Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 27: Leaving the pass, returning to the pass.

"What is spirit, and what is evil spirit?"

Wu Fei opened a bamboo scroll. Compared to his peers in this world, and even his fellow military strategists, Wu Fei's hobby was reading. Oh, Xuan Chong recalled that before his transmigration, he also loved reading novels. Reading is truly beneficial.

Returning to the topic, the bamboo scroll reads: "To reduce the surplus and supplement the deficiency is auspicious; to reduce the deficiency and supplement the surplus is inauspicious."

This statement is quite perplexing at first glance. One must consult classical texts of Taoism, as well as those of Confucianism, Legalism, and Military Strategists, to understand it clearly. This is the downside of Chinese characters; they easily convey profound meanings, meaning a large portion of an article consists of insider jargon. Therefore, one must read many books, and read them repeatedly, gaining different understandings each time as one's knowledge expands.

Cultivating immortality involves absorbing spiritual energy, diminishing the excess to replenish the deficiency. Heaven and earth possess all five elements, but cultivators, due to their spiritual roots, lack all five elements. Therefore, they diminish the excess of mountains, rivers, and other natural elements to replenish their own deficiencies.

Cultivators all possess spiritual roots, but Wu Fei is unable to cultivate immortality, supposedly due to insufficient aptitude. So what? "To diminish the deficient and replenish the excessive is to create evil."

Wu Fei was carefully savoring the contents of the book, because the evil energy within him was now gathering intensely.

After Wu Fei finished reading the bamboo scroll, he suddenly gathered his baleful energy, turning the area within ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) grayish-white. The chirping of insects in half of the city gates ceased, and a crying child at the end of the street immediately stopped crying.

…Wu Fei: I just want to maintain the order around me…

In the latter half of the 26th year of the Tianli calendar, Wu Fei once again led 1,200 men to expand his sphere of influence to the south. After the campaign began, in addition to capturing slaves, another important task was to forcibly sell off the goods that had accumulated in the checkpoints.

It's worth mentioning that Wu Fei's slave captures now aren't indiscriminate; he's targeting tribes that dare to block his designated southward route. As for those poor, destitute tribes in the remote mountain valleys, Wu Fei thinks: Why would I fight them?
Moreover, when Wu Fei captured slaves, he also had a strategy of taking them in as dogs; as long as they were willing to obey and pledge allegiance, they could be released.

After the trade routes between Hezhou and Zhuzhou were opened up, jade and timber from Yongji Pass could fetch good prices. However, when merchants from other places bought large quantities of salt and cloth to transport over and sell to the barbarians at huge profits, they couldn't sell them. This is why, after Wu Fei led his 800-man team out of the pass lightly but "got nothing" in the first half of the year, some people inside the pass started gossiping behind Wu Xiaoque's back.

However, this time when Wu Fei went out of the pass with a knife to clear the relevant passages in his designated territory, he also took the opportunity to forcibly sell this batch of goods in the warehouse inside the pass.

It's fair to say that if you actually went to rob the tribes with knives, you probably wouldn't be able to take much, because nobody knows where the locals buried their valuables. But if you traded knives, you could get all the jade, pine resin, fur, and other valuables.

From October until the end of the year, merchants inside Yongji Pass, carrying "gold brick tokens," sold off all the goods they had stockpiled for months along the army's marching route. Simultaneously, taking advantage of this window of opportunity, they continuously hauled timber, jade, and coarse gold dust from southern Xinjiang, and even drove pigs and sheep along the way. For this, they paid out of their own pockets and followed orders to set up temporary post stations at key locations, providing clean water and fodder along the route.

From a military perspective, the defenses of these merchant-run post stations were extremely lax, far inferior to the defenses of the granary camp that Wu Fei guarded when Wu Hanluan penetrated deep into Chilian Mountain.

