Chapter Twenty-Four: Change of Clothes

  On the second day, after most officials had eaten breakfast, they bid farewell to Liu Yu and returned to their respective jurisdictions. Cui Yan and Gongsun Zan were the last two people to leave. As Cui Yan was about to depart, he quietly told Ao Lie that the letter he wrote to Xun Yu had been sent early in the morning with a servant, instructing Ao Lie to treat Xun Yu with courtesy if he came to surrender. In fact, Cui Yan also knew that even if he didn't say these words, Ao Lie would still do so, but in his heart, he had already regarded Ao Lie as the future lord, so he repeatedly reminded him a few times. Ao Lie was not impatient at all, and it was a good thing to have someone remind him of a few things in his ear, he wouldn't take Cui Yan's kindness for granted.

  As for Gongsun Zan, this earth-shaking warrior, the reason he left in the end was that he saw a chance to hunt and couldn't resist exchanging a few moves with Ao Lie. Of course, with Ao Lie's martial arts skills, he could have easily defeated Gongsun Zan, but Ao Lie didn't do so, instead letting Gongsun Zan make thirty moves under his own power before knocking down Gongsun Zan's long spear.

  After sending the two away, Ao Lie returned to his own room and then sent someone to call Zhang Liao and Tian Chou to discuss matters. Without making Ao Lie wait for long, Zhang Liao and Tian Chou entered Ao Lie's room one after another. Seeing the two of them, Ao Lie gestured for them to take their seats, then said: "Brothers, have you been well recently?" Zhang Liao knew that Ao Lie was asking about the more than 100 elite troops who had followed him from Jiuyuan, these elites usually lived in the Youzhou large camp, under Zhang Liao's command and training.

  Zhang Liao replied, "My lord, those old brothers are all doing well and have been training hard these days." Ao Lie put his mind at ease and said again, "At a certain moment, I thought about the promise to my brothers. I promised them that after arriving in Youzhou, I would prepare clothes, armor, and weapons for them. So, I plan to get a batch of clothes and weapons soon and equip them for my brothers."

  "Your Excellency, the Governor of the Province has already equipped us according to the standard of the Youzhou Army and distributed the equipment to our brothers."

  Ao Lie shook his head and said, "These old brothers are all elite who have gone through life and death with us. Each one can take on ten men alone. I intend to forge a batch of high-specification sharp weapons and distribute them to the brothers, training them into an elite army."

  Zhang Liao whispered: "My lord, don't these brothers count as elite soldiers?"

  Ao Lie smiled and said: "Wen Yuan, are you taking sides? Do you think someone looked down on these old brothers?"

  Although Zhang Liao said he didn't dare, his facial expression was as if it was that matter. After spending a long time with Ao Lie, Zhang Liao also relaxed a lot and lost the restraint when he first joined under his command.

  Looking at Zhang Liao's expression, Ao Lie said seriously: "Wen Yuan, Zi Tai, the Great Han Dynasty will inevitably experience turmoil soon. We'll train these old brothers to be more elite, and their chances of survival on the battlefield will increase." Zhang Liao and Tian Chou both lowered their heads in shame after hearing Ao Lie's words. Indeed, as the saying goes: "Train hard, bleed less", this principle, the two still understood.

  "Alright, so we not only need to train them rigorously but also equip them with the best gear." Ao Lie's tone shifted slightly as he continued, "Besides, I am the Wei Yuan General appointed by the Emperor himself. It is only fitting that I have my own elite guards for protection. Looking ahead, without an elite team of the finest soldiers, what can be used to quell rebellions and support the Han dynasty?"

  Zhang Liao and Tian Chou were shocked by Ao Lie's ambition. After a while, Zhang Liao was the first to come back to his senses and said: "The lord has a heroic ambition, and I will definitely train a team of elite soldiers for the lord." Ao Lie nodded and said: "Generals are the backbone of soldiers, Wen Yuan has this ambition, and he will definitely train a truly elite team in the future. My intention is to focus on training before the equipment is fully equipped; after the armor and weapons are fully distributed, we will combine battle and training."

