The Humble Family's Daughter Has A Spatial Pocket!-Chapter 1064 - 887, Recruitment of Soldiers

After the Dragon Boat Festival, construction of the second military stronghold in Gan State Guard began.

Xiao Yeyang kept the construction of the military town a secret from the local guard; many officials had backing from other powers, and before regaining control of the Dan River, he did not want it to become common knowledge.

He understood that there were many in the Gan State Guard who did not recognize his authority; there was no helping it, even though he held the appointment letter from the Five Armies Capital Protectorate, his official rank was still too low.

Taking back the Dan River would be his first step in establishing a firm foothold in Xiliang.

"Why are you frowning again?"

Daohua, carrying a bowl of milk tea, walked into the study and saw Xiao Yeyang with a deep furrow in his brow, standing in front of a sand table.

Xiao Yeyang took the milk tea from Daohua and drank it in a few gulps, "Adding tea leaves to this milk gets rid of the gamey taste; it tastes much better."

Daohua laughed, "I’m glad you like it. Since we’ve come to Xiliang, you’ve been busy every day. In the long run, even the strongest bodies can’t cope. From now on, you should drink a bowl of milk every day; it’s good for your health."

Xiao Yeyang smiled, "I’ll listen to you."

Daohua, still smiling, continued, "Do you remember those two black and white cows we bought? Let me tell you, we were really lucky. The female cow gave birth to a calf not long after we bought her, and then she started producing milk. The milk tea you just drank was from that cow."

"This cow produces an astonishing amount of milk, about sixty to seventy jin a day, though of course, she eats quite a lot too."

Xiao Yeyang appeared surprised, "That much?"

Daohua nodded, lifting her eyebrows proudly, "Not bad for my eye for cattle, right?"

Xiao Yeyang looked at Daohua affectionately, boasting, "Yes, you have the best eye. Otherwise, how could you have chosen me?"

Daohua was tickled into laughter, and Xiao Yeyang’s mood improved as well.

After they joked for a bit, Daohua looked at the sand table, "What were you worrying about just now?"

Xiao Yeyang’s gaze returned to the sand table, he sighed, "Worrying about horses, and also soldiers." Speaking, he pulled Daohua toward the table and chairs beside them and sat down with her in his arms.

"The Gan State Guard here raises about a thousand horses, and there are five hundred in the barracks. Plus the five hundred we bought back from the Xiliao, that makes about two thousand horses in total for the Gan State Guard."

"I want to form a cavalry of five thousand men, but excluding the horses the army and the guard need to keep in reserve, at best, we can only gather a force of a thousand men. That’s four thousand horses less than what I had hoped for."

"Also, there are not enough border soldiers."

"After Ganxuan Town is completed, we need to leave a group of soldiers to garrison the military town. After the second military town is built, we will have to leave another group to garrison it, and then there will be even fewer troops we can mobilize."

Daohua pondered, "This lack of horses... we could think of a way to gather them, but the lack of soldiers..."

The fact was, the common people were very resistant to becoming soldiers; very few would willingly join the ranks, and typically soldiers were conscripted forcefully when there was a shortage during wartime. But Xiao Yeyang was hesitant to employ such measures.

Firstly, they had just arrived at Gan State Guard and their control over the area was far from sufficient; a sudden conscription might cause unrest.

Secondly, there was no proper justification for conscription.

Thirdly, open conscription would certainly have to be reported to the Commandant Office.

Lastly, due to constant military disruptions and chronic food shortages, the population of the Gan State Guard was not large, and conscription could leave some families without any adult male labor.

Xiao Yeyang tapped his fingers on the table, "The border army of the Gan State Guard is supposed to be at fifty thousand men to be considered fully staffed, but currently, there are only about forty thousand."

"I am preparing to send a letter to the Commander of Xiliang, asking him to top up the border army. You go prepare some gifts later, and I will have someone deliver them together."

Daohua nodded in agreement, "Alright." Then she paused, "After coming back from Bamu Town last time, I sent a letter to Beijing and asked Xiaoliu to send some tea leaves over. By my calculations, they should arrive by the end of this month."

"That horse dealer, Mr. Ma, seemed sharp. You could let him put the word out that we want to trade tea for horses; I’m sure some Xiliao people would be interested."

Xiao Yeyang smiled as he looked at Daohua, "You seem to think of more than I do, but... there’s no hurry. It’s already mid-May, and the crops in your terraced fields are growing quite well. I believe it won’t be long before someone comes looking for me."

The other guard offices, being distant, didn’t pay much attention to the Gan State Guard, but the neighboring Jinwei Guard and Lanwu Guard kept a close watch.

He had deployed the Jinling Guard he brought with him to gather intelligence across the various guard offices, and it did not take him long to learn that the Commanders of Jinwei and Lanwu Guards had set their sights on the high-yield crops.

