Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

After Wang Bin returned from Chongshan Pass, he immediately summoned officials from all his departments to gather at the General's Office. This time, Yang Zhengshan was eligible to participate.

As the General of Songzhou Guard in the East Road of Chongshan Town, Wang Bin had two reinforcement battalions and five garrison battalions under his command, with a total strength of about 11,000 soldiers.

In addition, he also had Songzhou Guard, Songzhou Vanguard, Songzhou Rear Guard, and three garrisons, with about 15,000 garrison troops.

Of course, this was the normal strength, and there were not so many in reality.

The phenomenon of empty salaries in Chongshan Town was serious before. Under normal circumstances, a garrison battalion of 1,000 people could have 500 people, which was considered good, and there were many old, weak, sick and disabled people among these 500 people.

As for the garrisons of various garrisons, there was also a serious shortage of garrisons, and the garrison fields were occupied by officials, causing a large number of military personnel to flee.

In fact, compared with other garrison offices, the former Anyuan City Garrison Office was already good, at least there was not much shortage in the number of soldiers.

The reason for this is that the previous garrison commander Cao Han looked down on the small profits of eating empty salaries and put all his thoughts on smuggling.

Now the various departments of Chongshan Town have recovered a lot, but there are still some shortages in the number of soldiers.

At present, the troops under Wang Bin are about 80% of the total establishment, that is, there are about 10,000 battalion soldiers and about 13,000 garrison soldiers.

After arriving at the General's Mansion, Yang Zhengshan found that many officials had already arrived.

Everyone was greeting and being polite.

Yang Zhengshan was not isolated, but many people greeted him enthusiastically.

Although everyone usually has their own duties and does not work in the same city, they occasionally meet each other, and it is no problem to get to know each other.

Yang Zhengshan is not unfamiliar with these officials.

As for why these officials are particularly enthusiastic about him, the reason is the marriage between the Yang family and the Marquis' Mansion.

It is this group of people who are envious, jealous and hate, and it is also this group of people who flatter and flatter.

Yang Zhengshan exchanged pleasantries with the group of people and came to Tan Jingtai's side.

"Mr. Tan doesn't seem to like dealing with colleagues!" Yang Zhengshan saw Tan Jingtai in the corner and smiled.

Tan Jingtai curled his lips and said, "It's not that I don't want to, it's that these guys look down on me!"

He is old, and it is a blessing to be able to get the position of commander of Songzhou Guard. He has no future to speak of.

This is a well-known fact, so naturally no one will come to please him deliberately.

Of course, there is also a reason why Tan Jingtai is unwilling to be hypocritically polite with these people. If he is willing, he can still integrate into it.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and turned to look at a middle-aged man next to him, "How is Mr. Nian recently?"

Nian Luyao, another commander of Songzhou Guard, is the person who took over Tan Jingtai's position after Tan Jingtai was promoted to commander.

"Thank you Mr. Yang for your concern, everything is fine!" Nian Luyao said with a smile.

This Mr. Nian is not a simple person. He was originally the commander of Pingshan Guard in Ludong. He was promoted for his meritorious service in suppressing bandits and came to Chongshan Town.

Although Nian Luyao was only a military officer in the interior before, he showed strong ability after coming to Songzhou Guard.

Yang Zhengshan and Nian Luyao are real colleagues. Both of them are the commanders of Songzhou Guard. They have dealt with each other a lot before. Although they are not close friends, they have maintained a good relationship.

The three of them gathered together and chatted casually. After about two quarters of an hour, Wang Bin came late.

Everyone greeted each other. Wang Bin sat in the main seat and swept his eyes over everyone.

"I believe you have also received the news. Don't talk too much. Let me get down to business!"

"From today on, you must be ready to go to war at any time. When the military order is issued, you will go to war! If you are slack, you will be punished by military law!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone's mind couldn't help but shudder.

Military orders are like mountains, and military law is ruthless.

Today is different from the past. In the past, they had a chance to maneuver if they violated military orders, but now everything is different.

Everyone understands that Chongshan Town is no longer the Chongshan Town of the past.

If it is a military punishment, then it is a military punishment.

Then Wang Bin learned about the situation of the garrisons in each city.

The reinforcement camp is under his control, and he knows the situation very well, so he doesn't need to ask more.

However, his understanding of the garrisons in each city is very limited. He knows the general situation, but he doesn't know much about the details.

The garrisons of each city reported the situation under their command, including how many soldiers can fight, whether the weapons and armor are complete, how many war horses there are, how much food and grass there are, etc.

This is the time to show the family background, and whoever has a thin family background will be embarrassed.

After listening to the replies of several garrisons in a row, Wang Bin's face was not very good.

It is not a simple matter to withdraw the garrison camp, because the garrison camp is responsible for the city defense, and even if it is withdrawn, it cannot affect the city defense.

Of course, the garrison office can also mobilize the garrison troops to temporarily replace the garrison battalion to take charge of the city defense task.

But not all garrison offices can mobilize garrison troops at any time like Anyuan City.

The garrison troops are also responsible for farming. If it affects farming, it is better not to mobilize them.

The previous answers from several garrisons to Wang Bin were that they could only mobilize 500 to 600 people, which is the strength of a battalion.

