Chapter 423: Troop Training

Dugu Xian lived in fear at all times. The smallest sound outside the door would cause him to tremble and stiffen with fear. Even the air he breathed was frozen like ice.

He was not only afraid that the swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain would take revenge on him at any moment but also afraid of the killers sent by the Supreme King. In his imagination, the Supreme King must have been furious with his betrayal and wanted to punish him at all costs.

This was far from what he had imagined himself becoming. As a battle-hardened general, he believed that he should be fearless and even take the initiative to welcome death.

Oddly enough, he never had similar fears on the battlefield, but he shuddered at the thought of those cold killers like swords.

Therefore, he was also afraid of the Dragon King. Dugu Xian observed two extremely opposite temperaments in this young man: One originated from the killer identity who was ruthless, habitually unwilling to attract attention, and the other originated from the identity of the Dragon King of the Great Snowmountain who was also ruthless, but always overwhelming.

Gu Shenwei did not know that he was so complicated. He showed his modesty as far as possible and even visited the surrendered general in person. But when he saw his terrified opponent, he felt both slightly amused and disappointed.

However, once they discussed the impending battle, Dugu Xian behaved more normally. He played no games; he said what he knew, without exaggeration or hiding a thing.

Gu Shenwei introduced the enemy’s situation first.

The commander of Golden Roc Fort who led fifty thousand soldiers was named Shangguan Jianyi. Gu Shenwei knew very little about him and received his information from Shangguan Fei. Shangguan Jianyi was the nephew of the Supreme King, but they were similar in age and he had not lived in the Stone Kingdom for many years.

The source of the 50,000 soldiers was quite complex. The Xiaowan Kingdom provided a cavalry of 10,000 that was the absolute main force of the army, while Shu-lik and other newly-conquered countries dispatched 20,000 soldiers.

The Golden Roc Fort originally intended to use 30,000 men to occupy Xiaoyao Lake. However, when he heard that the Dragon King had returned to the Western Regions from Wushan, the Supreme King immediately added 20,000 troops. Half of those came from the Xiaowan Kingdom and his subordinate countries, while the rest were mercenaries recruited temporarily.

The Xiaowan Kingdom was Dugu Xian’s motherland, but now it belonged to the Shangguan family, and even the throne had been given to Shangguan Yun, the third youngest master. Its army was the core strength of Golden Roc Fort, which had been trained by Dugu Xian.

“The Supreme King likes cavalry.” Dugu Xian recalled the situation when he accepted the task of training soldiers, “This is probably influenced by the Norland. As you know, the Norland was founded on riding and shooting, with more than 300,000 soldiers controlling strings. It’s easy to learn horsemanship and archery separately, but its difficulty multiplies if you learn them together. Unless you were familiar with horses and bows since childhood, as the people of Norland, it will take many years to reach their level.”

Dugu Xian stared blankly for a while, imagining the spectacular scene of the Norland Army, “The Supreme King still insists on a cavalry. He thinks that the cavalry is fast and powerful, which conforms to the strategy of Golden Roc Fort, so I have trained a heavy cavalry for him. Soldiers and horses wear armor– armed with spears, and they are extremely sharp.”

Dugu Xian’s boasting implied sarcasm. Gu Shenwei knew the power of the cavalry and felt that what he said was not too exaggerated. Although the swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain could compete against the cavalry, both sides would lose a lot in the end, especially the Dragon King.

“It must have cost Shangguan Fa a lot of money to train such an army,” said Gu Shenwei.

“Countless. Tens of thousands of horses alone are worth more than one million taels. Other armors, weapons and soldiers were more expensive.” Dugu Xian answered.

“Someone told me that one wood is hard to support, and he said that riding and shooting are complementary to each other. Even the most powerful cavalry also has weaknesses,” Gu Shenwei mentioned.

This was what Gu Lun had said to his younger son. Although he was not a general who led troops to fight, he often educated his three sons with his experience since he had stayed in the army.

Dugu Xian was slightly surprised, and then nodded, “He’s right. The heavy cavalry is fast, but also awkward. It is difficult for them to turn around, so they can only fight in a place that is as flat as a pancake. They are also afraid of flanking attacks.”

“Golden Roc Fort has assembled many troops from all countries, including cavalries and archers, which should be able to make up for the flaw of cavalry, right?” Gu Shenwei inquired.

“Not really. It’s also up to people. What do you know about Shangguan Jianyi?” Dugu Xian asked the Dragon King.

“Not much. I had never heard of this man when I was in Golden Roc Fort.” Gu Shenwei admitted.

“He is the most trusted person of the Supreme King, and may also be the only one he trusts. In the past few years, he has frequently come to the Xiaowan Kingdom to supervise my training,” said Dugu Xian.

Dugu Xian didn’t like Shangguan JianYi but knew a lot about him.

Shangguan Jianyi’s father was Shangguan Fa’s eldest brother, who had the best chance to inherit the throne of that generation. However, after a fierce competition against his younger brother, he failed and even lost his life.

One of the most important reasons for Shangguan Fa’s final victory was to get the support of Shangguan Jianyi.

Shangguan Jianyi betrayed his biological father and sought refuge with his young uncle, who was only three or four years older than himself. All this remained a mystery. He claimed that he did it for the overall situation because Shangguan Fa had more qualities as a king, in his eyes.

As a symbol of trust, Shangguan Jianyi held the most important position in the Golden Roc Fort for many years: the right-hand-man of the Supreme King.

