Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 236 The New Army
On July 6, after Wang Feihao submitted his battle report, Wu Zaixing compiled a detailed summary of the situation of each combat team.

This summary points out Haojun's most critical problem right now.

Wu Zaixing: "In a battle involving fewer than 10,000 troops, the Hao army commanders had very poor coordination skills in combining different types of troops."

In the latest tactics of the Zhen Army, there are no invincible units; pure ground giants can be easily taken down by demolition riflemen.

During the battle on the 5th, when attacking Hao Jun's seven giant terracotta warriors, two hundred spearmen with explosive spikes defeated the giant terracotta warriors at the cost of eight dead and twenty wounded.

In anti-armor battles, every fallen soldier will receive twenty merit points, and their descendants will directly enter the ranks of the Wu family's royal guards; there are plenty of people in the country who are willing to take on the Hao army's massive army with explosive guns, because it is simply too worthwhile.

Wu Zaixing made the following notes on the battle encountered by Wang Feihao: If the Hao army had had aerial behemoths, such as the Haotian Lion and the Taiyue Luan, large aerial units to interfere with the Zhen army's dragon horse cavalry, preventing the Zhen army's dragon horse cavalry from effectively using stun grenades to isolate the armored soldiers charging behind them, then the Zhen army's bayonet units targeting the Hao army would have been driven away by the armored soldiers behind them and would have been unable to play their role.

Wang Feihao questioned the captured prisoners and obtained the following information: Fang Sidao, the vanguard general of the Hao army, did not like "Taiyue Luan and Haotian Lion".

Of course, simply saying "I don't like it" isn't enough to explain the truth. Just like when women say "we're not compatible" on blind dates, they've actually done a lot of calculations in their minds and feel like they're getting the short end of the stick. But they don't want to say it outright, otherwise they'll seem "too calculating," which doesn't fit the image of a sophisticated lady.

Xuan Chong once said: The Hao Army's command hierarchy comes from aristocratic families and is also very particular about their public persona. Therefore, they often use "dislike" to cover up their "incompetence."
Wu Zaixing seized on this point and analyzed: "We believe that he is unable to manage logistics well. The bird cage facilities and terracotta figurine facilities required by Taiyue Luan and Haotian Lion are two separate technical routes, and the logistics also belong to two separate routes."

As a capable person, Fang Sidao was obviously more adept at managing Tao Bing and could respond quickly; when he launched an attack on the southern route of the Zhen army as the vanguard, the maintenance cost of Tao Bing under his command was the lowest.

A similar situation exists in the Zhen army. The Ghost Chariot has always been criticized by other corps because the corrosive gas it leaks makes it impossible for other cavalrymen to be accommodated in the stables.

Coordination between the Ghost Car Unit and other units has consistently been a problem in numerous military exercises.

Wu Zaixing has a Ghost Chariot unit under his command as a backup, which can be deployed to the battlefield at any time; however, due to the conflict between the logistical regulations for raising Ghost Chariots and those of other departments, this unit is currently concentrated in one formation.

Other legions tend to use maintenance systems and wooden phoenixes, similar to wooden oxen and flowing horses, to supplement their aerial combat capabilities.

…The Hao Army's system is outdated…

First, it must be acknowledged that the Hao Kingdom had capable individuals; however, it was impossible for these capable individuals under the Hao army to cooperate effectively. The "scholar-official" spirit made aloofness the mainstream.

In large-scale battles involving thousands of soldiers, commanders often favor certain units, creating vulnerabilities due to their perceived biases.

The Zhen Army is different. Although they also have specializations, they analyze the enemy's target before the battle and set up a combat plan with the enemy as the target. In this plan, different branches of the army are sometimes urgently drawn together to fight together.

For example, in Wang Feihao's battle, the Longma Corps, which fired the blasting bombs at a crucial moment, did not belong to Wang Feihao's musketeer regiment, but was temporarily drawn from elsewhere. Therefore, in battles with a scale of less than 10,000 men, the Zhen Army was better able to coordinate the cooperation of multiple branches of the armed forces than the Hao Army due to its organizational advantages.

…Wu Zaixing's military summary is of high quality and very timely…

On the 7th, after reading Wu Zaixing's article, Xuan Chong nodded silently, and couldn't help but think of the bald eagle from his previous life.

His forces are in a similar situation, encompassing land, sea, and air, all aiming to achieve complete control over their respective areas, and their operations are designed to make their combat capabilities invincible.

The navy no longer targets the navies of other countries, but begins to exert pressure from the sea to the land and then into the air.

