Chapter 31: The "Civility" of the Violence Machine

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On Jungle Avenue, Wu Haha, who had returned with the homecoming regiment, was being kicked and beaten by a group of Horned Men.

At the same time, Wu Haha was frantically leading these southern Horned Men, his own kinsmen, around while they went north to “borrow grain” from their compatriots across the River Jiang.

After breaking into the village, the southern Horned Men showed no less savagery toward their own kind than the massacres carried out between different tribes in the Southern Frontier.

The Horned Men who had come north separated the villagers by sex. The men were all forced to kneel together and interrogated about where their grain had been hidden, while from the women’s side came violent roars and screams. After several hours, this so-called “borrowing of grain” turned into a horrifying massacre.

The distinguishing feature of the Horned Men was the single horn atop their heads, much like that of a unicorn. The horns of the males were especially beautiful and possessed excellent conductivity. When weaponsmiths used the horns to make sword hilts, even the most ordinary wielder could feel, upon gripping the weapon, that the blade had become a part of his own body.

In the biographies of Southern Frontier commerce kept in the Wu family library, the material was summarized as follows: it possessed excellent conductivity for baleful energy and spiritual energy and could be used to craft all kinds of weapons. It was not merely suitable for sword hilts; thumb rings for archery made from it were also of the highest quality.

The Horned Men of the Southern Frontier knew this well. Thus, in the village, these southern thugs collecting provisions began dragging all the local male Horned Men to the western edge, binding them, and chopping off their heads with enormous guillotine blades before removing their horns.

Wu Haha watched in silence. He also saw the terrifying gazes cast at him by the village’s young children.

He grew increasingly bewildered. At first, he had merely followed his impulse for revenge, hoping to cause trouble for the Yao people in the north. But now he no longer understood what his actions would bring him in the future.

Because of the various “unprincipled” acts of arson, murder, and plunder committed by this tribal alliance from the south, the Wu family army had given them the name “Black Tide.” The tribes north of the Spirit River soon adopted the name as well.

…The workings of Heaven follow their constant course; they do not preserve Yao, nor do they destroy Jie…

The scene shifted elsewhere.

Compared with the Black Tide, the Wu family army that emerged from Yongji Pass appeared remarkably orderly and civilized.

The Wu family troops now leaving the pass were mostly elite units. As they crossed one tribal territory after another, they generally did not disturb even the smallest thing. Though that expression was not quite accurate. It would be better to say that they did not “pull up grass while hunting rabbits.”

The several hundred-man combat teams dispatched by Wu Fei were like swift blades thrust straight into the heart. They would not stop midway to solve their supply problems by “borrowing” from the Southern Frontier tribes.

Wu Fei had assigned each soldier in the expedition an average of two horses to carry the supplies they needed.

The many tribal armies advancing north from the Southern Frontier faced one major problem: they possessed no systematic logistical supply network. Wherever the coalition went, it ravaged the land like a swarm of locusts. Before setting out, these tribal armies had naively planned to plunder the merchants of Great Yao directly. Admittedly, they would inevitably have to borrow a little from the locals to the north, but their main target was still the Yao people.

Wu Fei’s forces were different. They departed from and returned to the pass at fixed times, and when they withdrew, they did so cleanly, without the slightest hesitation or delay. They even dismantled the trading posts before leaving.

The merchants who had still harbored hopes of making a profit saw this situation for themselves. After trading with the local tribes and experiencing the difference between “late autumn turning from warm to cold,” they all returned to the pass and waited for Wu Fei’s next expedition.

Thus, for the tribal alliance advancing north, reality was harsh. Unless they could break through Yongji Pass, south of the pass this furious army bent on settling accounts with the Yao people could only borrow from its fellow countrymen.

As for the Wu family army, Wu Fei followed the standard formula laid down in military classics. The force sent out to fight beyond the pass would contain no more than three hundred soldiers, and its range of operations would extend no farther than eighty kilometers south of Yongji Pass.

When dealing with the northbound tribal alliance, they would seek out its vulnerable points and strike with sudden raids.

