Taiheiki

Chapter 110 Covenant
"Okay!" Wei Cong agreed readily. He stood up, walked out of the house, and pointed at the ground, saying, "I, Wei Cong, will treat the captives well, give them food and water, and take the best possible care of them. As long as they don't escape or resist, I won't harm their bodies or lives. Heaven and earth bear witness to this. If I break my oath, heaven and earth will not tolerate it!"

At this point, Wei Cong paused and turned his gaze towards the old man. The old man nodded reluctantly and vowed to tell Wei Cong the truth about the origin of the green stone when they arrived at his village, otherwise he would be cursed by the gods and would not rest in peace even after death.

Wei Cong, having stumbled upon the copper mine, was in high spirits. He ordered the slaughter of ten buffaloes and the village's livestock, giving his soldiers a hearty meal. He then sent a detachment back with some of the spoils, women, and children, instructing them to take along those who had been left behind due to heatstroke and injuries (if they were still alive). The remaining troops would recuperate in the Shan Liao people's village for four or five days before embarking on their return journey.

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Seeing the camp again, Qian Wen felt an indescribable feeling. When he first arrived, he thought it was a barren wasteland with nothing. But after several months of hard work, cutting wood, building furnaces, smelting iron, and forging weapons, they had unknowingly come to regard this place as their fundamental foothold. Especially after this expedition to the mountain beasts, after experiencing life and death, seeing the camp again with his own eyes, he felt an extremely warm feeling in his heart.

"Thanks to my ancestors, I finally came back alive!"

A familiar voice called out from beside him. Qian Wen turned around and saw a man of medium build, broad shoulders and back. His muscular arms bulged out his sleeves, which were already colorless. He couldn't recognize him. He tried to recall, and suddenly a light came on in his mind. Could this be the man who had shouted at him after he had killed his opponent together that night?
"Yes!" Qian Wen laughed, "Wherever the spear point is pointing, in a hurry, some people will grab the spear tip with their hands. It is indeed very dangerous!"

Yuan Tian was stunned when he heard this. Qian Wen's irrelevant answer made him a little confused, but the scene of that night quickly flashed through his mind: "That night was you——"

"Yes, it's me!" Qian Wen cupped his hands and said, "Qian Wen of Yuzhang, thank you for your help!"

"Yuan Tian from Chen State! Hello, brother!" Yuan Tian hurriedly returned the greeting.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and when they talked about the art of spears, Qian Wen said with a smile, "Brother Yuan, with such martial arts skills, you will surely stand out under the general and rise to a higher position!"

Yuan Tian smiled bitterly, "Brother Qian, you don't know the inside story." Having said that, he briefly recounted his origins and finally sighed, "I'm lucky to be alive, so how can I even talk about promotion!"

"What's that?" Qian Wen laughed. "I've even fought the general face to face! He's doing fine now, isn't he? Don't worry, he's magnanimous and generous, and definitely not a petty, mean-spirited person. If my predictions are correct, your reward will arrive within a couple of days!"

"I hope so!" Yuan Tian sighed. "I don't expect any reward, I just hope life here will be easier!"

As Qian Wen predicted, on the third day after they returned to camp, Wei Cong issued an order for a reward. Yuan Tian, having beheaded nine people and been the first to scale the stone wall, was rewarded with 10,000 yuan, 20 pieces of silk, two oxen, and ten servants. He was also granted 100 mu of farmland and 5 mu of land for his residence (this was a big cake). He was also granted the same rank and appointed a sergeant (captain of ten men). He instantly became famous in the army and earned the nickname "Yuan Xiandeng."

At this time, Wei Cong was busy with other things and had put aside the prospecting. After breaking through the Shan Liao stronghold and rescuing the captured slaves, Wei Cong's reputation in the surrounding mountain villages soared. Many villages that had not originally joined also sent people to come, wanting to see if there were any of their own villagers among the rescued slaves, and requesting to join the covenant as well.

This would have been a good thing, but something happened that Wei Cong had not anticipated. Several villages that had joined the alliance first and sent people to participate in the expedition said that this was unfair to them because they had joined earlier.

