Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 566: Money, Food, Armor and Armor
Everyone passed the imperial edict around one by one. Song Ying said, "With the Marquis here to take charge of the situation, we can rest assured! It's a pity that Lord Pang was assassinated!"

He looked a little depressed and his eyes were slightly red.

Zhang Cong was similar, looking somewhat sad.

They were all Pang Tang's men. When Pang Tang was the governor of Liaoyuan, they were Pang Tang's subordinates.

When Pang Tang arrived at Chongshan Town, he was short of manpower, so he transferred them over.

For them, Pang Tang not only promoted them, but also taught them.

It is no exaggeration to say that Pang Tang is their teacher.

Yang Zhengshan thought of Pang Tang, and his expression was somewhat sad. "I will go to pay my respects to Master Pang later."

"Let's talk about the situation in the governor's office first!"

Song Ying said: "Everything in the governor's office is functioning normally. We can recruit civilians at any time to provide food and fodder for the army to go out on the expedition!"

The expedition against the Wulianghu tribe is completely different from the expedition against the Donghaihu tribe.

Back then, Chongshan Town only needed to cross the border to conquer the Hu people in the East China Sea, and the longest distance for transporting food and fodder was no more than a thousand miles. Chongshan Town only needed to recruit a small number of civilians to cooperate with the soldiers of the garrison to ensure the logistics of the army.

Moreover, the various reinforcement battalions attacked separately at that time. Except for the Zhenbiao Battalion led by Liang Chu, which had slightly greater logistical pressure, the other reinforcement battalions basically had no logistical pressure.

If we were to conquer the Wulianghu tribe now, the logistical pressure would be countless times greater.

The straight-line distance from Chongshan Pass to the western border of Chongshan Town is four or five hundred miles. The official road is even longer. The official road in the south keeps winding in the mountains, and the total distance may reach a thousand miles.

The official road to the north is closer, but it is still about seven or eight hundred miles away.

The official road to the north is actually the official road from Chongshan Pass to Dinghu Wei.

Dinghu Wei was located at Guanshankou, where Yang Zhengshan burned an army of 100,000 people. In recent years, Zhou Lan built a city there, reclaimed land in the valley, and moved a group of military households there to cultivate the land.

There are six garrisons under the command of the Lieutenant General of Dinghu Guard in the West. Except for Dinghu Guard, the other five are distributed on the northern grasslands.

These five garrisons are not yet perfect and cannot monitor all areas in the western part of the North. They can only monitor areas close to Dinghu Garrison.

There is no other way around it. The western part of the North is a vast grassland. If one wants to set up a garrison there, the first thing to consider is how to guard against the invasion of the Wulianghu tribe.

All Zhou Lan could do was to gradually build forts, reclaim wasteland and horse farms suitable for farming, and nibble away at the grassland bit by bit.

Although considerable achievements have been made, there is still some distance to go before we reach the ideal state.

In addition to Chongshan Town, transporting food and supplies within the Wulianghu tribe is also a big problem.

The territory of the Wulianghu tribe is three thousand miles long from east to west. If the army goes deep into the territory of the Wulianghu tribe, the transportation line will be extended to two or three thousand miles.

Moreover, there are no official roads in the territory of the Wulianghu tribe, making the transportation of supplies extremely difficult.

If the Wulianghu tribe moves south, they can use some of the tribe’s flag lands as transit stations for food and fodder, and if Chongshan Town moves west, it will need to open up a transportation line.

Not only are a large number of civilians needed to help transport food and supplies, but a large number of soldiers are also needed to escort the food and supplies.

The longer the battle line, the greater the logistical pressure.

Moreover, it is almost mid-April, which is the time for spring ploughing in Chongshan Town. Recruiting a large number of laborers at this time will inevitably affect the spring ploughing.

We can't ask the military households and civilians in Chongshan Town to grow less grain this year just to fight against the Wulianghu tribe.

