Chapter 142 Blood Qilin Army

"Blood Qilin Army!" Facing the Blood Qilin Army officers on horseback, right hands resting on their chests, armor gleaming, Ye Tao returned the salute in kind.

"Strength and Glory!" The officers replied in unison.

Of course, such etiquette wasn't exactly original, but at least it was more reliable than the "Iron Armor Still Stands" mentioned in another book. And as these slogans, these simple yet powerful military courtesies, became widespread, they had vaguely become a symbol of the Blood Qilin Army, this powerful army, deeply ingrained in the hearts of every Blood Qilin soldier.

The officer corps that came to greet Ye Tao was headed by Zou Shuangwen. Most of the remaining officer corps members were continuing to work at Thunder Cliff. The postwar work of the Blood Qilin Army was complex but solid. The bodies of all fallen soldiers were collected in coffins and sent back to their hometowns. In each area, there was an officer who had returned to Dongping, responsible for delivering the compensation to the families of the fallen soldiers. These carefully selected officers were not necessarily high-ranking, but they were definitely young men from large clans. They would also visit local officials to request some care for the families of the fallen soldiers. The officer corps remaining in Yunzhou was responsible for handling the portion of the spoils of war that the tribes generously allocated to the Blood Qilin Army after the Jiao Sha battle in Benlang Plain before they could leave. In fact, this was also exploiting a loophole. According to Dongping's usual practice, the participating army did not have the right to distribute the spoils of war themselves. However, the Blood Qilin Army participated in the Benlang Plain campaign in a form similar to an alliance, and the tribes treated the Blood Qilin Army as such an "ally." They not only received spoils of war, but also received a considerable portion due to their great role in the battle. Since the Blood Qilin Army gave up all rights to allocate the captured weapons, they received a total of more than 40,000 war horses, as well as a considerable portion of the cattle and sheep herds carried by the northern tribes. As for the captured gold, silver, and jewelry, the amount was also quite considerable. This was the first time in the few years since the establishment of the Blood Qilin Army that there had been a large income in finance, so naturally, handling it required caution.

An even more important reason was that His Majesty had already asked Xu Jingtao to be responsible for reorganizing the various armies in Yunzhou. Some capable officers were needed in the restructuring of the Tie Yun Qi (Iron Cloud Cavalry). Afterwards, a cavalry army mainly composed of tribal warriors, as well as a sufficiently powerful infantry army, would be formed in Yunzhou to prepare for future wars. In the future, Yunzhou would independently maintain a combat-ready force of about 100,000 people and a garrison of about 20,000 people. The work of dismantling, restructuring, reorganizing, and training the existing army was extremely difficult and arduous. Dai Yun naturally volunteered to stay without hesitation. With Dai Yun present, the work of greatly reducing the original military strength of Yunzhou and replacing it with Dongping's forces could proceed smoothly. Now, Dai Shiheng had handed over all military affairs in Yunzhou to Xu Jingtao, and he himself was assisting Xu Jingtao, coordinating all parties. Dai Yun finally officially resigned as the supervisor of the Blood Qilin Army and took over as the commander of the Tie Yun Qi, shouldering the heavy responsibility of rectifying the Tie Yun Qi.

As the elite troops of Yunzhou, the Tie Yun Qi was mainly composed of direct descendants and collateral descendants of the Dai family, as well as various distant and close relatives. However, it also included the cooperation of other local families, merchants, and ranch owners in Yunzhou, and many Yunzhou civilians strived to join the Tie Yun Qi to protect their homes. It was precisely because the Tie Yun Qi had the coordination and cooperation of all parties, and the concerted efforts of the people of Yunzhou, that this Yunzhou army had always been able to maintain high morale and combat effectiveness. In terms of the complexity of its composition, the Tie Yun Qi was very similar to the Blood Qilin Army. For this pure cavalry army, which was now lagging behind the Blood Qilin Army in terms of equipment, training, and tactical thinking, but still had a very high level of cavalry combat skills, Dai Yun put many measures that had been proven effective in the Blood Qilin Army into the Tie Yun Qi.

Compared to the Blood Qilin Army, which started with a group of纨绔子弟 (wan ku zi di – young masters) playing around with almost zero foundation, the Tie Yun Qi was very solid in cavalry skills. However, compared to the Blood Qilin Army, the biggest weakness was that the average cultural level of the Tie Yun Qi's soldiers was limited. In the Blood Qilin Army, as long as any new ideas or tactics could be explained clearly, everyone would quickly understand. The training of various equipment, especially those complex heavy military equipment, the use of those rulers and slide rules, etc., with the help of the detailed instruction manuals that always came with the products produced by the Ye Family Workshop, never became an obstacle for the Blood Qilin Army to quickly master weapons. But in the Tie Yun Qi, this was a big problem. At least Dai Yun knew that some mid-level officers in the Tie Yun Qi were illiterate and had to rely on their attendants to read military orders... In this case, Dai Yun especially needed those officers with considerable experience in the Blood Qilin Army to assist him in the training of the Tie Yun Qi. As long as the tactical skills could be improved, as for the gap between the equipment and the Blood Qilin Army, in Dai Yun's view, as long as a person who was good at financial management was in charge of the Yunzhou Bureau of Economic Management, the Tie Yun Qi would naturally not be treated badly.

