I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 236 You Must Assist Him Well
Duan Xing didn't want to cause trouble for himself, so he made three rules with Yuan Shu in advance.

So Yuan Shu had no choice but to swear to heaven that he would absolutely obey Duan Xing's orders. If Duan Xing told him to go east, he would never go west.

Duan Xing then nodded and accepted Yuan Shu's appointment, asking Yuan Shu to gather 5,000 cavalrymen as a cavalry captain and prepare to go to war with the army.

The Han Empire's expeditionary model has not changed at present. Whenever there is a war, the Luoyang Central Army is used as a base, and soldiers are recruited in the Sanhe area to form an army of tens of thousands of people before going to war. After the war, the recruited soldiers are dismissed and the situation returns to normal.

The base that was often responsible for the attacks was the Northern Army.

As a cavalry captain, Yuan Shu had a heavy burden on his shoulders. He had to command one of the two elite cavalry units in the Northern Army, the Yue Cavalry Battalion or the Hu Cavalry Battalion, and he also had to recruit a sufficient number of Sanhe knights to form a large cavalry team of 5,000 people.

Faced with this arduous mission, Yuan Shu considered carefully and finally chose the Yueqi Battalion as his cornerstone.

The Yue Cavalry Battalion had 700 brave and skilled knights, all of whom were carefully selected with high martial arts skills. Everyone had the ability to serve as a grassroots officer. With these 700 people as the core, Yuan Shu began to recruit the remaining 4,300 Sanhe knights.

In accordance with the court's laws, he issued recruitment orders to Henan Yin, Hedong County and Henei County. This recruitment order spread quickly throughout the three river areas like a whirlwind.

The government of Sanhe has been completely renewed after Yuan Feng's reshuffle. Basically all the chief officials are part of the Yuan Group, and even many of the people working under them are Yuan Shu's loyal subordinates. Sanhe was first controlled by the Yuan family and is as stable as a rock.

So when these officials received the recruitment order, they took immediate action without any slackness. The conscription order was like an impenetrable net, covering every household in the Sanhe area.

Every village and every household knew about it.

The good families in Sanhe often followed the imperial army to fight, and were like mercenaries. When they heard the recruitment order, the desire to make money in their hearts was ignited again, and they were all eager to try.

According to past rules, they prepared horses, swords, and followers, actively responded to the recruitment order, and came to the county government to sign up in groups. The county government then organized them to be transferred to Luoyang to await transfer orders.

For Yuan Shu, this was his first time to participate in such a formal national-level military mobilization operation. Compared with his previous mobilization of his own troops, the scale and number of this operation far exceeded his imagination.

Teams of knights arrived at the assembly point one after another with their familiar war horses. The team leaders respectfully handed over the roster, and Yuan Shu arranged for the clerks around him who were familiar with these matters to take over the roster.

After the officials counted the number of people, they informed the commander-in-chief Duan Xing of the number of counties and prefectures they were in, and how many people and horses had arrived. These numbers would then be reported to the commander-in-chief Duan Xing.

The accountants on Duan Xing's side would count these numbers and prepare corresponding rations and necessary daily necessities for the soldiers.

The rations for 5,000 cavalrymen are not a small amount. As an elite technical force, they are different from the infantry. If the infantrymen are short of food and drink, the cavalrymen must not be short of food and drink. In order to fight this battle well, careful calculations must be made to ensure that everyone can eat enough.

In addition to rations, weapons and equipment are also essential.

The commander-in-chief would issue tokens to collect weapons and equipment from the armory according to the specific statistical numbers, and the army commanders would take the tokens to the Luoyang armory to collect the corresponding armor, bows and crossbows, spears and other controlled equipment.

These equipments are the lifeline of the soldiers and cannot be taken lightly.

The cavalry also need to prepare corresponding light and heavy armor. Horses are also important partners of the cavalry, so the number of war horses must be counted. War horses are easily damaged, so spare war horses must be prepared, as well as grass and bean feed for all the war horses.

In addition, a sufficient number of auxiliary troops must be arranged to help the cavalry maintain horses and equipment to ensure the normal operation of the entire cavalry team.

To ensure the attack and return of a cavalryman, the energy and supplies required are approximately the level of five to ten elite infantrymen.

For an attack of 5,000 cavalry, the material preparations must be at least at the level of 25,000 infantry. This shows how heavy a burden cavalry attacks put on the dynasty.

It is not difficult to imagine that Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty could only send 100,000 cavalrymen to the north to attack the Huns at his peak, and was unable to send more cavalrymen.