However, there's no need for a comparison. When Wu Hanluan went deep into the snake people's hatching pool to burn and kill them, the snake people would definitely fight to the death. Wu Fei is currently just dealing with disobedient tribes along the way. These tribes fled far away after discovering this situation. How could they possibly fight a guerrilla war with Wu's army! As for the other unrelated villages, they also don't want to fight when Da Yao comes to their door to sell his products.

Furthermore, Xuanchong imposed strict distance restrictions on the troops leaving the pass, stipulating that all troops leaving the pass must not travel more than two hundred li south of Yongji Pass.

Within this range, Wu Fei believed that if the troops leaving the pass encountered a raiding force from the southern border, and such a force was as strong as the snake-men who attacked the granary that he had encountered years ago, his entire army would have to immediately cover each other and retreat back into the pass to defend.

…two months…

Trade activities outside the border proceeded normally, but as the return date approached, the various military units became increasingly lax, attempting to make one last profit. They then collaborated with major local tribes, intervening in inter-tribal conflicts—mainly to find excuses to arrest people.

When Wu Fei discovered that his soldiers were so excited about capturing slaves that even the price of wooden cages in Yongji Pass had gone up, he thought it was time to get those lads to settle down.

However, back in the camp, the captains who had just crossed the pass seemed to still be in high spirits, continuing their rest even during their shifts. The merchants inside the pass were hosting banquets for them, and the captains, in turn, made various promises and guarantees.

Inside the tent, after the map was opened, Wu Fei had just asked the group about their next plan when someone immediately took the lead and said, "We must continue fighting south! Fight our way to where the old general (Wu Hanluan) fought back then."

Then, many people stood up to echo, "Yes, yes," "The young general went on the expedition before, so he knows the ropes well now," and "We are willing to die for him."
However, as everyone talked, the scene gradually quieted down. Wu Fei just leaned against them and looked at them with a faint gaze, but the murderous aura made these people unable to say anything.

Wu Fei stepped down from the general's chair, picked up his sword, and pointed it at the silk map. Then he pointed south, and there, on the marker for the river called Ling River, a large fish appeared to leap out. Wu Fei paused, then realized that this was a marker on the map, and that the silk map here was embroidered by his third aunt.

Readers encountering this type of divination system on silk scrolls for the first time may become completely absorbed if they cannot focus their attention. At best, they may become dazed and drooling; at worst, they may even faint. The silk scrolls contain more than just lines depicting mountains and rivers; upon close examination, the lines convey a wealth of other information, including details of certain areas.

Wu Fei first saw the silk scroll at Wu Hanluan's camp, and he became engrossed in it immediately.

Wu Fei stared at the meandering river. The large fish that occasionally leaped out, and the strange beasts that lurked on the lines of the surrounding mountains, all shrank back under the suppression of Wu Fei's murderous aura.

After rubbing his temples, Wu Fei felt someone was following too closely, so he looked up at his aunt and said, "Move over a bit, I can see the map clearly."

Subsequently, Wu Fei issued strict orders to all the soldiers who "agreed" to go south: "This patrol plan is limited to two hundred li south of Yongji Pass. As for going further south, we will not consider it this time when we leave the pass, but will discuss it again when we return to the pass! And everyone should prepare their luggage and be on guard, we are preparing to return to the pass!"

The generals inside the tent bowed in submission, but exchanged glances. Wu Fei, however, issued a decree: "From this day forward, anyone who leaves the camp without permission will be executed; anyone who speaks with merchants without authorization will be executed; anyone who indiscriminately kills prisoners will be punished with fifty strokes of the cane."

Wu Fei rattled off ten military orders in one breath. The bamboo slips in his hand transformed into flying birds, which darted out and struck the drums outside the tent. With each drumbeat, the faces of all the soldiers turned pale. The murderous aura directly shook their minds, and their breath and heartbeats felt as if they were being gripped by Wu Fei.

…Under intense pressure, the military camp once again began to operate in a tense atmosphere, with Zhao Tu patrolling the various camps with his sword in hand…

As the designer of the "blood reward and blood labor" system, Wu Fei is always aware that the core purpose of his system is to ensure the army's morale remains high, rather than to fight for profit by being blinded by money.

