After a half-day march (don't think that the ancient army marched for a day, and when it was dark, it was a random place to camp temporarily, if you did it, it would be called death.) The army basically only walked for half a day, and the remaining half a day was spent on camping; the army arrived at the suitable camping point that had been pre-reconnoitred.
(Image from the Internet, invasion and deletion)
Where the army is stationed, several conditions must be met:
1. The field of view is wide and there is no obstruction around it;
2. Close to living water sources; surrounded by aquatic plants;
3. Air circulation;
4. It is convenient for soldiers to collect trees and firewood for encampment.
……
There are several taboos for the stationing of large armies:
1. Water-scarce highlands;
2. Saline-alkali land;
3. There is an alluvial fan surface of a flash flood in front of the mountain;
4. A depression surrounded by mountains on all sides;
5. A canyon with only one access channel
6. Fortifications or ruins abandoned by predecessors
After determining the place of station, the Lord will order the scouts and elite horsemen to carry the four-colored banners of green dragon, white tiger, suzaku, and Xuanwu, and circle the safe areas where the large army can move according to the southeast, northwest, and direction; at the same time, he will order all officers and men to camp, hunt, graze, and collect firewood not to exceed the boundaries circled by the flag.
After the safety zone was cleared, the camp began to get busy:
1. Vigilance.
When the army reaches the camping point, the Lord will order a bow to be wound and the sword to be sheathed, and to line up in the direction where the enemy may attack.
There may be nothing on the other side, but this unit must not slacken off like a great enemy! Because encampment is the most chaotic and most vulnerable time for the whole army, if the enemy appears baldly at this time, what awaits the Tang army will be a disaster.
2. Count the number of people, weapons and equipment, and check the livestock.
After the vigilance troops were dispatched, the ministers in the battalion began to count the numbers.
If the soldier does not arrive by name, there will be two situations at this time, one is that the soldier is left behind. Then the commander will let the team and the fire commander (the smallest unit of the Tang Army is the fire, 50 people per fire, and the leader is called the fire chief. Take horses or camels to look for soldiers who have fallen behind.
The second situation is that the soldier is afraid of war and becomes a deserter. At this time, the commander would inform Yu Hou and the elite horsemen cruising around the perimeter to arrest them; the weapons left by the deserters would be returned to logistics, and the food would be distributed to the other soldiers.
After counting the heads, the next step is to take stock of the weapons and equipment.
If a soldier's armor and weapons are damaged, they should be repaired immediately; if there is a loss of armor and weapons, they should be recorded and disposed of in accordance with military law. At that time, the Tang Army's weapons such as armor and strange knives could be said to be the world's top level at that time; it was strictly forbidden for civilian possession, and it was even more taboo to be captured by the enemy. At the same time, the logistics personnel should take stock of the grain stored in the army, count the losses on the road, and whether there is any loss. Grain and grass are the lifeblood of the army, and once the army food is urgent, the battle does not have to be fought.
After these sevens and eighties are completed, the next step is to check the situation of the fighting horses, pack items, equipped pack horses and donkeys.
If these livestock are found to be injured or sick, they are dealt with quickly; if the wounds are serious, or if the livestock is injured by the soldier's excessive whipping, the fire chief is held accountable; and the veterinarian is quickly called for medical treatment.
3. Build a camp
The structure of the camp is divided into peacetime and wartime.
Usually, square camps are usually formed on open terrain.
(Square camp, please indicate the source when reprinting)
When the terrain is narrow, it is generally a hexagonal camp.
(Hexagonal camp, please indicate the source when reprinting)
In barriered terrain, it is generally a half-moon-shaped camp.
(Half-moon-shaped camp, please indicate the source when reprinting)
In short, according to different terrain and landforms, the Tang army will choose different forms of camps.
Of course, what type of camp to build is something that the Lord will consider. As an executive officer, he has another set of tasks:
1. Repair the wall
The army was outside, and it was impossible to build a tall and strong wall in a short period of time, so the wall of the camp was all wooden fences.
