Chapter 精神文明建设 On "Spiritual Civilization Construction"

Perhaps no army in the world could compare with the Xueqi Army in this regard, especially since their garrison was located in Danyang, the most prosperous publishing and performing arts center in the entire Eastern Lands. Unlike the soldiers of other armies, who mostly came from poor backgrounds, the Xueqi Army was predominantly composed of scions of wealthy families from various regions. These individuals might not hold high positions within their families, but they always had pocket money. It had become customary for officers to voluntarily attend various performances, and for the military to organize performing arts troupes to perform for the troops. Naturally, these were all tricks devised by Ye Tao and Tan Weixin. Initially, everyone felt that these were frivolous pursuits, but as the soldiers gradually became fascinated by drama, enjoyed using various performances to balance their monotonous training life, and their cultural foundations were sufficient for them to discover the subtle and profound aspects of those performances, a large and specialized audience group was born. These people understood how to appreciate art, and were more easily moved by the touching, heroic, and awe-inspiring plots and spirit. The Xueqi Army did not have a "cultural troupe" in its organization, but for these fellows, most of whom could be classified as纨绔子弟 (wan ku zi di, pampered young masters), singing, performing, knowing how to behave, choosing costumes, and choreographing plays were just basic skills for delinquent youths.

As the music drifted across the battlefield, it started with just one person, and then everyone began to hum along to the melody. Those who remembered the lyrics sang them, while those who didn't just hummed along. The melodious tune was completely out of sync with the intense and deadly atmosphere of the battlefield, but everyone kept wielding their weapons while truly feeling a sense of calm, even a little happiness... as if a force was湧出 (yong chu, welling up) from the depths of their hearts, slowly filling their bodies and supporting them to continue fighting.

The song being played also came from Liu Xiangyuan's troupe. It was a tragic but not sorrowful story, describing a cavalry unit that operated bravely on the border when Yunzhou had not yet been incorporated into Dongping, and was eventually wiped out. It happened decades ago. At that time, they had just participated in the counterattack against the Xiling army and had just withdrawn to Yunzhou when they discovered the vanguard of the northern grassland troops in their northern garrison. They defended a small castle with poor defenses, holding out for four days. When they saw the flags of their own reinforcements, they were already exhausted and the entire army was annihilated. The entire play, however, was always optimistic and cheerful. Each of the soldiers had their own family and goals, perhaps noble or mediocre, but they were all full of hope and fought bravely. This ensemble-style narrative neither elevated nor belittled anyone, but rather felt like entering a group of soldiers, listening to each of their stories, and watching their performance when the enemy pressed on. Of course, they were also afraid, but as soon as they picked up their weapons, it was as if they had forgotten everything else. Their minds were filled with only simple fighting spirit, only the simple things of eliminating the enemy and trying to save themselves and their comrades...

Perhaps it was because of this plain narrative, this white-描式 (bai miao shi, sketch-like) portrayal of different human natures, that made this opera, *The War Flag*, so popular in the army. Now, record players are far from common, but the普及率 (pu ji lü, prevalence rate) in the garrisons of various armies is still somewhat decent. The wealthy and generous Xueqi Army naturally would not be without such things. And now, playing *The War Flag* on the training ground every now and then has become a habit. Spiritual construction... few people in this era can understand this method of improving combat power at all. And in the Xueqi Army, where material rewards are not very effective, and most promises of promotion are met with disdain, only the power of the heart can allow them to reach new heights on the strongest foundation.

Watching the soldiers of the Xueqi Army on the battle line, who originally seemed to be overdrawing their physical strength, come back to life in the flickering firelight, moved Ye Tao. There were also many people in the Northern Liao army with experience in hard fighting, and of course they knew that under the influence of encouragement or other factors, soldiers would have this kind of extraordinary performance, which often came at the cost of long-term fatigue. However, for the Xueqi Army, their current performance once again put the Northern Liao army in a dilemma... The Xueqi Army was tired, but weren't they? They couldn't stop, not only because they wanted to wear down all the energy of the Xueqi Army, but also because once they stopped now, once their own army began to have casualty statistics one after another, they probably wouldn't be able to control the entire army from falling into discouraged depression. All they could use was the current hatred, mania, and anger of the entire army. All day long, they sent ten thousand people after another to the front line, but after losing so many loyal soldiers, the progress was still very limited. They now had no idea when the morale of the Northern Liao army would collapse...

The brave fighting of the soldiers moved Ye Tao, but he was still anxiously waiting for news from the direction of Xiangning City. The fighting had started almost simultaneously on both sides, but by the evening, Xiangning City should have sent news of their progress. At this time, Ye Tao still didn't know that Xiangning City had collapsed in half a day under the Xueqi Army's extravagant offensive. Even if he was optimistic, he wouldn't dare to have such extravagant hopes, but he also didn't believe that the Xueqi Army had made no progress and suffered a setback under Xiangning City. With the marching distance of those few hours between the two independent battlefields, and with the Xueqi Army's speed of information transmission, there should at least be a battle report.

