Chapter Thirty-Two: Power and Schemes

  Human nature is evil; goodness is artificial.

  Liu Bang's resonance with Xunzi's famous saying is unknown, but it is undeniable that his grasp of human nature has reached the pinnacle.

  With greater temptation, the Allied forces were tied to his chariot. When everyone's attention was focused on occupying Xiangyang and Changyi, imagining that they could get more spoils of war, the power to unify the scheduling of the whole army's logistics continued to be silently controlled by Liu Bang's Grand General Xiao He.

  "Haha! What the Marquis said is exactly what Peng Yue had been hoping for." Facing Liu Bang's bait, the great thief Peng Yue, who was most familiar with the situation in Changyi, stood up and responded first.

  "General Juxu, the Battle of Gongyang, you can be the vanguard!" Liu Bang was very satisfied with Peng Yue's response and immediately gave him substantial rewards.

  "No! Thank you, Lord Pei." Peng Yue led the order loudly. Vanguard——. As the vanguard of the entire army and the first to be credited with breaking into the city, Peng Yue was naturally very satisfied with the emptiness of Xingyang's military strength. Lord Pei was indeed magnanimous, it seemed that as long as he put in a bit more thought and followed closely in his footsteps, he would receive rich rewards.

  "Marquis of Pei, Xiangyang is not far from our military camp. Pu can assist General Ju in attacking the city!" As soon as Pu saw that he had been preempted by Peng Yue, his face turned black, and he hastily spoke up.

  "Haha, we'll all listen to General Pi's orders and celebrate with a victory banquet after capturing Xiangyang City!"

  "Haha, the Peony Pavilion in Xiangyang City is famous far and wide, I've been wanting to try it out for a long time!"

  After a round of benefit exchanges, the various forces of the Allied Army finally reached an agreement on the distribution of spoils and next steps, that is, the spoils would not be distributed for the time being, but would be uniformly dispatched, managed, and decided after taking down Xingyang and Changyi.

  Liu Bang once again successfully won over the vassals who participated in the coalition to his side, which was a manifestation of his political ability. It was also the reason why Liu Bang was defeated by Xiang Yu time and time again in the four years of the Chu-Han Contention, but each time he came back with more troops than before. Facing such an increasingly powerful opponent, Li Yuan could not afford to be even slightly arrogant or slack.

  ——。

  Luoyang.

  Luoyang, the seat of Luoyang County, had a resounding name two thousand years ago. Compared to Xingyang, this military stronghold on the banks of the Yellow River, Luoyang's geographical location was even more important. It is situated north of Mangshan Mountain, south of Yique, with the Luo River flowing through it, east of Tiger Pass and west of Hangu Pass. In a word, the center of China was Luoyang.

  Yang Xiong, Li Yuan and Sima Yin led seven thousand Qin soldiers to retreat westward. After six days of arduous march, they finally arrived at Luoyang City and settled down.

  After removing the wounded, those who died on the way and those who fell behind and went missing, the number of people left in this Qin army field force from Sanjiang County was 6,073. Among them: more than 2,100 crossbowmen, accounting for nearly one-third of the total; more than 2,900 infantrymen, accounting for just under half; and the remaining 1,000 were cavalrymen, but the war horses were severely insufficient, with only more than 600 intact horses after counting.

  Lack of hoof protection is the biggest problem for horse loss, and no horseshoes are also one of the reasons. The double legs force on the horse's abdomen can easily cause internal injuries that cannot be cured. Internal injuries are difficult to detect from the outside, and once discovered, it is too late to treat them. The service life of cavalry war horses is a key issue that has plagued their sustained combat. In the historical records of Emperor Wu's Northern Expedition, even with policies encouraging households to raise horses, they could not withstand the consumption of continuous northern expeditions.

  The problem of war horses, Li Yuan could only proceed gradually. Luoyang was a much larger prefecture than Baima, and there should be more options for iron and skilled craftsmen. After some thought, Li Yuan handed over this technical innovation that improved the combat effectiveness of cavalry to Sima Yin.

  Simayin had long admired Liyuan's heroic bearing in the Battle of Baima, and now that he saw Liyuan entrust him with such an important military secret, he was moved to repeatedly promise that, apart from himself and the technical craftsmen who participated in the development, no one else would ever know the method for making horse hooves and horseshoes.

  Facing the eager Sima Yin, Li Yuan's face couldn't help but flush. He still can't do it like Liu Bang, to be honest, using iron to make horseshoes and horse nails isn't a particularly difficult invention. As long as the craftsmanship is up to par and the malleability of the wrought iron is guaranteed during the smelting process after repeated forging, imitation is not a difficult task.

  Technological innovations inevitably bring about chain social effects, such as the threat of imitation by others, and the lesson that "the student surpasses the teacher". These are things that must be considered beforehand. In this regard, Li Yuan is not as conservative as Sima Yin. In an era where information is highly developed, the leakage of business secrets has almost become a common occurrence. As a technological innovator, the first thing to do is not to conservatively cover up secrets, but to think about how to take the lead.

  People have no me, people have me first. This advertising slogan makes Li Yuan deeply convinced.

  Simayi focused on the affairs of the craftsmen, Yang Xiong was somewhat disheartened after consecutive defeats and rarely managed the reorganization of the troops. Li Yuan naturally became the de facto leader of this surviving Qin army. After showing bravery on the battlefield, Li Yuan began to learn how to manage the team with clever strategies, although his methods were different from Liu Bang's, but the effect was the same.

  The third year of the Second Qin Dynasty, November (with October as the beginning of the year).

  Li Yuan spent ten days in Luoyang concentrating and reorganizing, and finally smoothly absorbed the remaining troops of Yang Xiong. The 6,000 soldiers were divided into four parts by Li Yuan, with Wang Shang leading the most elite first part, which was the only one left in Li Yuan's direct lineage. The other three parts were given to three newly promoted military marquises.

  Among them, the officers of two divisions continued to use Yang Xiong's old division, also considering that they would all be replaced by their own direct descendants soon, fearing that Yang Xiong's old division might have some ideas. At the same time, according to Li Yuan's plan to copy the People's Army training program, low-level officers at the level of Qu Zhang, Tun Zhang and Shi Zhang were produced through selection, so even if these two military marquises had other intentions, they could not stir up any big waves.

  Finally, Li Yuan unexpectedly gave the position of General Hou Chang to Jiang Yu, who had joined the Qin army at Baima. This Jiang Yu was the nephew of the famous Qin minister Jiang Teng (Neishi Teng), and had previously served as a military marquis during the Qin army's southern campaign against the Baiyue. He later returned to his hometown due to unaccustomed climate and soil.

  In this breakout battle, Jiang Yu's performance was impressive, especially in reconnaissance and scouting. Jiang Yu seemed to have a keen sense of smell that allowed him to detect potential anomalies early on, which piqued Li Yuan's interest as he had always placed great importance on scouting.

  In the cavalry, Lu Jia became a cavalry commander, and his 600 elite cavalrymen had become Li Yuan's most reliable striking force. In the Battle of White Horse, Gu Yun was the only survivor and was transferred to the Imperial Guard by Li Yuan without anyone questioning it. Gu Yun's performance on the battlefield was no worse than others, and transferring her to Li Yuan's side was also to ensure that the only surviving offspring of Gan and Zhou could live well.

  After this baptism of the great war, Li Yuan no longer cared who Gu Yun was sent by or what his purpose was in approaching him. In his eyes, Gu Yun was a trustworthy soldier, a warrior who had been tested on the battlefield.

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