Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 78: I believe you will do well in Chapter 77 Chapter 78: I believe you will do well in Chapter 77 “The defense officer at Yinghe Castle is Zhang Zhongxiang, right?”

“I’ve relieved him of his duties!” Zhou Lan said nonchalantly.

Authority!

Yang Zhenshan silently gave Zhou Lan a thumbs up.

“I will take up my post at Jianning Guard tomorrow, and in two or three days, I’ll send you your official uniform and seal. Then, you can take up your post at Yinghe Castle!”

“By the way, let me borrow some of your young fellows!”

Zhou Lan said.

Yang Zhenshan blinked, borrow young fellows!

General, young fellows really can’t be borrowed!

“What does the General need them for?”

Zhou Lan noticed the strange look in his eyes and said irritably, “What else? To train soldiers!”

“They are all soldiers you have trained, so they should have learned some skills from you! I want to use them to train the troops at Jianning Guard!”

Originally, she valued Yang Zhenshan because he could train soldiers.

And Yang Zhenshan did not let her down, turning a group of refugees into a fierce and combat-ready force in just over two months.

In fact, she would rather have Yang Zhenshan train the soldiers at Jianning Guard, but that was not realistic.

Jianning Guard is not the same as Left Camp; the soldiers at Jianning Guard are spread out among various garrisons, responsible for defending the fortresses and staying on alert, and cannot be gathered in one place for training.

Since Yang Zhenshan was about to become the defense officer of Yinghe Castle, he naturally needed to train the soldiers at Yinghe Castle, Sanshan Castle, and Xiangyuan Fortress, so she could only borrow personnel from Yang Zhenshan to train soldiers at other garrisons.

“Their official positions!” Yang Zhenshan wanted to strive for positions for Yang Mingwu and Yang Mingzhi.

“The official positions in Yinghe Castle are for you to arrange. I’m only borrowing people; it’s not like I won’t return them to you!” Zhou Lan said.

She had already decided to leave Yinghe Castle, Sanshan Castle, Xiangyuan Fortress, and Linguan Castle entirely to Yang Zhenshan to manage. As for other positions, she had her own people to place, and naturally could not let Yang Zhenshan occupy too many official positions.

“Alright, I’ll arrange for some people to go with the General right away!”

Yang Zhenshan was naturally pleased with Zhou Lan’s arrangement.

There were no small number of official positions at Yinghe Castle, including two Deputy Thousand Households, two Zhenfu, and ten Hundred Households, enough to arrange positions for Yang Mingwu and others.

As for the original officials at Yinghe Castle, it depended on whether they knew their place or not. If they did, they could stay; if not, they would all be handed over to Zhou Lan.

He believed Zhou Lan would be willing to get rid of a batch of useless people.

No, Zhou Lan must have already gotten rid of some useless ones, otherwise, he would not have been able to become the defense officer of Yinghe Castle.

Afterward, Yang Zhenshan pondered who he should send to help Zhou Lan.

He could choose between Yang Mingzhi and Yang Mingwu.

After thinking it over, he decided to send Yang Mingzhi. It wasn’t because he was looking after his own son, but because Yang Mingwu’s nature was too straightforward, which was not suitable to be around Zhou Lan.

By contrast, Yang Mingzhi was clever enough, and if he encountered trouble, he would not be at too much of a disadvantage.

For the others, he would choose the five who were older.

It is said, “Without hair on the lip, the work is not solid”; to be an instructor, naturally, it would be better to appear more mature.

After seeing off Zhou Lan, a burst of jubilant cheers immediately rang out in the government office.

“Dad, promotion!”

“Ha ha, my Lord is mighty!”

“Congratulations, my Lord, felicitations!”

In the courtyard of the government office, Yang Minghao, Yang Mingwu, Yang Chengze, Yang Chengxu, Old Li and others were all beaming with joy and spirit.

With Yang Zhenshan’s promotion, they naturally would rise with the tide.

Especially the descendants of the Yang Family, they followed Yang Zhenshan to Chongshan Pass precisely to make a name for themselves.

Not to mention them, even Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but feel a surge of eagerness in his heart.

Promotion!

He was still a Standard Fifth Rank defense officer.

Although it wasn’t a meteoric rise, it was certainly stepping onto the stage.

Previously, he was only a Trial Hundred Households, serving as a deputy leader within Left Camp, at most considered a minor player; but now, he had become a major player, or perhaps one might call him a junior leader.

After the excitement passed, Yang Zhenshan quickly composed himself and said, “Chengze, after I take up my post at Yinghe Castle, you will be the garrison commander at Linguan Castle. Take some time these next few days to get acquainted with the affairs there so that you won’t be flustered when the time comes!”

