Chapter 88: Merit Award
Without prior morale boosting, without announcing reward and punishment measures, and without preparing defensive defenses, Chang County’s main city was taken by the Wu Family Army in a single battle.
When the officers and soldiers under Wu Fei began carrying shields and approaching the city wall under the cover of crossbowmen in the rear, the damaged city gate was rammed open from the inside by the garrison. A young man led the way, baring his chest and abdomen as he came out, with a seal hanging around his neck. This was the standard surrender posture.
After looking through the telescope, Wu Fei curiously asked the palace attendant who was scouting information nearby: “This city’s prefect should not be a young man, right?”
Wu Fei had some doubts. The palace attendant immediately rode over, grabbed the surrendering man, and cursed: “Who the hell are you, kid? Where is the city general?”
The palace attendant’s scarred face and stinking saliva scared the soul out of the surrendering man, who stammered in response.
After intimidating and questioning several people, Wu Fei learned the whole story. The prefect and other officials—oh, they had already died under the earlier catapult fire. At that time, this city official was hiding in a tunnel inside the city wall, delivering farewell wine to the generals. But as soon as the wine was finished, a projectile directly penetrated the city wall tunnel, causing the brick wall above the generals’ hiding spot to collapse, burying the officials.
This surrendering youth, who was the prefect’s son, was brought before him, and Wu Fei asked: “Since the generals were gone long ago, why wait until I sent in the main force before surrendering?”
The squad leader nearby chimed in with rebuke: “Why not surrender earlier? You dared to resist our great army—you’ve got some guts, kid.”
In the end, the surrendering man said pitifully: “My lord, your cannons were too fierce. None of us dared to go up to the city surface to surrender.”
While this questioning was going on, the soldiers had already surged into the city. Wu Fei had no time to deal with the surrendering man, as he needed to control the situation inside the city right now.
Thus, Wu Fei issued the order: “All residents in the city are not allowed to remain on the streets. You have the time of one incense stick; violators will be killed without mercy! Troops already in the city, form ranks first and search one by one.”
Riding Nine Phoenix, Wu Fei leaped over the city wall and looked at the various squads clearing out remaining enemies in the city, as well as a few guys looking for fun. He took a deep breath.
Wu Fei summarized his experience of easily breaching the city in this battle as follows: Attacking a city is like opening a blind box—even the most excellent general cannot know which city is easy to take. But theoretically, the farther the infiltration and the deeper the penetration, the higher the probability of encountering an easy city! So, long-distance marches and infiltration are indeed divine skills!
At this moment, Wu Fei was like a 21st-century air commander who had realized the benefits of stealth fighter system penetration effects, suddenly feeling that enhancing organizational nature and using forced marches for sieges and captures was also a generational tactical advantage at this time.
Ghostly wails and wolf howls echoed throughout the city. Wu Fei frowned; the first soldiers to enter the city were reveling at this point.
To the officers at all levels, Wu Fei promptly issued various orders, making the squad leaders reflexively busy, unlike the troops below who were enjoying themselves.
…Military camp oversight ended the chaos in the city…
Before nightfall, Wu Fei conducted a round of military law dispositions in the plaza! Thirty soldiers were punished for losing weapons and armor! Three of them had lost weapons, which the military law officer found abandoned in civilian homes, and they were beheaded on the spot; the others either had their merits stripped or were punished with tattoos on their backs.
Wu Fei showed killing intent for the first time, and the officers and soldiers saw the consequences of disobeying orders under him for the first time, so the whole army was put on a tight leash! In the subsequent search for remaining enemies, all soldiers reminded each other when entering every alley.
Wu Fei’s order upon entering the city—”prohibit losing weapons and armor, violators to be executed”—was meant to give the soldiers a sense of vigilance.
Wu Fei roared at the non-commissioned officers: “After entering the city, don’t think you’re invincible under heaven and treat the enemy city like your own latrine, coming and going as you please!” Then the non-commissioned officers roared even louder at the squad leaders, and the squad leaders roared at those below.
