Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Before Qian Chen arrived in Jinzhou, Zhang Jinping took Chen Dong and other scholars and some family members of soldiers south to Chengdu.

In ancient times, if soldiers were going to be away from home for several years during a war, they often had to be accompanied by their family members.

It doesn’t have to be a wife, it can also be a brother.

For example, among the guardsmen in the Ming Dynasty, the eldest son inherited the military status, and the second and third sons were military remnants, which was equivalent to the younger brothers serving as auxiliary soldiers for the elder brother. The military pay and trophies received by the eldest brother are often placed with the brothers, otherwise they cannot fight with a few kilograms of copper coins.

There are also places to store money in the military, but when soldiers die, they are easily hacked, and the money is often not sent to their families, or only part of it is given to their families.

Having family members accompanying the army can not only alleviate the soldiers' homesickness, but also allow them to feel more secure about their money.

These family members cannot enter the military camp and are often concentrated near the military camp. When not training, soldiers can live with their families, and the troops can save some military rations.

Zhang Jinping and his party arrived in Lizhou and met soldiers heading north.

The troops from Hanzhong were sent back by Ju Ming in two armies (6,000 men). These people can be stationed near their hometowns, which not only facilitates reunion with their families, but also allows these six thousand elites to guard Hanzhong, otherwise it will be difficult to withstand the Western Army's front.

As for Chengdu, Ju Ming organized the auxiliary troops into three regular armies (mostly surrendered Jianmen officers and soldiers), and recruited some young men from Shu as auxiliary troops.

"Mom, Dad, take care!"

Before Jiameng Pass, Zhang Jinping said goodbye to his parents.

She wanted to go to Chengdu through Jianmen, while Zhang Gen and Huang went to Langzhong.

Mrs. Huang warned: "When you meet your husband, you will be treated as a good wife. Your status now is extraordinary."

Zhang Jinping said: "My daughter can save it."

Zhang Gen said: "If Zhu Chenggong is close to women, one or two is fine. If there are more, you should dissuade him. If you start a new career, you can't indulge in pleasure, otherwise the good situation will be ruined."

Zhang Jinping said: "My husband is not a womanizer."

"People change," Zhang Gen said. "At such a young age, he has occupied most of Sichuan. When he is satisfied, he will inevitably develop other preferences."

"Daughter, please remember this." Zhang Jinping bowed and saluted.

"Oh, go ahead."

Zhang Gen turned around and boarded the boat, sailing down the Jialing River.

He, Xu Fuyan, and Liu Yao did not say that they were willing to become thieves, and Zhu Guoxiang did not discuss it with them.

After observing the administration for a period of time, everyone's mood became relatively relaxed, and they even occasionally pointed out administrative errors.

One day, Zhu Guoxiang held a banquet to entertain guests. He didn't talk about anything serious during the whole process, but only talked about some old anecdotes.

The invited guests all drank happily, and Zhu Guoxiang suddenly announced his appointment.

The three of them were stunned for a moment, looked at each other, and accepted it as it went. Everything seemed natural.

Now that he thinks about the situation at that time, Zhang Gen can't help but sigh that his father-in-law is so capable and makes people feel comfortable getting along with him.

Everyone was half drunk that night, and it was inevitable that they were a little impulsive, but their minds were sober. Coupled with his understanding of politics and Zhu Guoxiang's personal charm, such a major decision can be made easily.

If it were not drinking, or if it were another formal occasion, the three of them would never agree so easily!

The Jialing River flows slowly, and sleet begins to fall in the sky.

Zhang Gen was a little impatient. He had been an official for thirty years and was always hampered by others. Now he was finally able to let go, as if his official career was ushering in a second spring.

But when Zhang Jinping arrived at Jianzhou City, he met thousands of people heading north.

Chen Dong was quite curious and stepped forward to ask the official: "Why do these people help the elderly and children go north in the middle of winter?"

The official replied respectfully: "Lizhou suffered a military disaster and its population was sparse. There just happened to be too many unemployed people in Chengdu, so the general sent thousands of people to fill Lizhou. He also bought paper clothes and quilts, and distributed some military rations to them. If the wealthy households in Chengdu donate some food, these people will surely be able to settle down in Lizhou."

Wei Liangchen said: "This is a good law. If you don't change your original intention, you will misappropriate military rations to resettle the people."

Chen Dong said: "Mr. moved thousands of people north and recruited troops in Chengdu. I think there are not many unemployed vagrants left in Chengdu."

The best sources of soldiers are, of course, farmers and miners.

However, the "urbanization rate" in the Song Dynasty was very high. Many young people who lived in Guo came from the countryside to work in the city. In fact, they were not much different from farmers. (It was different in the Ming and Qing dynasties. A large number of emerging towns developed across the country, which could absorb surrounding landless farmers, without the need to swarm into cities like in the Song Dynasty. It was only with the rise of towns in the Ming and Qing dynasties that China's rural economic ecology was built and improved.)

When everyone came to Chengdu, the public security there was indeed good, and there were no unemployed people gathering together.

They went to see Ju Ming and each received official positions. Chen Dong and a few others stayed to work under Ju Ming, while the rest were assigned to serve as officials in various states and counties.

"Husband!"

Zhang Jinping smiled. It had been almost three years since the couple separated.

Zheng Yuanyi and the two children did not come. We will wait until Sichuan settles down.

Zhu Ming took his wife to the back house. Zhang Jinping quietly observed for a moment and couldn't help but ask: "My husband is away all the time, so he doesn't have a concubine to take care of him?"

