Section Twenty-Three

Upon receiving his appointment, Ma Jinliang immediately galloped back to Tianjin. The Third Guards Corps was swiftly mobilized, boarded ships nearby, and moved southward along the Grand Canal toward Dezhou.

In terms of organization, the Guards system was undoubtedly far more complete than other regional forces. Following the customs established over the past few years, the designation of a "Corps" within the Han army varied in size, with the distinction between "large" and "small" determined primarily by the military rank of the commanding general. For instance, the Fifth Corps, commanded by Major General of Weiying Liu Posi, was an old unit that had started out with Lin Feng. However, because its commander lacked exceptional military achievements, it had repeatedly missed opportunities for expansion. Its structure and scale had remained at around four brigades, with active combat personnel numbering only about eight thousand. Including non-combat personnel such as staff officers, physicians, and civilian clerks, the total strength was just over eleven thousand. On the other hand, a corps led by a lieutenant general—such as the Second Corps under Pacify-Liaoning General Wang Dahai—boasted a full complement of branches and a massive organization. Its combat strength comprised four musketeer brigades, one cavalry brigade, and one artillery brigade, totaling twelve to thirteen thousand men. If one further factored in the logistics, clerical staff, and field hospitals, the total easily reached fifteen to sixteen thousand. Thus, even though they shared the same rank of "Corps," combat effectiveness between such units varied significantly. This explained why Zhao Liangdong, the Pacify-North Central General, had been entirely satisfied with receiving just a single-rank promotion after his independent advance and decisive annihilation of the Western Mongol Eastern Route Army during the Han-Zun War. The difference between a lieutenant general and a major general lay not only in honor and official rank, but also in the actual strength of the troops under their command, values that were hardly comparable.

This state of affairs was practically unavoidable. Unlike other national borders, regions like Zhili,河南, and Shandong originally belonged to the same country, sharing the same language and ethnicity, with no reason whatsoever for mutual exclusion. In fact, around Guangping Prefecture and Daming Prefecture, quite a few villages sat right on the military demarcation line. The common folk would wake up in the morning to collect fertilizer and take a step into Henan; by mid-morning, they would be farming and instantly find themselves in Shandong; when they returned home for dinner, they were back under Han rule. Under such circumstances, strictly ordering the populace to observe the border was an absurdity. Moreover, the relations between many border villages and towns were extremely close—a little calculation would reveal someone to be an uncle's son or an aunt's cousin, bound by ties of blood and marriage. Given traditional Chinese social values, preventing such familial interactions among the common people was considered shameful, nor would the populace refuse to visit their relatives simply because His Highness the Prince of Han disliked Lord Zhao Shenqiao.

Presently, border disputes generally centered around two main issues. The first was armed feuds between villages over farmland irrigation, while the second involved disputes between respective local governments regarding taxation rights in certain areas. This latter issue was quite complex; case files showed that many citizens lived within Han territory while their landholdings were located in Shandong or Henan, making it a question of which government had the right to collect taxes. Nevertheless, these disputes rarely escalated into large-scale military conflicts, usually being resolved through armed clashes among the villagers themselves. Past experience indicated that Han-army-affiliated villages received some military training and possessed militia organizations, thus often holding the upper hand in fights. Because the militias and the military maintained close ties, those who suffered a setback could sometimes seek help from acquaintances within the Han army. While it did not go so far as deploying cavalry and artillery, the tacit approval of officers allowed a few soldiers in plain clothes to join the fight, or a couple of flintlock rifles to be brought out for strategic deterrence.

The common people of this era held quite lenient expectations regarding military discipline. If an army refrained from wanton killing, rape, looting, and extortion, it could basically be considered a "Yue Family Army." To be fair, the Han army was mostly合格 in these respects. As far as Lin Feng knew, Han soldiers stealing chickens and dogs locally was a common phenomenon, and rolling dice or gambling was regarded as a legitimate pastime. Other activities such as picking quarrels, bickering, and fighting with local hoodlums were also not uncommon. Officers and military police turned a blind eye to these infractions. However, murder, rape, and extortion were exceedingly rare, because committing them meant absolute death with no room for leniency.

Regarding the discipline of various units, the Second Cavalry Corps had the worst internal discipline within the Guards system. Every few months, they had to stage a disciplinary campaign and parade a few unlucky fellows before the public. Next came the Third Guards, where major offenses were avoided, but minor infractions were incessant. Around the Third Guards' encampment outside Tianjin, households originally kept chickens and dogs; however, after a year of persistent effort by the Third Corps, the locals had completely broken the bad habit of raising dogs and had grown accustomed to keeping chickens and ducks inside their own bedrooms. The only commendable point was that no idle youths wandered around the vicinity of the camp, and gang members of any background maintained a very low profile. The officers and men took public security issues very seriously; whenever they spotted someone they found displeasing, they would swarm him to assist the local government in maintaining social order.