Xuan Chong had based this approach on the example of Huo Qubing’s first campaign in his previous life. That legendary commander had led eight hundred cavalry across hundreds of kilometers of grassland and directly raided the Xiongnu royal camp.

Historical records described the feat as an “adventure in plunder,” as though it were an unrepeatable legend. Yet from the perspective of military theory, one could see several practical factors within it.

First, the force was small and therefore required few supplies. Second, it relied on local guides who had already reconnoitered the route. Huo Qubing had been absolutely confident of success; he had merely been waiting for Wei Qing’s permission.

As for Wu Fei, considering the rugged terrain of the mountains, he had reduced the distance to eighty kilometers.

And as for familiarity with the route—what had he been doing a year earlier when he led eight hundred men and ultimately “returned without accomplishing anything”?

Drinking great bowls of wine with Southern Frontier hunters and tribal warriors and becoming their friends?

He had been asking for directions.

Wu Fei had also considered that, so long as three hundred men were adequately supplied, there would be no need to plunder villages.

While studying the way of military strategy, Wu Fei had already concluded that commanders of different levels possessed different limits in the number of troops they could control. He did not believe his own level surpassed that of Huo Qubing.

That was right: Wu Fei would never overestimate the moral standards of his army.

Yet in this kind of strategic confrontation, it was essential to preserve a certain degree of morality within one’s military forces. This was what the Confucian saying that “the benevolent are invincible” truly meant: avoid becoming hated in the war zone whenever possible, and make it easier for the local people to accept the “oppression” imposed by one’s own side.

Before leaving the pass in the first half of the year, Wu Fei had spent time wandering through the slave market, selecting several Southern Frontier slaves.

He had temporarily offered them the following arrangement: they would serve his army, and depending on the degree of cooperation they demonstrated, some of them would be released.

Before this expedition, Wu Fei made another promise. If they helped Great Yao defeat the southern tribal alliance, he would not only set them free but also guarantee that, after their return, they would be supported in becoming the decision-makers of their respective tribes.

When Wu Fei released Wu Haha and allowed him to select attendants from among the enslaved members of his own tribe, it was precisely to let the others witness this promise.

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Now, the expeditionary force included several obedient slave guides. They came from different tribes and were even rivals among themselves.

…Xuan Chong: The so-called civilization of the colonial age of oceanic exploration was the degree to which an organization refined its control over its machinery of violence…

Fifty kilometers south of Yongji Pass, the sun hung high overhead, roasting the road that had only just dried after the rain. The woods were filled with oppressive heat.

At the checkpoint along the road before Yongji Pass, platoon after platoon of armored soldiers dismounted in the main thoroughfare and jogged toward their designated ambush site.

On closer inspection, one would find that these soldiers wore armor only on their upper bodies. Their lower legs were bound with straps. This force of more than a hundred rattan-armored soldiers consisted mostly of crossbowmen, while the remainder carried sharpened iron spades.

“Faster. The Horseshoe Enclosure is just ahead,” urged the commandant leading them.

The armored soldiers, twigs clenched between their teeth, quickened their pace and soon reached the site.

It was a small rise, but a half-meter-high pile of rubble had been heaped across the front slope. It was an extremely simple defensive fortification—not sturdy in the least. There was even an opening behind the rubble, making the entire enclosure horseshoe-shaped.

That gap could be blocked by just five men holding long weapons. In fact, with a proper palisade, even fewer would suffice.

Half a year earlier, this had been a livestock pen. During the Southern Frontier trade, merchants bought and exchanged large numbers of animals from the tribes. Since the animals were difficult to transport, Wu Fei had planned a livestock depot here when he left the pass.

The gap had originally been left for driving in sheep.

Now, it happened to be a useful fortification.

The Wu family army had obtained intelligence from one of the local Claw Men in their ranks: a force of mountain ogres had clashed with members of other tribes over water and was now searching for a new source.

As for why they would take this particular road, the Claw Man guide had sworn on a military pledge, using the solemn manner of the Yao people, that “one of our own is guiding those mountain ogres” and that they would certainly come this way.

