Chapter 19
Geared for Battle
23rd of Sixthmoon, Hsinhao 8 (6 Charles 9)
Near Jimwu City, Siguk County, Shanyin Province, Kingdom of Chongtung, Empire of Tunggwo
Chow Fan was woken up by the sound of the horn blowing. The Corporal could be heard going down the line shouting, "Get up! Formation! Get up and fall in, you dogs!"
There were four men in a tent meant for two. This was Chow Fan's team. There were three teams in a squad, four squads in a platoon, four platoons in a company, and he could never remember much beyond that. The Corporal was their platoon leader. Apparently it was usually a job for a lieutenant, but there were not enough regular soldiers to go around. None of the conscripts even had uniforms. They only got the most rudimentary training when they arrived. It was rather clear that they were not seen as being worth much time, money or effort. You do not neatly prune a twig before tossing it in the fire.
Chow Fan and his teammates struggled to get out of their tent and joined the others along the way to the assembly area, a patch of slightly more even ground outside the main encampment. Chow Fan could not help but be awestruck by the number of people that had been gathered in this place. In town back home, there may have been only a few hundred people at most, but he could not even imagine the number you would use to count all of these people.
"Fall in, damn you!" the Corporal continued to shout. "Pick it up! Pick it up!"
The teams lined up by squad, the squads formed the platoons, the platoons were grouped in two-by-two squares for the companies, and then however it worked beyond that. Chow Fan's company was commanded by the Lieutenant and the Sergeant. Chow Fan did not think he ever heard the Sergeant speak. He would just make these grunts and barks if ever the Lieutenant left a task to him and the corporals all seemed to know what he meant.
"You have wasted enough time being idle and eating His Celestial Majesty's millet!" the Lieutenant began. "We are moving out today. When you are dismissed, you will break camp and report to the armory. Each squad will be issued one rifle!"
The Sergeant held up his rifle to demonstrate.
"The rifle will come with one clip!"
The Sergeant held up a clip with his other hand.
"Each squad will carry three additional clips! If the man with the rifle dies, you take his rifle. If the man with the clip dies, you take his clip. Any squad that loses this rifle will get forty lashes! Any squad that loses their ammunition will get ten lashes per clip! These rifles are worth more than your lives! Treat them as such!"
The Sergeant pocketed the clip and shouldered his rifle, then plucked up a stick of bamboo from the ground.
"Five men per squad will be issued a spear like so. If you lose a spear or break it anywhere except in the guts of the enemy, the squad will get five lashes!"
The Corporal might collapse from exhaustion giving out all those lashes.
Only six men in the squad would have weapons and only one of them would be much use. Chow Fan guessed he would have to arm himself with a tent peg, but he very much doubted he would ever get close enough to use it.
"We will show those rebel dogs in Nurchin the iron fist of His Celestial Majesty and after that, the devil-dwarves of Gamtao! And once the rebels, traitors, bandits, and devils have tasted His Celestial Majesty's wrath, the Grand Imperial Phoenix will rise again to rain down the wrath of Heaven on the invaders from afar! Glory and honor to His Celestial Majesty! Glory and honor to our Empire!"
They were obliged to shout back, "Glory and honor to His Celestial Majesty! Glory and honor to our Empire!"
Their voices were joined by the countless others assembled there, making a great deafening noise. Chow Fan could hear the commanders of the neighboring companies and noted that they were saying the same words at the same pace as the Lieutenant, almost as if they were mere instruments of the words breathed through them.
"On my command, fall out by ranks!" the Lieutenant shouted. "Fall out!"
From the first squad of the first platoon, they fell out, forming a long single file as the Sergeant led the company to the armorer's wagon. There was a wagon for each company and there were a lot of companies.
The squad leader was the only real soldier, so he was the one to get the rifle. A person on each team was given an extra clip of five bullets. For the team that got the rifle, only one man was issued a spear, while the teams without a rifle got two spears, leaving one man per team with nothing. Naturally, Chow Fan was that one man on his team.
"You can carry the tent, Chow Fan," the team leader Kwok Sen said.
And so Chow Fan was made to be the pack mule, what seemed to be the common fate of the odd man out on each team. Apparently the actual pack mules had better things to do.
Once they broke camp, they immediately set out. The forced march to get here had been grueling enough, but this was sure to be worse. They were going to have to cross the mountains to go north. Those mountains formed an imposing wall to ward off any invaders, but they would be going forward all the same.
About half of their forces would be taking the main pass, another third would be taking less travelled routes, and the remainder would make their way through the untamed, untrodden wilderness. As further proof that the gods of luck did not favor him, Chow Fan was counted among the last group. If the mountains did not kill him, whatever was waiting on the other side surely would.