Assigning Soldiers

After completing the treatment for Cai Quan and collecting a pile of gold and silver, Qi Fei began leading Ma Chao and Cai Yang to their new posts.

"These are for you, Senior Cai. The Elite Talent for these two thousand regular soldiers is Strength Enhancement. Their armor is Liangdang Armor paired with wooden shields, and their weapons are war hammers."

Qi Fei introduced them to Cai Yang.

Liangdang Armor is quite popular these days, with a design similar to modern bulletproof vests.

It consists of one piece in the front and one in the back.

This is mainly because steel production capacity has not yet developed; otherwise, these soldiers with Strength Enhancement should have been equipped with full plate armor.

Though, the specific design of full plate armor would require some careful consideration.

Compared to plate armor, the pros and cons of lamellar armor and its subsequent derivative, brigandine, are actually quite different from what the general public imagines.

Armor made by stacking and connecting plates, such as lamellar or brigandine, is not actually flexible once worn.

To be precise, the "flexibility" of such armor refers to the ease of moving one's body, rather than being more agile in action than plate armor.

Because of the way lamellar armor is constructed, the plates overlap, which adds significant extra weight.

Each individual plate doesn't weigh much, but the total weight across the entire suit is terrifying.

Plate armor, however, does not have these overlapping sections.

Therefore, plate armor is actually more convenient for the wearer to move in.

The true advantage of lamellar armor lies in its forging and battlefield maintenance.

For armor of this style, once the plates are cast, anyone can follow a design diagram to string them together into usable armor.

Furthermore, repairs after a battle do not require specialized craftsmen.

But plate armor is different.

For plate armor to allow normal movement after being put on, the requirements for sizing are extremely high.

Even if plate armor could be mass-produced through modern industry, it would still require an armorer to make specific adjustments when fitted to a particular individual.

People do not grow according to a standard.

Based on this same reason, armor that becomes deformed after a battle also requires a specialist to adjust it around the wearer.

Moreover, ancient society lacked things like blowtorches.

To adjust the armor, one must either have a craftsman hammer it out bit by bit or throw the whole thing into a furnace to soften it, which is exceptionally troublesome.

This is why plate armor never became widespread in the Central Plains.

In reality, plate armor in the modern sense never truly became popular even in its place of origin.

Because high-quality plate armor requires extremely high standards for metal smelting technology, and by that time, firearms had already been around for a while.

Firearms, a weapon with an absurdly high cost-effectiveness, could even outperform the cost-effective brigandine.

Naturally, the more expensive plate armor couldn't make a splash.

However, in this world, there is a reason for plate armor to exist.

First, firearms are basically impossible to develop.

Actually, for the Self-Adaptation Huangfu Personal Guards, making them wear lamellar or scale armor is a real waste of their weight-bearing capacity.

In these types of armor, the areas where plates overlap are stronger than plate armor of equal weight, but the other parts are inferior.

For people from a past life, this gap wouldn't even count as a flaw.

But in this world, it just means waiting for someone to pierce you with a spear.

Therefore, Qi Fei explained the pros and cons of various armor styles to Chen Xi, leaving him to deal with the headache.

"It is even quite imposing."

Cai Yang praised.

"These are the other three thousand men. Although they have weapons and shields, their armor is currently only leather."

Qi Fei pointed to another phalanx and said to Cai Yang.

This was also due to steel production capacity.

"We will gradually upgrade their equipment later on."

Once Chen Xi starts refining steel, it is estimated that regular soldiers will wear full plate armor, auxiliary troops will wear Liangdang Armor, and the garrison troops will wear leather armor.

"Leather armor is already decent equipment. Back in my day, many commandery governors wouldn't even provide leather armor."

Cai Yang was quite satisfied with these leather armors.

"I've heard that in the past, some would just give you a spearhead and tell you to bring back a cavalry unit."

Qi Fei couldn't help but recall things he had seen in novels.

Some governors could only provide a few hundred spearheads—sometimes you even had to find the shafts yourself—and then order you to bring back a cavalry unit.

