Dinglin Temple, Shepu.
"Wang Pu, Wang Pu, it's your turn to enter!" The instructor's voice was hoarse.
"Got it!" Wang Pu quickly stood up. He picked up his long bow, pressed the antlers at one end of the bow to the ground, bent the smooth and hard bamboo-backed four-layer oak bow with force, and hung the bowstring in In the groove, he finally used his fingers to gently pluck the bowstring, making a slight buzzing sound.
"Hurry up!" The instructor's voice became increasingly impatient: "You're procrastinating like a bitch!"
Wang Pu didn't dare to talk back. He hung the leather pouch full of arrows on the belt around his waist, put on the leather gloves for drawing the bow, and rushed into the shooting garden. The instructor gave him a rough push and shouted: "Stand up straight. A big shot is coming today. If you miss the shot, watch your skin carefully!"
Wang Pu shrank his neck subconsciously. With his good eyesight, he immediately set up a temporary pergola on the right side wall of the shooting garden. There were fully armed guards standing around the pergola. He lowered his voice: "What big shot?" Ah? Someone from the Governor's Mansion?"
"Don't ask if you shouldn't ask!" the instructor shouted: "Anyway, it's good for you to shoot accurately! Otherwise, even if I spare you, your elder brother will whip you a few times!"
Wang Pu drew an arrow from the quiver hanging on his belt. Black arrow shaft, gray feathers. When he put the arrow on the string, he remembered what his eldest brother Wang Peng said after a hunting trip: "Up to you, our brothers actually rely on hoes for a living. I hope that starting from you, we can make bows and arrows our profession." , serve the King Governor!"
Wang Pu took a deep breath. His bow and arrow skills were far inferior to those of the sling, but he also put in a lot of effort on the bow and arrow. He took a deep breath, raised the long bow, and tightened the bow string. The first target appeared, and that one was the bow string. The wooden man with the shield is moving from left to right at a very fast speed.
The arrow left the string with a soft "hissing" sound, and Wang Pu clearly saw the arrow flying more than half a foot to the right of the target and nailing the earth wall behind the shooting garden. Wang Pu quickly took out the second arrow from his quiver. When he put the arrow on the bowstring, the target was gone.
"Idiot, don't worry! Just do what you usually do. These targets move very fast. You have one chance and only one chance!"
Hearing the familiar hoarse voice of the instructor, Wang Pu forced himself to calm down and began to prepare for the next time. With a sharp whistle, two targets appeared. The same as the last time, they were both wooden figures holding shields, craftsmen. There are even bear claws and wolf heads painted on the shield, which are very common patterns on the shields of Goguryeo and Baekje people.
Wang Pu pulled the goose feather to his ear, aimed and shot, then nocked the arrow again, drew the bow and released it. The first arrow shot into the bear's claw shield, and the second arrow hit the wooden man's throat. The referee's announcement and the instructor's cheers were mixed together: "Good shot, I know you are a natural archer!" "
Wang Pu had completely calmed down. He no longer needed to find a target. He shot a target that was twice as high, which meant it was a cavalryman. Then he shot at a follower behind him, but this time he missed the target and the arrow was inserted into the target. Trembling on the oak shield, he quickly added an arrow and hit the target in the leg. If he were on the battlefield, that guy would be rolling on the ground, right? Wang Pu thought to himself.
Wang Pu didn't stop until the quiver was empty. Only then did he notice that his arms and shoulders were numb and weak, and his fingers were cut open by the bowstring, and the bowstring was dyed red with blood. The instructor applied ointment to Wang Pu's wound and praised loudly: "It's okay. You are still young now. You can only draw an adult's bow like this. After two years, your muscles and bones will be fully grown and your fingers will be longer." It won’t be like this if you have calluses!”
"Normal College!" Wang Pu asked: "Who is the big shot you are talking about? Why do you come to see us shoot arrows?"
At this time, the instructor had already applied the ointment on Wang Pu. He smiled and said: "Use your brain, brat! That thing on your neck can't just be used for eating, right? Have you forgotten who first rebuilt Dinglin Temple?"
"You mean Governor Wang? Is it him?"
"Yes!" The instructor nodded: "The King Commander is back. I heard that he is here to choose his own soldiers. Brat, I didn't tell you just now because I was afraid that your boy would be too impatient and break the bowstring. Got it!"
"The Governor-General wants to select his own soldiers from among us?" Wang Pu's ecstasy immediately overwhelmed Wang Pu's mind: "Is this true?"
"It's probably true! It was Colonel Shen who said it. He is my old boss!" The instructor smiled and said, "But don't be too happy too early. The soldiers around Governor Wang include not only you, but also Japanese people. I heard there is a group of Mohe people!"
