Chapter 17: Personal Soldier Camp

Rows of barracks built with blue bricks and green tiles were arranged in neat, uniform lines across the plain. In front of the barracks was a drill ground with rammed earth, where various pieces of military equipment used for training—such as spears, bows and arrows, and stone locks and stone wheels for strength training—were neatly laid out.

A wall built of mud and straw, over a zhang high and nearly six chi thick, enclosed the entire military camp, leaving only two large gates in the east and west for entry and exit.

Several watchtowers were built along the wall inside both gates; if a sudden war broke out, they could be used to observe enemy movements or harass the enemy with bows and arrows.

On both sides of the camp gates, anti-cavalry obstacles were placed to prevent surprise attacks by cavalry.

While called a military camp, it was actually more like a military fortress; if a war broke out, one could hold out here.

If the enemy wanted to take this place, they would have to spend time transporting siege equipment or launch a frontal assault with several times the number of troops.

If they bypassed this place, the soldiers in the camp could take the opportunity to harass the enemy's logistics and grain supplies.

This place was not far from the official road, so it was impossible for the enemy to transport grain without bypassing it.

But these arrangements and preparations were indeed of little use in peacetime, especially in the territory of Xingyuan Prefecture, where war was almost impossible.

Yet, from the soldiers stationed on the watchtowers to those responsible for patrolling and standing guard, one could see the strictness of Sun Jiangjun's governance and the rigor of his work.

Even though there could never be a war in Xingyuan Prefecture, he and his Personal Soldiers never slacked off.

He was truly worthy of being a veteran general who had spent years fighting in the Border Army.

"Brother Five, how is the food in our Personal Soldier camp? Is there meat? Can we eat our fill of fine grain?" Chen Mo asked Mo Hu with a look of curiosity.

He had wanted to ask this for a long time, but since Mo Hu had ridden a horse while he sat in a carriage all the way here, he had never had the chance to ask.

Now that he finally had the opportunity, he naturally had to seize it.

He didn't particularly care about other situations in the Personal Soldier camp, but one thing was important: how the food was.

Only by eating well and being full could he accumulate Qi and Blood strength faster.

"Ha, don't you worry about that. In our Personal Soldier camp, we eat white flour at every meal, and there is never a shortage of meat."

Hearing Chen Mo's question, Mo Hu couldn't help but laugh as he answered.

He had brought many people into the Personal Soldier camp before; some had asked him about the amount of the Personal Soldiers' pay and whether it could be issued on time.

Others had asked him about Sun Jiangjun's official rank and grade, wanting to know if they could achieve success and earn titles for their wives and children by following the old man.

Still others were concerned about how the Personal Soldier camp trained and what things they needed to learn and be tested on.

Only Chen Mo was so earnest and simple in his concern for the food and treatment.

However, he had a very good impression of Chen Mo regarding this question; an honest person who only cared about eating was good. It meant that as long as he was fed, everything else would be easy to handle.

"Brother Five is back." Seeing Mo Hu arrive, many Personal Soldiers on guard at the camp gate smiled and greeted him, clearly showing that he held a certain status in the Personal Soldier camp.

"Mm." Mo Hu nodded in response and led Chen Mo into the military camp.

"You are a newly joined Personal Soldier. You don't need to worry about other matters for the first three months; just focus on training. After three months, you will be assigned to a squad and given duties." Mo Hu introduced the situation to Chen Mo as they walked.

In the Great Gan military organization, five men make a squad, led by a Squad Leader; two squads make a platoon, led by a Shizhang; three platoons make a company, led by a Company Commander; five companies make a battalion, led by a Battalion Commander.

All these official positions are considered unranked, having a grade but no rank.

Beyond that, three battalions make a regiment, led by a Colonel.

The Wang Xiaowei whom Chen Mo saw earlier was at this level, belonging to the lowest Ninth-Rank Martial Officer in the Great Gan military.

Currently, there were not many people in the Personal Soldier camp, so no Company Commanders were appointed; people were divided by companies, and the Company Commanders were directly under the command and dispatch of Sun Jiangjun.

Chen Mo listened very carefully; he would be staying in the Personal Soldier camp for a long time, so these things were naturally important.

For a Personal Soldier who had just joined the camp like him, the monthly pay was one tael of silver, with one day of rest every ten days; on rest days, in addition to regular meals, two jin of meat and one jin of wine were provided extra.

On normal days, one could eat their fill of fine grain, with three meals a day, vegetables at every meal, and meat at noon every day.

This treatment could almost be called luxurious.

And the reason Sun Jiangjun could provide such generous treatment to his Personal Soldiers was because his position and power were high enough.

