Chapter 433: Need

Liu Chengzong had never held any expectations whatsoever for this so-called Mobei envoy delegation.

Mobei was sparsely populated, vast, far away, and impossible to govern. Liu Chengzong did not believe he could control Mobei — not even the Grand Marshal could manage it, and even the Great Yuan Emperor couldn't manage it.

That was Kublai Khan's homeland. After Kublai established his rule over the Central Plains, he immediately turned around and set up the Helin Pacification Office for his own homeland in the administrative divisions. Why? Because he couldn't govern it.

Mobei was nothing like the Tianshan Mountains. Everyone knew the Ili River Valley in the Tianshan was a fine place — the environment is the cornerstone that breeds power. Only with decent farming and herding conditions could they possess a strong army and a prosperous economy.

By the same logic, the Ili River Valley was the Oirat's weak point. If you massed a heavy troop corps and seized the Ili River Valley, the united Oirat would scatter into stragglers across the Gobi, never again finding a place as good as the Ili River Valley.

And if they took Ili, that place was enough to let an elite corps of ten to thirty thousand troops live very well, self-sufficient, and even pay him taxes on top of that.

What kind of environment was Mobei?

Mass a heavy troop corps to sweep the Khangai Mountains, and the tribes would scatter in every direction — north, south, east, west — and wherever they fled, they'd find places with conditions much the same.

That would be like Liu the Lion leaving his old home in northern Shaanxi and discovering that everywhere had a decent environment and nowhere had a bad harvest.

Even if his troops took the Khangai Mountains, they couldn't stay there.

Without unwarranted hopes and expectations, a man would not be disappointed. Liu the Lion was already prepared — prepared to be cursed out thoroughly by this Khalkha delegation from Mobei, prepared to hear a load of nonsense about him usurping the Khan's throne.

Even if they cursed him, he had no solution — he couldn't possibly mount an expedition against Mobei.

Liu the Lion's original intention had been to set aside half a shichen from his time spent reading, studying, and mapmaking to deal with this delegation. Whether it went well or badly, it wouldn't affect the overall situation anyway.

He never expected that the news Zhou Riqiang sent over from the Naval Command was that the Khalkha league leader from Mobei, Subadi Khan, had come in person.

That caught Liu Chengzong completely off guard, overwhelmed by the unexpected honor. He changed into brand-new ceremonial robes, wondering to himself, what was this Subadi up to?

This was no longer a question of sincerity — Liu the Lion suspected the man's home base had been seized by someone else. Otherwise, the league leader shouldn't be leading the delegation himself... at the very least, he shouldn't be leading it himself right now.

What was he here for? Testing Liu the Lion's hospitality?

The Hundred Works Bureau had recently made him a set of winter ceremonial robes with an outer and inner layer. The undergarments were a plain satin inner robe and trousers, lined with a cashmere short jacket and long pants. The outer garment was a finely tanned goatskin yesa robe, trimmed with sable collar and leopard-tail ornaments, and further decorated with oxhide pressed-flower hidden dragon patterns and the Twelve Symbols on the chest, back, shoulders, and hem.

It was, so to speak, a set of dragon robes where the username was wrong but the password was correct.

Whatever Subadi had come for, Liu Chengzong ought to go out of the city to receive him. To that end, he summoned both Batur Khong Tayiji, who was just beginning his studies at the academy, and Xie Erhu and Cagaan Tayiji, who were outside drilling troops.

Batur Khong Tayiji was only too eager to get out. Among his classmates, even the teenage Ejei counted as an elder big brother. The class was mostly kids from the New City Children's Camp, and their racket during lessons made him utterly miserable.

Xie Erhu and Cagaan Tayiji were not far away. The four Garrison Herding Battalions under their command were wintering in the Qinghai grazing lands, with only a little over a thousand men drilling horses at the sea — quite convenient for them to come over.

On the matter of drilling horses, Subadi was overthinking it.

Liu Chengzong had Xie Erhu and Cagaan Tayiji drill horses not to go attack anyone else, but because he worried that after declaring himself Khan, someone might come running to attack him.

