Chapter 2159 - 1914: Internal Strife (Part 2)
Besides Sun Quan and Cao Zhen being relatively weaker, others such as Wei Yan, Pan Zhang, and Lyu Meng are all outstanding among their peers. As for Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, they are basically the strongest among their generation, so even if they have pride, they know to restrain themselves.
Only Sun Quan among these people is weaker in ability and has high self-esteem, looking down on others somewhat. So, after Zhuge Liang informed the group and even invited Sun Quan twice, and Sun Quan didn’t oblige, Zhuge Liang calmly stopped notifying him.
Even matters like Zhuge Liang temporarily leading the three armies didn’t elicit any opinions from people like Chen Gong and Zhang Liao. Although Zhuge Liang still has many shortcomings, his caution has earned even Chen Gong’s admiration.
Similarly, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and even those lower like Cheng Lian and Hao Meng, have seen Zhuge Liang’s abilities on the Northern battlefield, so despite Zhuge Liang’s young age, no one fails to respect him.
However, Sun Quan, being proud of his status, never participated in the Northern Frontier battles and doesn’t know how Zhuge Liang, at the same age, was ennobled and appointed as Chancellor, wondering why someone just a year older than him could command the three armies, which bred dissatisfaction and led to some unhappiness between the sides.
Of course, this group isn’t the only ones in discontent; there’s also Cao Zhen and Wei Yan. Although compared to Sun Quan, Cao Zhen remembers Guan Yu whenever he sees Wei Yan, he knows his own weakness, so he is constantly working to strengthen himself, whether by studying military strategy or training soldiers, very diligently.
Thus, although Cao Zhen always glares angrily at Wei Yan, he hasn’t actually fought against Wei Yan for superiority, partly thanks to Zhuge Liang’s persuasion of Wei Yan, and currently, due to their mutual complementarity, Zhuge Liang and Wei Yan maintain a very dependable relationship.
Mentioning Zhuge Liang naturally brings up Sima Yi. Although no gunpowder smell has occurred between them, it’s clear to the sharp-eyed that these two are butting heads: one does this today, the other does that tomorrow. Though their intelligence is high, it doesn’t affect the great army, yet the rivalry is quite apparent.
Adding some people like Cheng Lian, Hao Meng, who really don’t want to be in the Western Regions, this 50,000-strong army is rather chaotic internally. Fortunately, people expected this to be the situation from the start, so the leaders are farsighted individuals, preventing the army from disbanding.
"Gongzheng, I’ve always wanted to ask, why do the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and Youzhou Elite Cavalry all have Dual Talent Super Elite, yet our Wolf Cavalry doesn’t have such things?" Zhang Liao asked helplessly, "Our side has even given birth to the Military Spirit Legion, why not the Dual Talent?"
"Can’t produce them," Gao Shun said with a stiff expression.
"Why can’t we produce them? The Xiliang Iron Cavalry, both generations of Military Spirit Legion Reserve Legion, can be trained to Dual Talent, and Youzhou Elite Cavalry can become White Horse just by training and changing horses; why can’t Wolf Cavalry ever birth a second Elite Talent?" Zhang Liao said helplessly.
"What talent do you want Wolf Cavalry to have?" Gao Shun said more words than usual.
"Anything would do, more defense, attack, mobility, reaction, flexibility, anything’s better than having just one talent," Zhang Liao side-glanced at Gao Shun, inexplicably feeling that Gao Shun seemed particularly dull.
"They have them all," Gao Shun said calmly.
"What’s that supposed to mean?" Zhang Liao asked, puzzled, looking at Gao Shun.
"Just as you said, those talents—Wolf Cavalry has them all," Gao Shun slowly turned his head to look at Zhang Liao, and Zhang Liao was directly stunned.
Seeing Zhang Liao puzzled, Gao Shun began quietly explaining what was going on. Wolf Cavalry’s Elite Talent is called Decathlon, basically covering all talents related to defense, attack, ranged attack, melee, and other attributes under those four characters.
