Spiritual Army Culture: Intro on San Jun, Wu Fang, Qi Jiang & Jiu Di 1 (神兵文化之三軍/五方/七將/九地簡介)

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Spiritual Armies, Armies that cannot be seen, touch, feel or direct communicate with, etc.

Spiritual Armies, Armies that being recruit, train and batch to form a Spiritual Defense System for the Three Realms, Deities, Temples or Sintuas.

And so, in the whole Spiritual Army System, how many groups are actually involved or can be found?

In here, I will do a quick introduction on that.

Lets starts with the most important group – San Jun aka Sam Kun (三軍).

From conversations, researches and checking out with the Folks Culture Group, a lot of the Folks will regard San Jun as Tian Jun (天軍), Di Jun (地軍) & Shui Jun (水軍) or Ren Jun (人軍), meaning Spiritual Armies from Heavenly Realm, Earthly Realm, Water Realm or Mortal Realm. Actually all these are not accurate (in Modern World now, San Jun refers to Air, Navy & NS-men).

San Jun, in Ancient Period, it refers to Qian Jun (前軍), Zhong Jun (中軍) & Hou Jun (后軍) aka Dian Hou Jun (殿後軍), meaning Armies that set-off first, followed by the Middle Group of Armies and last, the Rear Troops of Armies (Qian, Zhong & Hou are being used in Tang Dynasty (唐朝) onwards, before Tang, San Jun is known as Shang 上, Zhong 中 & Xia 下 or Zuo 左, Zhong 中 & You 右).

Why these Three Batches of Armies are needed and who are being appointed in the Batches?

These Three Batches are the Overall Addressing Term for the Armies that being send out to do battling or defeating tasks, such as War, Conquering, Fighting against Invaders or Cease-Chaos, etc.

Without San Jun, a Country wont be able to enjoy Peace and Stability, without San Jun, a Country is considered as Low-rated or Non-Well-Equipped with Military Talents. This applies to the Spiritual Realms too.

If a Deity or a Spiritual Department goes without a proper Set-up of San Jun, then, the Deity or the Spiritual Department is not Strong enough or yet to have grant the Permission for performing the necessary Tasks that are appointed.

San Jun, involve Three Batches of Armies, which are:

Qian Jun (前軍) – The First Batch in the Three Batches, main tasks to clear any obstacles on the routes, detect for any danger actions that might happened along the way, setting up of tentages for the other Armies and last, to prepare the meals for the the whole San Jun.

This Batch is involved Xian Feng (先鋒) aka Vanguard & Combat, Zhi Hui (指揮) aka Commander, Ya Liang Guan (押糧官) aka Officer which take-charge of the Army Food, Jun Wu Guan (軍務官) aka Logistic Officer, etc.

Xian Feng (先鋒), a Role to do detection of Ambushes & suitable venue for settling-down.

Zhi Hui (指揮), a Role to direct the Armies.

Ya Liang Guan (押糧官), a very Important Role in the San Jun, in Chinese we have a saying, San Jun Chu Zhan Liang Cao Xian Xing (三軍出戰, 糧草先行) – meaning going on Battles, the Army Food will need to arrive or go first & being taken good care of, once any damage to the Army Food, the Strength of the Troops will be affected which may result in losing in any fightings, etc. And so, Ya Liang Guan is always a very stressful position in the San Jun.

Jun Wu Guan (軍務官), a Role to look into issues that associated with the Troops and the needs of the other Officers, usually Jun Wu Guan will also look into the issues of setting up Tents, etc.

Zhong Jun (中軍) – The Second Batch in the Three Batches, usually in this Batch, the Key Person – Yuan Shuai (元帥) aka Overall Commander, will be inside. If the Emperor of the Country is following the San Jun to observe in the battling, then the Emperor will also be arranged to follow in the Zhong Jun Batch.

This Batch is involved Yuan Shuai (元帥) aka Overall Commander, Jian Jun or Du Jun (監軍/督軍) aka The Officer to take Army Disciplinary Actions, Can Jun or Can Mou (參軍/參謀) aka The Military Advisor or Military Planner, Da Jiang Jun (大將軍) aka The Overall General of the San Jun and the few assistant Generals.

Yuan Shuai (元帥), the Main Role that being appointed by the Emperor or the Ruler of the Country to lead the San Jun. With him, he got the direct Authority for making decision without the present of the Emperor or Ruler. In San Jun, besides doing over planning for the San Jun, he also got the Authority to kill or punish anyone from the San Jun.

Jian Jun or Du Jun (監軍/督軍), a Role to without the Discipline in the San Jun. He is the one who hold onto the 2nd highest Authority, with him, he can also perform any actions without the present of Emperor or Ruler & Yuan Shuai. In the whole San Jun, he is the Only person that make comments of the doing of the Yuan Shuai or he can over-throw any un-necessary actions that the Yuan Shuai made or planned. In some contexts, Jian Jun is always being regarded as the Spy of the Emperor or Ruler for spying on the Yuan Shuai.

Can Jun or Can Mou (參軍/參謀), a Role to do certain planning for the San Jun or give advises for Yuan Shuai or Jian Jun. Can Jun can classified into Scholarly or Military, Scholarly Can Jun or Can Mou will not get directly involved in the fighting whereas Military Can Jun or Can Mou might get down to do the killing.

Da Jiang Jun (大將軍), another Role that leads the Battling besides the Yuan Shuai. In some contexts, Da Jiang Jun can be the Yuan Shuai of the San Jun too, not necessary to have another separate Position in the San Jun.

Hou Jun or Dian Hou Jun (后軍/殿後軍) – The Last Batch in the Three Batches, in this Batch, the Fu Yuan Shuai (副元帥) aka Assistant Overall Commander, will be inside. This Batch is there to perform the protecting and defending from any invading from the invaders from the backward direction.

This Batch is involved Fu Yuan Shuai (副元帥) aka Assistant Overall Commander, Fu Jiang Jun (副將軍) aka Assistant Overall General.

Fu Yuan Shuai (副元帥), a Role to lead the Last Batch in the San Jun. Usually Fu Yuan Shuai must be someone that is quite well-versed in the Skills of Battling. In case of any invading actions take place, Fu Yuan Shuai will need to do decision making without any referencing to anyone or wait for any granting of permission from the Yuan Shuai.

Due to in Hou Jun, not much Skillful Trained Generals are involved, so, Fu Yuan Shuai will need to work closely with Fu Jiang Jun to prevent any sudden attacking.

Fu Jiang Jun (副將軍), a Role that quite similar to Da Jiang Jun, but in here, he is there to provide the assistance to Fu Yuan Shuai. In case of any misfortune happened to the Fu Yuan Shuai, Fu Jiang Jun will need to take up the Role of Fu Yuan Shuai to lead the Hou Jun.

From here, you can have a rough idea of what is San Jun made up of.

Maybe you may ask, this San Jun theory doesnt have any direct association with the Spiritual Army System. If you do have such thinking, then in some way, I will say that you are wrong.

Maybe due to our local Spiritual Army Culture, you never have a Good Chance to see such Qian & Hou Jun being involved. In true fact, these 2 Batches do get involved in our Spiritual Army System.

A Good Taoist Priest or Spiritual Master will perform a Summoning and Rewarding to them and also, setting up of Altars for them to show Gratitude to them for providing the Protection and other necessary actions.

Do keep a Close Look out on the Future Ritual/Ceremony on the Summoning of Spiritual Armies, maybe you will see some differences.

To be continued… (Next Chapter: Wu Fang 五方)