On the ride out of the city, Cagaan Tayiji and Xie Erhu kept muttering quietly to each other, going on and on about something. Liu the Lion grew curious and asked, "What are you two talking about?"

Batur Khong Tayiji, speaking in his not-yet-fluent Chinese, laughed and said, "Great Khan, the two of them want to form a Mongol armored cavalry unit, haha!"

Having said that, Khong Tayiji pointed at the two of them from horseback and said, "With firelocks, what do you need armored cavalry for? Don't you go tormenting my Dzungar people."

"Armored cavalry?"

Liu Chengzong looked at Xie Erhu. "What put this idea in your head?"

It would have been better if Khong Tayiji hadn't spoken. The moment he did, Cagaan Tayiji glared at him, eyes wide with fury. "It's because you wiped out all my armored cavalry!"

"Hey, you can't pin that on me." Batur Khong Tayiji quickly spurred his horse forward two steps to catch up with Liu Chengzong, then turned back and waved his hands very earnestly. "My camel fortress hadn't even deployed when your brother ordered the armored cavalry to charge straight into it."

"A camel fortress — it's still a fortress. Armor, no matter how heavy — it's still cavalry... You ask the Great Khan to judge." Khong Tayiji dropped his reins and spread his hands. "To this day I still don't understand — how can cavalry charge a city wall?"

Liu Chengzong was confused at first, but then it clicked — the two of them were talking about how Ligdan Khan had thrown away Cagaan Tayiji's heavy cavalry in one wave.

The two Marshal's Residence mascots were bickering, but Xie Erhu still had the bearing of a commander. Riding half a horse-length behind, he cupped his fists on horseback and said, "Marshal, the Garrison Herding Battalions need elite troops. Otherwise, in the future, all we'll be good for is herding sheep."

Liu Chengzong raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xie Erhu. "Go on. What's your thinking?"

"In the future, with no battles close by, going out five hundred li means hauling grain. And if you have to haul grain, the field combat battalions will always get priority for deployments." Xie Erhu actually looked a bit aggrieved. "Then when it comes to fighting, there'll be nothing for me and Brigade Commander Ba... well, maybe something for him. But without elite troops, I'm done for."

In truth, Xie Erhu's thinking on this was heavily influenced by Cagaan Tayiji.

Cagaan Tayiji had discovered during the war that the Grand Marshal discriminated against Mongol and Tibetan armies.

This discrimination manifested in every aspect — commander ranks, army provisions, soldier equipment, and military assignments.

For instance, in the war against the Oirat, Liu Chengzong had never once sent the Mongol and Tibetan troops under his command onto the battlefield; they had merely guarded the supply lines in the rear.

There was nothing inherently wrong with that deployment — nomadic cavalry were indeed experts at guarding supply routes and serving as a rapid-response reserve corps.

But Cagaan Tayiji didn't want that. Were we Mongols only good for that? Back in the days of our ancestor Genghis Khan — heavy cavalry, light cavalry, heavy infantry, light infantry, naval forces, siege warfare — what couldn't we old Mongols do?

When it came down to it, the current sorry state where they could only field light cavalry — wasn't that just because they were poor?

The thing was, following the Marshal's Residence, the Mongol commanders headed by Xie Erhu were not poor. With their several Garrison Herding Battalions relying on animal husbandry and the Juerwan market, they could organize a Mongol-style heavy cavalry unit and take on the core combat role.

Cagaan Tayiji had ambition. In the past, he had been one of the top figures among the Chahar, but here at the Marshal's Residence he had become a mere mascot.

At first he hadn't thought much of it, but he was a Tayiji just the same — and Batur Khong Tayiji had soared to incredible heights, while he was merely a Garrison Herding Battalion Deputy Commander, in charge of his Chahar Battalion of thirty-six hundred men. What the hell was that?

But Cagaan Tayiji himself lacked the ability to push through a military reform of the Garrison Herding Battalions, so he absolutely had to pull in the Garrison Herding Brigade Commander Xie Erhu.