So Yang Zhengshan didn't want to conscript civilians.

"How much money and grain does the Governor's Office have now?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Song Ying said: "One million, two hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver and four hundred and eighty thousand dan of grain!"

"So many?" Yang Zhengshan asked in surprise.

Song Ying felt a little better and said with a smile, "In the past two years, Chongshan Town has started to collect land taxes. The land taxes collected by the Provincial Administration Office are three times more than before. In addition, no major projects have been started in the past two years. Only some garrisons have been built and official roads have been repaired. The money and grain consumed are also much less than before!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. Chongshan Town was in its harvest period at this time. After years of hard work, now was the time to see the initial results.

As the acreage of land increases, the land tax doubles; as business prospers, commercial taxes also increase.

Moreover, the Governor's Office does not need to support as many soldiers as the General's Office, so the remaining money and food far exceeds that of the General's Office.

If this is the case, then we cannot recruit civilians on a large scale, otherwise it will inevitably affect the development momentum of Chongshan Town.

Yang Zhengshan thought for a moment and looked at the commander-in-chief Ning Qinghe, "Old sir, how many soldiers can the Dusi Yamen recruit?"

Ning Qinghe said calmly: "If we recruit from the central, northern and eastern routes, we can probably recruit 20,000 soldiers without affecting spring ploughing and city defense!"

The soldiers in the garrisons are also responsible for local defense, so it is impossible to mobilize all of them. Only about one quarter of them can be mobilized.

The two guards on the west route of Chongshan Town are on the front line, so it is definitely not possible to recruit soldiers from there, so they can only recruit soldiers from the central, northern and eastern routes.

Ning Qinghe is old but steady, and he considers things very carefully.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "That's enough."

"The Dusi Yamen shall immediately recruit 20,000 soldiers, and the governor's Yamen shall provide money and food, and immediately transport the money and food to Dinghuwei. Send an order to the Dinghuwei Lieutenant General's Office to build a granary and store food and grass."

Before the army moves, the food and fodder must be sent ahead.

Let’s not talk about how to attack the Wulianghu tribe for now, let’s transfer the money and food to Dinghu Wei first.

Once the money and food are transferred, we can directly pull the army over and be ready to go to war at any time.

"We obey your orders!" Ning Qinghe and Song Ying said.

Yang Zhengshan looked at the Censor Zhang Cong and ordered: "The Censorate should keep a close eye on the transportation of military grain. If anyone dares to embezzle, they will be brought to justice on the spot. I will also send people to conduct random inspections. If my people find that the Censorate is not doing its job or is in collusion with the grain transport officials, I will bring the Censorate to justice!"

Zhang Cong bowed and said, "I will strictly supervise the grain transportation and will never let anyone embezzle military rations!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "Let's leave it at that for now, everyone go and get busy!"

After Song Ying and the other two said goodbye and left, Yang Zhengshan went to the Pang family to pay his respects to Pang Tang.

Pang Tang has three sons. The eldest son is guarding the ancestral property in his hometown. The second son has always been with Pang Tang and serves Pang Tang and his wife. The third son is a second-class Jinshi in the 29th year of Chengping and is now serving as the prefect in Bashu.

At this time, Pang Tang's funeral was handled by his second son Pang Shihong.

Yang Zhengshan came to the Pang family, looked at Pang Tang's coffin, and sighed softly. He said a few simple words to Pang Shihong and left the Pang family.

Although he was very sad about Pang Tang's death, Chongshan Town was busy with affairs and he really didn't have much time to spend on these customary rituals.

After returning to the General's Mansion, Yang Zhengshan sent messages to the headquarters of various lieutenant generals, revealing his identity and asking them to be ready to go to war at any time.

On the first day of arriving in Chongshan Town, Yang Zhengshan was busy.

He first dealt with the accumulated official business in the General's Office, and then met with many officials and generals.

