Chapter 898 – Political Work

The cross-country route had been mapped out long ago and was run frequently—everyone knew it by heart. Zhu Mingxia wore athletic shoes and carried only a pistol. He hadn't even brought his officer's saber, making him far more comfortable than the soldiers trudging along in straw sandals and full combat gear. By the time he reached the finish line, he had considerably more stamina than his men. After a brief rest, he'd nearly recovered. Stopwatch in hand, he stood timing the arrival of each company's last soldier.

The battalion completed the five-kilometer run within the twenty-six minutes prescribed by the training manual. Because this was the standard route, Ma'ao Base had established a rest station at the finish line, equipped with water and latrines. A large patch of ground had been leveled for unit assemblies during after-action reviews.

Line Infantry 3rd Company came in last. After finishing the five kilometers within regulation time, they were assigned an additional penalty kilometer. Once all companies had returned, the soldiers were exhausted—but they stood ramrod straight in formation, awaiting instructions. Every man held his head high, none showing the slightest sign of slovenliness despite their fatigue. This pleased Zhu Mingxia greatly. These "eggs" hadn't possessed such fighting spirit before. Soldiers grew more spirited with tempering; without combat, constant training was necessary to keep them in a heightened state of readiness.

He steadied his breathing, cleared his throat, and began his address.

"Comrades, your growth amazes me. It makes me proud! In the past, you were ordinary people—oppressed, exploited. Some were even slaves without personal freedom. You were crushed by layer upon layer of officials, plundered by savage bandits. You could neither protect yourselves nor your families. Even in the best years, you lived half-starved. Every day was spent trembling in fear.

"Today, you have become the glorious warriors of the Elders' Senate! You fight to liberate your fellow countrymen! You fight to save all under Heaven! Authorized by the Elders' Senate, led by the Executive Committee, you will rescue the oppressed from that rotten dynasty and those murderous bandits! You will ensure that brothers and sisters across the land can eat white rice, that they can stand tall with dignity!

"For this great goal, I train you rigorously—and I will train you more rigorously still. Only thus can you defeat your enemies in the fierce battles ahead. If you fail, you will lose everything. Your elders will be slaughtered, your children enslaved, your women made into playthings. Therefore, you must never be defeated.

"Some say being a soldier is just a way to fill your bellies, that there's no need to give everything you've got. No! I tell you, being a soldier is not just a job—it is an honor, a responsibility. Your responsibility is to defend the Elders' Senate, to save the suffering masses. Because you have taken up this glorious profession, your families are immensely proud; your ancestors smile upon you from beyond! Life is precious, but human dignity is more precious still. Can you endure having those man-eating officials return? Can you accept watching pirates and bandits rape your families before your eyes? Can you?!"

"You—second row, first platoon, first squad, third man—tell me: 'can you?'" Zhu Mingxia pointed at a soldier.

"Never!" the soldier bellowed with all his might.

"Then tell me, can you accept it?"

"Never! Never!" No one knew who shouted first, but soon the entire battalion was roaring the word. Hundreds of voices produced a thunderous sound. Zhu Mingxia raised his hand to signal for quiet.

"I know you will never accept it. But there are those—officials, bandits, people who once lorded over you, who fattened the rats in their houses with your blood and sweat—who think of nothing every day but coming back to rob us again. When open robbery failed, they came in secret. The case of Lai Da was reported to the entire army; the massacre of the Rural Work Team was perpetrated by these very people in collusion with mountain bandits. Every hour of every day, they dream of riding on our backs again. They have never given up. Now they've begun spreading rumors, trying to divide us.

"Comrades, think back to Bopu—who defended the Holy Ships at the most critical moment? At the walls of Chengmai, who carried the wounded back to Lingao? The Army and the Navy are the left and right arms of the Elders' Senate, bound together in honor and disgrace. Any rumor of internal military conflict is maliciously spread by our enemies. They fear us, so they seek to divide us! We must not be deceived by rumors. We must stand closely united. In the near future, we will answer them with cannons and bullets..."

This was the real purpose behind Zhu Mingxia's decision to drag the entire battalion out for a cross-country run. A person is especially susceptible to external ideas when utterly exhausted. If the soldiers weren't already fatigued, he would create fatigue. Army-Navy friction could be debated among the transmigrators, but it absolutely could not be allowed to spread into the ranks.

Only weeks earlier, Zhu Quanxing—commander of the 6th Battalion, just returned for reconsolidation—had warned him: conflicts among the transmigrators might already be spreading to the troops. The New Doctrine advocates in particular, both in the Army and Navy, seemed to be subtly fanning the flames.