If a tendency to "fight only for profit" is established, and if one day certain hard battles lack benefits, how can a commander boost morale? To paraphrase some crude generals' methods of managing their subordinates: you can't let the soldiers eat too much, because if they eat too much, they can't fight.

Wu Fei still tried his best to ensure that his soldiers were well-fed, at least more so than the vast majority of people under his rule.

Wu Fei is by no means a follower of Confucian "benevolent governance". Since the slave rebellion a few years ago, Wu Fei has stopped practicing "empathy" and instead adheres to the cold principle of "matching contribution with rank".

For example, there are currently a large number of people of low social status within his controlled territory. This low social status is not limited to slaves; many fishermen and hunters from the mountains are also of low social status. These people are also mistreated when they enter the city, and Wu Fei will not intervene or intervene to right this wrong. Although Xuan Chong comes from a modern society where everyone is equal, the feudal era was not the industrial era. Under the current level of productivity, the economic activities of hunters, merchants, and fishermen are highly free. His group cannot collect taxes from them, and they will not voluntarily pay taxes.

Because farmers live in communal settlements, they are easily managed by the local bureaucracy and therefore bear the responsibility of military service and taxation. It would be unfair to forcibly treat farmers and these non-resident individuals as equals.

Of course, Wu Fei was also determined not to implement the caste system. Merchants would be given titles as long as they paid during wartime, and fishermen and hunters would be given titles as long as they were willing to participate in military operations!
This was the Qin legal system, created entirely to meet the practical needs of having people serve in the army, farm, pay taxes, and maintain the state's violent machinery.

…A brief interlude…

Inside Yongji Pass, a horned man named Wu Haha watched from outside the cage. These past few days, he had felt a sense of despair. He vaguely remembered the joy of robbing a large merchant caravan a year ago, but less than a year later, he and his entire gang had been captured. Some of his brothers were pulling carts, others were doing hard labor under the whip, carrying bricks to the city walls, while he, if he hadn't promptly offered up enough treasure, would have been embedded in the wall during the ramming process.

"Come out here!" With the fall of the whip, Wu Haha was driven out.

He sensed something was wrong, feeling he might be executed, so he quickly knelt down and forced a smile.

However, it was all in vain. He was taken to a place, but not an execution ground. With him were other slaves from various races. Yes, he recognized them; they were all leaders of the same gang who robbed along the trade routes. For example, the clawed man on the left was called "Steel Fang," who had once fought with him for territory.

"What's going on?" Fog Haha asked in a low voice. "Who knows? Maybe they want us to sacrifice ourselves." Steel Teeth didn't act arrogantly as before, but instead muttered in a low voice.

Just then, a gong sounded, and a masked young man appeared on the high platform ahead.

Although he was very young, Wu Haha sensed danger, and he and all the people from Southern Xinjiang present lowered their heads.

The young man then said, "You've all been very well-behaved lately, not bad, not bad. I've decided to give you a chance."

Just when Wu Haha thought this was going to be a fight among himself and his group to determine the winner, the young man said, "I'll give you a chance to be dogs. Each of you will have a deposit of six thousand guan, and I'll give you a certain amount of salt and cloth to sell in southern Xinjiang. If you succeed, you can get goods from me every year. If the deposit isn't enough, you can exchange it for intelligence. Whoever comes up with the intelligence first gets to keep it."

Wu Haha and the others were stunned for a moment. Some of them looked anxious, while others looked cunning. They clearly wanted to get away with the goods and run away.

Wu Haha was the first to raise his hand to cooperate. He didn't want to pay, complaining that he had become penniless. However, he revealed some information. But after hearing that the information needed time to be verified and that there was a rule that he would have to return to the cage during the verification period, he gritted his teeth and decided to reveal his treasure location first and get away immediately.

