Chapter 1183: Strong Soldiers Supported by Victory Rates

On the first day of the new year, Chen Xi spent his time as usual, paying respects to his ancestors, offering incense, visiting temples, and fulfilling his vows. His life hadn't changed much from before, except that this time, the object of his offerings was quite remarkable.

Instead of the usual clay or wooden statues, it was the Xuanyuan Divine Cauldron. As for the effect, the difference was obvious. The Divine Cauldron, after the ceremony, gifted Chen Xi with a Nine-Tailed White Fox. The result was so "effective" that Chen Xi almost wanted to throw the fox back into the cauldron.

"Congratulations, Wenru, for manifesting the image of an ancient sage," Chen Xi patted Li You on the shoulder, trying to shift the focus. It was better for Li You to attract attention than for him to be the target.

"Hmph..." Li You snorted coldly twice. He didn’t believe for a second that Chen Xi didn’t understand the underlying cause. This situation was just backfiring on himself.

Although Li You knew there were several factors involved, the manifestation of the sage was largely because he had left a backdoor when forging the false cauldron.

Li You’s fortune in Liu Bei's camp was second only to Liu Bei and Chen Xi. After all, he had transcended his life-or-death tribulation, and what was even more crucial was that he did so while wielding great power over the realm.

It's not like one would automatically die just because Dong Zhuo died. Think about Li Jue and Guo Si—after they drove Lü Bu out of Chang'an, you could imagine how much power Li Ru still had. At the time, when Li Ru transcended his tribulation, he took a great deal of fortune with him.

Back then, Li Ru was to Dong Zhuo what Chen Xi is to Liu Bei now, so Li Ru shared in a significant amount of fortune. Although it wasn't visible most of the time, having survived the tribulation, Li You often experienced events aligning in his favor.

"Sigh, you need to calm down. Just think, I’m in a worse situation than you!" Chen Xi said, looking rather gloomy. Although he hadn't seen the full size of the Nine-Tailed White Fox, from the descriptions of others, he knew that the large pile of fluffy white fur he had seen was none other than the fox’s tails.

"Hmph," Li You snorted again. Everyone knew Chen Xi tended to slack off. Even Liu Bei didn’t mind too much. It wasn’t like it was a big revelation that Chen Xi didn’t work very hard. Liu Bei wasn’t going to assign him more work anyway, as Chen Xi was the one delegating tasks to others in the first place.

"In fact, you still have Wenhe and Fengxiao accompanying you," Chen Xi patted Li You on the shoulder to console him. Although Li You was a civil official, like Zhao Yun, he was something of an outsider, often found standing by Liu Bei’s side, meeting military officers as frequently as civil ones.

Jia Xu and Guo Jia exchanged a glance and sighed. What a mess. They turned and simultaneously waved to Fa Zheng, who quickly joined them without hesitation.

[How many times must Xiaozhi suffer before he realizes he shouldn’t get too close to these two guys?] Chen Xi rolled his eyes. Jia Xu and Guo Jia were like this—after discovering Fa Zheng’s talent and brilliance, they began to "train" him under the guise of mentorship, often asking for his help.

"I have a relatively easy military assignment for you. Tomorrow, I’d like you to visit the military camps outside the city," Liu Bei said to Chen Xi and Li You. These two were his trusted aides, and he was very comfortable relying on them, especially since both were highly capable.

"Visiting the troops on the second day of the new year, huh? East camp or west camp?" Chen Xi thought for a moment and understood why Liu Bei had come to him. The military camps near Ye City were divided into eastern and western divisions, and Ye City was a large city. With Liu Bei’s method of visiting the troops, it would be impossible to complete in a single day.

"East camp. The Western camp with the Xiliang soldiers will be your responsibility. I’ve already visited once. They’re all valiant warriors. In one-on-one combat, they might only slightly surpass the Taishan elite troops, but in ten-on-ten combat, the Taishan elites struggle to win. If it’s a thousand-versus-a-thousand..." Liu Bei spoke cautiously as he explained.

Before meeting the Xiliang soldiers, Liu Bei had always believed the Taishan elites were the most formidable infantry. However, after one inspection, he had to rethink that assumption.

Though the Taishan elites were taller and stronger than most soldiers and trained well, making them powerful, they couldn’t quite compare to the Xiliang soldiers. In almost every aspect, the Xiliang troops were superior, leaving Liu Bei somewhat disheartened.

What made it worse was that if you gave a Xiliang soldier a horse, a saddle, and stirrups, with just a few days of training, they could become cavalry. The Taishan soldiers, however, remained infantry on horseback.

"Well, that’s to be expected," Chen Xi rolled his eyes. "It’d be strange if the Taishan troops could compare to the Xiliang soldiers."

Chen Xi began counting on his fingers. "The Xiliang soldiers have fought against the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, the White Horse Cavalry, the Danyang elites, and the Jiangdong soldiers. The Xiliang main force, those who’ve survived to this point, have practically fought every major force in the land."

"If we’re talking about real challenges, they haven’t faced the Xiliang Iron Cavalry," Li You interjected, shutting down Chen Xi’s point with a simple statement.

Chen Xi gave Li You a disapproving glance. "Some of these soldiers have been fighting since the Qiang Rebellion. Their experience alone far surpasses that of the Taishan troops."

The Taishan soldiers were among the most battle-hardened in the land, but compared to the Xiliang soldiers, they paled in comparison. Among the Xiliang troops were true veterans of over a hundred battles—survivors of more than a hundred actual combat situations.

Though it's often said that even generals die in battle, let alone common soldiers, one thing is certain: winning a battle always gives you a better chance of surviving than losing. The Xiliang soldiers, who lacked even basic medical care, survived by simply not losing.

The Xiliang soldiers had a stellar record. They had lost very few battles and won many, which is why they had accumulated such an impressive number of veterans. While soldiers with over 20 large-scale battles under their belts were all seasoned, there was still a notable difference in experience among them.

"In any case, take good care of the Xiliang soldiers. I’m thinking about keeping them together as a single unit," Liu Bei said, looking at Chen Xi and Li You. His words were a subtle suggestion that they should propose someone to lead the unit, as he was unsure who to choose.

The reason was simple: this group of Xiliang soldiers had been brought back from Yongzhou by Hua Xiong, and once healed, they proved to be an incredibly formidable force. It would be a waste to split them up, but assigning them to a single commander required careful consideration.

"We’ll go check on them tomorrow," Chen Xi yawned. He couldn’t refuse a task like visiting the troops, and he made a mental note to carefully observe the three to four thousand soldiers. [After all, they’ve fought for this country for so many years.]

"Keep them together, huh?" Li You frowned slightly. The more Xiliang soldiers there were in a unit, the stronger their combat power would be. Keeping them together made sense, but it also meant granting one person control over more than 20,000 soldiers.

This wasn’t like temporary command granted during a campaign, where the power was returned afterward. This was permanent command—command over an entire army.

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