Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 746 - 617: 10000 Iron Cavalry Can Sweep Across_1

Chapter 746: Chapter 617: 10000 Iron Cavalry Can Sweep Across_1

In the early morning, when Li Xuan stepped into the camp of the Shenji right camp, it was in turmoil.

The scale of the officer change in the right camp this time was unprecedented. Nearly eighty percent of the officers were swept out or transferred to the local Weisuo army.

Some others were part of Li Xuan’s game of successful or not, having switched from the Shenji left camp to take up deputy positions.

Li Xuan knew that his actions were quite domineering and brutal, so he didn’t dare to be careless. He had pre-emptively called upon eight thousand Shenji left camp soldiers to station beside the right camp.

It is known that when Yu Jie reformed the army thirteen years ago, the number of mutinies was no less than ten times. Li Xuan had to be cautious about certain things.

When Li Xuan entered the camp, he found that there was a strong resentment. Those officers who had received transfer orders were making a lot of noise intentionally while packing their belongings. The sounds were extremely harsh.

However, the soldiers of the right camp looked at Li Xuan with eager eyes.

Li Xuan was going to select 150 strong and capable With reputation in combat formations, it was well known that he would be appointed as the bannermen, flag bearers, and even the Baihu.

Furthermore, it was said that Li Xuan had also reclaimed their five-month backdated salary on their behalf.

That was accumulated over the years. After the early years of Jingtai, the court often faced financial difficulties and had to delay issuing military pay.

The neglect of the Shenji right camp by the Ministry of War led to it having the majority of the outstanding salaries.

But it was rumored that after the Marquis of Guanjun officially took over, all their backdated salary was recovered.

Therefore, a mutiny was impossible. The removed superiors were not very good to them. The given benefits, how could they match the real silver and promotion path brought by Marquis of Guanjun?

Zhang Yue, who was in armor, walked beside Li Xuan at this time, with a look of disbelief, "The emperor lets you choose 150 family warriors from the army? All military officers below Canjiang are all appointed by you? Is he crazy?"

Zhang Yue realized something was wrong as soon as he spoke the words, as it seemed to defy the emperor. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand, looked around, then approached Li Xuan’s ear, "Won’t this give you the authority to turn the Shenji camps into your private army? Qianzhi, couldn’t you be his illegitimate child?"

Li Xuan also looked strange, "You don’t need to ask me, I also find this very strange."

At the time, he merely presented a suggestion to Emperor Jingtai to test the latter’s bottomline.

However, Emperor Jingtai agreed without hesitation, even hinting that Li Xuan could go ahead and ’privatize’ the Shenji left and right camps.

Li Xuan was somewhat regretful. Had he known this would happen, he would have said two hundred instead of one hundred and fifty.

"This is really——"

Zhang Yue didn’t know what to say. The emperor’s attitude was probably related to the imperial grandson. But even if Li Xuan was to support the imperial grandson, this level of trust seemed too excessive?

"But is there really no problem on my side? Can I directly go to the Jingying to serve as a Canjiang?"

Zhang Yue was very excited, as his family had been military officers for generations, so it was natural that he hoped to make achievements in the military.

Although Zhang Yue has been doing well in the Liudao Division recently, it was more due to the help of Gong Xiaowu, his virtuous aide.

As for Zhang Yue, he wasn’t very happy about this. He would rather hold a position where he could fully utilize his abilities.

So this time, when Li Xuan asked him to directly serve as a Canjiang in the right camp and wanted Gong Xiaowu to succeed him as a colonel in the Liudao Division, Zhang Yue was pleasantly surprised, but also secretly worried, fearing that he would fail Li Xuan’s expectations.

Li Xuan laughed, "I’ve said that all military officers at the rank of Canjiang or below will be left up to me, I just have to report to the Ministry of War afterwards. But for now, don’t think about standing on your own. You have to listen, watch, and learn more in normal times. I can let you manage the army and the central camp of Shenji right camp, but you can’t interfere in daily training."

Zhang Yue nodded slightly, thinking this was reasonable.

He knows his place, even if Li Xuan gave him the power, Zhang Yue currently wouldn’t dare to take it.

Li Xuan thereby said to reassure him, "Don’t feel too much pressure. The Shenji left and right camps both use new weapons and new tactics. Even if I transferred a veteran over, it wouldn’t be much help. So now, Zhang Yue, you just make me feel reassured."

Zhang Yue’s expression loosened a bit. Following that, he saw Li Xuan start to greet people.

These were the Baihu, Qianzong, Youji General and other middle and high-level Wu cultivators who were transferred from the Shenji left camp and the north Zhili Weisuo.

Remarkably, Li Xuan recognized all of them and could even call their names accurately.

Zhang Yue wasn’t surprised. He knew that since last October, Li Xuan had stayed in the barracks a long time to avoid alarming the snake, to dodge the ears and eyes of Prince Xiang.

