Chapter 169: Beacon Fires Burn for Three Months

"Last month, the King issued an edict to Yangcheng, stating that the King of Jing had offered the lands west of Qingyang, but then broke the pact and attacked our Nan Commandery, so troops were dispatched to punish him…"

After recounting the previous month's events, Heifu clasped his hands toward Li You and said: "To garrison troops from other commanderies, this matter means nothing, but for us Nan Commandery garrison troops, it is different. Hearing suddenly that our homeland had been raided, we could not help but be shocked and bewildered. For over a month now, speculation has been ceaseless in the army. The soldiers constantly ask the centurions and platoon chiefs, but the centurions and platoon chiefs also know no details. They ask the company commanders and five-hundred commanders, yet no one has received an official answer."

It was not that the company commanders and five-hundred commanders refused to tell the soldiers the truth; these mid-level officers themselves knew little about what had happened back home and dared not speak recklessly.

What exactly had become of Nan Commandery? Which counties had the war reached? Were their families safe? Apart from officers like Heifu, who could inquire layer by layer and obtain vague and ambiguous news, the majority of soldiers remained in a state of ignorance.

In this age, once you marched off to war, you could forget about keeping in touch with home. There were no newspapers or news of any kind to let you know what was happening a thousand li away. Some officers even considered this confidential and kept their mouths tightly shut, which only fueled the soldiers' suspicions.

Heifu knew all about it. When Ji Ying led men out to gather firewood, he often chatted idly with others and came back to tell Heifu that the rumors and gossip in the army could no longer be stopped—every kind of talk was circulating.

Some said that several counties in Nan Commandery had been destroyed by the Chu army and that their hometowns had been burned to white ash. Some even imagined that even Jiangling itself had fallen…

This only made the Nan Commandery soldiers all the more eager to fly home on wings. With trouble breaking out at home, who had the heart to keep fighting abroad?

"Therefore, if we wish to put an end to the rumors, we must begin by telling the soldiers the truth. And this matter is something only the Commandant can accomplish."

Li You, as the Commandant sent from Xianyang, was a senior officer, and his understanding of the overall war situation was naturally far superior to that of company commanders and five-hundred commanders. If he personally came forward to refute the rumors and tell everyone that Nan Commandery was safe, the rumors would collapse of their own accord.

"Good. I will immediately have the orderlies go to each camp and relay the command, letting everyone know that Nan Commandery is safe."

Li You wrote out a dispatch on the spot, and after finishing it, he even had Heifu look it over and read it through.

"The state of Jing to Nan Commandery is like a malady in the heart and belly, or like a courtyard dwelling beside a wolf's den. Therefore, so long as the state of Jing is not destroyed, Nan Commandery must remain on alert year after year, and your village elders and kin shall likewise know no peace…"

After reading it, Heifu immediately praised it without end: "Commandant, your composition is truly superb. It not only soothes the soldiers' hearts but also exhorts everyone to fight to defend their homeland."

This was no mere flattery, because Li You had indeed written it well.

Heifu knew that Li Si was not only a trusted minister of the King of Qin, but also a renowned calligrapher of the age, and had written that timeless masterpiece, the "Petition Against the Expulsion of Guest Officials."

Li You was truly worthy of being Li Si's son. Not only did he write an excellent hand, but his prose was neither obscure nor difficult—it was plain and easy to understand. Moreover, every sentence seemed to be written from the soldiers' perspective. There were no empty phrases like "fight for the King" or "fight for Qin." Instead, he found a perfectly reasonable motive for everyone to fight: fight to defend your homeland, fight to defend Nan Commandery!

Li You had the orderlies take this dispatch to each camp, where the soldiers were assembled in turn to hear it read aloud. Henceforth, anyone who dared spread rumors and gossip would be severely punished without leniency!

"This was a good stratagem." Li You praised Heifu: "Having just arrived in this army, I truly did not know what was in the soldiers' hearts, nor can I inspect the camps at all times. In the future, if there are similar matters, you may report them to me in person."

Heifu repeatedly said he dared not presume, but at the same time, he added with some hesitation: "However, this stratagem can only stop the soldiers from further suspicion and quell the rumors within the camp. This humble officer has another idea that might settle everyone's hearts completely, raise morale, and urge them to fight hard."

"Speak, then." Li You sat back down behind his desk. This Heifu, though young and of low birth, and looking like a rough fellow, certainly had no shortage of ideas. It seemed that promoting him to be a personal guard had been a wise choice.

Heifu said: "The Commandant needs to encourage the troops."

"Encourage the troops?"

Li You looked thoughtful.

He recalled that the Wuzi had recorded a dialogue between Wu Qi and Marquis Wu of Wei.

Marquis Wu of Wei asked Wu Qi: Are strict punishments and clear rewards sufficient to achieve victory?

