Chapter 377

Xu Shu and the others did not know what a medic was. However, they soon understood after Liu Mang gave his explained that it was another way to call doctors. There was no reason for Xu Shu to stop them from obtaining more doctors. Although this job used up a lot of supplies like drugs and medicine, anyone who objected to this would offend the entire army. After all, many people would be injured in war and these doctors could help them save lives.

“Milord. If that is the case we should take the robust men. It is better for less women to enter the military!” Xu Shu still would not let Liu Mang go. Liu Mang’s intentions of having gentle women participate could have many ambiguous meanings. It was possible that turning these women into doctors was just a cover while making them prostitutes were Liu Mang’s real intentions.

“No.” Liu Mang did not know what Xu Shu’s thoughts were but rejected anyway. It wasn’t that men could not become medics. However, men were rough and course. This is especially true for those that served in the army. While they could become medics, their jobs would be rough and not as good.

Xu Shu became depressed. Although Liu Ye have not voiced his opinions, he too did not want there to be prostitutes in the army. “Milord. Once there are prostitutes in the army, your reputation would be finished!” Xu Shu earnestly persuaded. He planned to risk his life in his advice. Xu Shu also knew that prostitutes could raise the morale and strength of the army it has its detrimental side effects. Right now, Liu Mang had his reputation as a Sage King with compassion and integrity. Once these kind of armies were formed, that reputation would be gone. The people would not care about how strong the armies were. All they know is that Liu Mang forced honest women into prostitution. After all, there are no women who would want to become prostitutes in the army. This would make Liu Mang an evil person that does not deserve to be spared.

“Milord. I also think that the Military Advisor is right! We are a benevolent group. Prostitution is a foreign culture is brought in by foreigners. We cannot act in such a manner!” Liu Ye gave his support.

“Foreign culture??” Liu Ye’s words caused Jia Xu to frown. Jia Xu did not care about whether there were prostitutes in the army or not but the fact that Liu Ye called it a foreign culture. This is because Jia Xu also gave the same advice to Li Jue and Guo Si to raise morale. It was also to reward the troops that risked their lives in war. Liu Ye had basically called him a barbarian1 with those words.

“Milord. I believe that prostitution is something that can be done to raise morale. The prostitutes could be given to the more meritorious soldiers which can ensure their loyalty.” Jia Xu also stood out and spoke.

“Jia Xu! What is the meaning of this?” Xu Shu glared. “If we do that, Milord’s reputation would be finished! Is that what you want to see?”

“Lose his reputation? I think you are simply too soft hearted!” Jia Xu already decided to make his existence known. “First of all, they could raise morale. Besides that, Milord also called them medics and not prostitutes. How is he going to lose his reputation? This is only how you think because you are too soft hearted and pitied the two thousand women. Can the Military Advisor not see the benefits of such actions?”

“You!” Xu Shu did not know how to retort to Jia Xu. He had to hide his selfish desire to serve a Lord that would be benevolent and would be cherished. However, such a person cannot exist. In these chaotic times, these kind of people would be the first to die. Kong Rong was one such example. Before this, Xu Shu had chosen to serve Liu Bei. Although he knew about Liu Bei’s hypocrisy, the other options such as Sun Ce and Cao Cao were much worse.

Xu Shu’s eyes turned dark. During these chaotic times, there were no sense of integrity or honor at all. Jia Xu had been right. Liu Mang calling them medics and making them prostitute themselves could raise morale and at the same time there was no need to worry about reputation. There was nothing to object to.”

“Army prostitutes!” Liu Mang listened to their discussion in confusion. When did he asked for prostitutes? It was true that these could raise morale amongst other things but what Liu Mang wanted were troops, not animals. If Liu Mang were to set this up, he too, would be an animal. People would fall to their desires and temptations and it would no longer be possible to remove this from them. It would become like an addiction that they would never be able to leave behind. Liu Mang did not want this. He still had a lot of enemies. Besides that, conquering the land was also for the Lu Bu’s Army. All the warlords were his enemies but Liu Mang also knew that all the people on this land were his clansmen. They were all Han. Liu Mang would not purposely kill others unless he was forced to.

As for the massacre at Wan city, it was because Liu Mang knew that those innocent would not be grateful to him even if he spared them. On the other hand, they may even show hatred Liu Mang had to kill their father or children. At that time, Wan city would have fallen with a single mistake. Lu Bu would no longer be able to escape then. Liu Mang could not allow his family and subordinates to be completely wiped out so he could only kill others.

If it was not because of all this, Liu Mang would be very good natured to these people. Another example was at Guangzhou. He wanted Hu Che Er dead because he was a foreigner that was too smart. He also wanted to kill off the other Qiang cavaliers but not the Han. This showed Liu Mang’s attitude towards the Han. If these women were not Han, then he would not feel as bad about making them prostitutes. However, he would absolutely not make Han women do this.

“Milord is not establishing prostitution?” Xu Shu looked pleasantly surprised and at the same time felt like he could not believe his ears.

“Who told you that?” Liu Mang did not know whether to laugh or cry when he saw Xu Shu’s excited face.

