Chapter 482: New Recruits

On the ninth day of the seventh month, two battalions of the Dengzhou Garrison stationed at Qingzhou and Pingdu suddenly surrounded the camp of Liu Zeqing at Anqiu County. This man, originally one of the Four Garrisons of Jiangbei in history, was so terrified he hid in his camp and dared not come out. Fortunately, the Dengzhou Garrison did not attack the camp immediately, only cutting off all routes of attack and forbidding any mounted patrols from entering or leaving.

Geng Zhongming's unit crossed directly over the border of Jinan Prefecture and encamped at the still-unrepaired seat of Xincheng County. This place had suffered the ravages of Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng in the fourth year of Chongzhen; the mere reputation of the Liao soldiers was enough to stop children crying at night. Geng Zhongming was also not part of the regular Dengzhou Garrison. Although his seven hundred retainers still had some fighting ability, their military discipline could not compare to that of the authentic Dengzhou soldiers.

Adding some temporarily recruited auxiliary troops, the total number was around two thousand. On the Gaoyuan border neighboring Qingzhou Prefecture, there was a company commander's unit from the First Battalion providing support, and with the Dengzhou soldiers backing them from behind, Geng Zhongming grew even more insolent.

Refugees around Xincheng surged like a tide toward the direction of Jinan. Xu Congzhi, the Provincial Governor of Shandong, had enjoyed a few years of comfortable life and was finally encountering trouble. Xu Congzhi had no troops to deploy. The roving bandits had now entered Henan, and his personal battalion was still in Yanzhou Prefecture guarding against the bandits and could not be transferred for the moment. The canal transport troops were even less able to move. The only force at his disposal was the Wude Army, which had utterly disgraced the Shandong soldiers in the fourth year of Chongzhen and was fundamentally unreliable. Therefore, Xu Congzhi could only send an urgent report to the imperial court, requesting the court to mobilize troops for support. In addition, he also sent an urgent letter to Wang Ting, asking him to restrain the Deng-Lai army.

Troop movements occurred everywhere in Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Qingzhou. In the southern part of Qingzhou, where Dengzhou's influence was weak, troops also appeared, directly besieging the county seats. Mounted scouts constantly moved in and out of Yizhou, the vital route east of Yanzhou. The entire Shandong was thrown into turmoil.

Jinan Prefecture was in chaos from soldiers and turmoil, yet Dengzhou Prefecture, the source of the unrest, remained calm. Apart from a decrease in the number of Dengzhou soldiers going out, almost no change could be seen.

Various ships coming to Deng-Lai to purchase tobacco still entered and left the naval port. Only, on the docks, there were more men in black, inspecting every ship about to load cargo.

Lu Zhi, in the attic of the Army Supervisor's office at the southeast corner, observed the scene on the docks. He walked slowly down the stairs. Below, Eunuch Zhang Xiao was waiting anxiously and said to Lu Zhi with worry, "My lord, that subordinate of Lord Chen, named Zhou Shifa, insists on searching all ships that are dispatching goods."

"Oh, who are they trying to catch?"

Eunuch Zhang Xiao lowered his voice and said, "It's a scout under Jiang Yuegui. This man is extremely alert and wasn't caught by the Dengzhou Garrison."

Lu Zhi paused for a moment and said, "Is it the one in the cellar of our wing room?"

Eunuch Zhang Xiao said, "Yes. Zhou Shifa must have received word that he came to the naval port. This strict inspection of incoming and outgoing ships is also directed at us, telling us that he knows this man is in the naval port."

Lu Zhi looked at Eunuch Zhang Xiao. "Then give him to him. Dead."

The young eunuch Zhang stared blankly and said, "But he is from the Eastern Depot. Wouldn't it be somewhat improper for us to do it ourselves?"

"Chen Xin cannot come to my office to arrest someone. That would be tearing off all pretense of civility, but I still have to get along with him. I can only give him a dead one. He just needs a face-saving result to report back." Lu Zhi sighed leisurely. "I just said, these people from the Eastern Depot have come at a bad time."

"Old Eunuch Lu, are we really going to kill that Eastern Depot agent ourselves?"

