Many wars in history may only be mentioned briefly in history books. When reading, people will always have the illusion that a war is always fought at will.

However, the real facts are different from the history books.

Isn't it possible that a war can be started just by fighting?

From making a decision, to organizing and mobilizing, from recruiting soldiers, to marching out the army, then there is the logistics support, the preparation of food and fodder, the encouragement of morale, and the acceptance of orders in front of the general...

Everything finally comes together, and only then will the war break out.

This is not something that can be started just by talking.

It is not something that can be understood by casual reading in history books.

Every great war in ancient times, and even every war in later generations, no matter how big or small the battle is, no matter the victory or defeat, wars are never over overnight.

It has countless witnesses, and there will also be countless people who can sing and cry...

However, most of them are ordinary experiencers, and their identities are the lowest pawns in every war.

…

"My name is Zhao Si, ranking fourth. I have two brothers and one sister, but they all starved to death during the famine years. Therefore, I am the only male in the family."

"I live in Dong'a County, Jeju Prefecture, Shandong Province. The village is 30 miles southwest of the county seat. The place is very small. There are only eleven households in the village. It is surrounded by mountains and there is a small river next to the village... It is said that there are mountains and water.

It’s a good place, right? But our village lacks the most important farmland.”

"I don't know which big shot once said that ordinary people will inevitably become poor if they lack land. Alas, what that big shot said is so accurate. Our entire Zhaojia Village is suffering."

"When people are poor, their ambitions are short."

"A poor village cannot survive famine."

"I heard from the elders in the village that the population in the village used to be quite large, but disasters hit Jeju Prefecture every year. Once a disaster hit, it was difficult for the people to survive, so the able-bodied people in the village would go out to escape, and the remaining people in the village were

Gradually all those who fall are the old, weak, sick and disabled."

"The ones left behind are all old, weak, sick and disabled. Normally, they wouldn't be able to survive the famine years, right? You must think so, but I tell you it's not the case..."

"We Shandong people are kind-hearted. Those who flee from famine don't just leave cruelly. They always try to think of some ways before leaving and try their best to help the village."

"For example, they go to the mountains to dig grass roots, dig out tree bark, and everything that is edible, they bring back to the village like scraping the land. They keep all these things so that the old and weak in the village will not starve to death."

"Every year we suffer from disasters, like this every year, the population of our village has indeed shrunk, but no matter how it shrinks, Zhaojiacun is still preserved. In the words of the old people, this is the root of our Zhaojiacun people..."

"No matter where those who fled, no matter whether they survived or starved to death on the road, they will always find a way to come back if there is a chance in the future..."

"Ever since I was five or six years old, I have been looking forward to the return of those people the old man mentioned. Because among those people are the third uncle who loves me the most, and the fifth brother who is the strongest in the village. If they can all come back,

We, the old and weak people in Zhaojiacun, have helpers to do the work."

"It's a pity that since I was five or six years old, I have been hoping and hoping, but I have never hoped for anyone to come back."

"On the contrary, I gradually grew up!"

"I became a strong man in the village..."

"When I was seventeen years old, Grandpa Jiu from the village came to my door. He brought a bag of potatoes on his back and came to my house out of breath. Then my mother nodded and said, take it, and my baby will carry it.

Got off."

"My mother's first sentence was "accepted", referring to the bag of potatoes brought by Grandpa Jiu. In fact, the bag of potatoes was not given by Grandpa Jiu, but dug from the mountain by a widow in the village.

In order to save up a bag of potatoes, it is said that it takes two days for each person to have one bite of food."

"The second sentence my mother said was that my baby has resisted, which means that the men in this village will start to take responsibility from now on. There are eleven households in the village, and I am responsible for four of them, four widows and seven babies.

From that day on, everyone must live with me."

"I became the father of the children and the man of four widows."

"Now you understand, the bag of potatoes brought by Grandpa Jiu is a betrothal gift. But it is not a betrothal gift for me to marry the widow, but a betrothal gift for the widows to let me in."

"Don't laugh at this kind of thing. In our Shandong area, there are many grown men who are the treasures of the village."

"Oh, what's the treasure? It's just a big misfortune."

"There are seven children who open their mouths every day to eat and drink. You don't understand that kind of exhaustion, that kind of fear that the children will starve to death every day, and you can't understand..."

"But since they call me daddy, I can't let every child go hungry..."

"This is just like what happened when I was a child. My father starved to death during a famine, my mother became a widow, and I became a fatherless child... At that time, it was also Grandpa Ninth who came forward and asked my mother to take me with her to the village.

