Chapter 28: The Ten-Day Drill

On the fourth day of the tenth month, Platoon Leader Bin led a troop of county conscripts to Cloud Dream Marsh to hunt down bandits, but after several days of searching they still found nothing. Only on the morning of the ten-day drill did he return to the parade ground in a huff.

After coming back, Platoon Leader Bin sensed something amiss: those county conscripts who had stayed at the parade ground these past days dared to whisper among themselves when they saw him from afar, and his rival, Platoon Leader Chen, wore a smirk that was not quite a smile.

In the end, it was only after one of his trusted men leaned in and whispered a few words in his ear that Platoon Leader Bin learned the whole story.

"Is this true?"

His face was full of disbelief. How could it be? When he had left, the Gui squad led by that Hei Fu could only stand and squat in place, making no progress at all. How, after just a few days, had they become what everyone was calling "in perfect order"?

But by now it was too late for Platoon Leader Bin to investigate the reasons. Shortly after breakfast, the two County Commandants of Anlu County had already arrived outside the gate...

From a distance, Platoon Leader Bin and Platoon Leader Chen, who were waiting outside the parade ground, saw a war chariot drawn by two horses slowly approaching. Standing on the chariot were two military officers, dressed in knee-length long robes, with chest armor overlaid with colored straps and colored borders, long trousers below, upturned pointed shoes on their feet, and long double-panel caps on their heads.

The arrivals were precisely the two Commandants of Anlu County. The two men stood side by side, and after dismounting, they exchanged a round of deferential courtesies before finally walking into the parade ground together.

The County Right Commandant was the senior officer, named Du Xian, a man from the Guanzhong region of Qin. He had been transferred to Anlu three years prior, and had a typical Guanzhong square face, with two thick mustaches above his lip. When he spoke, his strong Qin accent was completely out of place with the local Chu dialect.

The County Left Commandant was the deputy, named Yun Man, a local of Anlu. The Yun clan had a long and storied history, traceable back to the feudal Yunzi state four or five hundred years ago. During the centuries of Chu rule, the Yun clan had served as local grandees for generations. After Qin occupied the Jianghan region, part of the Yun clan followed the Chu king eastward, while part remained, becoming the largest local power. Yun Man's beard was rather sparse, his eyes long and narrow, and he very amiably greeted the various officers on the parade ground in the local dialect.

The two men were all smiles and appeared very close, but only trusted aides like Platoon Leader Bin and Platoon Leader Chen knew that although the two County Commandants did not fight openly on the surface, they were constantly competing in secret.

It could be said that Right Commandant Du Xian, being an outside official, tended to cultivate outsiders, local commoners, or talents transferred from the commandery academy, such as Platoon Leader Chen. Left Commandant Yun Man represented the local powers and liked to promote those with connections, like Platoon Leader Bin and the Chief of Huyang Village.

But no matter how great the differences in their origins and personalities, or how deep the accumulated grievances of daily life, they still worked together under the laws of Qin and had never yet fallen out openly. It was instead their trusted subordinates, Platoon Leader Chen and Platoon Leader Bin, who fought with each other with great relish.

Du Xian and Yun Man thus entered the parade ground together and took their seats on the earthen platform, Du Xian in the main seat and Yun Man in the secondary seat, their conversation still not pausing.

As the local military commanders, aside from the day's weather, what they discussed more was, of course, the recent military actions of Qin.

"Did the Left Commandant see the victory bulletin delivered from the commandery by the postal courier this morning?" Du Xian's face was full of smiles beneath his thick mustache.

"This subordinate has seen it." Yun Man also adopted a subordinate's posture and smiled. "Only a few days ago we learned that the King had raised troops to attack Yan; I never imagined results would come so quickly!"

"That is only natural." Du Xian stroked his beard. "After all, the commander-in-chief is the old general Wang, the Four-Horse Chariot Commoner Chief. Yan and Dai are both his defeated foes. Though they sent troops to block the royal army, they were like mantises trying to stop a chariot, easily routed by the old general on the banks of the Yi River."

Yun Man nodded repeatedly. "Although the victory bulletin only arrived today, that battle was already fought in the middle of last year's ninth month. By now, the old general Wang has probably already captured the lower capital of Yan and laid siege to Ji City! Yan's cause is lost."

"Hahaha, indeed. The only thing the people of Yan can rely on now is the harsh winter. Presumably, in another two or three months, when spring arrives, you and I will receive the victory bulletin of Yan's destruction and the heads of the King of Yan and Crown Prince Dan. However..."

Du Xian's tone shifted, and his face darkened as he said, "Though the old general Wang's destruction of Yan is a good thing, it has little bearing on Nan Commandery or our Anlu County. The Commandery Commandant also mentioned in his letter that recently Chu has been stirring restlessly, showing signs of sending troops to harass the border. Therefore, at the start of the month, veteran soldiers from each county were dispatched to the border passes for defense. Anlu County neighbors Chu and cannot afford to be unguarded."

Yun Man lowered his voice. "In the Right Commandant's view, will Qin and Chu go to war this year?"

"There will be small skirmishes. Chu has always been the leader of the Vertical Alliance, and from time to time we must send troops to give them a knock. But a major war is unlikely."

Du Xian pointed north and smiled. "Don't forget, the state of Wei in the north still exists!"

Yun Man seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "So it seems, you and I can still have a few years of peace and quiet."

"Quite right, quite right. The King has already destroyed Han and Zhao, and Yan is expected to fall any day now. Sooner or later, he will send a great army to attack Chu. When that time comes, we will surely have to lead troops into battle. For now, let us diligently clear out bandits, train the troops, and wait patiently."

