Volume 1: Kyoto Winds and Clouds Chapter 59: Selecting the Elite of the Feathered Forest Army

  He took the teapot out of Da Qiao's arms, and the teapot still had a slight temperature and the girl's body fragrance. Liu Zhang took a sip of tea and found that the water in the pot was still warm. With some emotion, he gently put the teapot back on the table, then picked up Da Qiao and placed her on the bed, covering her with the quilt. Actually, when Liu Zhang took away the teapot, Da Qiao had already woken up. She just couldn't bear to disturb this moment of tranquility when she saw the gentle Liu Zhang for the first time. But what Da Qiao didn't know was that her red cheeks had already betrayed her!

  Arriving at the backyard, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun had already started practicing martial arts. Liu Zhang warmed up and played a round of Tai Chi, feeling refreshed and comfortable all over, then led Zhang Ren and others to the West Garden. Today was already the third day since Liu Zhang's appointment, he should also report to the Imperial Guard.

  Liu Hong is a relatively righteous person. He left Liu Zhang in Luoyang, but did not deprive him of his military power, and allowed Liu Zhang to select 20,000 soldiers from the Youlin Army as his own troops. It's worth noting that the Western Garden only had 100,000 Youlin soldiers, and Liu Hong handed over one-fifth of the army's power to Liu Zhang, which is an unprecedented level of trust. Of course, the defense of the capital does not rely solely on the Youlin Army, as other troops are in the hands of different people, such as the Sili Xuewei!

  Selecting soldiers is not an easy task. Although the troops in Luoyang are considered elite among the Han Dynasty, they have been idle for many years and have become old and complacent, only pretending to be strong. When it comes to fighting, they can at most bully the Yellow Turbans, but only when the situation is evenly matched.

  When Liu Zhang arrived at the Western Garden, the Imperial Guards had already begun their daily drills. Looking at those holding weapons and performing moves slower than Tai Chi, Liu Zhang wondered if they had eaten breakfast before coming out to drill. Such troops would disappoint anyone who knew what they were doing! In fact, the officials in charge of military affairs in the imperial court all knew about the shortcomings of the Imperial Guards, but no one dared to speak out. Qiao Xuan was targeted because he wanted to reform the military system.

  "Halt! Who goes there?" Just as Liu Zhang was about to approach the commander of the training troops, two soldiers with bird feathers in their helmets blocked his way. It was precisely because these two men had blocked his path that Liu Zhang did not completely lose hope in the Imperial Guards. A unit that allows outsiders to approach casually can be defeated by an enemy who launches a surprise attack at night.

  Liu Zhang let Shi Ah deliver the seal to the guards, and after the two checked the seal, they immediately went to report. Not long after, a man wearing a general's uniform rushed over.

  "See the Champion Marquis!" The general's rough voice was surprisingly tinged with a hint of sharpness.

  "Thanks for nothing!" Liu Zhang helped up the general and asked: "May I ask the general's name?"

  "General Sui! " A familiar name entered Liu Zhang's ears, but what made him puzzled was that General Sui wasn't a eunuch? However, General Sui quickly resolved Liu Zhang's doubts, it turned out that Emperor Liu had specifically asked him to come and help Liu Zhang select troops. With General Sui's help, selecting troops became much easier for Liu Zhang. At the very least, those generals who were dissatisfied dared not to make trouble. However, everyone hoped that Liu Zhang would not choose their troops.

  At the sound of the command, the Youlin Army soldiers stopped training, and Liu Zhang led Zhang Fei and others onto the drill ground. Seeing a group of teenagers standing on the drill ground, the Youlin Army let out a buzz, like a swarm of flies flying. Liu Zhang was even more disdainful, the quality of these soldiers compared to Huang Zhong's trained Youzhou soldiers, the gap was really too big.

  After a while, the buzzing sound finally disappeared slowly. Liu Zhang looked at the feathered forest soldiers below and opened his mouth to laugh: "You are a bunch of waste!"

  Only one sentence, the soldiers of the Feathered Forest Army looked at Liu Zhang with some helplessness, but Liu Zhang was expressionless. A Lang general stepped out and said: "I don't care what you're standing on the school stage for, but I hope you take back what you just said, otherwise..."

  "Otherwise, what?" Yu Linlang had not finished speaking when Liu Zhang interrupted him: "This is the Western Garden of the Great Han, you are the Emperor's Imperial Guard, and I am your commander, what can you do? Kill me? Rebel?"

  Yu Linlang was stunned for a moment, Liu Zhang's words were not wrong, even if Liu Zhang didn't take back those words, they had no way to refute them. The higher the official position, the more powerful one becomes, and Liu Zhang was much nobler than these low-ranking soldiers. Not to mention scolding them a few times, even killing them wouldn't be a big deal. Seeing Yu Linlang speechless, Liu Zhang smiled and said: "I call you useless trash, and you still don't admit it? Shi Ah, tell them who I am?"

  "Behold, this is the Crown Prince Hou, Liu Zhang, a true descendant of the Han imperial family, who was personally appointed by the Emperor as the General of the Five Officials. His merits include defeating an army of 100,000 Wuhuan with only 12,000 soldiers, and leading 8,000 troops to launch a surprise attack on the Wuhuan king's court, eliminating nearly 80 large and small tribes, totaling over 1 million people, and plundering countless cattle, sheep, and horses!"