The inside and outside of the wooden fence should be covered with mud to prevent enemy fire or water in the camp.
Wooden fences were also used to build boardwalks and railings, and higher defensive observation decks were set up every few steps.
These observation decks have two functions: 1. In peacetime, soldiers take turns to do observation posts, and they can see the wind and grass and play an early warning role. 2. In wartime, the crossbow and hard bow will be lifted to the lookout platform, which will be transformed into a point of firepower, and the generals who will be condescending to take care of the opposing team will be taken care of. Or wait for the enemy to approach the wall and throw combustible materials such as fuel and torches from the lookout.
Generally, when erecting the wall, there will be a secret door on the wooden fence, and the lord will choose the right time to throw out the counterattack troops according to the battle situation, which may be infantry or cavalry; hit the other side by surprise.
When the wall of the village is erected, a certain distance from the gate of the camp is placed in rows of horses and deer (zhài). This is also from the actual battle to prevent enemy cavalry from rapid raids into the camp (especially at night). Therefore, after the ancient encampment, there was only one situation in which the soldiers of their own side could ride through the camp gate, that is, the scouts or elite horsemen came back to their lives after discovering the enemy's situation; officers or soldiers who did not undertake reconnaissance tasks dared to ride their horses at the camp gate and were executed.
2. Repair the toilet
Don't underestimate this place of reincarnation; if this thing is not done well, it will cause big trouble.
After the army encamped, the first focus in the camp was on the granary, and the first focus on the granary was fire prevention, and the second focus was on digging the toilet.
The choice of toilet location in the camp is crucial:
First of all, we must distance ourselves from the place where the grain is stored; second, we must keep a distance from the source of drinking water. The Tang military law was harsh, and some dared to defecate on the grain depot and water source ( some generals had a habit of cleanliness , and soldiers would be beheaded if they bathed in the water source ) . Third, the toilet should be some distance away from the living area of the officers and soldiers.
The purpose of this is self-evident: large armies are encamped, crowded, and if an infectious disease outbreak is made, it will spread very quickly (see this outbreak).
If there is an epidemic rampant, it will cause a large-scale non-combat attrition of the troops; if everyone is sick and crooked, why fight a war?
Like the Battle of Chibi, the core of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the novel is written brilliantly, and it is a straw boat borrowing arrows, Jiang Gan stealing books; and borrowing the East Wind, bitter meat.
But in history, in fact, it is Cao Jun who encountered the "new crown" and lost combat effectiveness:
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Records of Emperor Wu": "Gong to Chibi, and preparation for war, unfavorable." So the great plague, the officials and soldiers died, but the army was returned. There are Counties of Jingzhou and Jiangnan. ”
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" "The First Lord sent Zhuge Liang to marry Sun Quan, and quan sent Tens of thousands of sailors such as Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to fight with Cao Gong at Chibi, destroyed it, and burned his boats." The first lord and the Wu army marched together by land and water, and pursued them to Nan County, but when they were sick, the northern army died a lot, and Cao Gong was led back. ”
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Wu Lord's biography: "Yu and Pu are the left and right governors, each leading tens of thousands of people, advancing with the preparations, encountering Chibi, and breaking the Cao Gong army." The rest of the ships were burned down, the soldiers starved, and most of the dead died. ”
The biographies of the three big men invariably mention the epidemic of infectious diseases in the Cao army, resulting in a decline in combat effectiveness, and Boss Cao had to retire.
At that time, whether Cao Jun finally got an infectious disease because the toilet was not in order, I don't know. But the toilet is not well managed, and it is indeed easy to get infectious diseases, such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis and so on.
Therefore, the toilet pipe is good, but also the combat effectiveness.
After the camp is settled, it does not mean that you can sit back and relax, especially at night, how many famous generals will be planted on the enemy night attack. Therefore, the warning at night is particularly important.
There are two points here:
1. In order to prevent the enemy from pretending to be our personnel for reconnaissance or sneak attack, there will be a guard patrol inside the camp, and the Lord will pass on the password.