He was the Right Fifth Rank Town Defense General of Xingyuan Prefecture, overseeing all military affairs in the prefecture.

This was the limit for a Martial Official who could directly command troops.

One could certainly be promoted further, but one would not be able to directly control military power in peacetime.

The Great Gan system was divided into counties, prefectures, and provinces; the Imperial Court would not allow anyone to hold military power over an entire province, so a prefecture was the limit.

The Town Defense General of each prefecture was only supervised by the Imperial Court in peacetime and was not under the jurisdiction of anyone else.

Sun Jiangjun held the military power of a prefecture and pocketed an unknown amount of empty pay every year, so it was naturally more than enough to support his Personal Soldiers.

However, Sun Jiangjun was not in the camp yet, and if Chen Mo wanted to see him, he would have to wait at least another month or so.

Of course, not being able to see Sun Jiangjun did not affect his other situations in the New Soldier Camp; for a Personal Soldier like him who had just joined, he could just train slowly.

There was still a long time to spend in the military camp, and he would see Sun Jiangjun sooner or later.

Listening to Mo Hu introduce the situation in the military camp along the way, Chen Mo had already arrived in front of a row of barracks.

"There aren't many people in our camp right now, so there is still plenty of space; you can choose for yourself, but there are no beds or anything, so I'll accompany you to collect them later."

Mo Hu pointed to the empty blue-brick barracks in front of him and said.

Originally, the Personal Soldier camp, including him, had over four hundred people, but after a battle at the border a few months ago, they were reduced to only a hundred or so.

That was why Sun Jiangjun requested to return to Xingyuan Prefecture to train troops, and because the losses were so heavy that they could not be replenished by fellow clansmen and fellow villagers for a time, the scope of recruitment was expanded.

"I'll take this one." Chen Mo looked at the house in front of him, feeling quite satisfied inside.

This room was built entirely of bluestone, and even the floor was paved with bluestone slabs that fit tightly together; it was much better than the barracks he had lived in before.

It also occupied a fairly wide area, over a zhang long and over a zhang wide; living with two or three people was not a problem at all.

More importantly, this room actually had a window in addition to the door.

It was many times better than the barracks he had lived in before.

With Mo Hu's help, Chen Mo went to the logistics officer to collect a wooden bed, a wooden table, two long benches, bedding, and two sets of Personal Soldier uniforms.

After tidying up and organizing the room briefly, the time had already reached evening.

"Let's go, Brother Five will take you to eat, and let you see the food in our military camp!" As it neared mealtime, Mo Hu took the initiative to call Chen Mo.

The barracks where he lived were not far from the barracks where Chen Mo lived, with only three barracks in between.

"Hey!" Chen Mo put down the thatch broom in his hand and hurried to keep up with his pace.

Outside the barracks door, besides Mo Hu, there was another person of extreme height, at least six and a half feet tall, with a taut face, not saying a word.

"This is my brother, my own brother Mo Dao; you can just call him Fourth Brother," Mo Hu introduced him.

"Fourth Brother," Chen Mo called out with a smile.

"Hmm," Mo Dao nodded slightly, still not saying much.

"My brother is just this kind of temperament, cold on the outside but warm on the inside, and doesn't like to talk much; you'll know once you have more contact with him later," Mo Hu said quite familiarly, hooking his arm around Chen Mo's shoulder.

There were not many people eating in the mess hall; many Personal Soldiers were, like Mo Hu, sent by Sun Jiangjun to select new Personal Soldiers everywhere, and a considerable number of them had not yet returned.

If it weren't for Mo Hu needing to send Chen Mo back first, he might not have been able to return to the military camp now either.

A few people familiar with Mo Hu greeted him, while more people sized Chen Mo up with curious gazes.

Paying no mind to those curious gazes, Chen Mo took a large bowl from the side, ladled a big portion of tofu stewed with cabbage, picked up eight white flour steamed buns, and began to eat as if no one else were around.

It had to be said that the food in this Personal Soldier camp was indeed countless times better than when he was raising horses, and there was no limit on the quantity, ensuring one could eat their fill.

After finishing his meal and returning to the room to rest, the next day Chen Mo began training together with the other newly joined Personal Soldiers under Mo Hu's lead.

There were not many people who could lift a three-hundred-jin stone, but looking across the entire Xingyuan Prefecture barracks, there were eleven or twelve such people in total.

In addition, there were some of Sun Jiangjun's clansmen and fellow townsmen, with fifty or sixty people also being added to the Personal Soldier camp.

Chen Mo trained together with them, and in the blink of an eye, two months passed.

(End of this chapter)