When Yun Tianyang woke up, the captains and soldiers finally had a backbone.
Under the arrangements of the various captains, the soldiers also began to move.
The healthy soldiers moved the miscellaneous items out of the cabin to make room for the wounded to rest.
This ship's maximum capacity was only a little over 100 people, but now it was crammed with more than 140 people, plus the captured sailors, and heavy cargo, so there wasn't much space to live in.
Seeing Yun Tianyang approach, the wounded soldiers struggled to get up and salute him, but Yun Tianyang quickly stepped forward and gently pressed them back down one by one.
"Oh, please don't move around anymore! If your wounds start bleeding again, even a god wouldn't be able to save you."
"Find something to burn to warm everyone up. It's cold, so don't let anyone freeze."
Looking at the seriously wounded soldiers before him, Yun Tianyang quickly instructed his subordinates behind him, "Have someone get them some food. Eating well will help them recover faster."
The wounded soldiers all thanked Yun Tianyang. In this era, there were truly few generals who cared for the wounded.
After taking one last look at the severely wounded, Yun Tianyang walked out, enduring the pain in his heart.
He knew that, given the current situation, only a few of these severely wounded would likely survive. Providing them with fire for warmth was, in a sense, a waste.
But he still had to do it; it was his conscience, the most basic conscience of a person from a new era.
At least let these brothers feel comfortable when they go...
Walking outside, the situation for the lightly wounded was much better here; most of them could be saved with proper treatment.
Therefore, the atmosphere here was also much better. Several soldiers, seeing Yun Tianyang approach, quickly stood up to salute.
Yun Tianyang nodded to each of them, patting their shoulders one by one.
This was a habit from his previous life; back at the construction site, his leaders liked to pat them like that.
"Ba Zong Yun, your injury hasn't healed yet; you should rest properly."
A wounded soldier with an injured arm looked at Yun Tianyang's thigh with some concern and said, "Our minor injuries are fine; they'll be better after a couple of days' rest."
After saying that, he quickly raised his hand and waved it twice, indicating that he was truly fine.
This fellow was his personal guard. As a Ba Zong, he was at least a low-ranking officer leading 200 men, so he naturally had the right to cultivate a few close personal guards.
Personal guards, also called 'Jia Ding,' were a unique type of combat unit in the Ming Dynasty.
The main force in the early Ming Dynasty was the Wei garrison soldiers. These soldiers were soldiers during wartime and farmers during peacetime, combining military and agricultural roles.
However, by the mid-Ming Dynasty, land annexation was severe, and Wei garrison officers encroached upon military-farmed land, leading to soldiers losing their land and living in hardship, causing large numbers of soldiers to flee, and the Wei garrison system gradually collapsed.
So, in such circumstances, the Wei garrison generals adapted flexibly. They allowed most of the soldiers to completely become farmers to cultivate land, and used more money and provisions to support a group of Jia Ding who were completely loyal to them.
Correspondingly, the Jia Ding, raised at such a high cost, were incomparable to ordinary soldiers in terms of both combat power and loyalty. In other words, they were genuine death-sworn warriors, the kind whose positions could be passed down through generations.
In peacetime, they ate the best food, wore the best armor and weapons, and had plenty of silver and women.
In battle, they led the charge for their general and covered his retreat. These men knew only their general, not the imperial court. If the general died, they continued to serve his son, essentially an Eastern version of Western lords and their retainers.
After all, in cold weapon combat, 100 useless Wei garrison soldiers truly couldn't defeat 10 well-equipped Jia Ding.
As for the other soldiers, they were completely neglected. These generals would embezzle military pay to support their Jia Ding, and when their superiors came to inspect, they would just randomly round up some able-bodied men to make up the numbers.
When it came to battle, the general would first send those able-bodied men as cannon fodder, and observe the situation. If the situation was favorable, he would lead his Jia Ding to charge, relying on his elite Jia Ding to slay enemy generals and capture banners, thus achieving fame.
If the situation was unfavorable, he would directly retreat with his Jia Ding. After all, able-bodied men were everywhere, but these Jia Ding were built with real silver and gold; losing even one was painful.
