Chapter 41 - The Anticipated Meeting
Original by Bro Got a Gun, Translated by James, Bloodfalcon
Cao Army Main Camp. Although they had experienced a ridiculous tearful scene just a moment ago, their focus have completely shifted toward a competitive state.
Although three thousand Ferocious Cavalry were annihilated in the recent battle, there still existed two thousand reserves in Xu Du. To restore the three thousand that was lost was just a matter of time. And now, the main focus of everyone was on who would be the next commander of the Ferocious Cavalry.
The Ferocious Cavalry needed a new commander. What is the Ferocious Cavalry, you ask? It’s the elite amongst the elites, the trump card amongst the trump cards! He who shall become the next commander of the Ferocious Cavalry was equate to becoming Old Cao’s most trusted aide.
“Mende, regarding the Ferocious Cavalry!” Cao Ren spoke first. Cao Ren could be considered as the most senior amongst all the generals in the Cao army. He was one of those commanding officers who watches over others and thus should not have competed with the other generals. However, the commander of the Ferocious Cavalry was too alluring a position. To possess five thousand Ferocious Cavalry soldiers was equate as possessing an army of fifty thousand. When assistance from the infantries was added, even if the opposing army was a hundred thousand strong, Cao Ren was still confident enough to face them.
“Zixiao, why must you be so?! You’re already the commander of the army, why must you still fight over this commander of the Ferocious Cavalry with us?!” The only one who can speak like that to Cao Ren was the few from the Xiahou clan who have blood relations with Cao Cao. Being relatives, they were not hindered one bit in speaking out their mind.
[TL: Cao Ren’s courtesy name is Zixiao]
“Why do you spoke so, Yuanrang? Do you want also want to compete with me for this position?!” The one who spoke the loudest earlier was Xiahou Yuanrang. Although Xiahou Yuanrang was a valiant general, he also possesses the integrity of a valiant general – being a brute. Perhaps he didn’t want to bother using his brain; he had gone wherever he wanted using only his brute force. Thus, he was able to casually ask Cao Ren this question.
[TL: remember, Yuanrang is Xiahou Dun’s courtesy name.]
“No, that’s not my intent. What I meant was that you are already commander, so you should let other people to do the merit. Although I, Xiahou Dun, am not inferior to Zihe, I am not capable of commanding the cavalry, therefore I recommend Gongming for this position!” Said Xiahou Dun casually again.
[TL: Gongming is Xu Huang’s courtesy name.]
"Hm?!"Cao Cao gaze grew more profound. This Xiahou Dun, when can he talk so elegantly?,He even said that he’s not capable of commanding the cavalry and even recommended Xu Huang. Cao Cao cast his gaze behind Xiahou Dun to the youngsters of the Xiahou clan; amongst them was Xiahou De.
In the Siege of Xiapi, he was captured by Lu Bu. In Battle of Kaiyang, he was rescued as Lu Bu didn’t have time to bother looking after him. And now, he was whispering something to his uncle’s ear.
“Xiahou De? That's Miaocai's nephew!” As if he thought of something, Cao Cao started nodding to himself. He was praising Xiahou De. Xu Huang, Xu Gongming was Miaocai’s subordinate; Xiahou Dun never leaves Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Yuan was the commander of the a cavalry unit, the long ranged raid troops, he would not go and become the commander the Ferocious Cavalry. Thus, the Ferocious Cavalry shall be under Xu Huang’s command name but when Xiahou Dun wanted to use them, Xu Huang won’t be able to refuse!
[TL: since this chapter have so many courtesy names…. In case you forgot… Miaocai is Xiahou Yuan’s courtesy name.]
”My lord, me!?” Xu Huang said with a very complicated expression. Xu Huang wanted to comply his master's order but the unit he is going to command was the Ferocious Cavalry, elite of elites. Although Xu Huang knew of the methods to commanding the cavalry, he had never commanded a trump card before. Although he had once commanded the Western Liang Cavalry under Yang Feng, they could not compare to the Ferocious Cavalry. Thinking of that and seeing the expressions of all the generals around him, Xu Huang wanted to reject the offer. He knew that he was one of the newest general to the Cao army, if he were to be at odds with these old generals, then it’ll be very hard for him to be in the Cao army.
”In my opinion, General Xu Huang has the ability!” Another general voiced his opinion. This was Yu Jin. For a lack of better option, Yu Jin had to come out to help Xu Huang. He stood next to Xiahou Dun and had his thigh pinched by Xiahou Dun. Even now, his thigh was still very much in pain from the pinch. It was obvious that Xiahou Dun wanted him to come out and talk for Xu Huang.
“This general thinks it’s still better for General Cao Ren to be the commander of Ferocious Cavalry!” Although the Xiahou clan had their most promising nephew Xiahou Ba, the Cao clan also had a lot of youngsters too. Amongst them was Cao Ren’s eldest son, Cao Tai. This year Cao Tai only 20 years old but he was already an excellent general. This argument is for Ferocious Cavalry position, how can Cao Tai do not want that position? If Cao Ren got that position, would not that position will be inherited by Cao Tai someday?
”This general thinks!...”
”This official believes!...”
One by one, the civil officials and generals all began to expressed their own opinion, causing Cao Cao a major headache. It’s not good regardless of who he gives the position to. If he were to give it to Cao Ren, then the Xiahou brothers would have something to say! If given to the Xiahou brothers, Cao Ren certainly won’t stay quiet! Furthermore, Cao Chun was not just Cao Cao’s , he was also Cao Ren’s younger brother.
”Ferocious Cavalry!” Being generals themselves, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei was naturally also very tempted by the position of the commander of the Ferocious Cavalry. Alas, they are not Cao Generals. If they were, they will certainly join this argument.
