Chapter Forty-Two: The Transformation of the Refugee Army

Page 1 of 3

Qingtianbei lay on the border between Guangling and Yangyuan Counties. It was a perilous peak, and in later generations, climbing enthusiasts who could not tackle Mount Everest would sometimes choose Qingtianbei instead.

The army of roving bandits reached the foot of Qingtianbei and made camp there that very day.

Since Qingtianbei stood on the boundary between two prefectures, even if the authorities knew that bandits were hiding there, no one was willing to intervene. As for an army of more than a thousand bandits, the local government alone was no match for them. No official wanted to undertake such a thankless task. The magistrates of Guangling and Yangyuan Counties alike simply pretended not to know that bandits had taken up residence in their jurisdictions.

After traveling without pause for more than half a month and then enduring pursuit and suppression by government troops, both the people and the livestock in the bandit army were utterly exhausted.

Liu Heng discussed the matter with several other leaders, including Li Shuheng and Zhao Yutu. In the end, the bandit army decided to remain at Qingtianbei for a while and recuperate.

To guard against the possibility that the government troops might continue their pursuit, Liu Heng sent scouts to gather news of the forces from Yangyuan County. Meanwhile, the refugees who stayed behind began military training.

This training included nearly every bandit in the army. Only a small number of the older men were exempted, as they had to light fires, prepare food, and care for the livestock.

The training consisted entirely of the drills Liu Heng had learned from his instructors during his own military service. The only thing he added was the pike formation.

The decision to include pike formations had been made jointly by Liu Heng, Li Shuheng, and the others after discussion.

Pike formations had their disadvantages: they moved slowly, were unsuitable for attacking, and lacked sufficient armor and enough matchlocks to support them. Even so, they were more than adequate for dealing with village militias and local bandits.

In Liu Heng’s ideal pike formation, every soldier would wear plate armor covering his entire body, and the formation would possess a sufficient number of matchlocks and cannons. If those three conditions were met, he would even dare face the frontier troops in open battle.

He himself had served in the Liaodong frontier army and knew perfectly well what those troops were really like. The only truly formidable men among them were the personal guards and retainers of their commanders. The regular camp soldiers were little more than a ragged army of beggars. They could barely eat their fill, let alone fight.

The main camp was not yet short of provisions, so Liu Heng devoted most of his attention to training.

For ease of management and command, Liu Heng divided the army of more than a thousand refugees into squads, companies, and battalions.

The original thirty-man squads were broken down into three fire teams. Each fire team had a fire-team leader and a deputy, and consisted of twelve men.

Three fire teams formed a squad, commanded by a squad leader and a deputy squad leader, for a total of thirty-eight men.

Three squads formed a company, commanded by a company commander and a deputy, for a total of one hundred and sixteen men.

Three companies formed a battalion, commanded by a battalion commander and a deputy, for a total of three hundred and fifty men.

The refugee army had three such battalions. Their commanders were Liu Heng, Li Shuheng, and Chen Xunping.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

The remaining refugees who had not been assigned to one of the battalions were placed together in a newly established logistics unit, overseen by Li Shuheng and Zhao Yutu.

All ninety-seven archers from the former Archer Camp joined the First Battalion, the one commanded by Liu Heng. As a result, his battalion was the largest, numbering four hundred and forty-seven men.

To make it easier to identify everyone, Liu Heng also ordered Zhao Yutu to produce a number of wooden tags bearing each holder’s name and unit. These were worn by every person as identification tokens.

The scouts sent to investigate the government troops returned to camp the following day with news that the soldiers had already withdrawn to Heavenly Fortress Garrison.

With the immediate threat of the government army gone, Liu Heng intensified the training.

At the same time, he selected a number of clever and capable refugees and handed them over to Yang Yuan. Yang was to take them to Guangling and Lingqiu to gather intelligence, search for a suitable place for the bandit army to establish a permanent camp, and, most importantly, locate craftsmen who knew how to make firearms.

The refugee army remained at Qingtianbei for more than half a month. After undergoing training, the refugees had been utterly transformed and now bore at least some resemblance to soldiers of later generations.

