054 — We Know Not Whether We Are Mad or Foolish; We Know Only to Charge Ahead
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The drill ground thundered with battle cries.
From the command platform, Jiang Qingyun had a clear view of everyone’s performance.
Five hundred auxiliary soldiers dressed in black trousers and black tunics, leather belts cinched around their waists and red silk ribbons tied around their necks; two hundred banner-supported soldiers of the Han Army; and three hundred regular troops were practicing battle formations.
On one side of the enclosing wall, limewash proclaimed:
“Unite our will! Defend the Great Qing!”
“Obedience is our sacred duty!”
“Prepare paper and brush.”
“Yes, sir.”
He took up the brush and wrote four sheets of paper, one large character on each: Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain.
Zhou Cang, standing nearby, craned his neck and asked, “My lord, what does that mean?”
“Don’t ask. Beat the drums. Assemble everyone. Prepare to divide the troops into battalions!”
…
The rawhide drums carried with tremendous force. Soldiers scattered across the drill ground hurried toward the command platform, forming ranks in complete silence.
An officer led the cry. “We pay our respects to His Excellency, the Left Assistant Censor-in-Chief!”
Every soldier dropped to one knee and shouted the same greeting in unison.
Jiang Qingyun swept his gaze over them.
“Brothers of the Five-City Military Command, you have worked hard. Tell me: as soldiers who draw pay from the state, what is the most important thing?”
“Obedience!”
The soldiers answered as one.
“Good. To better fulfill the needs of defending the capital, I have decided to break up all personnel of the Five-City Military Command and reorganize them into four battalions: Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain.”
“The Art of War says: swift as the wind, gentle as the forest, fierce as fire, immovable as a mountain.”
“The Wind Battalion will initially consist of three hundred and fifty men. It will be a light cavalry unit responsible for daily patrols of the city. The Forest Battalion will initially consist of two hundred and fifty men, responsible for apprehending thieves and gathering intelligence on bandits. The Fire Battalion will initially consist of one hundred and fifty men, responsible for firefighting and clearing the drainage channels. The Mountain Battalion will initially consist of two hundred and fifty men. It will be a heavily armored cavalry unit.”
“The Mountain Battalion may not leave camp without my written order.”
“Now, begin the division.”
Jiang Qingyun opened the roster and selected the officers and men on the spot. He made a point of assigning those with somewhat weaker physiques to the Fire Battalion, while concentrating the strongest men in the Mountain Battalion.
…
A quarter of an hour later, the division was complete.
Jiang Qingyun gazed at the four battalion commanders, and a sudden thought stirred in his mind.
“Does anyone object to the arrangements?”
After a dozen heartbeats, someone actually stepped forward.
The former commander of the North City Military Command said, “Your Excellency’s plan is excellent, but I fear it may violate the regulations of the imperial court. After this reorganization, the Five-City Military Command will have become a Four-Battalion Military Command.”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
Several men immediately echoed him.
“My lord, the battalions have different duties. Will their pay need to be adjusted as well?”
The speaker was a former constable of the South City Military Command, one of the men who had stood on Jiang Qingyun’s side in the fight against Ulte that day.
…
The northwest wind swept across the drill ground, filling their eyes with dust.
Jiang Qingyun’s smile faded. His gaze gradually hardened, and he shouted, “Guards!”
“Here!”
“Take these two men.”
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Eight guards rushed forward and pinned the two men to the ground.
“What does it say on that wall? ‘Obedience is our sacred duty.’ What have you been studying in military discipline every day? ‘Obedience is our sacred duty!’ Where is your discipline?”
“Strip them of their armor, remove their official caps, and throw them in prison.”
“And seize the men who joined in the shouting just now. Six in all. Take them too.”
Standing on the command platform, Jiang Qingyun pointed to one man after another, and the guards charged into the ranks and bound each one.
Everyone was stunned.
Why had His Excellency suddenly turned hostile?
…
Jiang Qingyun continued adding to their punishment.
“Send men to recover three months of pay from the households of all eight prisoners. If they cannot pay, imprison them as well.”
“Brothers of the Five-City Military Command, tell me loudly: what is your sacred duty?”
“Obedience!”
“I can’t hear you! Louder!”
“Obedience!”
This time, the volume rose by at least forty decibels.
The roar made Jiang Qingyun’s eardrums ring. He drew a deep breath and bellowed:
“Remember this: the South City Military Command may have only one voice, and that is mine! You have only one duty, and that is obedience! Absolute obedience!”
