Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather-Chapter 295 - 286

"Training soldiers requires armaments, I’ve written to Han Cheng before the year-end; he will arrange for a group of craftsmen to come over after some time, Zhou Ren, you will be responsible for arranging these craftsmen when the time comes!" Yang Zhenshan looked towards Zhou Ren who stood by his side.

"Your subordinate obeys!" Zhou Ren stepped forward, solemnly accepting the command.

"Crafting armaments also requires iron mines; I will apply to the Governor’s Mansion for a batch of iron mines. Han Fei, you will liaise with the Governor’s Mansion then!" Yang Zhenshan continued to instruct.

"Yes!"

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, continuing his instructions: "Xie Yuan, you are responsible for farming and building houses, no problem, right?"

"No problem!" Xie Yuan replied with a smile.

While in An Yuan City, these responsibilities were his; continuing to handle these matters, he was well acquainted with the tasks.

"Song Dashan, you are in charge of Guard City’s defenses and soldier training!"

"Yes!"

"As for you all!" Yang Zhenshan then looked at Wu Chongzhe, Yang Mingzhi, Luo Feiyu, and Yang Mingzhen, "Both sides need your cooperation, and you also need to keep a close watch on the thousand households. I don’t want anyone making trouble in the thousand households again!"

"Uh, Ming Hao, you are the Town Governor, you must take charge of supervising the thousand households. It’s best if you can make an example out of a few to warn the others!"

Yang Zhenshan couldn’t predict external matters, but internally, he absolutely wouldn’t allow anyone to stir up trouble.

"Hehe, rest assured, sir, I will keep a close watch on them!" Yang Minghao chuckled.

Those he referred to were officials from the previous Guardian Department and those Deputy Thousand Households and Hundred Households who had served in the Tenglong Advanced Guard before.

"Very good!" Yang Zhenshan nodded in satisfaction, "Gentlemen, let us now work hard together."

With the meeting concluded, the nearly rebuilt Guardian Department of Tenglong Guard finally began its operations.

After a month of adjustments before the year-end, the Guardian Department, although still short-staffed, could operate normally.

That very day, Yang Zhenshan personally wrote a request for the iron mines and sent someone to deliver it to the Capital City.

Tenglong Guard was directly under the Central Army Commander’s Mansion, which had its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was that there was only one office above them, the Central Army Commander’s Mansion, with no need to handle supervision from other offices, and given the distance from the Capital City, the Emperor was far away, giving Yang Zhenshan greater autonomy in many matters.

However, the disadvantage was also because the Central Army Commander’s Mansion was far in the Capital City; sending a document took more than ten days, involving tasks that Yang Zhenshan couldn’t decide on his own or needed the cooperation of the Central Army Commander’s Mansion, which was time-consuming.

While the application for the iron mines was still in process, An Yuan City had already sent over a hundred craftsmen.

Yang Zhenshan’s instructions were naturally not taken lightly by Han Cheng, the craftsmen he selected were the best from the garrison office of An Yuan City, all seasoned masters in crafting armaments.

However, Han Cheng couldn’t neglect the public duties of the garrison office just to help Yang Zhenshan.

In fact, the garrison office really didn’t need so many craftsmen — when Yang Zhenshan left An Yuan City, the garrison office had already stocked up plenty of armaments. Even though Yang Zhenshan took armaments for five hundred soldiers, Han Cheng could still re-equip a new garrison with the armaments stored in the warehouse.

The arrival of over a hundred craftsmen kept Zhou Ren extremely busy.

He was responsible for all the needs of these craftsmen, even the construction of the forging workshop’s facilities, fortunately, Zhou Ren was familiar with these tasks. Although busy, he was organized and efficient.

On the sixteenth day of the first month, Luo Zhen sent two hundred oxen from Chongshan Pass.

Since last year’s victorious campaign against the East Sea Hu Clan, oxen and sheep in Chongshan Town had become somewhat excessively abundant. Although it’s been more than half a year since then, many places in Chongshan Town were still accumulating oxen and sheep.

After all, they numbered in the hundreds of thousands; even just transporting them out of Chongshan Town would take a considerable amount of time.

Now, the prices for oxen, sheep, and war horses in Chongshan Town were still reasonable; buying plowing oxen from Chongshan Town was definitely a good deal.

These two hundred oxen were just the first batch, and Yang Zhenshan had ordered a total of eight hundred plowing oxen, which would gradually arrive in the following days.

As the oxen were delivered to the thousand households and villages below, soldiers of the Tenglong Guard once again felt the difference from the past.