This absurd military system allowed the Ming Army to fight and even gain the upper hand in small-scale battles. However, it completely deprived the Ming Army of its ability to conduct large-scale operations.
The reason for this peculiar military system was partly due to the system itself, and partly due to the enemies the Ming Army faced.
For example, the Ming Army's common enemies were the Mongols and the many aboriginal chieftains and barbarians in the south, as well as the Japanese pirates and other pirates in the south.
These people would not engage in large-scale decisive battles; they couldn't afford to. They often relied on small, elite units, using familiar terrain to raid back and forth. It was impossible for you to catch them with a large number of ordinary soldiers.
Therefore, it was not surprising that the Ming Army soldiers, who had been entangled with these enemies for more than 200 years, chose the path of streamlining the number of troops and improving the quality of individual soldiers.
For so many years, the Ming Army, relying on the Jia Ding system, was able to fight back and forth against these enemies and ultimately win through its sheer size.
Although the victories were not pretty, they always won.
It was only when facing the Japanese pirates that they suffered a great humiliation, but they quickly recovered thanks to Qi Jiguang.
When other generals saw how powerful the small unit trained by Qi Jiguang was, and saw battle reports of 0-100, 2-500, they were immediately astonished.
These generals not only did not think there was anything wrong with themselves, but instead became even more convinced that fighting relied on elite Jia Ding, and ordinary soldiers were completely useless.
These generals intensified their practices, increasingly embezzling the pay and rations of ordinary soldiers, using it all to support their Jia Ding.
For example, Li Chengliang of Liaodong was rumored to have 3,000 Jia Ding, all of whom were elite cavalry. Even the old slave, when he was young, was one of them.
However, this small and elite troop system, when facing the Manchu, who could organize large-scale military actions, predictably failed.
It is said that the Manchu soldiers were elite, but in fact, in a large number of small-scale confrontations, the Ming Army generals, with no way to retreat, often relied on their elite Jia Ding to confront the Manchu's elite White Armored troops head-on without falling behind, and even managed to win battles.
But relatively, as soon as the Ming Army's numbers increased, they immediately fell apart.
After all, every general's Jia Ding were treasures, bought with real silver and gold. No one wanted to lead the charge; they only wanted their teammates to go first and clear the way, while they stayed back to reap the rewards.
Thus, back and forth, often before the Manchu attacked, their own internal situation had already exploded.
As the saying goes:
When attacking cities and seizing territory, they are as orderly as a forest.
When allies are in trouble, they are as unmoving as a mountain.
When plundering the common people, they are as aggressive as fire.
When retreating and redeploying, they are as swift as the wind.
When receiving orders from superiors, they are as inscrutable as the shadows.
When vying for credit and shifting blame, they are as swift as thunder.
Truly, the profound mysteries of military strategy are all here.
For example, the Jisanxie Southern Camp soldiers, trained according to Qi Jiguang's methods, were one of the few Ming Army units that did not rely on Jia Ding for battle. But even so, generals at all levels were still not immune to the custom, and each still kept a few Jia Ding.
This had already become a trend; if you didn't keep them, your superior would think you were incapable, your colleagues would think you were crazy, and even your subordinates would wonder if you couldn't fight at all.
The man standing in front of Yun Tianyang was named Chen Biao, the Jia Ding of the previous owner of this body. It was thanks to these few elite Jia Ding that the previous owner was able to be the first to charge onto the walls of Pyongyang.
However, he was also his last personal guard; as for the others... it's better not to mention them.
"Alright, stop clowning around."
Yun Tianyang playfully slapped Chen Biao on the back of his head. Chen Biao chuckled, looking a bit silly.
These men ate and lived with their general, so their relationship was naturally not ordinary. Yun Tianyang naturally didn't need to be polite with him.
"How are the brothers' injuries? Are they all bandaged?"
Yun Tianyang looked around, watching the people before him with some concern.
These were all veterans, and their injuries were not severe. As long as the wounds didn't get infected, their chances of survival were high.
"Don't worry, they're all bandaged using the method Ba Zong taught us. Look!"
Chen Biao grinned and brought his heavily bandaged arm closer. Yun Tianyang saw that the fellow had wrapped his arm as if he wanted to turn it into a mummy.
