The Central Army's armored soldiers were particularly fired up during drills that day.
War drums thundered. At their commanders' loud reprimands, the heavily armored soldiers broke into a sprint. Armor clashed as the two sides collided, sending men and horses tumbling.
The heavy stink of sweat filled the air everywhere.
The armored soldiers' shouts rang through the camp like thunder, again and again.
The Central Army's armored soldiers did not resent these drills. Cao Wei's Central Army was different from armies of the past: its men were recruited, not conscripted.
They were not farmers forced into three years of military service as in the Later Han. They were full-time armored soldiers recruited by the imperial court.
Thus, the two groups thought differently. Farmers serving their term wanted only to endure those days and return home. But for these professional soldiers, there was no such thing as merely enduring their term. They either fought their way to military distinction and rose above the crowd,
or remained rank-and-file armored soldiers until they grew old and could no longer lift a spear.
Yet the Central Army of before had offered no path to advancement through military merit.
As the ruling class grew corrupt, positions in the Central Army were gradually occupied by scions of prominent families who took powders and drank wine. They were parachuted straight into their posts, without any regard for reason.
They did not attend drills, hid at the rear in battle, and yet were the first to claim credit.
Some armored soldiers no longer bothered with drills either. They merely sought ways to flatter these men, bribe them, and win their favor.
Truly capable armored soldiers languished in obscurity, while those petty flatterers climbed ever higher.
Even the lowest positions that those scions disdained, such as squad officers, mess