Chapter 100: Train, Centralization, Faction
In the year 33 of the Shu Tian Calendar, things were not great for Da Yao, but for the Southern Border, it was a good era.
The main road north of Ling River was already peaceful. Under the order established by the military strategist, the various tribes in the North, led by the Tusi leaders enfeoffed by the General’s Mansion, began to connect with Da Yao’s regional culture one after another. After productive ironware entered, these tribes began agricultural production.
The original gathering industry was now initially entering the plantation industry. Resources in the mountain ridges were abundant, so they had now entered the stage of “great governance.”
Just as Wu Fei was once again stationing troops south of Ling River, new inventions and creations from the workshop began to appear.
At Yongji Pass, Gongshu Wang sat on a large Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse system, overlooking the distant mountain ranges. He turned something like a steering wheel, and the conspired jade parallel body began to output energy, with powerful drive linking the large iron wheels and mechanism feet.
This train consisted of twenty Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse units linked together. The carriage frame structure was still wooden mortise-and-tenon combination, but its key transmission structures had been changed to fine steel components regardless of cost.
Currently, the Wu Family Army had already discovered an iron sand belt on the main stream of the Southern Ling River. Once the iron sand reserves were confirmed, iron smelting industry would be planned in the Ling River Four Commanderies. At that time, Wu Fei planned to steel-plate the train, with internal spirit wood materials used only for “energy” conduction structures.
Nowadays, this linked Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse train, when viewed from afar, looked like a train of caterpillars crossing mountains and ridges! However, it did not emit smoke, had no rails, and the iron wheels on the undercarriage were turning over mountain roads for the first time, occasionally requiring pebbles to be laid on the road surface. Even so, it was a tremendous innovation.
This train with a total of twenty-eight carriages relied entirely on jade power throughout the journey, as well as borrowing force from the assembly arrays placed in the surrounding mountains!
What is this thing called “assembly array”? First, one must look at the marching route of this Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse train: departing from Yongji Pass, then heading south all the way, with the overall terrain structure descending from high to low along the mountains.
Sixty percent of its route was downhill, fundamentally requiring no external power. The remaining forty percent of the journey required crossing mountain tops.
The assembly array was an energy storage device on the mountain body, solving that forty percent of uphill journey.
Overall, after tallying these uphill sections and crossing the mountain tops, the potential difference of the mountain tops was also from high to low.
That is, point a at an elevation of five hundred meters rises to eight hundred meters, then descends to four hundred fifty meters. Although it crossed a mountain top in between, there was still a drop of fifty meters.
The feng shui engineers of the Southern Border, to make the process of the train crossing mountain tops easier, set up the “assembly array.” This array actually derived from a heterodox path; in the Southern Border, there was a method called corpse driving. To make corpses walk on their own, inscribed texts were deployed in rugged places, and some stones were buried to ensure the corpses could be guided.
However, Gongshu Wang’s assembly array was on a much larger scale; nearly kingly tomb-level amounts of jade were buried on each mountain top. Wu Fei’s consumption on transportation in the Southern Border was certainly not small.
This long train moved over automatically along a depression in the mountain body, like flowing water.
The train thus wound southward for eight hundred li, arriving at the transit point upstream of Ling River. After unloading three thousand shi of goods, it began loading cargo. After loading, it unfurled sails and entered the departure station in an even more western valley. Under the special valley winds, it accumulated energy to climb to the high point, then returned along another road.
The opening of the train brought a qualitative change to reclamation.
In mid-year 33, the garrison troops stationed at the four fortresses along Ling River originally had to be self-sufficient. In the camps, they slept on grass mats, mended tattered clothes, and their meals were one-third millet and six parts wild vegetables, with the rest being freshly caught fish and shrimp.
But after the train arrived, the supply level suddenly rose from barely scraping by to well-off. Previously, the Southern Border lacked everything, making even ordinary daily operations from inside Da Yao extremely difficult here. For example, pickling vegetables.
Now at the fortresses, with large amounts of pottery jars and salt transported over, the army corps could pickle excess fish and meat into fish chunks.
The conditions at the Ling River garrison points were now seventy percent similar to the inland of Da Yao, no longer completely a frontier outpost.
…The perspective shifts to a southward branch of Ling River, where Wu Fei’s operational scope continues to extend southward…
Wu Fei stood in a temporarily built pavilion on high ground, using a long-tube telescope polished with crystal lenses together with Gong Qian to observe this new position advancing southward.