"Nonsense."
Yun Tianyang shook his head helplessly. How many times had he taught them, and they still didn't understand?
At this moment, Yun Tianyang finally understood why the instructors in the new recruit camp had all been so exasperated.
It was purely out of anger.
"The bandage needs to be tied a little looser, not this tight!"
Yun Tianyang scolded Chen Biao good-naturedly while reaching out to unwrap his bandage.
"No need, Ba Zong, I can do it myself."
"Don't move!"
You don't know until you see it, and when you see it, you're shocked. This unlucky kid, in order to tie it tighter, even used a rope to bind the bandage tightly around his shoulder, and he even tied a dead knot...
He must have too many arms, seriously.
Yun Tianyang was too exasperated to scold him anymore, so he simply pulled out his dagger and deftly cut open the bandage on his arm, only to see that the fellow's wound had been constricted until it turned white.
"Damn it, if I hadn't seen this, your arm would be useless tomorrow!"
"Bring me the clean, boiled bandages and gauze!"
A soldier nearby quickly handed over gauze and bandages, which were actually just silk torn into small strips and softened cotton cloth.
These were all supplies from the ship. Yun Tianyang had the soldiers take them out, cut the silk into strips to serve as bandages, and soften the cotton cloth to serve as gauze. Finally, he had them all thrown into a large pot and boiled thoroughly two or three times to bandage the soldiers' wounds.
After quickly bandaging Chen Biao's wound, Yun Tianyang looked at the other soldiers.
Sure enough, these simpletons had all done the same thing.
What could he do? Just do it.
They were all his soldiers; how could he not take care of them?
Yun Tianyang had no choice but to have these soldiers line up, and one by one, they came before him so he could adjust the gauze on their wounds.
Chen Biao wanted to help, but Yun Tianyang kicked him away. This simpleton should not cause more trouble.
"Have the cooks prepare meals. Lightly wounded get half an extra portion, seriously wounded get a full extra portion. Also, have them boil more hot water so everyone can wash their faces and soak their feet."
Although food was scarce, this was not the time to be stingy with it. Eating more would help wounds heal faster.
As for hot water, there was no fresh water to waste like that; it was all boiled seawater.
As for the so-called side effects that might harm the skin, who cared?
This continued until evening, when Yun Tianyang finally finished tending to all the wounded soldiers. The cooks also brought hot water and food at the opportune moment.
The soldiers' meals were naturally not good, just some hard biscuits and pickles.
After urging the soldiers to thoroughly wash their hands, feet, and faces, Yun Tianyang finally walked out, satisfied.
The cook brought him his meal, which was naturally the same as the soldiers'.
He didn't have the habit of having special meals; he didn't like it.
He forcefully tore off a piece of biscuit, swallowed it with two mouthfuls of fishy-smelling pickles, and Yun Tianyang felt that the biscuit was quite a challenge for his teeth.
The cabin was a bit stuffy, so Yun Tianyang picked up his water bottle and slowly walked onto the deck.
Several soldiers were cleaning. Yun Tianyang was a clean person and couldn't stand his territory being dirty.
As the saying goes, 'what the superior likes, the subordinates will emulate.' Under Yun Tianyang's 'earnest teachings,' his soldiers also came to understand what cleanliness meant.
Waving his hand to signal the soldiers who were about to salute to continue with their work, Yun Tianyang slowly walked to the bow of the ship.
The sky in this era was not yet polluted. The bright crescent moon and brilliant stars hung together in the sky, making even such a dark night not feel truly dark.
The sea was very calm; occasionally, a few waves would appear and quickly subside.
Only the sound of wind and water could be heard, which for a moment made one feel quite refreshed and at ease.
Where to go from here? This was a problem. Yun Tianyang couldn't figure it out at the moment.
He didn't know much about history, only a general idea, and he was completely ignorant of foreign geography. Without those high-tech devices, he was completely in the dark.
But he couldn't show this in front of the soldiers. If he, the leader, also had no ideas, then morale would quickly collapse.
People live for hope; if hope is lost, then people are finished.
He had to quickly come up with a plan, at least to take these people to find a place to rest first. As for where to go next, that was less urgent.
