Sweep Yuan

Chapter 83 Starting a business requires establishing a solid foundation.

"I just received a message from Sun Xun. He has already picked up your families. The Lingbi authorities have not made things difficult for them. They are all fine and should arrive in Hong County as early as tomorrow afternoon."

Although they knew that Xue Xian would not touch the detained families of the station households before the "Red Heart Camp" lost its value, Wu Liujin and Zeng Xing still breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Shi Shan reveal the news.

"Thank you, Commander Xie!"

"There is another matter. Chief Steward Xue was worried that Sun Xun did not have enough manpower, so he personally escorted him with three thousand men."

Bang!
Wu Liujin slammed his fist into the beam beside him, and blood immediately seeped from the not-yet-fully-healed wound on his arm, but he didn't notice at all, gritting his teeth and cursing:

"That damned fellow from Xiao County, he's always up to underhanded tricks to take advantage of us. When the troops were divided at Lingbi, he refused to send a single soldier to help. We fought tooth and nail to take Hong County, and then he rushed over here in a panic. Commander, that fellow is up to no good!"

The commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, led by Zeng Xing, was originally Shi Shan, who also held the position. Many of the squad leaders in the battalion were soldiers brought from Chulan Station, and they knew best that for a chiliarch, his loyalty was more important than his ability.

"We fought tooth and nail on the front lines, yet these bastards from Xiao County attacked Chulan without cause and detained our families. What do they take us for? The commander now commands several thousand troops, no less powerful than those bastards from Xiao County back then. Why should we suffer this humiliation any longer!"

Wu Liujin had long harbored this idea and also expressed his opinion.

"That's right! We only obey the orders of the commander. Whoever the commander wants to fight, we will fight."

From the day Wu Liujin and Zeng Xing devoured Wang Baiyin's flesh and blood, their interests were deeply intertwined with Shishan's. However, Shishan's summons today was not to incite them to rebel against the Red Turban Army in Xuzhou.

“I know your intentions. Xue Xian’s arrival has indeed disrupted my plans, but the government army’s counterattack is imminent, and the arrival of reinforcements is not all bad. Let’s not say these things again.”

"A thousand households! A man from Xiao County—"

Wu Liujin and Zeng Xing wanted to persuade him again, but Shishan stopped them by raising his hand.

"Does Hong County have any strategic locations that can be defended? Are the city walls high and sturdy? Are the city defenses complete? Are there enough grain reserves to sustain us for a long-term siege? Are there any iron mines in the county that produce ammunition? Or has the Huai'an Road government army already been defeated by us and is no longer able to launch a counterattack?"

A barrage of questions was thrown at them, and Wu Liujin and Zeng Xing immediately broke out in a cold sweat and knelt down.

"We know we were wrong."

Shi Shan stepped forward and helped the two up, speaking earnestly:
“You are all my trusted brothers, and I will not hide anything from you. Xuzhou will not last long. We will have to establish ourselves sooner or later. For now, you just need to focus on training your troops. I have summoned you here today not only to inform you about Xue Xian, but also to discuss important matters.”

"Please speak, Thousand Households."

"In the beginning, in order to integrate the manpower of Chulan and Fangcun stations as soon as possible, I assigned the able-bodied men to the infantry battalion and the elderly and weak men to the supply battalion. Later, we established a new supply battalion in Lingbi."

I intend to wait until everyone has returned to their posts, then reduce the number of elderly and weak personnel and merge the two supply battalions into one.

Wu Liujin and Zeng Xing exchanged glances, both seeing doubt in each other's eyes.

The Chulan Supply Battalion was mainly composed of the elderly and infirm, so its disbandment was expected. This was a decision that the commander could make alone without consulting them, but he still had to express his opinion.

"Don't worry, Commander. Just lay off whoever you want. If anyone dares to cause trouble, I'll beat them up!"

"That's not necessary."

Shishan sighed, his tone becoming somewhat somber.

