First Impressions Prevail

That day, just as dusk fell, Wang Lanping summoned Song Xian, the commander of the Wind Division light cavalry, into his military tent. He inquired about how the training had progressed over the past few days and how the morale was holding up. Song Xian answered them one by one. The current light cavalry was no longer comparable to the days when Li Zhi was in command.

Under Song Xian's half-month of intensive training, the troops were truly strong and the horses robust. The men were like tigers and the horses like dragons, moving as swiftly as the wind. This was not only due to Song Xian's training efforts but also benefited from Wang Lanping's new military promotion system. In the past, the Ming army had always calculated achievements based on the number of enemy heads presented. When there were no military conflicts, there were no military achievements to be earned. This drove many soldiers to kill innocent civilians and falsely claim their heads as enemy kills to merit rewards. Not only did this fail to help in battles, but it also alienated the common people, resulting in losses that outweighed the gains.

Wang Lanping replaced the system of rewarding head-counts with military merit evaluations. During garrison periods, evaluations were based on soldiers' daily training and the maintenance of their personal weapons using a scoring system. During combat, except for special personnel such as scouts, all other combat units were prohibited from focusing solely on individual combat capabilities. In the era of cold weapons, mutual coordination and cooperation within a military formation were the ultimate keys to victory. Advance at the sound of the drum, retreat swiftly at the sound of the gong, and remain calm in the face of danger. Those who could achieve this were granted military merits regardless of whether the battle was won or lost.

During combat, anyone who disobeyed orders to pursue the enemy privately or looted battlefield supplies, regardless of how courageous they were in battle, and regardless of their rank as officer or soldier, would be summarily beheaded as a public example.

Every half-month, a military evaluation was conducted within the army. Anyone who accumulated a total of nine points automatically advanced one military rank. For instance, if a private earned promotion eligibility within a month, he was promoted to the rank of squad leader. If there were temporarily no vacant squad leader positions, the individual would still receive the pay and treatment of a squad leader. Among all actual positions in the entire army, starting from Wang Lanping's own position as commander-in-chief, everyone had the opportunity to step into them.

If a person holding the rank of private kept advancing all the way to the rank of general without a substantive official appointment, he still had to remain under the command of a squad leader—though naturally, this applied only within the military camp.

If an active officer failed to achieve any promotion within three years, he was automatically demoted by one rank. Even if he was already a general commanding ten thousand men, he had to surrender his military command.

If the imperial court appointed someone as a military commander, even if that person were an imperial prince, he had to start from the rank of a private and obey the orders of a squad leader.

There was only one exception to the promotion and demotion of all positions: special appointments or dismissals made by Wang Lanping based on operational necessities.

Throughout the entire army, regardless of whether officer or soldier, anyone who violated military law and incurred a capital offense would be executed without exception, even if they were as brave as Zhao Yun and as resourceful as Zhuge Liang.

In other words, all these changes meant that the Top Scholar Army stood outside the legal framework of the imperial court. The only power the imperial court retained over the Top Scholar Army was the authority to dispatch troops for battles, and even this power seemed to be gradually vanishing as Wang Lanping's influence within the army grew.

With these various new systems, the discipline of the Top Scholar Army took on a completely new look. In just over ten days, more than a hundred ordinary soldiers had been promoted, three mediocre commanders of a thousand men had been dismissed, and a former commander of the left vanguard division had been executed for embezzling soldiers' pay. With such a direct and clear path to promotion, everyone went wild with enthusiasm, striving to climb upward.

This was merely an expedient measure by Wang Lanping. To cope with the current turbulent situation, he had to resort to such severe laws. When peace finally returned to the world in the future, continuing to do this would undoubtedly be a recipe for chaos.

Listening to Song Xian's report, Wang Lanping nodded with satisfaction and smiled. "General Song truly lives up to his reputation as an exceptional military commander. Good. However, true ability is not just talked about. A mule or a horse—you only find out once you take them to the battlefield. I give you half an hour to assemble three thousand light cavalry, each with two horses, and wait for orders outside the camp."

Song Xian did not even ask where they were going; he acknowledged the order and withdrew.

Shortly after, Wang Lanping had someone summon Song Dali to the tent to discuss matters.

