Late Tang

Not long into February, the weather on Salmon Island is still very cold, the ubiquitous cold wind whimpers, like wild dogs howling in the wilderness.The cold wind blew across the face like a knife, making people hurt.No matter how many clothes you wear, the cold wind penetrates everywhere, trying to take away the last bit of warmth from your body.

Many people who came to watch from one side put their hands in their sleeves and hugged them in their arms.Li Jing and the other officers were better, they were covered in armor and leather robes.But those spoiled and spoiled Li Huier's daughters with golden branches and jade leaves can't do it.Although they all wore luxurious mink fur robes, mink fur hats on their heads, and held a small hand warmer in both hands, they were still so cold that their lips turned purple.

On the contrary, the two women, Megan and Julie, don't seem to be wearing much on the outside. One is still full-body tight leather armor, and the other is a gorgeous and colorful but looks very thin gown with long sleeves.But the two of them sat there peacefully, not feeling the slightest bit of freezing.

However, compared with these spectators, the 264 cavalry on the field today performed amazingly.The 36 cavalry from the War Battalion plus the [-] cavalry from the Scouting Capital gathered here today for a three-month intensive training.

Three hundred cavalrymen, each of them leading a war horse, stood on the new training ground where the cold wind was howling. There were 12 cavalry in a row, a full 25 rows.All the cavalry have been replaced with brand new equipment today, each with a set of cowhide pin armor, plus a novel phoenix-winged hood with a visor.He wears leather gloves with iron armor on his hands, riding boots with spurs on his feet, and a fiery red silk cloak that reaches his calves on his shoulders. He has a bow on his left back and a crossbow on his right, and a horizontal knife on one side of his waist. , on the other side is Hu Lu, and on the saddle is an eight-foot lance.

The horses held by the cavalry are also full of energy today, and the clean horses have been carefully trimmed with mane and tail.He is four feet tall and has a strong body length.It is that people are like tigers and horses are like tigers.A good horse is paired with a brand-new saddle bridle and bridle. It is amazing just by looking at it.

Standing in the cold wind, the momentum is like a tiger like a dragon.Facing the gazes of Li Jing and many others, they looked at each other calmly.Those eyes are full of passion and desire, which is the desire to make contributions.Li Jing knew that these people were available.

Li Jing glanced at these selected cavalrymen, and his heart was full of joy. He believed that the [-] cavalrymen today might be one cavalry officer after another in his cavalry unit in the future.These are all seeds, as long as time is given, they will become the backbone of the future cavalry.

White Beard and the others glanced at the cavalry below, but their eyes were full of exclamation.He had really made up his mind to retire, and in the end he chose Shamen Town as a place to retire, because he was interested in Li Jing's future, and it was also a way for Zhendonghai's brothers to find a good retreat in advance.Since coming to the island, he has been amazed by Li Jing and Shamen Town, but today, Li Jing gave him another amazement.

A general of the garrison guarding the small island has only three hundred soldiers.But he has a fortress-like defense that is impregnable, and the number of soldiers and horses exceeds the number of troops by more than ten times.But he also brought in his two pirate nieces to help him form a fleet.Who would have expected that in the blink of an eye, Li Jing had raised another cavalry force of 300 men. An island town army had assembled [-] cavalry men. What was he trying to do?His gaze scanned the tiger warrior closely, and he was once again shocked by Li Jing.Where is this young man, his star-like gaze, looking at?

Megan and Julie have been looking at this cavalry with great interest, the cavalry built on the small sea island, and they are so serious.This gave the two of them a new understanding of Li Jing's ambitions. Megan walked quietly behind Li Jing's back, and put her hands on Li Jing's shoulders naturally, not caring about the hesitant eyes of others.

"I didn't expect you to be able to produce such a decent cavalry, then your new fleet seems to be very promising." She deliberately lowered her body a little more, almost half leaning on the On Li Jing.The turbulent snow peak that was bulging and about to tear his clothes was tightly pressed against his shoulders, and Li Jing could even sensitively feel that the two red beans were pressing hard against him.

A burst of warm breath blew by the ears, and Megan's red lips almost rubbed against Li Jing's ears. "Why do I think you are not so enthusiastic about my new fleet?"

Li Jing knew that there must be thousands of pairs of eyes looking at him at this time, and understood that everyone might be thinking where to go at this time.It's true that not eating mutton made her whole body feel fishy. This woman doesn't care about other people's opinions, and her own reputation is completely ruined in her hands.

"That's my fleet!" Li Jing gritted her teeth and reminded her word by word: "Also, haven't I already pulled out the ship and the necessary equipment and supplies for you?"

