The Display of Hebei's Military Might
The morning sun had barely risen when a polite voice called out to me.
“Commandant of Cavalry, are you awake?”
“Aigoo, what’s with this ungodly hour…”
The servants of Zhou Ling were already preparing hot water. The moment they heard I was up, they rushed over dressed in full official attire.
After washing my face and changing into proper clothes, Zhou Ling hurriedly escorted me toward the government office.
“You may still be suffering from a hangover, but the Governor of Jizhou has ordered that you be brought to the office the instant you wake.”
“The Governor of Jizhou? Hmm…”
After yesterday’s heated debate, had he brought in new talent? Or had he truly accepted everything in just a single day?
When I arrived at the Ye City government office, the same civil and military officials from yesterday were staring at me. The murderous intent from before was gone. A few of them even looked at me with bright, approving eyes. It seemed they had finally acknowledged me.
Yuan Shao, still seated on his throne, rose personally when he saw me and descended the steps.
“Oho! The Emperor’s envoy, a once-in-a-thousand-years talent, has arrived!”
“I greet the General of the Right.”
“Hahaha, did you rest well last night?”
Completely different from yesterday, he now displayed a bold and generous demeanor as he patted my shoulder. Seeing this side of him, it was clear that the warlords and heroes of this era all shared that same boss-like charisma—boisterous laughter paired with the ability to lead massive forces.
“Come. Today, you must accompany me.”
“Directly with the Governor of Jizhou?”
“Yan Liang! Wen Chou!”
“Yes, Governor!”
Yan Liang and Wen Chou.
They were the two mighty generals Yuan Shao boasted about, the ones who dominated the entire Hebei region. Just as their reputations suggested, two hulking men approached Yuan Shao and saluted.
Yan Liang was a massive brute with eyes as wide as those of the Four Heavenly Kings in Buddhist temples and a thick beard that gave him a terrifying presence. Wen Chou had skin tanned dark from years under the sun and a slightly protruding belly, but his thick forearms and legs made him look like the sturdy foreman of a construction site.
The two of them walking side by side behind Yuan Shao made it perfectly clear what this was about.
After the humiliation he suffered in yesterday’s verbal sparring, Yuan Shao was about to put on a show of military force.
The path through Ye City that Yuan Shao led me down was packed with soldiers.
Among them, one sight in particular stood out.
“What the…? That crazy—”
I nearly cursed out loud.
“Hehe, what could have surprised the Emperor’s envoy so much?”
The way Yuan Shao pretended to ask while clearly knowing the answer made him a true “fox wearing a bear’s skin.”
What I was looking at was a horse ranch.
Inside Ye City was a massive horse-breeding facility for raising cavalry mounts, and its scale was simply beyond words.
Countless horses moved about in herds like chickens or flocks of sheep. There were so many that I had to turn my head left and right just to take it all in. To think a ranch this enormous for raising warhorses existed inside the city walls—truly, this was Ye City.
“It’s an incredibly large ranch.”
“Oho, that one? I sent most of them to suppress the Black Mountain Bandits in Bing Province, so there aren’t many left here. I recently gathered another three thousand and sent them out.”
“Three thousand horses came from here?”
“Indeed. What do you think? If you see any fine steeds that catch your eye while we walk, feel free to take a few.”
Yuan Shao casually offered to let me take whatever horses I liked as if they were nothing.
Of course, not all of them were warhorses for the cavalry. There would be pack animals for carrying supplies and farm horses used like oxen for agriculture. While Cao Cao’s army had designated an entire county-level territory as a dedicated cavalry training base to raise the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Yuan Shao simply built horse ranches and training grounds inside his city to produce cavalry.
Beyond the ranch, as expected, soldiers training for cavalry maneuvers came into view.
The horses of Hebei in the north were smaller than those from Xiliang, but they possessed superior endurance, making them ideal for long-distance campaigns.
“The cavalry’s spirit is truly impressive.”
“Mm~ Mm~ It’s nothing special. What you see here is only about ten thousand cavalry.”
“Just within Ye City?”
“For reference, there are even larger cavalry training facilities in Pingyuan, Bohai, and Julu. If I had the time, I would show you slowly. Hahaha!”
That meant four major cavalry breeding centers. With just this much, there was no force in the world that could rival them.
Even Cao Cao’s army had said they could never win against Yuan Shao’s forces in a direct confrontation. The saying that “the strongest power of this era is Yuan Shao’s army of Hebei” had not come out of nowhere.
If he had started with this kind of military demonstration instead of a verbal debate from the beginning, my impression of Yuan Shao might have been slightly different.
“What do you think?”
“It seems the Governor of Jizhou possesses exceptional military talent. The cavalry forces across Hebei alone appear to be the finest in the world.”
“Hahaha, right? I poured my heart into building this.”
This seemed like the right moment to throw out a question.