"Jin Ze, take a team to Xiangning City and see what's going on. I want a battle report!" Ye Tao ordered.

Jin Ze cupped his fist in salute and immediately turned to leave. The two independent battlefields were interdependent, but on this day, their communication with each other was surprisingly little. But before Jin Ze left the camp, a group of airships slowly flying from the direction of Xiangning City caught his attention.

"Quick, guide them to land." Jin Ze, already mounted on his horse, roared at the soldiers beside him. Guiding airships to land at night was already a basic training content for the entire Dongping army, and the Xueqi Army would naturally be familiar with it. In less than two minutes, a bright beam of light had already shot into the sky, outlining the airship's silhouette, which was about to be submerged in the night, making it so conspicuous. The airship slowly descended, and the leading airship dropped a rope. Jin Ze couldn't even wait a second, immediately spurred his horse towards that direction, leaped up directly from the horse's back, grabbed the rope, and pulled it down, guiding the airship to land on the ground. But the emblem on the bottom of the airship made Jin Ze stunned... this was not the Xueqi Army's or Yunzhou's flying squadron, but the emblem of the Dongping Royal Flying Corps, which should be assigned to Danyang and directly under the Imperial Guards.

The people on the airship also clearly understood the Xueqi Army's eagerness. A pilot leaned out halfway and shouted loudly at Jin Ze: "Xiangning City has been captured! Military Inspector Zou is leading his troops to come to support us!"

In fact, the crew on the airship did not understand the details. They flew directly from Danyang to Zhenning Pass, and then directly from Zhenning Pass to Xiangning City. The airship crew had no opponents in the sky now. The airships now had very high airworthiness, and they could take turns resting, which ensured that they could arrive so quickly. Just now, this group of twelve airships was refused landing by Zou Shuangwen, who ordered them to come directly to support Ye Tao. The original airship squadron of Ye Tao's unit, due to a whole day of calibration shooting and bombing, the crew members were so tired that their eyes were almost unable to open. They almost caused an accident when landing just now. And the arrival of these fresh troops could make up for the temporary lack of air strike power in this area. When the airship squadron heard that Ye Tao was actually leading a little more than half of the Xueqi Army to resist hundreds of thousands of Northern Liao troops, they were so scared that their souls flew away. Where would they dare to be picky about not having time to rest and overhaul the airships? They hurried all the way here. And they arrived a little earlier than the scout troops sent by Zou Shuangwen to deliver the message.

This news once again boosted the morale of all the soldiers in the camp. They had originally prepared to fight a bloody battle here for three to five days and suffer more than half of the casualties, but now, although the number of casualties on a single day exceeded expectations, they were actually about to receive reinforcements? After the entire Xueqi Army gathered, where would they still be afraid of the Northern Liao army? The entire army was divided into three waves and took turns participating in defensive operations, leaving a mobile force to cooperate with the airships to eliminate enemy troops crossing the river from other places. They could simply hold on indefinitely until they eliminated all the enemies.

A piece of good news spread like wildfire throughout the camp. But suddenly, Ye Tao ordered: "Just spread it quietly, don't say it loudly. Keep it secret for a day."

The Xueqi Army's tactical literacy was also profound. When Ye Tao said this, everyone naturally understood that by taking advantage of the battlefield information asymmetry, the Xueqi Army might be able to vent its anger this time. Let the 300,000 Northern Liao troops on the other side of the river clearly understand who is the king on the battlefield. Of course, the Northern Liao army did not have 300,000 now. In just one day, more than 10% of their combat power had vanished.

"Longbowmen take turns to rest, in batches of two hours. Withdraw half of the light infantry and rest in place. Teams A and B of the heavy equipment camp should negotiate themselves. Maintain fixed-point strikes and do not conduct covering attacks at will. All heavy infantry rest for three hours. Remember, just three hours." Ye Tao's series of orders were immediately transmitted, and in order to make up for the combat power gap caused by adjusting the troop strength, Liu Yong and Jin Ze led the Guard Camp to take over.

Conducting such adjustments at night, coupled with the tacit scheduling and cooperation of several officers, really gave the appearance of shrinking forces after exhaustion. But Ye Tao knew that with the people from the Guard Camp taking over, the control over the battlefield would not decrease but increase. Although he wanted to show weakness, Ye Tao didn't want to take risks.

And these scheduling maneuvers conducted at night, under conditions of poor visibility, did indeed confuse the soldiers and officers of Northern Liao. Even Gao Senqi, after carefully thinking about the news he received, felt that his rotation tactics and cannon fodder strategy should be taking effect. He pressed forward with more than 10,000 more people, plus a part of the elite drawn from other troops.

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Sorry, I had too many things to do at the newspaper office these past two days. I originally wanted to update yesterday, but when I finished writing, it was already this late...