Chapter 148: Military Orders Are Like Mountains, the Law Is Like Iron

"Master Zheng Guo is truly a man of divine talent."

West of Daliang City, at the great encampment of the Qin army, fifteen-year-old Wang Li stood outside the command tent, gazing east at Daliang engulfed by the surging floodwaters, and let out a heartfelt exclamation of admiration.

He had come to the front lines on his grandfather's orders to visit his father, and to deliver the summer clothes his mother had sewn. The whole journey, out through Hangu Pass, past Luoyang, and on to Chenggao—when he passed Xingyang, he happened to see tens of thousands of convict laborers and commoners breaching the defenses at the Yingkou bank, diverting the great river's flow into the Honggou Canal...

"At this rate, the land of Wei will likely become a vast marshland."

A retainer from Dongjun who was escorting Wang Li eastward said this, and went on to ramble about things he had witnessed back in the state of Wei.

"Over fifty years ago, when I was just a child of eight, King Huiwen of Zhao led a great army to Dongyang in Wei, breached the Baikou levee, and used the river's waters as a vanguard to attack the Wei clan. In the end, the river flooded catastrophically. From Puyang to Suanzao, tens of thousands of common folk were buried in the bellies of fish, and fine fields and gardens all turned to marsh."

As he spoke, the old retainer kept shaking his head. He did not think highly of Wang Ben's water-attack strategy, believing that while it could harm the enemy, half of Wei's territory would likely be eroded by the river and turned to wasteland. What use was such wasteland?

But when the party arrived beneath the walls of Daliang City, they were astonished to find that the unruly river waters had obediently followed the Honggou Canal to this point, and were then channeled into newly dug ditches, flooding only Daliang City without damaging the surrounding areas.

All of this was thanks to the project's "chief designer," Zheng Guo...

"As expected of Master Zheng, who excavated the Zhengguo Canal."

Wang Li was filled with admiration. Clenching his fists, he said to his father inside the command tent, "Father, at this rate, inside Daliang they must be hanging their cauldrons to cook and have no dry ground to set foot on. This city will fall any day now!"

"Destroying a century-old famed city and toppling a state of ten thousand chariots is not so easy."

Wang Ben had changed out of his armor and was dressed in casual clothes, sitting behind his desk. Yet he was not looking at a map of Daliang City, but rather leafing through a batch of bamboo slips delivered by the military clerks.

These were figures on the army's grain reserves. With every scroll he read, Wang Ben's brow furrowed tighter.

Though Wang Li came from a military family and had studied the art of war diligently since childhood under the influence of his grandfather and father, he was still green. He did not understand what his father was worried about given such favorable circumstances. Wang Ben then asked him a question.

"In the eighteenth year of the present king's reign, your grandfather, by the king's command, led two hundred thousand troops down through Jingxing to fight a protracted battle against Li Mu of Zhao. They were locked in stalemate for a very long time. It was not until the nineteenth year that Handan finally fell."

"The year before last, Crown Prince Dan of Yan sent Jing Ke to assassinate the king. After the attempt failed, the king again ordered your grandfather to lead the army and attack Yan. The march north into Yan territory stretched a thousand li, and after winter set in, it became even more grueling. After months of siege, by late spring last year, they finally breached the Yan capital, killed Crown Prince Dan, and sent the King of Yan fleeing."

These campaigns were the exploits that made Wang Li's grandfather, Grand Patriarch Wang Jian, renowned across the land. Wang Li had no idea how many times he had heard these stories, or how many times he had boasted about them to his peers in Xianyang.

Yet his father suddenly shifted the topic and asked him, "Do you know who your grandfather said he should thank most for being able to win those two wars, after he returned?"

"Thank the king?" Wang Li scratched his head and asked.

Wang Ben rose and cupped his hands toward the west. "Without the king establishing laws and institutions, raising troops to punish the violent, and placing his trust in the Wang clan, naturally there would have been no achievements in breaking Zhao and crippling Yan."

But then he shook his head and said, "Yet your grandfather said the one he should thank most is Master Zheng Guo!"

"Thank Master Zheng?"

Wang Li stood dumbfounded for a long moment. Although he admired Zheng Guo's ingenious engineering—how he had guided the great river, that unruly yellow steed, into a sharp blade for the Qin army without harming the surrounding cities and people—he could not, for the moment, figure out what direct connection Zheng Guo had to those two wars.

