Chapter 40

After a sumptuous dinner, Donggou patted his full belly and returned to the barracks with a satisfied look on his face.

"I'm so full."

"Yeah, I've never eaten beef before in my life," replied Gousheng, his roommate. Perhaps because both of their names contained the character for "dog," they quickly became close after being assigned to the same squad. Both Donggou and Gousheng had humble names, and these were the only names they had, without any formal names.

The wine and meat served tonight were gifts from the local gentry, including a whole cow. The gentry claimed the cow had died from a fall, so it didn't violate the law against私自宰杀耕牛 (slaughtering working cattle privately). However, no one cared whether it was truly a fall or not.

Donggou and Gousheng were originally from Taiping Village in the north of Macheng.

Macheng had three villages: Xianju, Taiping, and Tingchuan. There used to be a fourth village, Xiaogang, but it was later merged. Xianju was the wealthiest, located in the southwest of the county, with vast plains adjacent to the prefectural and provincial cities. Tingchuan, in the southeast, had some mountainous areas but was still relatively good. Only Taiping was mostly mountainous, with very little arable land and poor soil.

The local people had been impoverished for generations, relying mainly on hunting and charcoal burning to make a living. It was said that poor mountains and harsh waters produced unruly people, and the people of Taiping were indeed fierce, often giving rise to bandits. However, only a few had the courage to become bandits; most just struggled to survive in the harsh environment.

Both Gousheng and Donggou were hunters, skilled with the bow, which is why they were recruited. Although they were hunters, they rarely kept the game they caught for themselves; they sold it to buy food and money. They had rarely tasted pork, let alone the expensive beef.

"Coming here was the right decision," Donggou said, patting his belly and lying on his bed, feeling content. That day, he had come to the county town to sell some accumulated animal skins. Seeing the recruitment notice and hearing the favorable conditions, he immediately signed up. After passing the tests, he was selected.

That day, after getting a guarantor to vouch for him, he immediately received seven taels of silver and a bolt of cloth, along with a set of clothes. When he handed the seven taels of silver and the cloth to his father, the whole family touched the silver over and over again.

By the time he returned to the county town, his family had used the silver to arrange a marriage for his older brother, who was nearly thirty and had never found a wife. They spent five taels of silver, and a family from the neighboring village immediately agreed to marry their sixteen-year-old daughter to them.

Gousheng's situation was similar. The seven taels of silver had already changed their family's circumstances. His mother, who had been bedridden with illness, could now afford to see a doctor and buy medicine.

As they were talking, their squad leader, Cai Yuan, walked in. Donggou knew that Cai Yuan was a sworn brother of their banner commander and also a brother of the team commander. In his heart, Donggou felt that Cai Yuan might not be more capable than himself. Cai Yuan was fair-skinned and delicate, and was said to be a student supervisor. However, since he was the brother of the banner and team commanders, it was normal for him to be the squad leader.

"Everyone, go to bed early. We start training early tomorrow morning," Cai Yuan said to his four soldiers.

Everyone obediently undressed and lay down to sleep.

At that moment, a bugle sounded, and Donggou and the others sat up, unsure of what it meant.

"This is the lights-out signal. When the lights-out signal is blown, you must immediately extinguish the lights and go to sleep, no talking. Lights out, sleep!"

The lights were blown out, and Donggou had to lie down to sleep. However, he was too full to fall asleep. He wanted to get up to digest his food, but remembering Cai Yuan's words, he didn't dare to disobey and just lay on the mat, savoring the delicious meal.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, but he was woken by another bugle call.

Cai Yuan was already up, standing by his bed and patting his face.

"Wake up, it's time to get up."

Donggou opened his eyes to see Cai Yuan's overly pale face.

"When the wake-up signal is blown, you must finish washing up within the time it takes to burn an incense stick."

Donggou quickly sat up and started to dress. After getting out of bed, he and Gousheng took their new wooden basins and towels to the well. The local militia from the three teams of the Right Banner were already up, queuing up to draw water and wash.

After washing up and returning to the barracks, another different bugle call sounded.

"This is the drill signal, get ready for drill!"

Following Cai Yuan, they left the barracks and met up with the other squad from their banner. The team commander, Zhang Xiyu, was already there with his soldiers, and the twelve men formed a line and headed to the drill ground of the Right Banner.

The sky was just beginning to brighten, and the three teams of the Left Banner were already on the front drill ground.

Donggou secretly looked around and saw that the banner commander, Liu Qizong, was wearing a suit of armor with yellow studs, a helmet with a red plume, and a red flag with writing on it behind him.

However, he couldn't read it.

Donggou knew that Liu Qizong was originally a martial student from the military academy in Huangzhou, the son of a scholar from Xibay in the county, and a friend of the Li family's Chunjiang. Chunjiang established this cavalry unit, and Liu Qizong served as his deputy and the commander of the Left Banner, making him the second-in-command of the cavalry.

