Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 231: Chapter 222: Revealing the Family’s True Colors

Wang Bin, after returning from Chongshan Pass, immediately convened all the subordinates to gather at the Assistant General Mansion, and this time Yang Zhenshan was qualified to attend.

As the Assistant General of East Road Songzhou Guard at Chongshan Town, he commanded two Rescue Camps and five garrison camps, with a total military strength of about 11,000 soldiers.

Additionally, he also had the Songzhou Guard, Songzhou Front Guard, and Songzhou Rear Guard, three garrison units, possessing about 15,000 garrison troops.

Of course, these numbers represent the standard organizational strength, the actual count was not as high.

In the past, the phenomenon of ghost soldiers in Chongshan Town was severe; under normal circumstances, a garrison camp of a thousand could be considered good if it had five hundred men, and among those five hundred, many were old, weak, sick, or disabled.

As for the garrison bases within the wards, they also suffered severe shortages, and military farm lands were occupied by officials, causing a large number of military households to flee.

Actually, when compared with other garrison offices, the former garrison office of An Yuan City had been considered quite good, at least having not too many missing from its military quota.

The reason for such was because the previous garrison officer Cao Han disdained the small gains from ghost salaries and focused all his attention on smuggling.

And now, although Chongshan Town’s various divisions have recovered somewhat, there are still deficiencies in troop numbers.

At the moment, Wang Bin’s forces amounted to about eighty percent of the total organization, which is around 10,000 camp soldiers and about 13,000 garrison troops.

After arriving at the Assistant General Mansion, Yang Zhenshan found that many officials had already arrived early.

Everyone was greeting and exchanging pleasantries.

Yang Zhenshan, however, was not isolated; instead, many people greeted him enthusiastically.

Although on normal days everyone was busy with their own duties and didn’t work in the same city, they occasionally met up, so being somewhat acquainted was not a problem.

Yang Zhenshan was not unfamiliar with these officials.

As for why these officers were particularly warm to him, the reason was the marriage alliance between the Yang family and the Marquis Mansion.

Those who were envious and resentful were these people, and those who flattered were also these people.

Yang Zhenshan exchanged pleasantries with the group and then came to Tan Jingtai’s side.

”Lord Tan seems not fond of dealing with colleagues!” Yang Zhenshan said with a smile, seeing Tan Jingtai standing in a corner.

Tan Jingtai curled his lips and said, ”It’s not that I don’t want to; it’s these fellows who look down on me!”

He was already old, and it was his great fortune to have reached the position of Commander of the Songzhou Guard; he had no prospects for the future.

This was well-known, and naturally, no one came over to deliberately please him.

Of course, part of the reason was also that Tan Jingtai was unwilling to engage in hypocritical pleasantries with these people; if he wished, he could still fit in with them.

Yang Zhenshan smiled and turned to look at a middle-aged man beside him, ”How has Lord Nian been lately?”

Nian Luyao, the other Deputy Magistrate of the Songzhou Guard, who took over Tan Jingtai’s previous position when Tan was promoted to Commander.

”Thank you, Master Yang, for your concern, I am well!” Nian Luyao said with a beaming smile.

This Lord Nian was not a simple character; he originally was the Deputy Commander of Dongping Mountain Guard, and due to his accomplishments in bandit suppression, he was promoted and came to Chongshan Town.

Although Nian Luyao was previously a military officer in the inland area, he showed strong capabilities after coming to Songzhou Guard.

Yang Zhenshan and Nian Luyao were真正的同僚,the real colleagues, both were Deputy Magistrates of the Songzhou Guard; they had interacted quite a bit before and, although not close friends, maintained a good relationship.

The three chatted intermittently, and about two quarters of an hour later, Wang Bin finally arrived.

Everyone greeted him, and Wang Bin took his seat at the main position, scanning everyone present.

”I believe all of you have received the news, so without further ado, let me get straight to the point!”

”Starting today, all of you must be prepared to deploy at any moment. When the military order is issued, you will deploy! Any laxity will be dealt with by military law!”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s hearts involuntarily shuddered.

Military orders are as heavy as mountains; military law is merciless.

Times have changed; in the past, they had chances to negotiate when they violated military orders, but now everything is different.

Everyone understood that Chongshan Town was no longer the same as before.

When it’s said that they would be dealt with by military law, it meant just that.

Then Wang Bin proceeded to inquire about the situation of various city garrisons.

He himself managed the Rescue Camps, and he knew the situation all too well, so there was no need for further questions.

But regarding the city garrisons, his understanding was very limited; he knew the general situation, but not the details.

Each city garrison reported on their situation, how many soldiers they had ready for battle, whether the armaments were complete, how many war horses, and how much grain and fodder, etc.

This was the time to reveal one’s assets; those with meager resources felt embarrassed.

After hearing responses from several garrisons, Wang Bin’s expression grew slightly displeased.

Reassigning garrison troops was not a simple matter because the garrison camps were responsible for the city’s defenses, and even if troops were reassigned, it should not affect the city’s defenses.

Of course, the garrison office could also mobilize garrison troops from the garrison bases to temporarily take over the city defense tasks.

But not all garrison offices could mobilize garrison troops from the garrison bases like An Yuan City’s office at any time.

The garrison troops from the garrison bases also had responsibilities to till the fields; if this affected their farming duties, then it was better not to reassign them.

