"Whose robes are so fine? For you, my brothers, to wear. The King leads forth his army, sharpening our spears and bows. Together with you, we’ll face the foe! Whose robes are so fine? For you, my brothers, to wear. The King leads forth his army, sharpening our spears and lances. Together with you, we’ll fight as one! Whose robes are so fine? For you, my brothers, to wear. The King leads forth his army, sharpening our spears and lances. Together with you, we’ll fight as one!"
A rendition of "Qin Feng • Wu Yi," serving as the interim anthem for the White Tiger Banner, its powerful melody echoing through the Yan army's camp.
After reorganizing his troops, Zhou Fugui commenced training. An untrained army, even with sky-high morale, would be slaughtered by the enemy on the battlefield, cut down like weeds. Zhou Fugui and his fellow villagers from Lumingsi could not have survived otherwise. Thus, at the crack of dawn, all officers and soldiers of the White Tiger Banner marched out of the camp, singing their anthem in orderly ranks, heading beyond the encampment.
In the early morning, as people from other banners in the Courageous Battalion were still fast asleep, many were awakened by the White Tiger Banner's military song. Cursing loudly, they stumbled out of their tents to watch the White Tiger Banner soldiers. Among them were the curious, the dismissive, and those who scoffed with contempt.
Across You Prefecture and its neighboring commanderies, a total of over thirty thousand conscripted soldiers were now under the command of Murong Tengge. But what was a conscripted army? In essence, it was an army destined for death, cannon fodder, or tasked with building bridges and paving roads. Many understood this all too clearly.
Training meant death, and no training also meant death. Training was for tasks like building bridges, paving roads, and transporting supplies; not training was for the same. Given this, why bother training? It was better to sleep. Everyone found Zhou Fugui's actions utterly incomprehensible.
"Commander Zhou, what's gotten into you so early in the morning?"
Having feasted the previous night, the camp commander Albugu had just fallen asleep when the White Tiger Banner's commotion woke him. Infuriated, he emerged from his tent cursing, and happened to encounter Zhou Fugui, whom he then loudly questioned.
"Oh, it's Commander A... Albugu," Zhou Fugui, who harbored deep hatred for Albugu, displayed an unusually fawning attitude towards him lately, as if intentionally conceding defeat. Seeing Albugu emerge, Zhou Fugui quickly scurried before him and said with a smile, "As you can see, I'm drilling my subordinates."
"Drilling for what? What's the use? It's a waste of time. Hurry up and order your men back to camp, don't disturb everyone's sleep," Albugu berated Zhou Fugui angrily.
"Listen to what you're saying. Can an army be called an army without drilling?" Since Albugu was being unreasonable, Zhou Fugui, too lazy to argue further, uttered a single sentence and then scurried off to catch up with the White Tiger Banner, joining them in their training run.
Zhou Fugui's first lesson was leg strength. Whether for attack or escape, good leg strength was essential. In Zhou Fugui's view, the men of the White Tiger Banner should ideally be like Dai Zong, capable of traveling eight hundred li a day...
Therefore, during today's training, not a single person from the White Tiger Banner was on horseback.
Furthermore, Zhou Fugui planned to train them in wilderness survival, hand-to-hand combat, evading projectiles, and other subjects.
"You audacious Zhou Fugui, how dare you scorn me?" Even though Zhou Fugui's attitude had changed, Albugu knew in his heart that Zhou Fugui was still at odds with him, and that Zhou Fugui still resented him. Albugu was enraged and cursed loudly.
Even if Zhou Fugui was sincere, Albugu would not let him off. He intended to find an opportunity to kill Zhou Fugui because someone had offered a large sum of money for Zhou Fugui's life.
However, Albugu had not found an opportunity, and Zhou Fugui's official position only grew. He was now a flag commander in the army. Although Albugu was a camp commander, it was not easy to kill a flag commander without reason. Most importantly, Zhou Fugui, by some stroke of luck, or perhaps truly under heaven's protection, had not only gained Murong Tengge's patronage but had also caught the eye of Murong Bo Lie, the King of Guan Ning of the Great Yan.
Murong Bo Lie's personal appointment of Zhou Fugui as flag commander was proof of this. There were even rumors that Murong Bo Lie had taken a liking to Zhou Fugui and intended to betroth his beloved daughter to him... This made Albugu hesitant to act. If this were true, would not Albugu's actions be inviting immense trouble upon himself? After all, Albugu was not even fit to carry Murong Bo Lie's shoes.
"Camp Lord..." Li Hu, having left Zhou Fugui and the others, had defected to Albugu. He spoke now, saying, "Zhou Fugui has amended the military law. I also overheard some of his remarks."
"Indeed, what did he say?" Albugu asked upon hearing this.
"He said that the purpose of training the army is to survive, and other inappropriate words," Li Hu replied.
...
"Bu Da..." While Zhou Fugui was leading his men in wilderness training, Albugu went to Murong Tengge to complain, "With this man in the camp, I can no longer serve as a camp commander."
"Who are you referring to?" Murong Tengge, the supreme commander of the Han army, asked in surprise.
