Chapter 41: Weapons and Armor

  The gentle breeze blew, occasionally rolling up the flags in the school field. Chen Kefu rode on a green horse, seriously measuring everything in front of him. Leaving for only a few days and coming back again, the camp was still the same broken military camp, but everything felt different, yet nothing had changed.

  When the Broken Army Camp was newly formed, although every day after training ended, His Majesty the Emperor would bestow many fine wines and meats upon the Broken Army Camp. However, for all the generals in the entire Liaodong Great Camp, the Broken Army Camp did not have a place to yield. All of this was just luck. The high-ranking generals looked down on these mere three thousand troops, while the mid-to-low ranking officers were more envious and disdainful. As for the soldiers at the bottom, they simply envied the soldiers of the Broken Army Camp who got to eat fine wines and meats every day.

  This time, the expedition to support Yu Dao achieved such a feat, which was not even thought of by Chen Kefu. Even now, standing in this large camp, he still has a feeling of being in a dream. It is still the same broken army camp, but his men and horses have changed from 3,000 to 10,000, with an additional 3,000 heavy armored cavalry. Along the way, the gazes of other generals in the large camps also made Chen Kefu proud.

  In the early morning, in the school field, at this time, a full queue of 10,000 soldiers stood in front of him. Ten thousand people, although it's only one-tenth of the large army that conquered Goryeo this time. However, when these 10,000 people became his own soldiers, looking at the endless queues, Chen Kefu finally felt a blood-boiling feeling, this is his own army.

  The emperor gave the order, and from each army, he drew out the most elite soldiers to expand the Broken Army Camp. Although the twenty-four military commanders below were not very pleased in their hearts, in the end, no one dared to disobey the emperor's will, and within a day, they had drawn out more than 7,000 elite cavalrymen and sent them to the Broken Army Camp. According to the emperor's intention, although the Broken Army Camp was nominally under the Left Bodyguard Office, it was actually an independent army, especially on this Liaodong battlefield, where it did not belong to any of the Twenty-Four Armies' jurisdiction, becoming a separate and independent unit, known as the Emperor's Personal Guard.

  Chen Kefu rode his horse alongside Li Benlei, carefully observing the scene of the 10,000-man exercise. He was still very satisfied with these newly transferred soldiers. After seriously sizing them up for a while, he found that this batch of reinforcements were indeed all elite troops. However, if such soldiers were not properly reorganized, it would not be easy to lead them either.

  "General, this time we've expanded from 3,000 to 10,000 men in one go. We must reorganize as soon as possible to turn these 10,000 into combat effectiveness. The reorganization will follow our previous plan, but the subsequent training will rely on you, sir. If there's anything needed, please let me know directly."

  Li Benlei nodded, "General, please be at ease. I also hope to get this ten thousand troops organized as soon as possible, so that we can return to the battlefield sooner and kill more of those Goguryeo bandits. However, we have indeed encountered some issues. The Emperor has ordered each army to dispatch their elite troops to expand the Broken Army Camp. Although no one dares to be careless with the 24th Army's commander, they only sent a horse, a suit of shining armor, and a cavalry spear for each person who came. They didn't provide any other equipment. I've gone to talk to them about it, but their response was that since these people have returned to our Broken Army Camp, we should be responsible for providing their equipment ourselves. They think they're already being generous by letting each person bring a basic set of equipment. Sir, now we have the men, but not the equipment."

  Chen Kefu felt a little angry after hearing this, but his anger only flashed by. Such things were just a small obstacle set by those people for him. If he went to find the emperor about this matter, he would definitely win the case in the end. However, if he did so, his relationship with the various armies would be thoroughly strained, and those people would no longer be jealous but would hate him instead.

  "Old General, you tell me what equipment we need and I'll think of a way to get it."

  "Sir, we have the armor for the heavy cavalry, but we lack good horses. The armor is too heavy and without good horses, they won't be able to last long in battle, which will greatly reduce their effectiveness. We can only select about 1,000 horses from our current stock to serve as warhorses for the heavy cavalry, which is still short of at least 2,000 horses. Moreover, when marching, it's best to have the heavy cavalry's equipment transported by carts to conserve energy, so we also need a large number of carts."

  "Hmm, I'll think of a way for this matter. Are there any other equipment requirements from the Light Cavalry?"

  "War horses, seven thousand light cavalry, we now have less than three thousand war horses. If the adults have a way, it's best to directly get ten thousand war horses back, so that we can also have some reserve war horses in our hands. In addition, there are helmets, although everyone brought their armor, but most of them are old and broken, I guess when they came, each army exchanged their damaged armor for the ones on their bodies. Also, each light cavalryman must be equipped with at least one horizontal knife, one crossbow, one light bow, one spear, and two quivers of arrows."

  Hearing such a long string of numbers, Chen Kefu couldn't help but get a headache. This wasn't just a small matter; dealing with such a large batch of weapons and equipment wouldn't be easy.