Ordinary soldiers have short-sighted vision and are unaware of the risks of losing their lives due to dropped vigilance, but as a general, Wu Fei had to create “disobey orders and be executed” extra attention in some commands, making all soldiers fearful and on edge after entering the city, unable to “play” freely.
Actually, in Wu Fei’s heart, the original intent behind the orders was to prohibit soldiers from plundering privately, as plundering would inevitably corrupt military discipline and destroy the army’s organizational nature in the city.
But after Wu Fei’s “ban on alcohol” backfired when he first entered the military system, he summarized this lesson: He could not issue commands that were “too harsh in flavor.” Because in these times, arrogant and fierce generals rushed to attack cities, and after breaching, “no taboos” was the default common knowledge in the army—those who entered first should have lawless freedom.
(Xuan Chong could understand this pleasure: it was like the lawless freedom in previous life novels similar to end-times cities, where vaults, supermarkets, and every household in neighborhoods could be explored.)
If a general directly ordered a prohibition on plundering, it would seriously violate the excitement of the soldiers rushing into the city, producing rebellious psychology emotionally.
(Xuan Chong empathized: In end-times, if a holy mother leader in some doomsday camp still used peacetime laws to constrain everyone, requiring zebra crossings to cross streets and recording items taken from supermarkets and accounting for them, or not intruding into rich mansions to search for supplies, she would be cursed as a madwoman.)
Over these years, Wu Fei clearly understood: “Reasoning” only applies to interest-related parties of equal status, but for the lower levels far below in the execution chain, one must always avoid directly clashing with their main emotions. (In plain words: Don’t emphasize laws in front of uneducated groups. Instead, approach from emotional and rational angles.)
This is because: In a hierarchical society, the lower classes are always information-poor. (The ruling class deliberately maintains its information advantage, making laws and systems serve the ruling class.)
So as the upper class, don’t bring your information-rich “rule commonsense” into the lower classes, thinking they must understand it. (Don’t expect the lower classes to fear the law when they should.)
Unless one day the ruling class is willing to give up its own favorable “information advantage” and accept comprehensive transparent supervision, only then does it qualify to make the grassroots listen to reason.
Back to the present, Wu Fei bypassed the most severe emotional minefield (no plundering allowed) and instead issued the order “losing armor and weapons means execution.”
Under military law suppression, the army immediately focused attention on protecting their own armor and weapons. But after a few hours, the soldiers in the city would figure out the implication during final execution.
That is, this problem only arises when acting alone away from the unit without brothers’ reminders. How can one privately stash spoils without leaving the unit?
As for losing armor? That’s even more ingenious—armor worn on the body can’t be lost; only by removing it does the probability of losing armor and weapons arise. —What is removing armor in the city for? Of course, giving in to lust.
Wu Xiao Que, the “administrator” on this: I didn’t say no indulgence, but if you indulge, you’re likely to lose things and face military law—I’m doing this for your own good. (Like a parent: I’m not stopping you from playing; it’s just that if you play, you won’t finish your homework.)
Just like in his previous life, as long as the base is large enough, every year there are people who lose their admission tickets before the Gaokao or forget to fill in answer sheets. —Wu Fei beheaded a few to remind these soldiers and generals how high-risk “removing armor” is on the battlefield.
…Went around in a circle to block it, but ultimately still need to guide. Just blocking without guiding is self-smart…
Ten hours after entering the city, those soldiers scared by the few heads were cautious all day after entering, then pent-up with frustration in their bellies. Because they feared losing armor and weapons, they couldn’t do this or that, ending up busy all day without relaxation.
Soldiers escorting captives on the city gate street had such a conversation.
Soldier Jia kicked a broken basket by the street: “Damn it, I thought entering a new city meant left and right beauties in arms. Turns out we can’t touch anything and still worry about getting our heads chopped off.”
Soldier Yi: “Didn’t the general say? Clear remaining enemies, and afterward we’ll get merits.”
Soldier Jia: “Remaining enemies are cleared now, other troops have entered the city too—where’s our share?”
Broken baskets in the city were kicked back and forth by soldiers.
