Chapter 29: Rectifying Military Discipline

No matter the era, the most frightening thing is when those who enforce the law break it themselves; enforcers who disregard the law are more terrifying than the lawbreakers.

Before long, some runners from the Troops and Horses Office of the Five Wards and a few soldiers of the Yongwei Camp, while on patrol, saw that some female refugees were beautiful, and used meat as bait to engage in flesh trade with them, committing shameless acts.

After the matter came to light, Zhu Cilang ordered the several soldiers beheaded in public, and strictly decreed that any Yongwei Camp soldier who bullied the weak or committed crimes would likewise be executed without mercy.

To Zhu Cilang's order, Huang Degong and Sun Yingyuan expressed firm support and personally supervised. The two of them had served in the ranks for many years and both knew deeply the importance of discipline—a military's discipline matters more than its combat power.

From ancient times to the present, all strong armies share one common trait: strict military discipline. The Yue Family Army and the Qi Family Army were not strong because of individual soldiers' combat ability, but because of their strict discipline.

The most important thing is on the battlefield—strictly obeying military orders, advancing wherever the command flag points, charging forward without hesitation, showing no change of expression even if Mount Tai crashes down upon them.

Whenever an army loses a battle, it is basically because the vanguard collapses, then the whole formation crumbles. Those behind don't even know what happened up front—they see others running and run along with them.

Most of today's Ming armies are like this: when winning, they swarm forward; when losing, they flee a thousand li. Even a commander with outstanding skill cannot reverse this vicious situation.

If military discipline is strict and no one retreats, then even when outnumbered, they can inflict enormous damage on the enemy. No one dares to recklessly fight to the death against such an army.

The Ming's military regulations were mostly inherited from previous dynasties, appearing overly complicated—basically any trivial offense meant beheading. It looked intimidating, but in practice was very difficult to enforce.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang decided to reissue military regulations and tighten military discipline. Drawing on the Yue Family Army and the Qi Family Army, and combining them with later generations' approaches, he streamlined the complicated regulations into seven main articles, called the 'Seven Kill Orders.'

The next day, Zhu Cilang ordered all members of the Yongwei Camp to assemble on the parade ground. Huang Degong, Sun Yingyuan, and every Mobile Corps Commander, Battalion Commander, Company Commander, and Hundred Commander of the Yongwei Camp were all present—even the army supervisors Lu Jiude and Liu Yuanbin attended.

On the parade ground outside the city, five thousand soldiers stood at attention, all staring intently at Zhu Cilang on the platform. The Crown Prince's personal presence was second only to the Emperor's own arrival; in this era, no one dared take it lightly.

Zhu Cilang had the officers pick out several dozen soldiers with loud voices to stand at the front of each formation, then ordered Huang Degong to read the Seven Kill Orders aloud to the assembly.

Huang Degong's expression was stern as he swept his gaze over the thousands of soldiers below the platform, then spoke: "By order of His Highness, military regulations titled the 'Seven Kill Orders' are hereby promulgated to the Yongwei Camp to demonstrate military discipline. The regulations are as follows:

Those who are disloyal and unfaithful, who defect to the enemy and betray the state—kill!

Those who slander their commanding general or disobey orders—kill!

Those who fear the enemy and shrink back, or flee before battle—kill!

Those who leak military secrets or falsely report military intelligence—kill!

Those who steal property or seize others' military merits—kill!

Those who gather crowds to cause trouble or sow chaos in military morale—kill!

Those who bully the common people, commit rape, or engage in plunder—kill!

Each time Huang Degong read a line, the several dozen loud voices at the front of the formations repeated it, ensuring every soldier of the Yongwei Camp could hear.

Each 'kill' that fell struck people's hearts like a giant hammer, making them shudder involuntarily.

Huang Degong continued: "All members of my Yongwei Camp, from the supervising Assistant Regional Commander at the top to the common soldiers at the bottom—anyone who violates these orders shall be executed without exception!"

Zhu Cilang required every member of the Yongwei Camp to memorize the regulations fluently and undergo periodic spot checks. Anyone who could not recite them or made mistakes would receive twenty strokes of the military rod; if after more than three checks they still could not recite them, they would be directly expelled from the Yongwei Camp.

