A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 92: Dividing the Power Li Jing
The night in August is very cool.

Li Jing sat in front of the tent and stared at the sky in a trance. The first day of the lunar month was the new moon, which rose and set at the same time as the sun. At night, the moon could not be seen at all.
But without the moon, there seem to be more stars in the night sky.

Li Yi also moved a small stool and sat down nearby. He looked up for a long time but couldn't recognize many stars.

"Mr. Li misses his wife?" Li Yi joked with him.

"It is thanks to your recommendation that I have this opportunity to join the army. I am also eager to make achievements," Li Jing sighed. He urgently needed an opportunity, but Li Shimin rejected him when he took the initiative to volunteer today.

An old horse in the stable still has a thousand miles to go, and a martyr in his old age still has great ambitions.

Speaking of Li Jing, he is truly a typical example of a late bloomer.

It is only after the age of fifty that one begins to truly realize the beginning of one’s career.

Forty-eight-year-old Li Jing and sixteen-year-old Li Yi were sitting there chatting. Li Yi took out a small cloth bag of fried rice and shared it with Li Jing. Li Jing put a handful in his mouth and chewed it dry. It was very fragrant.

"It smells great," Li Jing was also amazed after tasting it.

"This is fried rice. It's made from millet that's been steamed, fried, and ground, and then salt is added. It's delicious whether you chew it, soak it in water, or soak it in milk tea."

Li Jing tasted it carefully and found it fragrant and refreshing, crispy but not hard.

"nice one."

"Yeah, it tastes better than wheat rice and is more convenient."

To be honest, wheat rice that has been steamed and dried several times is really unpalatable. Its only advantage is that it is easy to preserve and does not spoil easily, and it is relatively convenient to eat.

Unlike wheat that needs to be ground temporarily, or millet that needs to be pounded, it can be eaten after being soaked in hot water and boiled. It can be considered a fast food.

"It's worth promoting in the army. It would be great as dry food for soldiers." Li Jing immediately realized the value of this item and became excited. "You should write a detailed recipe for this fried rice and report it to the Ministry of War. If it can be promoted, it will improve the combat effectiveness of our Tang army and it will be a great achievement."

Li Jing had never led troops, but he had been able to discuss military affairs with his uncle Han Qinhu since he was a child and was very sensitive to military-related matters.

"Why don't you, Mr. Li, write it for me and sign my name on it. It will be considered the joint achievement of both of us joining the army." Li Yi said with a smile.

Li Jing shook his head, "How can I have the nerve to share the credit with you?"

The huge military camp had strict discipline. Generals led soldiers to patrol the camp, and everyone stayed in front of their own tents. No one dared to walk around or visit other people's tents.
If you wandered around Chang'an at night, at most you'd be considered breaking curfew and getting a beating, then imprisoned overnight by the Marquis of Wu. But if you wandered around the military camp, you'd most likely be beheaded.

After chewing fried rice and chatting for a while, they went back to their tents to rest.

We have to cook at 4 a.m. tomorrow and set off at 5 a.m., so we have to get up early.

In the tent, his two bodyguards, Zhang Yiquan and Cao Daxing, had long been accustomed to the military camp and fell asleep early.

Liu Heizi and Chen Liang had been waiting for him in the tent.

The four of them had agreed earlier that they would take turns on night duty and always have someone awake to keep watch.

Li Yi handed the remaining half of the bag of fried rice to Liu Heizi, "You guys can have a few bites too."

The tent was very small, with a felt mat on the ground, and two people slept directly in their clothes.

There's a smell of sweaty feet.
Very bad,
This was outside the gate of Chang'an City, so there was no need to worry about someone raiding the camp. So Li Yi took off his clothes and lay down, covering himself with a blanket.
As for the conditions, although they were a bit simple, they were better than when he first came and lived in a straw hut in the rice field. After all, he was a military officer in the camp and a baron of Qianshui County. He was definitely better off than the ordinary soldiers, not to mention the civilians.

