Chapter 7: Elite Troops and Powerful Generals

  Thank you xway for the reward, thank you!

  When one of the Emperor's personal bodyguards, carrying a large quantity of gifts for the troops, arrived at the camp with dozens of soldiers, all three thousand cavalrymen were stirred up.

  For them, it didn't matter which general they followed. But now that they had been assigned to this newly established "Broken Army" battalion, they were treated so well - not only did they have beef and mutton to eat, but there were also hundreds of jars of fine wine. This made the cavalrymen think that following this young general might be a good choice after all. At least when others were eating dry rations, they had good meat and wine to enjoy. Moreover, this general was a fierce warrior, so fighting under his command would likely provide more security, and even more opportunities to gain military merit and rewards.

  A group of officers also walked out of the camp and drank large mouthfuls of fine wine with the cavalry, eating big chunks of roasted golden beef and mutton.

  Li Benlei sat beside Chen Kefu, drinking wine generously while asking, "General, how do you plan to organize these three thousand cavalrymen? According to the rules of marching, they should be divided into groups of a hundred men each, with thirty groups in total. But what about these officers?"

  "A great war is imminent, but our three thousand horses and men are all allocated from elsewhere. If we can't form a combat force in a short period of time, then we'll be in trouble for the upcoming great war." Chen Kefu sighed.

  Li Benlei looked at the joyful cavalry in front of him and said, "Each and every one of them are good sons of my Han family. If they go to the battlefield like this, I don't know how many will stay here, and I don't know how many can return home." Looking at these happy soldiers, the old general couldn't help but think of his own subordinates. The last time he conquered Goguryeo, he was the commander-in-chief, with 4,000 cavalrymen and 8,000 infantrymen under him, a total of over 10,000 people. However, when they retreated across the Liao River, there were less than 200 people left. Even his three sons and two grandsons who had just come of age all died in Liaodong.

  "General, I know you are my senior, and if you don't mind, I hope you can take charge of integrating and strengthening the training of these 3,000 men. Let's keep our current cavalry formation for now, as I'm not sure how to reorganize it at the moment. If we're not careful, we might end up disrupting the morale of the troops. Now that we've entered Liaodong, we may soon be fighting against the Goguryeo people. I've heard of your great reputation since I was young, and I hope you can take charge of training our cavalry's formation coordination, weapon clashes, white blade combat skills, close combat, and outdoor pursuits. On the training grounds, set up wooden stakes and have them chop at the stakes on horseback to strengthen their physical strength and endurance as much as possible. Let them sweat more now, so they can bleed less later."

  Chen Benlei looked at the young general in front of the bonfire with some surprise, able to rattle off so many cavalry training methods in one breath, which was extremely rare. In this era, most soldiers were illiterate martial artists, and even if they were from aristocratic families, there were only a few who truly understood military tactics and formations. Although Lao Yezi had spent his entire life studying the art of war and had learned many training methods through actual combat experience, he couldn't compare to Chen Kefu's comprehensive and clear explanations.

  "It seems that the general is a man who knows his troops, far better than I do. The general has some methods that I have never heard of before, but once explained, they make perfect sense. This cavalry training indeed emphasizes individual strength and endurance, as well as teamwork and coordination. The method you've arranged for chopping wood stakes is quite good, chopping wood stakes while charging forward, what a great idea!"

  Chen Kefu took a big gulp of wine and laughed, "Actually, I used to love listening to historical stories and whatnot, but my favorite is still the story of the Three Kingdoms. What I said was just some clichés, but to really train these cavalrymen, we need someone like you, an old general, to take charge. By rights, you're my senior, and your former position was even higher than mine, but for now, I couldn't find many suitable people, so I had no choice but to ask the old general to come out of retirement." The Three Kingdoms that Chen Kefu mentioned actually referred to the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", although in this era, there were also many people who passed down stories about the Three Kingdoms, they were all sorts of different adaptations and oral traditions, far inferior to the original novel.

  Li Benlei waved his hand, "General, there's no need to say that again. I'm now just a cavalry captain, so if you have something to do, just order me, and I won't decline. I will definitely train these three thousand young men according to your method, as long as you give me some time, I can definitely turn them into the best cavalry in the army. Unfortunately, when I observed the troops, although these three thousand cavalrymen are equipped with bright light armor, long spears and curved knives, if they could also be equipped with a batch of small round shields, plus a crossbow and a bow, then their combat effectiveness would be even more powerful."

