Chapter 1534: On Cavalry

A few days later, Baifeng caught up with Xuanyuan's pace, but just after they converged, as luck would have it, they encountered a herd of elephants. The small elephant Xuanyuan was riding had become a bit irritable and started calling out incessantly, likely because it had seen its own kind.

The herd of elephants opposite them also saw the small elephant among the crowd and kept calling out as well. Baifeng could not understand what they were calling about, but this small elephant was certainly not from that herd of elephants, otherwise, it should have rushed over by now.

Elephants are social animals. Although they are not as intelligent as humans, their massive bodies also house sufficiently large brains. Even if their level of development is not high, their IQ is still stronger than that of ordinary wild beasts. Perhaps they were a bit surprised and confused to see one of their own in the hands of humans, but they would not go so far as to risk attacking a human troop for the sake of a strange small elephant.

After a silent standoff, the elephant herd decided to leave. If the human troop were smaller in number, this elephant herd might have tried to charge in. Against one or two hundred people, the elephants would likely not be afraid, but here there were ten or twenty thousand people, all spread out on this plain. No matter how powerful the elephants felt, they were still afraid.

"Xuanyuan, how did you capture this small elephant? It couldn't really have been captured from that herd of elephants opposite, could it?"

"That's not it. The other elephants were all killed, and only this small one was left. That herd of elephants has nothing to do with my elephant."

Baifeng had long expected that Xuanyuan must have wiped out the elephant herd before capturing this small elephant. After all, the difficulty of snatching a small elephant from a group of adult elephants is not ordinary; even if all the people catching the elephant died, they might not succeed. Killing the adults and keeping the young is the most cost-effective way.

"Then what about this herd of elephants? Should we kill them or not?"

Xuanyuan's mood was calm: "Kill them, why not kill them? After killing them, our Soldiers can eat for a long time. Although there are many elephants here, you can't encounter them all the time. And look over there, there are two that aren't very big. If we can keep them, that would also be very good."

"Baifeng, do you want an elephant?"

Baifeng patted the white horse beneath him: "No need, I have this and it is enough. Elephants are not suitable for me."

"Alright then, I will send our Soldiers. We will eat the meat together, but if we catch any small elephants, I won't share them with you, is that okay?"

Baifeng did not mind: "Fine, if you can catch them, they belong to you."

Baifeng had no feelings for elephants; the difficulty of domesticating those things was still very high. They ate a lot and were of little use, except for showing off. If he could see a herd of horses here, he would definitely take action.

"But Baifeng, the Cavalry you mentioned before, is it just horses? They are not as strong as cattle, and even less comparable to elephants. Why ride them?"

When the two sides met, Xuanyuan had stared at Baifeng's horse for a long time and asked many questions about horses. Baifeng only gave a rough explanation; in any case, the Xuanyuan Tribe could not get them. Moreover, Xuanyuan seemed to firmly believe that the path of weight and ferocity was the right one for Cavalry, so he was bent on creating an elephant army. He was a bit puzzled by Baifeng's choice to abandon cattle and use horses, as horses indeed looked less sturdy than cattle.

Baifeng had not let anyone gallop here; they were all moving slowly, so Xuanyuan did not see the advantages of the horses and only judged them by their size.

Furthermore, Xuanyuan had never seen wild horses, so he knew he could not obtain them. Baifeng could not possibly trade horses to him, so he gave up on this idea from the start and preferred to continue perfecting the Cavalry of his own imagination.

"Cavalry, in my opinion, is not about strength and power, but speed. There is no animal in the world more suitable for Cavalry than a horse. They are fast, much faster than cattle, and they don't fear running out of energy after a charge. Like an elephant such as this, my group of Cavalry could use the speed advantage to wear it to death."

"A single Cavalryman cannot do it, after all, the elephant's skin is too thick, and the damage that an Arrow can cause is insufficient; one must use a throwing Spear."

"Fighting people is even simpler. One Cavalryman, fighting a hundred ordinary Soldiers, is not difficult at all. You wouldn't even be able to catch up."

Xuanyuan did not believe it: "Is it really that strong?"

"When the real fighting starts, you will be able to see. This year, for the sake of this war, I have brought out the most precious things in our Huaxia; these are the Cavalry. Xuanyuan, I am not lying to you at all. My few dozen Cavalry can hold off a thousand Soldiers."

"Then what should your Huaxia Soldiers do if they encounter your Huaxia Cavalry? The thousand Soldiers you speak of, is it a thousand of my kind, or your kind, wearing Iron Armor and holding a Bow and Crossbow?"

Baifeng spread his hands: "I don't know what they would do either. Hold off a thousand of that kind? Holding off a thousand of your Soldiers is definitely no problem."

"A thousand of my kind of Soldiers might not be able to do it, because these Cavalry of mine are not yet familiar with military formations, and their coordination is not enough. After tempering them in actual combat, maybe it will work."

Xuanyuan smiled and said: "Then if you had a thousand such Cavalry, wouldn't you be able to unify the entire Heaven? No tribe would be able to defeat you."

Baifeng told the truth: "I would like to, but you don't know how much it costs to train a Cavalryman. Let alone our Huaxia, even if there were ten or twenty more cities like my Huaxia City, they couldn't afford a thousand Cavalry. The number of horses is also not enough."

"Xuanyuan, you can rest assured. We are allies, we are friends. Cooperating with each other, developing well, and letting the tribesmen eat their fill and dress warmly is the most important thing. Don't always think about attacking each other."

"What is the use of seizing a piece of land without a population? Don't you know that very well? On the land, the most important thing is still the population."

"Why are we attacking the Shennong Clan? It is because the people of the Shennong Clan have nothing to eat and are about to starve to death. We are attacking them not to harm them, but to save them."

"Teach them more things, let them know how to farm, let them be able to eat their fill and dress warmly, and make our tribes and country more prosperous and powerful."

"Tell me, is there any need for two equally prosperous and powerful tribes to attack each other? I have what you want, and you have what I want. There is no need to waste food, no need for casualties, we only need to make up for what we need through simple trade. Why is there war? What is the meaning of seizing a piece of land without people? Because of the war, how many years will it take for your tribe to recover to what it was before?"

"Xuanyuan, think about it. If it weren't for the support of our Huaxia, how long could your food supply sustain you in a war, and how many people would starve to death because of this war?"