Starlight filtered into the tent, bringing some light.

Liu Heizi and Chen Liang were chewing fried rice, making a crunching sound like mice stealing food.

Close your eyes,
Li Yi's consciousness entered the space and returned to his former home.

The house was still dark, and the terrace seemed to be shrouded in fog.
The flowers, plants and vegetables on the terrace remain the same, as if time has stopped and they are no longer growing.

There is no electricity and no internet.

The computer in the study is just a decoration.

Many downloaded and stored e-books on the computer cannot be read, and even if I want to watch a movie to kill time, I can't do it.

My cell phone and tablet ran out of battery and turned into bricks.

A lot of learning materials.
There were about a hundred books on the bookshelf in the study, but most of them were novels. He had not originally planned to spend money to buy a collection of the Twenty-Four Histories or something like that to put on the shelves.

There are also no three essential books for time travelers: the Barefoot Doctor's Manual, the Militia Military Training Manual, and the Friend of Dual-Use Military and Civilian Talents.

Legend has it that if you travel through time with these three magical books, you can unify the world even if you travel back to ancient times. If you travel to the post-apocalyptic wasteland in the future, you can rebuild human civilization with these magical books.

He had collected them online before and downloaded them on his computer, but unfortunately he can't view them now.

The Four Great Classical Novels, 300 Tang Poems, Selected Song Ci, The Three-Body Problem, To Live, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Ordinary World, White Deer Plain, A Cultural Journey, as well as Things About the Ming Dynasty, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Fifteenth Year of the Wanli Emperor, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Lu Xun's Novels, Zhu Ziqing's Classics, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Andersen's Fairy Tales, 100,000 Whys...

There are many books, most of which he has read.

But it seems to be of no use to him now.

He would rather have historical books like the New Book of Tang, the Old Book of Tang, and the Zizhi Tongjian on his bookshelf, or a barefoot doctor's manual, or some books on handicrafts, such as glassmaking, perfume, soap, gunpowder, steelmaking, ironmaking, and shipbuilding. Just a few of them would be amazing.

Why hasn't anyone written about the Tang Dynasty before, or the 15th year of Zhenguan or something like that?

From the study to the son's room,
The decoration is very childlike and there are many toys in the house.

There is also an unfolded telescope on the pillow, a very small children's monocular telescope. Although it is only about ten centimeters, it can be adjusted from eight to twenty times, has low-light night vision, is quite high-definition, and is also waterproof.

The view is extremely clear up to one thousand meters.

On weekends, my son likes to take me to the riverside to see the scenery and watch the birds.

This thing might be of some use to him, so Li Yi put it away.

With a thought, Li Yi opened his eyes again in the military tent, with the half-pound telescope in his hand.

After putting away, sleeping, and counting countless sheep, Li Yi finally fell asleep amid the smell of foot odor, body sweat, and snoring.

In the morning, he was still learning foreign languages with Yu Shu in his dream when he was woken up by Liu Heizi. This guy's movements were so rough that Li Yi thought it was an earthquake.

"Alang, it's time to pack up and dismantle the tent."

Li Yi was sleepy, and it was still dark.
But the camp was already bustling.

Yawning, Li Yi got up helplessly. When had he ever gotten up so early in Wuji Thatched Cottage?

The young Chen Liang was much more considerate than Liu Heizi. He brought clothes to Li Yi and helped him put them on. He also combed his hair, tied it into a bun, and put a scarf on his head. "Do you want to wear leather armor, Alang?"

Li Yi looked at the rhino leather armor he had received yesterday and shook his head.
Although it was leather, not iron, it was nearly as hard as iron. It was said that a rhino hide armor required many steps, including oiling it, sprinkling iron filings on it, hammering it tight, and then painting it. Repeating this process several times made it as hard and sturdy as iron armor, yet much lighter. His rhino hide armor was thicker and harder than regular cowhide.

The disadvantage is that it is too hard.
The sword couldn't cut through it, and the arrow couldn't pierce it, but the hard plate armor was uncomfortable.