“Very well. Dismissed.”
“At dinner tonight, every man will receive an extra half-bowl of wine.”
…
The little episode appeared accidental, but in truth, Jiang Qingyun had arranged it deliberately.
During his twenty years in government service, he had arrived at one principle without anyone teaching him: opposition was an attack, and joining the uproar was a test.
Until the ideal institutional framework had been established, one must never engage in democratic deliberation.
Once subordinates formed opinions of their own and dared to voice them publicly, the leader’s authority had already suffered damage. A leader’s prestige collapsed through one public challenge after another.
The leader had to strike back immediately, punish a few to frighten the rest, and seize control of the group once more.
People were like that. Monkeys were no different.
…
“Opposition” and “remonstrance” were not the same thing.
To raise an objection to one’s leader publicly, before a crowd, was opposition.
To raise an objection privately, with no third person present, was remonstrance.
A perpetual peacemaker could never make a good leader.
An outstanding leader could not be a “good person” in the purest sense of the word. As the Monk Tianji had said, “A Buddha’s heart and a demon’s heart must coexist.”
Of course, a leader could not rely on authority alone. He also had to bestow favors.
In short, if Jiang Qingyun wanted to accomplish something earth-shaking in this era, he had to unify thought within his own domain and suppress discordant voices.
His political maneuvering had to surpass Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng.
His tyranny had to exceed that of Dorgon.
And yes, he also needed to take more beautiful concubines and father more sons.
…
The Jiang residence.
“Congratulations, young master! Our congratulations, young master!”
Servant girls and elderly matrons filled the courtyard, their faces bright with joy.
“What is the occasion?”
“Madam is with child.”
“Good. Give everyone in the household an extra month’s wages.”
“Thank you, master. Thank you, madam.”
The scene suddenly reminded Jiang Qingyun of a time before his transmigration, when he had accompanied a certain tycoon to a golf course. The tycoon had made a hole-in-one and was so delighted that he immediately sent someone to fetch a chest of cash and distribute red packets to everyone at the course.
There seemed to be something similar about the two occasions.
A good omen!
…
Though all lived beneath the same sky, the joys and sorrows of humanity were not shared equally.
The Blue Banner’s garrison district was shrouded in gloom.
A teahouse that was usually bustling had closed its doors to customers.
More than seventy junior and mid-ranking officers sat drinking their tea and smoking in silence. Among them was Korkun, who had only just been released. He was no longer a janggin, but a lowly armored cavalryman.
Suddenly, someone broke the silence.
“Tomorrow is the twenty-sixth of the second month.”
“The inoculation? I won’t do it. I’d rather die.”
“The imperial court truly wants us dead this time.”
“Has the Aisin Gioro family gone mad?”
…
An old man suddenly rose from among the crowd.
“Gentlemen, listen to me for a few words.”
“This is not the first time the Aisin Gioro family has gone mad. Back then, the Old Slave killed our banner lord, Šurhaci, and split half of the Plain Blue Banner away to Daišan.”
“Later, Hong Taiji killed the next banner lord, Manggultai, and divided the Plain Blue Banner again.”
“After that, Dorgon killed our next banner lord, Hooge, and carved up the Plain Blue Banner once more.”
“And now Fulin wants to repeat the same trick. This boy is even more ruthless than his ancestors.”
The atmosphere in the teahouse fell to freezing point.
The old man was no ordinary elder. At sixty-five, he had lived through the entire transformation from tribe to empire. He was a living fossil of the Plain Blue Banner.
Again, the old man cursed:
“The Aisin Gioro family actually intends to destroy the Plain Blue Banner through smallpox. Their motives are vicious beyond words. As the Han Chinese say, even if one cut down every bamboo on the mountain, there would still not be enough slips to record all their crimes.”
“What are we to do now?”
“Better to burn brightly than linger on our last breath.”
…
The temperature inside the teahouse rose rapidly.
Everyone was fired with courage.
A young company commander seized a brush and wrote furiously across the white wall:
“Whether we are mad or foolish, we know only this: we must charge forward without turning back.”
…
“Ranked fifth on the new-book bestseller list! Your encouragement has carried us this far. Join hands and slay our enemies; you must support this book to the very end. Proclaim it aloud: ‘Until the book is finished, death itself shall not turn our steps.’”
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