Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 390: Chapter 375: I Don’t Want to Investigate General Yang’s Secrets!

After the idle chitchat, Pang Tang looked toward Yang Zhenshan and got down to business.

”What are General Yang’s plans going forward?”

Yang Zhenshan didn’t hold back, launching straight into his response: ”Although we have secured Chongshan Pass, everything within is in disarray, necessitating Mr. Pang to restructure the operations of Chongshan Pass!”

”No problem, leave the matter of Chongshan Pass to me. I will organize the Governor’s Office as swiftly as possible,” Pang Tang said.

Yang Zhenshan nodded, then turned his gaze to Ji He, who sat at the last seat, and said, ”General Ji, the southern Jianning Guard needs you to take charge. Can you handle it?”

Despite Ji He’s present pitiable state, he was, after all, the Assistant General of the Jianning Guard.

With no one to oversee the Jianning Guard, the soldiers from there could only be trapped within the city, achieving nothing. However, this also spared the Jianning Guard soldiers from disaster, as, among the six routes of the Chongshan Town Assistant Generals, the South Road Jianning Guard’s Rescue Camp was the only one that still maintained a complete formation.

”I can still contribute!” Ji He replied with some dejection.

Though he had come to terms with reality, it still pained him.

”You’ll first select someone from the Rescue Camp who can take on the responsibility, to lead them to Chongshan Pass!” Yang Zhenshan ordered.

With his current forces severely inadequate, and with the Rescue Camp of the Jianning Guard still intact, he naturally wouldn’t overlook them.

”Yes!” Ji He responded.

Yang Zhenshan slightly nodded, then turned to Pang Tang again, ”For now, the city of Fuzhou in the Northern Road can be left to Zhang Yuanwu, the officer in charge of the East Road Relief Camp.”

Setting aside the Western Road and Wuliang’s large force for now, it was imperative that the other routes of Chongshan Town be stabilized as soon as possible.

The issues with Jinzhou Guard and Jianning Guard were not significant – although Tang Feihu and Niu Zhuang had drawn away a large portion of their forces, both guards remained stable and largely unaffected.

With Ji He returning, the Southern Road Jianning Guard wouldn’t face much trouble.

With Zhang Chengzhi at the East Road Songzhou Guard, and after just experiencing a significant battle, no unexpected changes were likely to occur.

Only the Northern Road Fuzhou Guard remained.

Hou Yao had withdrawn all the forces from Fuzhou Guard, plunging it into chaos, and it urgently needed someone to take control.

As Yang Zhenshan’s available manpower was limited and his subordinates definitely couldn’t be moved, he could only deploy Zhang Yuanwu, who could conveniently bring the Songzhou Guard’s Rescue Camp with him.

”You can make the arrangements for this matter!” Pang Tang robustly left the decision to Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan nodded once more, then continued, ”As for the Western Road and Wuliang’s large army, once the Relief Camp from Jianning Guard arrives, I will lead the main force to the Western Road!”

”The matter of finances and provisions may require some attention from Mr. Pang!”

When he spoke of ”attention,” he wasn’t asking Pang Tang to levy taxes or provisions, but to manage the finances and provisions of Chongshan Pass.

What Chongshan Pass was presently not lacking was finances and provisions since Ji Feiyu had amassed quite a stockpile. After all, in planning a rebellion, resources were essential.

Had Lv Hua not been present, Yang Zhenshan would have been more casual about it, but with Lv Hua there, everything had to follow due process.

Entrusting the finances and provisions to Pang Tang, he would supply the logistical support for the army.

In this light, the role of military overseer did have some usefulness, at the very least exerting a certain deterrent influence over Military Officers.

”Hmm,” Pang Tang nodded thoughtfully.

He was contemplating the distribution of spoils from battle. In principle, the finances and provisions of Chongshan Pass were considered spoils, and he had heard that the border army had unwritten rules regarding the sharing of spoils.

However, he knew very little about the affairs of the frontier and was not familiar with these unwritten rules.