Xie Erhu's starting point wasn't entirely about strengthening the Marshal's Residence's ability to respond to war, either. For a Mongol horse-bandit chief who came from the desert, the Marshal's Residence had already conquered every opponent he knew of — the external environment was unprecedentedly secure.

Although Xie Erhu, as Liu Chengzong's number-one Mongol battle commander, supported his proclamation as Khan, deep down he was actually unwilling to admit that Liu Chengzong was a Khan.

After all, this so-called Donta Ulus Khanate, in his eyes, was not the least bit proper. This khanate had developed to this stage — what were its nobles all doing? Unprecedentedly united, preparing for the next war.

What should a proper khanate be doing at this stage of development? The various feudal lords ought to have long since let loose and started fighting among themselves!

It wasn't that Xie Erhu wanted internal strife. If the Marshal's Residence fell into internal strife at this critical juncture, he could only bully Cagaan Tayiji — he couldn't beat any of the rest.

He couldn't even beat Basang, who was also a brigade commander. Basang's brigade was well-equipped.

Left Deputy Commander Buchi had under her Han artillerymen, Tibetan noble cavalry, and Tibetan commoner musketeers.

Right Deputy Commander Aliu had as his core She Chongming's Daliang rebel army, and had trained a group of southwestern pikemen.

Whether they were actually formidable or not, just looking at them was intimidating.

Xie Erhu wanted to reform the military system mainly for his own career prospects.

As the earliest Mongol chieftain to follow Liu Chengzong, Xie Erhu liked the Marshal's Residence's system of certain reward for merit and certain punishment for fault, and had long benefited from it.

But ever since the Marshal's Residence conferred official posts and honors and established the Thirteen Battalions, with Xie Erhu appointed as the Garrison Farming Brigade Commander, the situation had changed... Having enjoyed the benefits of certain reward for merit and certain punishment for fault, he likewise had to bear the cost of the capable rising and the mediocre stepping aside.

The system hadn't changed — the circumstances had. In the future, it would be nearly impossible for some fellow to suddenly dash off to the sea to fight. In the future, the Marshal's Residence's deployments would very likely all be distant expeditions.

An expedition meant hauling grain, and in a separatist regime built by famine refugees and starving soldiers in northern Shaanxi, treasuring grain was the guiding principle behind everything.

How to save grain in war?

Troops are valued for quality, not quantity; the faster the march, the better; the sooner the decisive battle, the better; strike lethally the moment battle begins.

Following this logic downward, Xie Erhu realized that after his subordinates became the Garrison Herds Brigade, they were basically doing the opposite of these principles.

They were numerous, weak in combat power, and had terrible military discipline, excelling at harassing enemy forces on the flanks, cutting supply routes, and burning, killing, and plundering.

Even their much-vaunted light cavalry marching speed was actually nothing impressive.

In open terrain, they could not only keep up with the Marshal's field battalions, but even dashing three hundred li in the first three days was no great problem; after three days, or upon entering mountains, hills, and complex terrain, they could no longer keep up.

The field battalions' daily marching speed was sixty li while leading the animals by hand — a fairly fast pace, though not so fast that no one under heaven could match it; basically all relatively elite regular light infantry and light cavalry could achieve this speed.

The problem, as Xie Erhu knew perfectly well, was that the Grand Marshal's seven field battalions had no light infantry or light cavalry at all. Calling them heavy infantry and cavalry might be an exaggeration, but they absolutely did not count as light infantry either.

Besides, the reason they marched sixty li was not that these men could only move that fast on foot, but because the cannons and large wagons could only cover sixty li a day.

As a senior officer, Xie Erhu had once had a Han-language tutor read him the Marshal's infantry drill manual; once the tutor finished reading, he returned the manual to the Tiger Guard Battalion.

Having the manual was useless anyway. The manual required that infantry, under any road conditions — so long as there was a road, even a game trail — be able to march eighty li a day while leading a mule. Mounting was forbidden under normal circumstances. The theory was that if government troops marched sixty li a day, they must march eighty.

