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Fei Qian looked in the direction Jia Xu indicated. They were the bamboo-woven screens, standing a person and a half in height, fixed onto wooden posts on either side of the road, shielding from view those ruins and debris that had yet to be fully cleared and restored.
"These are partition fences, used for screening," Fei Qian explained. In later ages, such things would mostly be made of single-faced blue iron sheets, usually plastered with slogans and mottoes, surrounding construction sites. Of course, beyond their functions of screening and demarcating area boundaries, they served, in fact, a purpose rooted in a psychological cue: the broken window effect. A construction site, no matter what, is always a chaotic mess—bricks, stone, timber, and all manner of materials are present.
No matter how tidily they are arranged, they will still look utterly disorderly. By screening them from view now, one not only hides this chaotic scene but also grants a sense of neatness to the people walking along the main street. Otherwise, would you believe it—certain people, walking along, when nature suddenly calls, seeing nothing but broken walls and ruined tiles over there, would hitch up their outer robes and turn into a corner to relieve themselves? And the worse the environment becomes, the more the sense of order fades from people's hearts, making it easier for them to lose respect for rules and propriety, and thus increasingly inclined to become disruptors of order. Yet now, what Fei Qian needed most was precisely to instill a consciousness of order in every aspect—from the small scale to the large, from the military to the common people. Hence, he had expended considerable thought on these details.
Jia Xu, naturally, could not possibly comprehend the effects involved. Yet he sensed that, in this way, the city no longer looked as much like one still under renovation. Moreover, it ought to... it seemed... perhaps also have some other function? Jia Xu narrowed his long, slender eyes.
After walking another stretch of road, a squad of ten men rounded a street corner. They were somewhat older, clad in lamellar armor, hands resting on their weapons. Formed into a perfectly aligned column, they advanced along the side of the street. Spotting Fei Qian and his party, they paused briefly, offered a salute, and then continued onward along the street. This was something Jia Xu had noticed upon his arrival but had not found anyone to explain. Now, seeing them again, he quickly asked Fei Qian.
Fei Qian smiled faintly and said, "At present, there are insufficient civil clerks, and therefore, military administration is in force."
Jia Xu pressed further: "What is meant by military administration?"
"When soldiers within the army are used to govern and control the common people, that is military administration," Fei Qian explained with a chuckle. Would I tell you about urban management officers? Would I tell you the actual meaning behind it? This was precisely the reason Fei Qian could boldly pull Jia Xu along to see for himself—because even if one looked, one might not necessarily understand.
"Ahem, might the General of the Household deign to explain just a little?" Jia Xu, however, had sharply seized upon the crux of the matter and continued to probe.
Fei Qian continued walking slowly as he spoke: "When chaos is first settled, only through strict law can virtue be protected. Thus, thieves have their fingers cut off; robbers have their arms severed; those who wound others have their hands chopped; murderers are beheaded. That is all." In the beginning, quite a number had indeed been chopped. But the results were, essentially, instantaneous.
Without litigation, there were far fewer legal documents and official petitions to deal with. As veterans, making simple judgments, they rarely encountered problems. Catching the culprit on the spot, gathering evidence on the spot, carrying out the punishment on the spot—though this might cause some who acted on momentary impulse, or were driven by desperate circumstances, to lose their chance at reform and a new start, considering the current stage, it was also one of the swiftest means to establish the social order necessary for human communal living. And the other aspect was the military-controlled distribution of goods and supplies.
Fei Qian led Jia Xu to the training grounds east of the city. At present, because the majority of the troops had been pulled to the northwest of Pingyang for training, only the non-commissioned officers rotating through study courses, and a few soldiers granted leave for good performance, remained here. Thus, taking advantage of the empty encampment, they had stockpiled grain, fodder, and other supplies here. Fei Qian himself estimated that military administration might need to persist for quite a long stretch of time.
Du Yuan was bustling about with several minor clerks. Seeing Fei Qian approach, he came forward to salute, and upon noticing Jia Xu beside Fei Qian, he also offered a salute, saying, "Brother Ziyu, how are your accommodations at the post station? Is there anything amiss?" In any city, the county office, the post station, the granary, and the training grounds—these were the most fundamental facilities. With these in place, everything else could be built up slowly over time. Du Yuan had encountered Jia Xu at the city gate and had by the way arranged for him to stay at the post station. Now, naturally, he also inquired about the situation.
"Wenzheng, you've come at just the right moment. Ziyu wishes to understand how goods and supplies are distributed under military administration. I must trouble you to explain a little," Fei Qian said, tossing this piping-hot tuber of a man, Jia Xu, straight into Du Yuan's hands. After all, even if Jia Xu learned of it, he could not transplant it back with him. This sort of thing was usually only effective at the very outset. If, right now, one were to order the Xiliang troops to take to the streets of Chang'an and initiate military administration, without a hundredth part of a thought, it was certain to be utter chaos. In Pingyang county town, all goods and supplies were centralized. The vast majority of common folk and soldiers had no private hoards.
Everyone was penniless; after eating and drinking their fill, they had nothing to hanker after. Even if one wanted to rob someone, it would be hard to find any suitable target. And what of Chang'an? Though it had suffered grievously during Wang Mang's rebellion, over so many years, it had gradually recovered somewhat. To say nothing else, the middle-class households in the city and the various shops and businesses—heh heh. If military administration were truly adopted there, and once control slipped, or if they encountered agitators with ulterior motives, just as in Luoyang... As expected, Jia Xu returned a short while later, looking somewhat disconsolate. Presumably, he too had realized this problem.
Fei Qian's face held a faint smile. Strictly speaking, what was currently being implemented in the Pingyang region was a composite polity of oligarchy, military administration, and a planned economy. Under such circumstances, no matter how clever Jia Xu was, he had no way to copy it wholesale, like drawing a cat from a tiger, and apply it in Chang'an. Moreover, Fei Qian considered that if, further down the line, after this period of austerity had passed and the goods available on the market gradually became more abundant, he could then introduce a system of promissory notes and transactions, and subsequently transition to a gold-and-silver monetary policy. For this, he had to thank 2K Games... These were the impressions lingering in Fei Qian's mind, accompanying him from Civilization IV through VI. Of course, these things were also the summation of knowledge and experience spanning a thousand years.
Evidently, Jia Xu could not digest it now. He had seen a great deal, but he could not apply any of it. Fei Qian cupped his hands and said, "Ziyu, it is not that I am unwilling to speak. In truth, the differences between the two locales are far too great. I, too, am without a stratagem." Jia Xu remained silent for a long moment, then nodded and sighed.
That night, Jia Xu stayed at the post station. Several times he picked up his brush, yet did not know exactly how to set his words down. It seemed there was a great deal to say, yet it was difficult to describe. He simply set down brush and ink, walked to the window, and gazed out at Pingyang, which seemed to be thriving and rising with construction at every hour. Suddenly, he felt that this place possessed a vitality and vigor even beyond that of Chang'an. This vitality and vigor was something he had not found elsewhere in all his long years. Truly a pity that he had to return. Jia Xu shook his head, narrowing his eyes. Otherwise, he really ought to stay and observe such an interesting place a while longer... This world under heaven—only when there are a few more amusing affairs does it become truly diverting to play in.