Conversely, the two newly formed corps exhibited the best discipline, especially the Fifth Artillery Corps, whose leaders hailed from the Mazhuang Martial Academy. They were the epitome of military-civilian relations, though the only regret was that among the Guards, these two corps had the lowest combat effectiveness.

Lin Feng had not been without romantic notions regarding troop discipline, but a series of subsequent realities proved sobering. Contrary to his idealistic assumptions, units with better discipline and closer ties to the populace were not necessarily the most combat-effective; in fact, the opposite was often true. Among all armed forces in the Han military bloc, the Sixth Cavalry Corps had the worst discipline. Describing this unit as a pack of "mad dogs" was entirely appropriate. In its defense zone of Nurgan Commandery, its reputation was worse than that of evil spirits, functioning as a reliable cure to stop children from crying at night. While soldiers from other regions used bricks and wooden clubs in street brawls, this unit would charge into fights fully equipped as cavalry. If their opponents belonged to a particularly united tribe, they would even casually drag out a few field guns. Even during campaigns, they treated allied forces with the utmost ferocity. During the recent Shanxi Campaign, this unit had actually beaten up a logistics officer and plundered supplies from friendly forces.

Yet, to Lin Feng's dismay, these two ill-disciplined units possessed the highest combat effectiveness in the entire Han army. Armed with powerful bows and stiff crossbows, they were fiercely aggressive. Whether fighting the Iron Cavalry of the Eight Banners or the Keshik of the Dzungars, they always attacked without defending, engaging in brutal, head-on combat. During the past Battle of Xinzhou, the Sixth Cavalry Corps fought to the death against the Dzungar Keshik. One thousand iron horsemen charged one hundred and thirty *li* and engaged in a fierce battle lasting a day and a half. Every single head of the eleven thousand six hundred and forty-two men in the Dzungar Keshik Left Wing—from generals down to horse grooms—was severed. In the end, the Sixth Cavalry suffered four thousand six hundred dead and over two thousand severely wounded. From top commander Ma Ying down, no one retained an intact corpse, yet not a single man shrank from battle, turned into a deserter, or even issued a call for reinforcement.

Meanwhile, Zhao Guangyuan's First Cavalry Corps pursued the remnants of the Dzungar forces overnight. All twelve thousand plus officers and men of the corps remained in the saddle without loosening their cinches, departing from the Xinzhou battlefield and pursuing the enemy nearly two thousand *li* over four days and nights. Crossing the Great Wall frontier, they split the Ike Zhao League in two, cutting down anyone in their path—killing men, women, children, and livestock alike. Sixteen Mongol tribes failing to get out of the way in time were completely eradicated, regardless of age, gender, or beast. The Ordos and Alashan Oirats, along with the Western Mongol Dzungar garrison forces—nearly a hundred thousand Mongol horsemen in total—none dared to withstand their vanguard. Panic-stricken, Galdan fled all the way from Xinzhou to Ulaanbaatar with three thousand remnants, not daring to halt for a single moment. Zhao Guangyuan led his massive army all the way to the vicinity of Baotou, pitched camp and rested leisurely right under the noses of the Dzungar garrison, slept soundly, and even took time off to burn incense at Genghis Khan's mausoleum before leisurely withdrawing his forces.

Under the shadow of such formidable reputations, everyone in these two armies—from generals down to camp cooks—was accustomed to walking with their noses in the air, bringing misfortune to whoever crossed their path. Their military discipline was corrupt beyond redemption. If they still possessed any baseline of morality left, it was likely limited to this: no wanton killing, and no casual violation of women.

Compared to them, units with superior discipline often delivered disappointing combat results. For instance, Sun Sike's Fourth Corps maintained immaculate discipline while garrisoning Zhili, but produced no brilliant achievements when sent into battle. After wandering around Anhui and fighting a few skirmishes with the remnant Jiangxi rebels left behind by the fake Qing dynasty, they did push the enemy back, but could hardly claim any significant advantage. In official reports, the summary was simply: "Minor merits, substantial hardships; lofty virtue, yet thoroughly unremarkable."

It was precisely for this reason that Lin Feng no longer wished to deliberately reform military discipline. To be honest, having reached this point, he was somewhat confused: was it better to have a pampered army bound by the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention," or an army of ferocious bandits?

