Chapter 1509: Xuanyuan's Planning

For this trip, Baifeng did not bring too many people, just some attendants, guards, and officials. The main purpose of going now is still to discuss matters. If an agreement can be reached and a general offensive is launched against the Shennong Clan this year, then Baifeng will also have to directly participate in the command and dispatch the largest possible number of Soldiers that Huaxia can send.

After a winter of familiarization and training, Zhang has almost perfected his cavalry tactics. In this current era, within the limits of Zhang's comprehension, they are perfected.

In addition to dumpling-wrapping, encirclement, and attrition, Zhang has also developed various tactics such as guerrilla warfare, blitzkrieg, and intimidation warfare, maximizing the advantages of the cavalry.

Besides mounted archery—that is, shooting with an Arrow—Baifeng also equipped their cavalry with the few Firearms Huaxia possesses, but only seventeen firearm-wielding cavalrymen were armed.

One advantage the Firearm has over the Arrow is that the attack range is longer, it is less affected by wind, and the power is slightly greater. If hit by an Arrow, the possibility of receiving treatment is still relatively high. Although the Shennong Clan likely has almost no medical capabilities, as long as the Arrow is pulled out and it has not hit a vital point or gone too deep, given the physique of people in this era, there is still a probability of survival.

However, a gunshot wound is different; the bullet mangles the muscle, and without experience in treating gunshot wounds, it is impossible to treat. Even Baifeng has no way to treat it.

There are also several different types of guns: the shotgun for large-area damage at close range. The manufacturing difficulty of this is not great; in reality, it is no different from the Hanyang-made, spraying Iron Sand outward, but the range is not far enough, and the long-range lethality is insufficient, though at close range it can turn a person into a sieve in one shot.

Then there is the one with a higher cost, using single bullets. The bullets are copper bullet heads, ground out one by one, with the casing and bullet head separated and loaded separately. Because a primer cannot be manufactured, as long as the primer cannot be manufactured for a day, Huaxia cannot get rid of the muzzle-loading style of ignition for a day.

The gun barrel is cast and thick enough, and the rifling is pulled out bit by bit. This process alone consumes a large amount of time and labor. Huaxia's current steel production and number of Workers simply cannot support Huaxia in manufacturing guns on a large scale.

What the single bullet brings is a longer range and stronger lethality, but it is not necessarily accurate. The marksmanship level of Huaxia Soldiers is also hard to compliment, and added to that is the risk of the homemade guns exploding, so there has not been much practice.

The reason for bringing the guns is the hope of winning by surprise, to see if they can exert a relatively special, unexpected effect under certain specific circumstances. In any case, Huaxia will not manufacture guns on a large scale again; we will talk about it when steel is no longer in short supply.

Baifeng carries a short gun; it cannot be called a Pistol, but it has a bit of a prototype, just like the kind of homemade pistol from the late Qing Dynasty. It is also for emergencies; in case it can be used at some point, one never knows.

This year, most of these cavalrymen will be sent to the Shennong Clan Battlefield. Out of a total of seventy-four warhorses, thirty-five will be taken to the Shennong Clan Battlefield, fifteen will go to the Western Development Group to participate in the war against the Wulenge Tribe, and the remaining ones will be used as stud horses to continue breeding, as well as those kept for continued training. The training of the cavalry cannot be slackened, even if the number of cavalrymen is currently higher than the number of warhorses.

Baifeng's own white horse will also be brought along. That white horse is the best cared for and the most magnificent, though its combat effectiveness is not as good as some other horses. Its value lies in being special, and Baifeng does not want the best horse to be wasted by him; he rides the horse just to show off, for the sake of face.

He can ride the horse and appear imposingly at the very front of the formation, but he will not charge up to fight the enemy. Baifeng usually does not have much time to practice riding, but he has absolutely no problem with walking or running while on horseback.

But talking about riding a horse while holding a Knife to hack at people, or mounted archery, that is completely impossible; without long-term practice, he cannot do it.

The horse's name naturally follows history, taking the super awesome "Night-Shining Jade Lion." All other warhorses also have names; this is Huaxia's special treatment for fine horses, and every horse has a file in the Ministry of Revenue.

Once the number of warhorses in Huaxia is large enough, matters like horse registration will not be so outrageous and should be transferred to the Ministry of Animal Husbandry or the Ministry of War to be in charge.

Baifeng can already imagine Xuanyuan's envious expression when he rides a tall horse. Let's see if Xuanyuan will use some outrageous mount when the time comes, but no matter how outrageous, it shouldn't surpass Chiyou's, right? No decent person rides a panda into battle; it's probably just a gimmick.

Riding a Large Ship down the Dahe, the Dahe, having just thawed not long ago, still has a very low temperature, and the water is exceptionally cold. Every day, Baifeng can eat fresh river food, and now that the level of the cooks is high, the taste of the meals is also quite good.

The spicy flavor is replaced by spicy knotweed Grass; although it is not as good as chili, it still has a bit of flavor and is not so bland. The time Baifeng has been in this era has already exceeded the time in that former era, so he has long been accustomed to everything in this era.

Even excluding those ignorant six or seven years with almost no memory, Baifeng could even be considered a native born and raised here, though "born and raised" is not quite accurate.

After all his attempts failed, Xuanyuan is preparing to take a trip to Huaxia. He wants to have a good talk with Baifeng this year. He wants to reach a consensus with Huaxia as soon as possible to completely conquer the Shennong Clan this year, or at the latest next year. He really cannot bear to let such good land be wasted in the hands of the Shennong Clan.

Moreover, he is very decisive and has already prepared to abandon Qingqiu City, because Qingqiu City cannot be considered a good location, nor is it as suitable for developing agriculture as the plains of the Shennong Clan.

If one wants to build a country that is larger and wealthier than Huaxia, then the selection of the country's center must be good, and the surroundings must be farmland that one cannot see the end of at a glance.

Obviously, whether it is the land previously obtained from the Lieshan Clan or the land of the Shennong Clan currently being seized, both are better than the current Qingqiu City.

Xuanyuan will not be reluctant to part with Qingqiu City; his ambition is large enough, so he is decisive enough. The future Qingqiu City will be too close to the border of Huaxia, which is too dangerous. Previously, it was Huaxia City that was too close to Xuanyuan, but after these two years, the territory of the Xuanyuan Tribe will be ceded to Huaxia in large quantities, so his own central city will instead be on the border of Huaxia.

Xuanyuan made a prompt decision to reduce and slow down the construction progress of Qingqiu City, or even just farm the land and not build more houses, and the population will gradually move to the Shennong Clan.