Chapter Twelve: Reorganizing the Army and Heading North
Having served as a soldier for over a decade, Harukami Jiro was intimately familiar with the military organization of Japan. However, he was even more knowledgeable about the military organization of the Great Xia Kingdom. When the old samurai discussed the organization of that massive imperial army, they all wore expressions of admiration and reverence.
Even the most powerful daimyo in Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, had only a little over a thousand samurai, not to mention foot soldiers, whom he could have as many as he wanted. But a general in the Great Xia Kingdom could command an entire army with tens of thousands of armored soldiers under his command.
The highest organizational unit in the Great Xia army was the "fire" (火). A fire consisted of ten men, led by a fire captain. Ten fires formed a squad, headed by a squad leader. Three squads formed a brigade, led by a brigade commander. Five brigades formed a battalion, commanded by a colonel. Three to five battalions formed a regiment, commanded by a captain. Above that was the army (军), which consisted of several regiments of armored soldiers and cavalry, and a number of civilian laborers.
And now, Haruka Jiro has become the captain, with a hundred heroes under his command. Of course, these hundred heroes are definitely Japanese; he hasn't developed delusions of grandeur, thinking he can command the Great Xia army. This has made him overjoyed, as his act of being the first to respond to the Great Xia's recruitment has brought him unexpected rewards.
"Me! Me!" Countless people surged forward, and the waiters couldn't hold back the crowd. Fortunately, a few Great Xia warriors came out of the guild hall to quell the situation, but they couldn't stop the Japanese fervor. Harukami Jiro's actions and the result spurred them on. Many of the observing samurai and ronin were filled with regret, wondering why they hadn't gone out first!
Lin Yongqian witnessed this scene in the guild hall and chuckled inwardly. He hadn't expected that a few bolts of Songjiang cloth would be enough to break the deadlock. He had initially been puzzled by Prince Qin Mo's instructions, but now he understood.
His original intention was to bring goods such as silk, cloth, and porcelain, sell them first, make a fortune, and then recruit Japanese people. But Qin Mo disagreed, telling him to bring only cloth, and use the cloth as a settlement fee to recruit warriors.
Lin Yongqian didn't understand at first, but after seeing the behavior of these Japanese people, he realized how unscrupulous those Japanese merchants were, and how high they had driven the price of Songjiang cloth in Japan.
"It seems I'll be able to go to Edo in a few days. I wonder if the samurai and ronin there are also penniless bastards who have never seen money before." Lin Yongqian thought to himself. He couldn't recruit 7,000 people from places like Hirado and Nagasaki. Edo was the main base for Japanese ronin.
"Commander," Wu Mingyi said, panting heavily, as he dragged the last of his men into the military camp. His men, who had arrived earlier, didn't bother with polite greetings to their commander; they rushed to the mess hall, each grabbing their bowls and wolfing down their food.
"Last place again." Wu Mingyi was filled with sorrow. Looking at his three hundred men eating plain rice, and then at the soldiers next door who had vegetables and meat, he deeply resented his bad luck. Why did he have to choose the Ninth Brigade, which was almost entirely composed of new recruits?
Wu Mingyi was Wu Shengze's second son. His father had included him in the army when they were selecting soldiers to go north. Wu Mingyi had been learning martial arts and strategy from Wu Shengze and considered himself one of the most promising young generals, so he was extremely arrogant. Even after entering the army, he didn't know how to behave properly. After being provoked, he chose to join the Ninth Brigade next door as his subordinate.
Qin Mo planned to take 3,000 men to the north, dividing them into ten brigades. His original intention was a mix of veterans and new recruits, with experienced soldiers mentoring the new ones. However, after discussing with his retainers Lin Bo and Wu Shengze, they ultimately decided to allocate three brigades entirely composed of veterans as the main force. This left too many new recruits, so they simply made two brigades entirely of new soldiers.
As the most capable young commander, Hu Mingyi was naturally assigned to lead a brigade of new recruits. His father, Wu Shengze, told him that the recruits would set off earlier, riding horses along the land route to the capital, which pleased Hu Mingyi for a while—after all, he was leading a cavalry brigade!
Unexpectedly, after Prince Qin Mo visited the military camp a few times and observed their drills, he changed the training methods. All formations and troop coordination were suspended; the focus shifted to training only one thing: running. In the prince's words, "Whether you can win or not doesn't matter; at least you must be able to outrun your opponent."
And so Wu Mingyi's nightmare began. Every dawn, the entire brigade, burdened with supplies, would race against other brigades. The last-place brigade would only get rice, no side dishes. If they came in last twice in a row, even better—their brigade would have to clean the toilets and wash the smelly clothes. If even one soldier failed to return, the entire brigade couldn't start eating.
Wu Mingyi had assumed that his Ninth Brigade, composed entirely of young men, would easily secure first or second place in the race. However, he soon discovered that the men, only a few years older than his own father, were incredibly fast runners, each dragging a new recruit along at breakneck speed. Had they all been cowardly deserters on the battlefield?
I've come in last place for the second round in a row. After dinner, I have to clean the toilets and wash my smelly clothes. A bunch of old men are watching and making fun of me, and I can't even talk back. They always call me "uncle" and "elder brother" all the time. I never realized they were so mean-spirited before!
"Commander Wu, the Crown Prince has summoned you to his tent and orders you to come and receive his commands." A handsome young messenger found Wu Mingyi and rescued him from a pile of smelly socks.
"Looks like the day to board the ship and set sail has arrived." Wu Mingyi could guess the general situation without even going to the commander's tent. As the son of a high-ranking military officer, he was always well-informed. Thinking that he wouldn't have to wash smelly clothes anymore, Wu Mingyi felt no joy at all. It seemed he couldn't get his revenge; he would be laughed at by those guys for the rest of his life.
Sure enough, in the command tent, Wu Mingyi received the order for the troops to set off. He would be mixed with all the new recruits into a battalion, led by Wu Shengze, and would land north of Hangzhou, head west to the Grand Canal, and then travel along both banks of the canal to the capital, honing his horsemanship along the way.
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