The reason for choosing this place was that Wu Fei’s survey team had discovered very high-quality iron sand stone here.
Pontoon bridges were being laid out on the riverbank, with ships anchored in the river, dropping iron anchors and chaining with iron cables. Laborers were laying decks on the ships; in three days, two thousand troops would enter Southern Ling River. There were also four thousand guides and vassal army marching in coordination.
These pontoon bridge materials had been previously stockpiled on the riverbank and could only be deployed now without rain flood peaks. And only at this moment, with sufficient manpower, could they be set up. This fortified village had previously relied on ferrying by boat.
Gong Qian: Accompanying the General southward, I now realize that the General’s grace and might have permeated every feather in the Southern Border. —A Da Yao native allusion: bird feathers are hard to wet; when they are soaked, it means the rain and dew have permeated for a long time.
Wu Fei: The Imperial Envoy overpraises me. It is all thanks to Your Majesty’s grace and the officers and soldiers’ efforts! The Southern Border tribes are fickle; only continuous education and indoctrination can bring long-term peace and stability.
Along the way, Gong Qian had seen the obedience of the Jiangnan tribes to Wu Fei and regarded Wu Fei’s current words as modesty. Because current obedience did not mean the local tribespeople had no rebellious thoughts.
Gong Qian silently recited in his heart: “rebellious thoughts.” The Southern Border’s hundred tribes had them, but what about the Wu Family? To say they harbored not even a shred of “disloyalty” would not be credible.
Gong Qian thus continued: “Oh, after the General’s years of tireless efforts here, he must have made the barbarians of this place remember his grace and might.”
Wu Fei shook his head: “The Imperial Envoy is mistaken. My minor favors are far inferior to the Sage’s education and indoctrination.”
Gong Qian stared at Wu Fei: “The General intends to establish the Imperial Way here.”
Wu Fei nodded: “Yes, I invited the Imperial Envoy here to trouble you to petition Your Majesty to enfeoff the Tusi positions to the various submitting tribes of the Southern Border. Only when the leaders of the Southern Border tribes obtain the tacit approval of our Da Yao’s Imperial Way will this place truly be free of worries.
Gong Qian was slightly stunned, moved by Wu Fei’s loyalty to Da Yao, while also secretly admiring Wu Fei’s calculations.
Enfeoffing “Tusi” to the various tribes of the Southern Border—then what about Wu Fei, who would constrain the many Tusi in the Southern Border? Would he not be enfeoffed as a duke, or even a king? —Names and regalia cannot be granted lightly.
Gong Qian did not intend to continue on this topic. Instead, he looked toward the riverbank and changed direction.
Gong Qian: “Coming to the Southern Border, the General’s use of troops flows like clouds and water; he is underutilized here.”
Wu Fei paused slightly: “Oh, it is all thanks to the predecessors’ achievements. Without the older generation’s pioneering, we could not take a single step here.”
Gong Qian: “Oh, in my view, if the General were born in the North, he would surely be highly regarded by His Majesty today.”
Wu Fei understood this was persuading him to go to the North sooner.
Wu Fei pretended not to understand: “Wherever that is the case. In this sage dynasty, heroes are as numerous as clouds; it is not my place to take a seat.”
Gong Qian: “Military affairs are perilous. No general in the Northern Border dares claim victory before battle, yet the General seems never to have known defeat, showing he has the talent for ‘hundred battles, hundred victories.'”
Wu Fei: “It is not that I have the talent for a hundred victories, but that there is no strategy here to counter me.” But upon seeing Gong Qian’s expression of “recording it down,” he immediately said, “Please wait a few days, Imperial Envoy. After arranging family affairs, I will go to pay homage to His Majesty.”
…Three days later, before advancing deeper south, Wu Fei persuaded Gong Qian to temporarily stay on the north bank, as that area was still savage land…
The ten vassal armies south of Ling River began responding to the assembly order from the General’s Mansion.
At the assembly point in Yun Qie Valley, ordinary vassals were enjoying meals on the drill ground, with bowls and ladles clinking.
Meanwhile, the squad leaders of the vassal army had already donned Da Yao squad leader armor and were prostrating before Wu Fei in his main camp. And
This was to give the Tusi of multiple Southern Ling River tribes who had come to participate in the alliance a “lashing” memory.