"I'm so busy all day long that I don't have time to have a concubine. I just hire a few maids to take care of me." Ju Ming got a headache just thinking about it. "Finally, dozens of scholars came over. They can share a lot of government affairs."

Zhang Jinping was quite happy and said: "My husband should take a concubine. There are many famous families in Sichuan. It would be good to find one or two to get married with. You can serve your husband and win over the big families at the same time. You can kill two birds with one stone."

Zhu Ming shook his head: "These prominent families in Shu are not comparable to small families. Even though I occupy most of Sichuan, they usually cooperate with my decrees, but they still regard me as a rebel. All the families have done their best. There are only a lot of people who assist the Third Duke, and they are unwilling to give up the benefits of the Song Dynasty easily, and they still hope that the imperial army will come back next year."

Zhang Jinping asked worriedly: "Is my husband confident that he can resist the officers and soldiers?"

Ju Ming smiled and said: "If it were the Western Army a few years ago, I would still be a little scared. What is the Western Army now? Even if it comes back from the battlefield in Hebei, it will still have a serious shortage of troops and have to go back to Shaanxi to replenish it. The temporary replenishment of the Western Army , directly brought to Hanzhong to fight, what is the difference between them and rural soldiers?"

"That's good." Zhang Jinping said happily.

"Don't talk much, I'm going to take a bath first." Ju Ming called the maid to boil the bath water.

Zhang Jinping's face turned red and he went to take care of the bath himself. He could guess what he wanted to do while taking a bath in broad daylight without even thinking.

After entering Chengdu, Ju Ming never had a good rest, so he gave himself half a day off today.

The couple stayed at home for half a day and a night, and woke up refreshed the next day.

Ju Ming rode to the school field outside the city. It was originally a military training ground for Hou Shu, and it also served as a training ground for the Sichuan Forbidden Army and the Xiang Army of the Song Dynasty.

The school field is too small and there are too many soldiers, so they can't practice at all, so they can only rotate among the armies.

Today, the Tengxiang Army is training, including non-combatants, who also need to practice riding skills and be ready to fight at critical moments.

In the training of this mountain cavalry, Ju Ming referred to the Guan Ning Cavalry and Napoleon Cavalry.

Every 25 people are organized into a basic combat unit, with the captain in front, the supervisor at the back, and the flag bearer and messenger following the captain. The two kings are arranged four vertically and five horizontally, and the two kings are placed to the left and right of the captain. Four corps commanders lead the troops on the side and rear of the commander. This is the basic establishment of the Guanning Cavalry.

During combat, the five horizontal rows can be transformed into two horizontal rows to expand the combat width. This became the basic battle formation of Napoleon's cavalry.

The Tengxiang Army has 2,500 soldiers, divided into 100 combat squads.

They can be arranged in any combination, but no matter which formation, there will be officers on the front, rear, left and right. Captains, supervisors, flag bearers, and commanders will lead their cavalry forward, retreat, or change direction according to higher-level command flags. These grassroots officers are the core of the cavalry unit.

As for the specific details, they follow the European cavalry standards of the Napoleonic era.

The horizontal distance between cavalry is three feet. Every four cavalry squads form a large group, leaving enough gaps in the middle to prevent swarming at critical moments.

When the cavalry marches, the footwork is also strictly set, divided into slow steps, quick steps, and cantering.

These were summarized with blood by various European countries during the Napoleonic era. Prior to this, the European cavalry formations were more dense and were constantly adjusted from actual combat.

As for the cavalry in the Song Dynasty, Ju Ming asked the cavalry commanders of the Xiang armies in various places. It seems that there are no strict regulations on the spacing of the cavalry, and they are all roughly arranged based on experience.

Since there is no clock, the only way to measure time is to use a time clock, and calculate the speed based on the running distance in a fixed time.

At this moment, four hundred cavalry are training, and the rest are resting.

After the four hundred cavalry were arranged horizontally in two columns, including the gaps between the four brigades, the width after expansion was 240 meters.

"Woooooo~~~"

There was light snow falling in the sky. As the horn sounded, the captains of each squad ordered the flag bearers to raise the flag.

At the beginning, we moved forward slowly, and the formations of each row were relatively neat.

Then when the flag order changed, the cavalry began to advance quickly, and the horizontal formation curved like an earthworm. Some are fast, some are slow, and they cannot be uniform.

This situation is normal on the battlefield, but training should be as standard as possible.

Among the current Tengxiang troops, some are Han cavalry and some are barbarian cavalry. The former has never ridden a horse, and the latter has never been in formation. It is too difficult for them to train them to follow a unified pace.

"Woooooooooo!~~~~"

The trumpet sound became shorter and faster, and the flag bearer waved the flag more frequently. The four hundred cavalry immediately accelerated their charge, and they turned into a pile of scattered sand. Some of the cavalry from the first column were already mixed with the second column.

The trumpets and flags changed again.

The two brigades on the left and right, led by the commander on the outermost side, slowed down and changed direction, and the squad leader accelerated and rushed to the front to lead the troops.

The two brigades in the middle gradually reined in their horses and stopped, turning around and moving into the front line. The eight supervisors at the end temporarily led their respective teams to charge in the opposite direction.

Four hundred cavalrymen made three tactical changes, causing chaos in an instant.

There are even many cavalry soldiers who can no longer figure out where their squad leaders are. This kind of light cavalry can only bully weak chickens on the battlefield, and it is difficult to make quick tactical actions.

You have to train slowly.