002:Military households

The dilapidated pavilion and ancient road, overgrown with weeds, connected to a gap in the sky.

In the south wind, the aroma of food wafted faintly.

The millet rice in the steamer has been steamed, and the soldiers took the food one by one with wooden bowls.

The food looked very bad, and it might be mixed with husks and sand.

There were no green vegetables, but some fermented black beans and pickles were okay.

People's bowls were also black, and there was suspicious dirt at the bottom of the bowl, but no one cared, and they ate voraciously.

Sima Liu Qia on the left was a little worried. There were nearly 500 soldiers brought over. What kind of people were they?

Before departure, Mi Huang mentioned to him: "There are 490 soldiers, more than 150 of them are over 78 years old and under 16 or 17 years old; more than 200 are over 60 years old..."

In short, one-third of them are children under 16 or 17 years old, more than 40% are elderly people in their 60s and 70s, and only about 100 are truly young and strong.

The quality of these soldiers is extremely poor!

"Sima Liu." The Inspector Mi Huang came over and after exchanging greetings with Liu Qia, he said, "We will enter the capital tomorrow. How should we explain this to the Minister of Works?"

Liu Qia was stunned. After a while, he asked, "Inspector Mi, do you think these soldiers are usable?"

Mi Huang was straightforward and told the truth, "Two hundred people over the age of sixty can only eat rice and porridge. Some of them are even blind, deaf and dumb, unable to see, unable to defend against invaders, and can only roughly warn against petty thieves. As for the children, they can probably drive away birds and sparrows."

Liu Qia sighed.

The Donghai Kingdom has soldiers, with a strength of about 2,000 people.

The soldiers of the kingdom are divided into three levels.

The big country has 2,000 people in the middle army, 1,500 people in the upper and lower armies, a total of 5,000 people.

The next-level country has 2,000 people in the upper army and 1,000 people in the lower army, a total of 3,000 people.

The small country only has 2,000 people in the upper army.

These soldiers were hereditary soldiers, that is, military households. They inherited their father's business and served in the army for generations. They worked as farmers in peacetime, trained in leisure time, and went to war in wartime. They were equivalent to the local militia in the late Tang Dynasty - or even worse, because they fought few battles and had not been on the battlefield for many years since the destruction of Wu, and their combat effectiveness declined greatly.

Sima Yue(司马越), the Minister of Works and King of Donghai of the Jin Dynasty, was not convenient to dispatch soldiers from Donghai to Luoyang, so he used his connections to ask Sima Mao(司马楙), the governor of Xuzhou (also called the governor of Qingxu), to help him and recruit a group of soldiers to support him.

As a result, he overestimated his influence. He had no face in front of Sima Mao. In the end, they sent such a batch of goods, which made Liu Qia and Mi Huang speechless - Sima Mao was really too much. He fooled the Minister of Works like this, and he would definitely teach him a lesson in the future!

After dinner, Mi Huang assigned people to set up the camp.

With the quality of this group of people, it was impossible to set up camp strictly according to military law. Mi Huang thought about it and decided to have people surround the carriages and ox carts. The nobles lived in the middle and he led people to protect them. The rest of the people were scattered in teams.

After arranging all this, he came to a gorgeous carriage.

"Is it arranged properly?" The curtain of the carriage was opened, and a woman who looked to be in her twenties asked.

The maids gathered outside the carriage and put down several tables.

There were more than ten food utensils on the tables.

Seven servants lined up in a row, each holding bottles, bowls, jars, spoons, and teapots for the master to use at any time.

There was also a person kneeling in front, holding the first dish horizontally and passing the food.

Camping outdoors, you can only be "simple", no need to be extravagant, just make do.

"Don't worry, Princess, everything has been arranged." Mi Huang lowered his head and replied.

The woman nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Mi Jun."

The woman had a beautiful face, perhaps because she had been pampered since childhood, her skin was white and tender. At this time, her body leaned forward slightly, and her chest seemed to be unable to hold it, as if it was about to pour down.

At the waist, the curve of the body was gathered in an exaggerated arc, which could be said to be a handful.

This woman, there is something.

Perhaps bored, the woman asked again: "Lord Mi has been very good at commanding soldiers along the way, but I wonder how these soldiers are?"

Mi Huang hesitated, and finally decided to tell the truth: "As the princess has seen, most of them are unusable."

The princess was silent for a while, and then asked again: "Last year, the king recruited warriors from the country to come to the capital. Are there any who can be used?"

"There are a few." Mi Huang replied: "There is a brave young man named Shao Xun, from Qu, fifteen years old, with superb archery skills, and his sword and spear skills are also remarkable. He may be of great use."

"Whose son is this?" The princess asked with interest.

"This..." Mi Huang paused, and said: "Shao Xun's ancestors have been soldiers for generations."

"So it's Shixi(士息)." The princess's face returned to indifference and lost interest.

Shixi(士息) means the son of a soldier.

Shao Xun's status is too low.

If he was a son of an aristocratic family, he could have been well lured and cultivated. It was a pity.

Seeing that the princess stopped talking, Mi Huang bowed and said goodbye, and went to inspect the camp.

The night gradually darkened.

The evening breeze blew across the camp and blew towards the distant village.

In the dilapidated houses, ghost fires flickered, and foxes and rats appeared and disappeared.

The few families who were left did not dare to light a fire, and closed their doors early to avoid trouble.

Luoyang, the best place, has become like this, pitiful and lamentable.

