Chapter 145: 143 Marching Through Snow (For the Alliance Leader

The great mountain standing between Anfu County and Yuanzhou Prefecture is called Wugong Mountain.

If you launched troops in spring, winding and twisting through the great mountains, you might still luck your way across. But in winter it is absolutely impossible — once you enter the mountains you either freeze to death or starve for lack of food.

That left only the route further east, which still required crossing mountains and ridges, heading straight from Anfu County to Fenyi County — essentially traversing the foothills of Wugong Mountain.

In the first ten days of the twelfth month, Zhao Han personally led four thousand troops, carrying almost no baggage or provisions, and set out through the snow into the great mountains.

Half of this mountain route lay within Anfu County, where land redistribution had already been completed. Moreover, the land had been distributed after the autumn harvest, so the rent had not yet been handed over to the landlords — every household could be said to have surplus grain.

At every village they reached, Zhao Han would borrow grain from the villagers, to keep the provisions they carried with them fully stocked.

Marching all the way, they reached Taoyuan Village, a relatively prosperous settlement, mainly because a small river ran through the village, washing out a stretch of fertile, flat valley floor among the mountains.

"The whole army rests — do not sit down in the snow!"

Zhao Han included, all four thousand soldiers stood at the village entrance, stamping their feet on the spot to warm themselves.

The propaganda officer entered the village alone and contacted the village chief and the peasant association: "Chief Li, I am Propaganda Officer Zuo Zhao, accompanying Mr. Zhao on this expedition. Please arrange for villagers to lend grain and cook meals. All grain borrowed will be receipted. Villagers may collect grain from the county seat after spring begins, to be repaid at one percent interest. It may also be used to offset the summer grain tax, likewise calculated at one percent interest."

"No interest, no interest." The village chief was called Li Huairen, originally a child student of this place, so poor he had given up the civil examinations, and now his whole family had received land.

Li Huairen first assigned tasks to the peasant association members, then immediately left the village to see Zhao Han.

"I pay my respects to Mr. Zhao!" Li Huairen dropped heavily to his knees in the snow.

"Get up, quickly." Zhao Han smiled.

After Li Huairen rose, he said hurriedly, "Mr. Zhao, please come into the village to rest."

"After you." Zhao Han said with a smile.

Fei Ruhe gave the order: "The whole army — advance!"

The orderly raised the command flag, and the four thousand soldiers marched through the snow. Though they staggered as they walked, they did their best not to tread on the fields; if someone did stumble into a field, there was nothing to be done.

By the time they entered the village, every household was boiling water, mainly for the soldiers to soak their feet.

The army clerks and orderlies were frantically busy, issuing grain-loan receipts to villagers everywhere, while the military judges repeatedly warned the soldiers not to disturb the people.

Seeing several thousand soldiers committing no offense whatsoever, very courteously lodging in the villagers' homes, Li Huairen could not help but sigh with emotion: "Truly an army of benevolence and righteousness. In terms of military discipline, even Yue Wumu's troops could do no better than this."

Zhao Han laughed: "I cannot compare to Yue Wumu. Chief Li, once we cross Taoyuan Ridge to the north, are we in Fenyi County territory?"

"Once you cross it, you are there, but the snowy ground makes for hard going — it is easier when the snow melts in spring." Li Huairen said.

Zhao Han said: "No matter how hard the going, we must cross it."

They had to launch the campaign in winter. Once spring began, the Yuanzhou elite troops would certainly join forces with Governor Li Maofang and sail straight down the Gan River to attack Jishui County.

Moreover, a winter campaign would surely catch the Prefect of Yuanzhou completely off guard.

Arriving at Li Huairen's home and seeing that the village chief's wife had already killed a chicken and was boiling water to scald off the feathers, Zhao Han immediately said: "All poultry killed by villagers is to be compensated at market price! All meat in the village is to be given first to the sick and wounded."

"Mr. Zhao, there is no need for this," Li Huairen said hastily. "Mr. Zhao distributed land to us, you are our great benefactor — what does killing a chicken matter?"

Fei Ruhe said with a cold face: "This is a military order. Do not undermine our army's morale."

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare." Li Huairen could say no more.

