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War can be said to be, of all human activities, the most brutal and the most destructive of human nature. Once the flames of battle are ignited, all legal systems, all moral codes, are wholly reduced to nothingness. The desire for food and sex is part of human nature itself, and war will infinitely magnify the destructive side of human character. Especially in the present era, with its face-to-face cold-steel slaughter, this intense stimulation leads to a host of problems. Those with resolute minds may resolve these issues on their own, but for others, various psychological disturbances will manifest.
Camp panic, for instance, is an extremely common form of eruption for this kind of psychological affliction. Thus, according to military regulations, once night fell, all soldiers who had not been assigned sentry duties were required to remain inside their tents, maintain silence, and were forbidden from wandering about. At the same time, additional night patrol units had to be established to promptly deal with those who talked loudly in their sleep, those who sleepwalked, or those who suffered from hysterical outbursts, in order to prevent large-scale adverse effects.
Furthermore, establishing women's quarters was also an important method for regulating the soldiers' moods. As far back as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the great revolutionary Comrade Guan Zhong "established seven hundred women's quarters and levied the fees of their nightly unions to supplement the state coffers." On one hand, this resolved certain physiological issues; on the other hand, it gathered wealth and subsidized military expenditures. What an innovative mode of thinking! And bear in mind, this was in the 7th century BC, when Jesus was still something existing between air and water.
Later, King Goujian of Yue inherited and expanded upon this project: "King Goujian of Yue sent widows who had transgressed up into the mountains, allowing those soldiers who were especially homesick to roam there, so as to amuse their spirits."
As for the Han dynasty, this facility exclusive to military personnel had already become a publicly established fixture. Because Emperor Wu of Han had conscripted vast numbers of soldiers, forcing them to leave their homes and spend years upon years campaigning against the Xiongnu, and indeed because funds were tight, he also specially established such a facility. With clearly posted prices, fair dealing for young and old alike, genuine goods at a fair price, it was a nationally unified retail rate. Of course, if one took a fancy to someone and wished to purchase wholesale to take home, that was also permitted. To ensure the physical and mental health of those operating the women's quarters, a monthly rotation system was also stipulated. In any case, the numerous and varied regulations were already exceedingly comprehensive.
So what was he supposed to do? Fei Qian felt somewhat of a headache. If this were handled poorly, it could very well invite censorship. The combat soldiers currently under his command were all able-bodied young men in their prime. This physiological need was, naturally, an instinctive response. He could hardly order them all dragged off and castrated. Yet at the same time, he could not handle the matter in the manner of later ages.
The method used in later ages was very simple: wear them out to the point of death. During the day, drill them physically; at night, drill them mentally and in fine details. Ensure that the vast majority of men, the moment they lay down, would be so exhausted within fifteen seconds that they fell into a deep, snoring sleep, and upon opening their eyes, the cycle of the next day began anew. But Fei Qian himself knew that he could not emulate this. The reason was pitifully simple: insufficient grain production.
At present, the vast majority could only be maintained at the standard line of not being hungry. To go from "not hungry" to "eating one's fill and eating heartily," the amount of food would likely need to double. Therefore, there was simply no way to support high-intensity, prolonged training. In particular, the severe lack of fat and oil intake meant that the consumption of coarse grains was especially large; many men could eat two jin of grain in a single meal. And the most critical point was that there were no grassroots... well, those certain personnel.
The long nights stretched out endlessly, with no inclination toward sleep. Even on the shortest nights of summer, from nightfall at eight in the evening to daybreak at five in the morning, there were still eight or nine long hours. In winter, it grew dark at six or seven and did not brighten until at least six the next day—a stretch of nearly twelve hours. During such a long period, aside from catching lice inside one's tent, there was absolutely nothing to do.
