midsummer.
The sound of cicadas is endless.
The silvery armor reflected the dazzling luster in the sunlight.
In the south, the heat is hot. The air was filled with waves of heat, and the soldiers stood on the barren land, holding sharp spears in their hands. 1,500 people stood in several phalanxes mighty and majestic, with an astonishing aura at first glance, but only the soldiers standing there knew in their hearts that the clothes under their armor had long been soaked in sweat, and their resolute Behind the eyes is a burst of dizziness.
They had only a bowl of gruel for breakfast, and they had stood motionless for half the morning under the scorching sun. The sun scorched their iron armor and burned their skin through their clothes. Every second was excruciating pain. torment.
At this time, Li Neng, the third son of Yunyang, was sitting under the shade of a tree, with two maids beside him lovingly fanning him.
A school officer staggered over, half-kneeled on the ground, and said to him:
"My lord, brothers can't hold on any longer. When will we attack Yuxi City, I beg you to give us an accurate statement..."
"Can't hold on...?"
Li Neng stood up, walked to the school officer, and said:
"If you are a soldier, don't talk nonsense! Soldiers are not soldiers if they don't endure hardships. Which of the strong troops in the past and present has not been tempered by suffering? It is better to sweat now than to bleed in the future! You have only stood for half a morning. Just yelling and yelling that you are tired, what does it look like? If you yell again, pull them all out for a run and see which one is more tired!"
The school officer opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end he just sighed.
In all fairness, Li Neng is indeed better than his brother Li Yi in running the army. He has read some classics on the art of war and learned some theoretical knowledge, so he can speak clearly and logically about many things. There is nothing wrong with this plan of [training troops first], the only problem is that when Li Neng recruited the army, he thought of winning by numbers, and he recruited as many people as he had, and the budget left for logistics supplies seemed to be Some are tight-lipped, although they borrowed some money from Li Yi to buy food and grass, but the little bosses in the army are basically Li Neng and Li Yi's personal guards, and they make a lot of money from their hands, which is really distributed to the soldiers The rations are very small.
Moreover, those famous books on the art of war did not record everything. It said that the training of soldiers should be practiced from morning to night, and the soldiers should not be too loose, but it did not say that such a process should be followed in the summer in the south.
Appropriate suffering is called tempering the mind, and pure suffering is called disguised abuse. This principle is simple to say, but many people who have lived for decades cannot understand it. Li Neng himself was also immersed in the joy of the superior being in control of power, and he didn't care about these issues at all:
"It's still useful to suffer. It was a mess at the beginning, but now it looks like a strong army."
Fifteen hundred people stood silently in the sun, and in Li Neng's eyes they were a model of military dignity.
This year's harvest in Yunyang is mediocre, and the number of refugees is not uncommon. Most of these soldiers came to serve as soldiers because their families were so poor that they couldn't help but had no other choice. They don't care about death, life is cheap, homeless, life is meaningless, and there is nowhere to go. But they really don't want to suffer like this, it's more torture than simple death.
Li Neng walked around the army formation, and the two maids carefully held the umbrella for him, so that the sun above his head could not shine on his body. But even so, the heat wave in the air still made Li Neng feel a little tight in the chest and short of breath. After walking around, the sweat was all over his cheeks, and one of the maids had to wipe his sweat with silk all the time.
"The first team can take a break, take some watermelon to cool off the heat. The rest of the people, stand for another half an hour, and then temporarily disband! Practice the march with heavy weight in the afternoon, and everyone will get two sandbags to tie on their legs at noon!"
Li Neng yelled, and returned to sit under the shade of the tree. Accompanied by cheers, one of the teams quickly dropped their spears and spears, took off their armor and threw them on the ground, and ran towards the river while wiping their sweat. First, I jumped into the cold water and took a comfortable bath. By the way, I also rinsed and wrung out the sweat-soaked clothes. I put them on half-wet, and ran to eat watermelon. Although everyone only got a few yuan, But by looking at his expression, he knew that he was extremely comfortable.
The eyes of the other soldiers were not envious, they were probably used to it.
This seemingly fair reward mechanism actually contains a huge inside story. The so-called "first team" is the three hundred soldiers that Li Yi lent to Li Neng. people vary greatly. They are actually the ones who get the rewards every time. Although there is a factor of strength in it, the soldiers cannot believe that there is no partiality in it. The initial enthusiasm for winning was quickly wiped out, and the noise dissipated in exchange for silence, and the heart gradually became numb under the silent appearance.
Therefore, this army became what it is now.
The school official who was scolded by Li Neng just now was named Selaginella. The name itself is actually a plant with extremely vigorous vitality. People in bitter cold often name their children after creatures that are easy to live. They always feel that the life of the child will be cheaper and easier to feed.
Most of the other school officers took off their helmets and armor in the attitude of "supervisors", and watched around to see if anyone was lazy. Although they could not completely escape the sun, they could wander more in shady places. And without wearing this airtight armor, the whole person is not so uncomfortable.
Only Selaginella stood alone with the soldiers in the phalanx. He didn't know why, but simply felt that he couldn't leave the soldiers and run away to be lazy. More than 80% of the school officers here are appointed by Li Yi and Li Neng. Only a few people, including Selaginella, are elected by the soldiers.
Selaginella is not a hero, nor does he want to be. Some time ago, a school officer had his leg broken because he contradicted Li Neng, and the soldiers spread the news privately. Selaginella hoped that his two legs could grow on his body well, so after being scolded by Li Neng, he would come back obediently and stop pleading for the soldiers.
But out of conscience, he will stand here and share weal and woe with the soldiers.
He is a small person, and no one will take him seriously.
The sun still shines directly on the human world, gifting itself with scorching heat without hesitation. Selaginella gradually felt that he had difficulty breathing, and his body swayed slightly from side to side, but thinking about the time was coming, he still gritted his teeth and persisted. But then, he suddenly heard a dull impact, looked to the side, and found that a companion had fallen to the ground.