With Li Xuan’s current mind and cultivation, it is very easy to remember these people.

To Zhang Yue’s surprise, Li Xuan could even chat with them for a few sentences, all of them looked affectionate, smiling and relaxed, not like a pretense.

He thought that speaking of "military morale," Li Xuan was undoubtedly qualified.

By the time they arrived at the Central Army camp together, Zhang Yue saw a burly general in full armour, standing at the door waiting.

Zhang Yue recognized this person immediately. It was Guo Quan, the former deputy commander of the Shenji left camp, one of Li Xuan’s capable aids, whose status was only second to Wang Yuan, the deputy commander of the Shenji left camp.

It’s said that his ability to train soldiers and understanding of the brand-new war tactics satisfy Li Xuan very much.

Hence, this time, after Li Xuan took over the right camp, he directly transferred Guo Quan to be the deputy commander of the right camp.

"The subordinate sees the Marquis of Guanjun! Just now the subordinate was busy with military affairs, and did not come to greet you immediately, please forgive me, Marquis of Guanjun."

Guo Quan knew that Li Xuan was a person who didn’t care about ceremonious courtesy. After a symbolical bow, he leaned into Li Xuan’s ear: "Lord, last night, someone set fire to the storage area, burning three warehouses. Also, poison was found in the soybeans fed to the livestock. Fortunately, the soldiers below were not involved, so the damage was not great."

Li Xuan’s eyes suddenly tightened, and then he sneered.

He realized that his action of cleaning up the Shenji right camp had sparked a backlash.

"I will have someone investigate these two cases; you don’t need to bother." Li Xuan looked at his deputy, "Guo Quan, I ask you, can the Shenji right and left camp reach the left camp’s level in a month and a half?"

Guo Quan immediately responded with a solemn expression, "The base here is very good, within a month at most. I can make them proficiently master the shooting technique of the ’Rune flintlock rifled gun’, as well as the ’Linear Column Shooting’ and ’Square Formation’. With plentiful food and wages in Jingying, how can they not work hard? However, the newly recruited eight thousand people have to start from the beginning, don’t hold too many expectations."

Following the Emperor’s intention, the Shenji right camp will be increased to nineteen thousand people. But the remaining eight thousand people have not started recruiting yet.

Li Xuan planned to recruit soldiers from the mines in Yiwu. Those miners are excellent soldiers, inherently disciplined. As long as they are taught how to use firearms, they can possess combat power.

At this time Li Xuan and others did not know that at the same moment, Liang Heng, who had regained part of Zhisi, was using a Thousand-Mile Mirror to watch the Shenji right camp.

Standing next to him was the Iron-faced Man, and behind him were the many generals of the ten battalions.

The Iron-faced Man was speaking leisurely, "Yesterday, I tested their ’Rune flintlock rifled gun’. It is indeed powerful. Within 350 steps, it could seriously injure the second warrior of the Wu cultivator. There’s a rumor that many martial artists and Wu cultivators in Capital City are buying this stuff for high prices, pushing the price to three thousand patterned silvers each."

He said this and glanced at Liang Heng, "Great General, I personally don’t understand military affairs. But the tactics and formations Li Xuan used in the Shenji left camp are clearly for this ’Rune flintlock rifled gun’. I’m afraid their combat power is remarkable."

As soon as the Iron-faced Man finished speaking, the many generals behind him burst into laughter. On almost everyone’s face was a mix of ridicule and disdain.

"What the hell is so unusual! I’ve never seen a whole military force using firearms."

"A young kid, what does he know about military training or fighting wars?"

"I admire the Marquis of Guanjun’s capability in solving cases, but speaking of military tactics and warfare, I could crush him with one finger. His several military exploits, aren’t they all due to opportunism?"

"I have seen their military formations during their training. What is this Line Column Formation, or Square Formation, it’s simply ridiculous. I wonder how Earl Chengyi taught him?"

"The Li family have always been making a living on the water. What do they know about land warfare? His military formations are all conjured up."

"I don’t know what the Emperor was thinking, he ruined the decent Shenji right camp, and wasted so much money. Regardless, that ’Rune flintlock rifled gun’ is pretty powerful, it’s a waste to use it for them."

The Iron-faced Man listened to their discussions, furrowed his brows but didn’t refute.

When it came to tactics, these old generals from the ten battalions were certainly experts.

Liang Heng, Marquis of Wuqing, put away the Thousand-Mile Mirror at this time. He sneered, "Mr. Iron, you think too highly of them. They are just a bunch of showpieces, incapable of significant tasks!

If I, as a general, were to face this Shenji right and left camp on the battlefield, a mere ten thousand Iron Cavalry could sweep them away! I am still so confident, not to mention the Qiexue army of the Mengwu people?"

He shook his head, looking both regretful and anxious, "I don’t know what words he used to bewitch Shangshu Yu and the Emperor. So much money and so many warriors have been wasted in his hands."