Chapter 579: Spring Thunder Camp (2)

The Assistant Regional Commander's daily camp inspection was no perfunctory walk-through — it was an unshakable routine, come thunder or lightning. Some days, the Daren would even add a night patrol, the very image of an officer who loved his soldiers like his own sons, a living reincarnation of the old communist spirit.

Speaking of camp inspections, in the years before the Later Jin invasion, Comrade Li Jichun had largely not been so diligent. The reason was simple: the soldiers did not train every day, the barracks were steeped in deadening lethargy, and there was no necessity for inspections.

To achieve daily training like the armies of later generations, the first priority was not to talk about ideals or inject chicken blood for motivation, but to provide the soldiers with the same caloric intake as those later generations.

In ancient times, due to low productivity, apart from a small number of elite troops, most camps conducted drills only once every three days or once every five days.

The Yongping Camp under Li Jichun's management was nothing more than an utterly ordinary local second-line reserve unit. The military supplies and pay such a unit received on ordinary days were not only squeezed by civil officials, but also had to pass through the hands of Li Daren and the other officers.

Under these circumstances, the soldiers could not even receive their full pay, let alone talk about eating three full, good meals a day.

Thus, the daily reality of the barracks was not one of busy striving. The supplies issued by the Ministry of War were only so much; less movement meant saving calories. If the soldiers did not exert themselves, the Assistant Regional Commander need not worry so much — the logical relationship was very clear.

Everything changed after the Later Jin army withdrew beyond the passes.

The newly formed Spring Thunder Camp discarded the old-style military ethos of the past and took the path of the New Army. The recruits were not only drilled every day; very often, the Squad Leaders would also give extra evening drills to those lagging behind.

And so, when Li Daren descended the command tower with his retinue, what he saw were square formations of soldiers training, arrayed all around the tower.

It was the height of summer. The soldiers in training uniformly wore military-green cotton T-shirts on their upper bodies, and on their lower bodies were large military-green shorts, thick with the style of the old communists.

The young men, toiling under the blazing sun, were now drenched in sweat. Organized by squad and platoon, they roared at the top of their lungs, their movements neat and uniform. Some formations were drilling in military bearing, some were practicing rifle handling, and of course, there was no shortage of cold-weapon formations practicing with the blade.

Spring Thunder Camp was reaping the benefits of others' work this time. One must understand that the current soldier training syllabus was something the transmigrator, over these past few years, had bit by bit summarized and groped out by combining the existing industrial production capability with the combat environment of the Ming Dynasty — it was completely different from later generations.

Therefore, the soldiers of Spring Thunder Camp ordinarily had to train not only in shooting, but also in cold weapons like the blade and spear. Of course, the most important skill for a northern army — the cavalry training subject — was the absolute top priority.

In fact, in the General Staff's initial army-building plan, Spring Thunder Camp was originally intended to be a pure cavalry unit.

In inspection mode, Assistant Regional Commander Li walked with slow steps, passing by the training formations one after another, his gaze occasionally lingering on a particular soldier. During this time, he would occasionally stop, exchange salutes with the squad and platoon leaders who came to report, and then issue requirements and orders.

The Assistant Regional Commander's demeanor at this moment was stern, his bearing fully sufficient, everything done strictly by the book. Were it not for the strange military uniform he wore, one who did not know better would think this was a later-generation high official on an inspection tour.

Walking and observing like this, when he reached the last formation, it happened to be exactly noon, the time for dismissing drill. At this moment, the Assistant Regional Commander shed his stern countenance, and a smile instantly spread across his face. He not only clapped a young soldier drenched in sweat on the shoulder and praised him, but also, fitting the occasion, told everyone a dirty joke before the meal, ending the campus visit amid laughter and chatter.

Under the scorching sun, watching these vigorous young men, brimming with vitality from head to toe, howling as they charged toward the mess hall, Li Jichun, standing on the campus, seemed to feel the faint gloom previously on his face melt away considerably: "With such crack troops, when I go beyond the passes this time, I can probably count on them!"

