Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 73 Official Title
Li Chouren is as his name suggests, an ugly man, but he is smart and far from as rough as his appearance. When Yan Yi was recruiting soldiers at Geqiting, he was the first to lead people to maintain order. He had an intuitive understanding of Yan Yi's style of doing things. When he learned that he was going to serve Yan Yi, he drove out those soldiers who behaved improperly in advance.

Li Chou knew that as a general, only by constantly accumulating military merit could he rise to prominence. Yan Baihu was over forty, his sharpness fading, a toothless tiger. Meanwhile, Yan Yi was at the peak of his power, a fierce tiger about to roar through the mountains. Only by following him could he achieve great success.

What made him even more excited was Yan Yi's generous rewards for his subordinates and his actions of expanding the army. This showed that the other party was a man who could treat his subordinates well and was ambitious.

What is the point of strict military discipline? Only such an army has the ability to dominate the battlefield.

What's the point of strictly prohibiting looting? The generous reward given by the young prince is already far more than the money for plundering the people.

What does it matter if I temporarily lose control of my troops? A real man cannot be short-sighted and lose the big picture because of small things.

After some internal reflection, Li Chou had already made up his mind. Fearing that someone else would take the lead, he strode out and said, "I am willing to stay. Everything is at the Young Master's command!"

Wei Kuan quickly followed suit and stood up, shouting, "I am a minister of the Yan family in life and a ghost of the Yan family in death. I will obey the orders of the young master!"

He didn't dare not stay. If he was driven away again, he would have no place to stay in the Yan family.

With the two of them leading the way, the other military officers hesitated for a moment, and then seven more people stood up one after another, but only four people remained motionless.

Yan Yi glanced at the four of them, his tone turning cold: "In that case, the four of you should leave your troops behind and return to Wucheng!"

The four of them stood there stunned, as if struck by a bolt from the blue. One of them exclaimed in shock, "Didn't the young master just promise not to blame us? How could he break his promise?"

Yan Yi rested his hand on his sword and said coldly, "I only promised not to blame you, but I didn't promise not to keep your troops alive."

A trace of anger flashed in the eyes of the four military marquises. Seeing Yan Yi's hand on the hilt of the sword and the cold eyes of everyone in the hall staring at them, the anger was immediately replaced by fear. They hurriedly saluted and left in disgrace.

Li Chou, Wei Kuan and nine other military officers were all sweating profusely, thinking to themselves that it was a close call. If they had chosen to leave, their lives would have been over.

One can imagine what happened to the four military marquises after they returned to Wucheng.

Not blaming them today doesn't mean they won't be blamed tomorrow. Even if Yan's father and son don't blame them, there will be other people who will make things difficult for them. It will be difficult for these four people to stay in Wucheng.

After the four men left, the coldness in Yan Yi's eyes softened, and he said to Fan Yan, "I want to recruit another 800 troops from the wealthy and powerful families. I'll trouble Gong Jian to take care of this matter."

Among all the troops under his command, in terms of bravery in battle and long military experience, the elite soldiers of the Yan family are the best, followed by the sons of the wealthy and powerful.

Compared with the elite members of the Yan family, these wealthy and powerful children have more room for growth, and many of them have read scriptures and are considered to be both civil and martial.

After Yuncheng was initially established, there was a severe shortage of officials in the various departments. Yan Yi transferred some officials from the various departments of Wucheng, and promoted some people from the sons of wealthy and powerful people who had made contributions to serve in the various departments of Yuncheng and Wucheng, as a reward for the active response of various ethnic groups.

This move delighted the wealthy and powerful; these county clerk positions were exactly what they needed. Although they were only minor positions, they were already very satisfying. After all, one must eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time. The prosperity of a family often requires the hard work of several generations before it can bear fruit. They had plenty of patience.