Lu Zhi laughed in his shrill voice, "Scared? You think it's us who want to kill him? Have you ever considered, Jiang Yuegui told the Depot Director his whereabouts. Why would the Depot Director send him to find me?"

A look of alarm appeared on the young eunuch's face, then quickly settled into calm. Still somewhat incredulous, he asked, "Old Eunuch Lu, do you mean that the Depot Director fundamentally wanted us to know these people's whereabouts, to let us deal with those who don't understand the situation?"

Lu Zhi clasped his hands behind his back, took two steps, and said in a low voice, "Not deliberately to deal with them, but if there is no other choice, then we'll just have to put them out a bit."

The young eunuch suddenly understood and said, "So that's how it is. The Depot Director is indeed the Depot Director. But Jiang Yuegui still caused a huge disaster. Now both the Left and Right Auxiliaries of Dengzhou are clamoring..."

Lu Zhi laughed heartily, "Ah, you're still too young and inexperienced. Let the Left and Right Auxiliaries clamor. What's the big deal about surrounding a Liu Zeqing? Everything in Dengzhou is as usual. The Left Auxiliary didn't make a direct move on the Grand Canal, which means Chen Xin has left room for compromise, just waiting for the court to give him back some face. The Eastern Depot killed someone from the Dengzhou Garrison. If Chen Xin just went silent without any reaction, how would those soldiers under him still respect him?"

"Then what is the court going to do this time?"

"What is there to do?" Lu Zhi smiled, tucking his hands into his sleeves. "This time, Chen Xin has targeted the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The civil officials are all cheering, and no one will come out to speak against it. Jiang Yuegui is dead anyway, so he must carry this black pot. But Chen Xin won't keep biting at Eunuch Cao and not let go either. Once the court relents, the troops in Qingzhou will be withdrawn. The crucial point is, now that Chen Xin has shown this hand, the court's heart is very uneasy. For a year or so, no one will come to provoke the Dengzhou Garrison again. This is what Chen Xin truly wants."

Eunuch Zhang Xiao shook his head and said, "It still comes down to the Dengzhou Garrison being strong."

Lu Zhi nodded and said, "Now that's a true statement. What I find puzzling is, they're all just mud-legged peasants. Why is it that once they enter the Dengzhou Garrison, they become strong soldiers, while his Liu Zeqing gets surrounded inside? How does he train them?"

At the Pingdu training base, Tang Wei walked in a three-file column, carrying a backpack. He looked left and right all the way. The vast parade ground was a hubbub of voices, countless figures sweating profusely under the scorching sun. Cheers erupted intermittently from the sports field on the west side of the parade ground, where a football match was underway. Although Tang Wei had always been of military registration, he had rarely stayed in the camp. Later, when he was in Henan, he lived in a military camp and was quite familiar with the atmosphere in the army, and he basically knew about the activities often held there.

Today was still his first day entering the training base. Last time, he had used Liu Minyou's influence to get into the recruit camp and enjoyed a few good days in Changyi. Soon, their recruit assignments were sorted out. Those who had trained in martial arts were all picked out and sent to the Wendeng base to practice the Mandarin Duck Formation with cold weapons, while ordinary soldiers stayed at the Pingdu training base. The Pingdu batch was organized into squads of fifteen, with each instructor in charge of three squads.

"Pangzi, looks like those over there are all teenage soldiers," Xie Fei behind him said in a low voice. This "Tatar Player" had also returned to Deng-Lai. When he reached Changyi, he also came to sign up and similarly passed the selection.

"I don't care about them. I'm going to be my own combat soldier." Tang Wei looked at the parade ground and training field with slight excitement. He felt he was starting to like this atmosphere. Now he was a combat soldier, not a ridiculous Tatar Player.

Nearly a thousand recruits stood in the middle of the parade ground. The veterans walking by occasionally glanced at them. Tang Wei looked at the platform. The Mobilization Department officer who had led them there was handing over the recruit roster to the training base. Soon, a tall officer came to count heads, waving a bamboo branch. He tapped heads one by one from left to right to count, just like buying fat pigs at a vegetable market.

