I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 355 Zhang Liao: Reform!
Ma Teng's daughter, who was also Ma Chao's sister, was secretly sent to Jinling without alerting Yuan Shao or anyone else.

This was perhaps the first time Madam Ma had seen the world beyond Xiliang. Especially as she drew closer to Jinling, her already bright eyes shone even brighter, so when she saw Liu Miao, her face and body still carried a sense of shock and disorientation.

Liu Miao was also looking at Madam Ma.

Ma Teng was already exceptionally handsome, and his elder brother Ma Chao was even praised as "Splendid Ma Chao." So, in terms of appearance alone, Ma Teng was no less beautiful than any of the ladies in Liu Miao's harem, except for Zhen Mi, who was said to have a beauty that could topple kingdoms.

Two and a half of Liu Miao's wives are from the north.

Zhen Mi, Luan Ti, daughter of the Xiongnu Chanyu, and Cai Yan, who returned from the north.

Zhen Mi was born into a prominent family in Hebei. She possessed an elegant and graceful demeanor, much like the peony, a symbol of national beauty. Even when she was defiled or handled carelessly, she remained incomparably noble.

Luanti was the daughter of the Chanyu (ruler of the Xiongnu), and her appearance and movements exuded a wildness reminiscent of a wolf.

Cai Yan has weathered many storms, and although her appearance is somewhat rough, if you hold her in your hand and caress her, you will know that beneath the roughness lies softness. But if you try to peel away that softness, you will only find that the underlying color is still a worn-out rock.

But Ma was clearly different from the others.

Although she had long since changed into formal court attire, applied a languid makeup with white powder as a base and rouge, tied a flowing silk belt around her waist, wore bright moon pearls in her ears, and wore a "scissor-cutting headdress," she still couldn't conceal her vibrant energy and the surprise and wariness of a hunter entering a new jungle.

Liu Miao tried his best to comfort her and placed her palace near that of Lady Luan Ti and Lady Lü, hoping that she could find a sense of familiarity there, so as to eliminate her mental and physical stiffness and gradually become happier...

"Your Majesty, Zhang Liao requests an audience."

Liu Miao lazily opened his eyes, lifted Lü Shi's arm from his neck, pulled his thigh out from Luan Ti Shi's leg, and finally carefully stepped over Ma Shi's exhausted face before returning to the ground safely.

"Wen Yuan? Could it be Xie En?"

Liu Miao thought of gifting Zhang Liao the Ferghana horse.

"It's just a mere warhorse; there's no need for me to come and thank you in person."

Even so, since he was already there, Liu Miao, who had rarely dressed in the last few days, casually picked up a plate of roasted beans that had been sitting on the table for who knows how long, and walked to the front hall while eating them.

"Your subject Zhang Liao greets Your Majesty!"

"okay."

Liu Miao didn't even stop, he pulled Zhang Liao up from the ground and held out the roasted beans in his hand: "Want some?"

"I have already eaten."

"What to eat?"

Liu Miao seemed genuinely interested in what Zhang Liao had eaten, and even sniffed Zhang Liao.

"Your Majesty, I had a bowl of fish head soup and half a catty of bonito meat."

Zhang Liao was clearly quite excited when he mentioned the fish, and even gestured with his hand to indicate that it was about the size of a piglet that had grown for half a year.

"I have never seen such a large fish before! I heard from Zijing that there are fish in the sea that are taller than a person!"

Zhang Liao, being from Bingzhou, had always harbored a strange mix of longing and fear towards the sea. But ever since he tasted this oily sea fish, that fear vanished without a trace, leaving only his deep-seated craving for meat.

"It's a pity that Zijing said this fish can't reach the inland. Even if it stays in the water the whole time, it can only reach Yuzhang at most. So I'm afraid my fellow villagers in Bingzhou will never be able to eat this fish in their lifetime."

Liu Miao listened quietly.

With the increasing popularity of pointed-bottom boats, near-shore fishing is no longer a rare occurrence in Jiangdong. On the contrary, there are probably tens of thousands of people engaged in this industry in Nanjing alone. After all, going out to sea to catch fish and then getting those huge fish to everyone's table involves many steps and requires people to work in between.

If Liu Miao remembered correctly, there was a special market in the west of the city for selling fish and other seafood. So, Liu Miao couldn't say that most people in Jinling could eat fish now, but at least this rare fish was quite common. Many people could save up enough money to buy a piece of fish to take home and have a meal with their wives and children.

and so……

"Wen Yuan, don't worry, maybe one day the people of Bingzhou will be able to eat this fish!"

The fish and meat from the nearshore areas had to be transported to Bingzhou, a place with towering mountains and steep ridges as natural barriers, and the fish and meat had to be kept from rotting so that they could be eaten...

If anyone else had said this, Zhang Liao would have mostly thought they were just being perfunctory. But when Liu Miao said it, although his tone was casual and as if he were delivering fish and meat from his own home to Zhang Liao's residence with ease, Zhang Liao felt for some reason that Liu Miao might actually be able to do it.

"I hope that day will ever come."

"There will be."

Liu Miao popped another bean into his mouth: "There's one more thing, Wen Yuan, remember not to bring your horse into the palace for a stroll without permission."

Zhang Liao looked completely bewildered: "Why?"

"I later found out that the horse I gave you and the horse I bred with Kuaihang were a pair... It wouldn't be good if it saw its wife being ridden by Kuaihang."

"Here..."