"Japanese people? Mohe people?" Wang Pu asked in surprise: "Why use them?"
"I heard from Lieutenant Shen that these Japanese are still half-grown children. They need to train in Dinglin Temple for two or three years before they can be used, just like you did before!" The instructor pointed at Wang Pu: "Those Japanese are yours. Juniors, as for the Mohe people! I heard that when they were just six or seven years old, they would shoot squirrels and birds on the trees with a small bow for food. If they missed the shot, they would starve to death, so all of them were like this at the age of thirteen or fourteen. A sharpshooter!"
"Really or not! Are they all marksmen at the age of thirteen or fourteen?" Wang Pu couldn't help but feel a touch of jealousy in his heart: "Are those Mohe people really so powerful? Then why do they still work for the Goguryeo people? ?”
"Hey, you don't understand. You don't have to be good at archery to win a war!" The instructor laughed and said, "But the Mohe people are indeed good at archery. I fought with them once. If it weren't for the good armor, I wouldn't be able to win." I'm afraid I've already explained it there! Don't be dissatisfied. To put it bluntly, archery is the master who leads you in, and the practice is up to you. I have already finished teaching you what I should teach you, and the rest is up to you. Governor Wang is the most fair person in dealing with things. He doesn't care whether you are from Tang Dynasty, Baekje, Japanese or Mohe. The reward depends on how loyal you are! My dear, your family has followed Governor Wang much earlier than those Mohe people. If you are If you are stepped on by others in the future, you can only blame yourself!"
Just as the instructor said, not long after the competition in the shooting field that day, more than 300 people were selected from the students and distributed green clothes, quivers, bows, daggers and other equipment. They lived in a separate camp and were divided into four classes, taking turns. The yamen obey orders. Within two days, hundreds of Japanese came to Dinglin Temple and practiced and studied like Wang Pu and others. Wang Pu and the others watched with cold eyes. When they found that the bow and arrow skills of these Japanese were far inferior to theirs, they couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. But their relaxation did not last long. After another ten days, another group of Mohe people came to Dinglin Temple. They were similar in age to Wang Pu and the others. The first test was just like what the instructor said - everyone endured hardship. Hardworking and good at bows and arrows, Wang Pu and the others were wiped out of their original pride.
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"I did the math, there are a total of 1,200 people!" Wang Wenzuo clicked on the roster: "Let's call it Yaqiandu! It is divided into left and right compartments, and each compartment is divided into six teams. Each day there is a team in the left and right compartments. The Yamen will obey orders, and the rest will receive education and training in Dinglin Temple!"
"This is a good idea!" Master Shen smiled and said, "Sanlang, you made me miserable during the time you went to Japan. I'm not going to hide it from you. The soldiers sent by various military offices in Shandong are becoming more and more outrageous. Except for old men, they are children." , some are even sent here with good hands and good fortune, but they can’t run around or pull their bows, what’s the purpose of sending this kind of trash?”
"What about the original people? Didn't they have land and military pay?" Wang Wenzuo asked.
"Only those six or seven hundred people are willing to stay! The rest still have to go back!" Shen Faseng smiled bitterly and said: "To be honest, the families who come to serve as soldiers all have some property, so even if they are divided into fields here, unless they are like us, Those who can become landowners in this way, others still think about their ancestral graves in their hometown, their wives and children. As for military pay? To be honest, people with families and businesses do not lack this, but they are not as good as those who came from Chang'an later. Thousands of people, after receiving their salaries, they felt at ease!"
Wang Wenzuo nodded, and the selection criteria of the Tang Dynasty's military system was ""The one with equal wealth will be selected as the strongest, the one with equal strength will be selected as the richest, and the one with equal financial resources will be selected first." Although this system had begun to decline at that time, generally speaking The Tang army basically came from middle- and upper-class farmers, which means that generally speaking, the life of the Tang army soldiers was good after they retired and returned home.
Although Wang Wenzuo tried his best to compensate the Tang Army soldiers in Baekje for their economic losses from guarding the border for a long time, it was impossible for him to turn tens of thousands of Tang Army soldiers into Baekje landlords, beyond their living standards in their hometown; at most, he could give private donations to the earliest The soldiers who followed him were quite wealthy, as were some of the officers who were closer to him. This group of people was willing to stay in Baekje, because they followed Wang Wenzuo in Baekje and gained wealth and status that they could never obtain in their hometown. However, for most of the Tang troops guarding the border, returning home was what they cared about. As for the two thousand evil young men in Chang'an, they had nothing to lose in the Tang Dynasty. Every bit they gained in Baekje was pure gain, and they would naturally not waver.