After the news of Yang Zhengshan's return to Chongshan Pass spread, everyone at Chongshan Pass felt much more at ease.

From the officials of various ministries to the common people, no one was worried. The officials of the General's Office did not change much. Zhou Lan hardly changed the team left by Yang Zhengshan. Lu Wenhua was still the chief official of the General's Office. Although there were some adjustments to the officials of various departments and rooms, there were not many changes overall.

In the evening, Yang Zhengshan went to check on Zhou Lan and Wang Yunqiao in person. Seeing that they were sleeping soundly, he felt relieved.

When he went there, Song Li, Wang Yunqiao's mother-in-law, was also there. Song Dashan was busy with military affairs, and Song Hao was also in the army at this time and had no time to take care of Wang Yunqiao, so he could only let Song Li and Song Han take care of Wang Yunqiao.

Song Han is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Song family. In addition to the two of them, there are also Wang Yunqiao's children.

Wang Yunqiao has two daughters and one son. The eldest daughter, Song Jin, is nine years old this year, the eldest son, Song Shi, is seven years old this year, and the second daughter, Song Xiu, is only four years old this year.

"Disciple greets master!" The three children lined up and bowed politely.

Yang Zhengshan showed a kind smile, "Jin'er is getting more and more beautiful! Shi'er has also grown a lot taller. This is Xiu'er, come and let Master hug you!"

Song Jin smiled sweetly, walked to Song Xiu's side, and pushed Song Xiu, "This is the master, my mother's master."

Yang Zhengshan had naturally seen Song Jin. Song Jin played a lot in the Yang family when he was a child, and he had also held Song Shi in his arms. However, this kid probably didn't remember Yang Zhengshan. He was only three years old when Yang Zhengshan left Chongshan Town.

Song Xiu looked at Yang Zhengshan and walked forward timidly.

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Yang Zhengshan picked her up and said with a smile: "Master, can I show you a magic trick?"

"What magic trick?" Song Xiu asked curiously.

Yang Zhengshan stretched out his hand and waved it in front of her eyes, and the next moment, a pink peach appeared in his hand.

The little girl opened her eyes wide in surprise.

"Eat it!"

Yang Zhengshan handed the peach to her and took out two more peaches for Song Jin and Song Shi.

"Master is so powerful!" Song Shi looked at Yang Zhengshan with admiration.

Yang Zhengshan rubbed his little head and said, "Practice martial arts well. When you grow up, Master will also teach you how to practice!"

Song Shi nodded repeatedly.

The three children held the peaches and started to eat them. Yang Zhengshan walked forward to check on Wang Yunqiao's condition and took her pulse.

"It's not a big problem. The remaining poison has been almost cleared. It's just that I lost too much blood. I will probably need to recuperate for a month or two to fully recover!"

Wang Mingzhe nodded, "I have prescribed a blood-replenishing prescription for my sister."

Yang Zhengshan said: "Well, I brought some golden thorn blood vines, and I'll have someone send them to you later. You will be responsible for taking care of them these days!"

Golden Thorn Blood Vine has the effect of replenishing Qi and blood, and can also be used to refine blood Qi pills. It is most suitable for nourishing the body for people who have just recovered from serious injuries.

"I'm sorry to have caused Master to worry!" Wang Mingzhe looked at his sister with some heartache.

An elder sister is like a mother. Although Wang Yunqiao was sometimes too strict with him, he never blamed her.

Yang Zhengshan patted his shoulder, stood up and walked out of the inner room.

Silent all night.

The next morning, Yang Zhengshan came to the barracks outside the city to inspect the situation of the town’s standard camp.

The town flag has five battalions, each with 6,000 soldiers, but the soldiers in each battalion are divided into different types of troops.

The front and rear camps were all infantry, the left and right camps were all cavalry, and the middle camp had three thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry.

