Chapter 85: Bandit Suppression

Though the rank of Attached City had been dismissed by Huan Tan as "useless," Diwu Lun still felt a difference when he returned to the army camp.

The most obvious change was in the attitude of his colleagues and subordinates. Liangqiu Ci practically wanted to take Diwu Lun as a trusted confidant, all smiles and pleasantries, because he had personally witnessed the Emperor exchange several sentences of questions and answers with Diwu Lun — clearly a man marked by imperial favor. Several Majors of equal rank, however, now eyed Diwu Lun with sidelong glances of wary respect.

As for lower officers like Company Commander Dai Gong, when Diwu Lun entered camp, he went so far as to crawl forward on his belly like a snake, kowtowing four times in kneeling gratitude, utterly awestruck and terrified before Diwu Lun, no longer daring the slightest negligence.

Such is the sorcery of imperial power — merely exchanging a few words with the Emperor and receiving a token, practically useless reward made a man seem a cut above the rest. All eyes fixed on that ugly Qilin-skin cap, their gazes filled with awe.

Dai Gong now understood that Liangqiu Ci would absolutely never fall out with Diwu Lun for his sake, so he bowed his head to the ground in trepidation and begged Diwu Lun's forgiveness.

Diwu Lun, however, looked surprised. "Ever since I entered this camp, Company Commander Dai has been wholeheartedly assisting me. What crime is there to speak of?"

No one could tell if this was feigned ignorance or some other design, but Dai Gong only grew more panicked. He kowtowed repeatedly, insisting that he was too old to continue serving as Company Commander and wished to be transferred elsewhere.

But now Diwu Lun absolutely refused to let Dai Gong leave. Dai Gong tendered his resignation three times, and three times Diwu Lun rejected it. He even drank with him face to face in front of Liangqiu Ci, a smile washing away the enmity.

Yet behind the scenes, Diwu Lun stroked the sharp sword Huan Tan had gifted him, glancing sidelong at Dai Gong and thinking to himself: "If you leave, whose blood shall I use to consecrate this blade?"

For the disaster of this battalion losing three hundred men in two months — a mountain of blood debt — Dai Gong bore at least half the blame. Diwu Lun decided he would deal with him once they reached the northern frontier.

But before that, striking while the iron was hot on the momentum of today, Diwu Lun smoothly carried out the replacement of mid-level officers and squad leaders. The corrupt officers marked with crosses in his little notebook were purged wholesale, key positions were all filled with his own men, and the camp's entire atmosphere was refreshed.

These eight hundred-odd men were now, from top to bottom, firmly under Diwu Lun's control.

That night, Diwu Lun opened the bundle Yan You had entrusted to Huan Tan to pass on to him. Inside were several volumes of military texts, all copies of the Wei Liaozi. Beyond the black ink characters in each volume were notes and insights Yan You had jotted in vermilion brush during his usual reading.

Unfolding the accompanying letter, he found that Yan You was informing him of certain inside details regarding this northern campaign.

Yan You believed that in the campaign ten years prior, when twelve generals attacked the Xiongnu, Wang Mang had imitated the Qin dynasty's "no-strategy" approach to resisting the Xiongnu — unwilling to endure small humiliations while treating the people's strength lightly. The transport and supply lines stretched from the distant sea, and while the frontiers were secured, the interior of the realm was drained dry.

This expedition, however, was different from the last. Some lessons had been learned: the numbers were not so vast, with tens of thousands of crack troops. The Boar-Rush Braves would serve as auxiliary conscripts, transporting grain and fodder to the front lines without participating in combat.

"It seems they intend to emulate the exploits of Wei and Huo in Han times — striking deep like a thunderbolt, wounding the barbarian foe, in hopes of forcing a change of the Chanyu."