The current style of the Guards was the product of this contradictory mindset. Discipline was neither particularly good nor terrible. They could fight battles, but if asked to risk their lives to the bitter end like the troops of Ma Ying or Zhao Guangyuan, the men lacked full confidence. Of course, this mental state applied to external frontier ethnic groups; during the Central Plains civil war, Lin Feng remained fully confident in the Guards' combat capability.

For this very reason, when Ma Jinliang led sixteen thousand troops to attack an enemy force exceeding thirty thousand, entrenched behind fortifications and enjoying convenient supply lines, no one within the military leadership felt anything was amiss.

In fact, regarding the overall strategic posture, the forces participating in the Dezhou Campaign included the two corps under Zhao Kuiying and Wang Zhongxong. Although these two units did not take part in the direct assault, they guarded the rear of the besieging army, subtly acting as a strategic reserve that deterred the enemy garrison in Dezhou from making rash moves.

According to protocol, Ma Jinliang stopped by Bucheng to pay a courtesy call on Zhao Kuiying and Wang Zhongxong along the way. Although he still had to observe junior protocol and bow to Zhao Kuiying, his spine was considerably stiffer this time. After all, the Prince of Han had personally appointed him commander for the Dezhou Campaign, making Ma Jinliang half an "imperial-commissioned general." Whatever grievances Zhao Kuiying might harbor, he had no way to vent them.

Though somewhat stifled, Zhao Kuiying maintained appearances and personally led a group of officers to greet him at the riverbank. Prior to this, Lin Feng had issued him detailed orders that subtly pierced through his petty calculations. As a senior commander, Zhao Kuiying still possessed enough broad perspective to avoid playing tricks in front of allied battle lines, knowing that tens of thousands of eyes were watching and no schemes could succeed. Furthermore, the capital was only a few hundred *li* to the rear, and should any problem arise, a single day and night would suffice for an imperial edict to arrive, dispatching him to prison for decapitation.

"Your subordinate, Ma Jinliang, Courageous and Resolute Colonel of the Third Guards Corps, pays his respects to Lord Zhao!" Driven by a specific thought, Ma Jinliang stubbornly refused to address Zhao Kuiying as "General."

"Ah! Lord Ma, please rise, please rise!" Zhao Kuiying beamed, cupping his hands toward Ma Jinliang. "For Your Honor to reach the imperial ears and be handpicked as commander is truly a matter for great joy and celebration!"

"Hehe... You flatter me, you flatter me! It is all thanks to your patronage and care, My Lord!" Ma Jinliang smiled. "Your subordinate shall engrave it in his heart and never forget it!"

With the subtext laid so bare, Zhao Kuiying struggled to keep a straight face. Accustomed to the straightforward ways of military men, he was unaccustomed to such passive-aggressive posturing, and his expression darkened instantly.

Standing on the bank without any intention of entering the city, Ma Jinliang cupped his hands toward Zhao Kuiying and Wang Zhongxong. "Today, acting on the orders of the Prince of Han, your subordinate goes forth to capture Dezhou. Fearing my strength may fall short and betray His Highness's trust, I must request that you two lords render assistance in the future..." He smiled, bowed toward the direction of Beijing, and said with full satisfaction, "...This is, after all, for the service of the imperial court!"

Lin Feng's sudden appointment of Ma Jinliang had indeed caught Zhao Kuiying by surprise. He had originally assumed the assignment would go to either Rick or himself, believing it could never fall to anyone else. Thus, when the news arrived, he found it almost unacceptable. However, while he was not well-versed in bureaucratic maneuvering, he kept a few private counselors and literary retainers by his side. Once enlightened, he grasped the Han Prince's intent: two corps commanders originating from the Liaoning Army already held positions of regional dominance, making such a concentration of power highly undesirable. It was only natural for the Prince of Han to elevate Ma Jinliang to counterbalance them. Understanding this logic, his resentment eased considerably. Yet seeing Ma Jinliang put on such airs at this moment still stoked his inner anger.

Unable to contain himself, he sneered, "Naturally. Rest assured, Lord Ma, I have always been upright and open; stabbing people in the back is something I would never do."

Wang Zhongxong's expression was equally unsightly. Stiff-faced, he chimed in, "Lord Ma, this brother has heard that Wang Chengye is also a renowned commander. He has fortified Dezhou for years, making the city walls strong and its troops and provisions abundant. You had best look to yourself, my dear brother!"

Ma Jinliang offered an arrogant smile, gave a perfunctory bow to Zhao Kuiying and Wang Zhongxong, turned back to order his men to hoist the sails, and chuckled over his shoulder, "The two lords can set your minds completely at ease and simply keep your eyes open for the report of victory!"