Wang Ben was somewhat disappointed in this son, who was slower on the uptake than both his father and grandfather. He prompted him, "The chapter on Waging War from Master Wu Sun's Art of War—recite it, quickly."

Wang Li jolted alert and immediately put his hands behind his back, reciting, "Master Sun said: In the operations of war, where there are a thousand swift chariots, a thousand heavy wagons, a hundred thousand armored troops, and provisions shipped a thousand li, the expenditures at home and on the front, the costs of entertaining guests, materials like glue and lacquer, and the upkeep of chariots and armor will amount to a thousand pieces of gold a day. Only then can an army of a hundred thousand be raised..."

"When engaging in battle, seek a swift victory. A prolonged campaign will dull the weapons and blunt the edge. Attacking a city exhausts the strength. If the army is kept in the field too long, the state's resources will be insufficient..."

He recited until this point, and only then did a look of sudden realization dawn on his face. Excitedly, he said, "Father, I understand! Grandfather means that without the Zhengguo Canal, which Master Zheng excavated years earlier, turning the Guanzhong region into fertile fields free from famine, making the Qin state rich and powerful and its granaries full, there would not have been enough grain sent to the front lines to sustain him in winning those two protracted, state-shattering campaigns! Am I right?"

Wang Ben nodded and pointed to the layers upon layers of tents outside, where over a hundred thousand troops were busily living and working. "Is this great battle, with me as commander-in-chief, any different?"

In Wang Ben's view, the factor that would decide victory or defeat in this war had come down to just one thing: grain.

According to those who had surrendered, the King of Wei and the Prime Minister of Wei seemed to have prepared long ago. Daliang City had stockpiled a year's worth of grain; they were not short on food. If rationed carefully, it could feed the entire city until autumn. So despite the floodwaters submerging the city, the King of Wei was still stubbornly holding out. Wei's only hope was that the Qin army outside the city would run out of provisions and be unable to maintain the siege...

This hope, though slim, was not impossible. As the commanding general, Wang Ben knew very well that although Guanzhong had seen bumper harvests almost every year since the Zhengguo Canal was built, military operations over the past three years had been too frequent, and the campaigns too distant and too large. Even the grain from the fertile fields of Guanzhong was becoming somewhat difficult to supply.

"It's all Crown Prince Dan of Yan's fault."

Wang Ben had inherited his father's "steadiness." He was a general who preferred to execute plans step by step and did not like his plans disrupted.

"If not for Jing Ke's assassination attempt, the original plan was to destroy Wei first, then slowly plot against Yan. As a result, the entire sequence changed. In Father's campaign against Yan, because Yan territory was so far away, shipping grain from Guanzhong alone was not enough. Over half a year, it nearly exhausted all the grain reserves in the entire Hedong, Henei, and Dongjun regions. Many laborers also froze or starved to death. The land of Zhao had only recently submitted and was still unstable; not much grain could be levied there. And at this critical juncture, a rebellion even broke out in Xinzheng in Yingchuan Commandery."

"Therefore, by the time it fell to me to lead the campaign against Wei, we could only rely on supplies from Nanyang and Sanchuan. With over a hundred thousand troops and garrison soldiers to feed, and horses to fodder, after two months, there is very little left."

Grain from Guanzhong was still being shipped out in a steady stream, but that saying of Master Wu Sun was spot on: "The state is impoverished by an army when it has to supply it over long distances; supplying over long distances impoverishes the common people." Guanzhong was simply too far from Daliang. Of every three dan of grain sent, perhaps only one dan would remain by the time it arrived. The final result: "The common people's resources are seven-tenths depleted; the state's resources—broken chariots and exhausted horses."

The Qin state could not afford to exhaust its foundations in this war. In Wang Ben's eyes, his role as the so-called commander-in-chief was really just that of a vanguard following at the army's heel. Destroying Wei was merely an appetizer; the truly grand feast still lay ahead.

Chu—that rich, succulent bear's paw that could only be eaten after slow, careful cooking—would have to be finished off by his father, Wang Jian, personally...

Therefore, to solve the grain problem and ease the pressure of supplying the army from Guanzhong, Wang Ben had devised two strategies.

The first was to have Yang Duanhe and Qiang Hui lead a detached force to attack Jiyang, Taoqiu, and Suiyang. This would, on one hand, eliminate these major cities of Wei, and on the other, allow the main combat forces to spread out and feed off the land, reducing the burden.