Upon hearing the mention of warhorses, Zhang Liao finally remembered why he had come to see Liu Miao.

"Your Majesty, I wish to offer some advice, but this matter is of great importance, and my thoughts are not entirely clear, so I cannot write it down in writing. I simply wish to discuss it with Your Majesty."

After Zhang Liao finished speaking, he looked at Liu Miao with some trepidation.

Although he was one of the twelve newly promoted generals by Liu Miao, he had the shortest tenure and had previously been a guest general. He wondered if this overstepping of authority would displease Liu Miao. Liu Miao, however, raised an eyebrow: "What is it, Wen Yuan?"

"Whoo~~~"

Zhang Liao composed himself and shared all his experiences and questions from the battlefield with Liu Miao.

"Your Majesty, the heavy cavalry did indeed shine in the battles of Hedong and Kunyang, but I do feel that there are significant problems with the heavy cavalry."

Liu Miao bit down hard with his back teeth, crushing the slightly hard bean: "What's the problem?"

"While heavy cavalry is incredibly powerful, it is also incredibly expensive."

As the commander of Liu Miao's heavy cavalry, Zhang Liao naturally knew the cost of building heavy cavalry.

The elephant hides were transported with great difficulty from Jiaozhi (Vietnam).

The mountain-patterned chainmail, painstakingly crafted by skilled artisans.

There are also the selected fine warhorses, and the wear and tear from daily use...

All of this means that the money and provisions to feed one heavily armored cavalryman are enough to feed twenty ordinary soldiers!
This is still the number Zhang Liao calculated based on the previous conscription system.

If the Han Dynasty were to implement the Fubing system (a military system based on the military garrison system), without considering the soldiers' own provisions and clothing, the cost of feeding one heavy cavalryman could easily soar to forty! Or even fifty!
But can heavily armored cavalry really generate forty or even fifty times more value than ordinary soldiers on the battlefield?

After two battles, Zhang Liao came to the conclusion that—

"Heavy cavalry is too restrictive on the battlefield, and it's not worth it."

"If it encounters a suitable battlefield like the Battle of Hedong or the Battle of Kunyang, it can naturally play the role originally expected."

"But this kind of opportunity doesn't come every time!"

In the Battle of Hedong, Yuan Tan was gambled on Longmen Ferry, an opportunity that Zhang Liao risked his life for!

If mishandled, Zhang Liao and Liu Miao's heavily armored cavalry, built at great expense, could be left forever in the mountains north of Guanzhong, suffering total annihilation.

In the Battle of Kunyang against Chunyu Qiong, Yuan Shao never expected Liu Miao to play by his own rules. He immediately revealed his trump card at the start of the battle, which led to Chunyu Qiong's crushing defeat.

But Zhang Liao knew that fighting a war could not rely solely on luck and strategy.

While these two things are important, they are often things that cannot be obtained by chance. If a general puts all his hopes on these two things when he goes to war, then he is not far from defeat.

In particular, the war between Liu Miao and Yuan Shao will be a war between nations!
At this point, it was uncertain how effective the heavy cavalry on both sides would be.

The "unknown" is never something a qualified general should pursue.

Liu Miao nodded slightly after hearing this: "Wen Yuan hopes to abolish the heavy cavalry unit?"

Zhang Liao immediately shook his head: "It's not canceled, but improved."

"First and foremost are weapons."

"Currently, cavalrymen all use lances, which are indeed very powerful, but their range is limited. If they could carry bows and arrows like infantrymen, I could capture Yuan Tan in Hedong and behead Chunyu in Kunyang!"

Liu Miao paused slightly after hearing Zhang Liao's words, clearly having thought of something.

Besides the distance issue, Zhang Liao also mentioned another extremely unpleasant experience with the horse spear—

"The lance is straightforward. When soldiers use it, it's fine if they are just charging, but if they need to turn, they have to readjust. And the armor of heavy cavalry is extremely heavy, so they are very easy to fall off their horses at this time."

Zhang Liao was not released without cause.

During the Battle of Kunyang, his own heavy cavalry encountered such difficulties and were killed by Yuan's soldiers.

These were all problems Zhang Liao encountered in using heavy cavalry. However, because Zhang Liao couldn't think of a more suitable solution, he said he was only discussing it with Liu Miao and didn't formally submit a memorial asking Liu Miao to solve these difficulties with heavy cavalry.

However, it's clear that Zhang Liao had another reason for privately meeting with Liu Miao.

Liu Miao gave an awkward smile: "Wen Yuan is afraid of being scolded by his colleagues, isn't he?"

"Hey~"

Zhang Liao gave an awkward but polite smile, clearly acknowledging Liu Miao's statement.

Heavy cavalry is a treasure that other generals would never even dream of touching, yet you, Zhang Liao, are starting to be picky?
If Zhang Liao really dared to say these things in the imperial court, at least five high-ranking generals would have come out and berated him, then begged Liu Miao to hand over the heavy cavalry to them to lead...

"Ha ha!"

Liu Miao put down the half-eaten roasted beans and got up to stretch his stiff neck.

"Wen Yuan's ability to discover these problems proves that I made the right choice in entrusting the heavy cavalry to you!"

"If it were someone else, even if they discovered these problems, they would just swallow their anger and let it go, which would delay the matter."

Liu Miao beckoned to Zhang Liao: "Let's go! Since Wen Yuan has spoken, let's go to the drill ground right now and see how we can modify these heavy cavalry!"

(End of this chapter)