  Shi Ah's words caused another buzz on the school field, Liu Zhang was really helpless. He had seen those stable and steady soldiers before, but now looking at these "elite" troops who were somewhat disorganized, he couldn't bear it. However, Liu Zhang had to select his men from here, no matter how much the Emperor favored him, he would not be allowed to recruit new troops because recruiting required money. Liu Zhang did not dare use his own money to recruit soldiers, otherwise, heaven knows what the Emperor would think.

  Until the buzzing sound dispersed, Liu Zhang sighed and said: "Your Majesty let me come to select soldiers. To tell the truth, I would rather recruit new soldiers than choose from among you, because you are really useless! However, I believe that as long as you can pass the training, you can also become real elite troops. Now the selection of soldiers begins, those under 18 years old and above 25 years old, retreat 20 steps back!"

  At the sound of the order, the large army below the school stage slowly moved. This movement lasted for a whole half hour. When no one else moved, Liu Zhang said again: "The sons of aristocratic families, retreat twenty steps!"

  This time it was much faster, after all, the last round of elimination had already eliminated two-thirds of the people. After Liu Zhang's second order, there were less than 30,000 people left on the training ground, and even the formation was disrupted, because many officers above the rank of Quzhang were appointed by the sons of aristocratic families, and these people all withdrew. However, the emperor gave Liu Zhang a quota of 20,000, and he didn't dare to ask for more, so Liu Zhang smiled at Jianchu and said: "Jianchu, let those who have been ordered to leave the training ground return to their original units! I will select again from the remaining people!"

  He nodded, and the other generals took the soldiers who had withdrawn from the school field away. These generals were also happy and worried, especially those who were not well-treated were extremely sad. In the eyes of Han Dynasty generals, only soldiers between 30 and 40 years old could be considered elite soldiers, most of whom were controlled by generals from noble families. However, Liu Zhang chose soldiers between 18 and 25 years old, most of whom were controlled by some down-and-out civilians, and some generals even had their entire department left behind by Liu Zhang.

  "Little Master Hou, what's next?" Liu Zhang's method of selecting soldiers was also seen for the first time by Jian Chu, although he didn't understand it, but since he came over, he naturally had the idea of stealing the technique.

  Liu Zhang glanced at Xun Xu, he didn't care about others stealing his techniques, if just by watching they could become a master of military training, then Xun Xu was worth cultivating. Liu Zhang smiled and said: "Don't rush, let them stand for a while! Shi Ah! Go and brew a pot of tea for me and Master Xun!"

  "Then forget about the tea!" Kan Tao laughed and said: "That stuff is too hard to drink, it's not as good as drinking wine. Unfortunately, we can't drink in the army!"

  Liu Zhang was taken aback after hearing that, and he finally remembered that he didn't drink tea either. That bitter and astringent yellow soup with added sugar and salt, which was both sweet and salty, really wasn't something people drank. However, since they were idle anyway, Liu Zhang started chatting with Jian Shu. As a eunuch, Jian Shu was despised by everyone; when had he ever met someone as affable as Liu Zhang? The two of them chatted for more than an hour.

  To know, the Youlin Army's training was done wearing armor and holding weapons. The weight of the weapons and armor together was at least 30-40 kilograms. After one hour, a large number of soldiers fell to the ground in the drill field. It wasn't until there were less than 20,000 soldiers standing on the drill field that Liu Zhang finally came back to his senses from his chatting state.

  "Alright! Drag out all those who are about to collapse and rest, and let whoever's squad leader take them away!" Liu Zhang said expressionlessly: "The remaining people, you barely passed, but it's not enough to be my soldiers! However, if you can hold on, I believe you will become warriors who can take on ten or even a hundred enemies single-handedly!"

  To be honest, Liu Zhang's words made the soldiers on the school field a bit uncomfortable, but his achievements made them have to admit. In the Han Dynasty, the Crown Prince was only a marquis with a food estate of 200 households, at most slightly higher than the Tinghou, but this title represented the highest honor because it was once the title of the hero who defeated the Xiongnu, Huo Qubing! A young man with achievements comparable to Huo Qubing and younger than him has the qualifications to say so!

  The school grounds finally became quiet, because those soldiers no longer had the strength to speak. Liu Zhang smiled and let Zhang Ren, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, and Huang Xu each choose 5,000 men as their troops, and they would appoint the officials for each troop. The only condition for being an official was ability!

  The soldiers have been selected, and the task of training them is more than half completed. The last task is to select a place for Liu Zhang's troops in the Western Garden. However, Liu Zhang refused because he did not want his trained troops to become mere ceremonial guards. A tiger can only be king when it is in the mountains and forests; locked in a cage, it can only be admired by people. Besides, three years later, when the great Han dynasty is in chaos, Liu Zhang still hopes that this army will achieve great things!

  The most important thing is that Liu Zhang's troops will become stronger and stronger. Perhaps other troops are considered elite in the eyes of outsiders, but in Liu Zhang's eyes, those troops can't even be counted as paper tigers. If Liu Zhang's troops show super strong combat effectiveness, yet still remain in Xiyuan, Emperor Liu Hong would likely lose sleep!

  (Thanks for the reward, but you're too much, another 10,000 to 20,000 words of updates, it's cold and Qingfeng's fingers are going numb!)