Chapter Ninety-Eight: Little Bao Commands the Troops

From the ten thousand strings of cash, Feng Xiaobao took out one hundred as a reward for Fan Wushang, compensating him for the grievances he endured; the rest was allocated as military funds.

Yang Chengxian felt ashamed, having just shown cowardice.

Feng Xiaobao comforted him, saying, “You can’t be blamed! If I didn’t have something to rely on, I would have fled long ago and sought revenge later.”

His eyes narrowed as he said, “They dared to forcibly seize four hundred fine horses, showing utter disregard for the Ministry of War’s official documents. This is undoubtedly the work of some powerful noble! Our strength isn’t enough; it’s better to avoid conflict. The same principle applies when facing various tribes in future battles: preserving strength is paramount, never forget that.”

“A true man knows what to do and what not to do. The enemy is like a stone; we are striking it with eggs. The wise do not engage in futile fights.”

“Run when facing the strong, strike when facing the weak—this tactic is mastered by the highland and grassland peoples. So when dealing with them, we must never give them a chance to recover... The safest are the tribesmen who have perished!” Feng Xiaobao touched upon tribal matters, foreshadowing a future path stained with blood.

...

Returning with four hundred horses and eight hundred men, they immediately began intense training.

Feng Xiaobao newly acquired two hundred men of decent quality—all fine young fellows. His total force swiftly rose to three hundred and fifty. After some consideration, he selected twenty from the recruits, sending another twenty veterans to the group of one hundred eighty recruits as fireteam leaders, forming the Fourth Regiment.

The remaining troops comprised twenty new recruits, fifty familiar soldiers, sixty veterans, twenty soldiers gifted by the Thousand Gold Princess, and an anticipated fifty Tang family men, forming another regiment named the First Regiment.

Cheng Boxi’s men became the Second Regiment, and Yang Chengxian commanded the Third Regiment.

Regarding the distribution of forces, Feng Xiaobao personally led two regiments. Neither Yang Chengxian nor Cheng Boxi objected, as Feng had contributed most of the funds and brought the troops. Moreover, he was the most capable fighter among the three brothers, cementing his leadership within the team.

The First Regiment mainly practiced offensive maneuvers; with many veterans, they had fewer restrictions, only required to cooperate and exert their full combat potential.

This regiment was prioritized with Hexi horses to train early in cavalry warfare.

Understanding the importance of the First Regiment, Cheng and Yang did not contest Feng’s command.

Meanwhile, since some new recruits were mixed in, they needed extra training to mature quickly. Feng Xiaobao envisioned the First Regiment as a training unit responsible for educating new officers. Since they had yet to see battle, new recruits were directly trained as junior officers.

Feng poured great effort into training the Fourth Regiment, personally instructing formation drills, horsemanship, weapon handling, archery, and more—from the simplest military stance and marching to weapon drills and aiming arrows. Patiently, he taught them step by step, accumulating valuable leadership experience.

That said, the recruits were of decent quality but as dumb as cattle!

One hundred eighty new men were one hundred eighty dumb cattle!

This was how Feng Xiaobao viewed his soldiers; sometimes he mused that even cattle might be smarter than these men.

The simplest problem was distinguishing left from right. After three days of training, at least one-third of the recruits still turned the wrong way; when told to turn left, they turned right. When commanded to turn back, two men faced each other front to front. Feng was speechless.

Even three-year-olds in modern kindergartens likely understood better than them.

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Many training commands felt like playing the lute to a cow—no matter how many times he repeated them, the recruits couldn’t grasp the instructions.

Fortunately, he had Fan Wushang, who sneered, “Sir, leave it to me!”

Fan’s method was summed up in one word: “Beat!”

He used a whip to instill discipline in the recruits. Any slight mistake was met with the whip. At first, Feng Xiaobao, accustomed to modern civilized norms, found it hard to accept, but soon he grew used to it and whipped any wrongdoers without hesitation.

Now thoroughly traditional and fully adopting local customs, Feng mounted horses by stepping on his servants’ backs—his servants knelt on the ground while he stepped on them to get up.

Human rights? A joke. It clashed entirely with society. Feng had no desire to be Prometheus stealing fire for mankind.

Currently, Feng’s own rights were excellent; apart from high officials and imperial relatives, he stood above most others. What human rights was he to talk about?

Once he became emperor, then he would bestow human rights upon everyone.

He carried a law enforcement squad with him; any disobedient soul was promptly whipped.

The people were unenlightened; their brains sharpened only with use. Like the saying goes, “Even if you don’t compose poetry, reciting the Three Hundred Tang Poems makes you somewhat cultured.” Those who studied math and science were smarter; the illiterate masses of the Tang dynasty were notoriously foolish.

They had no memory, couldn’t comprehend commands, and all verbal instructions were wasted breath. Only the whip, striking to the bone, worked swiftly—an effective tool against fools.

Thus, whipping and baton strikes resounded daily in the barracks, amidst continual wails and screams.

However, Feng strictly forbade causing serious injury; corporal punishment must not inflict irreversible harm—this was his bottom line. The maximum he allowed was twenty lashes.

Whipping the soldiers quickly established his authority as a commander: those who disobeyed had to endure the whip. Unexpectedly, this earned him a reputation for “lenient military discipline.”

Fan Wushang remarked that other generals often killed or maimed their soldiers routinely. Compared to them, Feng’s men were lucky.

He clicked his tongue, reminiscing about the beatings he himself endured.

With a commander like Xiaobao, the soldiers truly had good fortune.

Feng’s punishments were moderate; no serious injuries occurred, considered quite lenient.

As the leader’s example set the tone, Fan Wushang warned the veterans to moderate their blows, controlling their strength even during beatings.

After several rounds of such harsh training, the soldiers quickly sorted themselves out: the intelligent ones understood without explanation; the average ones needed some guidance; the dullest grew more foolish the more they were taught.

Thus, the bright were cultivated as staff officers, the average made into commanders, and the dull assigned as mere soldiers.

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Feng Xiaobao joked with those around him, “People like me, both clever and lazy, are born to be commanders!”

Everyone agreed.

“Those who are clever and diligent can be staff officers or commanders!”

“The dumb and lazy become soldiers!”

“The dumb but diligent? Watch out for them!” Feng laughed.

“Why?”

“To prevent them from causing trouble—they’re the most destructive when they work hard!” he chuckled heartily.

Everyone suddenly understood and laughed along.

Seeing a group of fools who didn’t grasp the meaning but just laughed foolishly, Feng nearly cursed, “A whole basketful of idiots!”

“No education means stupidity—no wonder ancient people welcomed scholars with outstretched feet!”

Feng Xiaobao’s army bore his mark.

Their training included standing at attention, formations, marching, and other drills, mostly adapted from his previous military experience, though he had little knowledge of cold weapon training from the future.

He established a staff department and a training regiment.

Regarding the staff department, Feng explained to his officers, “Many commanders in history did not need advisors; they thought and decided alone, with others merely executing orders. Such talent is rare; many appeared during Emperor Taizong’s era through hard-won battles. But nowadays...”

“In most cases, army leaders need advisors!”

“The staff must provide intelligence, draft and organize combat plans, and coordinate military operations!” Feng clearly defined their role.

People thought, “Feng just wants a legitimate excuse to slack off.”

“We only have a few hundred men now; rushing forward will soon exhaust us—like trying to split a copper coin to use both sides. Why bother forming a staff?”

Seeing some officers’ skeptical expressions, Feng smiled faintly, “Do you think I’ll only ever command eight hundred men?”

His words jolted them awake.