The Blessed

In the era of cold weapons without aircraft, artillery, missiles, etc., as the saying goes, before the troops move, fodder and provisions go first. Whether having sufficient provisions was one of the key factors for a win. Unless they could set a depot every certain distance on the square grassland or the desert, otherwise, it was unrealistic to go deep into such places with so many soldiers. But, there was also an exception.

"Have you ever thought of replacing infantry and chariot soldiers with the cavalries?"

After listening to what he said, Ling Jingxuan turned and lay on the bed sideways, with his hand gently resting around his waist.

"Oh? Do you have a good idea? Tell me about it."

Yan Shengrui picked his eyebrows and looked down at him, his wife was smart, and he always knew it, so he had never underestimated his advice.

"Northern nomadic people are namely familiar with the grasslands and desert. They could go through it like guerrillas, and they live in Mongolian yurt like tents, no fixed abodes, of course they are not afraid of our siege, but there is one thing—they won’t move easily, that is like their command center. Now, our horses and solders are no worse than theirs. But competing speed with them is like seeking death, so why don't you play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses? Duke Zeng happens to be at the borders now. After you go back to the boarders, you picked out five to ten thousand picked soldiers from you’re a hundred thousand cavalries, offer them the best horses and weapons, and then collaborate with Duke Zeng. You personally lead the selected soldiers to penetrate into the heart of the enemies and directly destroy their command center, captive their king, and then give them a devastating blow from the weakest spot, if you think that's not enough, lead the troops deep into grassland and let them know that, but don't let them know the number of your troops, then in the shortest possible time to complete the weaving, and then disappear in the sight of the enemies. And on Duke Zeng’s side, pretend that you take away large part of his troops and then let those soldiers hide in the mountains, only leave a few soldiers for symbolic resistance, after luring them in, then surround from the four directions and destroy them. And by then, the nomadic people would get inevitably weakened a lot and would never offend our borders at least three to five years. Of course, the premise is both the East and West Kingdom wouldn’t step in. As for how to let them stay out of it, I guess you should be clearer than me. At last, before leading the troops to occupy their city, secretly emptying those civilians living inside. The nomads are bloodthirsty. Don’t let the civilians become the sacrificial lambs of your merits.”

In his previous life, Ling Jingxuan was both a doctor and a killer. A killer pursued killing with one move, not giving the target any opportunity, and it could also be applied to wars. With one move, they should give the enemy a devastating blow.

"And during those three to five years’ time, we could foster our chargers, train our cavalries. When the nomads got recovered, our cavalries will be no inferior to them. Then we can send the picked cavalries for long-distance chasing, or send a few forces to encircle them!”

As smart as Yan Shengrui was, he could draw inferences about other cases from one instance. Ling Jingxuan nodded and picked his words up, "More than that. The cavalries can only bring with them food that could last them for three days, after that, they gave to get themselves food from where they are, and get their supplies in the vast grasslands or the desert. It can not only solve the problem of our army supplies, but also can greatly gave a dead blow of the enemy's production capacity, and relieve our kingdom’s pressure for fighting against them for so many years. In this way, the domestic agriculture and other aspects can also develop in an all-round way. As the saying goes, a slight move in one part may affect the situation as a whole."

Of course, the premise was that next year their strategy must be successful, as the commander, Yan Shengrui must let the soldiers and people in the court know this method is really feasible, then those who made sarcastic comments would shut their mouths. Although given Yan Shengrui’s temper, even if they objected, he would only ignore them.

"Such a clever one, though a little risky."

Yan Shengrui couldn’t help thinking of its possibility. Cavalries going deep into the desert or grassland, they thing they were most afraid of was not the enemies, but getting lost, after all, they were not familiar with the terrains there. If they got lost there and couldn’t find water or food, they would only wait to die, of course, this was just one of those possibilities, not absolute. But if they succeeded, their gains would far outweigh their losses.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There is no fluke in any war, but will always be accompanied by danger. What we can do is to reduce the risks. Before sending troops or after that, you can catch a few nomadic people as your guide, so, it’d greatly reduce the risk of getting lost. Oh right, I can make a few simple compasses for you, with them, you won’t get lost easily.”

Speaking of which, Ling Jingxuan turned over and lay on his chest. A compass was something that required least techniques but most useful. In addition to that, he could also help them improve their weapons, like crossbows, and improve the accuracy and quantity, and so on. As a killer in his past life, these things were much easier than farming.

“Compass?”

Yan Shengrui curiously picked his eyebrows, what is that?

"Haha...A tool that always points to the south. You only need to remember up north, down south, left west and right east. Perhaps it can not accurately guide your direction, but at least a general one, so you won’t get lost in the grassland or desert easily."