  "Now, although there is no war for the time being and there are no remnants of the Yellow Turbans in Youzhou, there are several groups of mountain bandits. Why not use these mountain bandits as a target for military training? Not only can we use battles to nurture our army, but who knows, we might even be able to pick out some elite troops from among these bandits and add them to the main camp's personal guard."

  Ao Lie and Zhang Liao nodded in agreement as they listened. Ao Lie said, "Zi Tai's idea is good, but for now, our priority is to equip our brothers with complete gear." After a pause, Ao Lie continued, "I've thought of a plan. Wen Yuan, you lead eighty old brothers to follow Xue Er to the north of Ping, and gather as much tu xiang as possible. For now, we'll rely on making golden silk leaves to maintain our military equipment." Zhang Liao responded, "Yes!"

  Turning his head, Ao Lie said to Tian Chou: "Zi Tai, you lead the rest of the brothers to the best ironwork shops in the city to forge armor and weapons. Use the best iron to forge!" Tian Chou replied: "Yes!"

  Zhang Liao and Tian Chou each received their orders and left. Ao Lie was idle again, but he didn't dare to be idle either, so he went to find his master Wang Ao to suffer voluntarily.

  Ten days later, Tian Chou and Zhang Liao returned to the mansion together to report to Ao Lie. Ao Lie stood in the military camp, looking at the old brothers who were dusty but still spirited, and nodded secretly. Zhang Liao instructed them to move the three large carts of wooden boxes into the camp, saying to Ao Lie: "Report to the master, our army has followed Miss Frost's guidance and brought back all the mature Tu Xiang." After checking one by one, Ao Lie was very happy and said: "Good, let's move these wooden boxes to the mansion later and hand them over to Sister Frost." Zhang Liao replied: "Yes!"

  After watching Zhang Liao bring back the Tu Xiang, Ao Lie turned his gaze to Tian Chou. Tian Chou saw Ao Lie's gaze and immediately waved his hand behind him. Before long, more than 20 soldiers carried in over a dozen large chests and placed them on the ground. Ao Lie walked up to a large wooden chest, patted it with his hand, and said loudly: "Brothers, back in Jiuyuan, I promised you that we would re-equip you with armor and weapons! This promise, I have not forgotten for a moment!"

  Some warriors shouted after hearing: "The general's great kindness, we all remember in our hearts. Now we also have the standard equipment issued by the imperial court."

  "Ao Lie shook his head and said, 'Not enough! Far from enough! Those equipment are not worthy of you, because you are the elite soldiers of the Han Dynasty! You are the heroes who have fought against the Xiongnu! You are the personal guards of this general! Do you see these large wooden boxes? Inside here is the best equipment, the finest armor and weapons that this general has promised you. Only you are worthy of using the equipment inside these boxes!"

  As he spoke, Ao Lie exerted his strength and easily lifted a heavy wooden box with both arms, then slammed it to the ground.

  With a loud crash, the wooden box shattered, revealing a set of exquisite willow-leaf iron armor inside. Over a hundred warriors stared at the willow-leaf iron armor, each and every one of them stunned! Those were willow-leaf iron armor! In this era of Eastern Han where steel was extremely scarce, only military officers above the rank of Colonel had the privilege of wearing iron armor; in some impoverished places, even Generals couldn't get their hands on a set of iron armor to wear!

  "Ah, what are you still dawdling for? Change into your armor!" Ao Lie's loud shout brought the crowd of elite warriors back to their senses. One by one, they stepped forward in sequence to receive their own suit of willow-leaf iron armor.

  After distributing the iron armor, Tian Chou called over dozens of warriors again and brought in a dozen large boxes from outside. When opened, even Zhang Liao was stunned! Inside the boxes were neatly arranged steel knives! Iron spears! And even the last two boxes contained hand crossbows!

  After a moment of silence, the entire camp erupted in cheers that shook the heavens, and the warriors were boiling! With this equipment, the combat effectiveness of these elite warriors directly jumped up two levels!