Song Dali had finally endured years of hardship to achieve success. In just two months, he had risen from a humble commander of a hundred men in the former Wind Division to the commander of the five thousand heavy cavalry in the new Wind Division of the Top Scholar Army. All the elite troops of the entire army were under his command. Over the past few days, he had been working tirelessly without rest to familiarize himself with various heavy cavalry tactics. Although changing specialties was like crossing mountains, fortunately there were currently no battles, allowing him to start leisurely from scratch. Moreover, the heavy cavalry belonged directly to Wang Lanping's personal command, meaning that when the time truly came to take the field, both the light and heavy cavalry under the Wind Division would be directly commanded by Wang Lanping.

Entering the tent and seeing only the Lord Marquis waiting inside, Song Dali unbuckled his weapon, picked up the kettle on the command desk, and drank deeply in big gulps. After finishing, he wiped his mouth, let out a burp, patted his belly, and laughed, "The weather is getting hotter and hotter. It would be really satisfying if we had a pot of wine. Lord Marquis, did you look for me?"

As the commander-in-chief of tens of thousands of troops, besides using clear rewards and punishments and his own personal charisma to rally the entire army, one also needed to cultivate sworn brothers with genuine sincerity. In warfare, victory and defeat were commonplace. Perhaps today he held power and was surrounded by generals, but should he suffer a defeat one day, a situation where the tree falls and the monkeys scatter might arise. If that day ever truly came, the ones least likely to leave him would probably be Song Dali and the two hundred old brothers brought along from Huaining City—even the Wood Division that Zheng Sen had originally led to Huaining City might prove unreliable.

Therefore, when no outsiders were present, the two of them were very casual with each other.

Wang Lanping pointed at the commander's armor behind Song Dali and said, "You rascal, behave yourself. Bring me my armor. The army will be left in your hands these few days while I am away."

While fetching the armor, Song Dali asked, "Lord Marquis, where are you going?"

Wang Lanping replied, "Haven't you heard? Our Top Scholar Army has now been labeled as rebels. The military pay and supplies from Nanjing have been entirely cut off, and the grain stored in the camp can only support us for another seven or eight days at most. If we don't figure something out, there'll be no way to lead these troops."

Song Dali's eyes lit up as he said in a low voice, "Lord Marquis, you wouldn't really be going to besiege Nanjing, would you?" Song Dali was eagerly hoping he would do just that. Once the army laid siege to Nanjing—since there weren't many troops inside anyway—they could directly drag that useless and incompetent Zhu Yousong down from the dragon throne. Then, Lord Marquis could plant himself firmly in that seat and refuse to budge no matter what. After that, they would wipe out all the imperial descendants of the Zhu family, bestow grand titles upon all the generals under Lord Marquis, and fight in all directions to carve out an unbreakable empire. How exhilarating that would be! He had heard that there was also a small dwarf nation in the east where the sun rose; they could sweep that up as well and accomplish what emperors throughout eternity had never managed to do. By that time, Emperor Wang would surely have to appoint him as an imperial prince. When the world was at peace, he would keep a hundred or so beautiful wives and concubines, living a life where he changed girlfriends every day and never repeated for three months straight.

Seeing Song Dali lost in wild fantasies, Wang Lanping reached out and knocked him on the forehead. "What are you daydreaming about? I am going to secure grain, and by the way, clear us of this rebel charge. With just this handful of people we have, if we were thrown into the pile of Ming troops in Jiangnan, nobody would even be able to find us."

Recovering from his boundless fantasies, Song Dali chuckled, "Yes, yes. Lord Marquis never fights an unprepared battle. But, Lord Marquis, we've already become rebels; can you actually get any grain? Besides, I reckon that fellow Ma is already lying in ambush with his men waiting for you. How many troops do you plan to take?"

Wang Lanping smiled and said, "Who told you I was going to Nanjing? Those who owe me will eventually have to pay it back."

Upon second thought, Song Dali was so shocked that his expression changed drastically. Lowering his voice, he said, "Lord Marquis, you—you aren't going after Liu Zeqing, are you?"

"What, is that not allowed?"

"It's all well and good, but..."

"There are no 'buts.' Remember, before I return, not a single soldier or horse is to be mobilized, not even by imperial decree."

Taking advantage of the cover of night, Wang Lanping led three thousand light cavalry and his personal guards galloping swiftly toward Huai'an. Along the way, not even Song Xian knew where their destination was. Riding in rotation with six thousand horses, they galloped hundreds of li across two days and two nights, finally appearing suddenly three miles outside Liu Zeqing's main army camp late in the night on the second day after Liu Zeqing had captured the scouts.

