Mythical Three Kingdoms-Chapter 1755 - 1651: Li Youu Says These Are All Worth Researching (Part 2)

After about a dozen deaths, this group of people finally understood: during a frontal charge, don’t move recklessly. Even if you get stabbed, as long as your defense is high enough, the damage won’t be fatal. But if you fall off your horse, you’ll surely be trampled to death.

After a few experiences of this sort, and with the Xiliang Iron Cavalry leading the way, soon some clever individuals began to emulate the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, eventually gaining elite talent. The rest have to rely on battlefield understanding, and after enduring about five battles, they could probably be called Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

Li Youu roughly calculated the time. Even though he has already cut down a lot of the training content, focusing only on the most fundamental knowledge, it still takes at least a year, and that’s using soldiers who can already ride horses and have been on the battlefield.

[If this were in Xiliang, issuing a wooden spear would suffice, without needing so many troublesome things. You don’t even have to kill any tigers or leopards, just spread out the map, find a small hostile tribe, calculate the numbers, send a batch out, and bring back cattle and horse supplies, as enemies are far more vicious than tigers or leopards.]

Li Youu can guarantee that after training these people, if sent out in the harsh winter to battle tigers and leopards in the mountains, by springtime their casualty numbers wouldn’t even reach a hundred. What tigers and leopards could teach has no comparison to an enemy.

Back in Xiliang, each time they wiped out a small hostile tribe, sending newly trained soldiers to deal with them inevitably resulted in losing a fifth. This is the true way to drill soldiers through war, feeling that without large-scale bandits, highwaymen, or mountain bandits under Liu Bei’s reign, it’s unfavorable for training soldiers here.

Of course, these are just words to be said. Back then, to eliminate bandits, highwaymen, and mountain bandits, Li Youu spent considerable effort. Coupled with Liu Bei’s reign and the Three Dukes and Seven Farmers’ lighter taxation, the difficulty of people’s lives is quite low. Except for true villains, most are crying and begging to register for household registration quickly, return home, and farm their land.

Thus, under Liu Bei’s governance, there are far fewer bandits and the like; even rogue ruffians that were nonproductive parasites used to be many, but then Mann Chong took office, making a massive crackdown, and those rogue ruffians have all been caught and reformed through labor.

To be honest, Xu Shu was particularly relieved when he saw this situation. According to his past behavior of drawing his sword and cutting down a few streets, he might have also ended up mining in the mountains.

The theory of Chen Xi that people are extremely important resources was thoroughly implemented. Generally, there wouldn’t be a death penalty for crimes that aren’t too severe, but if someone doesn’t work hard, Mann Chong certainly won’t be polite.

In this era, when mining cost countless lives, using labor reform convicts meant official mines wouldn’t need to overly worry about collapses.

In any case, according to Mann Chong, "I left a way out for you in the law, giving you a chance for reform through labor. If you die due to an accident during the labor, it’s simply because of your own guilt. If you don’t die, it means you weren’t worthy of death."

With Mann Chong’s harsh governance, several ten thousand local ruffians, band its, and highwaymen were captured and then underwent three years of high-intensity labor reform, mainly involving digging canals, mining, and building roads—high-intensity tasks.

Xun Yue felt some dissatisfaction with such near-cruel official measures, but considering the transformation of local customs, Xun Yue at most meticulously categorized the misdeeds of that group into various levels, also giving future generations some reference.

This led to a considerable improvement in the customs under Liu Bei’s rule. Although some poor and remote areas remain, and in regions far from the emperor, everything overall conspires against Li Youu’s hopes of training soldiers through purging bandits.

To be frank, Li Youu always feels that soldiers who haven’t seen blood, even if trained, lack combat power. Alas, given the current situation, Li Youu can only make do with training.

All the same, in such an environment, Li Youu holds no hopes for immediate results, only hoping to set up a provisional stage for the time being, not thinking too much about it.

Seeing all the soldiers wielding wooden spears, fighting fiercely without holding back, with people occasionally falling, Li Youu felt slightly satisfied. However, he always thought that without using real weapons, the effect of such combat would not be very effective.