Li Jing told him last night that there are very few rhinoceros leather armors in the army now, and they can only be worn by middle and senior generals. Most leather armors are made of camel skin, which is more than cowhide.

Oxen are valuable productive forces, and even if they are killed in small quantities, they are not as plentiful as camel skins.

But ordinary camel leather armor is not as finely crafted as Li Yide's rhino leather armor. Although his is not top-grade, it has to go through four rounds of oiling, sprinkling iron filings, hammering, and varnishing. The top-grade ones go through seven or even nine rounds of polishing.

Wearing this rhinoceros leather armor, you can't be hurt by ordinary swords and arrows, and can only be attacked by blunt objects such as whips, maces and hammers.

"Let's wear it when we get to Jingzhou." Li Yi was operating in the central army anyway, so it was still very safe.

He only had a sword hanging around his waist, which was the iron sword that Jiancheng had given him. He didn't bring his own cheap sword.

Get out of the tent,

Li Jing was already practicing spear there.

He stood in front of the tent, brandishing a 10-foot-long black lacquered lance and dancing with it.
Li Yi looked at it for a while and thought it was too brutal.

It was so thick, so long, and so big, and the halberd blade was like a sword that could pierce armor mounted on the shaft of a spear. With the momentum of the horse charging forward, even the rhinoceros-skin armor specially approved by Li Shimin might not be able to withstand the blow.

He felt that the horse lance was difficult to master.
Especially since this is a mounted weapon, it is even more difficult to use on a bumpy horse.

He honestly took out the seven and a half jins one-handed four-edged mace given to him by Li Jing, used the moves taught to him by Ji Shi, and began to dance beside him.
And it looks pretty good.
This mace is heavy, but at least it can help you build strength.

After Li Jing finished his set, he put away his spear and stood by to watch Li Yi practice his mace for a while. He came over and pointed out some shortcomings.

"The mace disrupts the chopping of wood. You have received instruction from a master, but the form is only there, the spirit is not. You need to practice more."

The two chatted,
Over there, the bearded guest Zhang San was instructing Li Dejiang on how to use a sword, but he was not using an ordinary horizontal sword, but a wide and long two-handed single-edged sword.

Nearly five feet long,

"This is a horse-slashing sword, a weapon used by infantry against cavalry. It's good for slashing and can cut off the enemy's horse's legs."

Li Yi watched Li Erlang wielding the horse-slashing sword, which was indeed mainly used for chopping. The sword was very long and had a ring on the handle.

"Could this be the Mo Dao?"

Li Jing shook his head: "The Mo Dao has a long pole. Although this horse-slaying sword can be held with two hands, it is not a long pole."

They were practicing martial arts and chatting here, while Liu Heizi and the others were also busy, some were dismantling tents, collecting gifts, boiling water and cooking, and some were feeding the horses.

Breakfast is millet porridge with some sauce in it.
Li Yi couldn't stand it any longer, so he threw a small piece of bacon into the pot, and also threw a piece into Li Jing's pot next door.
This thing is cooked in millet porridge, which is a dark cuisine style. But the porridge cooked with pork belly bacon has oil and salt.
After the bacon is cooked, it is taken out, cut into thin slices, and eaten with porridge. Even Li Jing said it was delicious, and the bearded guest also said it was fragrant.

"This bacon is really good,"

"For every ten pounds of meat, add three ounces of salt. Fry the salt thoroughly, and it's best to add Sichuan peppercorns and star anise and fry until fragrant. First, rub the meat with liquor, then rub pepper on it, and then rub it with salt.

Then, it is pickled for six or seven days, washed with hot water to remove the salt water, and after drying in the sun, it is slowly smoked with orange peels, sugarcane peels, cypress branches, etc.

Everyone who had just said that the bacon smelled delicious looked at Li Yi in shock.

"Your bacon recipe is so complicated,"

"Yes, and you need to rub it with pepper. How much pepper do you need?"

"Also, why do we need to use soju?"