The Army is absolutely unwilling to retire the Warthog attack aircraft and insists on retaining its own aviation force.

The result is that they are all focused on how to bully weaker enemies, while the military projects necessary when facing stronger enemies are of a type they are "uninterested in".

In other words, projects that require "high-level system support" often remain only on PowerPoint presentations due to bureaucratic wrangling among various departments, including those in the air, land, and sea. Instead, companies are starting to rely on "single aircraft," "single ships," or "single vehicles" to showcase their high-tech innovation advantages.

In summary, this reflects a lack of decision-making power at the top level; while those below emphasize their own "superiority after independence," resulting in "each side offering its own interpretation" during implementation, with no emphasis on "firm obedience, cooperation, guarantees, and improvement."

Each division of the U.S. military, within its own jurisdiction, possesses enough technology and military resources to suppress a medium-sized country without making mistakes. When facing larger countries, however, the lack of planning stems from the absence of anyone to guarantee accountability and punishment for accidents during the "coordination process between different factions."

The correct strategy is to set an overall strategic goal at the top level, and then break down the overall strategy into multiple sub-goals for execution at the lower levels.

Xuan Chong's previous life's army was like this, with the US military as its ultimate target. Under this ultimate target...

The navy's assigned objective is to confront enemy fleets in the open ocean.

The Air Force's assigned objectives are to gain control of the electromagnetic spectrum and air power.

Missile forces must engage in strategic denial and destroy key enemy nodes.

When each branch of the military receives its objectives, it knows from the outset that "it cannot accomplish anything on its own," and that only by cooperating can it succeed.

Returning to the present, Zhao Cheng's ability to integrate internal factions is too poor; in other words, there are too many factions comprised of talented individuals who have joined his ranks. As a result, each faction naturally has its own agenda and is not adept at using others to compensate for their "dislikes." Yet, each one believes they can succeed independently.

If they were all under Zhao Cheng's command, everything would be arranged by Zhao Cheng; but now that they've gone out, they're all people with "dislikes" (shortcomings).

Xuan Chong, after instructing his students and subordinates, has always had only one goal: "To defeat military strategists like Zhao Cheng," and he instills in them that this task cannot be accomplished by any single officer and requires cooperation.

Actually, Zhao Cheng can't be blamed...

Originally, in the old Da Yao system, war was a simplified combination of three types of troops: "giant soldiers," "cavalry," and "infantry." Before the arrival of the Haotian Dragon Clan, the various military strategists of Da Yao were still operating in the most primitive version.

However, a monster has emerged in the Kingdom of Zhen. Since conquering the southern border and expanding his army, Xuan Chong has exhibited the characteristics of "involution," deconstructing the abilities of "geniuses" like Zhao Cheng. He then distributes these deconstructed abilities to each member of the team, while he himself controls the "rewards and punishments."

This is a killer move specifically designed to defeat geniuses! Theoretically, if coordinated well, it can completely overcome everything with "average ability".

…Xuan Chong had been preparing to defeat Zhao Cheng all along…

After Xuan Chong's trip to Yaodu, he recruited a group of students and was already preparing to hand over the various complex military aspects to them.

Then he considered that the students' hard work required reward; if the reward was distributed using the old model, that is, by enfeoffing the students to local areas, the students would later become powerful and wealthy families. His thinking began to "feudalize," which would cause the modern cooperative system he hoped to build to fall apart.

Therefore, it was necessary to expand colonies, establish centralized workshops in cities, and distribute the wealth generated by urbanization to one's students as a form of compensation.

Ultimately, in order to better distribute "urban interests," the modern political clique emerged.

Thus, after Xuan Chong set a goal to defeat the "top military strategist" and discovered that Zhao Cheng's abilities might be beyond his "talent," he unknowingly pushed the game forward.

Before the version was updated, Zhao Cheng's troops were the ceiling, and for Xuan Chong, who could only be considered "hardworking," the "ceiling" was unattainable.

However, with the current version's advancement and standing in the new era, it's suddenly become clear that the old-era troops had problems everywhere. Xuan Chong compiled Wu Zaixing's report, annotated and highlighted the important parts in red, and distributed it to the generals of various frontline units.

Xuan Chong, speaking on behalf of the General Staff, suggested, "We could consider using a more gradual and deliberate approach instead of large-scale campaigns."

In an encounter battle where both sides committed between 4,000 and 8,000 troops, the Zhen army, with its well-organized structure and good coordination among its various branches, held a significant advantage over the Hao army.