Having tasted the sweetness, the various ethnic groups moved closer to Yan Yi more actively, and soon donated a batch of money and food to supplement the military supplies. At the same time, they asked Yan Yi to ask if he still had plans to recruit children from various ethnic groups to strengthen the army. They had plenty of people!
Yan Yi naturally agreed to the request. Although he was currently expanding his army drastically, it was only to cope with the current urgent situation. After strictly prohibiting looting, he had realized the difficulty of raising military funds. His original idea of ​​expanding the army had quietly changed. He no longer blindly pursued the number of troops, but wanted to hone an elite force.

These sons of wealthy and powerful families were an ideal source of soldiers. The Battle of Yuncheng had also tested their potential and adaptability. Yan Yi had strong expectations and confidence that they could quickly form an elite fighting force. Upon hearing that 800 sons of wealthy and powerful families were joining the army, Fan Yan beamed with joy and said, "With these 800 men, our army is actually approaching 5,000 strong."

Yan Yi nodded slightly. After a rough calculation, he found that he did have a lot of soldiers under his command, and the number seemed to be snowballing.

Si Qing's 300 internal support troops, 400 soldiers temporarily recruited in Qian Gonglei, 2,500 soldiers transferred from Wucheng, 800 sons of wealthy and powerful people recruited for the second time, plus the 800 old troops remaining after the capture of Yuncheng, there were already 4,800 people.

The next step is to recruit a group of elite soldiers from the surrendered troops, civilians and refugees, and replace the weak troops among the 4,800 people with the best and the worst. It won't be long before the 5,000 troops are formed, and it can be foreseen that their combat effectiveness will certainly be strong!
We have the soldiers, but what we lack now is a general to lead them.

The dozen or so generals in this room are no longer able to meet the command needs of 5,000 troops.

Yan Yi pondered for a moment, then turned to Cao Qiu and said, "Bring me the merit book."

The generals' breathing suddenly became rapid, knowing that the real show was about to begin.

Yan Yi looked through the list of merits for a while, then stood up from the table under everyone's expectant gaze.

Fan Yan and others quickly stood up.

Yan Yi pointed to the merit book in his hand and said with a smile, "As the ancients said, if merit is rewarded and guilt is punished, then all things can be accomplished and chaos will not arise. In the battle of Yuncheng, you have all made outstanding contributions. I shall bestow you with prominent positions to commend your merits."

Fan Yan, on behalf of the other generals, respectfully replied, "How dare I call these achievements outstanding? They are all thanks to your wise planning and command."

Yan Yi smiled slightly and said in a clear voice: "Fake Sima Fan Yan, acting as the shogunate, has made wise advances and retreats, and commanded with measure. He is now promoted to deputy military lieutenant and granted the title of Duke and Doctor!"

"Chen Gan, the acting military marquis, has led the charge in every battle, slaying numerous enemies and achieving the feat of being the first to reach the enemy. I have now been promoted to Assistant Military Commander and promoted to the rank of Senior Official!"

"Xu Sheng, the fake military marquis, captured Qian Tong and Zhou Yu alive, and defeated the enemy several times in battle. He has now been promoted to Sima of the Separate Department and has been granted the rank of Grand Doctor!"

"Fake Military Marquis Han Yang"

"Fake Military Marquis Tao Ze"

"Captain Zhao Cuo, brave in battle, captured Qian Tong alive. He is now promoted to military marquis, and his rank will not be further increased!"

After the promotion, all the generals were overjoyed.

And Yan Yi's next words surprised them even more: "Today I will present a memorial to the emperor and describe in detail the achievements of all of you!"

When submitting a memorial to the emperor, Yan was no longer just conferring the title on himself, but was seeking to have the Han court formally grant him an official position and a title.

After capturing Yuncheng, Yan Yi had this idea in mind. Now was the time when Emperor Xian was in trouble, and he happened to have some manpower and money in his hands. It was time to "dedicate himself to the emperor and show his loyalty."

(End of this chapter)