Chapter 138
In the Joseon era, the distinction between military and civil officials was not absolute.
General Gwon Yul, commander-in-chief of the Joseon army and Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s superior, was a purely civil official.
There were also many cases of civil officials becoming military or naval provincial commanders, two of the highest-ranking military positions.
I knew that, but I never imagined that His Majesty King Sejong would entrust me with something like this.
“I am Kim Daebung, a Sain of the State Council. Starting today, I will teach you military drill over the course of forty days.”
The trainees—or rather, the successful military examination candidates—stared at me in bewilderment.
It must have seemed absurd that a civil official, rather than a military official, had volunteered to teach these human weapons how to train their bodies.
In truth, anyone who heard about it would have found it absurd.
I did not want to do this either, but after reading the report I had submitted, His Majesty King Sejong said that the person who had devised it would know it best, so I should teach it myself.
No wonder people say that if King Sejong had been born in the twenty-first century, he would have become a professor who drank the tears of graduate students.
Well, at least he had other people teach them how to handle weapons and lecture them on military strategy...
'I suppose I just need to teach them drill as diligently as possible.'
“You may find it absurd for a civil official like me to teach you, who passed the military examination. But bear this in mind: this is a solemn royal command from His Majesty.”
Even if a department manager declared that the entire department had to work overtime for no reason after arguing with his wife, everyone in the department would have to obey as long as they were employees.
That is simply the way the world works.
How much more so when it came to defying a royal command?
Unless there were truly exceptional mitigating circumstances, your head would be severed from your shoulders.
“Therefore, from now on, you must follow my words as though they were His Majesty’s royal command.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good! Then we will begin training! About-face!”
Perhaps because the military examination candidates here had never undergone military drill, even the brief movement of turning around was different for every one of them, and they were all slow as well.
It was absolutely not because they were unintelligent or lacking in physical strength.
They simply were not accustomed to moving in unison according to commands.
“From now on, run to that flag and come back! The first three to finish!”
The candidates were about to run off at my command when I hurriedly stopped them.
They had failed to repeat my command back to me.
Since it was not right to scold people for failing to do something they had never been taught, I decided to teach them kindly.
“From now on, repeat every final thing I say. Understood?”
“Yes, understood.”
“Too quiet! Raise your voices! Is this all the resolve you have to protect His Majesty and punish those evil Jurchens?”
“No, sir!”
“The first three, run!”
“The first three!”
The moment my command fell, they ran as though their lives depended on it.
They quickly ran to the flag, about two hundred meters away, and came back.
“Those who failed to finish among the first three will run there and back again! This time, only the first one! Run!”
After putting them through their paces, I began the serious military drill.
“Though each of you may have been born at a different time and in a different place, when you fight for His Majesty, all one hundred of you must become a single body. Only then will you be able to sweep every last one of those vile Jurchen barbarians from this land.”
Both the civil and military examinations normally have only thirty-three successful candidates at a time.
However, these days the civil service examination sometimes selects one hundred people at once, once a year, because officials from the Chief State Councillor down to the ninth rank were all crying out that there were not enough personnel.
In fact, the Ministry of Taxation was clamoring that even that was too few and that they should select one hundred fifty or two hundred people.
Nevertheless, the military examination had not yet expanded the army’s ranks, so it had always selected only thirty-three people. This time, however, one hundred were chosen specifically to conquer the Jurchens.
“The training you are doing now is not difficult at all. Even a six-year-old child could master it in a single sichin (two hours). It is that simple.”
What one learned in military drill consisted of movements so easy that even an elementary school student could understand them.
When stepping forward with the left foot, move the right arm forward, and when stepping forward with the right foot, move the left arm forward; when ordered to turn your gaze front, back, left, or right, do so.
Stand side by side with an arm’s length between you, march forward in file, form up in five-rank lines, and so on...
If taught diligently, these were simple movements that even a kindergartener could understand.
"I do not intend to make today’s training long. Once the one hundred men here can move as one body in time with my commands, today’s training will be over."
"Is that really so?"
"If we finish the training within the next two sichin (four hours), I will spend my own money tonight to set out an abundance of fine food and alcohol for you."
Even though they were successful military examination candidates, they were still human beings.