The duty units are led by the yu waiting general and the seater (fixed post); in today's parlance, it is a fixed post and a swimming post.
Every day, when Yu waited for the Chinese army to receive the password for the night patrol answer, the Lord would randomly select two words (or four words) from a book as the answer password. This password is generated instantly and is never repeated every day (this is the same as in the modern army) to ensure that the password is time-sensitive and does not leak.
The first word (or two words) is the seat's password, and the latter word (or two words) is the waiting order.
After the commander has determined the password, he will seal the letter with the password in fire paint and send the messenger to the units of the duty unit, which will be opened by the officer on duty that night.
After nightfall, most of the officers and men would rest; the seaters and yu waiting on duty that night began to work.
The seaters have fixed posts; Yu Waiting leads the patrol.
When waiting to pass by the seat of the seater, the seater will shout: Who?
Yu Hou replied, Yu Hou was in charge of so-and-so patrol (be sure to report the name).
Then two people against the password:
For example, if the president is a seater, the president will first report the password for the night: Guoshi!
Outside the sky is the yu waiting manager, and the outside world order: lustful.
After making sure that the password is correct, the president will say: Yu Waiting for the general manager to pass by.
Then the team continued to patrol and walked to the next seat, and the process was repeated.
The main purpose of doing this is to prevent enemy scouts from mixing into the barracks to reconnoiter, assassinate, and sabotage. Soldiers' uniforms and armor are relatively easy to get, but it is not easy to get a random password every day.
2. In order to avoid being robbed of the camp by the enemy at night; the Lord will arrange three levels of early warning in each direction outside the camp.
The first warning is 40-50 miles from the camp: a small group of soldiers will be equipped with 5 or 6 horses in addition to conventional equipment, carrying sergeants.
If the enemy is found to be sneaking in, the scout will return the favor by pegasus; at the same time, if the situation is, the snare drum is sounded as a suspect, and the enemy's action is delayed.
The second level of warning is 5-10 miles from the camp: this layer of warning is composed of scouts with excellent hearing in the military, and this layer of night scouts will carry a special tool, that is, Hulu.
Some of the Hulu are also written as "Hu Gui" or "Hu Gui", "Hu Gui, Hu Gui, Arrow Room also." "; Quivers made of boar skin. It is said that it is buried in the ground, and the well-hearing scouts can hear the noise of the brigade passing by within a radius of thirty miles.
The third level of warning is also composed of a scout with excellent hearing; it is a hundred steps away from the camp; this is the last warning of the army.
In order to ensure the safety of the camp and the fact that the army's secrets were not leaked, the soldiers on these three levels of early warning were: 1. all of them were illiterate; 2. They could not contact the core secrets of the large troops for a period of time, in case these scouts were captured by the enemy tiger stool pepper water leak secrets.
If the troops were stationed in one place for a period of time, the Tang army would build beacon forts on the high ground near the camp.
The beacon fort is one for early warning, and the other is for the soldiers.
Beacon forts are set up on beacon towers, and the number of people in a beacon fort is 6-50 people. Responsibilities:
1. Lookout; 2. In the event of hostilities, be responsible for lighting wolf smoke and beacons (lighting different amounts of wolf smoke and beacons according to the size of the enemy forces observed); 3. Check the documents and clearance documents of the people who come and go.
The weapons and equipment of the Beacon Fort, in addition to the individual equipment of each soldier, will also be equipped with strong bows and crossbows, Molotov cocktails, oil cylinders, various ash bottle cannons, roller stones, and a certain amount of fresh water and food.
Near beacon forts, the Tang army usually:
1. Jianbi Qingye. All the trees and grasslands near the Beacon Fort were burned down; in order to prevent the enemy from using concealment.
2. On the road near the Beacon Fort, lay specially treated fine sand: these fine sands are different from ordinary sand, and if someone passes by, they will leave a mark on them. In this way, the Tang army was able to monitor passers-by; or a large number of enemy troops could control the enemy's tracks when they passed through at night.
(To be continued, please do not reprint without permission, violators will be investigated)
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