Chapter 864: Strength

On the thirteenth day of the fourth month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, just as the sky began to brighten, many people had already gathered at the edge of the great parade ground northeast of the garrison city. As time passed, more and more people arrived, until at last the crowd surged and voices boiled like a cauldron, and the little flags waving in every hand fluttered like a sea.

Because it had been announced well in advance, the people of Xuanfu Garrison all knew that today was the day the troops would march. They rose early and gathered around the parade ground, crowding both sides of the road. Their numbers swelled; every quarter-hour the crowd grew by the tens of thousands. Men, women, the elderly, children — every one of them held a flag. Many also wore swords at their belts. They spread from the road west of the great parade ground all the way to the road on the east.

The Xuanfu Garrison great parade ground lay northeast of the garrison city and had two gates. The troops setting out that day would naturally enter from the west and exit from the east, then march along the road. So everyone pressed close along the corresponding roadsides, hoping to catch a glimpse of the departing soldiers’ heroic bearing.

Many had even risen in the middle of the night to secure a spot. At the same time, many people from outside the garrison town had also hurried over, equally hoping to witness the soldiers’ heroic bearing, to wave their flags and cheer them on as they departed. They had arrived in Xuanfu Garrison city several days early, filling and bursting every inn, tavern, and hostel, large or small.

The weather today was fine. In the fourth month of the lunar calendar, rain would come from time to time, but today the dawn light showed itself very early, foretelling clear skies for this day and the days to come.

As time passed, the crowd that had come to wait grew ever larger. The people streaming in soon reached an immense scale. By the hour of Mao, the area around the great parade ground was already a sea of people, a sea of flags rippling, the atmosphere intensely fervent.

Zheng Tianmin had not slept well the night before. Like him, the vast majority of the C-grade troops in his unit had also slept restlessly. Each man felt as if a heavy weight pressed on his chest, making it hard to breathe; their hearts pounded wildly from time to time. The review was coming, the march to war was coming — amid their anticipation there was also unease.

Only the company commander and the leader of the first squad, who also served as deputy company commander, remained completely unruffled. They were veterans transferred from the A- and B-grade troops to serve as officers, long accustomed to such scenes. They remained as composed as ever, as busy as ever, sleeping soundly and eating comfortably.

Zheng Tianmin saw even more clearly that his own Company Commander, Ju Yiwu, still wore a cold face, looking at everyone as if they owed him several thousand silver dollars and had not paid him back. Squad Commander Liu Lie, simple and honest, always carried a trace of inexplicable sorrow in his eyes, as if this good-natured officer’s heart also concealed some unspeakable grief.

Zheng Tianmin’s unit belonged to the Second Regiment of the Vermilion Bird Army’s Forward Battalion. The Company Commander was Ju Yiwu, and the Battalion Commander was Li Zhengjing. There was also First Regiment Company Commander Han Kaijiao, Third Regiment Company Commander Chen Cheng, and Fourth Regiment Company Commander Mou Dachang.

After the Second Regiment arrived at Xuanfu Garrison, they were stationed at a place called Tugou, three li from the great parade ground. They rose at the beginning of the hour of Mao, ate, and readied their equipment. Then the entire battalion assembled, and finally the review would take place. They were to set out around the hour of Si, march over a hundred li that day, and reach Huailai Guard by evening to rest.

After two more days of marching, they would arrive at Juyong Pass.

The breakfast fare was as rich as ever. If Zheng Tianmin and the others felt any lingering attachment to joining the camp, the camp food was certainly one of them.

Although life in the fortified villages had improved greatly in recent years, they still could not eat meat as often as they did in the camp. Now that the order to march had been issued, the meat at every meal was even more freely available.

The previous two days, Zheng Tianmin and the others had felt stuffed to bursting, but today everyone found the food somewhat tasteless — a result of their nervous state of mind.

After Zheng Tianmin finished breakfast, the regiment entered its final preparations. Each soldier’s larger personal items, such as their packs containing wool blankets, were placed into the regimental commander’s supply wagons. Then they readied their equipment and inspected their armor and weapons.

The Jingbian Army was organized with four companies per regiment: two pike companies and two musket companies. Zheng Tianmin’s company was a musket company. His armor was no different from that of the pike companies: an eight-panel iron-tipped cap helmet and a stamped breastplate. On the right side of his belt hung his musket sword.

Slung across his right side was a leather cartridge pouch containing thirty paper cartridges of fixed charge, along with a soft cleaning cloth, musket oil, some spare flints, and the like. Slung across his left side was a water canteen for everyday drinking.

Because of his good performance, Zheng Tianmin served as the leader of the second squad. Under the shouted orders of Company Commander Zhou, he carefully inspected the flintlock in his hands. He pulled the cock to the ready-to-fire position and squeezed the trigger a few times. Seeing that the ignition rate was fine, he did not replace the flint.

