Tiger Guards

Chapter 609 Military Links
West of Jiangyi City, at Xintian Military Camp.

To the north of the military camp was the Beijiang Wharf, where boats were moored and officers and soldiers from the camp participated in loading and unloading.

Chang Mao led dozens of knights to supervise, while he and Wang Qi, who was overseeing the transport of supplies, warmed themselves by a fire in the pavilion.

There were only embers in the charcoal brazier; no new charcoal had been added.

Chang Mao held his hands over the brazier to warm them. After catching up and exchanging news, Chang Mao heard Wang Qi say, "Since the campaign against the Hu, the military has acquired many fine steeds. I heard that the Grand Tutor intends to dismantle the Iron Cavalry and establish the Tiger Cavalry and the Leopard Cavalry."

Wang Qi, the elder among the Tiger Legion members, was already in his forties. He sat upright in the main seat, his left fist resting on his lap, his right hand holding a warm teacup, and he smiled, seemingly trying to get some information from Chang Mao.

Transforming the Iron Cavalry into the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was a major undertaking.

Wang Qi also had nephews and nieces he wanted to arrange. Chang Mao said, "Gao Yang mentioned this matter when he came to see me a few days ago. The Tiger Cavalry is similar to the Iron Cavalry, while the Leopard Cavalry will be selected from the bravest soldiers in the army."

"What are the selection criteria for the Leopard Cavalry?"

"It requires recommendation from three levels: centurion, battalion commander, and colonel. Only after the Grand Tutor personally inspects and examines the candidates can they be selected for the Leopard Cavalry."

Chang Mao recalled the hints Gao Yanglong had given, but he couldn't reveal everything, so he spoke slowly and selected some of the information.

"As it should be."

Wang Qi laughed and said, "The Grand Marshal personally selected brave and strong men, so the selection of the Leopard Cavalry should be even more rigorous."

After a slight pause and seeing that Chang Mao did not respond, Wang Qi smiled even more broadly and said, "I know that my nephew's abilities are not great and I do not aspire to be selected for the Leopard Cavalry. If he can join the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and do some minor tasks, he will be able to make a name for himself in the future. Then I will be content."

"Your Highness is a former associate of the Grand Tutor; why not inquire personally?"

Chang Mao feigned doubt and asked, seeing Wang Qi's dry laugh, so Chang Mao said, "The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry has nearly three thousand riders, and the riders alone have ten thousand horses. The accompanying baggage train also has no less than three thousand horses. With so many horses and livestock, if the prince's sons and nephews are good at judging and raising horses, it will not be difficult for them to find a job."

Wang Qi frowned, looking troubled: "How can judging and raising horses be so easily mastered? If we are unqualified and ruin the Grand Tutor's important affairs, how can we explain ourselves to the Grand Tutor in addition to feeling ashamed?"

Raising a few horses is not difficult, but mastering the feeding of a large army of horses is a very difficult technical task.

Normally, the ratio of fodder to feed should be adjusted, and different types of fodder should be used in combination during marches. In the face of battle, it is even more important to prepare feed properly.

Improper allocation could result in more horses dying from bloating than from battle.

Wang Qi had thought Chang Mao would be easy to talk to, but seeing that Chang Mao was unwilling to take any responsibility for recommending him, he felt that his position was rapidly declining. He was helpless and even more anxious: "When I return tomorrow, I will go to the camp to pay my respects to the Grand Tutor and tell him about this matter."

“Your Highness need not do this. The Grand Tutor is a man who cherishes the past. If Your Highness were to speak up, even if you cannot join the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, you will still be properly settled.”

Chang Mao offered words of comfort, but didn't offer any grand promises.

Promotion and transfer of military officers is a major event, and Chang Mao doesn't care what others think; he simply doesn't want to get involved.

He missed the campaign against the Hu people, and his military achievements lagged far behind those of other generals. He is now only a cavalry commander.

In the Xintian military camp on the south bank of the Fen River, above him were temporary commanding officers and colonels, and above them were permanent colonels, lieutenant generals, and generals with miscellaneous titles.

However, he came from a different background. Everyone knew that Chang Mao was just one opportunity away from promotion, so he was assigned some daily camp duties so that he could become familiar with the management and operation of the camp.

After the supplies were unloaded, Chang Mao returned to the camp with the supervising knights and saw a military officer waiting at the gate. The officer quickly stepped forward and said, "Supervisor Chang, General Ximen requests your presence."

"Where is he?"

"Xiying Parade Ground, this is the Xiying Pass."

The officer handed over a tally with the travel date written on it, stamped with a fire mark. It was crudely made, after all, just a consumable item.

Chang Mao bowed from his horse, reached out and took the tally. He glanced at the date and the signatory, and said, "After I hand it over to the knight, I will go to the western camp."

"Yes."

The officer responded and watched as Chang Mao led more than forty knights slowly into the gate.

Inside the gate, every knight rode cautiously.