"You shed blood and fought alongside me, yet I couldn't even protect your families, leaving them to suffer displacement and nearly be captured by friendly forces to be forced into hard labor. I, Shi, am utterly incompetent and filled with shame!" "Commander! I—"

Wu and Zeng felt a lump in their throats, wanting to say something but unable to utter a word.

Why didn't they want to be law-abiding citizens and live out their lives peacefully with their families? The imperial court is inhumane, and so is the man from Xiao County, but can we blame the commander for this? We can only blame this messed-up world.

Seeing that the atmosphere was just right, Shishan revealed his plan.

"Although we have taken Hong County and killed a few wealthy families, freeing up some land, we are under pressure from the government troops advancing to suppress us, and Xue Xian is coming to reap the benefits. We don't know how long we can stay in Hong County. I cannot give you land to buy property."

The "Red Heart Battalion" was not a monolithic entity. Not to mention the private rivalries between the battalions, some lower-ranking soldiers complained that the management was too strict. Wu Liujin had heard some of these complaints, but these were minor matters and there was no need to distract the commander.

"We've been following the commander, and we're already very satisfied with the fact that we get enough to eat every day, receive generous rewards, and get to eat meat every five or ten days. We don't dare to ask for more."

"Six catties, don't just say nice things, I'm not confused yet."

Shi Shan stopped Wu Liujin from speaking and continued:
“Only those with stable property can have a stable mind. You risk your lives to fight the enemy, but your families are wandering around with the army, without property, employment, or a foundation. If something happens to you one day, how can you face your families?”

On the battlefield, swords and spears have no eyes; no one can guarantee that there will be a tomorrow after today. Wu Liujin and Zeng Xing also had this concern.

"What does 'thousand households' mean?"

"I want to use the laid-off station staff and disabled veterans as a base, absorb some craftsmen, and form a veterans' association to undertake the production of military equipment, clothing and camp supplies. I will pay them according to the orders, and the more they produce, the more they will earn."

The majority of the "Red Heart Battalion's" armor and tents were obtained from captured weapons, with the remainder mainly coming from donations from wealthy households. The scale of self-production and external purchases was very small.

This support model is extremely unstable and lacks quality assurance, which has seriously affected the expansion speed of the "Red Heart Camp".

The establishment of the Veterans Association is imperative, and once established, there will certainly be an endless stream of orders. Wu Liujin is worried that with only a few hundred elderly, weak, women and children, how much of a role can it play?
"Although our station households may have some skills, they are all rudimentary. We can manage to sew and mend, but training bows and making armor would be a waste of materials and might ruin the important task of the commander."

Shishan was aware of this and had already devised a countermeasure.

"Don't worry about that. Veterans and families of soldiers who have lost their land can all join the cooperative. There won't be a shortage of people in the future. In the early stages, we'll only make clothing and camp equipment to accumulate experience. Do you remember how we rushed to make military uniforms back in Chulan?"

"Does 'thousand households' mean to break down the production process?"

"Yes, breaking down the processes and standardizing procedures can reduce the difficulty of the process and improve production efficiency. With strict training and operating procedures, even the elderly, weak, women and children can handle many processes."

The efficiency of modern enterprise production models is incomparable to that of manual workshop production.

Initially, the Veterans Affairs Company only accepted military orders. Once it was on track and developed the corresponding machinery and equipment, it could gradually expand its production capacity and then switch to producing civilian goods.

At that time, Shishan will no longer be supporting the veterans' society, but will instead be providing strong support for its conquest of the world.

Wu Liujin didn't understand these things, but he could still sense its enormous potential.

"If that's the case, my son Hu can also do a lot for the commander."

Shi Shan shook his head and laughed:
"Even if we're short-handed, we can't ruin the children. Children only work for two hours a day, and the rest of the time they need to learn to read and do math. When we conquer the world, we can't just leave it all to outsiders to guard, can we?"

(End of this chapter)