The reason for the difference is that the soldiers of each camp have different responsibilities. The front and back camps are responsible for siege warfare, and the left and right camps are responsible for field cavalry combat. Sometimes coordination between infantry and cavalry is required, and the soldiers of each camp will also cooperate with each other.

The Central Battalion is mainly responsible for protecting the commander-in-chief and also serves as a reserve force. If the fighting situation in other battalions is tense, the Central Battalion will step forward to provide support.

At this time, only the central camp and the rear camp were inspected by Yang Zhengshan.

When Yang Zhengshan saw the soldiers from the two camps lined up in front of him, a strange look appeared on his face.

He rode up to a group of cavalrymen and asked, "Are these heavy armored cavalrymen?"

Song Dashan followed behind him and said, "That's right. Among the three thousand cavalrymen in the central camp, two thousand are heavy armored cavalry! The other one thousand are light armored archery cavalry!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at the cavalrymen who were as thin as tin cans, his eyes shining.

Heavy armored cavalry!
I didn't expect Zhou Lan to spend so much money to form an armored heavy cavalry!
Yang Zhengshan had trained armored cavalry before, but those armored cavalry were only wearing armor, and the armor was mainly mountain pattern armor.

Armored cavalry and armored heavy cavalry do not need to wear armor. The horses of armored heavy cavalry also need to be covered with armor, and the armor of cavalry is also slightly different.

The weight of armor of armored cavalry is about forty pounds, but the weight of armored heavy cavalry is more than one hundred pounds.

When Yang Zhengshan was in Tenglong Guard, he had considered building armored heavy cavalry, but he gave up in the end. One reason was that the armor of the heavy cavalry was scale armor, and the human armor alone required more than 1,800 pieces of armor. If the horse armor was included, almost 5,000 pieces of armor were needed.

The iron ingots and manpower required to forge a set of scale armor are several times that of forging a set of mountain armor.

Even though the Tenglong Guard was already very wealthy at that time, Yang Zhengshan did not have enough financial resources to build a heavy cavalry.

The second reason is the war horses. The war horses of the armored heavy cavalry are all first-class war horses. Not only are they required to be tall, but they also have strict requirements on their endurance.

Although Yang Zhengshan can use spiritual spring water to improve the physical fitness of the warhorse, this improvement will also take a long time.

When Yang Zhengshan led the Tenglong Guards into battle, the Tenglong Guards' horses had already met the requirements to become armored heavy cavalry horses, but they were horses that he had spent five years training.

Although Zhou Lan did not have spiritual spring water, she owned large tracts of grassland and hundreds of horse farms of all sizes. She selected the best from the best, and it was not easy for her to train two thousand heavy cavalry in a few years.

The armored heavy cavalry not only needs armor and war horses, but also auxiliary soldiers. One armored heavy cavalry must be equipped with one auxiliary soldier and three war horses.

The auxiliary soldiers are responsible for helping the heavy armored cavalry put on armor and help the heavy cavalry carry the armor.

The armor weighing more than 100 kilograms requires a special warhorse to carry it, and an auxiliary soldier is also needed to help with the wearing.

The cost of training an armored heavy cavalry is more than three times that of training an armored cavalry.

Yang Chengxu interrupted and said, "Although our front and rear camps do not have heavy armored cavalry, we each have 2,000 heavy armored infantry!"

He pointed at the formation of the front camp in the distance, as if he was showing off his treasure.

Yang Zhengshan rode over and looked at the heavily armored infantry.

Wow, they’re all tin cans.

His entire body was wrapped in iron armor, even his face was covered with an iron mask, leaving only a pair of eyes and nose exposed.

Moreover, these infantrymen were all using golden hammers, while the armored heavy cavalry were equipped with meter-long lances and long swords.

As a blunt weapon, the biggest function of the golden hammer is to break armor. With one hit of the hammer, even if the enemy is wearing iron armor, his bones will be shattered.

Each of these heavily armored infantrymen holds two golden hammers, and they are almost like human bunkers.

(End of this chapter)