He also drew his musket sword and looked it over, took out the soft cloth, and wiped it several more times until its metallic gleam shone even brighter.

Then he inspected the condition of each soldier in his squad. At the mid-hour of Mao, their regiment began to assemble, all gathering on the threshing ground. Five men to a row, five men to a row, they stood with one file per squad. This was the Jingbian Army’s standard marching formation.

When they reached the great parade ground and presented themselves for review, they would form one row of fifty men per company, and then ten thousand men in two hundred rows would be complete.

It is said that when men surpass ten thousand, they stretch boundless and without edge, but in fact, standing in a square formation does not take up much ground. A square of ten thousand is merely a hundred men across and a hundred men deep. If one truly wished to pack them in, one square kilometer could hold sixteen million men.

Company Commander Ju Yiwu, the four squad commanders of the Second Regiment, along with the officers of the company headquarters and each squad headquarters, had long been waiting on the threshing ground. The bright red company commander’s flag and squad commander’s flags danced and snapped in the morning breeze, the vermilion bird emblems upon them now visible, now hidden, as they fluttered.

Each squad commander reported in, and the provost verified that all personnel were present. Ju Yiwu still wore his cold face. He spoke only two words from atop the platform: “Fix swords!”

The adjutant shouted: “Fix swords!”

Then the officers of every regiment, every company, every squad shouted in unison: “Fix swords!”

A clatter of metal rang out as every musketeer drew his musket sword and fixed it firmly in place. After shouting the order, Zheng Tianmin also drew his own musket sword and fixed it.

Across the threshing ground, cold light glittered. The sharp, armor-piercing long cone pikes and the keen musket swords flashed and gleamed in the morning light, proclaiming the sharp edge of this great army.

“Shoulder arms!”

The officers shouted the order again, and another wave of uniform metallic clatter followed.

Ju Yiwu said at last: “Move out.”

The silk and bamboo instruments struck up, the marching drums began to beat, and to the stirring drum music, the soldiers stepped forward in time with the drumbeats.

Their company commander’s flag went first, then the drum, gong, and silk-and-bamboo musicians, then the regiment’s personnel, and then the flags of each regiment, followed by the soldiers within each regiment. All marched five men to a row along the country road. Their soldiers formed about one hundred and sixty rows, and as they marched, a sea of uniform iron cap helmets bobbed in unison.

Then the four regiments assembled together. The fifteen-foot-tall battalion commander’s great banner led the way, with its tasseled head, beaded fringes, and pheasant-tail plumes. The battalion banner was indeed far more imposing than the company commander’s flag.

Very soon, they stepped onto the main road from the garrison city to the great parade ground. Here, the flow of people was already like a tide, and the boiling din of voices drowned out even their drum music. Both sides of the road were packed solid with people; amid the surging heads, the waving flags were like a sea…

After Zheng Tianmin and the others entered the parade ground, the nervousness and unease in their hearts had long since vanished. They moved into their designated positions, merging file by file, forming one row of fifty men per company. Then, with a single turn, they saw that across the parade ground was likewise a sea of people, filled with spectators and those who had come to see them off. They screamed with excitement, and the fiery red sea of flags rippled and danced from time to time.

Zheng Tianmin looked to his left and right. Beside him were countless soldiers, all clad in armor and wearing cap helmets like himself. As far as the eye could see, they surged like a tide, like a long, flowing river of iron.

The Vermilion Bird Army square formation where Zheng Tianmin stood numbered about twenty-five thousand men: one A-grade regiment, one B-grade regiment, three C-grade regiments, plus mounted lancers and light cavalry. The A- and B-grade troops and these cavalrymen all had horses. At this moment, they had all dismounted and stood in silence beside their mounts.

At fifty men per row, these soldiers together formed over four hundred rows, and they faced sideways in this manner. On the parade ground, regiment after regiment, battalion after battalion assembled. Looking to the left and right, the iron helmets with their fluttering red tassels seemed to stretch on endlessly, without limit.

To be in the midst of such a host — one could only feel one’s blood seethe and boil, every breath filling the body with power.

Xuanfu Garrison was known as “the foremost of the Nine Garrisons,” and it was long said that “among the Nine Frontier strongholds, Xuanfu is the key.” The garrison city’s parade ground was even more famous. Xu Wei once sang: “Xuanfu’s parade ground is famed beneath Heaven, each peak and crag there pierces the clouds. No need for bows and blades to array the tiger-warriors; Heaven itself forges swords and halberds to attend the general.”

What people praised was that the garrison city’s parade ground was enormously vast — gathering a million people within it posed no problem. As time passed, more and more troops and horses assembled, the human tide growing ever greater, the soldiers’ iron armor constantly reflecting a cold golden light in the rising dawn.