Such matters definitely couldn’t be discussed openly, so he planned to consult Lu Chongde later.

After discussing some details, the assembly dispersed, and everyone set about their respective tasks.

After the crowd had left, Yang Zhenshan and Lv Hua headed to the tea room, accompanied by Wei Cen.

With tea vapor curling in the air, Yang Zhenshan and Lv Hua faced each other, while Wei Cen stood behind Lv Hua.

Savoring a sip of his tea, Yang Zhenshan lingered over the aftertaste it left.

Lv Hua scrutinized Yang Zhenshan, also taking a sip of his tea.

”In just over a decade, General Yang has gone from being a mere villager to the General of a town; heh, General Yang truly has ascended rapidly to the heights!”

His tone was calm, but his deep eyes betrayed an unusual emotion.

Honestly, he was quite astonished by Yang Zhenshan’s achievements.

At first, when he had sent Yang Zhenshan to An Yuan City, it had merely been to cause trouble. At that time, even though Yang Zhenshan demonstrated remarkable abilities, they weren’t substantial enough to catch his attention.

It was only after Yang Zhenshan had helped crack a case of treason and smuggling that he started to take him a bit more seriously.

Even then, he had not foreseen that Yang Zhenshan would one day become the General of Chongshan Town.

Now, he was curious about Yang Zhenshan – curious about the abilities he had displayed, and about his cultivation and strength.

Yang Zhenshan put down his teacup, looked up at Lv Hua, and said, ”Please speak frankly, Mr. Lv. There shouldn’t be any secrets between us.”

Who was Lv Hua?

The Governor of the Secret Martial Guards North Station.

And Yang Zhenshan had been operating in Liaodong for many years; he would not believe it for a second if you told him that the Northern Station hadn’t kept him under surveillance.

Lv Hua glanced at Yang Zhenshan and shook his head, saying, ”I have no intention of probing into General Yang’s secrets.”

”Yet surely you know some!” Yang Zhenshan said casually.

What was his biggest secret?

Of course, it was the Spiritual Spring Space!

Over the years, he had been using Spiritual Spring Water and had taken many things from the Spiritual Spring Space, such as Dongling Spring, Hundred Herbs Brew, Bee King Honey, and various medicinal herbs, among others.

Although every time he managed to find a seemingly reasonable excuse, in reality, those excuses were full of holes.

A determined investigator would only need to put in a little effort to discover some clues.

Lv Hua must have also found many such clues, but he could definitely never discover the existence of the Spiritual Spring Space.

Lv Hua calmly picked up the teapot and poured tea for Yang Zhenshan, ”No, I don’t know much, I just wanted to remind General Yang, I have helped you a lot in the past!”

Yang Zhenshan was taken aback!

What did this mean?

To say that Lv Hua had helped Yang Zhenshan, there were indeed not a few instances.

In the past, when Yang Zhenshan was promoted to garrison An Yuan City, it was Lv Hua who personally orchestrated it. Even if his purpose was not to help Yang Zhenshan, the favor was one that Yang Zhenshan acknowledged.

Moreover, when the collusion and smuggling case in An Yuan City concluded, Lv Hua granted Yang Zhenshan a pardon, which prevented Mr. Liang from being implicated by the Liang family. This served as a reward for Yang Zhenshan’s assistance in cracking the case for the Secret Martial Guards, but it was also a gesture of goodwill from Lv Hua towards Yang Zhenshan.

Be it as a reward or a display of goodwill, Lv Hua had been very decent to Yang Zhenshan.

There was no grudging dismissal, no silent disregard.

Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment, then slightly nodded, ”Then let this old man owe Mr. Lv a favor!”

Lv Hua broke into a smile, one that was radiantly sunny.

”I sure will remember General Yang’s words!”

”Is Mr. Lv afraid that this old man will deny it?” Yang Zhenshan laughed.