Dai Yun was appointed as the first supervisor of the Blood Qilin Army after finishing second in the first Military Chess Open. It had been more than three years since then, and he had been steadily occupying the position of supervisor with his solid military skills and enthusiastic and generous style. The Blood Qilin Army had achieved military success in her hands and had become a prominent force in Dongping. In the past few years, there had been many changes among the officers. Some had retired from the Blood Qilin Army due to their age, or had become members of the auxiliary army providing supporting services to the Blood Qilin Army. Some had entered the city defense forces, border guards, or even the imperial guards with what they had learned in the Blood Qilin Army. Some had returned to their original lives after proving that they were indeed militarily talented or indeed not talented. However, more of them were young people with different backgrounds and complicated origins who entered the Blood Qilin Army with a passion as the Blood Qilin Army gradually expanded. Dai Yun had always adhered to the principles of fairness and justice formulated by Ye Tao for the Blood Qilin Army, and implemented competition in every detail. In addition to this, Dai Yun also constantly taught and promoted younger generations, and comforted those who had failed at certain stages or were not suitable for the style of the Blood Qilin Army... Dai Yun's prestige and appeal in the Blood Qilin Army were quite amazing.

When Dai Yun decided to stay in Yunzhou to reorganize the Tie Yun Qi and requested that some of his subordinates stay in Yunzhou for a year or two to help him with this cause, no one expected that almost one-third of the officers would express their willingness to stay. Many of the others also said that they would stay in the Blood Qilin Army for another year and then report to Yunzhou, or said that they would provide assistance to the Tie Yun Qi through their families. Those cavalry officers would go directly to the Tie Yun Qi to report after handling the Blood Qilin Army's remaining affairs in Yunzhou, while those infantry officers would be seconded to Xu Jingtao to carry out the establishment of Yunzhou's elite infantry army.

"You...how can so many of you leave the Blood Qilin Army together? Wouldn't the Blood Qilin Army be emptied? Without your group of excellent officers, the combat effectiveness of the Blood Qilin Army will be greatly reduced," Ye Tao said with some confusion after listening to Zou Shuangwen's account of these changes.

"Sir, we have all heard about you arguing with those 酸丁 (suan ding – pedantic scholars) in Danyang. You probably haven't paid attention to other things. The Blood Qilin Army may not have any battles to fight in the future." Zou Shuangwen explained with a smile, "There are too many aristocratic children in the Blood Qilin Army. Although the losses in Yunzhou this time are not very serious, it has caused some gossip inside and outside the court. In the future, the Blood Qilin Army may be a place dedicated to training officers and educating the young children of Dongping. It seems that it takes about four years from entering the Blood Qilin Army to being able to leave qualifiedly. It seems that even the standards for donations of military resources from various aristocratic families are being formulated. The Blood Qilin Army will pay generous salaries to those excellent soldiers from poor families. ...Of course, these are still in the draft stage. But you know, the Blood Qilin Army is too well-informed. Any disturbance in the court, we may know it faster than those officials in the court who are not very high-ranking. These clauses are very likely to be passed. Those of us who want to continue fighting and earning military merits must leave the Blood Qilin Army as soon as possible and find a place for ourselves."

Ye Tao curled his lips and said helplessly, "You guys are really capable of making a fuss. ...However, it is indeed heartbreaking that the Blood Qilin Army has suffered more than 10% casualties this time."

Zou Shuangwen slapped his thigh and sighed, "That's the point. If it were an ordinary army, even the imperial guards, it would be normal to lose more than 10% in a tough battle, let alone more than half. We have to look at the results to see if it's worth it. But for the Blood Qilin Army, everyone feels uncomfortable if they lose more than 10%. We ourselves are reluctant to send our soldiers up to fight head-on. If we encounter a big battle in the future, if the commander's neck is not hard enough, I guess they won't dare to let the Blood Qilin Army go to the battlefield to engage the enemy. Moreover, the Blood Qilin Army soldiers are indeed capable in all aspects, but the time and energy spent on training are all there. In comparison, the money spent on equipment and logistics for the Blood Qilin Army is really nothing."

Ye Tao nodded and said, "However, what are you planning to do in the Tie Yun Qi? The Tie Yun Qi doesn't have such generous military expenses for you to use."

Zou Shuangwen shrugged and said, "The specific equipment is still being discussed. The Tie Yun Qi's combat style is too different from the Blood Qilin Army's. Moreover, there are also tribal cavalry armies to be formed. How to coordinate the arms at that time is another problem. Speaking of this, sir, the equipment of those hundred tribal guards around you has been changed very well, which has given us some inspiration."

"Alas, you are willing to go to the battlefield to risk your lives, and I can only help you behind the scenes. Later, you can ask someone to contact the tribes on Benlang Plain. Didn't they say that there are rich iron ore deposits in the grassland? Get a few cartloads of ore samples. When my senior brother arrives, I will first test the composition. If possible, the Yunzhou branch of the Ye Family Workshop will specialize in manufacturing military equipment. There is no need to transport it from Danyang, which will save some money."

Zou Shuangwen happily said, "That's great. However, compared to manufacturing military equipment in Yunzhou, you are saving a lot of effort here. The Blood Qilin Army has so many kinds of equipment, plus the different models that have been replaced before and after. Most of them have your participation in the design and improvement. This time, we still need a lot of help in this area."

Ye Tao smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. I'm estimating that I'll have to stay in Yunzhou for a long time this time, and I was originally planning to set up a design department of the Ye Family Workshop here. In the future, I won't have to be in charge of all types of things alone."