Chapter 463 Am I a Rumor Monger?
Under the guise of being the vanguard of the army, Qin Mo traveled westward for more than forty days before finally turning onto the Gan-Liang Ancient Road.
The Ganliang Ancient Road refers to the westward route between the ancient Ganzhou and the ancient Liangzhou. Ganzhou was Zhangye City at that time, and Liangzhou was Wuwei City.
Gansu and Liangzhou are rare granaries in the west and have been the garrison grounds for the Great Xia Dynasty in the west since ancient times. The reputation of the Gansu and Liangzhou cavalry is even greater than that of the grassland barbarians.
Marquis Xu Jian'an of Zhangye was Wang Yushi's uncle. These nobles from the west did not need to travel to Tongguan. They could simply wait for the army to arrive and then join their troops.
Instead of exchanging pleasantries like the Wang brothers, Xu Jian'an sent a team of cavalrymen who were used to traveling in the Western Regions to act as guides for the Da Yuan army.
"Bado, dinner's ready! Tell your men to come and eat!"
"Uh, coming right away!"
While calling to his brothers, Bado warned in a low voice, "You all better behave yourselves! If anyone overeats and gets diarrhea, I'll make them starve for three days!"
Bado was the captain of the Qiang cavalry under the Zhangye Marquis. Because he often went to Suyab to deliver messages, he was sent to be a guide for the Da Yuan army.
At first, he looked down on the Da Yuan army. The experience passed down from generation to generation told him that fighting on the vast and sparsely populated land of the Western Regions still required cavalry. However, the Da Yuan army had less than three thousand cavalrymen, and had eliminated the powerful heavy cavalry, consisting entirely of lightly armored cavalry. How could they possibly deal with the swift and unstoppable iron cavalry of the Western Regions?
In subsequent interactions, Bardo felt that these high-ranking cavalrymen were a group of pampered soldiers, and their living conditions were truly luxurious. The wide variety of camping equipment dazzled him, including exquisite tents, plush sleeping bags, copper cooking spice boxes, and he even saw a kind of "glasses" for protection against wind and sand.
The cavalry's equipment, such as light shields, swords, and light armor, were all made of the finest steel, far superior to the common equipment of the Imperial Guard. Moreover, they had abandoned bows and lances, using firearms as their primary weapons.
Bardo had seen muskets in Suyab and had also seen a large group of musketeers practicing. He believed that these weapons could only be used by infantry because it was difficult to reload ammunition on a bumpy horse.
"A bunch of cowardly noble young masters who went out to travel..." When Bado saw these cavalrymen having to learn to read every night, he finally voiced his opinion of these high-ranking soldiers.
The result was that the two sides disliked each other, which eventually turned into a horse archery contest.
"When our large armies clash, there are always some prizes involved..."
The soldier who challenged Bado to a mounted archery contest was a simple and honest young soldier named Lin Boming. When Lin Boming shyly suggested adding a little more to the bet, Bado didn't hesitate to put up the jade pendant on his chest.
The Western Regions are rich in jade, and since ancient times, jade from the Western Regions has been a precious ornament sought after by the people of the Great Xia. The young soldier from Dayuan looked at Bado's jade pendant, and together with his colleagues, they collected a large amount of Dayuan silver coins and placed them next to the jade pendant.
This action made Bado think more highly of Lin Boming; at least he was an honest and upright young man. Bado decided not to let him lose too badly in the upcoming competition.
Then, Bardo lost his beloved jade pendant and completely changed his attitude towards the Da Yuan army.
The two men ran towards the target from a distance. The young man named Lin Boming fired his gun from two hundred paces away, and the target in the distance shattered with a crash.
Bardo's heart tightened, and he quickly spurred his horse to speed up. He wanted to rush to the target while Lin Boming was loading ammunition, but before he could get into the range of the arrows, the gunshot rang out again! Bardo watched as Lin Boming pulled the trigger of his rifle, fired three shots in a row, and knocked down three targets, then looked at Bardo with a smile.
There were only five targets in total, and even if Bardo hit the remaining two targets in the end, he still lost.
"Your archery skills are truly impressive. We people of Dayuan love to invite people like you for drinks..." Just as Bado was feeling extremely ashamed, Lin Boming pulled him into a drinking session, where he regained some of his dignity.
"Bado, can you drink some more?"
"Why can't you drink? We men from Gansu and Liangzhou are real men... unlike you, sipping your drink like that..."
Bado was extremely envious of these high-ranking cavalrymen. The "high-ranking official liquor" that sold for tens of taels a pot in Zhangye was actually the standard ration for cavalry scouts.
"I can't outdrink you... wait, I'll call someone who can drink more..." Lin Boming, who had just turned 18, hadn't yet developed a high alcohol tolerance. His face turned green from drinking, so he had no choice but to go and call for reinforcements.
After defeating three high-ranking soldiers in a heroic fight, Bado finally passed out drunk with satisfaction. He proved himself to be a true Northwestern man who ate meat and drank alcohol heartily by being unconscious for a whole day.
The men of the Northwest are very straightforward. Although Bado lost the archery competition, he became friends with these high-ranking soldiers. They all started eating from the same pot, which also made the poor men under Bado realize what "the food of the high-ranking soldiers" was like.
Because many people are now observing and eating at the engineering corps in Da Yuan, the reputation of "Da Yuan's military rations" has spread throughout the entire Western Expeditionary force.
The food in the Da Yuan army was rich in oil and delicious, and it also came in several different flavors, which was completely different from the single meals in other military camps.
It's hard to find rice in the Northwest, so Qin Mo consulted his subordinates about their tastes beforehand and prepared several seasoning recipes, which were stored in a large jar. Just one spoonful was enough to fill the meals of a hundred or so people with aroma.
Nowadays, no nobles or imperial guards are willing to camp close to the main army, because the aroma of tens of thousands of people eating together is too tempting, and it is a kind of torture for those who cannot eat.
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