“Then why do all this Milord?” Xu Shu may be pleasantly surprised but he was still filled with doubt. Xu Shu did not know why Liu Mang needed two thousand gentle women if it was not for prostitution. After all, there were also strong women. The violent women were definitely not any weaker than men. There were pretty much no difference between these women and men besides their gender.

“Tell me. Would rough men or gentle women be more attentive with their work?” Liu Mang asked all the generals. The generals then started to think. It was true that the rough men sometimes made mistakes when bandaging or relocating bones. Some of them have caused people to die rather than help them.

“Women would be better!” The generals all agreed. The women all engage in feminine arts at home. Their work required meticulousness. On the other hand, men were rough. They would not be as good as women when it comes to taking care of the wounded.

“But Milord!” Xu Shu still wanted to say something but he was stopped by Liu Ye.. Knowing that Liu Mang had no intentions of using prostitution was enough. It would be bad to continue arguing with Liu Mang.

“Yangzhou have already received the gift. What we need to do now is to return it!” Liu Mang said as his eyes narrowed. Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu had already been defeated but there was still Sun Ce to deal with. Liu Mang had difficulty with Sun Ce as he was on the other side of the Yangtze River. Liu Mang would not be able to harm Sun Ce unless the man personally came to dry land to attack Lujiang.

However, shaking the foundation of Jiangdong and gaining benefits from them were two different matters.

“I want to see my banner at Tuzhang and Linhuai !” Liu Mang wanted to collect his interest. There were two lakes with developed waterways in between these two cities. Liu Mang did not go there the last time because he did not want to provoke SunL Ce. Liu Mang did not have any ships then. After that was Sun Ce surrounding Jianye with three hundred thousand troops. That time, Liu Mang did not want to go and harass people. However, the situations have changed. Sun Ce’s troops have restricted the movements of Liu Biao. With their alliance in tatters, Liu Mang could capture the two cities and obtain a lake. There, they would be able to train navies and also to prepare an attack on Jiangdong.

“Zhang Liao, Ge Jun and Zhang Hu! You are to serve as the vanguard and make preparations for our army at the river!” Liu Mang immediately issued an order.

“This general accepts the order!” Zhang Liao, Zhang Hu and Ge Jun cupped their fists as they replied. Although Zhang Liao had only just received the authority to command the Xiliang Cavalry, his strength was not any weaker than Ge Jun and Zhang Hu. In fact, it was his traits as a general that would allow the Xiliang Cavalry to exhibit their strength. On the other hand, Ge Jun and Zhang Hu were knew about Linhuai. By capturing it, they would obtain merits. Even though they have just only joined Liu Mang’s Army, they already had the thirst to make contributions.

“Xu Sheng and Wang Wei. You are to take the Black Flag Army and be the center army! Set out and get me Linhuai!” Liu Mang issued another army.

“This general accepts the order!”

“Little Lord!” Zhang Liao was a little bit dissatisfied when he heard that Liu Mang also wanted to let the Black Flag Army go to Linhuai. Although there were two cities, Tuzhang and Linhuai, Zhang Liao did not think much of them. With his cavalry of five thousand, those two cities will fall. If they were to join up with the Black Flag Army, they would have ten thousand troops. This was too many people for just two small cities. Was Liu Mang underestimating him? “One army is enough. Little Lord just needs to wait for the good news in Shouchun!”

Zhang Hu and Ge Jun also cupped their fist and agreed with Zhang Liao. There was no need to share the merits of capturing the two cities to others.

Their actions caused Xu Sheng to feel dissatisfied. Ever since earlier, he had been angry at Zhang Liao for disrespecting Liu Mang. On the other hand, Ge Jun and Zhang Hu were surrendered generals. They had no qualifications to make such thoughtless remarks. “Do you want to violate Milord’s orders?” Xu Sheng roared out angrily. Fortunately, his level headed deputy Wang Wei pulled him back.

Liu Mang waved his hand to tell Xu Sheng to calm down. He then looked at Zhang Liao and explained, “General Wenyuan. I do not only want Linhuai and its surroundings.” Linhuai was just the interests. There were two other things that Liu Mang truly wanted from this. The first one was to obtain Sun Ce’s attention. If Sun Ce managed to keep calm, Liu Mang would keep his cities. If Sun Ce were to try and rescue the two cities, then Liu Mang would eradicate them. The Black Flag Army was not meant for dealing with the soldiers in the city but to deal with any potential reinforcements.

His other thoughts was to take advantage of this crisis to obtain a port.

“Is that so?” Zhang Liao could not help but look at Liu Mang in a new light. Linhuai was truly a location that could allow them to make preparations against Cao Cao and Sun Ce. This showed that Liu Mang was an ambitious person. Zhang Liao then became vigilant for a moment. After all, his Lord is Lu Bu while Liu Mang was just Lu Bu’s subordinate. A subordinate with such ambitions were never a good thing. However, he then remembered that Lu Bu only had one daughter which meant that Liu Mang would have inherited everything anyway. This caused Zhang Liao to relax once again.

“General Wenyuan. For this expedition to Linhuai, the army would be relying on you!”