  Chen Kefu's eyes lit up as he listened, and he thought that in this era, cavalry already had saddles and stirrups, so if they were equipped with bows and crossbows, then the cavalry could not only charge into enemy formations at close range but also attack from a distance with their bows and crossbows.

  "General, I'll take care of this matter. I'll go find General Yuwen and see if we can get it. The only concern is that time is too short, and without proper training, they may not be effective in battle."

  "Don't worry, most of our cavalrymen can draw their bows and shoot arrows. And sometimes it's not even necessary for them to have good archery skills. At critical moments, a simple shot from below can be just as effective." Li Benlei was overjoyed when he heard that Chen Kefu could also get his hands on some crossbows. He now wanted to train the three thousand cavalrymen in his hands to kill more of the Goguryeo people and avenge the tens of thousands of sons who had died miserably in Liaodong.

  The next day, Chen Kefu suddenly changed his gentle face to everyone and ordered the whole camp to temporarily not follow the marching system to reorganize the troops. The whole camp still followed the traditional military organization, but considering that many officers were new recruits, Li Chenxin reorganized all the officers above the brigade level. On the surface, he did this to increase combat effectiveness, but in fact, Chen Kefu did this just to better grasp the military power of these three thousand people in his hands and prevent his subordinates from overthrowing him. As the world was about to fall into chaos, although Chen Kefu didn't know where to go next, holding military power was the greatest guarantee for survival in this chaotic era.

  Chen Kefu not only reassigned officers above the brigade level, but also ordered Li Benlei to temporarily take over as his deputy. However, this was a private appointment and not recognized by the imperial court. But here he had the final say, and if he said someone was his deputy, others had to accept it. The old masters had all held high positions in the past, so no one had any objections. Chen Kefu also reassigned Luo Lin's team as his personal bodyguards, with Luo Lin as their leader, which was also a way of showing favor to him.

  Mr. Chen's first task after taking office was to train, with high-intensity training every day, including cavalry formation coordination, weapon fighting skills, close combat, outdoor raids, chopping wood on horseback, and archery on horseback. Basically, everyone was exhausted by the end of each day, but at this time, Chen Kefu would always appear in a very friendly manner and announce that there would be plenty of beef and mutton to eat in the evening, so although the training was tiring, it was worth it for the sake of the meat.

  At the end of a day's training, the cavalrymen would light bonfires in the big camp and share beef and mutton with gusto. This was treatment that even the Imperial Guards couldn't enjoy. Yet, following Lord Chen Kefu, they could have large chunks of beef and mutton every day, and the top ten soldiers from each training session would also receive two taels of fine wine. Such treatment made countless friendly armies jealous to death; many soldiers from broken army camps had friends and fellow villagers come ask if they could be transferred to the Broken Army Camp as well.

  The eagle flag of the Broken Army Camp is raised high, and at this time, the lights are shining brightly. All officers above the rank of team leader are here, lined up on both sides according to their size and duties.

  "Gentlemen, although our military camp is more rigorous and exhausting than others, we have meat and wine every day, which makes many other generals and soldiers envy and jealous. There are even rumors outside that we are the emperor's ceremonial guards, all with silver-plated gun heads, looking good on the surface but unable to fight on the battlefield. Can you accept such talk?"

  "No!"

  "Speak louder!"

  "No way!!!"

  "Alright, this is the true elite of my Broken Army Camp. We've been training for a thousand days, and now it's time to put that training into action. To prove that my 3,000 men are not just idle mouths to feed, I have already requested an imperial decree from His Majesty to take us into battle. The outcome is far from certain, but I hope everyone will work together with one heart. Wherever our blades point, we will charge forward bravely. This time, we must establish the prestige of Broken Army Camp in front of all three armies. I want everyone to know that the prestige of Broken Army Camp was earned through bloodshed, not just by eating and drinking!"

  "Kill! Kill!! Kill!!!!"

  Looking at the excited officers in front of him, Chen Kefu believed that the upcoming first battle of Broken Army Camp would surely make a big impact. He wanted to spread the prestige of Broken Army Camp throughout the three armies.

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