Han Khan

Chapter 163: The Left Wing Returns in Triumph
At this time, Zhang Zhongxian was rushing towards Zhang Sheng's tent with the good news that Princess Sarah was willing to marry Your Highness.

A group of 10 or so cavalry patrols suddenly appeared, holding blue flags with golden eagles in their hands. They rode their horses quickly into the fence outside the camp, shouting:

"A great victory on the left wing. Captain Koza led the warriors on the left wing and defeated many Tatar tribes near Yanran Mountain. They are now on their way back a hundred miles away, escorting a large number of captives and livestock."

Watching these patrolling cavalrymen running all the way to His Highness's tent, Zhang Zhongxian excitedly slapped his legs and said to himself:
"Okay, okay. Now that Yanran Mountain has been conquered by our Jinhan tribe, our Jinhan people have gained a firm foothold in Mobei."

As he spoke, he quickly walked towards Zhang Sheng's tent.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng was not in the big tent, but was busy outside.

Every day he would patrol the camp with his men and the slaves who were responsible for herding the cattle to make sure everything was in order.

In addition, he also needs to lead the priests in the temple to perform worship ceremonies.

However, this is not all his job. Whenever he has free time, he will supervise or personally participate in the training of the Young Guards.

Zhang Sheng has devoted a lot of effort especially to these young people who will become officers of the Jinhan Army in the future.

He often personally taught them to learn scriptures, elegant language, sacred texts, military tactics, and various skills on horseback and on foot, such as archery, spear thrusting, and especially the horizontal sword technique in infantry combat.

Although Zhang Sheng may be slightly younger than the four great guards, his horizontal swordsmanship is outstanding in the entire Jinhan tribe and even in the previous Dunhuang period.

Although he may be slightly inferior to Zhang Xibao, Keza and other generals in terms of strength, Zhang Sheng's Tang sword skills are invincible in Dunhuang and Jinhan tribe.

The horizontal sword is a short weapon, but this is compared with the spear, it is actually more than three feet long.

In battles, whether on foot or on horseback, Zhang Sheng often used his sword to chop off the enemy's heads, split the enemy's chests, and chop off the enemy's hands countless times.

In every battle, he could always rely on the speed of his horse to wield the sword in his hand and cut down the enemy with one blow, especially the unarmored Hu cavalry on the grassland.

Nowadays, the horizontal sword style saber has become a common sword worn by many samurai in the Imperial Guards. When Zhang Sheng first saw this kind of sword, he thought he had seen a Japanese sword.

Because the style of this knife is somewhat similar to the Japanese samurai sword I had seen on TV before. Both are so sharp, and the cold blade shines with a cold light.

But this horizontal sword is really very similar to the Japanese swords that he has seen in those Japanese film and television works. After a thought, he understood: the reason why the horizontal sword is like a Japanese sword is that the Japanese must have come to the Tang Dynasty to study and learned our Chinese sword-forging skills.

After taking a closer look, I found that although this horizontal sword is somewhat similar to a Japanese sword, it is thicker and straighter than the Japanese sword.

Moreover, Japan at that time was a student of the Tang Dynasty. The horizontal sword must have been Japanese, and the ancestor of the samurai sword they used must have learned its forging technology from the Tang Dynasty.

Those dwarf monkeys on the Oriental Islands learned all the culture, skills and systems of the Tang Dynasty, otherwise they would be just a group of monkeys who had just learned how to wear clothes.

His idea was not far from the actual situation.

The world-famous Japanese samurai sword originated in the Tang Dynasty, and Japanese samurai learned how to forge it from this "good teacher".

This "good teacher" welcomed all the barbarians and taught them etiquette and rituals, various political, military and economic systems. Even the surrounding barbarians learned the technology of building cities from the Tang Dynasty and the Central Plains.

However, this "good teacher" would never have thought that those barbarian students would actually use the skills and systems he taught them to invade the descendants of the Tang Dynasty in the future. This was a truly painful lesson.