In other words, it would be impossible for one hundred people to perfectly master and execute military drill they had never practiced before, with razor-sharp precision, within four hours.
Because there was bound to be at least one person among them who would make a mistake.
"But if you fail to finish the training within two sichin, you will have to perform Chunggun calisthenics (military calisthenics) and run until sunset today. Can you do it?"
"Yes, we can!"
"Good. Then I will demonstrate, so watch carefully and memorize it."
I demonstrated the basic movements of military drill for them while explaining everything in detail.
I showed them movements such as attention, stand at ease, right turn, and left turn, as well as how to walk properly.
After confirming with their own eyes that the movements were not particularly difficult, I saw the corners of their mouths curl upward.
They all seemed excited, looking forward to finishing today’s training quickly and enjoying the delicious food and alcohol I had promised...
Well, enjoy yourselves to the fullest while you can.
When I was undergoing officer training, a bunch of know-nothings underestimated military drill, saying that it did not seem like much. Then they were all horrified when the drill went on all day without end.
These men were talented people who had passed the military examination, so they would spend the entire day suffering as they wondered why they could not perform such simple movements in unison.
"All right, then, left turn! Forward march!"
Perhaps because they were successful military examination candidates, not a single person made a mistake during the first movement.
"Match your strides exactly! The movements of your arms and legs must also be identical to everyone else’s! Do not forget: if all of you cannot move as one body, you will all die together!"
Military drill in the twenty-first century is certainly difficult, but compared to the premodern era, it has been greatly softened.
That is because twenty-first-century military drill is merely 'training to build mental toughness,' whereas military drill in premodern times was directly connected to the army’s combat power.
Therefore, the military drill I was conducting now was not merely a matter of matching the length of their strides and the movements of their arms and legs...
'You even have to match the timing of your breathing.'
"Right oblique, forward march! Left oblique, forward march!"
Since they knew the basics, I tried giving them commands with slight variations.
Even so, I thought they were following along well, as befitted successful military examination candidates, but...
Exactly two of them performed the movement incorrectly.
One candidate extended the left foot first when moving right oblique, while the other turned cleanly to the left instead of the right, resulting in the unfortunate spectacle of that candidate coming face-to-face with the comrade following behind.
"Take your places! Attention. Eyes front!"
"Eyes front!"
"Is turning right and left according to a command really so difficult? How can you make a mistake during something this simple?"
"No, sir!"
"Can you lead soldiers against the Jurchens and fight them when you cannot even manage this simple movement? Everyone, get into the front-leaning rest position!"
They must have been frustrated to the point of bursting as well.
They had been tested on difficult skills such as mounted horsemanship, archery, martial arts, and memorizing military texts in the military examination. Why, then, were they getting confused by such a simple command to turn right or left and march in step?
But what could they do?
Military drill was something in which anyone who had never practiced it was bound to make mistakes.
"On one, lower yourselves into a push-up and shout 'Loyalty to the King!' On two, rise and shout 'Patriotism!' Begin!"
"One!"
"Loyalty to the King!"
I made them do about twenty push-ups and then resumed the drill.
This time, mistakes in the applied movements came one after another, and as I had expected, the military drill did not finish within the two sichin I had allotted.
They ended the day’s training by exhausting themselves with Chunggun calisthenics.
Hang in there, successful military examination candidates.
You only have to endure thirty-nine more days of this training before it is over.
**
When the training was over, as was only natural, the successful military examination candidates had to demonstrate everything they had learned before His Majesty King Sejong.
A different military official, not me, commanded them during the demonstration.
"Aim!"
The trained military examination candidates precisely aligned themselves and aimed their matchlocks at an imaginary enemy.
"Fire! After the first rank fires, the second rank will take over! After the second rank, fire in order from the third rank to the fourth!"
They performed every movement without a single error.
After the sequential firing, the candidates carrying long spears stepped forward to cover the matchlock bearers and leveled their spears.
The sight of them moving in perfect order, as though they had become a single body, was truly magnificent.
Just looking at them made one instinctively want to be loyal to the king and patriotic toward Joseon...
Ah, of course, that did not mean I intended to enlist in the army.
Unless I had gone insane, why would I reenlist?
His Majesty King Sejong also spoke with a pleased smile.
"From now on, train all of Joseon’s soldiers according to this method."