When the village chief's chicken was cooked, sure enough, the propaganda officer carried it out and gave it to the sick and wounded to eat. Along the march, some had fallen ill, some had suffered frostbite — they had already "lost" over a dozen men from the ranks.

Fortunately, none of the frostbite cases were severe; they could simply be left to recuperate in the villagers' homes.

Zhao Han, Fei Ruhe, Huang Yao, Huang Shun, and the other army high command all ate ordinary food at Li Huairen's house; the wine brought out was not touched at all.

The army's composition was more straightforward, far easier to train and discipline than civil officials.

Though Zhao Han had only a few hundred full-time soldiers, the rest being farmer-soldiers who tilled half the time and fought half the time, their military discipline far surpassed any army of the present day. Those who disobeyed, those who committed errors, had long since been weeded out.

Even the few soldiers of street-tough origins, after severe punishment, had become men who obeyed orders and respected prohibitions.

The chief credit must go to the propaganda officers in the army, and also to the fact that the soldiers were never treated shabbily!

The soldiers who took part in this winter march not only received extra marching pay, but each was also issued a padded cotton jacket free of charge, plus two pairs of padded cotton shoes free of charge.

Zhao Han had ordered large quantities of cotton and cotton cloth from the merchants.

The widowed elderly and the disabled in the relief homes, along with the indigent women of the city, were set to making clothes and shoes, which the Regional Commander's headquarters purchased with its own funds.

At night, Zhao Han did not take Li Huairen's bed either, but slept on the floor with the others. It was spread with rice straw, with straw mats laid on top; the cotton quilts and straw mats were brought by the soldiers themselves.

Li Huairen saw the main hall covered with sleeping men, and even Zhao Han lying among them, and was suddenly shaken beyond words.

He had never seen an army like this, nor officers like these.

Li Huairen thought to himself: Mr. Zhao ought to be Emperor — then the common people under Heaven would be blessed.

"Ziyue," Fei Ruhe suddenly said in the darkness, "I am somewhat worried about home. Word came some time ago that the county seat had been breached by the cult rebels."

Zhao Han said: "The Prefect of Guangxin has already raised troops to suppress the bandits. Perhaps the county seat cannot be retaken for now, but your family is certainly safe, being so close to the prefectural seat after all."

Fei Ruhe sighed: "Shanglu Town is a bandit nest, far too close to my home — less than half a day away by boat."

"As long as the gentry are not fools, they certainly won't sit idle. Rest easy." Zhao Han consoled him.

Yanshan County was simply too wealthy; the gentry could casually scrape together some money and recruit a good number of local braves.

And that Secret Doctrine sect was not the sort to accomplish anything. After their sect leader took the county seat, he had already begun to lead the enjoyment. The rank-and-file believers, aside from killing landlords and dividing grain, had seen no real improvement in their lives — the land had all been seized by the Secret Doctrine sect's upper echelons.

The Prefect of Guangxin had also been replaced, a man with some sense of responsibility, who raised troops immediately upon taking office.

The rebels in Yanshan County would likely be wiped out by the prefect within half a year.

Though Fei Ruhe's home was very close to the bandit lair, it was in fact the safest place. To seal off the bandit nest, the prefect had set up a military camp at the confluence of the two rivers, which happened to serve as a bodyguard for the Fei clan of Ehu.

Fei Ruhe, too weary to dwell on family matters any longer, suddenly said: "The Li clan of Gu Village wants to arrange a marriage alliance with me."

"Li Meng'an's family?" Zhao Han asked.

Fei Ruhe said: "It is Mr. Li's grandniece. I did not dare agree — those scholars in Jishui have been making far too much trouble."

Zhao Han sighed: "These scholars, truly their traitorous hearts never die. Do not agree to them. I will have my sister step in and find you a better match."

Some of the gentry still harbored thoughts of amnesty and enlistment; others believed Zhao Han could actually succeed.

Even though Zhao Han already had a principal wife, these fellows kept making oblique inquiries, wanting to send their daughters or younger sisters over — even as concubines to Zhao Han, they would accept.

Zhao Han had been stalling and refusing, so they turned their eyes on others.

As the top military officer in the Regional Commander's headquarters, Fei Ruhe had not yet formally taken a wife, and he instantly became a hot commodity — who knows how many gentry families wanted to forge marriage ties.