Wu Qi replied that these were still not enough to win. Only by achieving these three things—"issuing commands and orders that men delight to hear, raising armies and moving troops that men delight to fight, crossing blades and joining battle that men delight to die"—could one be assured of victory.

To achieve these three things, the method Wu Qi provided was to encourage the troops.

Let men of different merits receive different grants of land, houses, and ranks. Let the families of fallen soldiers not be left with nothing because of their sons' and brothers' deaths. These things, which other states only carried out occasionally, were already guaranteed by Qin law in Qin. Thus, when war came, the people of Qin rejoiced at the prospect of battle, and when parents, wives, and children saw them off, they would exhort them: "If you don't win a rank of nobility, then don't come back!"

This was the very recipe for the Qin army's hundred victories in a hundred battles. Therefore, as the army's commander, all Li You could personally do was to emulate Wu Qi and Sima Rangju—personally inspect the camps, and before battle, feast the soldiers with meat and wine to show that he loved his soldiers as his own sons. That was all.

Slaughtering oxen and pouring wine, richly feasting and resting them—it is not that drunkenness and a full belly are considered virtue, but that it serves to boost morale…

However, just as Li You was thinking of giving the order to provide the soldiers with an extra meal, Heifu shook his head and said: "This humble officer believes that what the Nan Commandery garrison troops need most right now is not the gift of oxen and wine…"

Encouragement through food would certainly have some effect, but Heifu felt that what the Nan Commandery soldiers needed most now was spiritual comfort—something that could calm their anxious hearts, so troubled by homesickness and longing for their families.

After hearing Heifu's suggestion, even Li You, who was receptive to advice, furrowed his brow.

"Let the soldiers write letters home?"

…

Li You did not immediately agree to Heifu's suggestion. Instead, after the orderlies had gone to each camp and read out the rumor-refuting dispatch, he summoned all the company commanders and five-hundred commanders.

Just as Heifu tactfully prepared to take his leave, Li You told him to stay.

"If you, the one who offered this stratagem, leave, how am I to hold this military council?"

Heifu hurriedly said: "Today is this humble officer's turn on duty."

"Let another personal-guard centurion take your place." Li You's tone brooked no argument. He immediately summoned the five-hundred commander in charge of the personal guards and ordered him to adjust the duty roster and have someone relieve Heifu.

The five-hundred commander left to carry out the order. When he announced this news, the four centurions who had earlier given Heifu the nickname "Bedroll Centurion" were all stunned by the command, their hearts filled with envy and jealousy.

They had followed Li You for as little as half a year and as long as a year or two, yet they had never received such treatment. As they well knew, gaining the Commandant's regard was an important path to promotion for personal guards and close attendants.

Even Zhai Chong's mouth fell slightly open. He had not expected that while the personal-guard centurions were ostracizing Heifu and refusing to associate with him, Heifu, by offering advice and stratagems, had already openly and honorably joined a military council that only company commanders and five-hundred commanders could attend.

Who exactly was looking down on whom? And who was being left far behind?

To gain such trust from the Commandant after only a few days—what would become of him in the future?

Before long, the company commanders and five-hundred commanders arrived at the main tent. When they lifted the tent flap and saw a minor centurion standing at the far end of the tent, smiling and waiting respectfully, they too were slightly taken aback. Heifu's former superior, Cheng Wuyou, was even more astonished.

"Heifu, shouldn't you be standing guard outside the tent?"

Heifu revealed an awkward smile: "The Commandant ordered me to stay and take part in the military council…"

Cheng Wuyou immediately looked Heifu up and down as if seeing him for the first time. Although he had a good impression of Heifu and knew he was a subordinate who knew how to handle matters, he had never expected that Heifu would gain Commandant Li You's regard so quickly.

Astonishment aside, this did not stop the assembled officers, after hearing Li You recount Heifu's suggestion, from immediately slapping the table and rising to their feet.

"Let the soldiers write letters home? Never mind that a great battle is imminent—just consider the difficulty of having all five thousand men in the regiment each write a letter. Commandant, this humble officer believes this stratagem is utterly absurd and absolutely cannot be carried out."

One company commander was the first to attack, criticizing the suggestion as completely worthless, and the others nodded in agreement, feeling that this idea was pure superfluity.

Once everyone had finished their denunciations, Li You nodded to signal that Heifu could speak.

Only then did Heifu rise from the lowest seat in the tent, bow to everyone with clasped hands, and say softly: "This humble officer is shallow, coarse, and ignorant. I only wish to ask you gentlemen: in these past three months, have you written letters home to tell your families that you cannot return on time?"

The officers looked at one another. As officers, they had plenty of connections. Entrusting a letter to an acquaintance or slipping a private letter onto a official dispatch wagon was no difficult matter. They had exchanged at least one letter with home, and some had already completed a round trip and received winter clothes sent from their families.

