“Our Army's Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention have been practiced for many years, but their contents vary slightly in army units in different areas. They have now been unified and are hereby reissued. It is expected that you will take this version as the standard one for thorough education and strict enforcement. As to other matters needing attention, the high command of the armed forces in different areas may lay down additional points in accordance with specific conditions and order their enforcement”

The Liu family is a family of seven, containing Liu father, Liu mother, and five brothers. The father and mother had long past their prime, relying on the five brothers and their neighbours to look after them.

When they went to Xuchang to trade much of their stock of fur and other animal goods, they had gotten a plentiful amount of grain and rice. When they were returning, a peculiar scholar had travelled with them, yet they had not seen him since Bingjiang.

“He's probably dead, killed during the chaos,” Liu One said to himself.

“I doubt it, the scholar seemed frail, but most certainly was not, he showed impressive survival skills,” Liu Five returned.

Currently, the five brothers are sitting around the table, with a wooden slip in front of them.

“Big brother, fifth brother, please don’t distract yourself,” Liu Two, in an attempt to redirect the conversation, negotiated.

“What rubbish is this,” Liu Three yelled as he smacked his hand on his knees,” before, conscription was at most one from each family, now all five of us have to join the military?”

Liu Four patted his older brother on his back, before reassuring,” didn’t the slip say that our father and mother will have their food provided by the collective?”

Liu Three directed a glaze at his younger brother,” How will the administration ensure it is properly provided for, our father and mother could be ignored for all we know.”

Liu Five during this whole argument was too timid to speak and sat out.

“The slip said that in exchange for five coins, conscription could be excepted, how about we leave Liu Five to look after mother and father while we serve,” Liu One proposed after a period of consideration.

The other brothers all agreed while Liu Five remained silent.

Liu One sighed to himself thinking,” Our fifth brother is too timid, he is not fit for living in an environment of death.”

In the end, the four older brothers paid their respect to their parents, encouraged their little brother, and left for Bingjiang

When the Liu brothers once again see the city coming into their view, it was a completely different site than before, as there are no longer people starving outside the city, instead, they appeared much better fed.

As the Liu brothers arrived at the South gate, where the slip had delegated them, the four thousand other soldiers came into view, then a silver haired girl, whose face contains an agreeable smile standing on a platform, overlooking all the soldiers.

“How could a girl lead a bunch of men,” Liu Three complained.

“Third brother, you are wrong, there are also groups of girls around here,” Liu Four corrected.

Spitting onto the ground, Liu Three complained further,” that’s even worse, those frail girls can’t survive the heat of battle, much less hold a weapon.”

Before the conversation could continue, the sound of drum hitting could be heard.

A melodious voice came out from the silver haired girl.

“Before proper training, discipline must be established,” the silver-belled voice rang out.

“There are three rules you must follow.”

“To obey orders in all your actions.”

“Don’t take a single needle or piece of thread from the masses.”

“Turn in everything captured.”

“Furthermore, there are eight points for attention.”

“Speak politely, pay fairly for what you buy, return everything you borrow, pay for anything you damage, don’t hit or swear at people, don’t damage crops, don’t take liberties with women, and don’t ill-treat captives.”

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“If you are found forming the more severe of these crimes, such as looting from peasants, you would be shot on the spot,” the sweet voice finished.

These policies certainly caused mass disruption in the crowds, after all, conscripted peasants seldom get paid for their service in the Great Sui Empire, the only method they had to gain their income is through looting.

The silver haired girl’s smile remained the same, as if unaffected by the crowd below her, Liu Three was most vocal in the protest.

Hitting the drums once again, the group of unorganised masses eventually calmed down.

“Naturally, I will not force these rules upon you for nothing,” she said,” those that abide these duties would gain one coin, typically what you would earn in a week.

This proclamation of salary certainly calmed down much of the crowd, yet Liu Three was still vocal, loudly yelling from the crowd.

“Why are there women in the military, they can’t hold a spear, much less fight.”

The curve of her mouth grew a little,” naturally, we will not be using spears,” she explained, before pointing to the stack of flintlock muskets,” you will be practising using these.”

Perhaps the silver haired girl was too radiant, but the vast majority of the crowd has not noticed the pile of weapons, seeing the flintlock muskets in such a massive quantity, many of those more experienced in the military were shocked.

Yet it appeared Liu Three care little about these hot weapons, still criticising the involvement of women.

“Still, you can’t expect these girls to have the heart to kill on the battlefield.”

The silver haired girl, beginning to disprove the behaviour of Liu Three, still explained.

“The women I have picked out are those that have the necessary physical capabilities to match man, there is no need to doubt that, furthermore, even if they cannot fight, they can still play a supporting role.”

At this point, Liu One could no longer tolerate his younger brother’s yapping and forcibly stopped him.

After all, Liu One is much more experienced regarding the world and knows their Northern neighbour has a long history of female warriors, at this point, Liu Three is just embarrassing himself.

Perhaps what is more surprising to Liu One is that the silver haired girl had never used the Northern female warriors as a part of her argument. Little did he know that neither Li Ming nor Xu Xiaomeng had much knowledge about the world, and could naturally not use that argument, as they never knew it in the first place.