This was Yuan Shu's first time participating in this large-scale operation, so naturally there were many things he didn't understand. He was well aware of his lack of experience, so he did not act rashly. Instead, he handed the responsibility of handling the matter to his deputy, Fan Li, Yuan's former official and the newly appointed Captain of the Yue Cavalry.

Fan Li had rich experience in this area. He replaced Yuan Shu, who had no mobilization experience, and actually took on the work of the Cavalry Commandant.

Although Yuan Shu felt a little embarrassed, he also knew that the best way to help Fan Li was to not cause trouble for him, so in the beginning, he just stood beside Fan Li, watching what he did, secretly taking note of his methods and ways of doing things, without saying a word.

When it was time to rest at night, Yuan Shu would bring some wine to his tent to ask him some questions, apologize, and be polite, asking the senior to take care of him. Fan Li was also very impressed when he saw this.

He had long heard that Yuan Shu was respectful to the wise and humble, tolerant, and had many disciples under his command. His influence was extremely great, and he could even be compared to his father Yuan Feng. He was the designated successor to the Yuan family, so he did not dare to put on airs as a senior.

He knew very well that being Yuan Shu's deputy was an honor and a great opportunity for him, so no matter what Yuan Shu wanted to know, he would tell him, speaking softly and with great patience, just like a kind elder, carefully teaching Yuan Shu, a young man who was just starting out.

If Fan Li's other subordinates saw this, they would be surprised that their hot-tempered leader actually had such a gentle side...

In fact, even if Yuan Shu did nothing, Fan Li was ready to take on all the work and give all the credit to Yuan Shu, because that was what Yuan Feng had instructed.

Yuan Feng knew very well that his son lacked experience, so he specifically asked Fan Li to take on the main work, and then used clever ways to push all the credit to Yuan Shu.

As for Fan Li himself, Yuan Feng will naturally take care of him in his future and he will not suffer any loss.

Now that Yuan Shu wants to learn and master it, Fan Li is of course willing to teach him everything he knows.

And…the wine is delicious!
In this way, under Fan Li's careful teaching, Yuan Shu gradually became familiar with the various processes and tasks of this large-scale operation. On the fourth day of the preparation work, Fan Li was surprised to find that Yuan Shu, who had been silent for the first three days, could already share some of the work with him.

Whether it is food, fodder, horse equipment, soldier equipment or personnel statistics, Yuan Shu can start getting started.

He did things in an orderly and methodical manner, which impressed Fan Li very much.

Even when emergencies occurred and he was too busy to handle them, Yuan Shu would step in directly to deal with them. He was able to handle them quickly and well, and inform him of the results and latest changes in a timely manner.

Soon, Fan Li felt that his pressure was gradually reduced, and he even had more free time. In contrast, Yuan Shu inadvertently took on more work.

The roles of the two people gradually changed. Yuan Shu has transformed from a little apprentice and follower to a capable assistant, and is even rapidly transforming into the main person in charge.

Fan Li couldn't help but sigh, it's true that there is no false reputation.

This youngest sutra teacher in the history of the Han Dynasty indeed possesses the learning and handling abilities that match his reputation. He is smart, wise, good at learning, has a good temper, and is flawless in his interpersonal relationships.

And they were very generous, giving away a small bottle of extremely expensive wine!

Even if Fan Licun saved a year’s money, he might not be able to buy this small bottle. Most of the time, he couldn’t buy it even if he had money because it was out of stock.

Occasionally, when I hear that a colleague is lucky enough to get to drink wine, I become even more greedy.

If a person like this fails to achieve great things in the future, it would be God's fault.

Looking at Yuan Shu's back as he instructs the clerks on their work, Fan Li took a sip of the precious wine, his eyes narrowed into a line in comfort.

The wine is so delicious!

The cavalry camp was carrying out preparations in an orderly manner, and Duan Xing's side was also making rapid progress.

As an experienced general, Duan Yu handled both pre-war preparations and post-war finishing matters with ease. Occasionally, when he had some free time, he would go around inspecting the work results of his subordinates.

When he arrived at the cavalry camp, he learned from Fan Li about Yuan Shu's excellent learning ability and performance. He expressed great satisfaction and praised Yuan Shu highly.

"Yuan Zijia is very different from other playboys. He is intelligent, wise, courteous, and still so young. He is a natural talent born to do great things. With such a son, Yuan Sikong will have no worries even after a hundred years. You must help him. In the future, you and your descendants may have to rely on him to prosper."

Duan Ying patted Fan Li on the shoulder and left with a smile.

(End of this chapter)