Chapter 202: Refining an Army of 100,000 Infantry and Cavalry
Qin Hao promised to the court that he would lead 30,000 elite cavalry south to support the battle. Considering that the training period of cavalry was relatively long, and the Yanmen Army only had five months of training time, Qin Hao decided to convert all the soldiers into cavalry.
The Yanmen Army originally had 40,000 soldiers, including 15,000 cavalry and 25,000 infantry. However, after continuous battles, nearly 10,000 were damaged, leaving 30,000 truly elite soldiers.
Converting the infantry among the remaining soldiers into cavalry immediately gave the Yanmen Army 15,000 veterans with experience in battlefield fighting. These veterans all had riding experience, so they could easily be trained into elite cavalry.
After all the soldiers were converted into cavalry, the Yanmen Army immediately had 30,000 cavalry that could be brought to the battlefield immediately. As for the remaining troops, they could only recruit again.
As soon as the recruitment notice for the Yanmen Army was posted, people in the four northern counties immediately became excited because the Yanmen Army's treatment was so good that it was too attractive to ordinary people.
The Han Dynasty has never had an army with such high military pay as the Yanmen Army. One person joining the army can even support the whole family. In addition, there are a series of benefits, such as more land, exemption from some miscellaneous taxes, pensions for those killed and disabled in battle, etc.
If you don't join the army, you would be stupid!
Countless young people are rushing to sign up, because everyone knows that the number of applicants for the Yanmen Army is limited, and if they fall behind and are overtaken by others, they will have no chance.
This phenomenon of competing for soldiers is possible only in the four counties of Bingbei, but not anywhere in the Han Dynasty. Most of the population in these four counties are refugees, and being a soldier is the best way out, so That's why so many people are willing to serve as soldiers.
Before the expansion of the Yanmen Army, there were 30,000 soldiers, and 10,000 defenders were directly incorporated into the army. Qin Hao also recruited 10,000 Hu cavalry, so this time only 50,000 soldiers were recruited.
But no one expected that the people's enthusiasm for joining the army was so high, and the number of people who signed up to join the army was as high as 300,000, which made Qin Hao both happy and worried.
The good news is that after 250,000 of the 300,000 people who joined the army are wiped out, the remaining 50,000 must be the essence. The overall quality of the Yanmen Army will be greatly improved, and with a little training, an elite soldier can be trained to fight tough battles.
What worries me is how to win 250,000 people?
The Yanmen Army does not need so many troops for the time being, and cannot afford to support them. There is no other way, so Qin Hao can only raise the recruitment requirements.
After seeing the Yanmen Army's new recruitment requirements, many people were dumbfounded. Only then did they realize that although the Yanmen Army's treatment was good, not everyone could join.
The updated conscription standards are as follows. They must have a clean background, no physical disabilities, and be physically strong. The most important thing is that they must be between 18 and 25 years old.
The key point is age, and this item directly reduces the number of people joining the army by one-third, which makes countless people beat their chests.
Qin Hao was also afraid that some real talents would be missed, so he set up an arena competition. Even if he passed the standard, he could participate. As long as he won the arena competition, he could be directly hired by the Yanmen Army and be reused in a high position.
It's a pity that the arena has been set up for five months and only some second- and third-rate talents have been recruited. Not a single first-rate master has appeared.
Among the millions of refugees, there was no first-class master like this. This made Qin Hao couldn't help but sigh, talents are rare!
Then for the 200,000 candidates, Qin Hao came up with a thorough selection process, such as physical fitness test, strength test, martial arts test and so on.
In the end, this series of tests had only one purpose, which was to reduce the number of soldiers to 50,000. And by using such a luxurious method to select soldiers, Qin Hao was probably the only one in the entire Han Dynasty.
The 200,000 candidates were selected through physical strength, martial arts and other methods, and were finally reduced to 70,000. There was really no room for improvement.
They all met the standards and were good prospects. No one wanted to leave. Qin Hao had no choice but to stay with all 70,000 people.
Qin Hao selected 50,000 of the most elite from the 70,000 new soldiers. After gathering 100,000 Yanmen warriors, he carefully selected 10,000 cavalry from the 50,000 new troops.
After the stirrups, saddles and other equipment were ready, the 60,000 cavalry troops, led by Qin Hao, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao and others, began a mighty military training.
As for the training of the remaining 40,000 infantry, Qin Hao handed it over to Yue Fei, Gao Shun and Xu Huang. These three were much better at infantry training than Qin Hao, so Qin Hao naturally wanted to make full use of their talents.
As for the additional 20,000 new troops, after the training is completed, they will be allocated to the 38 counties under the jurisdiction of the Yanmen Army to maintain local security and become Yanmen reserve troops, that is, defenders.
Originally, the garrison troops were also in the ranks of Yanmen's reserve troops, but now their qualifications have been banned by Qin Hao. The reason is that there are too many garrison troops in Yanmen.
The 400,000 Yellow Turban prisoners of war (including those captured by Qin Wen) have all been reduced to field troops of the Yanmen Army. Since the Yellow Turbans have not yet failed, the Yellow Turban prisoners of war cannot be brought to the battlefield or sent to the army. They can only be used as free labor for the time being.
However, if the original standards of the garrison troops were followed, the huge food and salary would be enough to overwhelm the Yanmen Army. If they were treated differently, they would all be garrison troops, but the gap in treatment would be so huge, which would cause dissatisfaction in the hearts of many people.
So Qin Hao simply abolished the original farming troops and made all the Yellow Turban prisoners of war become new farming troops. However, their farming had to wait until Yanmen Pass was rebuilt.
Thanks to the efforts of the Yanmen people, Yellow Turban prisoners of war, the Xiongnu, and nearly one million laborers working day and night, the new Yanmen Pass was finally rebuilt after four months, and its defense capabilities are even better than before.
After the reconstruction of Yanmen Pass, the 400,000 Yellow Turban prisoners of war and the hundreds of thousands of Xiongnu slaves were all placed under the jurisdiction of Qin Jian and Li Dingguo, and the Chidao connecting the four counties began to be built.
However, the difference is that after the Yellow Turban prisoners of war repaired the Junchi Road, they would disperse to farm in the three northern and central counties, while the Huns had to work endlessly in the four northern and northern counties.
After the Xiongnu slaves built the county roads between the four counties in Bingbei, they also had to build county roads connecting the counties. After they captured Bingzhou, they would build county roads connecting the counties in Bingzhou. They still have to build it.
Afterwards, once the coal mines are mined, some hard work such as coal digging will be left to them.
In short, Qin Hao will never return the freedom of these Xiongnu slaves without squeezing them out of their use value.
If Qin Hao releases these slaves one day, there are only two possibilities: First, their bones are already full of servility and they will never be able to rebel. The second is the restoration of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Hao ascended the throne, and thus granted amnesty to the world. 8
