Chapter 637: A Re-evaluation of Horses

The night passed without incident. The exhausted captives had neither the strength nor the ability to plot an escape; they could even relieve themselves right where they lay. After all, the clothes they wore did not need to be removed; they could simply adjust their posture to release themselves at will, and once finished, they would just lie back down and sleep.

Throughout the following day, the Soldiers escorting the captives proceeded smoothly. As for the four Soldiers delivering the letters, they felt physically exhausted after their rapid dash, and the state of their horses was not very good either. Fortunately, they returned to Lema City successfully.

After identifying themselves at the city, they entered immediately and headed toward the Government Affairs Department of Lema City. That was the office area planned at the very beginning of Lema City's construction, where all departments were concentrated.

For matters like this, the City Lord of Lema City must be informed first so he could make a decision. Furthermore, the cooperation of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War was required to allocate grain and fodder, dispatch troops, and then immediately leave the city to provide support.

The people of Lema City understood what needed to be done at this time, so they immediately agreed to the request in the letter. They dispatched three hundred Soldiers and a Logistics Team of five hundred, loaded with enough grain, and quickly left the city.

This was only possible because it was the slack farming season; otherwise, it would have been very difficult for Lema City to organize and arrange everything in such a short time.

Those few Soldiers delivering the letters could only make a brief stop in Lema City, because there were still letters to be delivered to Baifeng—which meant they had to rush to Huaxia City.

The horses gained half a day of rest to relieve their fatigue and were able to eat high-quality feed in Lema City instead of just eating the Grass by the roadside.

Afterward, the few of them mounted their horses again and began to gallop at high speed along the main road. The distance of this stretch was very short, and the horses were in perfectly fine condition. Along the way, many Ox Cavalry and ox carts traveling between the two cities stopped and watched when they saw the rapidly galloping Cavalry, then let out exclamations of envy.

The Cavalry returned to the city; although their numbers were small and the commotion was minimal, they did not escape the gaze of Zhishou, who was out for a stroll. This was an unexpected event; one could only say it was a coincidence.

Seeing animals he had never seen before being ridden by people, Zhishou was also very surprised. Having been in Huaxia for so long, he had never seen or heard of such a thing.

He was just about to open his mouth to ask, but Changle, who was accompanying him, felt a sense of unease upon seeing the Cavalry. He quickly took Zhishou's arm and said, "Zhishou, let's go look over here."

Seeing this, Zhishou understood that this was something that could not be spoken of—a secret of Huaxia that they did not intend to tell the Xuanyuan Tribe. Thus, he was very tactful; he turned his head away as if he had seen nothing, and echoed Changle, who remained all smiles: "Good, good, let's walk over here and see."

The two had a tacit understanding: you don't ask, I don't tell, just pretend we didn't see it. Don't pry while you are in Huaxia, and when you return to the Xuanyuan Tribe, it doesn't matter how you want to tell Xuanyuan; anyway, you don't know what this is.

This time, the letters from the Soldiers were first delivered to the Ministry of War. The four horses were even led directly into the courtyard of the Ministry of War, where they found a pillar to tie the horses to. The men went to deliver the letters, while the others in the Ministry of War, upon seeing the horses, could not help but go over to look.

Some even reached out to touch the horses' heads. After all, they had already seen domesticated horses, which were very docile. Some among them had even ridden horses, so touching them was fine. The horses were also very cooperative; they did not resist, nor did they suddenly lash out, only stretching out their long tongues to lick the people touching them.

Upon seeing the delivered letters, Xiong forgot to ask how these few people had traveled along the way. Instead, he clutched his forehead and stared for a long while, feeling that this was a massive headache. These tens of thousands of free people had been sent over, but he couldn't just turn them away. Yet, to accept them—how could they be accepted?

He worried for only a short while before immediately resealing the letter and having a Soldier send it to the Secretariat. They would hand it to Baifeng; Baifeng would be able to find a way, or discuss it with the people from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works. In any case, it didn't have much to do with the Ministry of War anymore, except that these people were still being sent by the Ministry of War, so they had to pay more attention.

After sending the letter off, Xiong finally reacted: "Oh, you arrived so many days early—did you ride horses the whole way?"

Xiong did not have a particularly deep understanding of Cavalry training because it was not his specialty. Although the Cavalry was under his jurisdiction for deployment, it was truly a case of "different trades are like mountains apart." He understood Ox Cavalry, but not horse Cavalry. Before the horses were fully tamed, Baifeng had not dared to let Xiong participate in the training. As for the modified Cavalry, Xiong also wanted to stay away from horses, more or less, because of the incident with Shaoyin.

Mainly, Xiong felt that his body had been gradually deteriorating over these past few years, and he no longer possessed the style of the First Warrior he once was. So he thought that perhaps in a few years, he would be like the Shaman, rapidly aging and then retiring. His level of concern for horses had therefore diminished significantly; the next Marshal should be the one to focus on the Cavalry.

Baifeng simply didn't know Xiong's thoughts. If he did, he would definitely throw him into those wild, desolate places to fight more wars and expand Huaxia's territory, letting him know that he was still far from old. Although he wasn't as young as he used to be, he was still in his prime, and retirement was a long way off.

Hearing Xiong's question, the four Soldiers answered earnestly: "Yes, Marshal. The four of us rode at full speed the entire way, resting only once or twice during the day. From Xiao Town to Lema City, it only takes two days to arrive."

"Two days? Is it that fast?" Xiong was still somewhat surprised. He only knew that horses ran very fast, but he really hadn't expected it to be that fast. He thought it would be quite good if they were just one or two days faster than oxen, after all, horses would get tired too, and carrying a person, they couldn't run at full speed for long.

But the answers of these Soldiers caused his perspective to be rebuilt. He felt it was necessary to re-evaluate horses, and he even needed to train his own warhorse. When the time came, if a war broke out, it would definitely be of great use; even for delivering letters, it would be much faster.

Afterward, Xiong asked again: "What about the horses? Are the horses alright?"

The few Soldiers pointed outside: "They are tied up in the courtyard outside. They are fine. They have recovered quite a bit now, but I estimate they cannot run like this for a while; the horses' bodies might not be able to take it."

Xiong nodded as well: "Yes, people wouldn't be able to take it, and the horses must be the same. Let's go, let's go out and take a look."