After confirming this, Xuan Chong decided to gradually wear down all the "chariots, horses, and cannons" except for Zhao Cheng, the "veteran general" piece, within this operational range.

…the world changes…

On July 8th, the battle between Yongzhou and Xingzhou had come to an end, with Su Ming completing the complete annihilation of the Hao army in both states.

Compared to the Xiazhou front, where spears and explosive lances clashed, the Xingzhou front was a clash of top-tier giant soldiers.

This was the most shocking event in the world, because the clash of the malevolent energy contained within the giant army caused the mountains and rivers of the north to resonate with each other. After the two great battles, the mountains on the Zhen Kingdom side were lush with vegetation, while on the Hou Hao side, although it was summer, the vegetation had turned somewhat withered and yellow.

Su Ming wiped out the last remaining lifeblood of the Hao Kingdom, a foreign power, in one battle. After the War Kui is sealed away, its accumulated malevolent energy can be used to suppress mountains and rivers.

People across the land were tirelessly discussing the Xingyong Campaign; but within Zhen, on the sand table beside Xuan Chong, a group of soldiers were organizing information from the southern battlefield and "archiving" news from the north.

The soldiers around Xuan Chong believed that the strategy in Yongzhou was very sound; even if Aoguang City was lost, Hao Kingdom would still not be able to invade Yongzhou. Moreover, Su Ming's military strength was three times that of Xingzhou in the north, and with the encirclement and annihilation already underway, it was impossible for him to cause any trouble.

The entire General Staff is now focused on Zhao Cheng's group.

"Report! Zhao Cheng has entered Jizhou and is gathering supplies along the Sujiang line"—this can be seen on the sand table; Zhao Cheng has made a swift escape. The scouts report that among the abandoned supplies are no armor or weapons, indicating that Zhao Cheng has maintained considerable fighting strength.

Therefore, it can be inferred that Zhao Cheng had considerable influence in Jizhou and was not a mere figurehead like the "Tongzheng Emperor" who could be controlled by the Yan family.

After listening to the report, Xuan Chong nodded and picked up his tea to wait. Two hours later, a scout from the south arrived, bringing more military intelligence.

"Many states bordering the eastern part of Xiazhou have carried out military mobilizations, but there has been no sign of military support for Zhenhao."

"Wu Zaixing sent a letter saying that all remaining military forces in Xia Prefecture should be dealt with within five days."

After Xuan Chong refilled the tea, he seemed to have drunk too much water. While urinating in the urinal outside the tent, he continued to say to the staff officer, "Send a message to Wu Juwang and tell him to prepare the materials needed for the reproduction of Xia Prefecture. We can fight for the world slowly, but we need to start military reclamation this year. That's the most urgent thing."

Due to ideological differences, it would be extremely difficult for the State of Zhen to issue a proclamation to pacify the entire country. Various factions, including sects and Confucianists, were also creating obstacles to Zhen's attempt to achieve this goal!
"Slap!" Xuan Chong slapped his thigh and said, "I never intended to issue a proclamation to pacify the world. Giving away such a large amount of rice to local tyrants for disaster relief is such a waste."

…The rear guard is causing trouble again…

As the Zhen army achieved successive victories on various battlefields, a voice arose within the Zhen kingdom, demanding that the Zhen ruler (Xuan Chong) "cease hostilities, open granaries to provide relief to the people, and bring blessings to the world."

These past few days, it seems that immortals have been appearing in Zhendi, stopping locals and claiming, "You've met a benefactor," while explaining this concept. — Shen Gongbao's tactics.

In Xing, Xia, Chen, Xiang, and other regions affected by the Battle of Zhenhao, powerful families began to "accumulate good karma," using their connections to try and send messages to Xuan Chong. They attempted to use their "support" to gain Xuan Chong's favor. "Disaster relief" was the project these officials wanted to discuss.

Of course, for Xuanchong, it's not that they won't provide relief, but rather that they will provide disaster relief with a strategy; they will provide disaster relief with a plan and principles.

Just like in Xuan Chong's previous life, one must resolutely avoid discussing environmental protection, peace, women's rights, and animal protection with certain self-proclaimed organizations. To truly resolve these issues, one needs to implement them in a planned and principled manner.

How does traditional disaster relief work? In the case of Xia Prefecture, allocating 50,000 shi of grain and fodder would suffice.

Xuan Chong argued, "This is far from enough. The population of Xia Prefecture is conservatively estimated at 400,000. Given the lean season, even if the people in various places rely on the various famine relief methods described in the classics, 400,000 people would still require a conservative estimate of 400,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain."