At this moment, a messenger ran over. Li Youu slightly frowned, thinking perhaps there was another problem from Lub Su’s side to cause him trouble. But when he inquired, it turned out that Cai Yan needed something, leaving him slightly astonished.

In Li Youu’s impression, Cai Yan rarely took the initiative to query him about certain things. Even if there was something, she mostly would come personally to inquire, rarely having him go over, implying important matters whenever she did summon him.

Li Youu pondered a bit and ordered Wan Peng to replace him in the training, "Meng Gong, you take over the training of these soldiers. You know the training methods of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, just follow the steps to train them. I might not come around much recently."

"Strategist, can I use a heavy hand?" Wan Peng licked his lips and asked.

"As long as the death rate doesn’t exceed five percent." Li Youu replied coldly, meaning as long as out of a hundred, less than ninety-four died, he deemed it acceptable.

Wan Peng nodded in understanding, and Li Youu rode away. He was quite satisfied with Wan Peng, who had been under his command in Yongliang and was an outstanding person among the underlings of Xiliang’s five big figures, differing from Hua Xiong and others since he was counted among the nobility.

With ancestors as founding generals, marquises, with unbroken lineage, having lost their fief only due to no direct heirs in the main line, Wan Peng’s ancestral line inherited the ancestral temple and title, conducting sacrifices in their place. Although they lost their fief, they were by no means in decline—a true representation of County Prestige in Fufeng County, making the Jiangg and Wang families appear minor in comparison.

Indeed, when discussing titles, Wan Peng had already inherited his paternal grandfather Wan Gong’s title of Marquis of Mendeting—a legitimate noble. He initially left home to pursue a life of mingling with society, only to be taught humility by Xiliang Soldiers, then worked his way from the bottom to military officer through merit.

Honestly, Wan Peng’s initial goal was to become one of the five big figures, alongside Li Ru and Dong Zhuo, but ended up being won over by this group. Unfortunately, the year Dong Zhuo left Xiliang, his grandfather Wan Gong fell critically ill, forcing Wan Peng to reveal his intentions to return to the Wan family to Li Ru.

Actually, by then, Li Ru had long understood Wan Peng’s roots and was aware of the situation; thus, he dispatched Wan Peng back home. Afterward, Wan Gong lingered for three years in critical condition. Wan Peng, unable to leave, completely abandoned thoughts of leaving after Dong Zhuo’s death.

After seeing his grandfather recover, thinking he could return to mingling in society, Wan Peng barely left home before his grandfather passed, forcing him to inherit the Wan family, adhere to the eldest grandson’s three-year mourning, and inherit his grandfather’s title, with intentions to establish his own career. It was then that he encountered Li Ru’s old servant, Li Fan.

Since Li Fan was still alive, it was natural Li Ru wouldn’t die, so Wan Peng didn’t hesitate to plan on following Li Ru, given his familiarity and exceptional capability.

Acting on this, he spent considerable time, eventually moving a part of the Wan family to Ye City, then reporting to Li Youu.

Li Youu, not being one to stand on ceremony, assigned Wan Peng to train the Xiliang Iron Cavalry. Admittedly, everyone has private preferences when employing people, and Wan Peng was considered a trusted subordinate under Li Youu—earning the Wan family its first correct step.

When Li Youu rode over to Cai Yan, any traces concerning Lady Tang had long been discreetly dealt with by Cai Yan and others. Despite knowing that Li Youu could certainly guess, some matters are best left ambiguous for everyone involved.

Li Youu usually went straight to the point with Cai Yan, and neither Cai Yan nor the Second Miss had any intent to cover it up, presenting their issue directly. Even Li Youu was left momentarily speechless, looking at both sisters in utter perplexity.

From a specific perspective, if such speculation were true, Li Youu thought, Cai Yan might greatly increase in worth. However, seeing as it’s already so complicated now, he resigned to deal with future headaches when they arose.