Volume One Command of Southern Rivers Chapter 29 Hereditary Military Ranks

Wei Fufeng was slightly taken aback. “You mean to use lychee wood for the bow arms?”

“Yes. The material of lychee wood is acceptable. Paired with a one-meter-long bamboo bow body and an iron-cast trigger mechanism, the resulting crossbow may not match the standard military ones, but it won’t be inferior to ordinary bows and arrows. The main advantage is that the crossbow is easy to use, highly accurate, and suitable for common folk,” Zhao Lin explained.

Wei Fufeng nodded thoughtfully. The Luzhou army was a motley crew—if they were to become a formidable and elite force, equipping them with crossbows and arrows was the quickest path to strength. The only obstacle was the lack of iron.

Cai Yong of the Tiger Guards spoke quietly, “Crossbows aren’t easy to manufacture in the short term.”

Zhao Lin turned and said, “The main difficulty lies in the specifications for making the bow body. We can make them simply—though they won’t last long, we can build plenty as backups. When the enemy comes, if each bow can be used ten times, that’s enough.”

Wei Fufeng nodded and asked, “Zhao Lin, do you know how to make crossbows?”

Zhao Lin nodded, “Yes, sir. My family has been making bows for generations. If you wish to manufacture crossbows, I can produce a thousand crossbows and ten thousand arrows within three months, provided we have enough materials and manpower.”

Wei Fufeng nodded, “Good. You have my trust. When you return, you’ll report directly to Luzhou and serve under the Military Arsenal Office of the Governor’s Mansion.”

“Yes, sir! I am willing to serve,” Zhao Lin rose and saluted respectfully.

Wei Fufeng motioned for him to sit, smiling, “But you must not cut down lychee trees indiscriminately. Our army does not wish to be cursed with causing the extinction of lychee trees.”

Zhao Lin replied, “I will select only old trees.”

Wei Fufeng nodded. “Lychee may not be a staple food, but it is a major specialty of southern Sichuan. In times of peace, the fruit is sent down the river for sale, bringing considerable profit.”

Zhao Lin nodded, “It used to be shipped to Chang’an, and the business was very lucrative.”

Wei Fufeng said, “For now, let us strive to protect southern Sichuan and preserve peace in our land. In the future, you will all become officials—those not willing to command troops can at least serve as county magistrates, and those leading armies will have hereditary military positions for their descendants.”

The four subordinates glanced at each other. Zhao Lin hesitated and asked, “Sir, what do you mean by hereditary military positions?”

Wei Fufeng replied gently, “Soldiers risk their lives for nothing more than prosperity and to prevent their families from falling into poverty. In the future, officers of the White Tiger Hall will have military posts that their descendants can inherit.

If their descendants are capable, they can inherit command positions. If not, they will at least inherit the salary and status. Should a squad leader die in battle, his descendants will inherit the post of deputy captain; if a deputy captain falls, his descendants will inherit the post of cavalry commander.”

The four subordinates nodded silently. Wei Fufeng ate calmly, painting a beautiful vision for the hearts of the southern Sichuan army.

The ancients valued their lineage above all else. To secure a bright future for their descendants inspired the officers’ fighting spirit and unity.

The southern Sichuan Governorate was newly established. Most of Luzhou’s tens of thousands of residents were migrants, longing to return to their homeland and only staying in a spirit of expediency.

Wei Fufeng needed these migrants to develop a sense of belonging. Moreover, his military administration, compared to those of other warlords, offered less power and benefit to commanding officers, which could easily breed resentment among the truly capable.

Even if officers with grievances had no chance to rebel, they could take some close followers and leave to serve another warlord.

Hereditary military posts, at minimum, would divide the lower-ranking officers (squad leaders) from the dependency of their superiors. High-ranking officers, even with real ability, would not dare leave unless they could take many subordinates with them—solitude meant helplessness.

However, Wei Fufeng’s policy of hereditary posts would eventually increase the bureaucratic class and fiscal burden. Yet, in the early stages, he had no choice but to use every means to win hearts and secure loyalty.

After settling his subordinates, Wei Fufeng hurried back to Pingquan County in Jianzhou to meet with a thousand troops, then returned to Rongzhou, where he stayed three days to inspect the southern Sichuan military administration, before heading back to Luzhou.

Upon arrival in Luzhou, Wei Fufeng learned of a major military event: Yang Shouliang, the military governor of West Shannan Road, had launched an attack and occupied Kuizhou.

Kuizhou is the gate to Ba-Shu on the great river, under the jurisdiction of the Jingnan military governor.

According to geography, the major river upstream of Kuizhou runs through Wanzhou, Zhongzhou, Yuzhou, Luzhou, and Rongzhou in sequence.

Zhongzhou, Wanzhou, and Kuizhou are all part of the Three Gorges region, belonging to the Jingnan military governor. Yang Shouliang had now invaded Jingnan’s territory.

This meant Yang Shouliang’s ambitions were swelling—he aimed to seize the entire Ba-Shu region, with southern Sichuan as his next target, and eventually the Eastern Sichuan Governorate.

Wei Fufeng knew that Jingnan had endured years of warfare, suffering attacks from the cannibal demon king Qin Zongquan, leaving the region devastated.

Luzhou itself had nearly a hundred thousand refugees from Jingnan.

Jingnan had changed hands many times amid the chaos; the current governor was said to be Cheng Rui.

Cheng Rui was originally an officer under the previous governor Chen Ru, who, after being suspected by Chen Ru, left and occupied Guizhou, which is downstream from Kuizhou.

