Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 252 Building Cavalry

For Li Jing, there is almost nothing in this world that can tempt him. If there is anything, it is cavalry.

During the Battle of Daling River, Li Jing did not intend to go to the rescue, but without cavalry, Li Jing's troops did not know when they would be able to rush there. Even if they did, it would be nothing more than a rescue.

Hou Jin's troops are all cavalry, and Li Jing's troops are all infantry. Although many of them can ride horses, they are far behind those who live on horseback all day long. It is absolutely impossible to catch up with the enemy.

Moreover, when Hou Jin fought, he always ran away when he suffered a loss. Li Jing sent troops thousands of miles to reinforce him, which could not cause any actual harm to Hou Jin. Instead, he would expose his weapons to Hou Jin. coveted thoughts.

Li Jing knew almost without thinking too much that the Liaodong Army would ask to annex his troops immediately after the siege was relieved, and Zhu Youjian would definitely agree.

In addition, when Li Jing's troops went out, it was impossible to carry a large amount of food, because the food must be localized, and the Liaodong Department even used the food to blackmail him into obeying his orders.

If Li Jing disagrees, it is still the consequence of rebellion.Therefore, Li Jingsizhi repeatedly preferred to let the Ming Dynasty be defeated once, and did not send troops to relieve the siege.

But for Yuan Keli, Li Jing felt a little guilty, because it was Yuan Keli's old friend Sun Chengzong who was in charge of military affairs in Liaodong. After such a big defeat in Dalinghe, Sun Chengzong was bound to be impeached.

In fact, this is also the case. Soon after the Battle of Dalinghe, Sun Chengzong was dismissed from office.

At that time, I heard that Sun Chengzong returned home from his official position, and Yuan Keli was sad for many days. Later, when Henan was hit by a flood, Yuan Keli devoted all his thoughts to assisting Li Jing in disaster relief, and only then passed that sad time.

Li Jing was also very helpless about this, and it was at that time that Li Jing began to make up his mind to form a real cavalry unit.

But the cavalry does not mean that it can be formed just after being established. A cavalry unit that can be put into combat cannot be built in less than three years, and it needs to be trained by absolutely professional people.

It's a pity that Li Jing has all kinds of talents under his command, but he doesn't have the talents to train cavalry.

Just then, Cao Wenzhao came.

If there are professionals in this world who know how to train cavalry, Cao Wenzhao is undoubtedly one of them.

For Cao Wenzhao, Li Jing valued it very much. In addition, Cao Wenzhao had a deep knowledge of cavalry training and command, so Li Jing naturally didn't want to let him go.

But Cao Wenzhao is different from others, he cannot be moved by small favors, and now that Cao Wenzhao is still Li Jing's boss, it is even more difficult to make the boss obey his subordinates.

Li Jing thought over and over again about how to impress Cao Wenzhao.

Cao Wenzhao can't be bought with money, so what is Cao Wenzhao's most tempting thing?

There are only two things that can impress Cao Wenzhao, one is to give him an army that he can gallop across, and the second is the dream of every general, to regain lost ground and expand territory.

Sure enough, when Li Jing offered these two conditions to Cao Wenzhao, Cao Wenzhao was tempted.

Although Cao Wenzhao was tempted, Cao Wenzhao was still very contradictory at this time. After all, the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor was already deeply rooted in Cao Wenzhao's heart.

At this time, if Cao Wenzhao was put under Li Jing's command, Li Jing would have to promise to become emperor in the future, and Cao Wenzhao would be treated like Conglong.

However, Li Jing repeatedly stated that he would never rebel and become emperor. Although Cao Wenzhao was a little disappointed, he felt relieved at the same time.

It can be said that in this meeting between Li Jing and Cao Wenzhao, the two sides are constantly testing, testing, and testing.

Fortunately, the final result finally allowed Li Jing to realize his wish, and Cao Wenzhao finally agreed to join Li Jing's command.

With Cao Wenzhao, it is no longer a problem to form a cavalry unit. Moreover, Cao Wenzhao’s troops are part of Ning’s cavalry. Expanding the cavalry on this basis will achieve faster results. Li Jing only needs to consider paying for the cavalry. Army horses will do.

Now that Cao Wenzhao has joined Li Jing's camp, his speech is not as restrained as before, and there is no need to always think before speaking as before.

"Commander, Mr. Cao has 6000 people under him now, can these people's military pay be compared to that of regular soldiers?" Cao Wenzhao asked with a smile.

Li Jing smiled and said: "Of course, even if Brother Cao doesn't mention it, I have to tell you about it. But 6000 of your 3000 people are recruits, and these people have been with you for less than a year. I will give them the treatment of the third-class soldiers, and I will give them the treatment of the first-class soldiers for the three thousand veterans, including Guan Ning cavalry, what do you think?"

Cao Wenzhao was overjoyed, he didn't expect Li Jing to agree so readily, he immediately clasped his fists and said: "Then Cao will thank the commander on behalf of these brothers, and let them kowtow to the commander later."

Li Jing waved his hand, pondered for a while and continued: "The thousand Guanning iron cavalry under you are from Liaodong. They have followed you so far, and everyone has made great contributions to you. Let's not treat these people badly. You have 10 taels of silver, and you reward these people individually."