"Lord Yang, what is the situation in Anyuan City?"

Wang Bin was very dissatisfied with several garrisons, and he wanted to hear some good news at this time.

Yang Zhengshan felt a little depressed.

It feels a bit like slapping someone in the face if he says it at this time.

Everyone is the same, but you stand out. Aren't you embarrassing everyone?

"This, General, our Anyuan City garrison camp can go to war at any time!"

Yang Zhengshan said with restraint.

He did not say how many combat soldiers, war horses, and armors the Anyuan City garrison camp had.

If this were said, it would make other colleagues look down.

However, Wang Bin was obviously not a person who was easy to fool. He asked directly: "How many troops can your garrison camp draw, how many cavalry, and how many armored soldiers!"

There is no need to say much about cavalry. This armored soldier is not just a set of cotton armor.

The armor of Darong soldiers can be roughly divided into three types. The first type is the more common cotton armor, which is to sew iron sheets on cotton cloth. Cotton armor is simple to manufacture, cheap, and has a certain warmth effect, so it is most common in Chongshan Town.

The second type is leather armor, which is leather connected with iron sheets. Its characteristics are lightness and strong protection. The manufacturing cost is much higher than cotton armor, but it is not expensive. It is mainly used for light cavalry.

The third type is metal armor, which includes iron armor, copper armor, and armor made of rare special metals. Metal armor is heavy, the manufacturing process is extremely complicated, the cost is extremely high, and the maintenance cost is also extremely high. Generally, only military officers of higher grades can wear it.

For example, the Jinqishan armor that Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan is a set of iron armor with extremely strong protection.

In the garrison camp, cotton armor is the basic configuration of soldiers, so the number of armor Wang Bin asked about is definitely not cotton armor.

Wang Bin asked this, and Yang Zhengshan could no longer hide his shortcomings, so he could only honestly reply: "Reply to the general, there are currently 1,112 combat soldiers in the Anyuan City garrison camp, including 300 leather armor cavalry, 200 iron armor infantry, and the rest are all cotton armor infantry!"

This number doesn't sound much, but in the ears of other garrisons, it's like hearing something incredible.

Three hundred cavalry, two hundred iron armor infantry.

What a concept.

A batch of war horses cost between thirty and one hundred taels of silver, and they were not the top-grade war horses.

The war horses for three hundred cavalrymen alone cost fifteen thousand taels of silver.

Iron armor was even more expensive, and it was not simply expensive. It was not just about silver that could make iron armor, but also required a large number of skilled blacksmiths.

It would take a skilled blacksmith about a month to make a set of real iron armor.

If a few apprentices were brought along, it would take more than half a month.

Two hundred sets of iron armor would take at least a dozen skilled blacksmiths several years to make.

This would not be a big deal if it was placed in the shogunate, but it would still be difficult to complete in a small garrison office, after all, the garrison office did not have many craftsmen.

And Yang Zhengshan not only had two hundred sets of iron armor, but also equipped three hundred cavalrymen with leather armor, which definitely cost no less than thirty thousand taels of silver.

Where did a garrison office get so much silver?

This was the most incredible part.

Facing the suspicious eyes, Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard helplessly.

It was not easy for him to save this much wealth.

When he first arrived in Anyuan City, the weapons and armor of the Anyuan City Garrison Camp were quite complete, but they were not rich.

Now he can save so much wealth, all thanks to his persistence and hard work.

In order to ask for war horses, food, weapons, iron ingots, etc., he has been running to Jiacheng many times.

Wang Bin and Tan Jingtai have been entangled by him.

Even Xu Jin was harassed by him.

Of course, it is precisely because these three people have provided him with food and various materials many times that he can save so much wealth.

As for blacksmiths, it is much simpler. Three years ago, he asked the Luo family to help train blacksmiths and carpenters. Now three years have passed, and the harvest is still great.

Now the Anyuan City Garrison Office has two complete iron armor production lines and one leather armor production line.

Almost ten sets of iron armor and twenty sets of leather armor can be produced every month.

If it weren't for the lack of time, Yang Zhengshan wanted all the soldiers in the garrison camp to wear leather armor.

It's a bit unrealistic to change all of them into iron armor, but leather armor is still okay.

Wang Bin finally smiled on his ugly face after hearing what Yang Zhengshan said.

He knew much more about the Anyuan City Garrison Camp than the garrison camps of other cities. After all, Wang Sheng had always been the captain of the Anyuan City Garrison Camp.

He knew the family background of the Anyuan City Garrison Camp in general.

Otherwise, he would not have allocated food, silver, and supplies to Yang Zhengshan many times.

Because he knew that Yang Zhengshan would use the supplies he gave for the right reasons, unlike other people who always wanted to make a profit.

"Very good!" Wang Bin nodded with satisfaction.

He didn't make too many comments, just simply said it was very good, and then talked about the preparations for the expedition.

Make different requirements according to the reports of each garrison camp, and make arrangements for supplies at the same time.

The specific expedition plan has not yet been determined, or perhaps it has been determined, but it is not yet time to make it public.

In a word, prepare for the battle and wait for military orders. If you slack off, you will be punished by military law.