Yet, some people were actually able to accomplish it.

The process went like this: first, train the spearmen, then go steal horses, and after stealing the horses, convert them into cavalry.

The main strategy is to start with a spearhead, and get all your gear from drops.

"Yeah, compared to that, things are much better here."

Cai Yang did not expect that Qi Fei would also know about the events of those years.

"By the way, Senior, do you have any requirements for the Elite Talents of these soldiers? I can help adjust them."

Qi Fei asked again.

"Originally, I planned for these two thousand men to be heavy infantry, and I was leaning toward a defensive boost for their second talent, but since they are under you now, Senior, it depends on your own needs."

"That's not a problem, but if I had to say, I wonder if there are any spare armaments?"

Cai Yang hesitated for a moment before asking.

"My Legion Talent can coat the soldiers' weapons in a layer of blade Qi, making them sharper, so it really doesn't mesh well with warhammers."

Since this concerned the combat capabilities of the legion, he still felt it necessary to ask.

"There are still some spearheads and swords in the armory. I'll have a word with Lord Xuande, and you can go swap them out directly."

Qi Fei recalled after thinking for a moment.

"Then many thanks, Zihong."

Cai Yang bowed and said.

After handing over the five thousand men to Cai Yang, Qi Fei took Ma Chao and left.

After moving to a different location.

"Since you're tagging along with me, I'll let you lead my personal guards: two hundred cavalry and three thousand infantry."

Qi Fei pointed to the men in front of him and said to Ma Chao.

"The Elite Talent for these soldiers is Swiftness, which increases their movement and attack speed."

The two hundred cavalry were actually the original two hundred soldiers Qi Fei had trained at the start.

Because Qi Fei wanted to build a cavalry unit for Zhang Fei that could withstand his Legion Talent, Liu Bei had allocated some horses to Qi Fei.

Qi Fei's initial thought was to first apply Self-Adaptation to the soldiers, have them smelt the talent, and then train a cavalry talent to finish it off.

However, Qi Fei discovered that he had underestimated the difficulty of smelting.

The smelting system was one of the paths for the Imperial Guard.

Once soldiers smelt a talent, that talent becomes something akin to an instinct.

They can use the talent independently of the legion, continue to stack other talents on top of it, and also gain certain attribute bonuses.

But the prerequisite for completing smelting is to thoroughly master that Elite Talent.

Since even Qi Fei himself had not mastered the Self-Adaptation talent, it was impossible for the soldiers to master it in a short time.

Therefore, Qi Fei had to adjust his plan and try to change Self-Adaptation into a cavalry talent.

There is a difference between cavalry and infantry talents.

Infantry talents only act upon the soldiers themselves, at most covering their armor and weapons.

But cavalry talents need to act upon the mount.

The specific method is to inject the talent into the mount, complete a resonance, and finally manifest the talent's power together.

Thus, changing mounts for cavalry leads to problems like a short-term drop in talent strength.

The legion of Tacitus from Rome had once fallen from a three-talent status because they changed mounts.

And they had also fallen from three-talent status for other reasons, making them the legion version of Brother Tiao.

As for the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, their approach was even more brutal.

They directly forced their talent to wrap around the mount, just like infantry using talents to cover weapons and armor.

Therefore, for the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, horses were not mounts, but equipment.

Because of this, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry also became the slowest cavalry.

But no one could say their method was wrong.

With two successive Army Souls and later two Miracle-level units, based on this alone, no military strategist could deny their path.

You say I'm wrong?

No problem, once I bury you in the ground, the world will know who was right and who was wrong.

This includes the Miracle-level transformation as well.

The Four Sages of the Military School (God of War), as well as grand legion commanders who have reached a certain level, all feel that the Miracle-level transformation is likely not the correct path.

But they can fight, and they can pin down almost every other legion.

Therefore, no military strategist would jump out and say that the Miracle-level transformation is wrong.

This is the Military School.

A profession where the result is far more important than the process.

