the army?" Taishi Ci said with admiration: "I hope I can know the last name so that I can show off!"
"It's not a general." Wu Zilan puffed up her chest and said respectfully, "It's your Majesty."