“Governor, there is one thing I am truly curious about.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“With such a powerful cavalry force at your command, shouldn’t you have already crushed the traitor Gongsun Zan of You Province, or the White Wave Bandits and Black Mountain Bandits of Bing Province long ago? How is it that with this much strength, you still haven’t…”
At that moment, Yuan Shao’s previously relaxed expression gradually hardened. The two massive generals behind him cleared their throats.
“Ahem!”
“Hmph!”
Both Yan Liang and Wen Chou glared at me as if they wanted to kill me, their faces clearly saying, “Say one more word and we won’t let it slide.”
Well, if they actually drew their blades, I would fight them, but right now I had to show that I would not be intimidated even by this display of force.
“Ah, my lord!”
In that tense atmosphere, a scholar suddenly came running in a hurry. The tall, horse-faced advisor immediately approached Yuan Shao and bowed.
“Oho, Feng Ji.”
Feng Ji? So this was the Feng Ji who was one of the “Yuan Shao’s Top Strategists”?
“Feng Ji, this is the Commandant of Cavalry Cao Xiu whom I praised so highly yesterday.”
“I am Cao Ziyeol.”
“Oho, so you are the envoy who carries the Emperor’s decree? I am Feng Yuandu.”
As we exchanged courtesy names, Yuan Shao suddenly clapped me on the shoulder and spoke.
“Feng Ji, remember what I said earlier? While showing him the cavalry training grounds, I mentioned that Bohai, Pingyuan, and Julu have even larger ones. This friend here asked why, with such a massive cavalry force, I have not yet pacified Bing and You Provinces. Hahaha!”
When Yuan Shao deliberately spoke loud enough for me to hear, Feng Ji smiled faintly and replied.
“If only the Emperor’s will is present, then upon receiving his command, we could immediately turn those lands to ash. Since the Governor of Jizhou is not an independent warlord separate from the Han, how could he act as he pleases?”
Feng Ji explained the matter very simply. He certainly seemed different from Guo Tu or Shun Shen from yesterday.
“It is the difference in character between the local governors of Yan Province, Xu Province, and Huainan—who fight and scheme among themselves as if they were independent warlords—and our lord’s dignity.”
This bastard. He was deliberately taking a jab at Cao Cao, who had once been Inspector of Yan Province and attacked Xu Province?
“If you truly desire it, the Governor could simply go to the imperial court himself and request permission, could he not?”
“Hehe, the reason the traitors of Bing and You Provinces do not dare attack us is precisely because the Governor remains in Hebei. If it became known that he had left Yecheng for even a single day, those rebels would rise up immediately.”
Feng Ji calmly and steadily conveyed the message that “we have no intention of leaving Hebei.”
“Does that mean no one but the Governor can command such a mighty army? That in itself seems like a problem, does it not?”
“Even the great army of Xiang Yu, who once vied with Emperor Gaozu of Han for supremacy, could not fully display its power in his absence.”
This man Feng Ji was truly on another level. If he had been present at yesterday’s debate, the verbal battle would have lasted much longer. Though in the end, I would still have won.
“Haha, sparks are really flying here! If Cao Cao has someone like Ziyeol, then I too have a strategist like Yuandu.”
Yuan Shao looked proud as he watched Feng Ji eloquently handle me, and continued walking. After showing me the infantry training grounds, the massive military forge, the archer and crossbowman training facilities, and various other military installations, we finally arrived at an enormous warehouse.
The warehouse was on a scale comparable to a modern large-scale container logistics center.
“Xin Ping! Where is Xin Ping?”
When Yuan Shao called for yet another person, a scholar holding bamboo slips and a brush came running out in a hurry.
“General of the Right, Quartermaster Xin Ping is here.”
“Open two of the granaries over there.”
“Do you mean military rations, my lord? How much will you be using?”
“Four hundred thousand bushels.”
“G-General of the Right?!”
“It is a tribute to His Majesty the Emperor in Luoyang. Stop talking and open the granaries.”
Four hundred thousand bushels?
The Emperor in Luoyang had requested ten thousand taels of gold and two hundred thousand bushels of grain, yet Yuan Shao was ordering twice that amount?
Then, as if something had occurred to him, Yuan Shao spoke again.
“Ah, no. On second thought, take out another hundred thousand bushels.”
“My lord?”
When Feng Ji turned his head, Yuan Shao looked at me and smiled.
“Now that I think about it, the one who escorted His Majesty the Emperor all the way to Luoyang this time was that fellow Aman, wasn’t it? The soldiers must have suffered terribly. Four hundred thousand bushels are for the Emperor, but tell him that the extra hundred thousand bushels are a gift from me because I found Aman’s efforts admirable.”
After the display of military might came a display of wealth.
I had wondered, but it seemed Yuan Shao truly intended to offer twice the amount the Emperor had requested.
And the moment this news reached them, an enormous stir would surely erupt within Cao Cao’s army.