Murong Tengge was already troubled by the Han army. When Albugu came to complain, Murong Tengge initially didn't want to bother with him. However, considering that Albugu was of his own clan and that he was counting on these Xianbei men to lead the Han army, he patiently listened.
"Besides that rebellious brat Zhou Fugui, who else could it be?" Albugu said with a mournful face. "The most feared thing for a herd is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and Zhou Fugui is that wolf."
Albugu intended to drive Zhou Fugui away or demote him to an ordinary soldier. This would allow him to test Zhou Fugui's background or ascertain whether Zhou Fugui truly had ties with Murong Bo Lie. If Zhou Fugui were expelled or demoted and Murong Bo Lie did not intervene, then the matter would be clear. Moreover, with Albugu's current power, crushing an ordinary soldier like Zhou Fugui would be as easy as crushing an ant.
"Hmm, what do you mean?" Murong Tengge frowned and asked.
Murong Tengge knew Albugu's character all too well. During the Battle of Mayue River, Albugu had fled in the face of the enemy, while Zhou Fugui led his men to fight the Xia army bravely. Therefore, in Murong Tengge's eyes, Albugu was far inferior to Zhou Fugui. If Albugu were not a Xianbei and the court had not decreed that the main generals of the Han army must be Xianbei, especially at the camp level, Murong Tengge would have wanted to replace him.
Murong Bo Lie was a powerful minister of the Great Yan court and a founding hero of the Great Yan. Therefore, when Murong Bo Lie appointed a Han man as a mere flag commander, no one dared to object.
"Bu Da, Zhou Fugui has amended the military orders," Albugu replied. "He dares to amend the military laws passed down by our ancestors? His audacity is too great. If everyone in the army were like him, wouldn't it descend into chaos? If he dares to amend military law, is there anything else he wouldn't dare to do? And..."
"What else? Speak freely," Murong Tengge said, casting an indifferent glance at Albugu.
Unauthorized amendment of military law was indeed a serious matter. How could military law be amended arbitrarily? However, before the Great Yan was established, it was merely a nomadic people on the northern grasslands. What kind of military law could they have? At most, they had some tribal rules. After entering the Central Plains and establishing themselves as an army, they gradually formed some military laws, which were continuously amended and perfected.
Therefore, this matter was neither entirely big nor entirely small. It depended mainly on how Murong Tengge, Murong Bo Lie, and others viewed it.
"Furthermore, when he trains the army, he doesn't mention loyalty to the Great Chanyu, loyalty to our Great Yan, but only says it's for survival. Such treasonous words should be severely punished," Albugu continued.
"For survival? Haha, for survival... this little colt is quite honest," Murong Tengge couldn't help but laugh heartily upon hearing this.
For ordinary soldiers, did they understand loyalty to the ruler? The answer was no. In the army, talking about loyalty to the emperor or the Great Yan was less effective than promising tangible rewards such as gold, silver, wealth, women, land, beautiful houses, cattle, and sheep. This would boost the morale of the troops.
"Bu Da, what do you mean by this?" Albugu asked with a dark expression as Murong Tengge burst into laughter.
"Come with me and see," Murong Tengge replied, standing up.
Albugu's slander had instead piqued Murong Tengge's interest. He wanted to see what exactly Zhou Fugui was up to.
...
"Run! Run faster! Get down low, watch out for arrows!"
"Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in battle."
In a wilderness clearing within the Yan army's camp, Zhou Fugui had ordered the construction of a simple training ground, a parade ground. Zhou Fugui shouted loudly from his horse.
At this moment, Zhou Fugui ordered the archers of his banner to continuously draw and release their bows, instructing his soldiers to weave through the arrows, to train their ability to evade arrow volleys or their reflexes. Of course, the arrowheads were without fletching.
In this world, the primary ranged weapon was the bow and arrow. In any battle, the most casualties were caused by arrows. Therefore, evading arrows was a crucial skill to train, as it would greatly improve the White Tiger Banner's survival rate on the battlefield.
Arrows rained down from the sky, and everyone in the White Tiger Banner, except for Zhou Fugui and Xiao Qing, was desperately running or crawling in the field. Although the fletchingless arrowheads wouldn't be fatal, falling from the sky and hitting someone could still be quite painful.
"Ah, I'm so tired, I'm dead, I'm dead, I can't run anymore." Yi Jisheng, who was over forty, ran until sweat poured down him, gasping for breath, yet still feeling it difficult to breathe. He simply sat down on the ground, refusing to move for anything.
Seeing this, Zhou Fugui became enraged. He rode his horse, drew his bow, and shot an arrow at Yi Jisheng. The fletchingless arrow, like a meteor, struck Yi Jisheng with a "thwack," causing him to go from sitting to lying on the muddy ground...
"Old Yi, you're dead now," Zhou Fugui rode over and said to Yi Jisheng, who was lying on the ground.
"Dead? Not so easily." Yi Jisheng was superstitious and particularly disliked being told he was dead. He immediately jumped up from the mud and retorted, "What divine archery you possess, Commander Zhou! What a treasure bow you hold! As for other arrows, Humph, Old Yi isn't that easy to kill."
Xiao Qing couldn't help but chuckle secretly, while Zhou Fugui was both amused and exasperated.