  When the warriors' cheers had died down, Ao Lie said to Zhang Liao: "Wen Yuan, this elite troop will be temporarily led by you. You can decide for yourself when to train soldiers and when to suppress bandits. It is not only the vanguard of our army but also the scout of our army, and it is also the personal guard camp of the general." Zhang Liao stepped forward and said loudly: "Please, my lord, give a name to our army!" More than 100 elite troops followed him in shouting: "Please, my lord, give a name to our army!"

  Ao Lie Wu hesitated for a moment, then said in a loud voice: "Bathing in blood and fighting fiercely, beheading generals and killing enemies. Your name will be 'Blood Kill Battalion'! The soul of Blood Kill has no conquest without war!"

  Everyone raised the steel knives that had just been distributed, shouting: "Blood Kill Soul, Conquest Without War! Blood Kill Soul, Conquest Without War!!!"

  Ao Lie took out a stack of folded silk cloth from his bosom and handed it to Zhang Liao, saying: "This is my self-created Blood Killing Knife Method, which is divided into eight moves. Although it's not some kind of ultimate skill, it's suitable for charging into battle and killing enemies. You can teach it to the brothers during training."

  Zhang Liao took over the silk cloth with both hands and led a hundred elite soldiers in unison shouting: "Thank you, my lord, for your great kindness!"

  After everything was arranged, Ao Lie returned to the mansion from the military camp. Xue Er was already waiting in her own room. Seeing Xue Er, Ao Lie asked: "Xue Er sister, have your four sisters arrived?" Xue Er nodded and said: "They are all waiting in the mansion, does the young master want to see them?" Ao Lie nodded and said: "Then please trouble you to bring them over."

  A moment later, Shuang'er led four girls into the room. Ao Lie looked up and glanced at them one by one, feeling that although these four girls were only average in appearance, they gave people a rather pleasant impression. Shuang'er introduced them to Ao Lie one by one: "Young master, standing beside me is Wan'er, to her right is Yu Zhu, on the right is He Hua, and next to you is Xiao Yan."

  Ao Lie nodded slightly and said: "You are all good sisters of Shuang Er, so I trust you just like I trust Shuang Er. In my eyes, Shuang Er is my sister, so I will also regard you as sisters." The four women bowed in unison to thank him: "Thank you for trusting us, young master." Ao Lie waved his hand and said: "No need to be polite, from now on, whatever Shuang Er does, you can do the same. Don't treat me as a young master, just treat me like a younger brother."

  The four women were hesitant in their hearts and didn't dare to respond. Shuang'er smiled slightly on the side: "My family's young master is like this, I'm already used to it, after you've been with him for a long time, you'll naturally get used to it too."

  Ao Lie smiled slightly, then returned to the topic: "This time, a certain Shuang Er sister called you all here, actually there is something big that needs to be entrusted to you. You all know about the popular Golden Silk Leaf on the market, right? That was made by Shuang Er sister, and the production process is actually quite simple. Later, Shuang Er sister will pass it on to you. The task I'm entrusting to you is to help Shuang Er sister mass-produce Golden Silk Leaf together, but absolutely cannot leak the method of producing Golden Silk Leaf to outsiders."

  The four women looked at each other, then turned to Shuang'er together. After receiving Shuang'er's encouraging smile, they bowed again to Ao Lie and replied: "We will strictly follow the young master's orders and absolutely not leak out the manufacturing method."

  After Frost and Fourth Girl left the room one after another, Ao Lie's heart was suddenly clear. Now, the problem of military equipment and supplies is temporarily solved. When Uncle comes back later, he should discuss with Uncle and come up with some new things to sell. Or simply establish a business association, specializing in selling rare goods that are not available in this era, and let Uncle be the president. This way, I can rest assured, and also avoid Uncle's hardships of traveling around for business. Hmm, Uncle is not young anymore, and it's not suitable for him to go on business trips everywhere. When Uncle comes back, I'll finalize this matter with him, so that in the future, military supplies and food will be settled.

  Looking up at the sky, Ao Lie thought that it wouldn't be many years before the Emperor's death and the impending chaos. He should speed up his pace and establish his own power.