Chapter 63 recruit troops

This fragment also belongs to the short story "The Great Wall of China". —Editor's note in German. The raising of troops was often necessary, for the frontiers were never without fighting.Recruitment is done in the following way: The task was issued, and on a certain day in a certain urban area, all residents, regardless of male, female, young or old, had to stay at home.At dawn, a small troop of soldiers—infantry and cavalry—was waiting at the entrance of the city, and it was usually not until noon that the young nobleman who was ordered to be recruited appeared here.He was a young man, slender, of short stature, frail, shabby, with tired eyes, and he was always disturbed, like a sick man shivering with cold.Looking at no one, he signaled with his whip—the only piece of equipment he had—and several soldiers ran to him at once, and he entered the first house.A soldier who knew all the inhabitants of the district read out a list of the occupants of the house.Generally all the people were there, already standing in a row in the room, their eyes fixed on the nobleman, as if they had become soldiers.Occasionally, however, one would be missing, and it was always a man.At this time, no one dared to give a reason, let alone lie. People said nothing, lowered their eyes, and could hardly bear the pressure of disobeying orders in this house, but the nobleman stood there silently and made everyone laugh. People dare not take a step away.The aristocrat made a gesture, which was definitely not a nod of the head, it could only be seen from his eyes.Two soldiers started searching for the missing man.It didn't take much effort at all.He never left the house at all, he never deliberately avoided the military service, he did not come only out of fear of him, but it was not the fear of the military service that hindered him, but the shyness of publicity, the order to him It was simply too big for him, too fatiguing, and he could not do it on his own.However, that's why he didn't escape, he just hid.When he heard that the nobleman had entered the house, he probably came out of his hiding place quietly, and slipped to the door of the other room, just in time to be caught by the soldiers who came out.He was brought before the nobleman, who took the whip with both hands - he was so weak that he could do nothing with one hand - and beat the man.It didn't hurt that much.Then, partly exhausted, partly disgusted, he dropped the whip.The person who was beaten had to pick it up and hand it to him before he could stand in line with the others.It is also almost certain that he will not be accepted into the military.Sometimes more people show up than are on the list, and it happens quite often.For example, there is a girl from another place who is also standing there looking at the nobleman. She is a foreigner, perhaps from another province, and it is this recruitment that has attracted her.There are many women who cannot resist the temptation of this field call, while the home call has a very different meaning.Strangely enough, when a woman is driven by such temptations, it is never seen as a disgrace, on the contrary, according to some, it is something women have to go through, a kind of A debt they pay to their sex.There are always similar things happening.When a girl or daughter-in-law hears that somewhere, perhaps far away, from relatives or friends, an army is being recruited, she asks her family to allow her to go, and the family agrees, which cannot be refused, and she Dressed in my best clothes, happier than ever, and at the same time as calm, kind, and aloof as ever, and behind all this calm and kindness hides an inaccessibility, like a total stranger, a A stranger who is going home and wants nothing else.In the family where the call was to take place, she was treated quite differently from the usual guests, with all the people surrounding her to flatter her, and she had to go round all the rooms of the house, and peep out of all the windows. , if she puts her hand on whose head, it is more important than the blessing of the heavenly father.When the family was ready for the call-up, she was given the best place, that of the door, where she was best seen by the nobleman, and best seen by him.However, she was so valued until the nobles came in, and then she was left out in the cold.He looked at her as little as anyone else, and even if his eyes were fixed on someone, that person would not feel respected.She hadn't expected it, or rather she must have expected it, because it couldn't have been otherwise, but the expectations that had driven her here were not contrary to it, and it was nothing more than what would now be decided. .She was ashamed, a shame that we women in general may never feel.Only now did she really realize that she had squeezed herself into recruitment elsewhere.The soldier didn't read her name when he read the list. After a brief silence, she stooped and fled out the door tremblingly, and was punched in the back by the soldier.

If the extra man was a man, he'd want to be drafted along with him, even though he didn't live here.But it was hopeless, as such extras had never been called into the army, and it never happened.