A man. That man is not my biological father, but he can always find a way to get a bite of food and drink for me."

"So I didn't starve to death and grew up to be a man."

"Now, it's my turn to take over this responsibility."

"It's tiring to feed seven children. The key is that there is a young man in the village. So I tried every means, either going up the mountain or down the river every day, catching birds, animals, fish, and shrimps..."

"The children were skinny and skinny, but they managed to survive. So Grandpa Jiu in the village would often smile and nod to me with his toothless mouth showing, saying yes, yes, Xiaosi, you are very good. Wait until you put these seven

Once the dolls are raised, our village will gradually get better."

"Actually, both the fourth master and I know that these words are hopeless. How can the village get better? We are just enduring hardships and waiting to die."

"Including me, there are only three men in the village. One of them is still lame and has difficulty doing work... When there were more than a dozen strong men in the village, it was not seen that he could conquer all the men in the village.

We are living a better life, and now only the three of us are left to support it. How long can the three of us survive?"

"Perhaps when the next famine comes, our whole village will starve to death together."

"But the new year's famine has not yet come. We first encountered the selection of the soldiers..."

…

That year, Niu Wa, who was working as a servant in the government office, came to our village.

His words made the whole village panic.

Grandpa Jiu relied on his age and started to curse.

Niu Wa, on the other hand, kept explaining with a smile on her face from beginning to end...

"It is said that only one of the ten men will be drawn, and your Zhaojia Village will not be able to get involved at all, but Lord Jiu, it is really not me, Niuwa, who caused the trouble this time. The main reason is that there is also pressure in the yamen, and the population of Dong'a County, Jeju Prefecture is too small.

Already."

"Jiuye, you don't have to jump around and scold me to insult my grandma. Although I, Bullfrog, are not from Zhaojia Village, I was born in Niujia Village not far away. When I was a child, the children from the two villages played together...

We all grew up naked together, do you think I would harm Zhao Laosi and the three of them?"

"Fu soldiers are the system of our Tang Dynasty. As long as they are adult men, they have to be selected as Fu soldiers."

"In fact, we don't need to be afraid at all. Instead, we should think that this is a good thing. As long as you become a soldier, your taxes will be reduced. In addition to tax reductions, you can also replace the corvee... In other words, the food harvested from farming in the future

Almighty can stay and eat for himself."

"Master Jiu, think about it carefully, why is our area so poor? Isn't it because it's all mountain villages? There must be a shortage of land in a mountain village."

"With less land, there will be less harvest from farming. However, throughout the ages, it has been a matter of course for the common people to pay taxes. The same goes for serving as corvees. I have never heard of any common people being able to resist!"

"If you become a soldier, you will be exempted from paying taxes and corvee. For the villages in our area, wouldn't this be an opportunity for people to survive?"

"As for the war that you are worried about, I can assure you that there will be no more wars. The Tang Dynasty has just been established, so it will definitely not go to war with others. Since it will not go to war with others, it will definitely

We will not recruit soldiers...so, becoming a soldier is a great thing."

"Master Jiu, I am explaining this to you out of respect for the elderly. In fact, even if I, Niuwa, don't explain, this matter still has to be handled according to the rules. The laws in the court and the errands in the yamen are not things that ordinary people like us can resist.

, the only thing we can do is beg not to fight."

"If there is no war, the court will not recruit soldiers."

"Then Zhao Laosi and the three of them don't need to worry about going to the battlefield!"

That day, Niu Wa finally completed her errand.

In other words, it’s not that he succeeded, but that we ordinary people really couldn’t resist.

So I, Zhao Laosi, and another man in the village became Tang Dynasty soldiers who could be drafted at any time. As for the third man in the village, his lame ankle was considered a disability, so he would not become a Tang Dynasty soldier.

He was chosen to serve as a soldier in the government.

Fubing corvee is different from ordinary corvee.

This kind of corvée is only used when going to the battlefield.

Precisely because they may go to the battlefield, this kind of corvee service will also enjoy tax deductions, but they will eventually go to the battlefield.

Therefore, for a long time, people in our Zhaojia Village have always been in panic. Everyone is worried every day, fearing that one day we will hear that war is going to happen.

However, maybe it is exactly what Niu Wa said.

The Tang Dynasty had just been established and was unwilling to fight with others, so it never recruited soldiers.

We slowly stopped worrying and started to work hard for life again.

Gradually, the three of us men forgot that we were soldiers.

…

But who could have imagined that the call-up would come so suddenly.
To be continued...