It seemed that today, Assistant Regional Commander Li Daren was full of confidence in his "crack troops."

But before this, Assistant Regional Commander Li had not thought so.

After his audience with the Emperor in Beijing that day, Li Jichun, restored to his original rank, returned to Yongping City with a staff officer team that Lord Cao had "supported" him with before departing, and began the process of rebuilding Spring Thunder Camp.

The newly formed Spring Thunder Camp was different from the past. The recruited soldiers were all fresh-faced newcomers, primarily young landless farmers from the surrounding area and sons of respectable urban families.

In this process, Li Jichun, as an old-school general, naturally did not quite understand. After all, in this era, soldiers fleeing during battle was the most normal thing in the world. If a general led a thousand men onto the battlefield and eight hundred remained in the ranks upon engaging the enemy, he was considered skilled at leading troops.

So Assistant Regional Commander Li kindly offered his opinion: many of the soldiers from the previous Yongping Camp had actually "scattered and fled" when the Tartars came. Now, quite a few of these people intended to return to service. Why not accept these veterans to quickly form combat capability?

The Daren's opinion was then mercilessly rejected by the staff officer team.

The reason was very simple: a blank sheet of paper is best for painting.

At that time, all the resources for rebuilding the camp were entirely in the hands of the staff officer team sent by Earl Cao. Li Jichun, this empty-title camp officer, strictly speaking, had not a trace of say in the matter.

So, after his opinion was rejected, Li Daren did not belabor the issue further.

Li Daren understood the prevailing situation.

Li Jichun, a middle-aged man who had suffered great calamity and wandered back and forth before the gates of hell, was of course more sensible than ever. He knew very well that the reason he was alive today, and even restored to his original rank, instead of being hacked to death by the court's chaotic blades like several of his Yongping colleagues, was entirely thanks to Lord Cao.

What more could he possibly want — a bicycle?

Assistant Regional Commander Li even keenly guessed that the reason he could still come back to serve as this camp officer was probably a move by the "deeply far-sighted" Lord Cao, who wished to plant eyes and ears in the north, and not because he himself was an unparalleled hero... Everyone knew that Shuotuo's head was cut off by Li Jichun, but as for the actual circumstances, Li Jichun knew best in his heart.

With the above mindset, Li Jichun was already being extremely careful at that time. So, after a slight probing on the conscription issue, he made his decision... Since they were unwilling to let him meddle much, then he would peacefully be this puppet camp officer, which could also be considered repaying Lord Cao's grace in some small measure.

However, in the days that followed, Li Jichun discovered that the matter was apparently not so simple: in the process of forming the new camp, the staff officer team not only hid nothing from him, but even used the pretext of "Lord Cao's expectations" to conduct some "training" for him.

The training content was very broad. Among it, things like the use of various thermal weapons were considered child's play; the most important part was the "Officer Training Subject" aimed at Li Jichun, the Assistant Regional Commander.

From then on, Assistant Regional Commander Li, an old-style officer, began to integrate into the system, to witness new weapons and new tactics, to grasp new military thought, and to learn the new-style army's methods of command.

By this time, Assistant Regional Commander Li, holding "On Protracted War"... no, wrong, it was "Multi-Arm Cooperative Campaign and Tactical Command (Intermediate Officer Training Textbook)," finally understood: they intended to use him as that thousand-gold piece of horse bone!

In that one moment, the confused middle-aged man shed tears of excitement.

To this day, Li Daren has not only integrated into a certain military system, but also thrives within it like a fish in water.

As his command capability improved, the staff officer team gradually handed over the military command authority of the troops — as long as Li Daren's one red heart faced the Party, then the staff officer team would forever be the staff officer team, and every order Li Daren issued as the Military Chief Officer would be earnestly executed.

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After sending off the ravenously hungry campus soldiers, the soldier-loving Assistant Regional Commander Li also went to the mess hall and shoveled down a few mouthfuls of potato stewed with salted meat alongside the soldiers.