Some people thought that this was not smoked meat at all, it was probably the way it was eaten at royal banquets.

"It's obviously cheap meat, but it's made to look like it's too expensive to eat."

Around five o'clock,

The army set out, with the front camp taking the lead. Each group of soldiers and horses was in good order. There were more than 20,000 soldiers in the camp, and they all rushed to the frontier battlefield in high spirits.

Li Yi and his men did not set out with the central army until almost noon. He rode a Turkic horse, accompanied by his own servants and guards.
The marching speed was not fast, even much slower than Li Yi's usual travel to Chang'an.

On the Guanma Avenue heading northwest, there were soldiers and horses stretching as far as the eye could see.

Li Yi also discovered a problem. Except for the scouts who were wearing armor and riding horses, this large army did not wear armor when marching. The armor was either carried by mules and horses or on carts.

Even the cavalry units mostly dismounted and walked.

Although the cavalrymen generally rode two horses each, they also walked to conserve horsepower.

Those who ride horses in the team are basically officers.

The marching process was continuous, with breaks and regrouping every once in a while. In fact, the march was not very long at the end of the day.

Li Yi and his men left the camp as it was almost noon, but just as they crossed the Zhongwei Bridge, they received the order to stop advancing and set up camp.

"Mr. Li, didn't you say the situation on the front lines was tense? Why are we setting up camp in the afternoon after just a short journey?"

Li Jing smiled and said, "Infantry can only march forty to sixty miles a day, and cavalry sixty to eighty miles a day. Setting up camp in the afternoon is a military custom, especially in enemy territory, where attacks are more likely at night. Therefore, we must choose a suitable campsite in advance, set up the camp, erect fences, build arrow towers, dig trenches, erect chevaux de frise, and plant antlers. There's so much to do, and if we don't prepare early, we'll never have enough time."

"Without a secure camp, we would be easy prey if the enemy raided our camp at night. Therefore, even if it is troublesome, we cannot be careless at all."

Marching forty or fifty miles a day is actually a lot. After all, the army has to carry so much equipment, supplies and food, and they have to maintain their formation. They also have to conduct reconnaissance while marching to prevent ambushes.

The key is to ensure that there is enough spare energy during the march.
Otherwise, an exhausted army will just be sending heads to the enemy.

Today they walked from outside Jinguan Gate to the north of Zhongwei Bridge, which was exactly forty miles.

The soldiers who arrived first had already started to set up camp in the selected camp. Even though this was on the outskirts of Chang'an, the generals of each camp did not dare to be careless at all. Everything was done strictly according to the rules of marching.

Liu Heizi and his men started setting up the tent again. While digging the stove and burying the pot, he and Li Jing chatted leisurely.

Li Yi asked a question, "We don't wear armor when we march, so what if we encounter an enemy ambush or attack? It won't be too late to put on armor temporarily, right?"

"Scouts will be sent out. At least twenty-four scouts must be deployed during the march, scattered in eight directions, with three cavalrymen assigned to each direction, each one mile apart. They will use flags to relay enemy information. If the march is at night and the flags can't be seen, drums will be used to relay messages. If the march is through dense forests and the flags can't be seen, drums will be used during the day as well."

In addition to sending out scouts, there will also be cavalry patrolling the front, back, left, and right of the army during the march."

According to Li Jing, it is not easy to ambush or attack a marching army. The enemy's traces may be discovered ten or twenty miles away, and there will be enough time to report it back to the main army, allowing the army to quickly put on armor and even assemble in battle formation.

While attacks and ambushes were common, they often had other reasons. For example, during a defeat and escape, the troops might not have bothered to spread out scouts, or they might have been too engrossed in pursuing the enemy, leading to an ambush. Or perhaps the troops were simply commanded by an amateur, or the bandits were ignorant.

Li Yi remembered that Li Jing later destroyed the Eastern Turks and captured Jie Li Khan alive. It seemed that it was a surprise attack. How did he manage to surprise the court of Jie Li Khan?
(End of this chapter)