Chapter 122: Learning from Others

Wanyan Cheng gave a dark chuckle, but instead of saying what would happen if they clashed on horseback, he changed the subject and asked, "Old Bear, do you know that back in the Mongol Yuan days, there was talk of eagle-shooters?

And among you Han people, there was the legend of the Flying General? And that Mangudai thing or whatever — you must have heard of it, right?"

Xiong Sen laughed and cursed, "Don't you bully old Bear here for having little book-learning! The Flying General I certainly know. The eagle-shooter, I seem to have heard of it, but I can't remember it clearly. And what's this Mangudai? Tell me, what's that about?"

Wanyan Cheng said, "A pair of arms from an eagle-shooter was worth ten thousand in gold! On the steppe, even if an eagle-shooter was captured, no tribal chieftain could bear to kill him.

Even if they couldn't win him over, they would wait for his tribe to ransom him back at the sky-high price of ten thousand gold. As for the Mangudai —"

Before Wanyan Cheng could finish, Xiong Sen exclaimed in shock, "Damn! Those arms really are worth a fortune! Say, Old Wan, how about one of these days we go over to the Jianzhou barbarians' side and grab ourselves an eagle-shooter, then chop off his arms — wouldn't we get rich?"

Wanyan Cheng's face went full of black lines. "Chopped-off arms aren't worth anything! But the Great Ming Emperor might like them, I suppose?"

Xiong Sen chuckled darkly, "Of course I know chopped-off arms aren't worth anything.

But whether we present a whole eagle-shooter to the Son of Heaven as a Jianzhou barbarian, or just chop the damn things off clean — the Son of Heaven will surely be pleased, and when that happens, the rewards for you and me won't be small."

Wanyan Cheng was speechless and said sullenly, "Stop interrupting. Let me finish what I'm saying."

Seeing that Xiong Sen had shut his mouth, Wanyan Cheng went on, "Now, shooting arrows — everyone can do that. But an eagle-shooter can bring down a soaring eagle from the sky, and your Flying General could shoot an arrow into solid rock.

I admire that greatly. So you see, in the way of archery, there's no real difference between the steppe and Great Ming.

Yet you still can't beat the Jianzhou barbarians in cavalry. Have you ever thought about why?"

Xiong Sen heard this and thought to himself, It's not like you haven't seen what level I'm at — asking when you already know, isn't that just slapping my face on purpose? So he said sheepishly, "Old Bear here is just an Embroidered Uniform Guard — how would I have thought about all that?"

Wanyan Cheng said, "Since the bows and arrows are about the same, then there can only be two reasons. One is the men. The other is the tactics."

Xiong Sen said, "How the hell would I understand any of that? You actually know this stuff? Quick, tell me about it."

Wanyan Cheng said with contempt, "You're a man of Great Ming, yet you know less than a barbarian like me from the steppe. Aren't you ashamed?"

Xiong Sen, however, said smugly, "Ashamed of what? If I don't know, I just learn. Now talk."

Wanyan Cheng said, "Think about it. In the early days of your Great Ming, you swept the borders many times, didn't you? Back then, the Mongol Yuan was so utterly overbearing — weren't they beaten by you all the same?"

Xiong Sen said happily, "That's right. What the hell were the Mongol Yuan? Didn't they get beaten like dogs by our Great Ming just the same."

Wanyan Cheng said, "Now you go beat them like dogs and let me see."

Xiong Sen, who had just been gloating, now found he couldn't gloat anymore. He hung his head and said, "Damn it all, we can't beat them now."

After saying this, he rallied his spirits and said, "But no matter — you dog-fucker are fierce on horseback, so haven't I come to ask you for guidance? I won't interrupt anymore.

Go on."

Wanyan Cheng ignored Xiong Sen's bootlicking manner and said, "Anyway, I don't know why, but your current tactics are clearly inferior to the Jianzhou barbarians' side.

And you people all farm the land — not like the Jianzhou barbarians and us Xibe, who mostly hunt and herd, growing up on horseback from childhood. So in the way of cavalry, naturally we're a bit better than you.

