Chapter 30: Of the Use of Spies

  "Two months' worth of rations will be enough! However, first let each soldier carry as much as possible on their person without hindering action, and the specific amount is up to you!"

  "Alright! I'll go ahead and give the orders now." Wang Fei didn't drag his feet either, after making up his mind he stood up and left.

  After Wang Fei went out of the gate, Wang Xu turned his head and looked at Xu Shu with a blaming gaze: "What's wrong with you! Making such a mistake, fortunately, Second Brother is a family member and won't ask much. In the future, this kind of situation must never happen again."

  Xu Shu also knew her mistake, looked at Wang Xu's slightly angry face and couldn't help but pout: "Okay! Got it! I just slipped up for a moment!"

  After finishing speaking, big eyes rolled around and quickly changed the subject. "By the way, I remember when we were at home, you suddenly said something was wrong, and then second brother asked you, but you didn't say anything either. What exactly happened? You looked so anxious."

  For Xu Shu's habit that made himself quite annoyed, Wang Xu also had no way to deal with it, but he couldn't just keep nagging, it was really a headache!

  Helplessly sighing, Wang Xu also followed her words and said weakly: "It's because of Ma Diao!"

  "Stirrup?"

  "Well, haven't you realized yet? There's no stirrup now, just a soft cushion on the horseback, and it's extremely difficult to fight on horseback." As soon as this matter was mentioned, Wang Xu's mood became very unpleasant. How could he have forgotten such an important thing?

  Upon hearing Wang Xu say this, Xú Shū suddenly seemed to remember something and said: "Right! Having been in the late Han dynasty for so long, I've gotten used to riding horseback and had forgotten that there's such a good thing as stirrups! I recall that online many people said that at this time cavalry couldn't effectively control their horses without stirrups, and basically couldn't use long-handled large knives and heavy armor on horseback, only using bows, crossbows, and long spears for mounted combat. And some even said that they would ride to the destination and then dismount to fight...

  "Hey! Don't believe those superficial answers. Without mentioning numerous academic research reports and archaeological evidence, even a visit to the museum would reveal that this statement is one-sided. There are many paintings from the Qin and Han dynasties that depict scenes of war, which fully demonstrate this." With disdain, Wang Xu negated the information Xu Shu had seen somewhere, and then slowly continued to explain to Xu Shu.

  According to later records, at this time, due to the lack of stirrups, fighting on horseback was indeed very difficult. However, they underestimated the harsh demands that ancient people placed on themselves. Ancient people who faced a cruel survival environment for a long time, due to their technical backwardness, were even more concerned with strengthening their own abilities. After all, constantly facing death can always stimulate humanity's deepest potential.

  "So, it's not just this period, but even earlier, there were already horse battles. Although bows and arrows were indeed the main weapons of cavalry at that time, they also began to use copper-headed knives, ring-headed knives, long spears, halberds, short swords, and other weapons for battle. As for those who say that during the Han Wu Emperor's time, all soldiers rode horses to the position and then got off their horses to fight, even taking down their bows and arrows before shooting, this is even more unbelievable."

  Here is the translation:

  Speaking of this, Wang Xu carefully recalled the classics he had read: "As far as I know, during the Han Dynasty, there were many fine war horses. In order to deal with the cavalry of nomadic tribes, infantrymen would ride on war horses and then dismount when fighting, mainly to increase the mobility of infantrymen. However, cavalry was different, and some documents often mentioned 'riding and shooting' or 'galloping and shooting'. The Records of the Han Dynasty recorded that General Li Guang, the Flying General, 'rode with over a dozen horsemen and shot at the White Horse General', which can illustrate the excellence of ancient riding skills and martial arts.

  "In the "Hanshu Benzhuan", at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Guan Fu 'wore armor and held a halberd, with only two people and dozens of slaves riding into the Wu army'. There is also Donghan's Ma Wu 'selected elite cavalry to serve as rear guard, wearing armor and holding a halberd to charge forward'. Ding Feng's 'riding horse and holding a spear'. When Gongsun Zan's cavalry encountered Xianbei cavalry, 'he held a double-edged spear and rushed out to charge the enemy' and so on, all of which prove that cavalry battles actually existed."

  Speaking of which, Wang Xu could no longer hold back the indignation in his heart and loudly complained: "There are always many people who like to associate others with themselves. He always thinks that if he can't do something, others can't either. They don't respect facts at all, nor do they think that people are forced out by circumstances, environments are different, situations are different, and naturally there will be different miracles appearing around humans! Isn't humanity advancing precisely in the midst of such pressure, constantly breaking through limits? Later generations rely on more and more technology, but people become lazier. Without technology, they can't even catch up with the survival abilities of ancient people."

  "What's wrong with you, getting all worked up here?" Seeing Wang Xu get more and more agitated, Xu Shu couldn't help but give him a white eye, saying in an ill-tempered tone: "Of course the ancients were better! Now aren't you also one of them? You've excluded advanced technology from strengthening yourself, right? Don't you still have deep inner power? Haven't your gaming fantasies come true? Isn't this great?"

  Hearing the sarcasm hidden in Xu Shu's words, Wang Xu's momentum suddenly weakened, and he muttered somewhat resentfully: "Is this what I wanted? Is reincarnation great? Depressing!"

  "Alright! I was just teasing you, it's none of your business anyway." As she said this, Xu Shu's tone turned solemn, with a hint of sadness.

  Wang Xu's heart also surged with sadness, but he quickly laughed and changed the subject. "However, to think about it, returning to ancient times only to discover that internal energy actually exists is really quite mysterious. I've only just realized that I didn't understand the world I was in, and it seems like many theories have been overturned! What's most difficult for me to comprehend is the metalworking technology of this era - can such high-grade steel really exist? Can such high-grade weapons really exist? I used to think that those Yuanqu, Ming-Qing operas, as well as storytelling, evaluations, and unofficial histories were all nonsense. But now that internal energy exists, and the metalworking technology that shouldn't have appeared until after the Tang and Song dynasties has also appeared... good heavens! Who can tell me what's going on right now?"

  "Haha!"

  Xu Shu was amused by Wang Xu's exaggerated expression and couldn't help but smile, but then he said mysteriously: "You still have the mood to sigh about this, I think it's better for you to sigh about something else."

  "What's that?"

  Just as Wang Xu was puzzled, Xue Shu made a strange expression and suddenly made an extremely exaggerated pose of looking up at the sky and letting out a long sigh.

  "Oh heavens, oh earth! My understanding has been turned upside down. How did the Yellow Turban Rebellion break out now? Wasn't it supposed to happen next year? What am I going to do?" Before he could even finish speaking, he burst into laughter, holding his belly and laughing uncontrollably.

  Wang Xu now just wants to cry...