Chapter 25 The Sword Returns to the Lord On the other hand, while Chen Gong was understanding the people's sentiments, Cheng Yu came to the Wen County military camp. This military camp, located east of Wen County and on the banks of the Daqing River, was built by Tian Ze into a towering fortress. There were countless cavalry patrolling outside, and ordinary people could not get close at all. In fact, this was not entirely done to protect the military camp, but more to cover the transportation of refugees into the Liaodong Mountains. Holding Tian Ze's token, Cheng Yu entered the military camp without any hindrance. As soon as he entered the military camp, Cheng Yu was stunned by the scene before him. What came into view was a vast grassland, with three cavalry units of hundreds of men galloping. cavalry! These are three hundred cavalrymen, fully armored and well-equipped with weapons! How can a mere county afford to support so many soldiers? Including the soldiers defending the city that he had seen before, Cheng Yu roughly estimated that there were probably more than a thousand soldiers in Wen County. Thinking of this, even he couldn't help but take a breath. A county with only a few thousand people has thousands of elite soldiers. How did they do it?
You have to know that these are not militiamen, but regular soldiers. In an ordinary county in the Central Plains, there are hundreds of thousands of people, but the number of soldiers is no more than 3,000. Xu Rong, who was standing by, saw Cheng Yu's shocked expression and smiled slightly. He had the same expression when he first came. My lord is truly capable of doing what no one else can do. Soon, Cheng Yu calmed down and began to carefully look at the three hundred cavalrymen in front of him. Unlike infantry, cavalry is slow to develop, has high cost, and is difficult to quickly form combat effectiveness. The training cost of one cavalryman can train at least five infantrymen. But once it is formed, it can exert tremendous power on the battlefield and can almost crush the infantry. It has strong mobility and impact force, can attack when advancing and defend when retreating, can carry out long-distance raids, harassment and detours, has flexible and changeable tactics, and can play a decisive role on the battlefield. After just watching for a while, Cheng Yu had a preliminary assessment of the three cavalry units. They have excellent basic qualities and strong organization, but their horsemanship is a little immature, and their archery skills and the ability to wield spears and halberds on horseback are not proficient enough. However, the squad leaders among them were unexpectedly excellent. Not only did they have outstanding cavalry combat capabilities, but they were also quite knowledgeable about tactical command. Cheng Yu had seen some cavalry generals in the army, and some of them were probably not as good as these squad leaders in terms of quality. The overall combat capability should be no less than that of ordinary border cavalry. Moreover, these three cavalry units have obviously begun to form their own styles. The cavalry led by Guan Yu focused more on training short-range charges and harassment with mounted archery. The cavalry led by Ma Teng focused more on training endurance for frontal assaults and long-distance raids. The cavalry led by Zhang He focused more on training the agility of changing formations and dividing and gathering troops. In addition, the training of the rest of the infantry also includes a lot of content on the conversion from infantry to cavalry. After all, this is Liaodong, and their enemies are mostly nomadic peoples. Even the infantry have to learn to ride horses, otherwise it will be difficult to resist the Hu cavalry who come and go like the wind.
Among them, the 100 elite soldiers led by Gao Shun caught Cheng Yu's attention. A group of soldiers were all wearing black armor, and there seemed to be a layer of leather armor underneath. They were holding light and sturdy round shields and sharp long spears, and had ring-handled swords on their waists. The strict enforcement of orders and the neat military appearance reminded Cheng Yu of the former Qin warriors and Wei soldiers recorded in the books. "Mr. Cheng, most of our soldiers were recruited three months ago, so they are still lacking in training. I would like to ask for your guidance," said Xu Rong. Earlier at the banquet, he already knew that Cheng Yu was well versed in military affairs, so he explained briefly to avoid being misunderstood and looked down upon. With three meals a day and full-time training, the infantry in the army has basically taken shape, but the cavalry still lacks a lot of room for improvement. "Only training for three months?" A gleam of light flashed in Cheng Yu's eyes. “How did you do it?” Xu Rong told the generals about their training situation without reservation. They had received orders from Tian Ze before that, except for the situation of the refugees in Changxing Island and Liaodong Mountains, everything else could be introduced to the two of them. Listening to Xu Rong's story, Cheng Yu's heart was filled with huge waves. "Woo! Woo! Woo!" Accompanied by three loud trumpet sounds, it was already three quarters past noon, and the soldiers who had been training for a whole morning finally arrived for lunch time. After the summary of the pre-meal speech, Cheng Yu followed the soldiers to the cafeteria. "The lunch in the army is relatively richer, with plenty of rice, steamed buns, porridge and fish. Other meats, vegetables and fruits are in limited supply. We eat the same thing as these soldiers," Xu Rong introduced. "For example, today, each person had a bowl of sweet and sour pork, scrambled eggs with leeks, and cabbage with vinegar, and the fruit was two tangerines." Looking at the sumptuous lunch, Cheng Yu couldn't help but widen his eyes. "Is this what you usually feed these soldiers?" "Yes. The lord said that the supply of vegetables, fruits, beef, mutton, eggs, milk and the like is still a little insufficient. It can only be like this temporarily, and it will improve in the future." Xu Rong explained hurriedly. Cheng Yu was stunned, swallowed his saliva, and said calmly: "Yeah, not bad." "What about other benefits?" "Ordinary soldiers receive 1,000 coins per month, with food and lodging provided, and a set of clothing every quarter. Officers receive double the salary according to their rank." "After retiring due to disability, old age, or completion of service, they will be assigned a job according to their rank and receive relevant subsidies. If they die in battle, they will receive a pension, and their children will be guaranteed to reach adulthood." Hearing this, Cheng Yu understood completely. This was using the money and food that the Han people used to raise four or five soldiers to train one soldier, no wonder they were so elite. "Where's the ordnance?" "Distribute them normally. Replace them if they are broken. If they are not broken, replace them regularly." Xu Rong said as a matter of course. "I just saw that you were all training with real swords and guns, and the intensity was so high, the losses must be quite high." Cheng Yu frowned. Xu Rong nodded: "Our weapons are of good quality, but we still have to replace them twice a month on average." "Change it twice a month!" Cheng Yu's pupils shrank slightly.
