223: Black Horse Volunteers

The next morning, Lin Yue rose, washed up, and put on his armor, asking, “Zi Long, is everyone here?”

“Reporting to my Lord, everyone is here.”

“What about the sixty thousand cavalry?” Lin Yue asked.

“They are all here and in position,” Zhao Yun replied, opening his mouth as if to say something, but then hesitated.

“Then let’s go out too,” Lin Yue said, leading the way out.

Lin Yue mounted Big Yellow and rode straight out of the Encampment. From a distance, he saw the White Horse Righteous Cavalry, and... Zhao Ben?

“This humble general greets the General!” Lin Yue saluted.

“Brother Lin, I’m counting on you!” Zhao Ben also saluted with a smile.

“This humble general will do his best!” Lin Yue responded.

“Good, follow me. I’ll show you my sixty thousand cavalry,” Zhao Ben said with a laugh, spurring his warhorse to ride to the side.

Lin Yue followed closely, weaving through the white warhorses like waves at high tide, one after another.

Suddenly, a pitch-black warhorse appeared in Lin Yue’s sight, like a red flower among green leaves. This abrupt sight made Lin Yue feel as if he had seen the Big Bad Wolf in Sheep Village!

Zhao Ben stopped his warhorse, and only then did Lin Yue realize that it wasn’t just one black horse, but a full sixty thousand black horses!

“Black Horse Righteous Cavalry?” Lin Yue blurted out.

Zhao Ben didn’t hear clearly and instead said to Lin Yue, “Brother Lin, the next time you see them, they should be a qualified White Horse Righteous Cavalry, right?”

Lin Yue looked troubled and said, “Don’t even think about White Horse Righteous Cavalry. At most, they’ll be Black Horse Righteous Cavalry.”

Zhao Ben chuckled, “Brother, I also wanted white horses, but Earth-grade mid-rank white horses are hard to find. I really couldn’t gather enough, so I took the liberty of gathering sixty thousand black horses instead.

But all sixty thousand warhorses are the same color, and they look spirited.”

“Uh... I’ll do my best,” Lin Yue was unsure if they could form a proper unit at this point. He could only train them using the White Horse Righteous Cavalry’ methods, but he had no confidence in the final outcome.

“Don’t worry, if you can’t train them well, I won’t blame you,” Zhao Ben said with a smile, patting Lin Yue’s shoulder.

“Understood,” Lin Yue could only say, steeling himself.

“Good!” Zhao Ben said with a laugh, then addressed the sixty thousand Black Horse Righteous Cavalry before him:

“From today onwards, you will follow the command of Gentleman of the Household Lin Yue. If he tells you to go east, you cannot go west. If he tells you to find a cow, you cannot look for a chicken!

If I find out that any of you dare to disobey orders, you don’t need to come back!

Did you hear me clearly?”

“Clearly!” the sixty thousand Black Horse Righteous Cavalry responded!

“Good,” Zhao Ben said to Lin Yue, “Then I will hand them over to you. Let’s depart.”

“Understood, General,” Lin Yue nodded, then shouted in a deep voice, “Depart!”

“Understood!”

...After several days of travel, Lin Yue finally reached the location of She Jian’s Army.

Over these days, Lin Yue had dispersed the Black Horse Righteous Cavalry among the White Horse Righteous Cavalry, with each White Horse Volunteer helping one Black Horse Righteous Cavalry to grow as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, the Black Horse Righteous Cavalry had a good foundation. They trained as they marched, making good progress.

As for the more than four thousand White Horse Righteous Cavalry who were previously injured, after ten days of recuperation, two thousand had returned to the team. The remaining two thousand Soldiers had returned to Shenmu Military Camp with the Shang Commandery garrison for recuperation. They should now be within Shang Commandery, continuing to receive treatment.

Lin Yue dismounted and was the first to step into She Jian’s temporary Encampment!

As soon as he entered the main tent, he saw She Jian sitting at the head, his face grim.

“This humble general Lin Yue, greets the General!” Lin Yue saluted.

“Hmm, it’s good that you’re back. The forty thousand Soldiers you requested, I have already prepared for you. Go find Yang Chen; he will take you,” She Jian said in a deep voice.

