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Chapter 814: Deterrence (Part )

Ten days later, the Nanyang Guard Battalion entered the capital city flying the red dragon flag.

The red dragon flag was the flag of the Nanyang Palace, and now it also symbolized the emperor of Daliang. Thirty thousand elite soldiers rode together, the earth shook and dust billowed, the flag fluttered in the autumn wind, and the red dragon raised its head and glared angrily.

Such a scene and such momentum simply made the generals who came to greet them jealous.

General Sima was envious: "Everyone in the Royal Guards has two horses!"

In their army, cavalry accounted for less than 30%. Soldiers treated war horses as treasures. However, everyone in the Nanyang Guard Battalion was equipped with two horses!
General Song was also envious: "This is too extravagant. One horse for the cavalry is considered good. With so many war horses, can you share some with other armies?"

That's what I said.

General Bao glanced over and said, "These are all guards provided by the Nanyang Palace, the emperor's private soldiers. These war horses were all raised in the Biyang Horse Farm. Why should they be given to others?"

Even if some of them are to be allocated, they should be given to the Imperial Guards or the British Guard Battalion, and it would not be General Song's turn.

General Song shut up awkwardly.

General Zuo remained silent, his eyes fixed on the three guard commanders who had dismounted from their horses. To be more precise, he was staring at Liu Hengchang.

Qin Zhan Meng Dashan was a fierce general, but his ability to train and lead troops was far inferior to Liu Hengchang. In the past few years, Liu Hengchang's reputation has become more and more famous, and he has the momentum of a rising famous general in Daliang. Such a powerful person naturally attracts attention.

General Bao, General Sima, and General Song also looked at the three people who dismounted and walked towards them.

Qin Zhan was the oldest and the commander of the first battalion of the imperial guards. He was the first to speak and bowed: "I am Qin Zhan, the last general, and I greet all the generals!"

Meng Dashan and Liu Hengchang bowed and gave their names: "I am Meng Dashan, the commander of the second battalion."

"General Liu Hengchang leads the third battalion of personal guards."

General Bao, who had the most seniority, was the first to say with a smile, "The three commanders, please stand up quickly. The Nanyang Guard Battalion has been ordered by the emperor to be stationed in the capital. We are curious and have come here today to welcome them and take a look at the style of the Guard Battalion."

"Seeing is believing." General Sima smiled and continued, "All the commanders are outstanding and are heroes among warriors."

General Song put away his sour feelings and said with a smile: "Commander Song from the emperor's side is here too. We are here to join in the fun, so please don't steal the show."

The emperor specially ordered Song Yuan to come and greet him on his behalf, which shows how much importance he attached to the Royal Guard.

Song Yuan was a low-key person, and he didn't care that he was overshadowed by the generals who came to "join in the fun". Only then did he smile and said, "The barracks of the Royal Guard Battalion have been built, and everyone should go and settle down first. The three of you, follow me to the palace to see the emperor first."

Thirty thousand guards and tens of thousands of horses could not possibly rush into the capital at the same time. Qin Zhan, Meng Dashan and Liu Hengchang each brought a few people into the palace, and all the other guards went to the military camp to settle down and rest.

After entering the palace, the generals waited for half an hour. When the morning court was over, the emperor summoned the generals into the palace without any delay.

Qin Zhan, Meng Dashan and Liu Hengchang stood side by side and saluted together.

Jiang Shaohua relaxed his brows and said with a smile, "Please stand up without any formalities. I have been looking forward to your coming."

Qin Zhan laughed loudly and said, "I have been looking forward to coming to the capital. If the emperor has any orders in the future, just tell me. I will go wherever the emperor points."

Meng Dashan also said: "That's right. If there are any missions to suppress bandits in the future, the emperor can just hand them over to our personal guard battalion."

Hey!
Who are you referring to? General Zuo, General Sima, and General Song each glanced over.

Only General Bao remained unmoved. The Imperial Guards were responsible for guarding the safety of the imperial palace and the capital, and they basically never left the capital. The task of suppressing bandits had nothing to do with the Imperial Guards.

Liu Hengchang was the last to speak: "We are all the emperor's personal guards. Our most important thing is to protect the emperor's safety."

General Bao frowned and looked over.

What does that mean? Are you trying to steal the job of the Imperial Guards?

The military officers didn't like the fancy words. If they were dissatisfied, they wouldn't tolerate it for even a moment. General Bao cleared his throat and said to the emperor, "There are imperial guards in the palace who are more than enough to protect the emperor."

Jiang Shaohua smiled and comforted General Bao: "General Bao, don't worry. I have no intention of using the Imperial Guards."

Then he looked at Liu Hengchang and the other two and said, "You are new here, so don't rush to take on any tasks. Take some time to sort things out."

"I plan to hold a military competition in winter. All troops must participate to promote military training."

“When the time comes, we will all know who is superior and who is inferior, and who is truly capable.”

There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. None of the military generals truly obeyed anyone else. After hearing what the emperor said, they all held their heads high and looked confident: "Your Majesty, just wait and see!"

"We, the Royal Guards, have never been afraid of anyone."

"We in the Shenwei Camp are not vegetarians either."

General Zuo ignored them and only looked at Liu Hengchang: "I heard that General Liu is good at training cavalry and has developed a formation specifically for dealing with Rouran cavalry. During the martial arts performance, I would like to ask General Liu for his guidance."

Facing the Marquis of Weiyuan and the General of the Yingwei Camp, Liu Hengchang looked calm: "General Zuo is famous. He used thundering means to quell the rebellion in Yuzhou that day. I have always admired him. It is my honor to have the opportunity to compete with the Yingwei Camp this time!"

Jiang Shaohua felt very satisfied as he watched the generals engage in a verbal battle.

That’s right, the civil officials are all trying their best to roll up their sleeves, and the military generals have to roll up as well to look decent.

……

The military parade in December was the top priority. The Ministry of War had to formulate detailed rules, prepare weapons for the parade, and prepare a large amount of medicine for injuries.

The emperor also attached great importance to this matter and specially sent Dr. Sun Zelan to be in charge of medical matters.

Sun Zelan had not been idle in the Imperial Hospital in the past few years. He had taken in a group of palace maids as apprentices. These palace maids, like Lin Huiniang and others in the past, specialized in learning how to boil medicine, bandage wounds, and treat simple external injuries. This time, they could be put to good use.

The venue for the martial arts competition is located in the martial arts training ground of the Yingwei Camp.

This was not because the emperor favored the Yingwei Camp. It was mainly because the Yingwei Camp had been expanded several times, and the training ground was the most spacious, enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people.

The strength of each army is different, but the number of soldiers selected for the martial arts competition is 1,000. Among these 1,000 soldiers, there are different types of soldiers, including horse riding and archery competition, strength competition, weapon competition, military formation training and confrontation, etc., which will last for a total of five days. Each competition will be scored separately, and the top three will be ranked and the final total score will be calculated.

There is no need to go into detail about how several generals carefully selected their men and trained their troops in private.

On the first day of the official military performance, the Emperor of Daliang came to the Yingwei Camp in person, and Prime Minister Chen and all the ministers also came.