Just like I said earlier — on the ground, those few men could kill me easily. But on horseback, as long as you don't use firelocks or the like, with equal numbers or not too great a difference, those few men just now would easily be killed by me."

Xiong Sen knew what Wanyan Cheng said was the truth, but you can lose the fight without losing face. He said stubbornly, "Fine, fine, fine — I know you're awesome.

If you're so awesome, why don't you just fly up to heaven? Now hurry up and tell me how to fix this.

Stop dragging in all this useless crap."

Wanyan Cheng was utterly defeated by Xiong Sen's shamelessness and said helplessly, "It's simple. One is to strengthen training. The other is to use more new tactics."

Xiong Sen was also helpless now and asked, "What training? What new tactics?"

Wanyan Cheng said, "On strengthening training — honestly, I don't really understand it either. Anyway, we ride from childhood.

To hunt, you have to shoot arrows on horseback, and slowly you just train it out. As for tactics, to put it plainly, there's nothing really new.

That whole set of Mongol Yuan tactics works perfectly well — things like the Mangudai and such are more than enough against the Jianzhou barbarians.

That pursuit force we ran into last time — among the Jianzhou barbarians, they were actually considered strong, but weren't they still wiped out?"

At this point, Wanyan Cheng swallowed a mouthful of spit and went on, "Speaking of which, I have to say you fellows are truly vicious and underhanded. First firelocks, then hand crossbows, and only at the end did you draw blades and charge.

If our Xibe had the gear you people are equipped with, the Jianzhou barbarians would have been finished long ago."

Xiong Sen didn't much care about equipment — anyway, someone above was worrying about that. Whenever there were good tools, their Embroidered Uniform Guard were the first to be equipped.

But he was very interested in this Mangudai that Wanyan Cheng kept bringing up — after all, he didn't understand the thing. So he asked Wanyan Cheng, "What's the deal with this Mangudai?

Tell me about it."

Wanyan Cheng was practically driven to death by Xiong Sen's pestering and said helplessly, "Big brother, you really are my big brother. This stuff is definitely recorded in your books.

The Mongol Yuan were especially good at playing this trick. To put it plainly, you send men charging at the enemy's side, loose a volley of arrows, and then immediately run, drawing the enemy to pursue.

While running, you turn and shoot arrows backward. Once you've lured the enemy formation into collapse, aren't they yours to do with as you please?"

Xiong Sen felt as if he had found a treasure and said gleefully, "Solid, solid. In a bit, let's go to the Drunken Immortal Tavern and talk this through properly."

When the things Xiong Sen had painstakingly wormed out — including these tactics and such — were delivered to Chongzhen's desk, what they earned was the Chongzhen Emperor's reward and a single line: "Strengthen training, military discipline first.

Study well, and soon destroy the Jianzhou barbarians."

Actually, Chongzhen had not been very interested in these Mangudai-type things at first. In his view, volley fire by rank was the true path; cavalry was bound to exit the stage of history sooner or later.

Right now, Great Ming's flintlock rifles were advancing in great strides under the direction of Xu Guangqi and that Old Bi, and were probably not far from the rank-fire volleys he had in mind. To spend great effort on cavalry now — wouldn't that be wasted effort and extra money?

It was only after repeated explanations from Cui Chengxiu and the Duke of Ying, Zhang Weixian, who had been summoned to the palace, that Chongzhen realized just how much value these things Xiong Sen had asked about truly held.

Another chapter hammered out. Some readers say the author's updates today have been weak and have dropped the book — but We have truly already done Our utmost to hammer out words.

Once again, apologies to the brothers supporting the Tyrant. Continuing to hammer out words — however many I can write today, that's how many I'll post, with five chapters as the floor.

Also, the regular book-recommendation slot: Urban: The Heavenly Dao Divine Court.

A single grain of dust nurtures a world.

A single flower witnesses a cycle of reincarnation.

Sun and moon traverse the heavens, rivers course across the earth — between heaven and earth, fate is bewildering. Where does the path lie?

The path lies in the heart.

Chen Feng, a high-school graduate — a chance opportunity brings him into the Divine Court.

What kind of cultivation path will he walk?

(End of chapter)