"Hahaha, the Right Commandant speaks reason. I just wonder if, when that time comes, the Right Commandant will still be in Anlu."

Du Xian's expression stiffened, and then he too burst into loud laughter.

The two men looked at each other and laughed, but their eyes held no trace of mirth, each lost in his own thoughts.

Du Xian was constantly displaying his well-informed status as the senior officer, while Yun Man did not confront him directly, only throwing in a jab at the very end: "I just wonder if, when that time comes, the Right Commandant will still be in Anlu." This was because he had heard that the commandery intended to transfer Du Xian to Yan County. If so, this old Guanzhong official who had been suppressing him for three years would have to scram, and would likely miss out on a war of conquest.

Each man had his own backing and his own little schemes, which was why they had been evenly matched for three years, neither daring to fall out completely.

While they were chatting, the two Platoon Leaders had already led up the rotating conscripts training this month, who stood on the parade ground in a dark, dense mass.

The two County Commandants then stopped their conversation. Right Commandant Du Xian nodded to Platoon Leader Chen and said, "Begin!"

Platoon Leader Chen acknowledged the order and commanded the drums to be beaten. Amid the rumbling of the drumbeats, the ten-day grand drill officially began...

"Platoon Leader Chen, this month's rotating conscripts have trained their formation order very poorly."

Right Commandant Du Xian knelt on a rush mat behind a low table, watching the squads of rotating conscripts pass by below the platform one after another, shaking his head repeatedly.

Starting with the Jia squad, nine squads had successively marched past the platform in formation, demonstrating the four basic formations: sitting and rising, marching and halting, turning left and right, and moving forward and backward.

As for dispersing and assembling, and forming and dissolving formations, those would be practiced in the next few days by combining all the rotating conscripts together. At that time, some wooden clubs and bamboo poles would also be distributed as substitutes for dagger-axes and spears. To actually get their hands on real weapons, they would have to wait until they were formally conscripted into the army. Qin's management of standard military weapons was still very strict.

However, in Du Xian's view, even with the simplest four formations, these rotating conscripts had trained very poorly.

The Jia squad was the best he had seen. The squad leader standing at the very front, Yuan Bai, was an old campaigner, and the rotating conscripts he led were barely orderly when marching. It was just unclear why, on what was a cold winter day, Yuan Bai was sweating profusely and somewhat distracted. During the demonstration of "turning left and right," he even nearly turned the wrong way.

If even the Jia squad was like this, the remaining eight squads—Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, and Ren—were even more barely satisfactory.

Among them, some were scattered and disorderly, some had no order at all, some were inconsistent and crooked while marching, and some, when commanded to halt and stand still, still had men walking forward in a daze, bumping into the person ahead and causing the formation to become even more chaotic, making people from other squads unable to hold back their laughter.

Watching this scene, Du Xian's face turned black. Just this morning the commandery had ordered him to strengthen vigilance and intensify training, and now at noon he was seeing these rotating conscripts so incompetent. It truly infuriated him. Platoon Leader Chen, watching the Right Commandant's expression from the side, could not help but feel a bit apprehensive.

Yun Man, however, was quite optimistic and consoled him from the side. "The Right Commandant can rest easy. After all, they are just rotating conscripts and soldiers. Can they be trained into elite troops in a mere ten days? Moreover, this time most of the veterans have been conscripted to the border for alert duty. Those who came for service this time are mostly young men not yet fully grown. How can they be compared to county soldiers or veterans?"

"That makes sense."

Du Xian struggled to suppress his anger. He had already assessed that among these nine squads, the Jia squad was still the best. As for the other squads... if it were possible, he really wanted to grade eight of them as "Last" and punish them severely, to see if anyone would dare not take the drill to heart in the future!

At that moment, Platoon Leader Chen came over and said, "Two superior officers, there is still one squad that has not yet drilled."

"Presumably it will be the same as the previous squads. No need to watch." Left Commandant Yun Man glared at Platoon Leader Bin in the distance and said coldly.

How could that be allowed? Platoon Leader Chen hurriedly said, "This subordinate dares to report to the County Commandants, this Gui squad is the best trained among all the rotating conscripts. Its squad leader is Hei Fu of Cloud Dream Village, who was appointed as a First Rank Official a few days ago for capturing three Cloud Dream Marsh bandits. Right Commandant, do you still remember?"

"So it's him!"

Du Xian nodded. He remembered now. The county prison had specifically informed him that Hei Fu could be allowed to be one day late. Afterwards, Platoon Leader Chen had also mentioned that because Hei Fu had won the lawsuit against the Chief of Huyang Village, he was being spitefully harassed by the Left Commandant's son-in-law, Platoon Leader Bin...

Thinking this, Du Xian glanced at the Left Commandant's expression, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He said, "As County Commandant, the ten-day grand drill is my duty. How can I not see it through from beginning to end? Platoon Leader Chen, have the Gui squad come up quickly, and let us also see what kind of man this brave bandit-catcher is."

"Yes!"

Platoon Leader Chen cast a triumphant smile at the ashen-faced Platoon Leader Bin. With a wave of the flag in his hand, the Gui squad, which had been waiting for a long time on the other side of the parade ground, slowly walked over.

Du Xian straightened up to look, and saw that the squad leader at the very front of the Gui squad was a dark-skinned man. He stood seven and a half feet tall, his steps steady, his expression solemn. Though what he held was just an ordinary thick bamboo pole, in his hands it seemed to become a bright military banner, or a sharp long spear!

The members of the Gui squad, following the squad leader's steps just like that, marched into view in a neat formation...

(End of chapter)