Five days later, Wu Haha, still in handcuffs, was escorted by the soldiers of Da Yao to the location of the treasure he had indicated. He was only released after the treasure was unearthed.

Fifteen leaders escaped with him. Of course, the Da Yao people gave them their own slaves in order to transport the goods.

Looking at the majestic Yongji Pass, Wu Haha's eyes were already lowered and submissive. He felt a fear of not daring to be an enemy. But after a while, a surge of greed and resentment welled up in his heart. At this moment, Wu Haha's eyes were influenced by the blue color.

……

At Yongji Pass, Wu Fei watched the foreign tribes he had released leave, while his third aunt said, "Do you really believe their promises won't change?" Wu Fei stared into his third aunt's blue eyes, making sure her gaze was on him: "Of course not. Barbarians fear power but don't appreciate virtue. They'll definitely betray us."

Third Aunt was slightly taken aback, while Xuan Chong was flipping through the historical data given to him by the system: The course of Heaven is constant, it does not exist for Yao, nor does it perish for Jie!
Xuan Chong was just waiting for these people to make all sorts of underhanded moves, but he would tell them which choices would be advantageous and which would be disadvantageous. He would only act according to the rules that were most beneficial to him, and then implement those rules. Whether they believed it or not was up to them. In the parlance of his hometown before he transmigrated, it was called "the sage is ruthless, treating the people like straw dogs."

The difficulty in clearing customs lies in deciding when to return...

In November of the 26th year of the Tianli era, three months after leaving the pass, the military operation to clear the trade routes ended, and all the troops at Yongji Pass began to retreat into the pass.

Wherever the army had previously arrived, the local barbarians had all welcomed them with utmost sincerity, describing them as "simple and kind."

However, after the army left, those caravans that refused to listen to advice and retreat found that their business had suddenly become difficult. All the local tribes were eyeing the goods but didn't want to pay, and after receiving the goods, they completely reneged on their debts. This caused the unprofitable merchants to return home cursing and complaining to the general's mansion, requesting that Wu Fei continue to come out of the pass to teach these barbarians a lesson.

But Wu Fei's response was, "Just wait and see."

Everything came and went in a hurry. After the army withdrew, all the supply points along the trade routes were sealed off.

The trading post was reduced to a stone foundation; the buildings were all dismantled, and all the timber was dragged to a secluded spot about half a mile away, easily identifiable by a marker, and piled up. The wells dug at the trading post were also blocked with heavy stones, some with holes for chains to pass through, so that when the army arrived the following year, the timber could be pulled up using pulleys and animal power. But this was something the local, primitive tribe of a few dozen people could not accomplish.

Wu Fei: Everyone still needs to celebrate the New Year. After the New Year, spring plowing will begin inside the pass, and the rainy season will also return. Outside the pass, with abundant rainfall, the forests will be teeming with fruits, mushrooms, and various fish and frogs. The tribes of the southern border of Da Yao will definitely unite and rush north.

There are still some heroes in the southern borderlands who harbor rebellious intentions in the face of the Great Yao's expansion of influence to the south.

However, what these heroes saw next was Wu Xiaoque's reply: "I understand your disloyalty, let's retreat now."

Why stay and defend? Without the support of a stable agricultural system to ensure a stable livelihood and mindset, all education and governance are like a skilled cook trying to cook without rice!

Therefore, the best approach is to leave the pass when the season is favorable and return when the season is unfavorable.

The system of governing the world through internal affairs, as exemplified by the Daoist school, cannot comprehend such "military tactics." This is because it is too nomadic! According to Confucianism, Wu Fei's behavior stems from the fact that Daoist people frequently interact with barbarians on the frontier, causing their entire thought and action to become barbarianized.

However, after reviewing the information provided by the Xuanchong Learning System, it was concluded that this was not a matter of "barbarization," but rather a unique development path chosen due to the local economic conditions.

Xuan Chong: "Let's see how my answer goes."

System: "You're ready to take the civil service exam."

(End of this chapter)