Fu Shanhe

Chapter 90 Cavalry
Chinese army camp.

Gazing at the battlefield in the distance, Marquis Wuyang couldn't help but sigh as he couldn't even find the enemy's tail.

“To chase the enemy, we still need cavalry!
Captain Li, you have so many servants, why don't you have a cavalry unit?"

Li Mu was very embarrassed when he heard the question.

If you have the ability, who wouldn't want to maintain a cavalry? The problem is that you really can't afford it.

War horses are much more valuable than soldiers. They need not only fodder but also grain.

The food standard is higher than that of ordinary soldiers.

The daily maintenance of cavalry equipment is also a considerable expense.

Compared with infantry, cavalry is a gold-eating beast.

In the Dayu Dynasty, the cost of a cavalryman was about five to ten times that of an infantryman.

The smaller the cavalry, the higher the cost that needs to be amortized.

Not every errand is as lucrative as the trip to Yangzhou.

Military generals spend most of their time doing hard work.

A captain like Li Mu, who was in charge of the Five Cities Military Department, could easily support dozens of infantrymen.

If you support dozens of cavalrymen, you may go bankrupt at any time.

The power of cavalry can only be exerted after it reaches a certain scale.

A few individual cavalrymen can only do the work of scouts.

Such precious soldiers would be heartbroken if one were to be lost.

In this context, apart from the nine border generals who fought against the Hu people all year round, few military generals kept cavalry as servants.

The organized cavalry units were mainly funded and supported by the imperial court.

"My Lord, I am poor!

To form a cavalry, the power of an individual is too small, and we need to concentrate the power of the government."

Li Mu spread his hands and said.

This answer obviously could not satisfy Marquis Wuyang, but it was indeed the truth.

It is too difficult for a single general to maintain a cavalry unit.

Even if an office like the Wucheng Bingmasi wanted to form a cavalry unit, it could only assign tasks to the generals and have everyone work together to complete the task.

For example: the commander takes the lead in raising 50 cavalrymen, the deputy commander raises 30 cavalrymen, the rich thousand households raise 15 cavalrymen, the poor thousand households raise 5 cavalrymen, and the hundred households raise 2 cavalrymen...

If we force the issue, a cavalry unit will soon be formed.

The price is that the personal income of the generals will shrink sharply.

It is very likely to increase the exploitation of merchants in the jurisdiction and affect the development of the local economy.

If it were a local garrison office, without sufficient financial support, it would be difficult to raise a cavalry unit even if it was forced to levy fees.

"The establishment of government offices is fixed, and the Ministry of Revenue is extremely strict in managing military expenditures.

The imperial court would not approve the request to increase the number of cavalry battalions.

We can’t trouble the emperor for everything. We, as ministers, need to find ways to solve some problems ourselves.”

Marquis Wuyang shook his head.

It can be seen that he is thinking about the cavalry.

I just don't know if it was a spur of the moment idea or if they were really planning to do it.

Li Mu didn't care much about Marquis Wuyang's thoughts.

There are no vacant positions in the Wucheng Bingmasi, and the next step for promotion will definitely be to jump out of it.

In the future, if the Five Cities Military Department organizes cavalry, that will be a headache for the subsequent generals who will take over, and it will not be his turn to worry about it.

"My Lord, what you are teaching me is that if conditions permit, I will definitely train an elite cavalry for the court!"

Li Mu immediately cooperated.

As a general, there is no one who complains about having too many soldiers under his command.

If he really went to a wealthy government office, he wouldn't mind building a cavalry team.

In the Dayu Dynasty, having fifty cavalrymen made one the most impressive among the thousand households.

If one has 500 cavalrymen, he will be invincible at the commander level.

If he had a thousand cavalrymen, he would at least be a general, and the most powerful one.

If he had 5,000 cavalry, he would be the most powerful general in Dayu.

He has a certain say in the court and can influence the empire's military decisions.

If you have more than 10,000 elite cavalry under your command, it is not just a simple political influence.

If he advances, he can have power over the government and the country; if he retreats, he can establish his own regime.

At this point, everyone in the court had to be careful to appease her, and the emperor would often have a headache and lose sleep over it.

"I'm determined!"

Marquis Wuyang nodded with satisfaction.

Whether or not a cavalry unit can be formed is not important; the key is that the attitude must be there.

……

Yangzhou City.

Xu Wenyue was furious when he received the news.

The people from the Five Cities Army arrived too quickly, making his efforts in vain.

Even if he arrived a few hours late and posted the official documents drafted by him, he could gain considerable fame in the court and the country.

Unfortunately, reality is cruel.

The rebels have been driven away, and it would be too deliberate to talk about living and dying together with Yangzhou.

Even though his plan was thwarted, he still had to greet the gentry with a smile.

I was grateful to the other party for sending troops to rescue me in time, but you can imagine how depressed I felt.

Looking at the high-spirited Marquis Wuyang, Xu Wenyue gnashed his teeth in hatred for this "life-saving grace".

The other party had obviously come here a long time ago, and he waited until now to show up, which clearly showed that he wanted to laugh at him.

His intuition told him that the discovery last night of rebels impersonating government troops was also the work of Marquis Wuyang.

It is a low probability event for the soldiers guarding the city to recognize the wanted criminal at a glance from hundreds of meters away.

Fortunately, Marquis Wuyang refused to enter the city to attend the celebration banquet on the grounds that he was pursuing the remaining enemies, otherwise it would have been even more embarrassing.

"This guy is here to defeat me!"

After seeing off the army of Wucheng Bingmasi, Xu Wenyue couldn't help but express his feelings.