It’s precisely because of this, Wolf Cavalry simply cannot birth a second Elite Talent; essentially, the first Elite Talent is tenfold, and training it fully is simply impossible!
Unless you fully train the first Elite Talent, how could you possibly birth a second Elite Talent? In any case, when Gao Shun discovered this upon the establishment of the Military Spirit Legion, he knew Wolf Cavalry should abandon the thought of birthing a second Elite Talent.
Actually, compared to the second Elite Talent, Gao Shun is more curious about who initially trained Wolf Cavalry, this kind of troop entirely disjointed from Han Xin’s corps system, or rather, how exactly the Decathlon Elite Talent was crafted.
According to Gao Shun’s feeling, the difficulty of this Elite Talent hole can only be filled with the Military Spirit Legion deserted, meaning when this training reaches completion and other talents birth, Wolf Cavalry is essentially nearing the Military Spirit Legion.
This is why Vanguard Camp can supplement its corps by capturing warriors from Wolf Cavalry with One Talent, because some Wolf Cavalry has already trained their Elite Talent to a high degree, high enough to not be inferior to twin-attribute super elites like Xiliang Iron Cavalry.
Of course, because there is no advancement standard ahead, Bingzhou Wolves with soldiers reaching that level are far fewer than Xiliang Iron Cavalry; after all, road markers are a crucial factor in judgment.
However, viewing it now from Gao Shun, who has now reached the height of Military Spirit, the ancestor who first trained Bingzhou Wolves must not be ordinary since besides Bingzhou Wolves, Gao Shun has never seen another kind of Elite Troops like Bingzhou Wolves.
Cavalry based on balance isn’t rare, but only Bingzhou Wolves in Gao Shun’s years of dealings showed such uniqueness. Other troops’ first Elite Talent each clearly focused on singular traits, whereas Wolf Cavalry’s was universal.
Someone able to break Han Xin’s established system and reconstruct a powerful new one like this, Gao Shun counts on his fingers and realizes it’s unbelievable to think otherwise, the likely figures being figures who fought in Bingzhou during Former Han like Wei Qing.
Yet through this road, Gao Shun has seen that while powerful is truly powerful, its drawbacks are plentiful too. At least after birthing Elite Talent, the front becomes a wide and open road to progress limitlessly forward. But who can keep walking endlessly on a featureless road?
Without periodic transformations, only by accumulating strength gradually, perhaps creators can ignore confusion and forge ahead, finally steering the entire legion steadily towards the Military Spirit Legion.
Simply put, this Elite Talent evidently aims for regimented creation, large-scale production of tens of thousands of troops able to rival Military Spirit Legion.
The issue is Gao Shun, upon realizing this, directly abandoned it and didn’t even tell Zhang Liao because he isn’t the creator. The creator may have such ambition and grand vision, but who among heirs possesses such spirit?
Knowing this method forms Elite Talent, the front is less like a road and more like a region devoid of paths.
In such a situation still needing to step forward, what immense pressure and confidence and will it demands, Gao Shun assesses and thinks maybe it’s better to transfer to his Military Spirit Legion instead. Not only are results noticeable, but it also avoids exhausting a talented seed with the challenges ahead, leaving them disheartened.
"In other words, there’s actually no road ahead?" Zhang Liao asked with some bitterness.
"The roads are everywhere ahead," Gao Shun calmly said.
"It’s at least a good thing. The Ten Talent Wolf Cavalry is quite intriguing!" Zhang Liao laughed heartily, "Maybe it could genuinely achieve Ten Talent one day!"
"You’re overthinking it. If you truly talk of Ten Talent, you haven’t even completed one Elite Talent," Gao Shun gazed calmly forward, remarking upon Wolf Cavalry’s biggest pitfall. He wonders how, back then, Great General Wei combined ten Elite Talents into one, yet in contradiction to logic, difficulty gets diluted.
This results in Wolf Cavalry never getting stuck at any stage but every step forward becoming tougher than other Elite Troops, practically facing the Military Spirit Legion’s dark road directly!