Although they did not pay tribute, they provided men, food, and pack animals for the military operation to recapture the captured people, and they shed blood, lost livestock, and even died. They had contributed to the recapture of the captured people and the defeat of the mountain beasts, and their blood and sweat contributed to the alliance's current reputation. If these later entrants joined the alliance according to their original conditions (hostages, and the obligation to send support when the allies were threatened), they would clearly be taking advantage of those who joined first.

After all, after this successful act of retaliation, for a long time, the possibility of bandits or mountain beasts attacking the villages within the covenant again is very small, and the latecomers are essentially taking advantage of the reputation of those who joined earlier for free.

The speeches of these opponents immediately attracted a lot of support. Some people also pointed out that according to the provisions of the covenant, when a village within the covenant is attacked by people outside the covenant, other villages are obliged to send people to support it.

But being attacked is a very vague meaning. After all, being attacked by thieves is being attacked; two villages located upstream and downstream of a river fighting each other for the distribution of water is also being attacked; even a fight between two villages triggered by a disagreement between a couple can be said to be being attacked.

Under this ambiguous designation, villages within the alliance are likely to exploit their dominant position to proactively provoke conflicts with neighboring villages to maximize their own interests. In this scenario, the alliance could even become a tool for newcomers to oppress outsiders. The more new villages join, the greater the probability of similar military actions in the future. This also increases the likelihood that earlier joiners will be forced to contribute manpower and resources to support later joiners, undoubtedly harming the latter's interests.

Listening to the village representatives' speeches, Wei Cong couldn't help but sigh, "There's always fragrant grass within ten steps." These villagers might seem unsophisticated and clueless, but when their own interests were involved, they became more cunning than monkeys. This alliance was originally a tool for him to cheaply expand his influence and levy a "blood tax" on the surrounding villages. After all, according to the alliance's provisions, he or someone he designated would serve as the alliance's commander, and the commander would also have the right to distribute the spoils. While the villages didn't have to pay tribute, they still had to cover the costs of the soldiers' equipment, rations, and pack animals, and Wei Cong didn't have to pay them any wages.

On the surface, these villages are the beneficiaries of this alliance. They do not have to pay a single copper coin or a grain of rice as tribute. As long as they send people to support their allies when they are attacked, they can be protected from attacks by foreign enemies (Wei Cong's military strength is far superior to theirs, so naturally they are the beneficiaries).

But for Wei Cong, collecting taxes from these scattered villages actually made little sense. These villages were not large and were scattered across a wide mountain road, often 20 to 30 miles apart. The logistics cost of collecting the little food and cloth was extremely high. And now Wei Cong was not short of money and food at all. The food and cloth he earned from selling ironware and weapons to Lu Ping was enough to feed Wei Cong's 2,000 people for two to three years.
Moreover, the agricultural conditions in the river valley where Wei Cong's camp is located are actually very good, but there are too many trees and they are too dense, so it takes some time to cut down and cultivate the land before a harvest can be obtained. Now, even if you use it to graze sheep and pigs, you can't get any harvest. After copper mines are discovered in the future, there will be no shortage of in-kind taxes.

So Wei Cong simply left all the food in the village so that the villagers could eat well and have enough food, just as a subsidy for his future soldiers.

But any law or political system has a characteristic: the original intention of the enactor and its actual impact are often two different things. Wei Cong created this alliance to gain free manpower from the mountain tribes. Upon learning of the mountain beasts' attack on their allies, he immediately launched a retaliation at all costs, using this as a publicity stunt to lure more villages into joining, thereby snowballing his own recruitment pool.

The village elders saw this as an opportunity to curry favor with the powerful, gain safe haven for free, and bully their neighbors. Fortunately, the villages that had already joined the alliance were no fools and immediately spotted their intentions, attempting to block this loophole.

"Then what do you think we should do?" Wei Cong asked. He found that the people who knew these bumpkins best were the ones themselves. Instead of wasting time and effort playing tricks on them, it would be better to let them deal with themselves.

