At its peak, the Xiongnu Empire had more than six million square kilometers of land and was truly a country thousands of miles away.
Since the Huns dominated the grasslands and traveled across the north, Yanling in Daijun has become one of their important passages south to the Central Plains.
On average, every one or two years, the Huns would come to plunder, and the natives of Yanling in Daijun would die or escape.
After going back and forth like this, no matter how fertile the land here is, no people are willing to farm it.
Yanling Wheat, which was once famous and famous all over the world, now has only a false name.
It was not until more than ten years ago that the Han Dynasty spent great efforts to build dozens of villages in Yanling and stationed tens of thousands of troops, which finally put an end to the Huns' thoughts.
Only then did Yanling have a few years of peace.
"..."
In fact, the central court of the Han Empire also thought about immigrating from the densely populated Guanzhong area to reclaim wasteland.
However, due to decades of killings, people’s memory of the Huns’ scourge is too deep.
Moreover, from Daijun in the east to Youzhou in Hebei Province in the west, there were Huns invasions every year.
Therefore, no matter how favorable the conditions provided by the court are, not many people are willing to move here for the sake of their own lives.
"..."
In the fifth year of Jianyuan, April 2nd.
The busy spring plowing at the beginning of spring has just passed.
At noon, due to the arrival of a new boss, hundreds of ordinary soldiers serving in the military slowly gathered towards the military platform.
His military discipline was slow and his morale was low. Wei Qing's eyelids twitched when he saw that Wei Qing was ambitious and ready to show off his skills.
In particular, Wei Qing frowned when he discovered that these soldiers were wearing simple leather armor as simple as paper and holding in their hands scraps of metal that were difficult to kill.
Most of these soldiers were from various places in Daijun. Most of the soldiers recruited for military service were young adults.
However, since they had no professional training, they all tried their best to pretend to be in high spirits.
However, long-term malnutrition still left obvious marks on their faces and bodies.
"…………"
The soldiers' faces were yellow, their arms and legs were weak, their hair was fluffy, and the entire formation looked messy even before they moved...
Wei Qing sighed slightly, thinking secretly in his heart.
"Can such an army fight? I guess when they saw the Huns, they all ran away before they could fight."
However, facing this scene, even if Wei Qing was the emperor's brother-in-law, there was nothing he could do.
The Western Han Dynasty inherited the military service system of the Qin Dynasty. Adult men over twenty years old who performed the ceremony of weak crown must perform military service unless there are special circumstances.
"………………"
Soldiers in the Western Han Dynasty can be roughly divided into guard, garrison and service according to their elite level.
The Wei are the Yulin Army and the Central Army. They are the elite of the empire. They are very generous in terms of equipment and treatment. Of course, their combat effectiveness is also the strongest.
The garrison is a local army formed by the governor in the border area. As for its combat effectiveness? Naturally, it is not as good as the Yulin Army and the Central Army, but the most basic equipment and military equipment are still sufficient.
It can be regarded as a second-line force built by the local government.
Military service is the kind of military service that adult men aged 20 or so mentioned above must perform because of the laws of the country.
Precisely because the personnel were mixed, the combat effectiveness of the servicemen was the worst among all the armies.
Because of their poor combat effectiveness, the imperial court did not pay much attention to conscripts. Whether it was decentralized equipment or military equipment, conscripts were the worst and least.
This has entered a terrible vicious cycle, causing the combat effectiveness of the servicemen to become worse and worse.
In other words, the hundreds of soldiers under Wei Qing were all distributed from each village on a per capita basis.
Generally, each village allocates manpower according to the ratio of thirty to one.
That is to say, a village with a few hundred people must recruit dozens of young and middle-aged people to recruit soldiers for the government to dispatch.
This kind of soldier belongs to that kind. If you hold a hoe, you will be a farmer, and if you give him a knife, he will be a soldier.
Even if you die in battle, there will be no pension or military benefits. At most, you will be exempted from exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.
It is precisely because of this that the morale of these farmers who were forced to serve as soldiers was unimaginably low.
The life of the frontier soldiers was very hard. They slept in the big building of the village every day. They were exposed to the sun in the summer and the cold wind in the winter. They had to report to the corps commander when they peeed.
For daily meals, they eat moldy rye pancakes and wear tattered clothes full of patches, which can only be replaced in a year and a half. Take a look at the extra young girls and young wives in the village.
How can the soldiers have any morale when they are "eating food and serving as soldiers"?
The men Wei Qing takes over now are the soldiers with the lowest abilities and the worst equipment.
Looking at these soldiers, all of them were in ragged clothes and had dull expressions. No matter how you looked at them, they didn't look like soldiers, but more like prisoners in a concentration camp.
Wei Qing secretly made up his mind to change everything.
"..."
the next day.
In front of the kitchen where meals are served in the military village, white rice porridge, rye cakes, and multigrain woofou have been prepared long ago.
Wooden barrels and copper basins were arranged in a row in front of the dining room outside the military station.
Wei Qing, as the eighth-grade Lieutenant of Yi Hui, would not have eaten with ordinary soldiers!
However, in order to win over the soldiers, Wei Qing still chose to eat in the big pot with the soldiers.
Not only that, Wei Qing also spent two tons of money from his own pocket to buy a big fat pig and let the cooks in the kitchen cook a large pot of fat-stained broth.
"..."
Hundreds of soldiers, who were originally lifeless, immediately shouted "Long Live Your Excellency" or smiled brightly as soon as they smelled the delicious smell of meat and asked about it again.
As poor farmers, they can only eat meat during the Chinese New Year.
Unexpectedly, the newly appointed immediate boss made them drink broth as soon as he took office.
"..."
The fat cook had already served pork bone soup at this moment, which was the big wooden bucket filled with hot soup.
Half of the racks of pigs were filled with several large wooden barrels, and they were placed in the middle of the wooden table, which seemed a bit heroic.
Besides, the pork soup smelled fragrant, with a thick layer of lard floating on top of the soup, mixed with a few chopped green onions.
As the heat rises, the surrounding air is filled with a scent that makes people feel hungry.
"..."
Hundreds of soldiers pursed their lips, swallowed their saliva, and only looked at Wei Qing.
In the army, the soldiers who are just living and begging for food all know the rules and the general will not move. How can they, low-class soldiers, dare to use their chopsticks first?
Wei Qing looked at these hundreds of soldiers, and he suddenly understood how they wanted to eat but were afraid to eat.