The Left Banner stood on the front drill ground, and then the sound of footsteps came from the side. Hundred Commander Chunjiang led the Left and Central Banners over.

The three banners were now assembled.

Li Chunjiang and Liu Jun stood on a small earthen platform at the front.

"Attention!" Liu Jun shouted loudly.

Donggou was startled. On the way from Macheng to Queen City, they had learned some basic drill commands. He quickly stood up straight. Each team formed a row, and Donggou stood in the middle.

Then he saw Liu Qizong standing on the platform and shouting, "Today is the official establishment of our Nine-Headed Bird Cavalry. Now, please have Hundred Commander Li present the banner."

Donggou saw Chunjiang take a folded red banner from Liu Qizong and hand it to the four flag bearers of the Central Banner. The four flag bearers unfurled the banner, each holding a corner, and solemnly walked to the center of the platform, where a thirty-foot flagpole was already planted.

The flagpole had a pulley and a rope. The flag bearers attached the banner to the rope, and as the drummers of the Central Banner blew their horns and beat their drums, the flag bearers slowly raised the Nine-Headed Bird banner to the top of the flagpole.

The Nine-Headed Bird banner fluttered in the wind at the top of the flagpole. Donggou suddenly felt that the banner was so beautiful, with a phoenix with nine heads, a truly magical phoenix.

"Now, the distribution of weapons!"

Several tall soldiers in black stood beside the two cavalry commanders, with boxes of weapons and equipment behind them. Each time a name was called, the local militiaman stepped forward, and Chunjiang and Jiyeh personally presented them with their weapons.

"Zhang Donggou!"

"Here!" Donggou shouted in response to the commander's call.

"Zhang Donggou, step forward."

Donggou nervously stepped forward, climbed onto the platform, and stood before Li Chunjiang and Liu Qizong, under the gaze of the entire team of over a hundred men.

Liu Qizong's sharp eyes scanned him from head to toe, then he said loudly, "Zhang Donggou, from today, you are assigned to the Left Banner, Team A, Squad Left, as a musketeer. Now, I will present you with your musketeer equipment."

Then one of Liu Qizong's servants began to hand him the equipment, while another recorded and announced it.

"One long sword, one musket, one spear, one tin shield, one musket cover, one lead ball bag."

"Thirty powder tubes, three qian of gunpowder per shot, three hundred shots, six liang of spare powder, totaling six jin. Three hundred lead balls, five fuses, one coconut shell."

"One set of padded armor, one pair of chainmail boots, one eight-plate helmet."

"One backpack, one belt, one short sword, one dragon-scale face mask, one beast-mouth throat guard."

"One warhorse! One set of saddle and bridle!"

...

There were many items, and Donggou had never imagined he would become a musketeer, let alone that a musketeer would have so much equipment. The table was almost full, and finally, a tall, strong horse was led over.

He reached out to touch the sword, which was not an ordinary waist sword but a two-handed long sword.

This was an extended version of the Qi family sword, which was derived from the Japanese sword. It resembled a Japanese long sword, with a blade length of five feet and a handle length of one and a half feet, making the total length six and a half feet and weighing two and a half catties. This was the standard close-combat weapon for musketeers.

Finally, the gunpowder and lead balls were not directly given to him but kept by the banner. The rest of the equipment, including the armor, musket, and long sword, he signed for.

The armor alone had several parts: an eight-plate helmet with a red plume, a dragon-scale face mask made of cowhide with copper scales, a beast-mouth throat guard, and armpit armor. Then there was the padded armor, which had several parts: a body armor, arm guards, a chainmail skirt and pants, and chainmail boots and arm guards.

Donggou was dazzled. He had thought that joining the local militia would just mean getting a bow, but he never expected to receive so much equipment.

There was also the musket, which weighed less than ten catties, but he was completely unfamiliar with this firearm, having never used one and not knowing how to use it. He had heard that the sound of a musket firing was like thunder, and it would release smoke, and that muskets often exploded, injuring or killing the user.

Therefore, when he looked at the musket, he felt not excitement but fear.

However, he liked the horse, a tall and strong warhorse. He had never imagined that he would one day have his own horse, let alone a warhorse.

"Zhang Donggou, your weapon is your second life, and your warhorse is your brother. From now on, you are a proud musketeer of the Nine-Headed Bird Cavalry. Take good care of your weapon and treat your warhorse well!"

Donggou looked at the equipment that now belonged to him, swallowed hard, stood up straight, and loudly answered, "Yes." As he shouted "Yes," he felt a strange excitement and enthusiasm.

(Everyone, please give some recommendations! The new book is still in the top twenty, and it's hard to move up!)

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