Chapter 1701 - The Oath

It was a fine, clear day. Military flags snapped and fluttered in the crisp winter wind that swept across Ma'ao Fortress.

Tian Liang had risen before dawn, as was his custom, running through his routine again and again. He followed every regulation to the letter, terrified of missing a single item.

A week had passed since the order came: "Pack your gear and stand ready for departure." Every company, every battalion had completed its preparations. Officers from brigade down to company level, along with staff from the General Staff and Joint Logistics, had conducted endless inspections—every soldier, every piece of equipment examined and reexamined, each man anxious that something might slip through.

Materiel had accumulated in mountainous heaps. Not only supplementary supplies for the expedition, but weapons too had been updated based on ordnance inspections. Every soldier's personal equipment—heavy baggage, light baggage—had been checked repeatedly to prevent omissions while ensuring nothing exceeded weight limits. The "three categories, four specifications" regulations governing what soldiers carried for wartime, peacetime, and training were enforced with unprecedented rigor. General Staff officers had arrived with scales, weighing each man's load individually—not a jin over the limit.

Tian Liang was run ragged. His company was newly formed. Though experienced soldiers had been distributed proportionally when the unit was organized, the ratio of new recruits remained too high. Worse, these conscripts were the first batch under the mandatory service system, and their morale was complicated.

Life in Hainan had grown steadily better over the past few years. With prosperity came a marked decline in enthusiasm for military service. No matter how generous the treatment or elevated the status, once fighting started, there was danger to life—and the good days had only just begun. The new recruits arrived at barracks with wildly fluctuating moods. As an officer, Tian Liang not only had to conduct ideological work but also ensure there were no deserters. Each squad had designated "assistance targets," with veterans assigned to "man-to-man" supervision. The Yuan Council's civil administration could now guarantee that any deserter would be recaptured so long as he didn't flee to the mainland or deep into the mountains—but a single desertion could devastate morale. Those who had been wavering might see an example and make up their minds to flee as well.

"Catching a deserter takes time," Transmigrator Wei Aiwen from the General Staff Political Department had explained during officer training. "Before he's caught, your company's morale will waver because of that one man. Those who had been undecided, seeing someone set an example, might decide to desert too."

Preventing desertion and boosting morale had become Tian Liang's primary task. For someone slow-tongued and inarticulate, this was a difficult assignment. Fortunately, the expansion had brought a batch of "student officers"—the army's first class to complete the full three-year officer training program. These men had finished two years of lower-primary education at Fangcaodi before transferring to the Army Training Class for three more years. Their education and military aptitude far exceeded that of existing officers; what they lacked was practical experience in leading troops and combat. Tian Liang's company had received one such young officer, and he gratefully delegated these matters to him.

With no training scheduled, most of the time was spent in meetings—mobilization meetings, reminiscence meetings, at every level, in constant rotation. The newly arrived student officers were articulate, full of new terminology, and skilled at motivation. The Propaganda Department's materials were filled with descriptions of famine, plague, rapacious taxes, refugees selling their children, cannibalism, Eastern Barbarian incursions, roving bandit hordes, and gentry tyranny. None of it required embellishment. Anyone who had fled from the mainland had either experienced or heard of such things firsthand.

Beyond propaganda materials, organizing soldiers to share "bitter memories" and bringing in special "speaking teams" proved equally important. Testimonies from real people were more vivid and moving than dry written materials.

Tian Liang recalled the figures his company clerk had summarized from yesterday's "reminiscence meeting": ninety-five had experienced fleeing famine and begging; one hundred had gone hungry; seventy had lost one or both parents; ninety-one had lost siblings; fourteen had been sold into bondage; thirty-one had sold wives, children, or siblings; nine had been sodomized... and finally, a cold, terrible number: ten had eaten human flesh.

His company had only one hundred men total.

The peaceful times in Hainan had buried the terrifying memories of their past. Now the political mobilization meetings summoned those horrible memories from the depths, transforming them into immense rage and igniting fierce fighting spirit.

Tian Liang walked past the company bulletin board. Besides the ever-present copy of the Lingao Times, determination statements from every man in the company now covered the wall—handwriting of every style, not a few in red ink, startlingly vivid. He was about to read some of them when weeping suddenly rose from the soldiers' recreation room. Two men emerged supporting a third, who had apparently fainted. Tian Liang was accustomed to such scenes by now. Most soldiers here had escaped from the brink of death. Whose family didn't carry a bellyful of misery? Usually it remained buried, but now that it had been stirred up, the emotional upheaval often proved more than their nerves could bear.