…Bamboo baskets shattered with every kick…
As the soldiers were complaining, a palace attendant rode a Dragon Horse flying over the street from above, banging a gong while shouting: “First-entry troops assemble in the plaza. The Marshal is distributing merits to you—don’t dawdle.”
The soldiers obeyed, hurriedly straightening their clothes and armor, then left with some anticipation.
…A gust of wind blew through the street; the true victors’ feast began…
Ten hours after entering the city, Wu Fei led a group of squad leaders into the treasury and obtained all the population registry records.
Wu Fei said to the surrendered prefect’s son: “Is it all here? If I find people not on the registry, they won’t have good days.” The prefect’s son nodded hurriedly, indicating it was all there.
Wu Fei nodded and waved to his personal guards, who went out and shouted loudly: “All civilians in the city gather up; those not arriving within one day will be enslaved directly if hiding in rooms!”
The reason Wu Fei did not allow soldiers to plunder privately was that unorganized and undisciplined activities were too inefficient and wasteful.
For the city civilians, how many were directly killed or died from unbearable humiliation? For Wu Fei, who urgently needed cattle and horses for the slavery system, this was unacceptable.
After all city civilians were gathered, they were classified one by one according to the population registry. Female dependents were also handled separately by status and identity, because a young miss is a bit more valuable than a maidservant, and those of value need proper categorization in the reward system.
Some maids who wanted to impersonate their young misses ultimately gave up in this classification setting.
Men on the registry were required to pay ransom, but not with property scrounged from the city—everything in the city already belonged to the Wu Family Army, even houses were valued and sealed; in the future, when Wu Fei assigned people to manage the city, they would be directly sold to merchants at a price.
These city noble families had to use assets like manors outside the city to exchange for freedom.
As for those not on the registry, such as many hidden servants and the like, all were classified as slaves belonging to the great army.
In the distribution, the first-entry soldiers in the army looked at their names on the merit list, excitedly coming up one by one to claim their women, silk scrounged from the city, and money from the treasury. They picked the top ones, belonging to various young misses; those entering later could only pick maidservants.
However, this scene caused a huge uproar across Yongzhou.
As a modern person, Xuan Chong’s moral logic differed from that of ancients.
For ancients, as long as it wasn’t recorded in history, it wouldn’t be discussed in terms of good and evil.
Thus, “unorganized evil, no matter how great,” could be brushed over with Spring and Autumn brushwork, like “heavenly drought, year of famine, people eating each other” repeatedly appearing in history books without details. But “organized evil” was elaborated repeatedly, like after Huang Chao rose due to grain shortages, history books meticulously described using a magical stone mortar to grind human bones into military grain—the details in Zizhi Tongjian were as fine as those in Journey to the West describing Lion Camel Ridge.
Thus, among ancients, “officials” saw the historian’s pen as a knife and directly stepped back to the moral high ground for things that “even if done well would violate some morals,” neatly leaving it to the lower levels’ human nature to decide.
Scholar-officials were not unaware of “indiscriminate killing” after city breaches or “cannibalism” in famines, but since perfect solutions for gaining fame were impossible and any action could be criticized by posterity, they pretended: “Didn’t encounter it.”
Xuan Chong’s logic as a modern person was: Set a bottom line; as long as I don’t cross it, you have no right to accuse me.
Thus Xuan Chong emphasized he was right-π. Why? A right-π bottom line can be low, and back then, those pretentious leaders in the public sphere emphasized: Be inclusive, acknowledge left and right.
Wu Fei’s bottom line was “no massacre,” so after the city breach, he erected a stele recording the number of remaining civilians in the city after this battle! (Xuan Chong: This is called leaving traces of actions.)
However, some noble family scions who survived the calamity secretly began engraving unofficial histories: The great army breached the city, plundered civilians into slaves. Trafficked in human goods! Any slight disobedience met with saber threats, civilians weeping blood, shackles ringing like bells.
In small gatherings of scholarly circles, they discussed current state affairs, lamenting what to do?—Confucians produced many poems sharp as knives, trying to curse Wu Fei to death.