Given that the high-yield crops would certainly be insufficient, those two Commanders would not wait until the harvest news spread in the autumn before coming to ask for the seeds.

Xiao Yeyang had just been figuring out a strategy while staring at the sand table; he planned to use the high-yield crops to exchange for horses and border soldiers from Jinwei Guard and Lanwu Guard.

Of course, this was contingent on the military orders from the Bureau of the Five Armies being issued.

The plan to build a military stronghold at the junction between Xiliang and Xiliao had been reported to the Emperor by Xiao Yeyang before he came to Xiliang, and after hearing it, the Emperor had nodded in agreement.

Upon seeing that Xiao Yeyang already had a plan, Daohua refrained from saying more. She wouldn’t interfere in official matters but would do her best to prepare extra supplies to have on hand when necessary.

...

Although there were not enough horses, Xiao Yeyang didn’t just sit around waiting; he started training a cavalry troop of a thousand men.

Su Hongxin was also among them. Having trained in a military camp at Ningmen Pass with Xiao Yeyang when they were younger, both his horsemanship and archery were quite good. After evaluating him, Xiao Yeyang appointed him as a squad leader.

Promotion among the officers depended on military achievements. Where Su Hongxin’s career would lead to in the future was up to his own abilities.

Commandant Office.

Wei Hong had just received Xiao Yeyang’s letter and fell silent for a while before summoning several of his trusted subordinates, "The Gan State Guard is short by ten thousand men; Xiao Yeyang has written to us, requesting we make up the numbers."

An Investigator at the Commandant Office immediately retorted with a cold huff, "Just because he asks us to make up the numbers, must we comply? Does he think this is Beijing where everyone has to listen to him?"

"Exactly."

Two others hurriedly agreed.

Wei Hong then turned to his legal advisor, "Master Xu, what do you think?"

After pondering for a moment, Master Xu said, "My lord, Xiao Yeyang is a member of the Imperial Family, and he can contact the Emperor directly. We cannot ignore him or shirk responsibility as we might with others."

Upon this remark, the room fell silent.

Yes, if someone else had come asking for troops, they could have simply ignored the request. After all, Wei Hong was in charge of the entire Xiliang region, and there was no way to file a complaint.

But Xiao Yeyang was different; he could take the matter straight to the Emperor.

If the Emperor came to know of it, the situation would escalate greatly.

Wei Hong frowned, "Is Master Xu suggesting that we make up the numbers for Xiao Yeyang?"

Before Master Xu could speak, the Investigator who had spoken earlier spoke up again, "Where are we supposed to find ten thousand soldiers?"

"Thanks to Xiao Yeyang, the Xiliao people used to mainly invade the Gan State Guard and Jinwei Guard in the western defensive zones. Ever since he led his men to kill a troop of Xiliao cavalry, the Xiliao have now started invading the eastern defensive zones."

"This has involved several guards along the border with Xiliao, and now each guard is short-staffed."

Wei Hong lapsed into silence for a moment, "Since Xiao Yeyang has written to us, we cannot fail to respond," he said, then looked at Master Xu, "Master Xu, do you have any solutions?"

Master Xu didn’t reply immediately. He thought about the meeting with his friend Wang Qi a few days earlier, struggled internally for a moment, and then raised his eyes to Wei Hong.

"My lord, it is certainly not feasible to pull troops from other areas for the Gan State Guard. However, if my lord refuses to make up the numbers for the Gan State Guard and Xiao Yeyang truly reports this to the Emperor, my lord could likely face reprimand. In my humble opinion, perhaps we could let Xiao Yeyang recruit soldiers himself."

Upon hearing the suggestion of letting Xiao Yeyang recruit his own soldiers, a look of reluctance crossed Wei Hong’s face, but his confidants felt it was a good idea.

An Investigator laughed, "My lord, isn’t Xiao Yeyang very wealthy? Just let him recruit his own soldiers; as many as he wants. This way, we won’t need to reassign soldiers from other guards, and we can shut him up and prevent him from snitching to the Emperor. It’s killing two birds with one stone."

Wei Hong was silent for a long while but ultimately nodded in agreement.

He couldn’t possibly allocate silver to the Gan State Guard. He knew all too well how poor the Gan State Guard was. If Xiao Yeyang wanted to recruit soldiers, he would have to pay out of his own pocket. Even if he were extremely wealthy, how long could he sustain it?

Master Xu breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself, Wang Qi, Wang Qi, for your suggestion, I’ve gone against my own principles and given Wei Hong such a dubious idea.

He hoped that the Princely Heir from Beijing could truly change Xiliang as Wang Qi had said.

...

Xiao Residence.

Xiao Yeyang received the reply from the Commandant Office and after reading it, a trace of surprise flashed across his eyes.

Recruit soldiers on his own...

Before finding coal mines, perhaps this wouldn’t have been possible, but with the income from the coal mines, it was enough to sustain tens of thousands of soldiers.