Zhu Quanxing wasn't originally military; he'd joined the Army officers purely out of fervent enthusiasm and was himself a member of the New Doctrine faction. But he was worried about this petty quarrel between the services—which was why he'd specifically tipped off Zhu Mingxia. As the saying went, you couldn't write "Zhu" in two different strokes.

These disturbances had to be stamped out in the bud. The Senate's military must never become a laughingstock like the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Zhu Mingxia felt that while he couldn't control other units, he had to make sure his own battalion was steered in the right direction.

The Army was growing ever larger, but Zhu Mingxia felt ideological education remained insufficient. Over the past year—what with war preparations, counter-encirclement, and counterinsurgency—the military had been run ragged. There hadn't been much time for political work among the troops. Wei Aiwen used to visit the companies regularly, but over the past six months, he'd barely had any companies to visit. There were hardly any units at Ma'ao anyway. He spent his days at General Staff drafting documents and attending meetings, growing somewhat distant from grassroots work. When the plate grew larger, it was easy to grow complacent.

Zhu Mingxia's mind was full of concerns, but his face betrayed nothing. After the soldiers' triple shout of "For the Senate and the People!" he led them in singing "Fuboian Soldiers Listen Best to the Senate." The battalion formed up and marched back to the Ma'ao garrison.

Back at base came the usual formation and after-action review, then "battalion dismissed." Each company was led by its commander to the showers. Ma'ao had excellent living conditions: each battalion had large shower rooms and boiler houses, with hot water available year-round. Maintaining hygiene was the most basic condition for ensuring military combat effectiveness—the Senate never skimped on this.

Zhu Mingxia stripped off his uniform and was about to wash up in his quarters' attached bathroom before visiting the companies to check on the soldiers' condition. Just then, an orderly from Ma'ao Command arrived: Fu Sansi wanted him at headquarters immediately.

"I'll be right there." Zhu Mingxia quickly wiped his face, changed into the clean uniform shirt his orderly had brought, and headed to the Command Office.

Fu Sansi was the concurrent commander of Ma'ao Fortress. The weather was turning hot, and he'd spent all day drilling soldiers on the parade ground. He wore only a rough undyed cotton army undershirt. Seeing Zhu Mingxia enter, he handed him a set of orders.

Zhu Mingxia took a look. The orders instructed Ma'ao Fortress to organize a "Northbound Detachment," built around his 4th Infantry Battalion.

"Finally happening!" Zhu Mingxia grew excited—though this was expected.

"Right, you'll be the detachment commander," said Fu Sansi.

The Army's Northbound Detachment would consist of the 4th Infantry Battalion plus a reinforced Special Reconnaissance squadron, an artillery company, an engineer company, and various logistics support units. Total strength: fifteen hundred men. Zhu Mingxia would serve as detachment commander, with a chief of staff and logistics director to be assigned, forming a complete independent combat organization.

"Everything else is manageable," said Fu Sansi. "The 4th Battalion has been at combat readiness throughout. You've drilled these lads hard—their military and political quality is excellent. The artillery, engineers, and logistics units are all ready. The only problem is horses."

An artillery company's theoretical establishment required 110 horses. If the logistics and engineer units also needed draft horses, that meant another hundred. The military's current horse inventory fell far short of requirements.

If they resorted to the old "men for beasts" approach—using human labor to pull and push carts—the detachment would swell far beyond 1,500 men. At least a thousand-man labor corps would need to be attached. And given the chaotic situation in Dengzhou, conscripting local labor on the spot would be unreliable.

The Dutch had promised to ship horses from Japan, but in a timeline where maritime voyages were measured in months, counting on the Dutch for timely delivery was foolish.

Fu Sansi scratched his head. "What if I propose to the General Staff that we take Jeju Island first and seize the Joseon government's official horses to equip the unit?"

"That won't work. Even for cart horses, they'd need several days of conditioning first—let alone horses meant to pull artillery." Zhu Mingxia's conversations with the Line Infantry Faction had taught him much about period military organization and operations.

Fu Sansi nodded. "Looks like we'll have to buy those donkey-sized Yunnan horses."

That was the most likely way to obtain sufficient horses in the short term. The former Director Hong—now Minister Hong—had long been partial to Yunnan horses, so every transmigrator officer in the Fuboian military knew about them.

Zhu Mingxia offered no opinion. He had no concept of whether Yunnan horses were suitable, and his principle was not to comment on things he didn't understand.

"Let's set that aside for now," said Fu Sansi, shaking his head. "First, take a look at the sample new kit that Sopil sent."

On the conference table lay the samples Sopil had sent for the Northbound Detachment's new uniforms and logistical equipment. Fu Sansi wanted soldiers to try them first and report back on any needed improvements.