Yang Chengze was momentarily stunned, unsure as he said, “My lord, am I capable?”

Previously, he was but a small flag, commanding only ten soldiers. Now, Yang Zhenshan was assigning him as garrison commander, and he felt somewhat lacking in confidence.

“I believe you will do well!” Yang Zhenshan said with a smile.

Yang Chengze was only sixteen this year, still a youth, but Yang Zhenshan believed he was capable of being a good garrison commander.

This was because Yang Chengze was mature beyond his years, perhaps due to Yang Zhengxiang’s high expectations of him, as after all, he was Yang Zhengxiang’s eldest grandson.

Previously, Yang Zhengxiang thought his son was of no significant use and pinned all his hopes on his grandson.

Expectations and pressures coexisted, which made Yang Chengze’s demeanor much more composed than his peers.

“My lord, I will definitely do well!”

Encouraged by Yang Zhenshan, Yang Chengze couldn’t help expressing his gratitude with emotion.

Yang Zhenshan patted his shoulder and then turned to Old Li saying, “You stay at Linguan Castle for now to help Chengze; after some time, you can move to Yinghe Castle!”

Old Li wasn’t a soldier from Linguan Castle, but Yang Zhenshan still chose to keep Old Li by his side because he felt Old Li was very suitable for the role of a steward.

With Old Li present, he could be much more at ease.

“Yes, my lord!” Old Li chuckled so happily his eyes disappeared.

Yang Zhenshan then looked at Yang Mingwu, “Ming Wu will be the Deputy Thousand Households at Yinghe Castle, and Ming Zhi will take the role of fortress administrator at Yinghe Castle; as for the others, we’ll make arrangements when we get to Yinghe Castle.”

One deputy leader, one fortress administrator—these two positions he had to keep in his own hands.

The reason for appointing Yang Mingwu as Deputy Thousand Households was because Yang Mingwu had greater capabilities than Yang Mingzhi.

Moreover, he did not want to overly favor Yang Mingzhi by letting Yang Mingwu rank above him, also aiming to put some pressure on Yang Mingzhi so as not to let him think that with his father around, he could lead a carefree life.

After arranging the affairs of Linguan Castle, Yang Zhenshan’s thoughts drifted towards Yinghe Castle.

Yinghe Castle was different from Linguan Castle; Linguan Castle was a rebuilt garrison and not actually a fully-fledged garrison.

Chongshan Town’s border defense line consisted of a signal tower every five li, a Fire Road Pile every ten li, a castle every thirty li, a city every hundred li; each garrison was in charge of several Fire Road Piles and signal towers.

Strictly speaking, as a defense officer, Yang Zhenshan should have ten Hundred Households under his command, but in reality, due to the neglect of many garrisons in Chongshan Town, Yinghe Castle only had jurisdiction over three Hundred Households, amounting to no more than five hundred soldiers.

Furthermore, a castle every thirty li didn’t mean there was a garrison precisely every thirty li; the garrisons weren’t arranged in a straight line, but rather built according to the strategic importance of each location.

For example, Sanshan Castle was situated southwest of Yinghe Castle, less than twenty li away, whereas Xiangyuan Fortress was located southeast of Yinghe Castle at a greater distance.

There were also signal towers and Fire Road Piles between the garrisons, and each garrison was responsible for a varying number of them, generally between three to five.

Each signal tower and Fire Road Pile was manned by five to ten guards, who were responsible for both farming and alert guard duties.

Within each signal tower and Fire Road Pile, there also lived the families of the guards.

Taking office as the defense officer of Yinghe Castle essentially meant being in charge of the garrison piles and platforms within thirty li around Yinghe Castle.

He had command of over four hundred soldiers and households of military families, totaling approximately two to three thousand people.

If he could fully staff all the garrison soldiers, the number could reach more than one thousand one hundred soldiers, a population of over five thousand.

This also meant he had to provide for these people, ensure they had a good life, and keep them united with him.

Yang Zhenshan had some idea of the military households’ living conditions within the garrisons.

Nowhere near as well-off as the agricultural households.

Thus, one of his first tasks after taking office was poverty alleviation.

Fortunately, he had some grain at hand now, so he didn’t need to worry about food and fodder in the short term.

The immediate concern, however, was the drought problem.

He wondered whether those garrisons had wells; if not, that would be troublesome.

With these thoughts in mind, Yang Zhenshan couldn’t wait to take up his post at Yinghe Castle.

Sadly, his official seal and robes had yet to arrive, preventing him from assuming his duties.