Regardless, the order was restored to the crowd.

“Before we begin, I shall introduce myself, I am Li Ming, but you may call me General Li,” Li Ming proclaimed to the crowd.

“To begin, each man can get a musket, and take three bullets, after which, form a line three men deep, while holding their weapons like this,” Li Ming said as she held the musket those that perform their action with excellence with receive a bundle of wheat to sent to their family as well as their salary.”

Li Ming had carefully planned the recruitment as to not affect any community, each one of these recruits is young, brimming with vigour, and unaffected by the recent famine, which is why the army had such a low number.

Naturally, as they were all young, they had mouths to feed, children, parents and siblings are all on their list, to provide for them more during the famine is something these men and women wish to do.

A new wave of energy washed upon the recruits, and they quickly gathered to form a line, yet it was greatly inefficient, it had taken far too much time for it to form, if this was a real battle, they were certainly slaughtered by then.

Liu Three was perhaps the most energetic of these men, pushing and shoving, he had formed great disruption in the formation, Liu Four formed the line largely avoiding the other recruits, Liu One had an air of authority coming from his role as the older brother, causing him easily command others to effectively form his section, while Liu Two had attempted to stop his younger brother’s rampage, ultimately failing miserably.

Li Ming’s smile fell a little, yet she remained optimistic, after all, this is the first day of their training, while will eventually last a month.

Liu Four had proven himself to be efficient working by himself, which had resulted in him being assigned to the light infantry, Liu One was assigned as an officer due to his authority of command, as well as Li Ming’s history with his stubbornness, Liu One would certainly not retreat unless it is necessary, while the remaining Liu brothers remained as line infantry.

Eventually three weeks have passed, various drills were conducted, however, Li Ming had relatively little knowledge on flintlock muskets, ultimately having to ask those more experienced with the weapon for help. Yet this improved her image among the soldiers, to them, it was a case of great humility.

Eventually, under strict training, even Liu Three had stopped his various tantrums, performing rather well using the rifle and bayonet, yet could only resign as line infantry.

“That Li general sure is blind, does he not see my skill in shooting,” Liu Three complained to his fourth brother.

“That is because you act too rashly,” Liu Four returned, these days, he had gained various survival skills and other qualities necessary as a scout, perhaps he could be considered one of the best.

The two continued their conservation, yet surprisingly, Liu Three had not once complain about the women serving, partly due to the bond they had all formed, and as well as the cases of severe punishment shown by Li Ming towards those that had harassed female soldiers, to her words,” how you can maintain order in villages if you don’t even follow the rules laid down for you as a soldier.”

Li Ming herself is currently engaging in a bit of small talk with Xu Xiaomeng.

“Lady, are you not curious as to why I had restricted looting and other vulgar behaviours?” Li Ming questioned.

A light chuckle went off in her head, before the silver bell-like voice replied,” Sir, I would not have asked, for it is a foolish question. The soldiers of the Great Sui Dynasty is known for their pillaging acts, they invade the homes of villagers, sleep with another man's woman and take their possession, they are notorious for gathering discontent among the peasants.”

Li Ming clicked her tongue,” lady, how do you know these things?”

“That is an even more foolish question, no matter how sheltered I am, do not forget that I am the daughter of a general, these words are commonly heard in the manor, my fathers men boast of all the wealth they had looted from the places they had gone to, while boasting about the beautiful wives of other men.”

Giving off a sound of affirmation, Li Ming ended the conversation, returning to her duties as governor.

Yet these calm days cannot last forever, now, Li Ming stands before the newly trained soldiers, giving out orders after receiving information regarding Xu Jin’s army.

“- to keep as many soldiers as we can,” the silver voice that had given out the instruction the first day rang, today, graver than any other day.

“You would certainly oppose this, but worry not, as I have ensured your family will be provided for, the reforms I have made remain in place, and there would be a supply for your weapons,” Li Ming continued.

Naturally, this raised suspicion among the troops, the entire city avoid taking responsibilities for killing all the nobles within the city? That is impossible.

“Of course, you may be wondering how the city escapes responsibility,” Li Ming said, with a trace of her smile returning.

“The answer is to simply surrender, yet keep a puppet governor working for the people,” Li Ming said as the young scholar that had argued against the older scholar appeared.

“During these three weeks, I have groomed this man to ensure stability, when Xu Jin’s army arrived, he will surrender the city, yet as the Imperial Law of the Sui Dynasty reads, a surrender city can never be looted by the general, while the governor will remain as long as they swear an oath of loyalty to the empire, furthermore, the previous governor had offended countless people during his time, for him to be replaced would appease many others instead.”

Li Ming proclaimed to the crowd, however, she had evaded a key point, how were the weapons produced?

Naturally, that is through an underground factory, while the scholar is kept under the strict watch of the empire, all the key aspects of the city had long been collectivised, leading to them becoming independent from the governor.

“Now that your family’s safety is assured, we shall build up our powers in the villages gaining fresh blood and support. While constantly harassing the enemy, cutting off their supply line.