In order to make up for the declining combat effectiveness of the Tang army stationed in Baekje, Shen Faseng could only "localize" the troops of the Unongjin Dudufu as much as possible - that is, Baekje people would become the main body of the Xiongjin Dudufu army. This brought about a The new problem is that in the Baekje Restoration Movement, almost all local powerful people in Baekje, that is, heroes, were participants. Although they later surrendered, they served as the main body of the Ungjin Governor's Army. This is a bit too ambitious. Therefore, in Shen Faseng's view, it is very necessary to establish a completely independent new army.
"I also know that you have worked hard during this period!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "In the spring of next year, I will transfer four thousand horsemen from Japan, so you will feel more at ease!"
"If that's the case, that's great!" Master Shen smiled and said: "To be honest, it's best for us to have people from all over the world, so that they all have different ideas and cannot be the only one, so that I can sleep!"
Shen Faseng unintentionally expressed the sentiments of an imperialist. In fact, the Tang Empire was probably the most "universal" among the ancient Chinese dynasties. Especially before the Anshi Rebellion, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty came from the top of the empire. Deep down, I believe that the Tang Dynasty is not only the Tang Dynasty of the Han people, but also the Tang Dynasty of the whole world. For example, many of the foreign students in Chang'an held official positions in the Tang Dynasty, and some even served as commanders of the Imperial Guards of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
This mentality of a universal empire is completely different from that of later Central Plains dynasties. Take the distribution of Zhechong Prefectures in the Tang Dynasty as an example: There are 627 Zhechong Prefectures with names and locations that can be tested in the Tang Dynasty. Their distribution is roughly as follows: Guannai Road There are 289 prefectures in total; 73 prefectures on Henan Road; 166 prefectures on Hedong Road; 51 prefectures on Hebei Province; 15 prefectures on Shannan Road; 33 prefectures on Longyou Road; 9 prefectures on Huainan Road; 7 prefectures on Jiangnan Road; and Jiannan Dao Youfu 11; Lingnan Dao Youfu 6.
The largest number of them is Guannai Road, accounting for almost half, followed by Hedong Road, then Henan Road, Hebei Road, Longyou Road, Huainan Jiangnan Lingnan Jiannan. There are very few Zhechong Prefectures in these places and can be ignored. The reason why the Guan Nei Dao has the most military palaces is simple. The Tang Dynasty took the Western Wei, Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasties as examples, founded the country based on Guanzhong's nationalism, and mobilized the people of Guanzhong to reach all directions. It is not surprising that Hedong Dao is second. First of all, Hedong Dao is located in today's Shanxi. The plateau, from the geographical point of view of military importance, is the backbone of the world, facing the Hu Rong, and Taiyuan, the capital of Hedong Road, is the land of Longxing in the Tang Dynasty, so it is normal for there to be a large number of troops.
But it is strange that Henan Province has more Zhechong Prefectures than Hebei Province. Henan is the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty and usually has no external threats; while Hebei Province directly faces threats from foreign regimes such as Turks, Khitans, and Goguryeo, and its population and financial resources are At that time, it was number one in the world, far more than the first three. Why were there so few Zhechong Mansion in Hebei Province?
This again involves a famous concept in ancient China, the "East-West Controversy." For modern Chinese, China is generally divided into South China and North China. However, before the Tang and Song Dynasties, China was generally divided into Kanto and Kansai are two large geographical units. These two geographical units often form independent political powers and cause extremely fierce wars.
More than a hundred years before the establishment of the Tang Empire, extremely fierce wars broke out between the Eastern Wei and Western Wei, the Northern Zhou and the Northern Qi, Li Tang and Dou Jiande and their successors. Therefore, the rulers of the Tang Empire, with their capital in Chang'an and Guanzhong as their foundation, would naturally find ways to weaken the military potential of the Hebei region and reduce the number of military-trained soldiers and grassroots officers from Hebei. Therefore, it is appropriate to reduce the number of Zhechong Prefectures. Righteous.
And this brought up a new problem - Hebei's military power has weakened, but the foreign military power Hebei faced has not weakened. The Tang Empire couldn't let its richest province be plundered by foreigners, right? However, judging from historical facts, it seems that this is really the case. After the Wuzhou Yingzhou Rebellion, when the Khitans Li Jinzhong, Sun Wanrong and the Turks invaded Hebei in a large scale, the Hebei area, which had always been famous for its toughness and good warfare, hardly made any Any effective resistance made Wu Zhou extremely embarrassed, and some people even proposed to kill all the hundreds of thousands of Hebei people who were dependent on the Turks. At this time, no one remembered who was deliberately dismantling the military power of the Hebei people.