The next day, this "eye-catching" team entered Luoyang City.

The citizens of the city were amused by the soldiers, old and young, even though they were already overwhelmed by life.

But if you think about it carefully, there seemed to be many old people and children in the army stationed inside and outside the city, but they were not as concentrated as the one in front of you.

In the hereditary military system of the Jin Dynasty, it was clearly stipulated that military households under the age of 17 and over the age of 50 could not be recruited.

But laws are one thing, and reality is another.

During the reign of Emperor Wu, the emperor ordered the old soldiers over the age of 60 to return home. It can be seen that in actual implementation, the military generals did not act completely in accordance with the court's laws and regulations, they just gathered enough people.

Under the hereditary military system, the father dies and the son inherits. If your family is drawn, you have to give out a man, even if you have to pay someone to serve in place of you, you have to get me one person.

In fact, it was not only the Jin Dynasty. During the Wei Dynasty, Cao Zhi(曹植) once wrote a memorial, saying that there were many children aged seven or eight among the recruited soldiers, which was shocking.

But then again, the Jin Dynasty has been recuperating for many years, so this kind of thing should not happen again.

The people summoned by Sikong should be the result of being turned down. It is rare to see so many old people gathered in one building.

The descendants of the Sima family are killing each other, and they are in harmony but not in harmony. The people are suffering. Alas.

The soldiers soon moved into an empty military camp.

The Luoyang Central Army originally had more than 100,000 people, which was the most elite and combat-capable force in the Jin Dynasty. Among them, there were not only hereditary soldiers, but also recruited soldiers, that is, professional warriors, who were well-equipped and well-trained. For many years, they had been the mainstay of the Jin Dynasty and even the aristocratic families.

To be honest, in this era, the Jin army's external war record was still acceptable. It was not because the Jin army was so strong, but because the combat effectiveness of the Hu cavalry was too poor.

More than 20 years ago, Ma Long(马隆) led 3,500 infantrymen and marched more than a thousand miles to Liangzhou when he was surrounded, had no supplies, and was cut off from news. He killed tens of thousands of Hu cavalry before and after, which made Tufa Shuji(秃发树机能) want to cry without tears.

In front of the overwhelming grassland cavalry, the skilled and determined elite infantry were so arrogant.

But in recent years, the world was in chaos, and the relatives of the Jin Dynasty led their troops and fought repeatedly near Luoyang. The elite Luoyang Imperial Guards were also divided into several factions, and they consumed a lot in the civil war, so many military camps were vacated.

But in recent years, China has been in chaos, and the relatives of the Jin Dynasty have led their troops to fight repeatedly near Luoyang. The elite Luoyang Imperial Guards were also divided into several factions, and they were consumed a lot in the civil war, so many military camps were vacated.

Shao Xun lived in the military camp at this time.

There is a "split rest" system for hereditary soldiers, that is, they are not on duty or on the expedition all the time, they take turns to rest.

The rest time can be long or short, from a few months to a few years. You can go home during this period, but you must return within the specified time. Those who violate it will be treated as deserters. Not only will they be guilty, but their entire family will also be sentenced to death. It is very strict.

At this time, being in Luoyang, it is impossible to go home during the split rest, and there will not be much split rest time. At most, he can take turns to guard the Sikong Mansion with a few other people-last year, the King of Donghai recruited 40 hereditary soldiers in the fiefdom, just in two batches for rotation.

After the newcomers entered the camp, there was a lot of noise and chaos.

Shao Xun looked at the dozen or so teenagers around him and said sternly: "It has nothing to do with you, continue to learn words."

"Yes sir." There were sparse voices around, but it was the answer from the dozen or so teenagers who were holding branches and practicing writing on the ground.

Shao Xun stood up and looked at the newcomers, young and old, in a bit of astonishment.

Several sergeants and squad leaders also came over, also stunned, and looked at Shao Xun one after another.

"What a sin." Shao Xun sighed.

The sergeants and squad leaders said one after another: "It's really a sin."

Although Shao Xun was only a squad leader and only fifteen years old, he was indeed skilled and strong, and it was no problem for him to fight them with weapons.

Family members know their own business.

It sounds good to say that they have been soldiers for generations, but in fact, they spend most of their lives farming.

Some people can't shoot arrows.

Some people can only use spears, not swords.

Some people don't even know the gongs, drums and flags.

To put it bluntly, they are just a group of farmers who have received military training.

Shao Xun's skills are simply outstanding among them.

Some people were puzzled, so they asked around, but in the end they didn't find out anything.

It seemed that such a brave man suddenly appeared in the old Shao family of Qu County, and his fighting skills were gifted by nature, which made people very envious.

The lower-level military camp was a very realistic place, and the competition was about who had the harder fist.

Shao Xun was so brave that the other three squad leaders Zheng Gou'er, Yang Bao, and Qin San did not dare to provoke him. As for what they thought secretly, only God knew.

When Shao Xun proposed to take a break, he took those young soldiers to learn to read. No one stopped him, but on the contrary, they were shocked - this guy actually knew how to read?

At this time, some people have already suspected that the ancestors of the Shao family in Qu County were impoverished nobles, and became military households after their family fell into decline?

Don't tell me, this argument still has a market, and many people believe it.

Shao Xun didn't bother to care what they thought, and just stared at the new group of people.

More than a hundred children, most of them are from Donghai Township...

"Be friends with time." This is a sentence that suddenly popped up in his mind, which is quite interesting.