Chapter 887: A Show of Power
There were a large number of people going on the expedition, nearly 50,000 soldiers. Almost every general led a legion, which was a mixture of new and old soldiers, and there were significant differences in their strength.
For example, the 5,000 Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry led by Zhang Liao were the top-level Royal Guards Wolf Cavalry that had not yet declined in the battle of Northern Frontier. They were strong enough to challenge the Three Talents and Military Soul. Even if they were defeated, they were definitely not the kind of weaklings that would fall down at the first encounter.
When the almighty Wolf Riders get fierce, they are enough to tear a piece of flesh off any top legion. After all, their almighty nature means that they can never be targeted and they are able to fight against anyone.
When they have one talent, Wolf Riders are the weakest. After all, their weak all-round ability is extremely mediocre, but when they reach the level of Guards, they are truly all-round soldiers.
It was also Zhang Liao's plan to take advantage of the Imperial War to try to find a way to break through his three talents.
After all, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry were just like them back then. Li Jue and his men still fought their way out of the impossible and became the three-talented heavy iron cavalry. So there is no reason why they, the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, cannot do it.
So, after Liu Ying gave the order, Zhang Liao took his troops and waited for the gathering without any resistance.
Similar to Zhang Liao is Gongsun Xu. The white horses under his command are also elite White Horse Volunteers, who also have the hope of achieving three talents.
Gongsun Xu was also very distressed. He actually felt that he was not very suitable to lead the White Horse Volunteers, because this was a branch of the army established by Gongsun Zan. Without the White Horse General, the White Horse Volunteers had no spirit at all.
Even though the white horses he led were clearly the same group as those led by Gongsun Zan, the abilities they displayed were almost worlds apart. He wanted a change, so when Liu Yu approached Gongsun Zan to discuss providing some manpower to Liu Chan, he took the initiative to volunteer to step forward.
Gongsun Zan waved his hand and agreed directly. He had a good relationship with Liu Bei, and with Liu Yu coming to plead for him, he also wanted his son to gain some experience.
Anyway, the white horse is the fastest cavalry in the world. As long as you don't seek death, you can go anywhere in the world, even if it is a white horse with double talents.
What's more, Gongsun Xu's white horse is more agile, which is very different from his lightning speed. It is better to go out and hone it with a higher safety factor.
As for Pang De at the end, he didn't have any requests and simply applied for 5,000 Xiliang cavalry from the Western Regions. However, Pang De obviously had not yet realized his tragic fate.
In the land of Xiliang, no one has a higher reputation than the Four Heavenly Kings of Xiliang.
His behavior is no different from hitting a dog with a meat bun.
As for Gao Lan, he led his own exclusive legion, the super heavy infantry. This was the first appearance of this legion since the Northern Frontier.
Zhang He led a heavy cavalry unit, but it was obviously not well-trained and seemed a little weak.
As for the others, there were not too many exclusive requirements. Basically, the imperial court followed the principle of proximity and directly recruited a group of double-talented soldiers stationed in several ranches or fortresses, and brought them along to let them adapt to the new skills when the time came.
This is also an ability of a general, or a common ability of the officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty. All the officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty basically possess one ability, which is the ability to quickly coordinate the soldiers.
The reason why he could control a newly acquired legion in a very short time was simply because of the current environment of the Han Dynasty, where officers could move at high speeds, but soldiers could not.
There was also the precedent of Zhang He leading the White Horse Volunteers. In almost every training session, Zhang He would be used as a negative example and his corpse would be whipped.
Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty would spontaneously exchange legions for training. Even if they could not bring out the full capabilities of the other legions, at least they would not fall below the bottom line and lead to a tragedy like Zhang He.
"Report!" A soldier of the heavy cavalry roared and rushed over on his horse. When Li Jue saw this scene, he immediately stood up with great excitement.
"Have the reinforcements arrived?" Li Jue asked anxiously. After receiving the news from Li Ru, they had been staying in this broken place for a long time, so long that he felt his body was a little rusty.
Basically, all the capable bandits nearby were defeated by them, and most of them were attracted by their evil temperament and directly joined their ranks.
Li Jue and his men accepted everyone who came and treated them all as Qiang servants. As long as they were not on the Han Dynasty's purge list, they would accept them all.