Not only that, the senior civil officials in the Regional Commander's headquarters, including Zhao Han's three chief secretaries, were all being secretly approached by gentry.

Proper marriages — those Zhao Han could not control.

But if anyone dared take a gentry daughter as a concubine, or divorced his wife to marry another, Zhao Han would certainly not let them off lightly!

The next day, after the soldiers had soaked their feet, they left the sick and wounded in the village and immediately broke camp and marched on — there was no time to help the villagers tidy up the houses.

The deeper they went into the mountains, the harder the road became, especially crossing Taoyuan Ridge.

This ridge was not actually steep; in later ages a provincial highway was built here, and it was the shortest and easiest route from Anfu County to Fenyi County.

It was just that the snow was far too deep!

Over twenty soldiers skilled at climbing were sent out as trailblazers. They trudged upward through the snow; from time to time someone slipped and tumbled down — with snow all the way, at least the falls did not kill anyone.

After a great deal of struggling, some soldiers finally made it to the top, found large trees, tied ropes to them, and then brought the ropes down for the main force to use in climbing.

Zhao Han's feet were already numb from the cold, and his hands were blue with frost. His physical strength was still decent; he grabbed the rope and hauled himself up with all his might — it was just that knee-deep snow that was truly sickening.

The soldiers who had climbed to the summit first were laboring to start a fire.

No flame was to be seen, but a great deal of smoke billowed out, and after billowing for a while, it went out.

"Whoosh!"

Zhao Han clambered to the summit and was pulled up by a soldier. He was so exhausted he wanted to lie straight down and sleep.

Fei Ruhe came up too, ceaselessly stamping his feet and rubbing his hands, and still had the mood to joke: "In the past, when I read of famous generals of old marching through snow, crossing mountains and ridges, I never thought it was all that impressive. Now that I think about it, they truly deserved to be called famous generals — how far have we even traveled?"

"Counting all the winding mountain paths, probably about two hundred li," Zhao Han said with a laugh.

Setting out from the seat of Anfu County and walking all the way here, the straight-line distance was actually only sixty li.

"It's lit, it's lit!"

The soldier tending the fire immediately shouted in excitement, and was promptly ordered by Fei Ruhe to shut his mouth.

Many dead branches were gathered and dried, then moved aside to start fires, and more and more campfires blazed up.

The soldiers who had reached the summit also took off their shoes and changed into dry ones; they even unwrapped their puttees to dry by the fire, because the puttees were soaked through from the snow.

As they warmed themselves by the fire, they helped each other rub their legs and feet, otherwise frostbite would surely set in again.

They rested for one and a half shichen; their clothes were all dried, their bellies filled, and their strength restored. Zhao Han immediately gave the order to resume the march.

The way down the mountain was practically a tumble all the way, and by the time they reached the foot it was already mid-afternoon.

This place fell under the jurisdiction of Fenyi County. The villagers were terrified at the sight of the army and hid in their homes, not daring to come out.

Zhao Han forced open the door of a villager's house, asked where the nearest big landlord lived, and then swiftly led his troops to the landlord's home.

"Surround it!"

In a mountain village there was no truly big landlord to speak of — a few hundred mu of land at the very most. Zhao Han had his soldiers surround the house, tied up the landlord's menfolk, had the women help spread bedding and fold quilts, and then had the women fetch grain to cook rice.

This house was not large enough to cram in four thousand soldiers, so many were split off to borrow space in the commoners' homes.

After a night's rest, they set out again the next day.

The landlord and the peasants here were all utterly baffled, unable to figure out where this army had come from — and weren't they a bit too righteous?

Yes, righteous!

Although the landlord's whole family had been tied up, no one laid a hand on the women. They only seized some grain from the landlord's house — truly only a little, because taking too much would be inconvenient for the march. Petty thieving soldiers certainly existed; this was not their own territory, and pilfering small items was hard to avoid. The propaganda officers and discipline officers had no way to investigate it all.

As for the commoners, apart from the soldiers coming indoors to sleep, nothing else was done to them at all.

Compared with government troops, this was a true army of righteousness. The landlord even felt as if he had dreamed a dream.

(End of chapter)