Chapter 959: Chapter 7: Gathering Storms, Breaking Army’s Dream Shattered, Gold Scimitar Cavalry
They all submitted to Fan Qing.
Fan Qing’s method of subduing these Western Region men was very simple.
Archery, hand-to-hand combat, horseback riding, wrestling.
Fan Qing forced each of them into submission, and the samurais of these small tribes admired such a brave warrior, all lowering their heads to obey his command, while Shi Dalin, leader of the Seven Old Ghosts Under Qilin, treated the injured in the troop with medical skills and learned Western medical techniques.
He successfully trained a group of Western doctors.
It was the cultivation model of barefoot doctors from Central Plains.
They might not understand the principles, but they knew how to save lives.
Using medicine, techniques, simple and crude, accompanied by severe pain as an aftereffect, but it could basically save lives. The notorious Seven Old Ghosts of Qilin Army became divine doctors here instead.
"It’s because these people used to face illness and could only wait to die."
"Now that there’s a chance to survive, they naturally grasp it with all their might."
Shi Dalin shook his head, saying: "Rather than calling it perseverance."
"It’s better to say they previously had no way to survive."
At the same time, simple rules were established, not allowing drinking of flowing water directly; techniques for preserving food were quickly passed down, and the entire troop’s morale rapidly transformed.
At this moment, thousands of cattle and sheep were trekking, this place wasn’t a desert region nor an oasis, what grew was a kind of dry and grayish grass, much like these people of the Western Regions, people driving carts laden with things.
Different tribes’ riders composed the cavalry scouts roaming around the entire troop, sometimes bringing hunted prey.
On horseback, burly men like towers used curved knives to cut the dark dried meat, stuffing it into their mouths to chew, jaws moving up and down, washing it down with cool water, all eating making no sound.
But there was light in their eyes.
Fan Qing said: "I have already figured out these tribes."
Li Guanyi was feeding a Flying Eagle.
Lei Laomeng repeated his old technique; he had successfully tamed this desert falcon, now perched on Li Guanyi’s arm, looking quite tame. Beside Li Guanyi, the Five Dharma Forms, invisible to the naked eye, all cast their eyes downward watching this defiant falcon.
The emissary of gods above the desert lowered its head, feeling inexplicably restrained on this young man’s arm. The cavalry scouts who saw this scene, not knowing the mystical existence of Dharma Forms, had a gaze filled with more awe when looking at the young man.
Li Guanyi knew that with the help of the Dharma Forms’ intimidation towards living beings, he finally endured this falcon, gently stroking the falcon’s feathers with his fingers, while looking at Fan Qing, casually handing the roasted beans in his arms to Fan Qing, saying: "Go on."
The battle general of the Qilin Army, riding on a warhorse, looked solemn and calm: "The composition of the tribes, basically most adults have mastered skills in mounted archery, women are responsible for stripping off the animal hides to make clothes, children go herding."
"In these wandering tribes, there are more or less some orally passed methods for tempering the body, but these methods ultimately just reach the level of Entering Realm, hard to advance to Second Layer Heaven."
"Based on this standard, they can only be considered as the Third Line Corps of Central Plains, garrison troops of various cities, fundamentally unable to compete with the Second Line standing border troops, First Line main battle corps, and the nation’s top battle corps."
Fan Qing paused his voice, saying:
"However, they all know mounted archery."
"Archery itself is difficult, and those proficient in mounted archery in Central Plains cavalry are elites, perhaps because learning mounted archery in Central Plains is just like learning spearmanship, Inner Qi."
"It’s considered excellent if learned well, just a pity if not accomplished."
"But in the Western Regions, mounted archery is life."
"Western people, not skilled in martial arts, cannot compare in discipline, battle formations, coordination, with the Second Line Corps of Central Plains, not even as strong as the Third Line Corps defending the cities."
"But they have been fighting for survival in this harsh environment since childhood, honing extremely strong mounted archery abilities, able to hit six out of ten arrows aimed at leaping antelopes in high-speed movement, which is lethal on the battlefield."
Fan Qing gave an example: "Although a martial artist of the Entering Realm can already overlay their weapon with Inner Qi, when reaching Second Layer Heaven, their strength, defense are like donning an armor, but in the Second Line Corps, everyone practices martial arts, only the squad leader is at Entering Realm level."
"While the arrows shot by Western cavalry’s bows are enough to kill unguarded martial artists who possess Inner Qi."
"This means they can compare on the battlefield to the Second Line Corps where everyone has Inner Qi, and even with the First Line battle corps of single combat units at Entering Realm level, they can employ harassment tactics at a distance with mounted archery."
"This is a special troop type."
"Their past experiences have given them the power to protect themselves in this chaotic world."
"But, Lord."
After mentioning so many benefits, Fan Qing finally showed a slightly troubled expression on his face: "We don’t have a general skilled in mounted archery."
Li Guanyi: "..."
Fan Qing smiled wryly, saying: "Or you could say, our Qilin Army is all trained in the style of General Yuwen Tianxian, adept at heavy armored shield infantry, armored cavalry, the Mo Family mechanism cooperative combat, but not skilled in mounted archery harassing tactics."
"Not even General Ling Pingyang."
"That peacock Yuwen Hua."
"Is also only proficient with heavy cavalry using lances, breaking into key points of the battle formation from the flanks, cutting up the battlefield, preventing the enemy’s troop formations from forming, seizing our side’s battlefield dominance, and then under conditions of absolute advantage, reaping the opponent from the rear and flanks in tactics."