Wang Lanping ordered the entire army to rest for two hours. Taking Song Xian with him, he found a vantage point with higher terrain and looked out at Liu Zeqing's distant military camp, which was dotted with campfires. He said to Song Xian, "Song Xian, see that? Launch the attack in two hours, and wrap up the battle before dawn."

Song Xian cupped his hands in acknowledgment. However, being a veteran who had fought in many wars, he could tell from the layout and scale of the campfires in the distance that it was clearly a Ming army camp with a troop strength of at least ten thousand. Could Lord Marquis truly be intending to replace the Ming dynasty as legends suggested?

Doubt filled Song Xian's heart, but he dared not speak recklessly. Cautiously, he asked, "Commander-in-chief, that appears to be a Ming army camp. Aren't we fighting among ourselves?"

Wang Lanping replied, "That's right, it is Liu Zeqing's camp."

Song Xian was greatly shocked. "The Huai'an military camp... then, then we really, really have become rebels." He uttered the final few words in a voice so low that almost only he himself could hear it.

Wang Lanping let out a light, mocking laugh. "History is written by the victors; if we take Liu Zeqing down, we are loyal heroes."

Although uncomprehending, Song Xian still accepted the order and went down to make preparations.

Wang Lanping, accompanied by several guards, rode his horse to within half a li of the camp gate, remarkably failing to find even a single hidden sentry along the way. If Manchu troops had come, they would have wiped the whole camp out in one sweep.

After riding around the camp for a while, Wang Lanping was glad he had arrived early. According to a report from a scout who had been lying in ambush nearby to monitor Liu Zeqing, Liu Zeqing had been assembling troops two days ago and had dispatched a large number of vanguard scouts toward Xiangshan. It was possible they had already discovered Wang Lanping's cavalry on the road, but simply lacked the time to ride back and report because Wang Lanping's troops moved at such an astonishing speed.

Ever since Liu Zeqing learned that Wang Lanping would still need over ten days to advance on Nanjing City, he had immediately grown lax. He stopped urging the troops who had not yet assembled, and after dawdling for two days, he had gathered fewer than ten thousand men.

The time had come. The light cavalry division regained their strength and mounted their horses. To distinguish friend from foe, everyone tied a white towel around their neck. Pointing at Liu Zeqing's commander's tent, Wang Lanping told Song Xian, "To capture a bandit, capture their leader first. Take his main tent directly, and if possible, bring him back alive."

Song Xian waved his hand, and the three thousand light cavalry dispersed into a fan shape, stealthily advancing toward the front of the camp. Five or six Huai'an camp guards were leaning on their long spears by the entrance, dozing off, entirely unaware that the Grim Reaper had arrived.

Twenty-odd light cavalrymen dismounted and shot accurate arrows at the guards by the camp gate. With a few muffled groans, the guards all fell dead.

A hundred more cavalrymen charged forward, each holding a long rope equipped with an iron hook. They dashed swiftly toward the palisade of the camp gate and hurled all the ropes onto the wooden fence. More than a hundred horses bolted backward in unison, and the tall camp gate collapsed with a deafening crash. All of this happened in the flash of a single lightning bolt.

As the camp gate fell, Song Xian drew his saber and roared, "Charge!"

The iron hooves of three thousand warhorses shook the earth, jolting tens of thousands of Huai'an troops out of their sleep. Instantly, cries of weeping and wailing filled the Huai'an camp. Many soldiers, lacking even the time to dress, ran about in panic and utter confusion in the nude. They had no idea what was happening. In the blink of an eye, dozens of men were trampled under the chaotic hooves. Wang Lanping had previously instructed Song Xian to minimize casualties as much as possible.

By this time, Song Xian had already led several hundred cavalrymen to within fifty paces of Liu Zeqing's tent, engaging in fierce combat with dozens of Liu Zeqing's personal guards who slept in their armor day and night.

At that moment, the curtain of the main tent suddenly lifted. A stark-naked Liu Zeqing rushed out in panic, surrounded by several guards. Following closely behind, several similarly naked women ran out of the tent screaming, blindly rushing into the chaotic mob of soldiers, where they were all slain by stray blades.

Wang Lanping and his two hundred personal guards stood at a distance, watching as torch after torch streamed chaotically out of the camp. He knew the matter was settled; the main commander's tent had been breached.

"Let's move!" Wang Lanping led his two hundred men charging into the military camp.