Chapter 76: Marching

Huang Degong pondered for a moment, then said, "Governor Ren, these common folk who have enlisted this time—who knows when they'll ever return home. The silver they've received will ultimately go to their families. Here's what I think: I'll advance three months' wages to those who just enlisted, so their families can have a bit of spare money to buy grain. That's the best I can do. As a military officer, I must not interfere in civil affairs—I ask for your understanding."

Ren Minyu was taken aback, then felt a surge of warmth in his heart. He clasped his hands and bowed to Huang Degong: "General Huang, your actions carry the spirit of the ancients! The silver left behind this time may well save many lives! On behalf of the people of Shan County, I thank you, General!"

Two days later, Huang Degong led his troops out. The baggage camp's ranks had gained several dozen rented horse-drawn carts and wheelbarrows, while more of the able-bodied men used bamboo baskets as their means of transport.

With no armor or weapons to carry, the column's marching speed increased greatly. Previously, soldiers in armor bearing arms could cover forty-odd li in a day; now they managed sixty-odd li daily. After more than ten days of marching, they were now not far from Fengyang.

Though he knew no large bands of roving bandits had appeared along this route, Huang Degong, for the sake of caution, still split his several dozen scout riders into two groups, sending them out about ten li ahead and behind, to guard against the unexpected.

A scout rider came galloping from the road ahead. Huang Degong, positioned in the center of the formation, rode his horse to the roadside and halted, waiting for the scout to arrive. The rider reined in a few paces before Huang Degong's horse, wheeled in a circle on the spot, then clasped his fists in salute and reported: "General, five li ahead is Huaiyuan County town. I asked the guard station soldiers at the city gate—once past Huaiyuan, heading east another fifty-odd li brings us to Fengyang!"

Huang Degong squinted at the scorching sun overhead and gave the order: "Tell Battalion Commander Wu—once water is found up ahead, the whole army rests. We move out a quarter-hour after the midday meal!"

The scout saluted, turned his horse around, and galloped back the way he came, relaying the general's order to Wu Qun's unit at the front.

Huang Degong then gave another order: "Zhang Dabiao! Take five men and ride to Fengyang prefectural city. Call on the Governor, tell him our unit is under orders to rush to the aid of Regional Commander Lu, and see whether Regional Commander Lu has any military dispatches to convey to our unit! Send someone to make contact with the Regional Commander! If the situation is urgent, send a man back immediately to relay the news! If all is well, remain there for now and await the arrival of the main force!"

Zhang Dabiao, leader of the personal guards, received the order, picked out five riders, and galloped off. Over a distance of forty or fifty li, a war horse at medium speed could cover it in about two shichen; at full gallop, in less than one.

The Southern Zhili region was thick with river networks, but the sustained drought without rain had dried up many ponds and inlets completely. Wu Qun led his personal guards to the bank of the Guo River, a few hundred paces off the main road. This tributary of the Huai River had lost its former glory in recent years. The once swiftly flowing Guo River had become a shallow, clear trickle. Because of the reduced water volume, the fields on both banks had long gone without effective irrigation. The wheat in the fields had tiny ears, shriveled grains, and short, thin stalks—a sickly sight. Large-scale crop failure was already a fact.

Wu Qun stood on the bank and looked around, finding that the open, flat river beach was just right for the army to rest and eat. Having grown up on a farm, he knew this was not the rainy season and no large-scale flooding was possible. He decided to make the river beach the army's resting ground. After sending a personal guard to report to Huang Degong, Wu Qun called to his subordinates—some went to look for firewood, while others began digging pits two hundred paces away from the chosen campsite.

After Chongzhen sketched out the general design of the modern entrenching shovel, the craftsmen of the Directorate of Armaments, since the workmanship was not complicated, quickly forged several thousand of them. The Yongwei Camp and Huang Degong's unit, being closest to the source, each received several hundred and were the first to put them to use. Hong Chengchou's and Sun Chuanting's units, being farther away, were still awaiting shipment. As for Lu Xiangsheng's unit, because of its mobile operations and the rampant roving bandits in the Central Plains, the Ministry of War would only send troops to escort weapons to him once the Directorate of Armaments had produced a large batch. Several times it was the Yongwei Camp that sent out mounted escorts.

Several hundred men set to work digging together. The entrenching shovel truly was a pit-digging marvel—in less than half a shichen, over two thousand pits of similar size were dug. The pits were about two chi deep, with the excavated earth piled to one side, to be filled back in when the army moved out.

That's right—these were latrine pits. Nearly six thousand regular troops, plus two thousand able-bodied men from the baggage camp—a force of close to ten thousand—all needed to relieve themselves in large quantities when resting.

Previously, the regular army had no habit of digging pits to relieve themselves. When the army marched, the rear units stepped through excrement scattered all over the ground. When resting, making camp, and eating, many men relieved themselves just a few paces away—disgusting, unsanitary, and even liable to cause outbreaks of disease.

Chongzhen had learned of this situation while chatting idly with Sun Yingyuan and others. So in the military camp regulations drawn up by the Ministry of War, this clause was added: when making camp and resting, pits must be dug according to the number of men; no relieving oneself wherever one pleased; after answering nature's call, wash hands with clean water; when departing, fill in the pits to prevent disease. Violators would be severely punished with ten strokes of the military rod.