After this, he went to the front of the Military Camp gate to welcome the cavalry unit returning from field training, and incidentally to greet the merchant convoy delivering supplies to the camp... Today happened to be the appointed day for supply delivery.

Speaking of cavalry, during the earlier army-building phase, according to the requirements of the training syllabus, all soldiers registered in the camp, including logistics personnel, had to master all mounted training subjects proficiently, with this being the first priority. Thus, cavalry was the centerpiece of Spring Thunder Camp.

This was also what made the Assistant Regional Commander click his tongue in amazement.

One must know that the expense of a single cavalryman far exceeded that of an infantryman. What's more, the cavalry under the Assistant Regional Commander this time trained practically whenever they had free time, making this expense even more staggering.

The most terrifying thing was that, according to the training syllabus requirements, the regular soldiers of Spring Thunder Camp had to be equipped with one man, three horses, and the logistics personnel with one man, two horses.

Then, when the horse traders from Xuanfu and Tianjin drove large herds of fine steeds over the horizon, Li Jichun was completely floored: This was to support an entire camp's worth of personal retinue troops! Could they afford it?

Facts proved that Papa Cao could afford it.

Just two months after the army was established, the number of warhorses kept in the camp had already exceeded 1,500. Note that these were all warhorses whose physique and temperament met the requirements, their price far exceeding that of draft horses used for carriage pulling.

After this, a certain person, long accustomed to the days of a pauper, began to worry about logistics supplies again. After all, the current Spring Thunder Camp's monthly expenses had far surpassed the previous Old Camp; the cost of various military supplies and pay, in Li Jichun's calculations, was truly an astronomical figure.

One must know that regardless of Spring Thunder Camp's actual expenses, the imperial court only allocated a fixed amount of rice and silver each month according to the previously set quota — that paltry sum could only be described as a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, every time the merchant convoy came to deliver supplies, it was the matter Assistant Regional Commander Li cared about most.

Today was no exception.

Standing before the Military Camp gate, he waved the horsewhip in his hand and greeted the cavalry unit filing into the camp. Afterward, Assistant Regional Commander Li, with his personal guards, waited on the spot until the long merchant convoy approached from afar and arrived before him.

The supplies brought by this time's merchant convoy seemed somewhat more plentiful than usual. After Li Daren inspected the manifest, he discovered that the extra ten carts of supplies were all black beans parched to half-doneness — top-grade horse fodder.

And so the Assistant Regional Commander smiled.

Walking over to the horse fodder carts, the Assistant Regional Commander warmly chatted with the several delivery merchants. From the climate of Tianjin, they rambled to the grain prices of Tianjin, and from the new port of Xingang, they rambled to the large refugee teams being rounded up in Tianjin — in short, the atmosphere was warm and enthusiastic.

In the next moment, Li Daren suddenly reached out his hand, flipped open the basket lid covering the black beans, and then fiercely plunged his arm into the basket.

After stirring a few times, Sir Li grabbed a handful of Black Beans from the bottom of the basket.

Holding the Black Beans in his hand, the Assistant Regional Commander looked at the portly merchant before him with a faint, ambiguous smile. "Old Master Xu, this stuff of yours — it wouldn't happen to be like the fodder sent from Yongping County Yamen, would it? Bug-eaten, rat-gnawed, moldy, and utterly inedible? This was bought with my own good silver!"

"Sir, please inspect it as you wish. This is horse feed ordered by Yao of Tianjin. How would this humble one dare adulterate it?"

"Hmph, I wager you wouldn't dare! Don't go testing my Knife with your own head!"

At these words, Li Jichun opened his palm, poked at the Black Beans in his hand with his fingers, and inspected them carefully.

After a long moment, the sir appeared to have finished his inspection. Finally, he casually tossed a few into his own mouth and chewed them with relish. "The horse feed is fine. It's good stuff."