Tang Wei had undergone some formation training in the past few days, and the Mobilization Department officers had also told them the basic discipline. So when the bamboo branch came over, he stood with his chest out and head high. The officer walked past Tang Wei with a glance, the bamboo branch tapping Tang Wei's head. Just as Tang Wei breathed a sigh of relief, the officer stepped back in front of him.

He looked Tang Wei up and down and said, "You. Pangzi, run five laps around the parade ground." He turned his head and roared at the review platform, "Five-lap hourglass, start timing."

Tang Wei stared dumbly at the officer. The officer tilted his head. "Pangzi, if you can't run within the standard, then you lied your way in here, and I'll make you regret it."

Xie Fei saw that Tang Wei was still in a daze and quickly pushed Tang Wei's hand. "Run, quickly, the timing has started."

The officer immediately turned his head toward Xie Fei and said with a half-smile, "Speaking without permission. You go run too."

Xie Fei was dumbfounded. The recruiting officer came over and scolded, "Why aren't you running yet!"

Two recruits were punished on their very first day. Behind them, a lean, dark-skinned, tough instructor swung a bamboo cane as thick as a thumb at Tang Wei, who was running last. Many instructors and veterans stood to the side, leisurely watching the excitement.

"Last lap! Pangzi, hurry up!"

Xie Fei said while panting. Tang Wei's mouth was parched and his tongue dry from running, too weak to answer, and he nodded slightly. Another bamboo cane lashed down from behind. Tang Wei grimaced in pain, mustered his remaining strength to run a few steps, sped up a little, then immediately slowed down again.

The bamboo branch cracked loudly on Tang Wei's back. Xie Fei gritted his teeth, slowed his pace, and fell behind Tang Wei. The instructor then immediately started beating Xie Fei. Xie Fei pushed Tang Wei's back and cursed, "Damn fatso, can't you have some pride? You're like this after just five laps around the parade ground, and you still want a medal? Guan Xiaomei is definitely going to marry Xu Pingjie."

"Guan Xiaomei!" The utterly exhausted Tang Wei's eyes widened. He suddenly let out a great roar and charged forward fiercely.

Before these recruits even reached their dormitories on the first day, the Mobilization Department instructors gave them a show of force, drilling them in formation and running all morning. The squads were reorganized again, and squadmates all became unfamiliar recruits. Fortunately, Xie Fei was still in the same squad as Tang Wei.

They finally made it to mealtime. Tang Wei was already ravenously hungry. The two went to the assembly point to gather, listened to the instructor finish the morning summary, and then the instructor announced the afternoon training plan. The afternoon would be cleaning the dormitories and practicing three-file formation marching.

Tang Wei thought it should be easier than the morning. When he was in the propaganda team, he had watched the detached units drill. They had multiple deployment methods, the most common being deploying from a marching column into a line formation. The marching column had various formations to suit different road widths, the main ones being three-man, five-man, and fifteen-man abreast, corresponding to a file column, a squad-width column, and a section-width column. Tang Wei was fairly quick-witted and felt that formations would be no problem for him.

After the instructor finished speaking, he loudly ordered a right turn. The song of joining the army rose everywhere on the drill ground. The instructor shouted, "Recruit Company Thirteen, the army song, ready, begin..."

"Yellow sands stretch vast, no man in sight, only the sounds of battle are heard." Tang Wei and the others sang themselves hoarse. There was no melody at all in the formation, just a contest of who could shout louder. Many recruits had only learned the song after being conscripted and were all just roaring along chaotically, still unclear on the lyrics. Roaring all the way, they reached the entrance of the mess hall. Every recruit company was forming up at the entrance, then led inside by their platoon instructors. The smell of red-braised pork wafted out, and a flood of saliva quickly welled up in Tang Wei's mouth.

It was finally their turn to enter. Tang Wei squeezed his bowl a few times and followed the others into the mess hall. The instructor assigned their squad to sit at a long table.

The training officer of the training base stood at the front and organized them to sing "The River All Red" once more. The sound inside the mess hall was deafening. The recruits, anxious to eat, sang faster and faster, nearly doubling the tempo.

The training officer shouted, "Eat!"