The second was to have the miscellaneous troops from Nanyang and Nanjun raid the neighboring counties. Once those hastily appointed county commandants and patrol leaders had taken control of the counties and townships, Wang Ben would issue a general's order demanding they immediately scour the area for grain and deliver it beneath the walls of Daliang City!

Six thousand dan from a county seat, two thousand dan from a large township, one thousand dan from a small township!

"This perfectly aligns with the art of war's dictum: 'Procure supplies from your own state, but forage grain from the enemy. Thus the army's food will be sufficient.'" Wang Li now understood completely. His father's arrangement was meant to make those counties and townships that originally belonged to Wei continuously ship grain to Daliang City, so the great army could hold out until the day the city fell.

Wang Ben nodded. "If we can obtain a hundred thousand dan, it will be enough for the army's needs for one month."

But Wang Li was somewhat worried. "Yet the land of Wei has just been through war, and the summer harvest has not yet arrived. When I came, the beans and wheat were still unripe. I fear the counties and townships won't be able to scrounge up much grain."

There was also something he left unsaid: if they forcibly seized grain, what would happen to the local Wei people who then had nothing to eat?

"There will always be a way."

Wang Ben's eyes were cold as iron. Gazing outside the tent, he said flatly, "Military orders are like mountains, and the law is like iron. In this matter, even if the garrisons in every county and township have to scrape the very soil from the ground, they must complete this task! Either escort the grain here to deliver it, or bring your own severed heads to see me!"

"What is a military order?"

Over a hundred li away, in Huyou Township of Yangwu County, Hei Fu was also pondering this question.

A military order is a task that, whether you are happy about it or not, must be completed once issued.

In Qin, the laws and decrees are like iron. Any law-abiding official who fails to enforce the king's law is guilty of a capital offense with no pardon, and the punishment extends to their three clans.

In the army, a general's order is tantamount to the king's law... A subordinate is not permitted to question a superior's command, only to obey unconditionally.

If the general orders you to overcome the enemy, you must attack and prevail. If you do not prevail, you die—either in battle on the field, or at the hands of the military judge, who will conveniently bury your entire squad and platoon along with you.

If the general orders you to defend a city, you must hold it. If you do not hold it, you die—either in battle on the ramparts, or in the post-battle tribunal, leaving behind a reputation as an "army traitor" that brings calamity upon your family.

The same applies to grain requisition. This was the primary task for which Hei Fu had come here to serve as patrol leader.

The military order demands two thousand dan of grain be handed over, but you only deliver one thousand, and then stiffen your neck and argue that one should not be too harsh on the local populace lest they revolt, and so on. The military judge nods and acknowledges your deep consideration, but in the final analysis, you failed to complete the mission. Disobeying orders, the crime warrants severe punishment. Strip off your cap and sash, and go join the convict army digging ditches.

The military order demands two thousand dan of grain be handed over, specifying the five grains, but you only deliver one thousand dan of old grain, with the rest being dried fish and kudzu root powder. Perhaps you will smile and say these things are more nutritious, but in the eyes of the military judge, this is no different from being ordered to take thirty-three heads per hundred men, but you sneak in the heads of three women and children. It counts as shirking and cutting corners. Not only have you disobeyed orders, you have also committed the crime of "dishonesty," and the punishment is even more severe.

Merit before, failure after — the punishment is not lessened. Good conduct before, transgression after — the law is not waived.

Even if you had hidden reasons for disobeying orders, it will not affect your sentencing. This is the rule of the Qin army.

After summing it up, Heifu realized that the ones who complete their tasks most easily are the Qin officials who strictly obey every superior order. The ones most likely to get the blade are, on the contrary, the modern transmigrators who like to come up with their own clever ideas.

The more ideas, the greater the trouble.

In truth, there are only two choices: either be a nice guy no one remembers, fail the mission, and stretch out your neck to await the slaughter.

Or be the "Qin brigand" you were meant to play all along — be the villain, harden your face, and do exactly what must be done.

After much pondering, Heifu resolved to be the villain.

He picked Dongmen Bao, Gong Ao, and a few other subordinates with the strongest fighting ability.

"Come with me to the homes of the Thrice Venerable and the Se夫."

Heifu could not requisition grain by himself. He had to negotiate with the local village magnates and use their hands to accomplish this.

Yet after leaving the camp gate, Heifu discovered Chen Ping, who should have gone home, standing by the gate and bowing to him.

