Given the conditions of this era, building a fortified camp was not difficult. It would take only a few days. As for this night, with time so tight, they could only throw together a simple wagon fort.
Of this army of one hundred thousand, only seventy thousand could actually fight. The other thirty thousand were logistics personnel, responsible for pitching camp, transporting provisions and fodder, washing clothes, cooking meals... With so many mouths to feed and horses to fodder, ample logistics were essential.
As for the wagon fort, it meant arranging the carts carrying baggage, provisions, and fodder into a circle, then digging trenches and pit traps outside them, while also constructing several watchtowers near the camp.
Time was pressing, so for the moment, this was all they could accomplish.
As for driving palisades into the ground later, expanding the watchtowers' coverage outward, and stationing scout squads in concealed places, those were matters for afterward.
Cao Zheng's capabilities lay not only in his many schemes. His talent for overall coordination was also second to none in this age.
The army of one hundred thousand marched in a mighty stream, yet he was able to arrange everything in perfect order.
By the time the sky had darkened, the entire camp was already taking shape.
His camp did not have all one hundred thousand men gathered in one place. Rather, roughly five thousand men made up one camp, with a stretch of space separating each from the next. This both guarded against an enemy raid throwing the entire army into disorder—
—and ensured that if one camp ran into trouble, the others could rush to reinforce it at once and envelop the enemy from three sides.
With such a layout, even if chaos broke out, it would generally affect only one camp