They don't make any demands except being obedient, even if you are a crazy murderer. They are the heavy cavalry, no, their Xiliang cavalry are themselves a collection of bastards.
They are still bound by the moral framework within the Han Dynasty, but outside the Han Dynasty they are truly evil people. It is precisely because of this that they can become the boss in this place and show signs of bringing the entire region under their control.
Li Jue and his men had nothing to do and did not want to disobey Li Ru's orders, so they could only wait idly where they were and things began to rot. But finally, the second batch of reinforcements arrived.
"Yes! General Zhao Zilong is among them. He is definitely here to provide support. He will reach our territory in another day!" the messenger reported loudly.
It’s hard to say about other people, but Zhao Yun and the others know him.
Once you have seen a military general with a very personal style like Zhao Yun, it is basically impossible to forget him. After all, there are only a few people who wear colorful clothes on the battlefield.
Like Lu Bu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and the like, anyone who wears large and eye-catching clothes must be a strong man, otherwise he would have been beaten to death long ago.
"Pass the order! Everybody, prepare the troops!" Li Jue was overjoyed, then stood up and shouted loudly. Then the messengers spread Li Jue's order to the entire army, and soon the Xiliang Iron Cavalry had all completed their formation on horseback.
Even the vassal troops were arranged in square formations in an orderly manner. These days, Li Jue and his men had no entertainment measures and could only capture the vassal troops for training.
After so many days, although the combat effectiveness has not been greatly improved, it at least looks a bit like a regular army, rather than the previous alliance of rogues.
"Hahaha, you're finally here. If you don't come soon, I'll get rusty!" Guo Si and Fan Chou happily rode over on horseback. Like Li Jue, they were absolute killers. These days were really hard to endure.
In fact, the time was not long, but in the eyes of ADHD children like Li Jue, waiting was simply killing them.
On the other side, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu just arrived, followed by the Parthian envoys. The envoy who delivered the letter of credence had not left, but mingled among the Xiliang cavalry.
In addition to delivering letters of credence, his other task was to act as a tour guide, leading the way and communicating with the Parthian garrisons along the way.
"Respected Marquis Meiyang, are you leaving now?"
The Parthian envoys were a little puzzled. Li Jue had told them some time ago that they needed to consult with the rear, which should take at least a month. However, a decision had been made in less than half a month, which was a bit too fast.
"No, our military advisor attaches great importance to your invitation and has specially mobilized reinforcements from the Han Dynasty to go to Parthia with us to help!" Li Jue narrated calmly.
The Parthian envoy was stunned. He did not expect the Han Dynasty to be so powerful. They just wanted to invite the Han Dynasty to come over and take up some space. After all, the war was always a matter between them and Rome. The reason for inviting the Han Dynasty was to enhance the friendship between the two sides and show the strength of Parthia.
Unexpectedly, the Han Dynasty sent reinforcements, including a powerful elite army including Li Jue.
They were well aware of the strength of Li Jue's army, called the Heavy Cavalry. In the beginning, they were inseparable from the Immortal Guards and the Immortal King Cavalry. Later, they led the miscellaneous soldiers to defeat the Dingling people head-on. All these had long proved the bravery of the Heavy Cavalry.
Moreover, as a powerful empire, the Han Dynasty attached great importance to their invitation. Regardless of whether the legion sent was strong or not, at least sending more people was an excellent signal, which at least proved that the relationship between the two families was gradually becoming harmonious. This was very important for trade.
After learning the positive developments, the Parthian envoy quickly calmed down and planned to go with Li Jue and his men to greet them, so that they could examine the quantity and quality of the so-called reinforcements.
This would also make it easier for Parthia to make some subsequent arrangements. After all, they couldn't just come all the way here and let the Han Dynasty watch the show . At least they had to assign one or two simple enemies for the Han Dynasty to deal with. Then, wouldn't it be possible to develop a comradeship and make the relationship between the two countries more harmonious?
"We're almost there!" Li Jiancheng looked into the distance and could clearly see the buildings on the horizon. Based on the information they had obtained so far, they should be there soon.
He worked hard along the way. As the person in charge, he had a lot of feelings. The identity of a commander is not something that ordinary people can take on.
Tiangong-1 sent them to the border of the Western Regions and then stopped, under the pretext that they must not leave the range of the Jiuzhou Ding. As a result, after dropping them off at the border of the Western Regions, it quickly slipped away to an unknown place in the west.