The Confucian scholars unleashed a barrage of righteous output, stirring up qi in the mountains and rivers, but after stirring, it was powerless. —This is chaotic times; scholar-officials are useless.
After taking Chang County, while Wu Fei was selecting the next target, he suddenly felt a repulsive force. He raised an eyebrow, condensed killing intent on his body, and soon the repulsion disappeared.
…System: Student achievement evaluation will not be interfered with by external forces…
Ten days later, as Wu Fei led the army toward the next target, a Confucian scholar blocked the marching column and hurled abuses—this had quite the flavor of future environmentalists’ performance art blocking roads.
The great army column bypassed this person one by one until Wu Fei noticed an issue ahead in the ranks. Stunned for a moment, he listened for a bit, then asked the palace attendant: “Why let this person throw a tantrum in the path of my army’s march?”
A nearby clerk said: “This is a mad scholar; cannot kill him.” Then explained the reason. Wu Fei immediately understood that the Confucian scholars’ thought imprints were too severe.
In Da Yao, Confucians could check Military Strategists by “scolding” to make them lose “benevolence,” i.e., rejected by morality; similarly, Legalist methods made Military Strategists lose discipline.
Wu Fei had heard of these two points in the military system, but hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once. He finally recalled the childhood story: Confucian scholars could make generals’ souls turn and lose their minds through “stern rebukes.” —So the vanguard force avoided him entirely rather than pushing him aside.
Wu Fei nodded, considering how to bypass the issue, when this Confucian scholar happened to lock eyes with Wu Fei and unleashed a torrent of classical Chinese.
The uncultured Wu Fei didn’t understand, but found the rhyme interesting. After listening for three minutes, his ears felt quite comfortable. Of course—the “expected” effects like soul turmoil didn’t appear; the system didn’t even pop up a window.
Nearby passing soldiers saw the general listening like to music and suddenly were no longer intimidated by the Confucian scholar’s “thunderous righteous qi piercing the ears.” It was as if that rolling heavenly thunder was blocked by their own general’s great mountain.
The general is the soldiers’ courage.
To some extent, in battlefield situations and such, if the general can handle the opponent’s scolding, the soldiers have no moral guilt.
After listening for a good while, Wu Fei understood one phrase “unfilial son” and nodded, ordering the guy bound up.
Wu Fei personally wrote a “stinking old ninth” sign and hung it on his back, then put a tall paper hat on him and hung him on a war chariot, requiring others to come claim him.
Wu Fei pondered nine revenge methods in his mind—nine! Wu Fei: “Feed him food and water every hour; we don’t bully madmen.”
The army continued marching. Per Wu Fei’s instructions, scouts found where this old madman who cursed him lived an hour later: a bamboo grove, a serene place. The bamboo grove’s owner recognized the old madman, cupped hands in salute, but remained unmoved toward the great army.
Thus, Wu Fei ordered the old man thrown into the vegetable garden, then tossed down twenty taels of silver and forcibly requisitioned the bamboo grove near this residence.
Wu Fei’s squad rushed in and chopped down all the bamboo here, and the famous scholars originally meeting in the bamboo grove finally changed color, scolding the great army. “You vulgar men!” “How dare you!”
One by one with hair standing on end, as if about to devour someone the next second, making soldiers have to stop. Wu Fei paused, suddenly thinking they should go to Uncle’s place for reformation, so he had them all stripped of clothes, dressed in prostitute garb, smeared with makeup, and hung on the side! At the same time, tied a few monkeys from the mountain and made them wear their clothes.
Wu Fei’s key way: This mutual cursing, clinging to debating frames, is inferior; my superior key way is to grab pain points and humiliate with flair. You curse my “lack of originality,” but my humiliation of you is original, so in news propagation, I win.
The elegant bamboo stream residence, losing its verdant cover, then had a sign hung: latrine.
As the great army urinated one by one, it instantly became like a roadside latrine.
Wu Fei did not know that this action left him with the infamous title “Bamboo-Destroying General” in the Chong Shui scholarly circles, from then on Yongzhou scholars vowed no coexistence with the southern barbarian general.