"Ping presumes to ask the Patrolman: how do you intend to carry out this grain requisition?"

Chen Ping had also deliberated long before waiting here. Though he had once been slandered by his fellow villagers, and though his words carried little weight, upon learning of this matter today, as a man of Huyou Village — if his village suffered, he too would suffer — he could not stand idly by.

And besides, was this not an opportunity to make himself shine brilliantly before both the villagers and the Qin officials?

But a scholar meeting a soldier finds reason hard to explain. Dongmen Bao, who had not stretched his muscles in a long while since his injury, flew into a rage at these words: "Brat, you are a mere clerk — how dare you meddle in this affair?" Saying this, he strode over, grabbed Chen Ping like a chicken, and was about to fling him aside.

"Hold."

Heifu stopped Dongmen Bao. Looking at Chen Ping, who had nearly been beaten but whose face showed no panic, he thought to himself: this man who would shine so brilliantly in history might just be able to help him...

So he said to Chen Ping: "Then I shall tell you. Military orders are like mountains, the law like iron. The grain must be requisitioned — two thousand dan, not a single sheng less. As for the method of requisition..."

Heifu had considered three methods. The first was to divide the two thousand dan evenly among the entire village's more than a thousand households, two dan per household. This would force most families to go hungry for a month before the winter wheat and beans ripened, subsisting on a single bowl of thin gruel each day.

This move would curry favor with the local village magnates, but would offend the common folk. With the Wei resistance group led by Zhou Shi active in Yangwu County, it was best not to push the local populace too hard.

The second plan was the reverse: have only the village magnates, led by the Eastern Zhang and Western Zhang families, supply the grain. Heifu knew that the surplus grain of these two families alone exceeded two thousand dan; adding the various village worthies and scholars who had attended the banquet that day, the total could surely be met.

But while this move would benefit the common households, it was tantamount to striking local tyrants and feasting on the rich. It would make the village magnates completely fall out with Heifu. Disgruntled parties might well contact Zhou Shi and send servants and retainers to cooperate with him to kill Heifu and his fifty-odd men...

By then, even if Heifu shouted himself hoarse, no local householder would come to his aid. You may think you have bestowed a kindness, but others may not see it that way.

So Plan One and Plan Two had both been rejected by Heifu from the start.

The only one that seemed feasible was Plan Three.

The village magnates and the common households would each contribute one thousand dan. This way, the magnates' loss would not be too great, and the common folk could keep some grain to last until the summer wheat harvest.

But is there truly a difference between fifty paces and a hundred paces?

Heifu worried deeply that doing this would still please neither side and offend both.

So after much thought, Heifu picked Plan Two back up.

"I have a stratagem that might persuade the Zhang clan to supply the grain, sparing the common households from hardship and hunger. But whether it can succeed — I would like to hear your thoughts." Heifu pointed at Chen Ping.

Chen Ping seemed greatly encouraged. He bowed his head and said: "Ping also has a stratagem that might persuade the Zhang clan to bear the full two thousand dan of grain..."

"What a coincidence indeed."

Heifu was slightly taken aback, then burst out laughing. "Could it be that the plans you and I have thought of coincide without prior consultation? Chen Ping, did you bring brush and ink?"

"How would a scholar dare not carry such things?"

Chen Ping set down the back-basket he carried and took out his worn-out brush and a piece of low-quality ink.

Heifu laughed. "Why don't you and I each write our stratagem on our palm, then reveal them at the same time — what do you say?"

Chen Ping's eyes lit up and he agreed at once. So Dongmen Bao and Gong Ao found a stone and ground Chen Ping's poor ink.

"Patrolman, please go first."

Heifu did not stand on ceremony. He first picked up the worn brush, dipped it in a little ink, and swiftly wrote a single character on his palm. Then he handed the brush to Chen Ping...

Chen Ping took the brush, hesitated a moment, and also wrote a single character on his own palm.

The two men stepped closer. Under the setting sun, they opened their palms at the same time — one the hand of a warrior full of calluses, the other the hand of a scholar unacquainted with manual labor, one dark, one pale, the contrast stark.

On Heifu's palm was written the character "Rank." Seeing this character, Chen Ping's face showed surprise; this was something he had not thought of beforehand.

Heifu also looked at Chen Ping's palm. There too a single character was written, in Qin seal script, but different from his own...

"Loan?"

PS: Sorry for the wait, a big chapter of four thousand characters.

(End of chapter)