Although everyone understood this principle, training such a force was extraordinarily difficult.
After hearing about the first three aspects of training, Liu Xie found that there seemed to be nothing he could change. They were already quite comprehensive.
So he could only turn his attention to the remaining two areas.
"How do you train stamina and skills?"
Gao Lan spoke before Zhang He could, explaining to Liu Xie, "Ordinary stamina training involves having soldiers practice wrestling, mounted archery, boxing, weightlifting, and so on."
"Skills cover a broader range. On a larger scale, they are divided into specialties for infantry, cavalry, chariot troops, naval troops, and the like. On a smaller scale, there are bows and crossbows, sabers and spears, shields, and so forth."
"Beyond that, each major category has its corresponding combat units and formations. But these are rather complicated, so I will not discuss them individually."
At this, Liu Xie fell completely silent.
So training ancient armies was... this complicated?
Why was it completely different from what I imagined?
Liu Xie felt that his initial thinking had been far too presumptuous. If training troops really were that simple, the famous generals throughout history would have been worth far too little.
"Your Majesty, are you interested in these matters?"
Zhang He asked curiously.
Liu Xie looked slightly embarrassed. These ancient people were too damn impressive. After thinking it over, he felt that stamina training seemed to be the only area where he could offer any suggestions, so he said, "Well... I recently thought of several techniques for improving physical fitness, so I wanted to discuss them with you two generals."
"Oh? Your Majesty is versed in this as well?"
Zhang He's eyes lit up, and he asked with considerable anticipation, "What training methods might these be? I am all ears!"