Chapter 256: Marching Forth

On the eighteenth day of the eighth month of the twenty-third year of King Zheng of Qin, at high noon, the autumn air was crisp and the sunlight bright. Outside the camp gate at the southern outskirts of Anlu County, after the morning meal, Heifu had a wooden pole hammered into the ground.

This was one of the ancient methods of timekeeping: erecting a stake in the sunlight and observing its shadow to determine the hour. But it could only estimate the double-hour; for finer divisions down to the quarter-hour, one had to use a water clock. So they also set up a perforated pot as the water clock, with a floating arrow marking the quarter-hours, letting it drip through several marks.

It is said that at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, when Qi was invaded by Jin and Yan, Duke Jing of Qi promoted Sima Rangju to general and his favored minister Zhuang Jia to army supervisor. Sima Rangju agreed with Jia on a time to meet at the camp gate. Rangju arrived first, set up the gnomon and water clock, and waited. Jia, arrogant and negligent, missed the appointed time, so Rangju beheaded Jia and displayed the corpse to the troops. The three armies, shocked and roused, then repelled the forces of Jin and Yan, and Sima Rangju became a famed general of his age.

Heifu had heard this historical allusion from Li You, and his elaborate preparations today were precisely to emulate that event.

To this end, Heifu had a sitting couch set out, and he sat before the camp gate to wait in person.

As he waited, he turned matters over in his mind.

Apart from the points he had discussed with his younger brother Jing the night before, Heifu had another reason for dismissing the soldiers and having them reassemble today — one that could not be spoken aloud.

He wanted to win the personal loyalty of the rank and file!

Marching and fighting depend on soldiers risking their lives, and getting soldiers to risk their lives depends in turn on reward in one hand and punishment in the other. This is what the Wei Liaozi means by: "Victory in battle lies in establishing authority; establishing authority lies in concerted effort; concerted effort lies in just punishment. Just punishment is the means by which rewards are made clear."

On the side of reward, beyond the bounties stipulated by military law, a commander must also bestow personal favor.

"Look upon your soldiers as you would newborn babes, and they will follow you into the deepest ravine; look upon your soldiers as beloved sons, and they will die at your side."

The trouble was, Qin army regulations rigidly fixed the food and clothing for every rank. Sharing the same food and dress as the lowest soldiers, sleeping without bedding, marching without riding, personally carrying one's own rations, and dividing the toil and hardship with the troops — such things could be done once in a while, but doing them daily would invite criticism from the military law officers. And as for acts like sucking a soldier's abscess, Heifu could not bring himself to do that, and it would seem far too contrived...

So he simply used the method of releasing the soldiers to return home for the autumn harvest as a way to broadly show favor, making the soldiers feel that County Commandant Heifu was truly their fellow countryman, someone who genuinely considered their welfare.

Blindly copying military doctrine and relying solely on the rigid stipulations of Qin law could not fully meld an army together. One also had to fully exploit the natural advantage of shared native-place ties, making the Anlu command internally one body, bound by shared fortunes, united in purpose from top to bottom.

But — if, as Jing had worried, someone truly betrayed his trust, failing to return or arriving late...

Heifu glanced to the side at the personal guard soldiers standing beside him. Today they were all clad in armor, swords held as they stood in solemn silence. The military law officer Yue was also at hand; even the bamboo writing slips were prepared. If anyone truly courted death, Heifu would not mind following Sima Rangju's example and killing a man to establish his authority!

As the wooden stake's shadow gradually shrank to a round dot, then slowly stretched out again, and as every double-hour the water in the clepsydra dripped dry drop by drop and was refilled, everyone could feel the passage of time.

Heifu had agreed with everyone on assembly at the "evening meal hour" — that is, between 5 and 7 p. m., before nightfall. But starting from high noon, people began arriving at the military camp one after another to report in.

The first to arrive were those who lived in the county town. Their faces showed no anxiety about the distant campaign; they walked over chatting and laughing. Seeing County Commandant Heifu waiting outside the camp gate, they hurriedly bowed to him with awe.

Heifu nodded. "You gentlemen have arrived early. Enter the camp and rest for now."

Next came the men from North Outskirts Township and Yunshui Township, all of whom had first assembled at their local pavilion headquarters before traveling together. Though they had been home resting for several days, they had not discarded the training of the past month. As they neared the barracks, they began forming marching columns, orderly and disciplined.