…From neat and orderly to chaotic and clamorous…

The mountain ogre chieftain, Big Timber, led his troop along the road.

Their enormous feet, each nearly two men long, stamped one footprint after another into the muddy mountain path. Every so often, Big Timber turned around to stare at his troops, making sure no one slipped out of formation to cause trouble.

Ever since an idiot in the troop had spotted a dead log covered in mushrooms, gleefully run over to carry it back, and shared it with the other idiots—after which they had all gone mad together—Big Timber had remained constantly alert.

As for the Claw Man guide in the troop, Big Timber kept him on a rope, leading him like a puppy. This was partly to prevent the “puppy” from escaping, but even more to prevent the other members of his species from playing with the “puppy” to death.

Yes, the mountain ogres had been seething with frustration at their tribal camp.

First came the march. The mountain ogres wanted to travel along hard, rocky ground, while the “little ones” insisted on choosing muddy paths, making it extremely difficult for the troop to move its feet.

After finally reaching their intended location, the mountain ogres, being the largest of the tribes, once again quarreled with all the smaller peoples over water. Nearly every other race complained that the mountain ogres had enormous bellies and drank too much.

So Big Timber lost his temper. He bound a local Claw Man whom his troops had captured and carried him off as a guide to find another route.

The troop behind Big Timber became disorderly again after a while. Several large mountain ogres had smashed the heads of smaller ogres with hammers and stolen their food, causing some of the smaller ogres to curse and shout.

Big Timber’s response was to raise his even larger fists and hammer the shouting smaller ogres. He ordered them to move faster and warned that if they dared dawdle again, he would beat them to death.

Indeed, the common sense of disciplining comrades who stole food and maintaining fairness within a troop existed only among civilized organizations that needed to maintain a machinery of violence.

In primitive tribes, a troop followed the law of the jungle: the fellow with the biggest fists could settle everything.

…The immense gulf between trained professionals and illiterates…

To be honest, Wu Fei had never understood how this alliance of Southern Frontier tribes had dared to gather more than ten thousand men and march toward him.

When he put himself in the position of the Southern Frontier tribal alliance, the problem of marching alone was enough to give him a headache. Every race had a different body size, which meant that even preparing grass sandals for the march required an agonizing amount of work.

Wu Fei had prepared grass sandals, matching water flasks, and dry rations for all the foreign guides in his expeditionary force who had pledged allegiance to Great Yao. This ensured that they could keep up with the march and would not become weak links in the formation.

There were relatively few such guides, so preparation was manageable.

But the tribes of the Southern Frontier differed enormously in every respect. Establishing army-level logistics for them would be a nightmare.

Wu Fei wondered: What should he do in the future if he wanted to form auxiliary armies?

The system promptly provided Xuan Chong with an explanation.

When the Union Jack colonized South Asia, it faced a multitude of cultures and adopted a strategy of selecting auxiliary troops from a small number of particularly martial ethnic groups, such as the Sikhs.

This reduced the cultural and lifestyle conflicts among the various peoples within the army. At the same time, because these groups were few in number and had shallow roots in the homeland, they lacked the foundation necessary to rebel.

…Returning to the topic…

Once Wu Fei learned that the Southern Frontier tribal alliance had no proper logistical system supporting it at all, he was deeply shaken. He then predicted that such a massive force would sooner or later disperse.

Thus came the present deployment of elite troops for an ambush.

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Wu Fei named this tactic “gardening,” because gardening involved cutting back branches that had grown wildly outside their proper shape.

Oh, the battle had already begun.

When Big Timber saw the Great Yao troops blocking the road at the large enclosure ahead, he fully demonstrated the other Southern Frontier tribes’ assessment that mountain ogres had “no brains” and immediately launched an attack.

Big Timber, however, believed that he himself possessed a brain. He ordered all the dogs accompanying the march to be led to the front.

These were actual dogs, not the unfortunate Claw Man guide.

Big Timber entered the barking mass of hounds. First, he fed meat to the pack’s alpha and several of its leading followers. Then he pointed toward the Great Yao soldiers occupying the high ground.