"This matter... for now, do not handle it. The Hu women will temporarily be confined in the logistics camp." Fei Qian had not yet thought this through and could only push the matter back for the time being. Before he had sorted everything out completely, this rather complicated issue could not be carelessly broached. Within the lands of Huaxia, there had always been a tradition where the superior said one, and the subordinates did ten. This was because those in high positions, in order to maintain an air of mystery and authority, generally would not lay out every detail and boundary with perfect clarity. Consequently, those below, to guard against the superior's "one" veering wildly in all directions, had no choice but to make excessive preparations. Moreover, every layer of executors would add their own personal interests into the mix, much like how Wei Liu had acted as a messenger for his own clan. There would inevitably be entanglements. Layer upon layer, the compounding additions meant that by the time it reached the lowest levels, the policy often headed in the completely opposite direction, turning a good policy into oppressive governance. This legacy has stretched from ancient times to the present, long and unbroken.
Fei Qian had seen far too many such situations in the later eras. For example, in many companies, the head office set an annual marketing task of one hundred million. By the time this target was carved up and allocated to the branch companies, the total sum might have already become one hundred and twenty million. When the branch companies further pushed the targets down, to guard against certain sub-branches failing to meet their quotas, they would often tack on an additional 20-30% on top of the targets handed down from above. When the sub-branches then passed these on to the grassroots marketing districts, they would similarly add yet another 20-30%. As a result, a task value that originally began as 100% had often ballooned to 200% or even higher by the time it reached the bottom tier.
So at year's end, even though clearly many personnel in numerous grassroots units had their bonuses and performance pay docked for failing to meet the minimum baseline targets, many levels of leadership were each secretly popping champagne, while the head office's marketing report spoke of year-on-year percentage growth over the previous year...
"...For now, slightly increase the grain rations, and then increase the training load, so that during the daytime, the soldiers expend as much physical energy as possible." Fei Qian spoke, knowing that for the moment, he could only make such arrangements. He looked at Huang Cheng and continued, "...Summon Huang Xu, Huang Xianliang, and the others to teach the platoon commanders and above for half a shichen each night—basic troop formation changes, relevant writing, and arithmetic. Then have these platoon commanders pass the knowledge down to the squad leaders."
At present, there was a severe shortage of grassroots management personnel. Since he could not find people to act as those certain personnel, could these members of the Huang clan perhaps be temporarily utilized first? Huang Xu and Huang Xianliang were both people with a strong desire to learn. Compared to members of humble scholar families like Jia Qu, their own conditions were even poorer. But viewed from another angle, people like Huang Xu and Huang Xianliang at least did not have such great airs and temperaments. Humble scholar households were still gentry households, after all. No matter what, even someone like Jia Qu, who was relatively modest and amiable, still felt some disgust and disinclination to engage with the common peasants, to say nothing of a military figure like Ma Yue, who wore every emotion plainly on his face. Previously, under Fei Qian's request, the training of grassroots soldiers had indeed been an aspect he had not considered comprehensively enough. So, thinking in this light, perhaps people like those from the Huang household, who fell somewhere between the gentry and the common peasants, were actually the more suitable candidates? And in terms of loyalty, they might perhaps allow Fei Qian to feel more at ease. Furthermore, once this initiative was launched, it would be nothing less than starting a reformation at the grassroots level. When these veteran soldiers retired in the future, they could even be assigned as minor clerks and functionaries at the township and county levels, thereby changing the situation where the rural districts were entirely dominated and controlled by the gentry clans.
No one can predict what the future holds. Although Fei Qian still retained a slight advantage of foreknowledge at this moment, it was bound not to last. Therefore, being able to prepare a few more stratagems was precisely what he needed to do now. The realm under heaven was vast, and the number of ambitious schemers was many. At this moment, before the eyes of such people, he himself was not much different from a young girl holding a lollipop—soft-spoken, delicately frail, and easily pushed over. Thus, rashly striking out in all directions would absolutely be an act of utter foolishness. He could only strengthen his own inner foundations and await the arrival of the opportune moment.