Although he had the assistance of Xue Wanche and others, as well as the cooperation of Zhuge Liang and others in commanding and dispatching along the way, he was still exhausted.
"Although I have heard about the vastness of the earth from ancient books, the feeling is completely different when I visit it in person!" Zhuge Liang said with a slight .
It was the first time for Zhuge Liang to travel so far. He had only wandered around the Western Regions before. This time he headed directly to the west of the Western Regions. Although he was familiar with the information, it was also a test for him.
The scenery along the way seemed to enhance his understanding of gossip and the universe.
"Keep moving forward, and try to get to the base of Marquis Meiyang and his men, so that you can have a good meal tonight!" Li Jiancheng gave a simple order. After just a few days of leadership, he had a better understanding of the commander.
In particular, he directly abandoned the foolish behavior of personally commanding everything and turned to the model of breaking down the tasks and then handing them over to the right people to handle.
Li Jiancheng realized that trying to grab everything at once was not suitable for him after he tried it.
After only a few hours of walking, just as everyone was taking a short break and cooking for lunch, a dense mass of black spots appeared on the horizon.
"Report, General, the people coming are the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and they seem to be here to greet us!" reported the scout team responsible for reconnaissance.
"General Li, order the army to line up to welcome them. Wait for the enemy to come over, and then provide shield first and then fight in formation!" Liu Chan followed Zhuge Liang's advice and said to Li Jiancheng.
"Indeed, General Li, we must guard against danger!" Li Shimin also suggested. In the army, he never called Li Jiancheng a brother.
This is also the normal vigilance of the imperial army, to prevent the opponent from being a disguised enemy. A series of garbage legions like the barbarians will not think about this problem at all. Once they encounter an unexpected army, they will be killed directly.
Just like the several barbarian legions that Li Jue and his men had captured before, they had no vigilance at all, and one round of charge was enough to trample most of the soldiers to death, and then secure victory in an instant.
"The entire army should line up and be on high alert!" Li Jiancheng was quick to follow advice. He always valued smart people.
"It is indeed the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, there is no doubt about it!"
Zhao Yun had very good eyesight. He had already seen the leader Li Jue and others. Although they were not very familiar with each other, they were comrades who had fought at Hulao Pass before. He was quite familiar with Li Jue and others.
"Huh! There are actually some good guys here!" Li Jue himself didn't have any hope. Although he didn't have enough political acumen, Li Ru had already stated in the letter that most of the people who came would be younger generations, and they would need to be babysitters.
This was also the reason why Li Jue and his men brought all the Xiliang Iron Cavalry here directly, just to give this group of people a warning and to establish their prestige.
On the battlefield, bad teammates are very scary because they want to keep the command firmly in their own hands.
"Zhiran, this is a bit bad. I saw that bastard Zhang Wenyuan. I'm afraid that the wolf riders under his command are also approaching the third level of talent?" Guo Si said with a bit of annoyance.
"Hehe, I don't recognize that guy over there, but just by looking at those white horses I know that they should be the White Horse Volunteers!" Fan Chou also felt a little annoyed.
You said you were going to be a babysitter, but why are there so many big guys here? The Bingzhou Wolf Riders and the White Horse Volunteers, none of them is a pushover, so it’s no use just showing off their power.
"Let's go over and say hello first, and then take action depending on the situation!" Zhang Ji said calmly. He had said long ago that even if Luoyang didn't have many main forces, the remaining group of people alone were powerful enough.
The Western Liang Iron Cavalry, led by Li Jue, ran quickly to a place more than 200 steps away from the Han army. Then Li Jue and others reined in their horses, and the Western Liang Iron Cavalry behind them instantly went from moving to still, with everyone's movements being almost exactly the same.
Young people like Li Jiancheng who had never had much contact with the Xiliang Iron Cavalry suddenly brightened their eyes and were instantly impressed by the elite level of this legion.
If it were just them, Li Jue and his men could indeed take over the command with this move, but unfortunately, Zhang Liao and his men were completely dismissive of Li Jue and his men's actions.
"Let's go! Say hello!" Li Jue and his men brought the Parthian envoys and walked towards the Han army.
Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng and others lowered their army's guard and took the initiative to greet them. Although they didn't know what the other party was going to do, it always wouldn't hurt to listen first.