Xu Rong casually pulled out the ring-handled sword from the waist of a soldier standing guard nearby and said, "Mr. Cheng, please look, this is our standard ring-handled sword." After Cheng Yu took it, he looked at the blade, then tapped it gently. When he heard the clear and long sound, he held it in his hand and waved it. I was surprised at the quality of this knife. The weight distribution, the feel of the grip, and the quality of the iron used in the blade are all surprisingly good. Then he picked up the sword at his waist without hesitation and chopped hard with both arms. I saw a small gap appearing on the blade of my sword, but the blade of the ring-handled sword was completely intact. Cheng Yu's face was full of disbelief. You know, his sword was a carefully crafted fifty-refined sword, but it was no match for this mere standard long sword. He didn't know that although Tian Ze didn't develop blast furnace ironmaking technology, he improved the hydraulic hammer forging technology a lot and perfected the steel pouring method. Now the military equipment is made of fine iron that has been forged more than a hundred times. When Xu Rong saw this, he put away his sword without saying a word. "Mr. Cheng, there are several swords in the armory, specially made by the lord. Since you are here, why don't we go take a look?" Cheng Yu, who was already in self-doubt, nodded dully. Xu Rong said to the guards beside him: "Leave two portions of food, we will come later." When he arrived at the armory and saw the neatly arranged and densely packed various types of weapons, Cheng Yu calmly said that he had gotten used to it. "How much ordnance is here?" "20,000 sets of leather armor, 20,000 shields, 10,000 spears, halberds, ring-handled swords, 10,000 bows, 200,000 arrows, 30,000 crossbows, 800,000 crossbow arrows..." After hearing Xu Rong's detailed introduction, Cheng Yu was already numb. With so many weapons, it is more than enough to mobilize tens of thousands of people to rebel. Cheng Yu knew that he might not be able to leave. Suddenly, Cheng Yu saw ten swords hanging on a shelf on the wall, and two spaces on the shelf were empty. The sword is full of brilliance, the hilt is decorated with jade, and the sword body is carved with exquisite cloud patterns and various designs, making it look noble and elegant. "These are the twelve swords made by the lord himself. They are named after the earthly branches and can cut iron like mud. The Rat Sword was taken by Mr. Wenhe, and the Rabbit Sword was taken by Zitai. As for the rest, the lord has instructed you and Mr. Chen to pick one." …… "My Lord, do you think Cheng Zhongde and Chen Gongtai will be frightened after seeing so many secrets?" Jia Xu, who was fishing with Tian Ze by the pond in the backyard of the county government office, suddenly said. "They should. Even if they are as smart as they are, they probably can't think of this. Wenhe, weren't you also shocked at the time?" Tian Ze said with a smile. "If these two are unwilling to submit to you, my lord, what do you plan to do?" "You know, it's easy to deal with Chen Gongtai, but if the secrets that Cheng Zhongde learned are leaked out, we won't have enough heads to chop off even if we have ten of them," asked Jia Xu. It would be fine if the agricultural and commercial secrets were leaked, and at most they would be said to be auspicious signs from heaven. The imperial court would not blame them, and might not even care, thinking that Liaodong was just bragging.
But military secrets are really life-threatening. Apart from anything else, secretly storing so many weapons is no small crime. "No." Tian Ze looked calmly at the two small dots on the small map that had turned green, and said confidently. Jia Xu smiled slightly, said no more, and asked. "Of those ten swords, which one do you think they will choose?" "I don't know. It all depends on fate. I don't know how many of these twelve swords that I made on a whim will I be able to give away in the end." Tian Ze murmured to himself. That night, Cheng Yu and Chen Gong met. After exchanging what they had seen and heard, Cheng Yu placed a sword horizontally in front of Chen Gong. Chen Gong was silent for a moment, then took the sword with both hands with a solemn expression. "Ugly Bull Sword." He glanced at Cheng Yu silently: "Which one are you holding?" Cheng Yu touched the sword at his waist and smiled: "Xu Gou Sword." He will not easily recognize his master, but once he does, he will be loyal to the end. He is nearly forty years old and has wasted half of his life. He doesn't know how much time he has left. As a person who may die at any time, he naturally does things without scruples. (End of this chapter)