This had also been Yan You's proposal ten years ago, but Wang Mang had not agreed at the time. Now they were dusting off that old strategy. If that objective could be achieved, the next step, according to Wang Mang's dream, would be to seek out fifteen descendants of the Huhanxie Chanyu and divide the Xiongnu into fifteen states, using barbarians to control barbarians, bringing eternal peace to the frontier.

"How could it be that easy?" Diwu Lun shook his head. Relying on this army, steeped in absurdity and delusion? They'd just be marching beyond the frontier to hand their heads to the Xiongnu.

Yan You had been dismissed from his post for several months now, but he still had connections within the army and knew some inside information, which he shared with Diwu Lun.

As for that war ten years ago that never truly materialized — it did not harm a single hair of the enemy but cost them eight hundred of their own. The two-hundred-thousand-strong army was stationed for years, leading to the complete economic ruin of the Bing Province region. Coupled with a great famine along the frontier, where people cannibalized one another, border inhabitants fled into the inner commanderies — a phenomenon that has not ceased to this day. This eventually sparked uprisings of deserters and peasants gathering in Wuyuan and Dai Commanderies, numbering in the thousands. Though they were suppressed, similar situations have now emerged in places like Beidi and Anding.

Thus, this journey north has two purposes for Wang Mang: The main force, the tens of thousands of crack troops under Grand Preceptor Wang Kuang, seeks to exploit the window of the Xiongnu Chanyu's succession, gambling on a chance to settle the matter once and for all.

Secondly, the hundred thousand Boar-Rush Braves have been organized and trained by the General of Renewal. The Emperor has promised to annul their slave status. They are to march to the frontier, transporting grain and fodder for the Grand Preceptor's forces while also undertaking the task of clearing out bandits along the border.

Good heavens — Wang Mang intends to quell both internal and external threats at once. In name, it is resistance against foreign enemies; in reality, it is "bandit suppression"!

Admittedly, compared to the distant regions of Haidai and Jingchu, the new Qin lands of the north, connected to Chang'an by the Direct Road and capable of threatening the imperial heartland, are of far greater concern to the court.

But does Wang Mang truly believe that a single edict annulling slave status will make men utterly devoted? He probably still does not know the real conditions among the Boar-Rush Braves.

"This is simply pouring oil on a fire. These frontier 'bandits' will only multiply the more you suppress them."

Learning that he would not have to go beyond the frontier to fight the Xiongnu, Diwu Lun felt a surge of relief. At the same time, he began to ponder: marching to the frontier to transport grain and suppress uprisings — could this be an opportunity to seize the moment and grow his own strength?

He slapped his own face. "Don't be greedy. One step at a time. First, train these eight hundred men properly. Forget being battle-ready for now — just make sure they don't scatter in a single stampede during the march."

Two more days passed. Liangqiu Ci summoned Diwu Lun to his tent, saying he had received orders from the General of Renewal, Lian Dan.

"First: that Rational Army man Xu Feilian, who leaped from the high platform and flew that day, will be joining our regiment on the march." Liangqiu Ci's face looked as pained as if he had swallowed a cockroach. He looked down on those so-called Rational Army men, considering them charlatans, and yet one had been foisted upon him.

Secondly, they were ordered to march to the vicinity of Maoling, west of Chang'an, to encamp. After another half-month of training, they would set out on the first day of the second month.

"Colonel, if we are heading west to encamp, it seems we have been assigned to the northwestern commanderies?" Diwu Lun pressed for details.

He just hoped it wasn't somewhere awful — please don't send him all the way to Hexi or Dunhuang.

Liangqiu Ci could no longer simply order Diwu Lun around like an ordinary subordinate; he now somewhat relied on him. So he lowered his voice and told Diwu Lun the truth: "Where we are going is Weirong Commandery!"

Weirong was Beidi. Diwu Lun's eyes widened in sudden realization, and then a thought struck him...

"These 'frontier bandits' we're going to suppress — they wouldn't be Ma Yuan, Wan Xiu, and their lot, would they?"

The army's departure was the moment of greatest tension for Diwu Lun.