"There are more than 1000 old bows and arrows, and the strings are only matched with two for each bow. In addition, only [-] horizontal knives, [-] battle axes, [-] spears, [-] shields, and [-] spears were given to us. Ten thousand arrows, one hundred crossbows, and ten ambush crossbows. If you add them all together, it’s not as much as you threw on this cavalry.” Megan said dissatisfiedly.

Julie's voice also rang in his ears: "The crew you recruited earlier are okay, barely usable. But the sailors are not good. Although all of them are strong, we are not recruiting porters. Strong. Sailors at sea must first have good water skills, and secondly, they must have sufficient toughness. Warships often go out to sea for ten days and a half months or even half a year. A determined person will never stay long, let alone have to face all kinds of sudden battles at any time."

Li Jing smiled wryly, "Since I have appointed you two as the commanders of the new fleet, except for the other officers and staff I sent to assist you, all sailors are free to be selected by you, and I agree with them all. But there is one thing, the sailors I don’t care how you choose, but the officers on the ship must be the ones I send. Even if these people are not in your eyes now, then you should find a way to train them to be qualified officers, this cannot be doubted.”

The other officers of the fleet must be appointed and dismissed by Li Jing, which is his bottom line.In order to train a qualified navy, Li Jing can hand over the command to the two female pirates, Megan and Julie, but this is only a stopgap measure.The control of the fleet must be in your hands, and the officers are the key.As long as the officers at all levels of the fleet are his own, then as long as the officers have mastered the skills of commanding warships, Li Jing can withdraw the two women at any time.

"There is no problem with this, but most of the officers you sent are not familiar with water warfare. They have not even experienced a few battles with the land infantry. You expect them to help you pull up this new fleet? Maybe five years and ten years?" Maybe after a year." Julie sneered.

"No, I hope that this fleet can form combat power as soon as possible. I have a plan now, and I am waiting for this fleet to become the main force." Li Jing shook his head.

Megan chuckled, "That's not impossible, but I need you to promise me a condition."

"you say!"

"I'm going to invite the three hundred seniors who have retired to join the fleet temporarily, and let them serve as the instructors on the fleet, teaching the new through precepts and deeds, so that they can practice in a short time. Most of the newly recruited sailors are fishermen. No blood has been seen at all. It is not easy to turn them from fishermen into warriors at sea."

Li Jing became silent, and Megan's proposal touched his bottom line a bit.He was willing to let Whitebeard and his three hundred brothers retire on Salmon Island, and he also took the initiative to invite Megan and Julie to be the first commanders of the new fleet.All of this has a bottom line, that is, the joining of these pirates will not threaten him and Shamen Town.But now Megan's proposal requires adding three hundred old pirates to the new fleet as instructors.

This inevitably made him hesitate and even doubt, wondering if all this was some kind of trick arranged by Zhen Donghai.What he was worried about was that after hundreds of pirates joined the new fleet, the control of this fleet finally fell into Megan's hands completely.He didn't doubt what Zhen Donghai was going to do to him, but he didn't want his fleet to fall into the control of a group of pirates.

Seeing that Li Jing was deep in thought, Zhu Li immediately got slightly angry on her face, and said coldly: "My surname is Li, do you not trust our sisters, are you afraid that we will take your fleet? If you really think so, don't Trust us, then why do you have to ask us to be your fleet commander? On the surface, it sounds so nice that all fleet affairs are up to us to decide? We are busy with your broken fleet these days You are so busy, you treat us with such heart. In my opinion, there is no need for us to stay any longer, we should go home directly."

Seeing that they were really about to get up, Li Jing had no choice but to quickly reach out and grab them.This tugging immediately caught the attention of other people even more. Just now it was a man and a woman, but now it is a man and two women.They all sighed secretly, as expected, a capable man cannot be tied down. If there are wives and concubines at home, they still have to hook up outside.

But Li Jing didn't know about this, and he definitely didn't want to know about it.He also thought in his heart that this might be Julie's strategy, to retreat to advance?However, after a quick calculation in his heart, Li Jing still decided to keep them. As for the boarding of hundreds of pirates, it was up to them to decide.

Employers do not suspect, suspects do not.Although Li Jing couldn't fully meet this standard, she invited him here, so it's impossible not to trust him at all.Besides, if this is really a trick, then Li Jing doesn't think there is anything terrible about it.The most precious warships of the new fleet have not yet been delivered, even if they have any ideas, what they lost is only a few speedboats and a batch of old weapons.Besides, with White Beard as an important hostage in his hands, he really didn't believe they would do anything.

"Okay, everything is up to you, I don't mean to distrust you. I was just thinking about my plan, and I will ask Master Bai to come out and be the chief instructor of the new fleet. But I have one more request, No matter how much you struggle, maybe within this half month, we will have an important event, and we have to send you to the field, can you do it?"

Megan chuckled, "Just wait and see, I've never seen the word "no" in my eyes!"

(To be continued)