After receiving their affirmations, Heifu asked again: "May I ask you gentlemen: if there were no letters going back and forth, if you knew nothing of your families' affairs and your families knew nothing of whether you lived or died, could your hearts be at ease?"

The company commanders and five-hundred commanders all looked somewhat embarrassed. In that case, their families would be frantic with worry, and they themselves could hardly be at ease here.

Heifu then smiled and said: "We Nan Commandery garrison troops were mostly conscripted in the first month. After finishing the campaign to destroy Wei, it was already the fifth month. By rights, we should have returned home in the sixth month and arrived back in Nan Commandery by the seventh or eighth month, in time to help our families with the autumn harvest. Yet halfway there, we were halted by new military orders, told to wait in place, and then informed that there was a great battle to fight."

"The soldiers are not without complaints, but they also know that military law is as immovable as a mountain, and that deserting rashly would implicate their families. That is the only reason they have obediently remained in camp."

"But while the men are in Yangcheng, their hearts have long since flown back to Nan Commandery. Nan Commandery is under attack by Jing — are their families safe? Their tour of duty was supposed to be just one year; now it will likely be extended by months, even half a year. With no word from home, they must be burning with anxiety. The ranks and titles, the fields and houses the soldiers earned in the campaign to destroy Wei — have their families even received them? A thousand, ten thousand words, yet cut off by layer upon layer of mountains and rivers, with no way to send or receive them. That is why the soldiers long to return…"

"In these three months, among the hundred men under my command, many have already come to ask me: can they send a letter home? They don't ask for a reply — only to write down the things they want to ask on bamboo slips and send them off, to let their families know they are safe, and so find a moment's peace of mind."

His voice gradually grew louder.

"Put yourself in their place. You gentlemen feel this, a hundred soldiers feel this, five thousand soldiers feel this!"

With that, Heifu clasped his hands and bowed to everyone in the tent. "Therefore, this is no passing whim of Heifu's — it is the wish of the entire army!"

Silence fell inside the tent. The matter had been laid out so plainly that the platoon commanders and five-hundred commanders had no grounds to object. Only on the question of how to carry it out did some dissent remain.

"A bamboo slip for every man — who knows how much wood, brush, and ink that would consume? And few in the army can read or write. How do we get every man to write a letter?"

Another man worried, "The soldiers have no filter on their tongues. Military secrets might leak."

Heifu answered, "By the time these letters reach home, a month or two will have passed, and we will likely no longer be in Yangcheng. Let the soldiers who wish to write home prepare their own wooden slips. Beyond that, every hundred-man commander and squad leader who is literate shall help his comrades write their letters home — the soldier dictates, the officer writes. Done this way, it will take no more than three days, and the letters won't fill five carts. Yet it can settle the hearts of five thousand soldiers. Why would we not gladly do it?"

With that, he earnestly urged Li You: "When the time comes, the Commandant himself could tour the camp and personally write letters home for a few soldiers. There is a saying in Anlu County: 'Beacon fires burn three months on end; a letter from home is worth ten thousand in gold.' Such a gesture from the Commandant would be worth more to the soldiers than a reward of ten thousand gold! The men would be overwhelmed with gratitude and ready to die for the Commandant!"

After hearing Heifu's words, Li You was stirred.

"'Beacon fires burn three months on end; a letter from home is worth ten thousand in gold'? There seems some truth in that."

"In ancient times, Sima Rangju and Wu Qi both inspired their troops in person. When Wu Qi served as general, he spread no mat to sleep on, rode no horse or carriage when marching, personally bundled his own rations, and shared every hardship with his soldiers. When a soldier suffered from an abscess, Wu Qi sucked the pus from it himself — and so his soldiers fought without a backward glance…"

"If I today can personally take up the brush and write a few letters home for the soldiers, perhaps it might achieve a similar effect — let everyone know I cherish my men. Then the army's heart can be won, and the soldiers will be mine to command!"

The art of war says: Regard your soldiers as your own children, and they will follow you into the deepest ravines; regard your soldiers as your beloved sons, and they will stand by you unto death. Easy to say, but hard to do. Soldiers are not fools — they can tell true feeling from false. That is why many generals, even when they try to emulate such examples, never match the effect Wu Qi and Sima Rangju achieved.

Yet now, an opportunity lay before Li You. Granting the soldiers leave to write letters would also prove that Nan Commandery was indeed safe, letting them finish this campaign with their minds at ease.

At this, Commandant Li struck the table and exclaimed, "My mind is made up — this plan shall be carried out!"

The platoon commanders and five-hundred commanders, seeing the Commandant had decided, could only murmur their assent.

Seeing his goal achieved, Heifu could not help but breathe a sigh of relief, though inwardly he mocked himself: "From now on, my nickname will probably become 'The Home-Letter Hundred-Man Commander.'"

(End of chapter)