Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

For any officials below the third-rank, the Secret Martial Guards could apprehend them without prior approval.

With this privilege alone, all officials would shun the Secret Martial Guards.

The reason why Yang Zhenshan had heard of the Secret Martial Guards was because there was a rumor in Chongshan Pass that Zhang Yude had been taken away by the Secret Martial Guards.

He never expected to actually meet the Secret Martial Guards today.

Yang Zhenshan gathered his thoughts and followed Zhao Yuan into Zhou Lan’s study.

”Greetings, General!”

In the study, Zhou Lan was engrossed in writing and without lifting her head, she said, ”Take a seat first, we’ll talk once I’m done!”

Yang Zhenshan, unreserved, directly sat by the side tea table. Zhao Yuan gave him a meaningful look, seemingly indicating that General Zhou has indeed been very busy lately.

Then, a maid brought over some tea. Yang Zhenshan wasn’t in a hurry, leisurely sipping the tea with an air of serenity.

Tea leaves were expensive in Chongshan Town, and he usually couldn’t afford to drink them; however, Zhou Lan’s tea was of superior quality. This rare opportunity to enjoy such tea brought him great pleasure.

About two hours later, after consuming a pot of tea, Zhou Lan finally finished her work.

”Ah, these messy matters really pile up. Had I known this, I would’ve rather stayed at Camp!” Zhou Lan said while stretching her arms and legs.

In Camp, although she was the chief of a regiment, she didn’t have much to deal with. But after becoming Assistant General, her responsibilities had significantly increased.

Taking a gulp of tea, she said, ”Your timing is perfect, I have some matters to discuss with you.”

”Please speak, General!” said Yang Zhenshan.

”After the autumn harvest, it’s time to schedule military training. I’m planning to start with a thousand households, and you should start training on your side too!” Zhou Lan stated.

”General, I lack food!” Yang Zhenshan said, caressing his considerably long beard.

”Uh!” Zhou Lan suddenly felt awkward.

Yang Zhenshan was short on food, and so was she.

Yang Zhenshan only governed three garrisons, while she oversaw five ones, and more than twenty garrisons in total.

Each garrison was pretty much in the same situation, with very low yields this year.

”No food!” Zhou Lan somewhat embarrassingly said.

”How can we train troops without food?” Yang Zhenshan exclaimed.

”I have silver! I’ll give you three thousand taels. In three months, I want to see a well-trained force of no fewer than five hundred men!” Zhou Lan declared.

Yang Zhenshan felt somewhat relieved, but he still said, ”Even with silver, it’s not guaranteed we can buy food!”

A severe drought in Chongshan Town had impacted this year’s harvest, and it was obvious that the price of food would skyrocket in the coming year.

”I have no other way!” Zhou Lan said with a headache, massaging her temples.

Military training required food and fodder. Yang Zhenshan lacked it, and so did she.

Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment and asked, ”What about armaments?”

”We have armaments. I’ll give you three hundred war horses and five hundred sets of armaments. If you can train three hundred elite cavalry, I’ll give you three hundred more horses!” Zhou Lan encouraged him.

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes lit up.

Three hundred war horses!

That’s much more valuable than three thousand taels of silver.

However, he immediately thought of a new problem.

Three hundred elite cavalry, five hundred infantry—wouldn’t that require eight hundred soldiers?

But he only had a little more than five hundred soldiers under his command, plus the hundred from Linguan Castle.

Moreover, it was impossible to gather all soldiers for training while still maintaining vigilance at each fort and signal tower.

”Can I recruit new soldiers?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

He was supposed to have ten units under his command, totaling over eleven hundred soldiers, but currently, he had only a little more than five hundred.

”Yes, but you can only choose from military households!” Zhou Lan promptly agreed.

Choosing only from military households meant Yang Zhenshan couldn’t recruit soldiers broadly.

However, he could gather migrants and convert civilian households into military ones.

Having just experienced a severe drought, there should be quite a few people in Chongshan Town struggling to make ends meet; recruiting some migrants shouldn’t be difficult.

Thinking this, Yang Zhenshan felt somewhat settled.

”Your subordinate obeys the order!”