When will elder brother have a trump card like the Ferocious Cavalry? Thought Guan Yu while looking at Liu Bei with a bit of pity and regret and a lot of resolution.
Liu Bei was very sensitive to a person glare and he immediately noticed Guan Yu's gaze. However, he only noticed the pity and regret and not the resolution that followed.
Although Liu Bei’s external expression did not change, he frowned in his heart. Second brother, Guan Yu!!
”Enough” Shouted Old Cao as he banged his fist on the table. He was unable to bear listening to the argument any longer. “With our enemy in front of us, with Xiapi still in danger, yet the only thing in your minds were who to lead the Ferocious Cavalry! Do you still see me as your lord or not?! Ah?!” Old Cao was angry.
“This general dared not!”
"Thy servants dared not!” Said in a hard to come by unity.
”Humph!”Old Cao groan coldly “What don’t you dared?! This Ferocious Cavalry, you can all forget about it! Forget about it! Other than Zihe, who amongst you all have the capability on par with him? Ferocious Cavalry in Zihe's command is THE Ferocious Cavalry, when in the hands of any of you; it shall become the Sheep Cavalry!”
Under Old Cao's anger, nobody dare to speak. Old Cao's personal charm was that when he’s in a good mood, anything you say would please him. However, you must certainly not think that his tolerance toward you was the same as taking shameless advantage of him. For instance Mi Heng and Xu You, one was killed by Old Cao borrowing someone else’s blade and the other was directly killed by Xu Chu.
[TL: If you wanna know more about Mi Heng… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi_Heng or Xu You https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_You_(Han_dynasty)]
”Compared to Chun, none could restore! I alone shall oversee!” Old Cao opened his mouth. What Old Cao meant “Talent like Cao Chun unable to obtain again and no one can compare with him!, I will personally take command of Ferocious Cavalry, so don't raise this issue again”.
Who dared to not be satisfied and fight over the position when Old Cao is the commander of the Ferocious Cavalry?!
“Disperse!” They are to march toward Xiapi tomorrow. As they cannot move tonight, they had to make up the distance tomorrow.
Next morning, the first order Old Cao gave after waking up was “Zihe, take your three thousand Ferocious Cavalry as the vanguard and head to Xiapi immediately!” Immediately after saying those words, Cao Cao face grew very bleak. Zihe had passed away. The three thousand Ferocious Cavalry are also gone.
Fortunately Guo Jia entered his tent at this moment “Milord, are you worrying about General Zihe and Ferocious Cavalry?!”
”Fengxiao, you really know me!” Said Cao Cao in frustrating manner. Cao Chun's death make him very uncomfortable, the loss of Ferocious Cavalry makes him much more miserable. How the hell his trump card lost to Bing Province Heavy Cavalry? Are they really that much of terror? Cavalry king?
”Milord, milord, general Zihe and the soldiers of the Ferocious Cavalry did not die in vain!” Said Guo Jia. If anyone else said that statement, Old Cao will immediately show his killing intention. But fortunately, the one who spoke that statement was Guo Jia, Guo Fengxiao. If he was changed to other person, then he will be cut down by Cao's sword.
”Speak!” Cao Cao's mood was not very good so he cannot tolerate Guo Jia very much.
Guo Jia smiled faintly; Cao Cao’s mood didn’t bother him. If Old Cao had been in a good mood at this time, then he’ll have totally lost his human nature.
“Milord, please look at this!” Guo Jia's hand showed two pieces of metal linked together. In the middle of the two pieces of metal, there was something that seemed to be for sitting.
”What is this?!” Cao Cao received it from Guo Jia's hand. First he had a doubt about this tool, but right now he had no doubt at all, instead he held his breath in awe.
”This is?” Said Old Cao disbelieved as he pointed at the thing.
”It’s precisely what you think it is! Men, bring a horse over!” Guo Jia placed the metal tool onto the horse. The two metal plates were on either sides of the horse and the seat like thing was placed onto the back of the horse.
”Milord, please try!” Said Guo Jia while smiling.
”Good!” Without being unreasonable, Cao Cao immediately stepped onto the metal tool and onto the horse. In the main camp, Cao Cao was riding his horse around shouting. “Marvelous tool! Marvelous tool!” Cao Cao released his two hands and stepped on the metal plates with his feet. Usually, one must use a single hand to hold onto the war horse’s rein if one doesn’t want to fall off from the horse. However, Old Cao was currently able to stand up without falling! If he were to hold a bow and arrow, won’t that make him a natural born cavalry?
One must know that in order to learn to completely ride a horse, one need at least half a year’s time or even a whole year. And in this year, one could only learn how to ride a horse and it was impossible to learn how to ride a horse and shooting from the said horse at the same time. And now, this tool had completely solved this problem.
”It was only with this marvelous tool that the Lu Bu army was able to completely annihilate General Cao Chun’s Ferocious Cavalry!” Actually, Guo Jia did not realize this at first either. However, it was noticed by him when the whole Lu Bu army started shooting atoptheir horses. Although the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry was elite, the Lu Bu army’s cavalry this time was not only composed only of the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry soldiers. Amongst them were the soldiers of the Formation Breaker and the Xu Province soldiers. Guo Jia believes that the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry soldiers were capable of shooting atop their horses but what about those solders of the Formation Breaker? Those Xu Province soldiers?
Only through returning to the battlefield did Guo Jia discover this secret from the remains of the dead horses.
“With this marvelous tool, my lord will be able to create a Ferocious Cavalry numbering five thousand, ten thousand or even more!” Guo Jia’s gaze grew deeper. Lu Fengxian, we shall have a contest of cavalries in our next meeting!