If spreading Da Yao’s Imperial Way was feasible north of Ling River, in the South, even the Da Yao language was not in circulation. So there was no need to wave the great banner of Da Yao Imperial Envoy Gong Qian in the South.
Moreover, Wu Fei had some of his own matters to handle, some “overstepping bounds.” It would be awkward if some hothead suddenly popped up to remonstrate at that time.
Wu Fei donned splendid armor with a red plume on his head and came to the Southern Ling River holy site Yun Qie Valley to preside over the Sacred Fire gathering ritual.
In the volcanic crater-like sinkhole, Wu Fei stood there, shaking the pulley like drawing water, sending down a three-meter-square hanging basket. After sensing the “fire energy,” he struck out a mass of Sacred Fire from the bottom of the sinkhole. Then, like pouring water, this mass of “strange fire” from the Core of the Earth, proliferated with Vermilion Bird attributes, was poured into a huge fire jade container.
At this time, all the prostrating tribe leaders at the foot of the mountain felt a suffocating heat. To avoid the burning sensation from the fire energy pouring into their nostrils, they had to bury their heads even lower, not daring to look up.
This Sacred Fire struck from the sinkhole could only be touched by Wu Fei. —Thus, a mysterious system of “untouchable by others” had formed.
This Vermilion Bird gift from the depths of the sinkhole yielded one portion every year, as long as Wu Fei came home often (calibrated here regularly); it would assimilate the Core of the Earth energy into energy Wu Fei liked to eat.
According to the story from Cang Meng, these energies were artifacts for mass-refining “Holy Ash Pills” in ancient times, which could make the Southern Border’s hundred tribes submit on a large scale, reducing their physical abnormalities. After swallowing Qi Ling Dan, Horned People could wear their hair in buns, and Clawed People’s sharp claws could retract.
As for the specific scale! This batch Wu Fei retrieved could make over ten thousand portions. After retrieving the Sacred Fire, Wu Fei sealed it in sixty prepared lead boxes.
The ashes carrying flames in these lead boxes would be used to refine Qi Ling Dan, prioritized for distribution to the vassal army.
At the foot of the mountain, Wu Qing, now the Snake People tribe’s Mistress, dressed in her former maidservant clothes, knelt before Wu Fei. She and Jia Mude had returned from the South twenty days ago, just in time for Wu Fei’s southern expedition.
After the ritual ended, sensing Wu Fei’s arrangements for affairs before his long journey, Wu Qing asked: “My lord, I heard the Imperial Court in the North wants you to leave the Southern Border?”
Wu Fei stared at her, realizing the news of his northward journey had spread faster than expected. —Wu Fei suspected someone was deliberately spreading it.
Wu Fei said noncommittally: “Yes, these years I’ve been looking for an opportunity to go to the North for a trip.” (While observing her to determine her true intentions.)
Wu Qing raised her head, concern showing in her snake pupils: “My lord, may ‘Li Huo Sect’ assemble some attendants to accompany you.”
Under Wu Fei’s gaze, Wu Qing hurriedly explained: “Li Huo Sect no longer harbors delusions of rebelling against Da Yao. I just think that with you now bearing the entire South on your shoulders, going alone to Yao Capital is too risky.”
If Zhao Tu’s previous persuasion was to make Wu Fei feel that “his subordinates worried about many contradictions arising after his departure, but he still felt the current situation was manageable.”
Now with Wu Qing also persuading, it made Wu Fei deeply realize: upon leaving his farming zone, the undercurrents everywhere were indeed not small.
…To handle the undercurrents, he needed to find a force untouched by them to stand firm…
On the newly built Southern bastion, the newly arrived garrison troops were full of complaints, clearing beds and placing luggage in the mushroom-growing barracks.
They were those “exoneration loan” merit factions. The newcomers had pale faces because, compared to the Ling River fortresses, this brand-new fortress was surrounded by jungle, utterly stifling.
However, these merit factions also thought that Ling River already showed signs of “little Jiangnan” due to the train service, so they could only pray that the General’s Mansion’s southward train station planning could be implemented quickly.