Heifu also spotted his own flag-bearer, Mu. A loyal and earnest giant of a man, Mu handed his pack to a comrade to carry into the camp, then ran to Heifu's side and took up the command banner.

"Is all well at home?"

Heifu asked him kindly.

Mu, holding the banner, nodded and said, "Everything is fine. The grain harvest has increased greatly; the granaries are full!"

The last to arrive were from Cloud Dream Township, the farthest from the county seat. These soldiers had marched two full days to get here, all carrying heavy packs stuffed with shoes and winter clothes, travel-worn and dusty. But after reaching the camp gate and seeing Heifu, they smilingly offered him food they had brought from home. Although Heifu's family had moved away, he remained the pride and paragon of Cloud Dream Township's people, so the several hundred men from Cloud Dream were the closest to him.

By the time the setting sun hung in the west, the gnomon's shadow had stretched very long, and the water clock had once again dripped empty...

The evening meal hour had passed!

No one else was coming along the road. Heifu exhaled and ordered Li Xian and Dongmen Bao, the two Five-Hundred Commanders, to go into the camp and bring out all the soldiers who had arrived in succession to assemble!

A quarter-hour later, in the last light of the autumn day, all the soldiers stood in neat, orderly ranks on the open ground. Each platoon began calling roll and counting off.

"Reporting to the County Commandant: the rear regiment, five hundred men, all present and accounted for!" Before long, Li Xian, who had finished his roll call first, came forward to report.

"The front regiment, five hundred men, also all present!" Dongmen Bao, not to be outdone, bellowed over in his loud voice.

Apart from the front and rear regiments, the personal guard soldiers, baggage troops, mounted attendants, and medical and first-aid personnel under Heifu's direct command had also finished their headcount!

Looking at the soldiers' faces flushed red by the sunset glow, Heifu felt a surge of emotion. His hand, which had gripped his sword hilt, loosened. He had even prepared himself for several men, even a dozen or more, arriving late or not at all. What he had not expected was that the entire Anlu County conscript force of over twelve hundred men, after seven days at home, had reassembled here without a single man missing! Not one absent!

"Good! Very good!"

Heifu could only praise them loudly to mask his own feelings.

"This Commandant will speak frankly. This campaign under the King's orders may not be short — perhaps half a year, perhaps a year. But the final result will be that the Qin army shall hold every formation firm, defend every position secure, and win every battle! This Commandant's word is his deed; rewards and punishments shall be clear and certain. Those who fight bravely shall never lack for rank and title!"

Every man proudly puffed out his chest. The miracles County Commandant Heifu had wrought in the last war were widely told throughout the county; he certainly had the standing to say these words! This was also one reason the people of Anlu trusted him — who would not wish to follow a general of illustrious battle merit?

After boosting the soldiers' morale, Heifu waved a hand. "Serve the meal at once! Let the men eat their fill. Tomorrow we drill together once more; the day after, we march!"

Such a scene was truly rare. Even the officials off duty watching the excitement from the city walls were deeply moved. County Magistrate Yong He felt the stone in his heart drop to the ground. Stroking his beard, he smiled and said, "The County Commandant is truly formidable. With barely more than a month of training, he has achieved a commander whom the soldiers trust and soldiers who respect their commander. An army like this can be called elite warriors indeed!"

After nightfall, Heifu's trusted subordinate officers — Li Xian, Dongmen Bao, Xiao Tao, and Ji Ying — also quietly discussed over their meal: "Last time we attacked Chu, the great army was defeated, yet the County Commandant still managed to lead us to earn so many merits amid that rout. This time, with such a crack force of fellow countrymen, why worry that great deeds will not be won?"

"Exactly!"

Li Xian swept his gaze over the group. "Do you gentlemen still recall the great ambition the County Commandant spoke of that day?"

"Of course we remember!" Everyone nodded. Heifu's ambition of winning a marquisate had jolted them awake from their complacency and spurred them to actively participate in drilling the troops.

This small group, after a brief period of disorientation, now had a clear goal. And when that goal was achieved, how could they possibly lack for benefits?

The few of them split tallies and swore an oath in the camp: "To help the County Commandant realize his ambition of a marquisate — that is our wish as well!"

At that moment, they did not fully understand just how difficult it would be to realize that wish...

