A powerful army needed two qualities.
The first was strict obedience to orders; the second was equipment.
Neither could be dispensed with.
Although the Black Mountain Army called itself an army, it was really just a band of mounted brigands and mountain bandits. Apart from its considerable numbers and the fact that almost everyone had seen blood, it had little else to recommend it.
This was also why, despite the Black Mountain Army's vast numbers, so many had died in the campaign to delay Yuan Shao's return to Ji Province.
Lü Bu was not worried about how to train these thirty thousand Black Mountain troops. Training soldiers was no difficult task for him, after all. His only worry was their weapons and equipment.
"General, you..."
Chen Gong was stunned by Lü Bu's words. He looked at him with a complicated expression, as though he wanted to speak but hesitated.
"What is it?" Lü Bu asked, puzzled.
Chen Gong sighed with feeling. "Looking back over the years, General, you only ever concerned yourself with leading troops into battle. Everything else, whether weapons and equipment or grain and logistics, was left for me to worry about. I never imagined you would start considering these things yourself."
"You truly have made me see you in a new light."
"Times have changed!" Lü Bu raised his head and said with considerable pride, "There is something you don't know, Gongtai. The Imperial Court is full of schemers. His Majesty is far too pure-hearted, and his foundations are not yet secure. If I don't give these matters more thought, won't His Majesty suffer terribly?"
Chen Gong's eyes instantly widened.
The officials at court who came from Great Aristocratic Clans had all swallowed a bitter loss in this donation drive without being able to complain. He dearly