…

At the beginning of the hour of Chen, Wang Dou, together with his subordinate officers and generals, the various officers and generals who had come to Xuanfu Garrison, the Viceroy of Xuan-Da Ji Shiwei, the Minister of War Chen Xinjia, and others, accompanied the Crown Prince, Regent of the Realm, in performing the grand rites of sacrifice before the martyred officials enshrined in the Hall of Heroes — Li Banghua, Zhu Zhifeng, Wei Jingyuan, Cai Maode, Ma Guoxi, and other renowned ministers who had died for their principles.

On the day Li Banghua and the others died for their principles, Wang Dou had declared: “Loyal ministers and righteous men should be remembered by the people for generations to come.”

Originally, there had been discussions in Xuanfu Garrison and elsewhere about whether to establish shrines for the martyred ministers. After Wang Dou spoke, the Hall of Heroes was built on the original site, and from then on, grand sacrificial ceremonies would be held there every year.

The great affairs of state lie in sacrifice and war. Sacrifice is of the utmost importance — it is one of the foundations upon which Huaxia, upon which the Han people, have stood firm for thousands of years.

For this expedition, besides the prior sacrifices at the Hall of Heroes, after the great army set out, Wang Dou would also go with the Crown Prince and others to offer sacrifices at the Shrine of the Honored Loyal and the Temple of the Righteous People at Shunxiang Fort in Bao’an Department. They would perform the grand sacrifices to embody solemnity and gravity, and to never forget the intent of the former worthies and fallen heroes.

After offering sacrifices at the Hall of Heroes, Wang Dou and the Crown Prince and the others rode toward the great parade ground. They exited through the garrison city’s north gate and would enter the parade ground through the west gate. The moment his banner appeared before the people’s eyes, a roar like the heavens collapsing and the earth splitting erupted. Countless commoners surged and shouted with all their might, and the banners of the Sun-Moon-Wave Flag danced like a sea.

All along the way, cries of “Ten thousand victories!” rose until they halted the drifting clouds. Countless people drew their swords and blades and raised them in salute to Wang Dou and his party. The cold gleam of the blades, the tidal waves of banners, seemed to stretch to the horizon.

Wang Dou smiled and waved. The mountain-roar, sea-crash sound made the Crown Prince’s face flush bright red, and he imitated Wang Dou, continuously waving to the people.

Chen Xinjia, Ji Shiwei, and the others were all right, but the various officials who had come from outside to Xuanfu Garrison, seeing this scene before them, were every one of them dumbstruck. Where had they ever witnessed such a tide of power? In their hearts they felt at once stirred, terrified, roused, and utterly at a loss.

Still, seeing Wang Dou wave, many of them also imitated him and waved.

Fortunately, although the crowd was stirred, the people of Xuanfu Garrison were long accustomed to keeping order. They did not surge forward and create an uncontrollable chaos.

Wang Dou and the others entered the parade ground. The ocean of military square formations stretched as far as the eye could see, representing that boundless, majestic power. Wang Dou rode along the edge of the formations. On one side stood his reverent and respectful soldiers; on the other side, a sea of flags danced, and countless of his governed people screamed with excitement.

Pride welled up in his heart. A decade of gathering strength, a decade of cultivation — at last he possessed the capital to put his ideals and aspirations into practice.

This feeling of finally holding destiny in his own hands was so intensely pleasurable, so rich with savor.

That savor was truly difficult to describe with words.

Wang Dou and the others ascended the review platform. First, the several hundred thousand people in the parade ground sang in unison the Xuanfu Garrison anthem, “The Melody of Heaven’s Favor for the August Ming”: “Sublime is the Lord on High, who favors our August Ming. The great mandate has been gathered; the root is firm, the branches flourish. What is that root? It nurtures virtue in the spring palace. What are those branches? They bring peace to the feudatory states. May the blessing extend a hundred generations, may the grace nourish all living things. For a thousand autumns, for ten thousand years, forever behold its fulfillment.”

The Supreme God, the August Heavenly God, the August Heaven Golden Palace Supreme Sovereign of Nothingness, Naturally Wondrous, Encompassing All, Most True Jade Emperor August God — also called the Jade Emperor. Lord of all gods, origin of all things, of boundless majesty and boundless mystery. At the founding of every dynasty, they must proclaim that they receive Heaven’s will and obey the appointment of the August Heavenly God, thereby representing the divine right of kings, ordained by Heaven.

The assembled crowd sang in unison the hymn “Heaven Favors the Illustrious Ming.” The singing soared into the clouds, billowing on the wind. The Crown Prince and the officials, feeling the power of this awe, could not help but sing along.

When the song ended, Wang Dou gazed down at the countless square formations of soldiers — an endless torrent of steel. The rise and fall of the nation’s destiny now surged before him. A turbulent emotion welled up in his heart, and he shouted to the hundreds of thousands of officers and men below: “Gentlemen, I am resolved to send forth the army and destroy the rebels. Are you willing to follow me into battle?”

“We are willing to follow the Grand General and slay the rebels!”

The mighty roar advanced along the echoing walls of the parade ground, its sound fierce and lingering, as if resounding through the firmament.