So it is not good to be a teacher. Why should we try to make the barbarians who do not belong to us civilized?
Zhang Sheng's horizontal sword technique is a very practical sword technique. The moves are simple and swift, without many fancy actions. However, whether he is fighting on foot with the sword held with both hands, or fighting on horseback with the sword wielded with one hand, the power is extremely strong.

The young guards of the Eagle Guards were learning the horizontal sword technique taught by Zhang Sheng. In addition to the practice of two people standing opposite each other and holding wooden swords in both hands, they also had to ride on horseback and run while chopping the targets on the training ground quickly and accurately.

This Tang horizontal sword is the ancestor of the Japanese samurai sword, and the horizontal sword technique is also the origin of Japanese kendo. However, for some reason, the forging method of the horizontal sword and its sword technique were lost in later generations, but those dwarf monkeys survived and developed it, and also produced many different sword techniques.

Now in the Jinhan tribe, because almost all the soldiers are cavalry, in order to better kill the enemy on horseback, the newly forged horizontal swords are becoming more curved and slender than before, more suitable for cavalry combat, and gradually evolving into real sabers based on the horizontal swords.

In addition to fighting, managing and patrolling the tribesmen, leading the priests and tribesmen in prayer, and being close to his two women, he practiced riding, archery, and swordplay every day, honing his martial arts, giving equal importance to civil and military skills and making them inseparable.

Whether it is the writings of the Holy Church or the army he personally leads, they are equally important in his mind.

Every day is tiring, but every day is also fruitful. It is the foundation of his life, so how can he not pay attention to it? He is still young and has enormous room for improvement.

Zhang Sheng said to the teenagers who were only a few years younger than him:

“You must know that if you don’t take advantage of the gaps in the war to practice martial arts, what will you do when you encounter a strong enemy in the future? If you don’t work hard to learn the elegant language, sacred texts, and sacred teachings now, how can I use you in the future?
I, Jin Han, will have countless followers and endless pastures and land in the future. If you want to be valued by me, you must learn these things, otherwise you will always be just a soldier.

If you have learned martial arts, elegant language, divine writings, and military tactics, which can be useful for your whole life, you are a true Jin Han person and a true Saint believer!"

These young people said:

"I will follow your highness's instructions!"

The young men on the field were trained personally by their distinguished leader, who also taught them every day. Now, each of them was working hard for fear of falling behind.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng heard a sound. He turned around and saw a dozen cavalrymen wearing leather armor, with bows and swords on their waists and fur felt hats running towards him.

The cavalryman in front rushed forward, jumped down to the ground, then knelt in front of Zhang Sheng, looked up and said to Zhang Sheng:
"Your Highness, a great victory! The left-wing warriors led by Lord Koza have defeated many Tatar tribes and are now a hundred miles away, heading towards the camp!"

Zhang Sheng was immediately overjoyed and breathed a sigh of relief.

Jin Han's left, center and right wing armies totaling 8100 people went on expeditions to the Dubo people in the north, the Ubili people in the west, and the Tatars and Mongol Shiwei people in the east.

The central army led by Zhang Sheng and Zhang Xibao's right wing have returned, but Koza's left wing has not returned, and there has been no news for a long time, which made him extremely anxious recently. When he heard that they had returned triumphantly, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Koza led 900 guards, one of the four most elite guard regiments in Jinhan's army. If the entire army was wiped out, it would be a huge blow to him and Jinhan.

Zhang Sheng was delighted and responded loudly, "Great! That's great! Quickly inform the people to cook sheep and slaughter cattle to prepare to welcome our triumphant warriors!"

He turned to the veterans standing by and said:

"Continue to train them and complete today's training mission."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Several disabled old soldiers wearing fur coats and felt hats bent over and said.

Then Zhang Sheng said loudly to the young men who were also excited and whispering:
"My Lord Koza, the chief of Jinhan's guards, led the warriors of the left wing and conquered many Tatars. Like Lord Zhang Xibao, he is a true holy warrior. You must train harder. Today, I will give you some mutton and kumis. When the left wing army returns, you will also participate in the celebration banquet."

The young men cheered excitedly and responded in unison.

(End of this chapter)