"In my opinion!" A white-bearded old man stood up and said respectfully to Wei Cong, "Those people can join the alliance, but they must pay a fee."

"Pay money? Pay money for what?"

"The last time we sent troops out, we spent a lot. It's just right for them to pay for the expenses!" The old man said, "This is also very fair to them. After all, if we hadn't pacified the Shan Liao, they wouldn't be so eager to join the alliance!"

Wei Cong frowned. Actually, what the old man said made sense, but the problem was that he had organized the alliance just to get the soldiers from these villages for free. If he paid them this time, wouldn't he have to pay them every time in the future? That was absolutely impossible.

He coughed. "I'm afraid that's inappropriate! The covenant clearly states that the expenses of sending troops to mutual aid are to be borne by each party. After all, everyone may be attacked, and it's only right for each party to provide money and manpower to protect themselves. If we let the newly joined villages pay this time, then who will pay next time we need to send troops? And let the newly joined villages pay? But there may not be so many villages willing to join by then!"

"This..." The white-haired old man was suddenly speechless.

Wei Cong smiled and said, "You all should know that when I last went to fight the mountain barbarians, I sent a total of 300 soldiers. If they had paid, I would have taken the most money. But did you all join the alliance for money? No, right? You all wanted safety, so that you could peacefully farm, graze, chop wood, and hunt; you didn't have to worry about being attacked by thieves or barbarians, right?"
So I made it very clear in the covenant at the beginning that each village must provide a certain number of able-bodied men according to its population, a certain number of spears, a certain number of bows, a certain number of shields, and a certain number of pack animals; if I want money, why not just ask you for tribute directly, use the money to support my soldiers, and send my people to rescue when something happens?
Isn't it all about strengthening each village as much as possible, so that they can help each other? Now that new villages are asking to join the alliance, this is a good thing. The more villages there are, the more soldiers they can provide, the greater the power of mutual assistance, and the safer everyone will be.

Don't be greedy for those petty gains. This expedition caused losses to the various villages, but I took that into account when distributing the spoils and provided some compensation. Why should I expect the new villages to bear the responsibility? If so, if you are attacked next time, won't the newly joined villages think, 'We already paid, why should we have to contribute manpower and effort to rescue those people?' Will anyone be willing to help each other then?

Wei Cong's words convinced everyone. In their minds, safety must be prioritized above all else. Finally, Wei Cong made a compromise: he levied a 500-coin entrance fee on each village that joined. This fee would be used to forge a bronze tripod, upon which the name of each village would be engraved as a witness to the alliance. From then on, each new member would also have a new name engraved on it.

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After dealing with the alliance, Wei Cong refocused his attention on weapon production. After all, Lu Ping had delivered the supplies and manpower Wei Cong requested. According to the agreement, Wei Cong had to deliver 1500 spearheads and 400 ring-handled swords within two months. This wasn't a big challenge for Wei Cong's ironworks, as each ring-handled sword weighed only about grams, and the spearheads were even lighter, at around grams. All together, they only weighed about tons, using only five or six days' worth of iron.

Traditional weapon crafting involved forging. However, with the introduction of heat treatment furnaces, pudeling furnaces, and hydraulic hammers, craftsmen no longer need to repeatedly forge to remove impurities from the iron. Instead, they simply hammer high-quality wrought iron into the desired shape, then carbonize the surface in a heat treatment furnace. Following this, quenching and tempering processes create high-quality iron weapons, significantly reducing labor time. Each blacksmith, with the help of an apprentice, can produce seventy to eighty spearheads daily, a sufficient output to meet the deadline.

In fact, the biggest bottleneck hindering Wei Cong's workshop's production increase was the number of hydraulic machines. In other words, expanding the reservoir and driving larger and more hydraulic machines, rather than simply increasing manpower, was Wei Cong's primary focus. The captives and buffaloes captured during the attack on the Shan Liao, along with the 1,000 men Lu Ping provided, enabled Wei Cong to begin implementing this new plan. So, when Lu Ping arrived to pick up the goods as agreed, she was met with this massive construction project.

(End of this chapter)