The mess hall erupted with the chaotic clatter of chopsticks hitting bowls. Tang Wei and Xie Fei were usually in the propaganda team, where there were many women, and even the male members were relatively refined. Everyone ate slowly, so they didn't rush to grab food either. Tang Wei was still making small talk with a comrade beside him who had thick, sturdy legs. That man didn't speak to him at all, his mouth stuffed full, his chopsticks flying swiftly.

After a few sentences, Tang Wei realized something was wrong. He exchanged a glance with Xie Fei beside him. The two hurriedly stretched out their chopsticks to grab meat. Chopsticks darted chaotically at the red-braised pork. Tang Wei reached in several times but failed to pick up any meat. Anxious, he went to pick up meat slices from the soup, but after stirring around, he only fished up a few vegetable leaves. Xie Fei fared the same. A clattering din erupted around the big bowl of red-braised pork. By the time Tang Wei's chopsticks finally broke through the encirclement, the big bowl had spun around and stopped, with only a little oily broth left inside.

Tang Wei froze for a moment, just thinking about how to scoop up that bit of oily broth, when the thick-legged man beside him had already grabbed the empty bowl, poured it all into his own bowl in one go, and then chewed loudly mixed with his coarse grain rice.

Tang Wei was dumbstruck. He hurriedly reached for the last coarse grain flatbread in another bowl, but his hand was beaten to it by Xie Fei. Tang Wei had to go to other bowls to pick vegetables, but he was always a step behind everyone else.

By the time he thought to grab a steamed bun, the container was already empty. Tang Wei looked around blankly; everyone was eating with their heads down, chewing loudly. Only a large basin of soup remained on the table. Fury burning in his heart, Tang Wei grabbed the soup bowl and gulped it down into his mouth.

His stomach growling, he walked to the dormitory. The instructor leading the team brought them into a tiled house. Some recruits from the fortified villages exclaimed in amazement and received a few kicks from the instructor.

The instructor had them stand in a circle in the middle and said to these men, "I am your instructor. My name is Liu Liu, a man from Liaodong. I've fought at Jinzhou, fought at Fuzhou, and fought in the Battle of Lushun. I crawled out from piles of dead men. Since you're following me, don't tell me about hardship. Those who can't take it can get lost."

Tang Wei straightened his back and puffed out his chest, sneaking a glance at the skinny monkey of an instructor before him — skin as black as charcoal, yet brimming with energy.

Liu Liu swept his gaze around and said, "Each squad picks one squad leader and three corporals. Choose among yourselves, find someone who can write, and hand the list to me in one quarter-hour. Any squad that hasn't chosen by then gets collective punishment. Dismissed."

Liu Liu left as soon as he finished speaking. Tang Wei dashed to the innermost corner, threw his bedding onto the bed, and secured a good spot. Xie Fei did the same. Both had spent time in the propaganda unit and had some experience with communal living. The beds near the outer edge were the easiest for people to sit on, getting filthy, and people constantly walked through the aisle there, disturbing rest the most. The corner spots were far better.

Some of the pure greenhorns reacted more slowly, picking here and there. After a dozen or so had chosen, they sat back down on their stools, forming a circle and looking at each other, unsure of what to do.

Tang Wei figured time was almost up. Not wanting to run another five laps, he quickly said, "Everyone, hurry up. This is a recruit squad leader, not a combat squad leader. Whoever wants it can take it. Let's all introduce ourselves first. I'm Tang Wei, nineteen, from Aoshan Guard. I've fought the Purple-Gold Beam."

After speaking, Tang Wei turned to the thick-legged man beside him who had grabbed the red-braised pork and said, "This brother here, your turn."

"Su Cudui, twenty-one. Used to work the stone press at a dyehouse."

"Wang Zhanqing, from Henan. I'm a Licentiate, but I don't like writing. I like cutting people with a knife."

"Jiang Laowu, from Shanxi... refugee."

"Xie Fei, from Huangxian. Fought bandits."

"Huang Shan, from Xuanfu. Fought in the Lushun campaign."

"Yuan Guzi, from Qingzhou. Adopted son of a combat hero." (To be continued...)