A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 126 Strengthening Training

It was not until late at night that Lu Cheng returned to his base with nearly a hundred carriages and horses.

Fortunately, Lu Cheng's troops were stationed in a fortress outside Liaoyang City and not in the city. Otherwise, they would not be able to return that night.

After returning to the base, arranging for the logistics personnel to count the supplies and instructing everyone not to leak the news, Lu Cheng went back to rest.

After a whole day's long raid, a small-scale fierce battle, and a day and a half a night of travel on the way back, the soldiers were tired and went back to rest.

Near noon the next day, Lu Cheng had just finished listening to the material data reported by his subordinates when a messenger came over to report that the governor wanted to summon Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng was not surprised by this. He immediately got up, mounted his horse, and rushed to Liaoyang City.

Seeing Lu Cheng, the governor laughed and said, "Captain Lu, I heard that you have made a fortune."

"No, you are joking, sir. I just went out to do some side jobs, fighting bandits."

"Oh? What bandit has nearly a hundred carriages? Tell me, where did this batch of supplies come from?"

In fact, Lu Cheng knew long before he took action that it would be impossible to hide such a large amount of supplies from everyone.

Moreover, no matter how covert Lu Cheng was, he could not guard against his own family members.

Among the more than 1000 men under Lu Cheng, there might be a few Jinyiwei hidden among them.

The Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty were omnipresent and were absolutely excellent at obtaining intelligence.

"Sir, I'll tell you the truth. I'm cutting off the supply lines of the Later Jin."

"So, you robbed the materials that were shipped to the Later Jin?"

"Yes, sir, you should know about those merchants who transported supplies to the Later Jin. Nurhaci was able to grow so fast and accumulate so many weapons and armors, all thanks to the smuggling of these merchants. Otherwise, how could the Later Jin, with its poor mountains and bad waters, get so many supplies?"

"I do know some of this, but it's a pity that those merchants, for the sake of profit, have completely forgotten that they are citizens of the Ming Dynasty. I have also suggested to the court to investigate this matter strictly, but those merchants have already bribed the officials to cover for them."

"Yes, if it weren't for these merchants, the Later Jin might not have developed so fast. Therefore, I plundered these materials, on the one hand, to better train the troops, and on the other hand, to cut off the Later Jin's supply and buy more time for us."

"You don't have to say that. I'm not going to try to steal your things. I asked you to come here just to remind you. Be clean when you do things, and don't leave any handles. Otherwise, the court will definitely impeach me."

"Thank you, sir."

"Since we have enough supplies, you must train an elite force for me as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will hold you accountable."

"Yes, sir, please rest assured. I will train elite soldiers as soon as possible and make more contributions. Sir, how about I go to the Later Jin and chop off a few heads for you? What do you think of the heads of Fan Wencheng and Li Yongfang?"

"If you can really bring back the heads of those two traitors, I will personally submit a petition to the court to request credit for you."

"Sir, you must keep your word."

Seeing that Lu Cheng was actually serious, Xiong Tingbi also spoke directly: "Captain Lu, don't forget that you are a captain, in charge of more than 1000 soldiers. You should learn how to be a general, not an assassin."

"Please rest assured, sir. Even if I really want to be an assassin, I will be fully prepared. I will never take risks lightly."

"You better remember what you said."

Lu Cheng could feel that although this old man had a bad temper, he was indeed very caring towards him.

Unfortunately, Lord Xiong offended too many officials in the court. After only one year in Liaodong, he was repeatedly impeached and dismissed.

As soon as Xiong Tingbi left, cities in Liaodong were lost one after another. The court had no choice but to re-employ Xiong Tingbi. However, the situation was already hopeless by then, and Xiong Tingbi was powerless to reverse the situation. Instead, he was involved in the struggle between the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party, and was eventually killed unjustly, with his head sent to the nine borders.

If possible, Lu Cheng is also prepared to do something to change the tragic fate of this Mr. Xiong.

When Lu Cheng said he wanted to carry out an assassination, it was definitely not just talk.

With Lu Cheng's strength as an eighth-level special forces soldier and sufficient guns and ammunition, it would be easy for him to run into a city in the cold weapon era and kill two people.

It’s just that he has a lot of things to do right now, and Lu Cheng can’t spare the time to carry out the assassination.

The training of soldiers and horses, the selection and training of officers, Lu Cheng's personal learning of riding and archery skills, the collection and preparation of food supplies, etc., all need to be handled by Lu Cheng personally.

Busy dealing with these affairs every day, Lu Cheng's desire for talents is becoming stronger and stronger.

But there is no way, those real talents will not come to Liaodong to suffer.

In the absence of talented people or great talents, Lu Cheng can only cultivate some "talents" that are barely usable.

Fortunately, with this batch of sufficient supplies, the pressure on logistics was greatly reduced, and Lu Cheng could also focus on training.

On the one hand, Lu Cheng sent Ding Xian to lead a caravan to go to the interior to purchase grain and vegetables to ensure sufficient food supply throughout the winter.

On the other hand, Lu Cheng sent people to set up several recruitment points to continue recruiting personnel.

Although according to regulations, Lu Cheng can only have a team of 1200 people at most, given the current situation in Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi will only be happy if Lu Cheng can train more soldiers.

Moreover, Lu Cheng only recruited young and strong soldiers this time.

If there are enough young and strong men, all 1200 soldiers under Lu Cheng will be young and strong, and the rest of the old and weak will serve as menial servants for the army.

Anyway, the higher authorities only stipulated the number of soldiers, and the maximum number of food and wages was 1200. As for the menial servants that the generals paid for themselves, the court was too lazy to care.

Of course, if it were a peaceful time and the imperial court had strong control over the local border troops, this might still be brought up as an issue.

As time entered winter, the weather became colder and colder, and many soldiers and civilians in Liaodong could only struggle to survive in the cold winter.

Under such circumstances, the soldiers under Lu Cheng were able to have enough food and clothing, and even take care of their families. Naturally, this attracted a large number of people to sign up for the army, which gave Lu Cheng room to choose.

By mid-to-late October, all of Lu Cheng's 35 soldiers were young and strong men under the age of .

Moreover, Lu Cheng's cavalry team also expanded to one hundred.

Lu Cheng even selected a team of ten people from the 1,200 people and started more intensive training to train them into special forces.

Archery, horse riding, fighting, assassination, poisoning, blasting, reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines, etc. are all training subjects.

Since making some simple explosive packs last time, Lu Cheng applied for a lot of gunpowder from Xiong Tingbi and started making more explosive packs, homemade grenades, landmines, etc. in case of emergency.

Xiong Tingbi had already applied to the court for a large amount of military supplies, including sufficient gunpowder.

The Ming Dynasty's gunpowder production capacity was still very good. The Wanggongchang gunpowder depot in Yanjing alone could produce 2 tons of gunpowder per day, and had a long-term reserve of more than 1000 tons of gunpowder.

Later, in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, a huge explosion occurred in the Wanggongchang gunpowder depot, which shook the entire Yanjing City. The explosion was nearly 800 meters in diameter, causing more than 2 casualties, and all kinds of limbs and arms flew everywhere, and the whole Yanjing was in chaos.

In fact, that big bang has become one of the three unsolved mysteries in the world.

When it comes to the use of gunpowder, Lu Cheng, the special forces king of this era, is definitely an expert and naturally would not miss out on such a powerful weapon as gunpowder.

Although there is no condition to make guns or cannons yet, by placing a bunch of explosive packs and simple grenades in the storage space, Lu Cheng can transform into a humanoid mortar at a critical moment...