The basic training was nearly complete. From then on, progress would depend on time and repetition. Liu Heng began adding exercises in pike formations and drills coordinating them with the archers.

Since they had no matchlocks, he could only use archers as substitutes.

Archers were somewhat more powerful than matchlock men—at least, they were stronger than the matchlock troops of this era. But training a single archer took at least several years. Liu Heng knew he had no such time, so he could only set his hopes on matchlocks.

Yang Yuan’s mission to Guangling and Lingqiu included finding craftsmen capable of manufacturing matchlocks. As for cannon makers, Liu Heng did not even dare consider the possibility. Even if he found someone who knew how to cast cannons, he had nowhere near enough silver to manufacture them. Matchlocks were a far more realistic option.

Once pike-formation training was added to the refugees’ regimen, the intensity of the drills increased dramatically. Many refugees began to find the strain unbearable, and every day some of them fell ill.

Because of this, Li Shuheng and Zhao Yutu, who were in charge of logistics, went together to see Liu Heng.

“It is impossible to reduce the training intensity,” Liu Heng said. “We will not be staying at Qingtianbei forever. If you want to reduce the noncombat losses in the battalions, then find a way to improve the food at the main camp instead of coming here to complain.”

Liu Heng knew very well that the noncombat losses in the battalions were entirely due to the excessive training and inadequate nutrition. As long as they added more protein to the diet, the situation would naturally improve.

“Archers are sent into the mountains to hunt every day,” Li Shuheng said, “but the game they bring back is nowhere near enough to feed so many people. At most, we can make it into soup and give everyone a bowl. It hardly helps.”

Liu Heng knitted his brows. “There is a river not far from here. There must be fish in it. If we cannot eat meat, then we will eat fish. A river that long should provide enough fish to feed the camp for some time.”

The rivers and lakes of this era were unpolluted. Wherever there was water, fish were naturally abundant.

“Fish is too fishy and bitter,” Li Shuheng said. “No one is willing to eat it.”

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

“How could it be both fishy and bitter?” Liu Heng said with a frown. “Take me to see how you prepare it.”

To provide nutrition for the refugees undergoing training, the rear camp had caught some fish. Since so few people were willing to eat it, however, they had not caught very many.

Liu Heng walked over to the cook preparing the fish and saw him scraping off the scales with a knife. Once that was done, the man tossed the fish directly into a pot of plain water to boil.

“Is this how you prepare all your fish?” Liu Heng asked the cook before him.

Seeing Liu Heng, the cook hurriedly replied, “Reporting to the chief, once the scales are scraped off, the fish can simply be boiled in water. The broth can be drunk as well. It is just far too fishy, and the flesh has a bitter taste. Hardly any of the men in camp are willing to eat it.”

“If I were them, I would not want to eat it either.” Liu Heng could not be bothered to explain further. He took the fish back out of the water and said, “Before cooking fish, you must gut it. Remove the intestines and the gallbladder.”

As he spoke, he skillfully slit open the fish’s belly. A mass of intestines and a green object came spilling out.

Liu Heng pointed at the green object. “That is the fish’s gallbladder. If you leave it in and boil it with the fish, the flesh will naturally turn bitter. Do we have prickly ash? Bring me some wild scallions as well.”

Liu Heng cut the fish into several pieces and dropped them into the pot, then added the prickly ash and chopped scallions.

“It is a pity we have no garlic. Garlic would remove the fishy smell.”

“We do have some!” The cook turned around and returned with an entire head of garlic.

Liu Heng did not take it from him. Instead, he said, “Peel several cloves and throw them into the pot with the fish. Once it is cooked, taste it first. If there is nothing wrong with it, prepare all the fish this way from now on.”

With that, he walked away without looking back.

Li Shuheng and Zhao Yutu exchanged glances. The fish in the pot was not yet cooked, so they still did not know whether it would be edible. Only after tasting it could they decide whether fish should become a regular part of the camp’s diet.

Liu Heng knew perfectly well that, because of the limited seasonings, the flavor would not be especially good. But it would not be so bad as to make it impossible to swallow, and it would serve perfectly well to provide the refugees with the nutrition they needed for training.

Page 3 of 3