Two days later, under Heifu's command, the thousand-odd soldiers of Anlu County were seen off for ten li by the County Magistrate, the County Assistant, and the elders of the town. Slowly they marched north, setting out on the campaign...

Some turned their heads back again and again, reluctant to part from their hometown and families.

Some fixed their gaze forward, filled with anticipation for the glory, merit, and rank they were about to win.

Brilliant, brilliant are the flowers, on those plains and lowlands.

Swiftly march the campaigning men, each heart heavy with longing...

And far away, over a thousand li distant, in the Qin capital of Xianyang, the scale of the expeditionary force was a full two hundred times larger than that of the small county of Anlu!

On the ridge plains of Bashang, the Wei River flowed mightily. From the four commanderies of the Capital Region, Beidi, Shangjun, and Longxi, one hundred thousand soldiers and one hundred thousand civilian laborers had assembled here. Banners and pennants covered the entire pontoon bridge over the Ba River; the forest of dagger-axes and spears seemed more numerous than the withered yellow autumn grasses along the Wei's banks...

King Zheng of Qin personally led the hundred officials and ministers, all coming to Bashang to see off General Wang Jian!

The Imperial Secretary Wang Wan proclaimed the royal exhortation on the King's behalf. This high official, deeply steeped in Confucian learning, cited the classics and even praised Wang Jian, saying: "Oh, the Grand Duke, Father and Preceptor — like a hawk he soared on high!"

This was at a time when Li Xin's first campaign against Chu had returned in great defeat, seven colonels had died, and the army had been lost and the nation disgraced. If this campaign failed as well, the situation would be difficult to salvage.

At such a juncture, among the veteran generals of the court, only Wang Jian could step forward to take charge of the war. Six hundred thousand troops to attack Chu — the King had practically emptied the entire nation's forces and entrusted them to one man. To compare Wang Jian to the Grand Duke Wang of the Zhou dynasty was not excessive in the slightest.

"How dare this old and decrepit one compare to the Grand Duke, Father and Preceptor? What 'hawk soaring'? A chicken flapping is more like it."

Yet General Wang Jian, who by all rights should have been brimming with heroic spirit and vowing to annihilate Chu within some set span of time, showed not a trace of the impassioned fervor one expects before a campaign. Instead, like some ignorant, miserly old peasant, he spoke in crude terms, kowtowed repeatedly before the King of Qin's royal carriage, and ceaselessly begged for fine farmland, manor gardens, and ponds for his own family — and in great numbers at that…

The accompanying officials all wore strange expressions. Standing on the periphery, the Chief Physician Xia Wuju even overheard the King's helpless voice coming from the royal carriage.

"General, you are about to march — why worry about poverty?"

And then, Xia Wuju heard Wang Jian, chuckling heartily, utter a remark of the utmost audacity!

"To serve as a general for the Great King — even with meritorious deeds, it is still exceedingly hard to obtain a noble marquisate as reward. So, while the Great King still esteems this old minister so highly, I must seize the moment to request that the Great King bestow gardens, groves, pools, and parks, so as to set aside a family estate for my sons and grandsons…"

What was the meaning of those words? Resentment?

Everyone present shuddered with chill dread. With the campaign about to begin, what was old General Wang Jian doing? Unconsciously, they all turned their gazes toward the carriage drawn by the six steeds.

The King of Qin stood before the carriage conversing with Wang Jian. His figure, seen from behind and further enhanced by his crown, stood nearly nine chi tall, making him seem all the more unapproachably lofty. The long Tai'e Sword hung at his waist, his hand resting on its hilt, and at that moment he stood in silence.

A silent king is the most terrifying and fearsome thing of all. Xia Wuju felt his heart pound with trepidation and lowered his head. Wang Wan, who stood in attendance beside the King and Wang Jian, was drenched in great beads of sweat cascading down…

Yet, after a moment of silence, the King of Qin responded with a great roar of laughter, as though he took no offense at all.

"General Wang speaks as bluntly as ever!"

When the laughter ceased, Xia Wuju raised his eyes and saw the King of Qin's silhouette step forward, help Wang Jian to his feet, and clasp his hand. In a tone of utmost sincerity, he said: "General, set your mind at ease. If you can extinguish Jing, the noble rank of Marquis of Thoroughfare — an empty seat awaits you!"

PS: Chapter 2 at 6 o'clock

(End of chapter)