Chapter 128: The Founding of Huai City

Meng Di was well aware that despite the apparent deference shown by these people, he remained an outsider. To truly win their hearts in this land would take time.

Therefore, he ceased his campaign against other tribes. Once the chieftain Hu agreed to surrender, Meng Di released him, allowing him to return and continue leading his people, leaving them to resolve the final terms of their settlement on their own. The outcome was that Meng agreed to relinquish the resources he had plundered, thereby expanding his own territory, while Hu pledged that he would never attack Meng’s tribe again. Furthermore, a vast tract of land between their two tribes was carved out and offered to Meng Di.

This land, consisting of prime plains, had once belonged to the Shang State, a tiny entity that vanished after being annexed by the Ju State. This region lay near the sea, about thirty miles from Mount Yu. Nearby were other small states such as Tan, as well as Zou, Pi, and Zhuqi, all scattered across the landscape, nominally governed only by their respective chieftains.

Meng Di was highly satisfied with this location. He intended to use it as a base to expand his influence. His first move was to conscript sixteen hundred able-bodied men from the tribes of Meng and Hu, taking an equal number from each. Though the force was small, Meng Di did not mind. Their first task was to build defensive walls in the vicinity. Subsequently, he sent men back to Zhongqiu to arrange for the relocation of three thousand households, cautioning them to arrive in waves to avoid drawing too much attention.

Along with them came a massive supply of goods, which would serve as Meng Di’s most effective tool for pacifying these tribes. Wise men like Bo were rare; most people simply desired a better life. Meng Di organized the conscripted tribesmen into a specialized unit called the Huaiyi Army. He selected nearly forty of the sharpest among them to serve as officers, and then combined one hundred veterans with four hundred new recruits to form a caravan for trade with the Ju State.

This was also a ruse to mislead the Ju State and, at the very least, keep the Qi State in the dark for the time being. The primary goal was to purchase supplies using animal hides and minerals obtained locally. The region was not only rich in iron ore but also contained significant deposits of coal and copper, making Meng Di feel as though he had struck gold. However, developing these resources would be time-consuming. He hoped that if Yi Dun could successfully master the art of brewing, he would eventually entrust the management of this region to him. Currently, his greatest need was manpower. Meng Di had actually set his sights on Confucius, but the issue remained that the philosophy advocated by the sage himself was difficult to embrace.

In this age of great contention, the ideal of "subduing oneself and returning to propriety" was, to a certain extent, merely a wishful fantasy. Only through the unification of the state could such an ideal be realized. Otherwise, if any feudal state were to adopt this doctrine, while it might stabilize domestic affairs, it would be incapable of external expansion; this was the reason the Confucian school failed to gain traction among the various states. Even Mencius remarked that there were no righteous wars in the Spring and Autumn period; under such circumstances, emphasizing ritual was akin to climbing a tree to catch a fish.

The entire era had fallen into chaos; order had to be restored first. Yet, Confucius was primarily concerned with the interests of the Lu State, which is why Meng Di chose not to invite him to Mengyi.

A month later, a simple fortress had taken shape. Meng Di provided monthly rations to the Huaiyi Army based on their needs, much to the envy of the other young men in the tribes. However, Meng Di did not push them too hard, choosing to maintain the status quo. He named the fortress Huai City and summoned Liuxia Tuo to oversee the training of the troops. By then, the three thousand households from Zhongqiu had fully arrived, and Meng Di gave them a public assurance:

"If you can settle here and farm in peace, you will be rewarded based on your performance. Anyone who clears more than one hundred mu of land within five years shall become a citizen under my rule, enjoying specific rights, and your family members will be eligible for military service."

People of this era felt little sense of belonging to any state. Furthermore, they had already seen and heard about the lives of the people in Mengyi—not only were land rents extremely low, but if a family member joined the army, their children could receive free education and literacy, with the potential to become officials one day. These were things they had never dared to dream of before. Now, hearing Meng Di’s personal guarantee, their eyes were filled with hope.

Meng Di did not intend to train cavalry here, partly due to the terrain and partly because war chariots would be severely limited in future southern campaigns; infantry would be the primary force. He intended to specialize in infantry training at Huai City. To dominate the world in the future, three types of troops were essential: crossbowmen, infantry, and cavalry. With these, he could adjust according to the terrain.

This would accelerate the pace of warfare, eventually casting aside the war rituals derived from the culture of chariot combat. He aimed to forge a formidable army comparable to the Wei Wuzu.

However, he could not achieve this immediately; he needed to explore and experiment for a period while cultivating a core group of veterans to ensure that the area around Huai City was firmly under his control. After Liuxia Tuo arrived, Meng Di asked him:

"You come from a noble family and must have some understanding of the Wei Shu formation of the State of Wei. If I were to task you with training a pure infantry force, how would you go about it?"

Liuxia Tuo frowned and pondered for a long time. Having trained cavalry for a while, his perspective had broadened, and he now considered matters more deeply. After a long silence, he replied:

"To train an elite infantry force, three conditions must be met: first, when facing the enemy, the army must possess a death-defying resolve; second, the individual combat prowess of the soldiers must be formidable; and third, the soldiers must be skilled in archery."

"If so, when engaging the enemy, they will charge forward without hesitation. In the heat of battle, they can overcome the strong with the weak. The army can be divided into a front and rear line; the front line engages in melee while the rear provides covering fire—this will surely yield miraculous results."

Although his points had merit, Meng Di shook his head. When Li Ling had led them through the fires of battle, they had faced cavalry without fear and won victory after victory. That success did not rely on these factors alone; it required soldiers with immense stamina. As the saying goes, "speed is the essence of war."