  He patted his forehead, and Chen Ke frowned, saying, "I'll leave this to General here, I need to think of a way to get these equipment back as soon as possible. As for the weapons, I haven't thought it through yet, but I don't think there's much of a problem with the war horses. This time we came back, we saved Taibai Temple's Shaoqing Yuwen Huaji's life, so he shouldn't give me any trouble. Moreover, yesterday we sent several boxes of gold, silver, and jewels from Xin City to Yuwen Shu, so I think that should be fine. As for the weapons, if all else fails, I'll just go see the Emperor myself. I'm sure the Emperor won't let our soldiers go into battle empty-handed."

  "Sir, unless absolutely necessary, it's better not to do so. If that happens, after I break through the enemy camp, I will truly be isolated by the various armies." The old man said with some worry.

  "Don't worry, I won't use this trick until the very end."

  Yuwen Huaji also felt a lingering fear after returning to the big camp under Liaodong City, and if Chen Kefu hadn't risked his life to rescue him, he would have lost his life in the wilderness of Liaodong. As for Chen Kefu's sudden visit, Yuwen Huaji was very happy, and by now, he had completely regarded Chen Kefu as his good brother. After exchanging some polite words, Chen Kefu mentioned his lack of horses.

  "How dare they, these rascals are too detestable! They clearly know that Brother Pojun is under my Wuwen family's wing, yet they still dared to make such a small move. Brother Pojun, please sit down for a moment, I'll immediately go and tell my father about this, let him report those people to the Emperor, thinking of making things difficult for Brother Pojun, but not looking down on whether my Wuwen family is willing or not." Although Yu Wenque was all smiles and seemed very willing to help, Chen Kefu felt extremely uncomfortable listening to him. His words were laced with an underlying tone that those generals had made his Wuwen family very angry by bullying him, Chen Kefu, without considering the master who owned the dog.

  He fully understood Yuwen culture and although he was very grateful for his life-saving grace, but did not truly regard Chen Kefu as a brother, only treating him as a high-ranking slave of the Yuwen family.

  Calming down the anger in his heart, Chen Kefu put on a smile and said, "Your Excellency doesn't have to be like this. If things really get to the Emperor's ears, although with General's favor towards the Emperor, it will definitely be resolved. However, it's not a good thing for General to trouble the Emperor with every matter. Sir, as the current Vice Minister of the Imperial Stables, isn't this horse matter still up to you?"

  Yu Wenqiao nodded, "Brother Pojun's words make sense. Although I'm not as young and promising as Brother Pojun, I can still be in charge of this temple. I'll immediately order my subordinates to select 10,000 high-quality war horses for you. You also need horse-drawn carriages, so I'll allocate 1,000 vehicles and 2,000 Numa horses to you. We're now sworn brothers, and I'll definitely take care of this matter for you. Fortunately, you came early; if you had come tomorrow, it might have been difficult to arrange." He looked very pleased with himself.

  "Oh, Yuwen brother, what are you talking about?" Seeing him smile like that, Chen Kefu also knew that there might be some inside information.

  Yu Wenhe looked around and, seeing no one was listening, lowered his voice and said with a pleased tone, "This time we defeated the 80,000 Goguryeo cavalry led by Yeon Gaesomun, and His Majesty is overjoyed. For the past two days, he has been discussing with the court officials how to reward those who have made contributions. I've already heard from my father that after two days of discussion, a decision has been made. Tomorrow, the Emperor will hold an audience in the imperial tent to reward those who have made achievements. This time, Brother Pojun's achievement is undoubtedly the greatest, and Father's victory over Yeon Gaesomun is also a great achievement. As for me, I was lucky this time, as I had submitted a memorial before Brother Pojun, so I got some credit too. So tomorrow, His Majesty will reward me with the title of Left Guard General of the third rank. If you come to find me tomorrow, Brother Pojun, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you with this matter."

  Chen Kefu was also shocked when he heard this, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of surprise. He didn't expect that Yu Wenrui, such a worthless person, would actually achieve such great merit and be appointed as the General of the Left Camp Guard. He wondered what those generals who had died in battle that day would think if they knew about this outcome.

  "Congratulations to Yuwen brother on his promotion, it's really 'a tiger father has no inferior son', Yuwen old gentleman is the number one general in the world today, now Yuwen brother is also so capable, promoted to Left Garrison General, and will definitely become a famous general like Yuwen old gentleman in the future."

  "It's too much, it's too much. Brother Pojun has already been recognized as the first to achieve success and will definitely receive a greater reward. The rewards for the others who have made contributions have all been decided, but Brother Pojun's has not yet been settled. However, when the time comes, the reward will definitely not be small. Ah, I suddenly remembered that there is one person who can help Brother Pojun solve his equipment problem. Let me take you to see him."

  Happy New Year everyone! It's time for the new year, those who have votes, vote for me, haha!