"The talents of these infantrymen have been adjusted by me; as long as they have horses, they can quickly transition into cavalry."

Qi Fei explained to Ma Chao.

"Many thanks for your favor, Zihong. I will certainly not fail the trust you have placed in me."

Ma Chao respectfully accepted the responsibility of being the personal guard.

Currently, he possessed nothing of value to repay the help Qi Fei had given him. This applied to both his Internal Qi Separation and his insights into the power of the Boundary Breaker.

That was why he had volunteered to follow Qi Fei.

Of course, learning from Qi Fei while also keeping the goal of challenging him in the future was another motive; the two were not mutually exclusive.

"It is nothing. I gave them to you because you are the right fit."

In truth, had Ma Chao arrived any later, the talents of these soldiers would have already been changed by Qi Fei.

Qi Fei himself never intended to follow the path of a charging general; his goal was to be a grand legion commander.

For a grand legion commander's personal guard, even archers would be more useful than cavalry with the Swiftness talent. At the very least, archers could remain within the formation to deal with the enemy's command nodes.

Ma Chao's Legion Talent was Super-Speed Reaction, and once his internal qi transformed into lightning, his speed would be further sublimated.

Letting him lead this cavalry was perfectly appropriate.

Actually, if it weren't for the fact that Ma Chao, like Zhao Yun, loved to slay enemy generals in the heat of battle, letting him lead the White Horse Volunteers would have been even more suitable.

The speed of the White Horse Volunteers most of the time exceeded the limits of their own reactions.

When Gongsun Zan led the White Horse Volunteers to kill enemies, the general situation was that the White Horse Volunteers would charge through, leaving behind a pile of minced meat.

This wasn't the White Horse Volunteers intentionally brutalizing them, but rather that at such speeds, they could only vaguely sense that something was there and would subconsciously land a strike.

This resulted in most of the White Horse Volunteers actually hacking at corpses, with their damage output completely overflowing.

Ma Chao's talent could solve this exact problem.

But there was no helping it; since Ma Chao came from that part of Xiliang, he was naturally inclined toward frontal assaults.

"Having you command my personal guard is only for this period of time. You have the potential to command troops independently, so work hard."

Qi Fei patted Ma Chao on the shoulder to encourage him.

In reality, this wasn't entirely just empty platitudes.

As a warrior-type general, Ma Chao was an expert at leading cavalry.

In God Three, he led Rome's Seventh Eagle Flag to fight Parthia, and in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he led the Xiliang Iron Cavalry against Boss Cao, both achieving astonishing military records.

"Yes."

Ma Chao was moved to tears.

He repeatedly expressed that he would not let down Qi Fei's expectations.

Little did he know that Qi Fei just wanted his little protégé to be more resilient and durable.

Afterward, Ma Chao found a horse that caught his eye, mounted it, and began to intimately communicate with the soldiers assigned to him.

Well, he used the communication style of the Liangzhou people.

However, in a fantasy-style army, all that mattered was who could fight, and Ma Chao could integrate into his new environment faster using this method.

So, he let him be.

But watching Ma Chao ride, Qi Fei noticed something.

Currently, among the generals in their camp, it seemed only Zhao Yun's Night-Shining Jade Lion was at the level of Internal Qi Separation.

When Ma Chao originally appeared in the novel, his mount was the Internal Qi Separation-level Li Feisha.

But yesterday, even Ma Chao himself was only at the Qi Solidification stage; Li Feisha was likely still grazing in the grasslands over in Xiliang.

"It seems I will have to strengthen the warhorses later."

Qi Fei said, rubbing his chin.

At the very least, he couldn't let his own generals be at a disadvantage regarding their mounts.

Moreover, it wasn't just the mounts that needed a solution.

Ma Chao's internal qi transformed into the lightning attribute due to the dual effect of carrying a Divine Stone Fragment and being near thunderclouds.

The Divine Stone Fragment had been found by Li Feisha, so it was naturally out of reach for Ma Chao now.

He would have to find a way to give Ma Chao a hand.