At the high point of this fortress outpost, as Wu Fei overlooked the vast southern jungle and planned future expedition routes, he suddenly muttered, “A man of wealth does not sit under the eaves.” Before his heirs grew up, in the eyes of the various Southern Border factions, he was a fragile item. But from the big picture, he had to step out to find the breakout point from being “just a Southern Border king.”
Wu Fei knew his charm points lacked any “destined by Heaven” belief, nor was he immersed in the role of Tang Seng secretly protected by “six dings and six jias.” When one person persuaded him not to go North, he didn’t care; but when a second person from a different faction persuaded him not to leave the main base, Wu Fei couldn’t help associating himself with the overly confident “Great General He Jin” in history.
Factions already existed within the Southern Route Wu Family Army; this was objective reality.
Continue south, or go north—this was the strategic choice before Wu Fei.
The System was useless at this time. Because among the current homework given to him, there were also two big questions: “continue southward expedition” and “go north to contest.”
Wu Fei asked: “What is the order of these two questions?”
System: “There are only these questions on the test paper; choose the answering order yourself.”
…October of Shu Tian 33, dry season…
Wu Fei returned from Yun Qie Valley and, in this bastion, reviewed files while quietly mobilizing Security Bureau personnel for a thorough investigation, including Wu Qing, merchant groups, and the Wu Family’s internal commerce factions.
This was the drawback of not completing the “constitutional parliament.”
After centralization reached a certain height, although all rights converged on the supreme ruler, under the monarch’s powerful deterrence of “life and death at will,” the various sub-group forces were like a dark forest, not daring to tear faces before Wu Fei.
The monarch was severely lacking in information for major interest decisions and could not grasp the contradiction points between factions through normal means at the first time.
What the people below were really thinking required abnormal means to understand. And constitutionalism legislated to protect the discourse rights of various factions to express their interests.
Currently in this new bastion, these locally exiled merit factions were precisely the ones who could hold their heads high to state their interests to Wu Fei, as well as the interests of related other parties.
Of course, constitutionalism had flaws: if various interest groups emphasized their interests without restraint, it would tear from bottom to top. So Wu Fei dared not directly grant such power to the core contradiction factions inside the pass, because once delegated, they would truly engage in factional strife.
In this southern-leaning fortress, Wu Fei spent twenty days and finally figured out the situation from intelligence gathered from all sides, while also identifying a shit-stirrer.
On rough paper, Wu Fei scribbled and drew to sort out all relationships: “Venturing north” aligned with the interests of the Northern Route or, say, the noble family factions led by the Wu Family Group inside the pass, but not with the interests of the outside-the-pass factions pushing south. Even marrying “Central Plains noble ladies” and “Da Yao Imperial Daughters” actually harmed the Southern Route’s interests.
With the entire Southern Route having accepted Wu Fei as the current core leader, they more hoped he would marry local forces’ women to safeguard local group interests.
The paper was folded by Wu Fei and burned. This papermaking technique was not yet mature, producing something like rough paper, but convenient for destruction. As the flames licked it, Wu Fei’s thoughts turned to blue smoke—heaven knows, earth knows, he knows.
As for that shit-stirrer! Wu Fei had locked on—
…Lightning flashed in the dark clouds, followed by a thunderclap…
In the Ling River train station, Gongshu Wang was watching his new apprentices use tweezers to connect spirit silk between jade and jade for spiritual power. These disciples were all ones he had taken.
To his left were blocks of jade. Before coming south, he could never have imagined that “mechanism arts” could be like this—not self-contained ingenuity, but drawing heaven and earth’s spirit to assist mechanisms over thousands of li.
Just as Gongshu Wang put a new stack of name cards into the drawer, suddenly a team with broad-brimmed hats walked in from outside the station.
Gongshu Wang’s heart skipped a beat, but he still went up to greet them.
Security personnel came before Gongshu Wang, shook hands, and invited him for tea to discuss Southern Ling River engineering issues.
Gongshu Wang nodded. However, after riding the Wooden Ox train out of the station platform heading north, he was stunned: Gentlemen, what is the matter exactly? We’re not going to Fen Xing City?
At this time, the Security personnel flashed a golden phoenix leaf before him and told him: “Great Engineer, first return to Yongji Pass; the General will come find you.” Gongshu Wang’s smile froze—it’s over.
However, Gongshu Wang did not know that a wisp of blue on him was burned to smoke upon touching the golden phoenix leaf.