Cao Wenzhao was taken aback, unexpectedly, Li Jing asked him to give a separate reward to the thousand Guanning iron cavalry. After staying for a while, Cao Wenzhao clasped his fists heavily at Li Jing.

By this time, Cao Wenzhao finally knew why Li Jing's men were so loyal to him.

Li Jing is so generous with rewards, how could his subordinates not work for him?

With a smile, Li Jing continued: "The weather is getting colder, and your subordinates also need to buy winter clothes. When it comes to clothes, I think that after the soldiers have changed to new weapons, they don't need to wear armor anymore. Our weapons have a long range. There is no need for armor defense, on the contrary, the faster the soldiers move, the faster they can kill the enemy, the heavy armor will seriously affect the soldiers' movements."

Cao Wenzhao nodded. When Li Dingguo fought against the rogues, the rogues couldn't beat them at all. Wearing armor was useless, especially the cavalry. Without the burden of the soldiers' armor, the horses would move faster.

Guan Ning's iron riders don't need to carry heavy weapons like three-eyed firecrackers anymore. They can really move like the wind, come and go without a trace. You can't even hide from the pursuit of Guan Ning's iron cavalry.

However, Cao Wenzhao knew that changing clothes for a 6000-strong army was not an easy task. Cotton cloth alone required a large number of people to sew.

Li Jinggang gave out 10 taels of silver as a reward, and the military pay of the other [-] soldiers was also a huge expense, no matter how rich Li Jing was, he couldn't afford such a toss.

"Marshal, it's not a trivial matter for 6000 people to change their outfits. Can we afford the military expenditure here?" Cao Wenzhao asked doubtfully.

Li Jingjing nodded. Gao Qi and others had never worried about Li Jing's military expenses. Gao Qi knew the operation of Jingji Company and knew that Li Jing was indeed rich enough to afford it. As for the generals and officers below, he actually didn't know. How much financial resources does Li Jing have? They just blindly trust Li Jing.

However, as a senior general, not only combat issues must be considered, but also various expenses, which actually belong to the category of logistics.Without logistics, even the most powerful army cannot win a war.

However, Cao Wenzhao has led the army for many years and knows the importance of logistics support. Even Gao Qi does not have such rich experience as Cao Wenzhao.Although Cao Wenzhao didn't know Li Jing's true strength, it was very rare to be able to ask this question, and it was only safe for such a general to use it when he went out to fight.

"Brother Cao, you don't have to worry about military uniforms. We have specialized textile factories and garment factories. The military uniforms of our soldiers are all processed and produced by the factory. This way, since we can solve the problem of soldiers' clothing, we can support a large number of workers. Yes I'll take you to these factories when I have time." Li Jing smiled.

Cao Wenzhao nodded. He had been wondering why Li Jing's subordinates' costumes were almost exactly the same. It turned out that they were produced in a unified way.You must know that the military uniforms of the imperial court are uniformly customized except for the armor. Clothes such as commoner clothes are sewn by the soldiers' families themselves or hired people to sew. It looks imposing.

"Brother Cao, your subordinates are about to undergo training for changing clothes, so the troops have to go to Pingyang Mansion. After the troops are mobilized, they will give the rogues an opportunity. I intend to send a troop in your jurisdiction Garrison, after all, you are still the commander-in-chief of Shanxi. If the bandits are raging in Shanxi, you will not be able to explain it to the emperor. Let me see this. I will let Zhu Zi and Zhang Chu each lead a brigade to exchange defense with your troops. They have no troops. What do you think of Bianjiao and Ma Ke's orders, so I will serve as Bian Jiao and Ma Ke's orders?" Li Jing said.

Cao Wenzhao nodded, but Li Jing couldn’t take it seriously when he asked Zhuzi and Zhang Chu to be his assistants.

When Li Jing introduced the following generals to him earlier, these two men were at the front. Zhu Zi was one of the first few old brothers who followed Li Jing, and Zhang Chu was Gao Qi's most capable subordinate.These two people are obviously very important to Li Jing. He is new here, if Cao Bianjiao and Ma Ke are the main generals, I don't know if these old brothers of Li Jing will have other ideas.

Wanting to understand this point, Cao Wenzhao said: "Commander, although General Chen and General Zhang have no military positions, they are both well-known generals under the command of the commander. Deputy? From my point of view, let them be the main generals, responsible for guarding and defending the area around Lu'an Mansion. As for Bianjiao and Ma Ke, they should come to Pingyang Mansion. I will train the cavalry here, and they will also help."

Li Jing waved his hands and said with a smile: "Brother Cao, you are thinking too much. Zhuzi and Zhang Chu are not familiar with the local situation. What are the main generals? What's more, the training of cavalry requires the arrival of horses. In fact, if Brother Cao is not required to sit in Pingyang Mansion in person right now , do you think I will let you stay at home? Brother Cao, you and I are close friends, you don’t need to think too much. After the horses arrive, Zhuzi and the others will be familiar with the local situation. Then they will transfer Jiao and Ma Ke back to help You pay attention to training. These two people are rare, especially when they become big like Brother Cao, I have no time to reuse such a person, Brother Cao, don't think too much about it."

Cao Wenzhao nodded emphatically. No matter who it is, being trusted and being reused by others has a sense of happiness, especially generals like Cao Wenzhao who hold heavy troops in their hands have always been the object of suspicion. Zhu Youjian has never No one trusted him like Li Jing did.

(End of this chapter)