The previous few garrisons had responded to Wang Bin that they could only reassign five or six hundred people, roughly the force of a Bazong.

”Master Yang, what about the situation in An Yuan City?”

Wang Bin was very dissatisfied with several garrisons; now, he wanted to hear some good news.

Yang Zhenshan was feeling somewhat gloomy.

At this moment, speaking up felt like slapping someone’s face.

Everyone is the same, only you stand out, isn’t this making everyone embarrassed?

”This, General, our An Yuan City garrison is ready for battle at any time!”

Yang Zhenshan said, keeping it concise.

He did not detail how many combat-ready soldiers, how many warhorses, or how many armaments the garrison had.

If he did, it would make his colleagues look inferior.

But Wang Bin was clearly not easily fooled, and he directly asked: ”How many troops can your garrison deploy, how many cavalry, and how many armored troops!”

Cavalry needs no further explanation, but having armored troops is not as simple as just having cotton armor.

The soldiers in Da Rong generally have three types of armor. The first type is the more common cotton armor, which is made by sewing iron pieces into cotton fabric. Cotton armor is simple to make, inexpensive, and also provides some warmth, so it is the most common in Chongshan Town.

The second type is leather armor, which connects iron pieces with leather. It is characterized by being lightweight and having strong protective capability, and although its manufacturing cost is much higher than cotton armor, it is still not very expensive, mainly used for light cavalry.

The third type is metal armor, including iron armor, bronze armor, and armor made from rare, special metals. Metal armor is heavy and its manufacturing process is extremely cumbersome, with very high costs and maintenance expenses, generally only equipped by higher-ranked military officers.

For instance, the golden lacquered mountain-pattern armor that Zhou Lan gave Yang Zhenshan, which is a type of extremely protective iron armor.

In the garrison, cotton armor is the basic equipment for soldiers, so when Wang Bin asked about how many armaments, he certainly wasn’t referring to cotton armor.

With Wang Bin asking like this, Yang Zhenshan had no choice but to be honest and replied: ”Replying to the General, at present An Yuan City garrison has 1,112 combat-ready troops, among them 300 are leather-armored cavalry and 200 are iron-armored infantrymen, the rest are all cotton-armored infantrymen!”

This number might not sound like much, but to other garrisons, it would seem incredible.

Three hundred cavalry, two hundred iron-armored infantrymen.

Imagine what this entails.

A batch of warhorses could cost between thirty to one hundred taels of silver each, not even being the top tier of warhorses.

Just the warhorses for three hundred cavalry would cost 15,000 silver taels.

Iron armor is even more expensive, and not just slightly so. Making iron armor is not just about having silver, it requires a large number of highly skilled blacksmiths.

One highly skilled blacksmith would need about a month to forge a real set of iron armor.

If assisted by a few apprentices, it would still take nearly half a month.

Two hundred sets of iron armor would require at least a dozen highly skilled blacksmiths spending several years.

This would be nothing noteworthy at the Assistant General Mansion, but it’s very difficult to achieve in a small garrison office as the garrison office doesn’t employ many craftsmen.

Yet Yang Zhenshan not only had two hundred sets of iron armor but also had equipped three hundred cavalry with leather armor, a cost likely no less than 30,000 silver taels.

Where would a garrison office get so much silver?

That is the most unbelievable part.

Faced with many skeptical looks, Yang Zhenshan helplessly stroked his beard.

It hadn’t been easy for him to accumulate these resources.

When he first arrived at An Yuan City, although the garrison’s armaments were fairly complete, it wasn’t affluent.

Now, having accrued so much, it was all thanks to his thick-skinned persistence and careful management.

Horses, provisions, armaments, iron ingots, etc.—for all these supplies, he had made countless trips to Jia City.

Wang Bin and Tan Jingtai had frequently been bothered by him.

Even Xu Jin had been pestered to annoyance.

Of course, it was because these three repeatedly provided him with provisions and various materials that he was able to gather such reserves.

As for things like blacksmiths, that was much simpler. Three years ago, he had asked the Luo family to help train blacksmiths and carpenters. Now three years later, the returns were significant.

Now, An Yuan City garrison office has two complete iron armor production lines and one leather armor production line.

Every month, they can produce about ten sets of iron armors and twenty sets of leather armor.

If not for the lack of time, Yang Zhenshan would have liked all the garrison’s soldiers to switch to leather armor.

Switching everyone to iron armor is a bit unrealistic, but leather armor is feasible.

Wang Bin, hearing Yang Zhenshan say this, finally showed a smile on his unhappy face.

His understanding of An Yuan City garrison was far greater than that of other city garrisons, after all, Wang Sheng had been the Bazong of An Yuan City garrison before.

He roughly knew the resources of An Yuan City garrison.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have repeatedly allocated grain, silver coins, and materials to Yang Zhenshan.

Because he knew Yang Zhenshan would use the provided materials properly, unlike others who always thought about skimming a bit off the top.

”Very good!” Wang Bin expressed his satisfaction with a nod.

He did not comment further, simply stating ”very good,” then talked about preparations for the campaign.

Based on the reports from various garrisons, he made different demands and arranged for materials.

The specific plans for the campaign were not yet determined, or perhaps they had been, but it was not yet time to disclose them.

In short, the message was: prepare for the campaign, wait for military orders, and if there is any negligence, military law will be applied.