Huang Degong had always enforced military orders strictly. During several field marches in training, many soldiers still accustomed to relieving themselves anywhere had taken no small number of beatings. No beating, no memory—after a few times, no one dared to piss or shit wherever they pleased anymore.

As the center, rear, and baggage camp units arrived one after another, the entire river beach filled with the sounds of horseplay and laughter. Though the sun still beat down directly, stopping to rest was still better than marching through the scorching heat. Many soldiers stripped off their robes, bared their torsos, and waded barefoot into the river water that reached their calves, happily scrubbing the sweat from their bodies.

The baggage camp's carts and wheelbarrows were parked on the main road. In the great heat, there were almost no travelers on the road. The occasional merchant, spotting the large body of regular troops from afar, had long since detoured onto side paths. But for safety's sake, Huang Degong still assigned several dozen soldiers to guard the supplies. Soldiers who had finished eating would come to rotate shifts shortly.

The able-bodied men carried loads on shoulder poles, with military grain and salted vegetables packed in the bamboo baskets. Several hundred large cauldrons had already been set up, and the gathered dry firewood blazed fiercely. Soon, river water drawn from the stream bubbled and boiled. The soldiers, finished with their washing, returned to their own units and sat down on the spot in squads of ten, waiting for their squad leaders to fetch the fried flour before starting to eat.

The cavalrymen, aside from the scouts sent ahead and behind, also removed the saddles and stirrups from their horses and led their mounts into the river, beginning to wash and groom the war horses. The able-bodied men in the baggage camp responsible for horse provisions brought over cloth sacks filled with black beans and set them aside, ready to feed the mounts once the cavalrymen finished washing them. Black beans were highly nutritious—besides dry fodder, war horses needed a feed of black beans every two days, or they would lose condition quickly and have no strength when going into battle.

Huang Degong sat bare-chested on a camp stool, the solid muscles of his torso exposed in ridges. Wu Qun and the other battalion commanders sat at his sides. A personal guard brought over a sausage bag, poured the fried flour inside into a coconut shell cup, mixed it with warm water from a waterskin into a ball, and handed it to him. Huang Degong reached out with fingers as thick as clubs, pinched it, brought it to his mouth, and stuffed a large lump of fragrant fried flour into his mouth.

After chewing a few times and swallowing the dough, Huang Degong picked up the waterskin and gulped down several big mouthfuls, then let out a comfortable sigh. Wiping the water stains at the corner of his mouth, he said, "This fried flour—I never tire of it! Tell me, how did His Majesty the Emperor come up with it? Think back to those dry cakes we used to eat—one bite and you'd crack half a tooth, and they didn't even fill you up. Fried flour existed before, sure, but damn it, it was bland and tasteless—nothing compared to this!"

Wu Qun swallowed a mouthful of fried flour and laughed: "General, we're not like you lot from the capital. We country folk—just having something to eat is good enough. Back in Wu Zei's army, we went half-starved more often than not. The court's military pay and provisions all went into Wu Zei's own pockets. Which of the brothers didn't gnash their teeth in hatred?"

Chiliarch Zheng Qiang had formerly been a Company Commander in the Yongwei Camp's mounted unit. Because of his keen wits and outstanding performance, Huang Degong had promoted him to Battalion Commander of the new army. He spoke up: "Old Wu, Wu Shangwen treated you all harshly—why didn't you find a chance to kill him? As long as it was done cleverly and left no evidence, the court would have let it drop!"

Wu Qun sighed and said, "It's not that we never had the thought. But we figured we were, after all, regular troops—eating the court's pay and provisions. We couldn't very well fight it out like bandits, could we? I always felt that one day the court would deal with him, so we just kept enduring!"

Huang Degong glared and cursed, "I say, Little Zheng, your hide's itching, is it? Are you saying that if I were a bastard like Wu Shangwen, you'd find a chance to cut my head off too? Look at Wu Qun here—a genuine farmer by birth. What he thinks about is rules and the court's laws. And you, damn it, you're from the capital, yet you talk like a bandit?"

Zheng Qiang chuckled: "General, who among the brothers doesn't know what kind of man you are? Generous and loyal, considerate of your subordinates—serving under you is a blessing we must have earned in our past lives! We brothers absolutely obey military discipline, of course. We just hate those villains like Wu Zei who suck the blood of soldiers. Look how you've dragged yourself into it!"

Huang Degong rolled his eyes and said, "What I want is to render great service, to be enfeoffed as a marquis or earl in the future, to bring glory to my ancestors and pass it down to my descendants. Who the hell cares about a bit of silver!"

Zheng Qiang laughed: "General, could you submit a personal memorial to His Majesty? Can we not go back to Shan County? There are no roving bandits in Shandong! Without roving bandits, how will you earn merit for a marquisate or earldom? We brothers want to follow you and build achievements too. You should talk to His Majesty—from now on, either we follow Regional Commander Lu, or we go to Shaanxi and join General Zhou, under Governor Sun. Shaanxi is crawling with bandits—plenty of chances to earn merit there!"