In reality, Xuan Chong had prepared a million shi of grain in preparation for taking over Xia Prefecture.

Following the disaster relief methods proposed by those immortals and sects, the Zhen army conquered a prefecture and distributed 50,000 shi of grain to the local people, seemingly giving away half the world to help the people. This was considered a great act of merit.

However! Xuan Chong: As a ruler, I believe that disaster relief should not only follow morality, but also consider the output and a series of subsequent results.

Xuan Chong said to Wu Lu, "How do we manage 50,000 shi of grain? The local powerful families survive on this grain, and then in the first year, they can only partially restore agricultural production. In the second and third years, after the local magnates have had a chance to catch their breath, they begin to rebuild water conservancy and increase the amount of farmland again. But we can't measure these newly reclaimed wastelands. These powerful families are all integrated after the disaster, so we can't manage them either. The distribution of local personnel and agricultural economic power is tightly controlled by these powerful families."

Eastern agricultural civilization is not the same as Roman maritime civilization.

Maritime civilizations never recover once their "basic asset" of ports is destroyed by fire; while agricultural civilizations, even if their population is reduced to one-tenth, can recover their population within three generations if they still have agricultural means of production.

So that's how the 50,000 shi of grain was saved. Zhao Cheng's approach was even more ruthless: starve a few disobedient noble families to death, and give 10,000 shi of grain to the loyalists.

After the recent major battles, the world, seeing that Zhao Cheng's military strength was no match for Zhenzhou, felt that their own era of chaos had arrived; and looking at the world, only Zhenzhou currently had abundant grain. (If it weren't for Zhenzhou's strong army, they would be forcibly plundered.)
These powerful clans were prepared to compromise with Xuan Chong, but the bottom line for compromise was limited to acknowledging Xuan Chong as the ruler of the Zhen Kingdom. However, if Xuan Chong dared to touch their core local power, they would still fight him to the death, and even prepared for a former nobleman to rebel a few years later.

But the current situation is that the powerful families of this small part of the land are prepared to talk to Xuan Chong, but Xuan Chong is not prepared to sit at the negotiating table! — Wu Xiaoque has that kind of "class struggle" resolve. In this respect, there can be no sympathy.

Are you the most powerful person in the world? You think you can put aside your conflicts, save your life, and then talk to us? These powerful families are dreaming. After controlling the definition of classics and morality for so many years, they've become far too arrogant.

The large number of prisoners gathered by Wu Zaixing have been seamlessly integrated into the reclamation teams; next, after entering the entire Xia Prefecture, all locals can also register to join the reclamation teams and receive grain after registering on the production brigade's list.

The local aristocratic families, however, are not qualified and cannot simply ask for a single bushel of grain from the treasury of the Kingdom of Zhen!
Wuju is working diligently on that side. They are recruiting local people to organize production teams, recording all able-bodied men on the list, and simultaneously conducting a large-scale survey of all cultivable land. They are planning out all the abandoned land at once; even if it cannot be fully cultivated in the first year, priority will be given to families with elderly and young members this year, and after the irrigation canals are completed in the second year, the land will continue to be cultivated and then redistributed.

In years of famine, whoever controls the distribution of grain has the right to decide on land allocation.

Land deed? You don't even have enough food to feed yourself, and you can't use food to mobilize your other relatives, so what makes you think this land is yours?

Xuan Chong: In short, in the areas occupied by the State of Zhen, there is no longer a situation where aristocratic families control the local means of production.

After the major hexagram was broken, Daoist scholars hoped that a new world, more moral than the one governed by the hexagram, would emerge from the broken hexagram and satisfy them, the "common people."

However, the Daoist scholars focused on morality but neglected the five grains and economics. In the collapse of the old system of Daoist philosophy, they stripped themselves of their moral perfection. Their internal economic problems, masked by "benevolence and filial piety," acted like a painkiller, increasingly turning Confucianism into a pseudo-science that failed to solve real problems.

In years of great disaster, Confucian scholars and powerful families hid in their manors, leaving self-cultivating farmers, small households, and distant branches to bear the burden of "insufficient distribution."

But now the boomerang has arrived: the previous war has collapsed, and the war against external threats was fought poorly; but after the chaos subsided, there are no more righteous wars in the world. You self-aggrandizing parasites of the state should face reality.

Faced with the public outcry, Xuan Chong humbly responded: "My virtue is meager, and I can only benefit the people under my rule; the famine of the world will be solved by the most talented people in the world. You moral scholars, with your greater virtue, please go first."

(End of this chapter)