Seeing She Jian’s tightly furrowed brows, Lin Yue asked, “Does the General have something on his mind?”

“Alas, I can’t find anyone!

The Xiongnu people are extremely cunning. When we enter a Xiongnu people tribe, it’s completely empty, and we encounter sudden attacks when marching in the wilderness.

Now Yang Chen’s cavalry has expanded to fifty thousand, but they are still constantly on the move.

There is only one and a half months until the summer solstice, and the Army, facing this situation, has no choice but to continue to halt,” She Jian sighed, his face full of worry.

“What’s so difficult about that? General only needs to give me another sixty thousand men, and I will surely relieve the General’s worries!” Lin Yue laughed heartily.

“Sixty thousand men? Plus the forty thousand cavalry, that’s a hundred thousand Army. What do you want to do?” She Jian asked, looking at Lin Yue warily.

“To supplement the cavalry. The Great General gave This humble general one hundred thousand warhorses, but we are still short sixty thousand men!” Lin Yue decided to speak the truth; otherwise, this deficit would be impossible to cover.

“One hundred thousand warhorses? Where am I supposed to get you sixty thousand men from!” She Jian exclaimed in shock.

“The General can supplement some Soldiers from the rescued Qin Dynasty commoners…” Lin Yue explained his previous method to She Jian.

Currently, the various Armies on the steppe are all sending captives to the rear. If they could recruit directly here, it would save some effort.

She Jian listened with some disbelief, finally saying, “I’ll try, but you said you have four thousand infantry?”

“Those are for the General,” Lin Yue said.

“What are your conditions?” She Jian looked at Lin Yue suspiciously, not believing he would be so kind.

“Allocate sixty thousand Qin Army Soldiers to This humble general, and This humble general will train a thirty-thousand-strong White Horse Righteous Cavalry for you,” Lin Yue said.

He knew very well that trying to snatch food from She Jian’s mouth was as difficult as pulling a tooth from a tiger’s mouth.

So he divided thirty thousand warhorses for She Jian and would train thirty thousand White Horse Righteous Cavalry for him.

Anyway, training two is training, and training three is also training. Lin Yue no longer cared.

She Jian pondered for a moment, then decided, “I agree!”

“This humble general wants Pan Feng. Pan Feng will be the main General of the White Horse Righteous Cavalry,” Lin Yue added.

“You may,” She Jian said.

“Then This humble general thanks the General. When can This humble general begin training?” Lin Yue asked with a smile.

“Now, follow me!” She Jian immediately rose and led Lin Yue outside.

“The one hundred thousand cavalry that General Wang Li allocated to me, I have already given to Zong Ze. As for Zong Ze’s original one hundred thousand infantry, they are in my hands.

After Zong Ze’s winter training, they have become an elite force, perfectly suited to be supplemented into the White Horse Righteous Cavalry,” She Jian said as he walked.

“Then Zong Ze will return to find seven thousand Soldiers missing…” Lin Yue couldn’t imagine that scene.

“Missing where? Didn’t I give him one hundred thousand cavalry?”

“But those were General Wang Li’s…”

“Nonsense, once they are in my hands, they are mine. Who can take them away?” She Jian said with an indifferent expression.

Lin Yue was speechless. Seeing She Jian like this, the one hundred thousand cavalry would not return to their original places until this war was over.

Suddenly, She Jian stopped and stared at the cavalry before him, stunned:

“Boy, what are these black and white ones? Where are your White Horse Righteous Cavalry?

The ones you are going to train for me, they won’t be these things, will they?”

“These are the sixty thousand cavalry that General Zhao Ben entrusted to me for training. Due to the shortage of white horses, sixty thousand black horses were chosen,” Lin Yue explained.

“Sixty thousand cavalry?” She Jian murmured to himself, a strange expression flashing in his eyes, as if he was hesitating.

“General Zhao Ben’s... sixty thousand cavalry!” Lin Yue reminded him in due course, fearing that She Jian might lose control of himself.

Upon hearing this, the light in She Jian’s eyes quickly dissipated, and he then said faintly, “You talk too much!”

He then flicked his sleeve and quickly walked away, Lin Yue sighed and followed closely behind.