“Hm?” Zhang Liao was stunned. He questioned whether Liu Mang wanted to put him in charge. Just as soon as he thought that, Liu Mang told Xu Sheng and Wang Wei to listen to Zhang Liao’s orders as though the orders came from Liu Mang himself.

“Milord!” Xu Sheng became worried. He did not think Zhang Liao was qualified for this position. He thought that Liu Ye or Huang Gai were more fit to be the commander in chief.

“Xu Sheng. Are you listening?” Liu Mang frowned as he looked at Xu Sheng.

“Yes. This one accepts the order!” Xu Sheng helplessly cupped his fist and replied.

“Zilong. What is the state of your White Horses?” Liu Mang asked the silent Zhao Yun.

“Hm?” Zhao Yun looked blank for a moment before he gave his reply. “Milord. The White Horses have finished selecting its members.” Three thousand White Horses cavaliers. There were Zhao Yun’s prided troops.

“Good! Zilong. You will take care of the rear with the White Horses after Xu Sheng and the others have left. Hide the tracks left behind by General Wenyuan and protect the supply routes!”

“Milord. Is it a good idea to dispatch the White Horses when it has just been established?” Liu Ye asked. The Xiliang Cavalry had been elites that changed allegiances. They already had a stable foundation and many years of training. Zhang Liao was also a general of cavalries. Putting him with the Xiliang Cavalry would not cause their strength to diminish. On the contrary, the Xiliang Cavalry may have become even more powerful. However, Zhao Yun’s White Horses were completely new and only had a few former members of the Xiliang Cavalry amongst them. There were at least a thousand new recruits. At most, they have only just learned how to ride horses. How are they going to fight in a war? Although there were only three thousand men in the White Horses, they had six thousand horses. Losing them would cause a serious heartache.

“Haha. ZIyang, you are too anxious! It is precisely because they are newly established that I want Zilong take them out for war! What could steel a soldier better than war?” Liu Mang laughed as he explained himself to Liu Ye. Liu Mang did not dispatch Zhao Yun simply because he trusted Zhao Yun. Liu Mang also trusted himself. The White Horses were originally supposed to be a heavy cavalry but Liu Mang did not have any more heavy armors, especially the ones made with aluminium2. As a result, Liu Mang scrapped the idea of a heavy cavalry and made the White Horses a light cavalry.

As Zhao Yun’s cavalry was a light cavalry, Liu Mang could allocate them two horses per person. This allowed the light cavalry to obtain more power. It was impossible for them to defeat heavy cavalries but their opponent were only infantries or other light cavalries at most. If there were heavy cavalries on the field, the White Horses could simply retreat.

In addition, Zhao Yun’s White Horses were an extremely luxurious group. They had silk clothing for all three thousand men. Liu Mang had to buy up all of the cloth at Lujiang just to do this. The silk clothing was also not just to make the White Horses look luxurious and make them feel comfortable. Silk was one of the raw materials for body armor before synthetic materials were invented. It was able to somewhat protect a person from barbed arrows as it allowed the arrowheads to be pulled out easier. This reduced the death rates of the soldiers.3

Liu Mang even gave them stirrups. These were things that Liu Mang had used once at Kaiyang when the Wolf Cavalry broke out of the encirclement. Lu Bu also knew that these stirrups were considered a weapon. As the Wolf Cavalry had little soldiers, it was better to let it be used by others.

As Liu Ye still seemed unconvinced, Liu Mang turned to Zhao Yun and asked. “Zilong. Are you confident in this upcoming battle?”

“I am!” Zhao Yun replied and nodded. In his mind was a book that was given to him by Liu Mang. This book contained the techniques of the Mongolian cavalry. Zhao Yun was a modest person. When he received the book, he studied in hopes he would learn something new but when he read it, he felt like he just obtained the most precious treasure in the world. The tactics used in the book made Zhao Yun infatuated. He would definitely jump at the chance Liu Mang gave him to test them out.

“Ziyang! Did you see that?” Liu Mang said back to Liu Ye. Liu Ye was no longer able to say anything since Zhao Yun himself was confident. After all, Liu Ye was not particularly great when it comes to tactics for cavalries. He and Xu Shu were scholars from the Huai River. They were better at naval battles. The only strategist here that would know about cavalries was Jia Xu.

“Ziyang. You too have heavy responsibility! The industrial zone is pivotal for my Yangzhou. It cannot be neglected!” Liu Ye himself had important things to do.

“I will live up to your expectations Milord.”

“Haha. With good officials and generals, I would definitely be able to pacify the land!”

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One of the few Chinese words they could use to say foreigners is with the Chinese word for barbarian. The people then were quite racist after all.

Here is the words the author used 铝甲 . Someone on NU pointed out that aluminium is a soft metal which would make for shitty armor. Generally, I agree with this. Yet there are other factors like the purity and quality of ancient iron and whether this is pure aluminium. There is something called Alumina ceramic that is made from aluminium oxide or something that should probably be stronger and lighter than ancient armor… I failed Chemistry so that is the end of that explanation. Though if I have to be perfectly honest with myself, this (aluminium armor thing) is just BS from the lack of research considering the dumb things I make myself translate these days (like being stronger from having the heart on the wrong side/eating intestines)