Not because of the still-distant enemy, but from fear that the Boar-Rush Braves, who had been relatively docile while confined to camp, would seize the chance for a mass desertion the moment they began to move.

And so a bizarre scene unfolded: when the soldiers of each battalion set out, they were bound together with ropes, one linked to the next, like prisoners.

The Seventh Biao came to ask him: "Major, do we tie ours up or not?"

Diwu Lun hesitated for a long time, then finally gritted his teeth and said: "No!"

The Great Xin was not the Great Qin. In normal times, payroll fraud was rampant, and losing twenty to thirty percent of one's men on the march was common. The commanding officer would face no punishment, so long as he had enough men to complete the task upon arrival.

Xuan Biao let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He bowed low and kowtowed. "Your subordinate will patrol with utmost diligence and ensure no one escapes!"

"If we lose fewer than ten men a day, that will be good enough." Diwu Lun shook his head. No one could guarantee that not a single man would flee.

Diwu Lun still had confidence in his battalion's soldiers. Over the past half-month and more, he had raised their rations from two and a half dou per month to six dou. After a long back-and-forth with Colonel Liangqiu Ci, he had secured a set of winter clothes for each man. With food and clothing assured, non-combat attrition had rapidly decreased, and they no longer had to carry several corpses out of camp each day. Even if the Boar-Rush Braves fled, life as a fugitive might not be better than what they had now.

Before setting out, Diwu Lun made a further pledge: "Other battalions bind their soldiers with ropes. I alone refuse to do so, for the sole reason that you gentlemen are my subordinates, not slaves or prisoners! I, Diwu Lun, here and now, by my own filial piety and righteousness, swear before the August Heaven and Supreme Thearch: on this journey to the frontier, the soldiers shall eat first, and I shall eat after! Whatever you gentlemen eat, I shall eat!"

This was a promise to share food and clothing. Although Diwu Ba had said this tactic was useless when he first entered camp, doing so on the march would put the soldiers slightly more at ease. What they feared most was suffering abuse on the road, as often happened during forced conscription, their very lives at risk.

In this era, large forces moved at a crawl. The hundred-odd li to Maoling was a journey Diwu Lun could make on light horseback in two days; now, it would be divided into five days of marching.

Throughout the journey, Diwu Lun traveled at the very rear, with Xuan Biao at the front. The Seventh Biao and Zang Nu, leading their personal retainers and guards, patrolled back and forth along the column. Though no physical ropes bound them, invisible shackles were still necessary.

Because of the tight watch, over the first day's march of several dozen li, only about ten men attempted to flee, and all were stopped. Diwu Lun spoke with each of them in detail, listening to many more harrowing tales.

Though he had the heart to simply let them all go, he could not set that precedent — otherwise, all eight hundred men might scatter in a single night. Diwu Lun let the offenders off with the punishment of missing one meal.

The first night, they camped near Changling, west of Xinfeng. This was actually an empty mausoleum, burying no one. It had been built by Emperor Cheng of Han at Chen Tang's urging, but halfway through construction, they realized the cost was too immense and the low-lying terrain too difficult to fill, so it had to be abandoned.

At dawn the next morning, the night watchman, Diwu Pingdan, came to report that the man who had tried to flee the previous day had attempted to run again.

This time, Diwu Lun showed no mercy. He had the Seventh Biao severely beat the man in public. But then, turning around, he brought medicine and went to visit him, personally applying the salve. The would-be deserter was deeply moved: "This lowly one has truly wronged you, Major. I will never flee again."

The soldiers observed all this. After this cycle of events, on the second and third days of marching, the number of attempted escapes dwindled to single digits.

The second night was spent at the Tiger Enclosure south of the Wei River; the third night, at the Lanchi Palace in Changling.

Here, the Fourth Xian was already waiting with several carts of grain he had long prepared. Diwu Lun spent his own family's wealth to give the soldiers a full meal, while once again promising that their time encamped at Maoling would be no worse than at Hongmen, and that when they set out for Weirong Commandery...