Thinking of his own past, Tian Liang's eyes grew hot. Fearing someone might see, he quickly turned away, rubbed his eyes, composed himself, then continued toward the cookhouse.

The company kitchen was busy. The cooking squad and soldiers on kitchen duty hurried about, preparing lunch. Since entering combat-ready status, each company had handed over its pigs and sheep to the Tiandihui cooperative in exchange for fresh meat. Daily rations from Joint Logistics had also improved. Now there was chicken, duck, fish, and meat not just every day, but at every meal.

Looking at the steaming dishes piled on great platters, Tian Liang remembered a soldier remarking these past days that they were eating "last meals for the condemned." An indescribable emotion surged through him.

Suddenly, a rapid drumbeat sounded across the entire camp. Tian Liang started—the emergency assembly signal. He immediately seized the whistle around his neck and blew it hard, shouting at the messenger running toward him: "Quick! Assemble the whole company!"

Throughout the camp, emergency drums were sounding in unison. Officers and soldiers who had been preparing for deployment for months felt their hearts jolt. Almost as one, a single thought flashed through their minds: It's here!

The four infantry battalions training at Ma'ao Fortress, along with army and brigade direct support units, rapidly assembled on the main parade ground.

"At ease!" The duty officer gave the command, then shouted: "Commander of the Southern China Army, please speak!"

"Comrades!" Xi Yazhou stood on the wooden reviewing stand, speaking into a freshly installed loudspeaker. "I will now read you the orders." He unfolded the document in his hands. After a brief pause: "Order of the Chairman of the Yuan Council!" The moment these seven words left his mouth, the entire assembly snapped to attention with a collective whoosh. Every eye fixed on his tightly closed lips, awaiting what followed.

"The Southern China Army and its subordinate units: Infantry Battalion One, Infantry Battalion Eight..." Xi Yazhou recited a long string of unit designations in a single breath. "Our armed forces under the leadership of the Yuan Council—the Australian Expeditionary Court of the Great Song—have achieved great victories in the revolutionary war against the puppet Ming reactionary government. The enemy's aggression against us has met with ignominious defeat, and the lair of the warmongers has been severely punished. All of Hainan has been liberated. This is the result of the united effort and heroic struggle of all our officers and men. I extend to you my warmest congratulations and thanks.

"But our combat mission is not yet complete. The puppet Ming still oppresses the vast people across the Chinese lands. The corrupt and incompetent puppet Ming regime not only fails to protect the people but intensifies its cruelty against them. The land of Cathay is engulfed in fire and flood.

"I hereby order! All personnel of the Fubo Army are to resolutely execute every command of the Yuan Council, cross the sea on the Northern Expedition, sweep away the puppet Ming's reactionary forces, and liberate the homeland. At the same time, they shall exterminate bandits, Eastern Barbarians, and roving rebels, and suppress all resistance and sabotage by reactionaries.

"Chairman of the Yuan Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Wang Luobin."

"Long live!" The moment Xi Yazhou's voice fell, several thousand soldiers shouted in unison.

Three cheers of "Long live!" rolled across the formation. Everyone knew: the Chiefs were about to contend for the Central Plains and seize all under heaven!

After reading the Northern Expedition Order, Xi Yazhou swept his gaze over the blue-gray formations below and called out:

"Bring out the colors!" The political commissar shouted. A standard-bearer emerged from the rear ranks, raising high an eagle banner. The flag was visibly worn, its once-crimson field faded to grayish red—but the iron fist, wheat, and cogwheel design, along with the ornate "S.S.A.E." Latin letters beneath, remained clearly visible.

Tian Liang knew this was the military banner that had flown atop the earthen rampart during the Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign. He had participated in that battle. As memories of the close combat atop the rampart flooded back, his blood began to boil.

"Please raise your left hand, place it over your left chest, and face our banner as we take the oath." The instant Xi Yazhou finished speaking, Tian Liang was so overcome with emotion that his muscles went taut, his ears rang, and he could barely control himself. He repeated after the oath-leader, word by word: "For the Yuan Council and the people, I am willing to sacrifice myself, to press ever forward, to fight bravely..."

The military band struck up—broadcast from the camp's loudspeakers—the strains of the March of the Fubo Army echoing across the grounds. Shouts of "Long live! Long live!" rolled across the entire Ma'ao Peninsula. Tian Liang gripped the hilt of his command sword, his whole being filled with strength. If he could die on the battlefield for the Yuan Council at this very moment, how happy that would be.

(End of Chapter)