Chapter 983

“General Luo, attacking now might be a bit too rushed.”

Qi Guangyi showed an awkward smile after Luo Quan had set the tone for the attack.

Frowning, Luo Quan looked at Qi Guangyi and asked, “What? Do you have other ideas?”

Niu Ben and Luo Quan were both famous and prominent generals of the Great Yu Empire, and Qi Guangyi and the other generals of the Great Yu Empire held them in great respect. However, in the process of the Great Yu Empire’s military reform, they were confident that they were quicker to adapt than these old generals and thought more thoroughly about some things.

After a moment of hesitation, he said, “General, with 140,000 troops gathered in Raozhou, acting in a hurry will prevent us from unleashing our true combat power. I believe that we should let the rifles and cavalry conduct joint exercises to adapt to each other, otherwise, there will inevitably be mistakes during combat. Especially with the 8,000 carbines that His Majesty has allocated this time, we need to train for a period of time after equipping them.”

“This is naturally necessary.” Luo Quan calmed down. What he meant was that there was no need to fear the 260,000 barbarian cavalry, not that they should immediately send troops.

Niu Ben looked at Qi Guangyi with appreciation. He said, “What Qi Guangyi said is good. To fight a war, we must be fully prepared. From this day forward, let the cavalry, artillery, and infantry conduct joint exercises to practice tactics against the barbarian cavalry.”

“Yes, General.” Qi Guangyi breathed a slight sigh of relief.

For him, the most important thing was to establish this rifle cavalry and at the same time, think about how to leverage the advantages of the rifle cavalry.

He was very clear that the accuracy of shooting on horseback would be much worse. However, just like the flintlock gun in the past, they did not need to pursue accuracy, but only needed to fire dense bullets to eliminate the enemy.

Moreover, although the range of the carbine was not as good as the Han-style rifle, the range of this kind of percussion gun still reached five hundred meters. For cavalry, this was a super long-range weapon. When combined with the two short-barreled firearms that each person was now equipped with, it was enough to create a long-range and close-range combination.

At the same time, for him, this new cavalry could also have more flexible combat methods. Simply put, the horses were just their means of transportation, and they could completely dismount and fight under certain conditions to achieve a flexible conversion between infantry and cavalry.

After leaving the tent, Qi Guangyi immediately ordered his generals to select 8,000 excellent soldiers to officially form the First Division of the Rifle Cavalry.

In the next month, he borrowed some officers from the army to train the cavalry in basic shooting skills and combat methods as infantry in the morning. In the afternoon, he had these soldiers train in shooting skills and formation combinations on galloping horses.

In addition to the normal training of the cavalry corps, Niu Ben and Luo Quan began to train the coordination between the artillery, infantry, cavalry, and rifle cavalry. For a time, Raozhou was filled with the heavy smell of gunpowder.

…

Qingzhou.

The memorial from Raozhou had piled up to a fist’s height on Xiao Ming’s desk. He was well aware of the military training in Raozhou from the moment Niu Ben and Luo Quan arrived.

In any era, a large army fighting a war outside the capital was a matter of great concern to the court, because once the generals outside had intentions of rebellion, it would cause great harm to the country and even lead to a change of dynasty.

However, Xiao Ming was not worried. Compared to the lack of information in the past, he was able to keep abreast of the situation in Raozhou in a timely manner and could respond in time.

But in order to appease the cabinet, he would still disclose the news to them from time to time, so as to save them from being naggy every day.

“You should be at ease now. However, I have another important matter to discuss with you today.”

In the Imperial Study, Xiao Ming said after Pang Yukun and Fei Ji had finished reading the memorial.

“Please enlighten us, Your Majesty.”

Pang Yukun and Fei Ji said in unison.

After a moment of thought, Xiao Ming said, “I have been thinking about the name of the country these days. Since I ascended the throne, I have pushed for reforms, which have given the Great Yu Empire a new look. However, the name of the Great Yu Empire is still a symbol of the former powerful families and old forces. If we want to completely erase the traces of the past, we should use a new name to symbolize the country’s renewal. What do you think?”

Pang Yukun laughed when he heard this. He said, “After more than ten years, Your Majesty has eliminated the feudal lords, gotten rid of the powerful families, promoted industry and commerce, and driven out the barbarians. Your achievements are no less than those of the virtuous rulers of all dynasties. Now that we are competing with the world, we should have a name that symbolizes a great unification.”

Fei Ji’s expression changed slightly. He said, “Chief Grand Secretary Pang is absolutely right. The former Great Yu Empire was fragmented, but now that the country is unified, we should have a name that symbolizes a great unification. At the same time, we should also abolish titles like Wei land, Zhao land, and Yan land to avoid divisions among the people.”

Xiao Ming’s eyes swept over Pang Yukun and Fei Ji. Pang Yukun’s expression was joyful, after all, he had followed Xiao Ming to build the country. For him, the Great Yu Empire had long since been renewed, and the name “Great Yu Empire” was a burden.

Moreover, by starting a new dynasty, they, the people who had followed Xiao Ming, would have more prominent names in the history books.

He also saw Fei Ji’s hesitation, because he thought that the reform of the old was to get rid of the noble families they once represented.

After all, the powerful families that were eliminated in the past were the powerful families that opposed Xiao Ming. The powerful families that supported Xiao Ming, although they were no longer as glorious, had relatively kept a large amount of wealth.

In the early stages of industrial and commercial development, this wealth gave them a great advantage, allowing many powerful families to successfully transform into capitalist families.

All the civil and military officials in the court were well aware of this, and of course, Xiao Ming was also well aware of it. However, he had no choice, as the change of power was something that made him feel helpless.

Moreover, these powerful families were only one of the problems. A more serious problem was that the people who followed him to build the country had unknowingly replaced the former privileged class and become the new privileged class.

There was no need to mention the Luo family that Luo Xin represented. Even a former uncivilized person like Lu Fei had a bunch of relatives who were elevated to high positions because of his increased power.

This phenomenon was not uncommon in the cabinet.

Perhaps they did not intentionally let their relatives benefit from the country’s development, but when officials learned that they were the relatives of the powerful in the court, they would inevitably treat them differently from other citizens.

Therefore, this change of the country’s name was aimed at the two groups of people represented by Pang Yukun and Fei Ji, not just one of them. However, Pang Yukun had not expected that Xiao Ming’s ideas were changing.

“Since you all agree, the Great Yu Empire will be officially renamed the Chinese Empire. What do you think?” Xiao Ming said loudly.

“China, China. Since ancient times, scholars have always referred to the Central Plains as the Huaxia land. And in ancient times, the people of the Huaxia tribe mostly established their capitals in the north and south of the Yellow River. Because they were in the center of the four directions, they were called China. At the same time, this is also the flourishing place of the Han people. Later, as the territory of each dynasty gradually expanded, all the areas under their jurisdiction were called China. Your Majesty’s change of the country’s name to the Chinese Empire today is truly fitting for the current situation.” Pang Yukun was ecstatic and was extremely satisfied with the name.

Fei Ji nodded slightly. He could see that Xiao Ming’s choice of the name “Chinese Empire” also had the meaning of awakening national consciousness. After all, for a long time, the Central Plains dynasty had been focused on internal conflicts.

But now, with foreign enemies all around, a unified and stable Chinese Empire was needed to contend with them.