Chapter 38: Troops are strong, provisions are sufficient, and money is plentiful

  The Battle of Baimagou, Xu Wei led a small team to successfully lure the enemy out of the cave, and Yang Yan led two teams of soldiers through the mountain path to cut off the enemy's retreat. When the thieves were busy transporting food back and forth, he had already set up his formation, and Xu Wei also led his troops to climb to the top of the valley. At this time, Ma Tai led a team of heavily armed cavalrymen to rush straight to Baimagou from three miles away. The three sides surrounded and trapped the enemy, just like catching turtles in a jar. Zhang Qing, on the other hand, led dozens of archers and riders to flee to the enemy's lair without fighting, shooting and retreating, and luring the tiger out of the mountain. In this battle, the Jingwei Camp annihilated more than 180 people, captured more than 230 people alive, and the rest fled in disarray. Eight people were killed in action, and more than 40 people were injured, including more than 10 people who were self-inflicted injuries. The war achievements can be said to be brilliant.

  But Xu Wei didn't feel happy. Firstly, the opponent was an untrained bandit, and winning wasn't glorious. Secondly, the current discipline of the Jingwei Camp was almost non-existent; when he led his team to disguise themselves as merchants and scatter, one person was greedy for beheading rewards and ignored the danger of exposing the ambush, returning to kill a bandit and taking the head before rejoining the team. Thirdly, the current strength of the Jingwei Camp could eliminate these bandits, but compared to the Jurchen iron cavalry, it was far inferior.

  The distance from the Golden Army's southward invasion of Song is only two months away. The most urgent task, first, is to continue expanding the troops and intensify training; second, is to collect military supplies through various channels, including weapons, equipment, horses; third, is the top priority, talent, including officers, clerks, blacksmiths, military doctors, even cooks. The first point is not difficult, the old master is a veteran of the Western Army and can serve as an advisor. The second point is more challenging, the court has spoken before, only responsible for grain and military pay, all other matters are self-managed. The third point makes him even more headache, tens of thousands of Song Dynasty civilians, Hebei has been a place of outstanding people since ancient times, talents are not in short supply, but why would they join you? What ability do you have to make them abandon the treatment of the Forbidden Army?

  Just as he was at his wit's end, the old master helped him out with a big favor, summoning several veteran officers from his hometown to train the soldiers. Ma Tai's father was an ironworker in the village, skilled in his craft, and gathered his fellow apprentices from nearby villages to join the Jingwei camp. There were also wealthy merchants from Hangzhou who had traveled down the Grand Canal and landed at Xiajin, hearing about Xu Jiuzhuang's heroic deeds, generously donating 2,000 taels of silver and 1,500 catties of high-quality iron.

  Having solved the urgent problem, Xu Wei put all his energy into training soldiers. At this time, the benefits of pulling up troops to fight without training came out. Those who had seen blood on the battlefield were no less than being reborn in fire, and their spirits were greatly different. In addition, Xu Wei's reward money paid with his own gold was a great incentive to morale. Moreover, Commander-in-Chief himself ate and lived with soldiers, sharing joys and sorrows, who would not strive to die for him? As a result, the security situation in Xiajin County improved significantly.

  On this day, the sky was clear and vast, with a single blue hue. On the training grounds, the soldiers were practicing intensely, their bare upper bodies glistening with sweat as they shouted loudly. The several old subordinates of Xu Taigong, who had returned to their hometown due to injuries, were all low-ranking military officers in the Western Army. Although their military ranks were not high in the past, they were skilled at training soldiers and were appointed by Xu Wei as instructors, specializing in knife and gun training as well as troop deployment. These instructors continued the strict traditions of the Western Army, treating the soldiers extremely harshly, whipping and kicking them at the slightest dissatisfaction. Xu Wei never interfered, for if he were to speak of "humanization" from his past era in the Song Dynasty, it would be a recipe for disaster. Mercy does not work with troops; most of these soldiers were illiterate farmers who couldn't even tell left from right when standing in formation - how could you expect them to respond to gentle guidance? You had to use force! Once they were afraid, they would naturally remember. The more sweat they shed during peacetime, the less blood they would shed during wartime; this was an unchanging truth that applied to any era.

  Xu Wei led the officers, shirtless, each carrying a thick wooden stake, surrounding the wheat field and sweating profusely. Others were easy to say, but Ma Tai's body was fat and slow, and he was overtaken by Xu Wei and Yang Yan by three laps. Don't underestimate Ma Tai, this guy used to be timid and afraid of things, but that was his personality, not that he didn't have real skills. In Xujiazhuang, in terms of martial arts, Xu Wei was the first; in archery, Zhang Qing was not to be outdone; in fearlessness, no one surpassed Yang Yan; as for riding and strength, who dared to compare with Ma Tai? Don't look at his fat head and ears, like Maitreya, on horseback he was no different from flat ground, especially his arm strength. In the Battle of Baimagou, he personally killed six people, which is also why his father came to surrender to Xu Wei. His son earned 18 taels of reward money at once, how much iron would he have to forge to get that?

  "Vice Magistrate Xu, Commander Xu, Master Xu, Ninth Brother Xu... it's no use, really no use..." Ma Tai plopped down on the ground with a thud, panting as he spoke.

  That Ma Da Niu was over forty years old, with a full beard and muscles as hard as iron blocks. His skin had been roasted by the furnace fire for many years, turning dark red. At this moment, he came out of the iron shed and saw his son sitting on the ground. He walked up to him and gave him a kick: "You useless good-for-nothing, get up! Look at Vice Xu, who's half a year younger than you!"

  "His father is a fifth-grade official, and my father is an ironworker. Can they be the same?" Ma Tai retorted.

  Ma Daniu was taken aback, and kicked again: "Hey, it's all because of me...". Seeing Xu Wei coming over, he didn't bother with his son, but instead went forward to sing a fat note, cupped his hands and said: "Vice Xu, the iron tip presented by the rich merchant from Hangzhou is indeed top-grade good iron! I've newly cast several weapons, you and everyone come take a look, see if they're suitable or not."

  Xu Wei and others, after removing the wooden stakes, followed him into the iron shed, where they saw several newly cast weapons placed on a wooden frame. Yang Yan Er didn't say a word, strode over quickly, grabbed a rifle, and held it tightly, saying: "Don't anyone try to grab this from me! I've taken a liking to this one! Ninth Brother, you definitely won't like this thing, will you? It's ugly and hard to use..."

  That gun, with a horse-head-shaped tip and curved blades on both sides, has a sharp head and a large tail. The gun is eight feet long, with a handle at the end, and is one of the "Nine-Colored Guns" of the Song military's standard weapons, known as the Curved-Blade Gun.

  Ma Tai hadn't even chosen yet, when his father took a fully iron-cast mountain-opening axe from the shelf and threw it over, cursing: "It's all your grandfather's fault for giving me this broken name, Big Cow. Born a son who is just like a cow too, take it." Ma Tai cracked a smile, grasped the massive axe, and swung it in a wide arc, creating a whistling wind, making Yang Yan exclaim how refreshing it was.

  Zhang Qing had long been eyeing a weapon, and now he stepped forward to take it. It was like a spear but not quite a spear, like a sword but not quite a sword. If you said it was a spear, the spearhead was more like a sword tip, both long and wide; if you said it was a sword, then below the spearhead there were also crescent-shaped blades. The total length was seven feet, its name was "Spear-Sword", one of the "Eight Colors of the Sword".

  "Hey, what weapon does Ninth Brother use?" Yang Yan suddenly asked.

  ...........................

  The third update is here! Brothers, if you enjoy reading it, feel free to recommend, collect and reward me, thank you!