”Afraid! General Yang’s prospects are boundless. On the contrary, I am but a rootless duckweed, and who knows, one day I may need General Yang to save my life!” Lv Hua said very seriously.

Yang Zhenshan gave him a look of surprise and suspicion.

Lv Hua needed him to save his life?

That mustn’t be a minor issue!

Given Lv Hua’s status and position in the Secret Martial Guards, apart from the old Emperor, there shouldn’t be many who could do anything against him.

If Lv Hua needed to ask someone to save his life, it must be no small matter.

Unfortunately, Lv Hua did not continue on this topic. His tone shifted as he said, ”Five days ago, the battle at East Bright Prefecture was lost; 200,000 troops faced 60,000 Northern barbarian cavalry and crumbled upon contact!”

”At the moment, Chen Tonghui can only hold out in East Bright Prefecture City, and there is no way for him to mount a counterattack in the short term!”

Chen Tonghui, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War, with the additional title of Right Deputy Imperial Censor, in charge of supervising Liaoxi military affairs.

Hearing this, Yang Zhenshan’s expression turned grave.

He had not yet received this news.

He knew that recently the court had been calling and dispatching troops, reportedly mobilizing 300,000 troops towards East Bright Prefecture, ready to halt Wuliang’s massive army there.

Now Wuliang’s massive army had grown to 80,000.

”How could they be defeated so swiftly?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

Lv Hua, with a cold expression, said, ”Nothing but a rabble, their defeat was to be expected!”

A rabble!

Yang Zhenshan was silent—was it not just a rabble?

200,000, 300,000, the forces sounded numerous, but the quality of this large army was what mattered.

Yang Zhenshan didn’t need to think to know what kind of army had been drawn from the garrisons across various places.

The Da Rong army was split into three types: first, the border army; secondly, the garrison forces from the hinterlands; and third, the imperial guard and the Emperor’s personal army around the Capital City.

There is no need to elaborate on the border army; although there is some decay within them, their combat strength remains quite formidable.

As for the imperial guard and the Emperor’s personal army, they are naturally the elite.

What about the garrison forces?

Haha!

Those garrison soldiers were not much better than farmers, or perhaps even worse; farmers at least had times when they had enough to eat, but for the soldiers from the garrisons, even getting a full meal was difficult—how could one expect them to have any combat prowess.

Yang Zhenshan knew they could not hold back Wuliang’s massive army, but he hadn’t expected them to be defeated so quickly.

”Going forward, the court may discuss the deployment of the imperial guard, but once the imperial guard is mobilized, the situation in the Capital City may become unpredictable!” said Lv Hua gravely.

Yang Zhenshan lowered his head, looking at a few tea leaves at the bottom of his tea bowl.

The twelve camps of the imperial guard had always been the old Emperor’s jealously guarded treasure, which could be seen from his appointments to the head of the Imperial Guards.

The last head of the Imperial Guards was Duke Ning Zhou Mao, but after the Duke Ning Mansion’s power grew significantly, the old Emperor immediately stripped him of his position and instead appointed Liang Chu to lead the imperial guard.

The old Emperor trusted Zhou Mao before, so he let Zhou Mao lead the imperial guard.

Feeling threatened by the rise of Duke Ning Mansion, the old Emperor then had Liang Chu lead the imperial guard.

This demonstrates the old Emperor’s emphasis on the twelve camps of the imperial guard.

Now, with the old Emperor bedridden, all the ministers at court understand that at this moment, whoever dares to meddle with the imperial guard has ulterior motives.

Don’t the Crown Prince, Prince Cheng, and Prince Gong want to win over the generals of the imperial guard?

No, they certainly do!

They simply don’t dare to reach into the imperial guard considering the old Emperor’s significant regard for them, and they won’t dare to take that step at this time.

But now they have a legitimate reason to intervene with the imperial guard.

East Bright Prefecture suffered a great defeat, Wuliang’s massive army now poses a threat to Jizhou, and the rationale for mobilizing the imperial guard is quite substantial.