He waved his hand.

All the leather leashes were released, and the pack began racing uphill.

According to the Wu family army’s intelligence on the various Southern Frontier peoples, a small number of mountain ogres possessing a degree of “civilization” captured wild wolves and beat them with their fists until they became hunting dogs.

The Claw Man guide merely happened to be wearing the sort of chain the mountain ogres used to tether their dogs.

On the side of the Great Yao troops lying in ambush, the soldiers had clearly prepared for the mass of wolfhounds surging toward them.

The Wu family soldiers standing behind the rampart cautiously took from their pouches cross-shaped darts with sandbags tied at their centers. They inserted pellets bearing fire talismans into the sockets of the darts and began preparing to throw.

These cross-shaped darts were called “Clamor Bombs.”

When the order to throw was given and the vicious dogs had drawn within twenty paces of the position, the sergeant at the front shouted, “Throw the thunder, lads!”

One dart after another spun through the air.

In an instant, the pack was engulfed by clouds of smoke as the darts exploded. The wolves’ howls became the dogs’ cries of agony.

The bamboo tubes attached to the cross-shaped darts contained smoke bombs filled with sulfur, fecal matter, and other irritants. A special alchemical formula ensured that they burned out within three breaths, producing dense, violent clouds of smoke.

As the darts fell, each one released a column of smoke three zhang high after burning out, forming a barrier of haze. Under the control of the soldiers’ baleful energy, the smoke drifted in a single direction within the designated area.

The dogs were caught in the disaster without warning. Their already limited will to attack collapsed completely, and they began rolling helplessly on the ground.

Behind the rampart, the Great Yao soldiers raised their crossbows.

Mounted on the crossbows was a mechanism for firing multiple groups of light arrows at once. It was of little use against armored targets, but against dogs rolling helplessly in the irritating smoke, exposing their bellies…

A rain of arrows swept over them like a swarm of bees.

The whimpering of the pack, less than twenty paces from the position, became even more agonized. Arrowheads pierced their bodies and lodged in their organs, while blood poured continuously from their wounds.

The ground was sloped. As the dogs rolled downward, some arrows fell free, their barbs tearing out great strips of flesh. Others were driven even deeper.

Big Timber had initially watched with satisfaction as the dogs rapidly climbed toward the Yao position, certain that victory was within reach.

No—it would be more accurate to say that their “bite” was within reach.

But in the next instant, through some treacherous trick of the Yao people, the dogs suddenly lost the ability to move.

Since the pack was an important asset of the tribe, Big Timber raised his club and charged forward, determined to stop the Yao people from slaughtering his dogs.

…Rage met a sinister grin…

At the position, the Wu family commandant in charge watched the mountain ogre panting as he charged up the slope and gave the crossbowmen an order:

“Heavy bolts. Brace your feet against the strings and draw them all the way!”

When the lead mountain ogre, serving as the spearpoint, had surged thirty paces ahead of his troop and reached forty paces from the rampart, the crossbowmen loosed a volley.

Swish!

Arrow shafts appeared all over Big Timber’s body, as though he had suddenly grown bristles.

Three bolts were lodged especially deep around his eyes.

Big Timber halted, then slowly leaned backward and fell asleep on his feet.

He looked so peaceful that the mountain ogres behind him failed to realize their chieftain was dead rather than drunk.

The mountain ogres continued charging. Another volley of crossbow bolts flew, and eight of the twenty mountain ogres fell.

The survivors slowed their pace.

In the end, the mountain ogre vanguard still reached the rampart.

Before they could climb over it, several heartless spears shot out from behind the wall like spring-loaded knives released at the press of a button.

Caught off guard while raising his leg, one mountain ogre was stabbed beneath the groin and fell away screaming.

The mountain ogres decided that these Great Yao people were far too wicked.

They turned and fled in a great uproar.

Even so, a third of them were struck down by another rain of arrows during the retreat. In the end, only seven or eight escaped.

The dogs were abandoned.

As for the Claw Man captive they had dragged along, no one had the time to retrieve him.

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