They were the duty-bound warlord knights, and naturally they were allowed to ride horses within the camp. However, if they galloped recklessly and disrupted the camp's order, they would be punished and given a demerit. Even without a demerit, such poor horsemanship would still affect their reputation and prestige within the army.

After Chang Mao led them to the central military camp, they all walked and led their horses to find Li Kan, the camp commander.

Although Li Kan was a Sima, he was originally a Sima in one of the five camps of the Grand Marshal. This Sima was different from the ordinary camp Sima, department Sima, or Sima of miscellaneous generals. Now, in the large camps where troops are gathered in Pingyang, apart from Zhao Ji's central army, these five camp Simas are in charge of camp affairs in each large camp area.

Since joining Zhao Ji's forces, Li Kan, along with four other officers from the Five Battalions, had been sidelined for almost two years.

Every time Zhao Ji went on an expedition, he would lead the troops with the captains of the Five Battalions, and the various battalions under the Five Battalions would also take turns going on expeditions.

As a result, most of the ordinary battalion commanders of the five battalions had accumulated merits, and the few who had accumulated the most merits had been promoted to miscellaneous captains and became the heads of permanent command units.

As for those who accumulated merit and were appointed as temporary commanding officers or colonels, there were more than a dozen people, but Li Kan and the other five remained as commanders of the five departments.

They naturally missed the campaign against the Hu, and felt extremely frustrated.

Now that he has become the commander-in-chief of various camps, he is naturally feeling triumphant and refreshed.

Chang Mao handed over the entry and exit tokens written by Li Kan, and Li Kan said, "The supplies have been stored in the warehouse and have been inspected without error. You are lucky, otherwise you would have been troubled by many other matters."

Chang Mao stood before Li Kan's desk and replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "With the Grand Tutor by my side, he frequently inspects the various armies. The transportation of supplies is a matter of life and death for the entire army. Who would dare to be negligent or negligent? Even if there are losses during transportation, I imagine they will make up for them to avoid any shortages in the army camp."

"Hehe, that's why General Xiangli refused to do the work of transporting goods."

Li Kan gave a forced smile and quipped, "Xianglibao, other armies are getting too much kickbacks in their logistics."

This place was no exception, except that Zhao Ji was ruthless in his crackdown. He would even kill his own brothers for this kind of thing, let alone others.

Chang Mao remained silent in the face of Li Kan's teasing.

Li Kan was not from the Tiger Warriors, and in Chang Mao's eyes, he was not worthy of making fun of Xiangli Bao.

After laughing, Li Kan picked up a pen and wrote a travel document on a bamboo slip, saying, "Three horses in the Eastern Camp have broken their hooves. Go and see what's going on this afternoon. If it's due to negligence during training, investigate thoroughly."

"Here."

Chang Mao bowed, stepped forward, and accepted the bamboo slip with both hands, saying, "Sir, General Ximen of the Western Camp has sent someone to summon me. After I go to the Western Camp, I will go to the Eastern Camp to inspect it."

"Yes, please give my regards to General Ximen."

"Yes, I dare not forget."

Chang Mao smiled and agreed. Here he would address Ximen Jian by his official title, but in the main tent of the Western Camp, he would be addressed as his fellow villager and elder brother Yuanjie.

Chang Mao held the bamboo slips in both hands, took three or four steps back, bowed again, and only after Li Kan nodded did he turn and leave.

Li Kannu narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at Chang Mao's tall and imposing back. He pursed his lips, his feelings complicated.

While I admired and thought highly of it, I was also somewhat jealous.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset. This time, he was confident that he could follow the Grand Tutor to establish merits and eventually become a general. Even if he could not continue to command troops after the war, he would still accumulate enough merits to be promoted to prefect.

The Sima of the Five Battalions held an official rank of 1,000 shi (a unit of grain measure).

Under the military rank system, they were not fundamentally different from temporary commanding officers and colonels.

Therefore, after leaving the army, he could not become a county magistrate, county commandant, or border guard; he could only become a prefect.

If you have made great contributions, you will be appointed as the governor of a large prefecture; if you have made little contributions, you will be assigned to work in a remote area or a small prefecture.

After leaving the central army camp, Chang Mao rode his horse slowly and soon arrived at the Xintian West Camp under the jurisdiction of General Zhaowu Ximen Jian.

Upon arriving at the western camp, Chang Mao felt as if he had returned home.

Most of the officers in Ximen Jian's unit were from the same hometown and had all sorts of messy relationships.

To entertain Chang Mao, Ximen Jian specially bought a fat sheep.

When Chang Mao arrived, the mutton soup was simmering and thick. On one side, another large open-air temporary pot was covered with a lid and two or three layers of cotton quilts, where mutton bone pilaf was being simmered.

Seeing Ximen Jian's seriousness, Chang Mao thought of Wang Qi and couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.

Although he felt he could be promoted to Commander of the Leopard Cavalry at any time, he really didn't want to offend the Grand Tutor for the sake of someone else's future.

(End of this chapter)