About ten years ago, Shangguan Jianyi suffered a major setback. He did not defeat Lady Meng, who was gathering all sorts of favors at that time, so he left the Golden Roc Fort in dismay and went to Norland to take over the killer’s stronghold.

No one could have imagined that ten years later, with the help of Shangguan Jianyi, Fort Jin Peng won the trust of the Norland and the two sides would join forces to fight against the Central Plains.

The Supreme King sent his most trusted assistant to the Norland. Whether it was a deliberate demotion or a premeditated plan was also a mystery.

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“Shangguan Jianyi is a very capable person who can easily win the trust of others, but he doesn’t know how to arrange troops and only believes in speed and aggression. This may make him look brave, but his aggressive approach also makes it easier for him to fall into a trap,” Dugu Xian said.

After he heard Dugu Xian’s evaluation of the enemy’s commander, Gu Shenwei found similarity between Shangguan Jianyi and himself: Both of them believed in speed and aggression. Although he had took part in several wars, he still had only a little knowledge about the ways of military service.

“I can defeat the 50,000 troops with qualified soldiers in the right place,” Dugu Xian said more confidently. Even his fear had reduced.

Although Xiaoyao Lake was not large, there were mountains and waters, the right place could always be found. As for the “qualified soldiers,” it was a big trouble. “What does ‘qualified soldiers’ mean? And how many people do you need?” Gu Shenwei asked.

“Well, they should listen to the commands and be fearless. The brave don’t show off and the weak don’t lag behind. They should be familiar with these three weapons: saber, gun, and bow. And they should be good at walking or riding. This is what I call a ‘qualified soldier.’ The number of soldiers should be at least 20,000. It is very risky to fight against 50,000 troops with 20,000 soldiers.”

Gu Shenwei could not even provide one-tenth of those soldiers. After pausing a moment, he said, “I have twenty thousand troops and horses, but they need to be trained.”

“Twenty thousand soldiers like the swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain?” Dugu Xian asked.

The swordsmen were easier to train, for they were fearless.

Gu Shenwei shook his head. “If all 20,000 soldiers possessed the same power as the swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain, I would start the war immediately.” He thought to himself.

“Most of them are like soldiers of the five countries of Xiaoyao Lake, or may be weaker.” Gu Shen told the truth.

Dugu Xian was very disappointed. He had commanded the soldiers of Xiaoyao Lake before and knew them well. It was not easy to turn these people into real soldiers, “How many horses do you have? Do you have enough weapons and armor?”

“There are thousands of horses and barely enough armor.” Gu Shen responded.

Dugu Xian realized how difficult the present situation was, “It’s hard to say. If you only mean to defeat the fifty thousand troops led by Shangguan Jianyi, we can try it, but it will take a year to prepare.”

“The army of Golden Roc Fort will attack in a month.” Gu Shen revealed.

Gu Shenwei could find ways to solve many tough problems, but this one was out of his hands.

“A mob of twenty thousand against fifty thousand elite troops, this…” Dugu Xian began. Concentrating on solving problems, he fell into the old habit of expressing his thoughts candidly without scrupling the other person’s ideas, even if that man could control his fate.

“I have to think about it carefully.” Dugu Xian did not provide a clear plan in the end.

Gu Shenwei was not too disappointed to leave. He was also thinking about what he could improve as soon as possible to close the gap with the army of Golden Roc Fort.

Xu Xiaoyi did not know how to know when the Dragon King had entered the capital, so he waited for the Dragon King outside the gate. He said smilingly, “Dragon King, my sister would like you to come.”

“Why?” Gu Shenwei was going to refuse. “Xu Yanwei has hardly serious business. This time she probably intends to coax me to see the Princess.” He mused.

Even if all the princesses in the world were waiting for him in the palace, Gu Shenwei had no mood to take a look at them at that moment.

“She said that it was about the King of the Stone Kingdom, who seemed to, seemed to have some ideas,” Xu Xiaoyi said.

The King of the Stone Kingdom was very suspicious of the Dragon King and the army of the Great Snowmountain. Although he had no money and no soldiers in his hands, he could make some trouble. He could be greatly influenced by soldiers in the Stone Kingdom.

After meditating for a while, Gu Shenwei agreed to go to the palace.

After he entered the palace, Gu Shenwei found that they were not heading for the princess’s residence. He was slightly relieved. However, at the sight of Xu Yanwei’s excited expression, he knew he had been fooled.

“Dragon King, you have come at last. You should save me.” Xu Yanwei said.

“You overestimated me,” Gu Shenwei responded.

“No, no, I did not. You’re the only one who can help. If you didn’t see the Princess, she would kill me. I have praised you so well, so the Princess insisted on seeing you.”

Xu Yanwei pointed to the room behind her, “The Princess is right here. It will not take you much time. Will you not enter the room even if you pass through the door?”

Gu Shenwei often forgot the identity of the Emperor’s brother-in-law. Besides, the Stone Kingdom had been completely under his control, so he thought even less of this name.

In spite of that, he still stepped into the room. “The Princess and I are not enemies, so I don’t have to humiliate her by avoiding her.”

After pushing the door, he saw the Princess for the first time. Nervous and frightened as she was, she almost fainted. She barely stood with her fingers touching the table slightly, and then she said softly, “Dragon King…”

Gu Shenwei pulled out his saber, which frightened her more.

Gu Shenwei was certain that he and the princess were not alone in the room– he felt a trap waiting for him.