"Even if I must sell my horse, sell my sword, this Major will ensure that you gentlemen have food to eat!"

People's hearts are made of flesh, after all. So on the fourth day, miraculously, not a single man tried to flee — which made the Seventh Biao click his tongue in wonder, thinking it an exceedingly rare thing, enough to brag about for a whole year.

On the other hand, Diwu Pingdan and the others caught a dozen or so who had cut their ropes and fled, all from the battalions marching ahead. Some had even heard that Major Diwu was kind-hearted and loved his soldiers, and had purposely slipped over here hoping to seek refuge with him.

If you want to seek refuge with me, wait until we reach Weirong Commandery, when each battalion is stationed in its own county, far from the Emperor's reach — then come!

Diwu Lun flatly refused, and had the Seventh Biao release the men, letting them fend for themselves.

On the fourth night they lodged at Duyou, and on the fifth night they reached Maoling. After a meeting at Liangqiu Ci's camp, which had arrived ahead of them, Diwu Lun learned that under Colonel Liangqiu, the worst battalion had marched barely over a hundred li, yet already a third of its men had tried to run.

Half of those had luckily succeeded and vanished without a trace; the other half had been beaten within an inch of their lives, and a dozen or so heads had even been stuck on spears to intimidate the rest.

Liangqiu Ci, for his part, thought Diwu Lun was treating the Boar-Rush Braves too well, and hinted obliquely: "In truth, the fewer men you have, the more empty slots there are, yet the grain you receive stays the same. That way the ones who remain can eat their fill and have fighting strength. As for too many missing slots, once we reach Weirong, we can simply recruit locally. A three-legged donkey is hard to find, but two-legged refugees — aren't they everywhere!"

"If Boyu cannot bear it, then as for those who run away, just let them run. To be honest, clinging to a powerful house in Guanzhong and sinking into tenant farming is still better than going to the frontier to eat sand."

So this is the military culture of the Great Xin, Diwu Lun thought. He neither agreed nor disagreed, and only concerned himself with keeping his own part under control. But after returning to his encampment, he also told the Seventh Biao and the others: "We've only marched a hundred-odd li so far, and it's already like this. Later, on the way to Weirong, we'll have to travel two thousand li, and the perils along the road are far worse than in Guanzhong. When the time comes, if there are men who try to flee three or five times over, have the private retainers pretend to chase them a little, then just let them go."

By then, for those whose constitutions were so weak that they truly could not march, Diwu Lun would even deliberately let them go. The troubled times were about to arrive; nothing was easy. If one life could be saved, then save it.

Ever since a few days ago, Dai Gong had become extremely zealous, running back and forth for Diwu Lun. With his help, the camp was now nearly set up. They were to be stationed here for ten days. Gazing west from the camp, one could see the high peak of Maoling; it was said that the tombs of the two Generals, Wei and Huo, were nearby as well, but Diwu Lun had no time to go see them.

By all reason, there were no rest days in the army, yet Diwu Lun discovered that on the second day after pitching camp, several of the neighboring Majors had taken their trusted men and slipped out of camp to amuse themselves in Maoling city — and Liangqiu Ci clearly knew about it but did nothing to stop them.

So, after exhorting Xuan Biao and the others to keep a firm watch on the camp defenses, Diwu Lun also found time to request leave from Liangqiu Ci.

Liangqiu Ci asked: "What is Boyu going to do in Maoling city?"

"Business," Diwu Lun answered vaguely. Liangqiu Ci immediately showed an understanding look and smiled very ambiguously.

Colonel Liangqiu approved it very crisply. This subordinate who was so different from the rest had finally revealed his vulgar, ordinary side; it seemed he was not entirely impervious to temptation after all.

Diwu Lun left the camp, taking a few men and riding light toward Maoling. Since his destination was Beidi, where Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu were, then before he departed, he had to go see someone.