The new regulations seemed harsh, but compared to the old ones, they were actually much more lenient. The contents of the Seven Kill Orders were the bottom line; ordinary minor matters were handled with leniency, while soldiers who were incorrigible and repeatedly committed offenses were strictly punished without mercy.

Zhu Cilang also made "Loyalty to the Nation" the military song of the Yongwei Camp. He wrote out the lyrics and sent people from the Bell and Drum Office to teach it.

As one of the twenty-four offices of the Ming imperial court, the Bell and Drum Office was the pinnacle of music and dance at the time. Zhu Cilang sang it only once before they basically grasped the tune, and they rehearsed it into a musical performance according to the lyrics—playing instruments while teaching the Yongwei Camp soldiers to sing collectively.

Zhu Cilang wanted to tell the officers and soldiers of the Yongwei Camp to know what they were fighting for—he wanted to forge a strong army with conviction.

With fine equipment and rigorous training, an army could become strong, but such strength was only superficial—many fought with hearts full of compulsion and fear of military law.

If such a strong army were further inspired by thought and faith, with soldiers willing to fight voluntarily, Zhu Cilang could say with certainty that such an army would be invincible in battle!

The Mongol-Yuan regime placed extreme restrictions on the Han people—one kitchen knife per four households. Yet under the national slogan of expelling the barbarians and restoring China, these ragged Han people wielding crude weapons, unafraid of death, defeated the once-arrogant Mongols.

The power of thought and faith was also the main soul of modern armies in later generations. Courage, loyalty, discipline, knowing why one fights—combined with fine equipment and skilled martial arts, even with a mediocre commander, such an army could be called a strong one.

Both the end of the Song Dynasty and the end of the Ming Dynasty were eras when nationalism and the distinction between Chinese and barbarians flourished—but because the people were poor and illiteracy was everywhere, it was difficult to form such armies with conviction.

Now that he was the heir to the throne with abundant resources at his disposal, plus the existing personnel of the Yongwei Camp and the finest equipment the Ming had to offer—if he could instill conviction in the soldiers, then he believed that in time, the Yongwei Camp would be unmatched under heaven!

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War smoke rises, gazing north across the rivers and mountains

Dragon banners unfurl, horses neigh long, sword aura frost-like

Heart like the vast waters of the Yellow River

Twenty years of roaming—who can stand against me

Hatred drives madness, wherever the long blade points

How many brothers' loyal souls lie buried in foreign soil

What regret for a hundred deaths in serving one's country

In the Yongwei Camp's encampment, there were rousing collective sing-alongs every day. This song "Loyalty to the Nation" expressed the spirit of Yue Fei's resistance against the Jin back then. Yue Fei's great name still thundered even five hundred years later—even illiterates had heard storytellers speak of him.

Many soldiers of the Yongwei Camp came from the Nine Border Garrisons and had fought the Later Jin for years—almost all of them worshipped General Yue. This military song suited their state of mind even better.

Therefore, every time they sang it, it stirred the passion in their hearts to fight for the nation—which was exactly the result Zhu Cilang wanted.

Meanwhile, some Yongwei Camp soldiers on duty at the porridge kitchens recited the Seven Kill Orders while patrolling. After a period of vigorous rectification, the entire Yongwei Camp's discipline was completely renewed.

"These military gentlemen are completely different from the officers and soldiers back in our hometown."

"I heard these are His Lordship's troops. The song they sing over there was also written by His Lordship himself, and those Seven Kill Orders the soldiers recite every day were written by His Lordship too."

"I've seen His Lordship—last time he came to visit us he stood not far from me. Very young, looks only about ten-something by his appearance!"

"Wow, His Lordship is so young and already this capable—he must truly be the reincarnation of the Pole Star."

Discussions spread among the refugees—all felt how greatly the Yongwei Camp had changed, and at the same time admired the Crown Prince immensely.

In recent days, the righteousness and authority displayed by the Yongwei Camp soldiers made many able-bodied young refugees envious, wishing to become one of them.