Wasn't that absurd? If Xie Erhu told his men today to lead their horses without mounting and walk sixty li, they probably wouldn't complain much; but if he dared give the same order tomorrow, someone in the Garrison Herds Battalion would dare call him a giant dumbass; if he dared give it a third day, the men would abandon him.

This was exactly what made fairness so detestable. In his early years, Xie Erhu had benefited from fairness, but as the Marshal's enterprise grew larger and larger, he likewise tasted the harm of fairness.

So he said, "Grand Marshal, if we don't change, it won't work."

"Change is allowed."

Liu Chengzong nodded. In truth, he had never expected Xie Erhu to take the initiative in reforming the Garrison Herds Battalion, because he knew this system had never been entirely fair to Mongol and Tibetan commoner officers like Xie Erhu and Basang.

All commands in the army were in Han language and Han speech. For Han soldiers and officers who were illiterate, the problem could be solved by studying, but these Mongol and Tibetan commoner officers could not even read Mongol or Tibetan script; even with an interpreter, everything had to go through multiple detours, making study far harder for them than for others.

Therefore, ever since he granted ranks and honors, his thinking had been to let Xie Erhu and Basang each command two Garrison Herds Battalions as brigade commanders. If they could learn, they could take their time; if they could not, they would still be considered to have braved death to secure a general's rank, stay in Qinghai to guard the home front, and let the next generation learn.

But neither was he averse to a commander having the heart to learn. Learning was always useful; even if it could not be applied now, it would be applied in the future.

Just like at this moment — Liu Chengzong's words "change is allowed" made Xie Erhu's heart bloom with joy, but then he immediately heard Liu the Lion say, "But if your reform for the Garrison Herds Battalion is to form fully armored cavalry, Erhu... the Garrison Herds Battalion still cannot deploy."

"Grand Marshal, why?"

Liu Chengzong gently reined in his horse and sighed. "Why do you want to reform the Garrison Herds Battalion? Because you know that when the Marshal's headquarters selects troops for deployment, under limited grain consumption, it will definitely choose the most combat-capable units."

Xie Erhu nodded, thinking: if I train fully armored cavalry, how could they not be combat-capable?

"Raising fully armored cavalry is easy for you. The arsenal can supply all the weapons, armor, and horse armor. Each Garrison Herds Battalion has millions of mu of pastureland. But the cost of actually moving armored cavalry — I cannot afford it."

Liu Chengzong spoke bluntly, waving his hand. "I suggest you consult Brigade Commander Yang and Brigade Commander Wang instead. Under the Garrison Herds Battalion's limited conditions, train eight hundred to a thousand medium-equipped mounted infantry per battalion, and stop fixating on full armor."

Fully armored cavalry were formidable under specific conditions, but they required too many warhorses and could not substitute mules. First, armored cavalry did not wear their equipment on the march and needed to be mixed with other units for screening.

If you had the means, you added horses and mixed them with light cavalry; if you lacked the means, you mixed them with light infantry. Raising them was not hard, but deploying them was far too expensive. One armored cavalryman required at least one light cavalryman and one infantryman in support, plus three warhorses for rotating charges, while the light cavalryman needed one horse and one mule, and the infantryman needed one mule.

A mule's rations were roughly equal to a man's. One light-duty warhorse consumed as much as four men; one heavy-duty warhorse consumed as much as six. A thousand-man unit containing three hundred armored cavalry consumed more supplies than eight thousand light infantry, five thousand mounted infantry, or three thousand light cavalry.

"No matter how heavy the horse armor you drape on them, it won't stop firearms and cannons, while bows and arrows can hardly shoot a warhorse dead. If you want to play with them, you can raise a hundred or so for fun, but if you plan to take part in the coming push eastward..."

Liu Chengzong paused mid-sentence, because the envoy party was already approaching not far away. This envoy party reminded him that in the future, the Marshal's headquarters might not only campaign eastward — there was also a high probability of deploying troops to the northeast, onto the Mongolian Plateau.

"If you intend to receive orders to deploy to the eastern front, I believe the medium equipment of the border army cavalry better suits the needs of war."

----- Off-topic -----

Good afternoon!