Later, Qin Zongquan’s forces pillaged Jingnan’s Jiangling Prefecture.

After the main force left, Cheng Rui, who had been observing in Guizhou, took the opportunity to defeat Qin Zongquan’s remaining troops, seized Jingnan, and became its governor.

Now Yang Shouliang had seized Kuizhou, and given Jingnan’s ruined state, Wei Fufeng guessed that Cheng Rui could only hold Guizhou defensively, unable to contest the Three Gorges region with Yang Shouliang.

The threat from Yang Shouliang came earlier than Wei Fufeng expected. He had sent people to investigate Yang Hui, the military supervisor in Yuzhou.

It was said that the prefect of Yuzhou treated the supervisor as an honored guest. After the last time Luzhou received five thousand troops, the prefect also dispatched a thousand militia to serve under the supervisor as a protective force.

Wei Fufeng understood rationally that it was impossible to ally with the prefect of Yuzhou to resist the enemy; the prefect was a fence-sitter, who would only attach himself to the strongest.

However, Wei Fufeng absolutely did not want Yuzhou to fall to Yang Shouliang.

Yuzhou was different from Kuizhou: Kuizhou was a military stronghold, but its population and productivity were far less than Yuzhou. If Yuzhou fell to Yang Shouliang, Luzhou would surely be indefensible.

Wei Fufeng faced a difficult choice regarding Yuzhou.

If Yang Shouliang seized Yuzhou first, he could conscript tens of thousands of troops from there.

Yuzhou originally had a population of over a hundred thousand, but the chaos and migration had swollen both Yuzhou and Luzhou’s population to several hundred thousand each.

In this dire situation, Wei Fufeng ought to act first and seize Yuzhou, taking control of its resources before Yang Shouliang could.

But Yuzhou would not be so easily occupied. The result of such a campaign would most likely be mutual exhaustion.

Even if he succeeded, Yang Shouliang’s forces would follow, leaving Luzhou’s army beset by internal and external threats.

Wei Fufeng’s only option was to wait and hope the prefect of Yuzhou would not willingly lose Yuzhou and would actively seek cooperation with him.

Just as Wei Fufeng was fretting over the survival of the southern Sichuan Governorate, sudden news arrived: Jingnan’s governor had retaken Kuizhou, defeating the twenty thousand troops Yang Shouliang had stationed there.

This unexpected turn astonished Wei Fufeng—the governor of Jingnan had remarkable courage, daring to wage war against the West Shannan governor.

Wei Fufeng was puzzled: Jingnan (Jingzhou) had fertile lands, yet enemies threatened from both north and south—why fight over Kuizhou, upstream on the great river?

The military significance of Kuizhou was mainly to block invaders from entering Ba-Shu downstream. Could it be that Jingnan’s governor intended to expand into Ba-Shu, willing to fight for such a strategic location?

Still unsure, Wei Fufeng convened many Tiger Guards for discussion. Qin Shan offered an explanation: Kuizhou’s Yun’an County possessed salt wells.

Yun’an’s well-salt was Jingnan’s lifeblood. With so many warlords in troubled times, Jingnan could no longer obtain sea salt from Huainan.

Wei Fufeng suddenly understood. In chaos, the most profitable commodities are grain and salt.

The loss of Yun’an’s salt wells would force Jingnan to pay dearly for salt, hence the desperate campaign to retake Kuizhou.

Though Yang Shouliang had once again lost Kuizhou, Wei Fufeng’s worries remained. He could only hasten his preparations, establishing a Military Arsenal Office directly under the Governor’s Mansion and appointing Zhao Lin as captain.

He selected three thousand soldiers for Zhao Lin—not only craftsmen, but also the first batch of locally equipped crossbow troops. Their squad leaders would rotate duty, alternating with those of the Fengli Battalion.

Wei Fufeng’s announcement of hereditary military posts caused a great stir among Luzhou’s troops. Some asked if brothers or adopted sons could inherit.

Due to war casualties, many soldiers had no descendants and adopted sons.

Wei Fufeng allowed it, stating that the designated heir could be any relative chosen by the soldier, and put it into practice.

All squad leaders who died in the Battle of Changzhou had their direct male relatives granted the post of assistant officer, equivalent to deputy captain, with a fixed salary and exemption from half their taxes.

However, heirs to hereditary military posts belonged to the army, and upon the outbreak of war, they were required to serve, becoming bodyguards (squad leaders) and earning an extra squad leader’s pay.

If they passed the military examination, they could become deputy captains, upgrading their salary accordingly.

Wei Fufeng stayed in Luzhou for fifteen days, postponing his planned departure.

During ten days in Luzhou, after learning much, his confidence in securing southern Sichuan grew daily—mainly because Luzhou’s military force had expanded to eighty thousand.

Adding the troops from the southern Sichuan and Jingnan military bureaus, the total force in southern Sichuan now numbered a hundred thousand.

Every new recruit was granted land, and generous benefits encouraged more to join.

Even more encouraging was the mass surrender of mountain bandits—over twenty thousand joined, with their families numbering thirty thousand.

Wei Fufeng had long issued an agricultural edict, encouraging refugees to reclaim wasteland, promising that the allotted land would belong to them, and any surplus would be purchased by the government and leased back to the cultivators.

Thus, under the diligent administration of Prefect Yang He in Changzhou, a wave of land reclamation quickly emerged.

Soon after, large-scale land reclamation appeared south of the great river in Luzhou and Rongzhou.

News from Luzhou spread to Yuzhou, prompting large numbers of refugees and mountain bandits to migrate to Luzhou and register as citizens.