After inviting Liu Xiu out, Liu Jing gave him the task of recruiting soldiers.
Since ancient times, rangers and villains have been naturally high-quality soldiers. Because they are skilled in martial arts, bold and aggressive, and willing to fight even if they risk death, as long as they are trained rigorously, they can become the best soldiers in the world.
.In the past, the five thousand infantry who followed Li Ling deep into the Hu lands and fought thousands of miles were "Jingchu warriors, extraordinary talents, and swordsmen." Later, he taught archery in Jiuquan and Zhangye, and immediately became one of the few elite soldiers in the world.
It's a pity that Liu Zong had recruited hundreds of rangers and evil boys at one time, and Cai Sheng recruited more than a hundred people. The sword-bearing men in Linxiang were almost wiped out in one fell swoop, and the remaining ones were only one-tenth or two-tenths.
Without the high-quality soldiers such as rangers and evil boys, Liu Xiu had to expand his scope and recruit soldiers from the public.
As the saying goes, "Selecting soldiers without taking them is equivalent to driving out the people in the city to fight." This means that recruiting soldiers without choosing or choosing is equivalent to driving out the mob to fight.
Compared with the people in the city, Liu Xiu prefers the country fools. He believes that the country fools have strong skin and flesh, are not afraid of hard work, obey orders, and are easy to train.
However, not all country fools are suitable to be soldiers, and the brave ones must be carefully selected, because "those who are smart but have no courage will benefit themselves when facing the enemy; those who are skilled but have no courage will benefit themselves when facing the enemy."
Those who are strong but have no courage will be a burden when facing the enemy; those who are strong but have no courage will be timid before the enemy; this is the path to defeat." Everything else is secondary, only courage comes first.
In addition, in the Han Dynasty, if you wanted to be a soldier, you also had a minimum height standard. Of course, this requirement can almost be ignored.
The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, and the selection of soldiers still followed the standards of the Warring States Period hundreds of years ago. A height of more than six feet two inches was required. This height was the standard height of a fifteen-year-old boy. People in the Jingnan area are generally taller than those in the north.
People are short, but most men are over six feet two inches tall.
Regarding soldiers, Liu Jing once intended to recruit northern refugees who had fled the chaos in Changsha. In the past few years, Yizhou Mu Liu Yan recruited tens of thousands of refugees from Nanyang and Sanfu, known as the "Dongzhou Soldiers", and their combat effectiveness was quite impressive.
Liu Xiu persuaded him, and the reason was very good. If the northern refugees were organized into a separate army like Liu Yan did, there would be no problem, but Liu Jing wanted the southerners and northerners to coexist in the same camp. This was simply
It's like a fairy tale. There is no similarity in the language, habits, customs... of both parties. Over time, conflicts will inevitably arise.
Liu Jing also realized that he had taken it for granted. In ancient times, people had a strong sense of region. In the Jin Dynasty, people from the south and the north would ridicule each other as "Beijing" and "raccoon dog", and immediately stopped mentioning it.
and this matter.
Liu Jing believed that the stronger the force, the better, and he did not mind raising more people.
With his instructions, Liu Xiu recruited troops from various towns in Linxiang. He recruited more than 800 people in total, plus more than 100 rangers and evil boys under Cai Sheng. The number was no more than 1,000.
On the day the army was formed, Liu Jing took a day off to take a rest and took Liu Liang to visit the camp.
The camp is located fifty miles south of Linxiang, which is the only way to Linxiang from the south.
In recent years, with the deterioration of the situation in Yuzhang County, Yangzhou, many Yuzhang people, with their families, traveled across the mountains and came to the Liling area of Changsha to avoid trouble. In order not to be bullied in a foreign country, they would of course choose to stay together to stay warm.
Liling is located to the south of Linxiang, and the distance between the two is only more than 200 miles. How can Zhang Xian feel at ease with such an uncontrolled refugee force on his side? Not only did he deploy a large number of troops in Liling, like Liu Zong
, Cai Sheng and other new troops were also sent to the south to guard against refugees.
When Liu Jing and Liu Liang arrived, they found that although the camp had only been built not long ago, it was already beginning to take shape.
During the Han Dynasty, the camps set up were roughly divided into two types. If there were plains and vast swamps, and there was no danger to rely on, then the cubic camp would be established; while if there were mountains and rivers, and there would be dangers to defend, the camp would be the moon camp. The moon camp was also called the Yanyue Camp.
What Liu Jing is looking at now is a standard Yanyue Camp. It is backed by a mountain and faces the flat ground, forming a semicircle that projects forward. A trench with a width and depth of more than one foot completely isolates the camp from the outside world.
The walls are made of wooden palisades, and the antlers and oars are all in place. Even if you don’t ask, you can tell that this must be Liu Xiu’s handiwork.
Although Cai Sheng, Ma Zhou, and Liu Xiu were extremely busy, as soon as they received the news of Liu Jing's arrival, they immediately put aside what they were doing and rushed outside the camp gate to greet him.
Liu Xiu wore a double-armor with a shawl. Thousands of armor pieces were composed of hemp ropes, which were decorated with ribbons woven into diamond patterns. The left and right armpit plackets were tied with crimson belts.
.This luxurious and sophisticated armor not only made Cai Sheng and Ma Zhou drool with envy, but Liu Jing was also quite envious.
Liu Xiu's current mental state is like a different person, with a solemn expression, sharp eyes, and extremely majestic.
Liu Jing couldn't help but feel awe in his heart, and said with emotion: "Brother Cong is completely different from when he was at home, which is eye-catching. It seems that brother Cong was born to be a soldier."
Liu Xiu's heart was filled with turmoil, and he sighed: "In this world, except Zhongda, who else would use a useless person like me? If it weren't for Zhongda, how would I be where I am today?"
"Sun Bin lost his foot, but he can still dominate the world and his name will go down in history. Why does brother Cong always care about his body?" Liu Jing shook his head, then turned to Cai Sheng and Ma Zhou and asked: "Hongchao, Zijin, you have joined the army.
It’s been a while, how do you feel?”
Cai Sheng smiled bitterly and said: "I gathered more than a hundred people before, and they were quite organized in their movements. I thought that the military was like this. Only when I actually entered the military did I realize how difficult it was. Just building a fortress would hide the hidden dangers.
Learned so much knowledge."
Ma Zhou also couldn't help but sigh: "Compared to my eldest brother, Hongchao and I are not much better than those recruited country fools."
Cai Sheng and Ma Zhou were deeply impressed by Liu Xiu's ability in the past few days. They treated each other like brothers and had great respect for each other.
Liu Jingshi smiled and said: "Brother Cong has been studying military science for more than 20 years, how can he be an ordinary person? Even I can only accept defeat, let alone you. Since you know your shortcomings, you should work harder in the future."
Cai Sheng nodded and said: "Eldest brother also said: 'The courage of an ordinary man is not enough, and a general must not know how to read.' Every night, I and Zijin are invited to the camp to study and learn calligraphy."
This was exactly what Liu Jing wanted to see most. He felt happy and said to Liu Xiu: "Brother Cong, thank you for your trouble."
Liu Xiu smiled and said: "Although they are illiterate, they are very smart and know great things. As long as they study hard, they will definitely become good generals in the future."
Liu Jing smiled and said: "On this point, Brother Cong and I agree. Hongchao and Zijin, please don't let me and Brother Cong live up to our high expectations."
Cai Sheng and Ma Zhou looked at each other and expressed their promise.