“My Lord, there is no need to get angry over such trivial matters.

Marquis Wuyang is indeed annoying, but that's all he can do. He can't be considered our real enemy.

If we waste too much energy on him and ignore the eunuch party hidden behind the scenes, that would be a failure! "

Hou Huaichang stepped forward to remind them. When the relatives of the emperor and the civil officials are at odds, it is mostly just a show. It is very rare to do things to this extent.

Considering the current situation, he has reason to believe that Marquis Wuyang's provocative behavior is a cover for the eunuch party.

Once their attention is focused on Marquis Wuyang, their focus on the eunuch party will inevitably decrease.

It was the emperor who initiated the salt administration reform, but it was the eunuch party who was responsible for its specific implementation.

The relatives of the emperor and the nobles all followed suit and got a piece of the pie.

Marquis Wuyang's behavior seemed intended to attract attention.

If you mistake the primary and secondary contradictions and continue to entangle with Marquis Wuyang, you will fall into the enemy's trap.

"How dare you, you despicable eunuchs, plot against me!

No wonder that bastard Zuo Guangen didn’t come to Yangzhou. It seems he had made arrangements and was just waiting for me to fall into his trap.

If nothing unexpected happens, the eunuch party has already extended its tentacles to the salt fields.

These changes in Yangzhou City were deliberately caused by them in order to delay me.

It is easy to enter Yangzhou, but difficult to leave Yangzhou.

If I leave now, the outside world will think that I am frightened by the rebels and dare not stay in Yangzhou.

The eunuch party is so vicious! "

After being reminded, Xu Wenyue reacted immediately.

The conflict between him and Marquis Wuyang was nothing more than a dispute over face, and more of an act of emotion.

Salt administration reform is the focus of competition among several major power groups.

One careless move led to the enemy's trap.

People only thought of Yangzhou as the main trading place for salt, but ignored the major salt fields.

"Sir, it's not too late to find out now.

It is only natural that you entered the Lianghuai region alone and failed to defeat the eunuch party in the competition for salt producing areas.

Even if we made a mistake earlier, we can still find a way to make up for it later.

No matter what, once salt is produced, it needs to be sold.

The geographical location determines that the future salt trade cannot be separated from Yangzhou.

Keep an eye on the reform of the Salt Administration Office and place our people there, so that this trip south won't be considered a failure!"

Hou Huaichang persuaded tactfully.

In political struggles, temporary wins and losses don’t mean much.

As long as the final result is good, the failure in the process can be completely ignored.

However, Xu Wenyue was obviously not as optimistic as him.

According to the original rules, whoever controls Yangzhou City controls the lifeline of the salt industry.

The situation is different now, as salt administration reform is imminent.

If the rules of the game change, Yangzhou, the largest salt trading center, will inevitably be affected.

As salt was a monopoly business, the imperial court could use administrative orders to determine the salt trading locations.

From the perspective of the eunuch party, it is completely worthwhile to change the rules and exclude them.

……

"Da da da……"

The sound of horse hooves getting closer and closer made the earth tremble.

"The enemy cavalry is coming!"

Realizing this, Huang Renliang, who was running away with his team, was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood.

If he had known that the government army had a large number of cavalry, he would not have ordered his troops to flee.

On the plains, two legs can never outrun four legs.

Faced with the enemy's pursuit, the army ran for more than three hours in a row, and the soldiers were exhausted.

Leaving your back to the enemy cavalry at this time would be completely irresponsible for your life.

"Pass the order, the whole army stops advancing, push all the vehicles, big and small, to the front, and form a chariot formation to fight against the enemy cavalry!"

Huang Renliang gritted his teeth and gave the order.

Reason told him that this was not a good choice.

Chariot formations can resist cavalry charges, but cannot stop enemy infantry.

Once the enemy's infantry caught up from behind, it would be difficult for them to escape.

But there is no way, continuing to run will only make me die faster.

With their backs exposed, the enemy only needs to follow and hunt them slowly to annihilate them.

Now they can only hope that the enemy infantry comes slowly so that they can resist for a while.

The soldiers under his command are all elite veterans of the rebel army. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, Huang Renlong will do his best to rescue.

If we can delay until the main force arrives and then fight a decisive battle with the enemy, there is still a glimmer of hope.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Huang Renliang's order was ultimately a step too late, and the soldiers who fell behind were pierced through by the sharp arrows.

Luckily he dodged the rain of arrows, but the cavalry spears came at him again.

Under the huge impact force, the whole person was thrown into the air.

The screams made the already chaotic team even more disorganized.

Driven by panic, the soldiers ignored orders and fled frantically in all directions.

Realizing that the situation was hopeless, Huang Renliang no longer cared about the team and left with a few trusted men.

……

“Reinforcements are coming!
Hurry up and speed up, if you keep going this slow, our work will be in vain!"

Seeing the cavalry passing by, Zhao Yawei urged anxiously.

The main attack mission was not easy to grab. I finally got one, but in the end I didn’t even touch the enemy.

If this gets out, people will laugh at you.

Although judging from the current situation, they are unlikely to defeat the cavalry.

But as long as you go faster, you will always gain something.

After all, this battle was a battle for the Wucheng Bingmasi to clean up their own faction.

If you don't get involved, your friendly forces will take over.

Marquis Wuyang couldn't afford to lose face, so as the main attacker, he must be treated differently.

Deep down in his heart, he only hoped that his colleagues in the Beijing camp would give him some face and leave some heads for him to chop off so that he could return to report.

(End of this chapter)