At the same time, this added to their recognition and respect for Yang Zhenshan, the new Commander, and the officers of the Guardian Department.

Change happens from the top down; respect is accrued bit by bit.

On the twenty-second day of the first month, Yang Zhenshan finally received a response from the Central Army Commander’s Mansion, granting permission for Tenglong Guard to forge armaments and equip the soldiers; additionally, the Central Army Commander’s Mansion had allocated a batch of iron mines from Chongshan Town to Tenglong Guard.

On the eighth day of the second month, the first batch of iron mines was transported from Chongshan Town to Tenglong Guard.

At this time, Chongshan Town was undergoing major personnel changes— the new General of Chongshan Town was the former Vice General, Ji Feiyu, and the new Vice General of Chongshan Town was the former Assistant General of Jinzhou Guard of Chongshan Town.

The former guerrilla generals of the original Garrison Camp were successively promoted to Assistant General, while other Assistant Generals, similar to Wang Bin, were reassigned from Chongshan Pass, serving as Vice Generals in other border towns.

However, amidst the high-level shuffle, the most essential person remained unchanged, and that was the Chongshan Town Governor, Lu Chongde.

In principle, the Governor should rank above the General, but previously with Liang Chu as a super-ranked Marquis, Lu Chongde had a clear division of duties with him: one managed military affairs, the other managed civil affairs. During wartime, one took charge of battlefield command while the other handled logistical support, and the two coordinated well.

While Ji Feiyu has been promoted to General, he is not a noble, and naturally, Lu Chongde has him under his thumb.

Therefore, Chongshan Town is currently under the control of Lu Chongde.

Lu Chongde’s capabilities are well-known, and his control over the overall situation in Chongshan Town is also beneficial to Yang Zhenshan.

Although Yang Zhenshan has left Chongshan Town, it does not mean he is no longer connected to it.

He is from Chongshan Town, bearing its mark, and not to mention, many members of the Yang clan are still in Chongshan Town.

Thus, Yang Zhenshan still holds influence there.

Although Yang Zhenshan and Lu Chongde have never met, Lu Chongde would certainly show Yang Zhenshan some courtesy, especially since Lu Chongde benefited from the military achievements Yang Zhenshan had established.

It is this very relationship that has made Chongshan Town so cooperative in transporting iron ore to Tenglong Guard this time.

With the iron ore, the armory workshop of the Guardian Department can start working.

In February, the weather in Liaodong was gradually warming up, and construction of housing could begin during the day, starting with the military households whose homes had collapsed due to heavy snow.

Nanling Village.

Yang Zhenshan visited this unremarkable little village again with his personal followers.

"Subordinate Zhang Hu pays his respects to your excellency!"

As soon as Yang Zhenshan entered the village, Zhang Hu, covered in mud, came forward to greet him.

"Um!"

Yang Zhenshan nodded and looked around the village.

At that moment, many military households were busy building houses; men, women, young, and old were all lending a hand, making the scene quite lively.

He dismounted and casually asked, "Is everything ready?"

"Your Excellency, everything is prepared, and we will officially start the work today!" Zhang Hu said with a smile.

Yang Zhenshan looked calm, "Where are your planning diagrams?"

Zhang Hu immediately took out a piece of paper from his bosom, "Your Excellency, this is the planning diagram for Nanling Village!"

It was a simple sketch with rows of houses and courtyards.

Since the entire village was to be overhauled, Yang Zhenshan naturally did not want the future thousand household stations and garrisons to remain a mess. Comprehensive planning was essential.

Yang Zhenshan glanced at the planning diagram and slightly nodded, "Not bad, we must ensure the roads within the village are accessible, but also ensure the garrison has sufficient defensive capabilities!"

For a garrison like Nanling Garrison, it wasn’t necessary to build external walls, but not building walls didn’t mean it couldn’t be enclosed.

With over thirty households neatly arranged, using the houses and courtyard walls as outer walls and blocking other routes, leaving only four exits on the east, west, south, and north would suffice.

A garrison should look like a garrison, not just any village.

Yang Zhenshan walked into the village, and the busy military households greeted him with fists clasped.

"Greetings, your Excellency! Greetings, your Excellency!"

"Um, don’t mind me, continue with your work," Yang Zhenshan responded warmly.

Compared to his last visit, there was a significant change in the military households of Nanling Village; their smiles had increased, their spirits had improved, their complexions were no longer sallow but more rosy, and there seemed to be a renewed vigor in everyone, even their voices sounded much clearer.

The last time he was here, although the military households also paid their respects, they were mostly silent, as if speaking was a luxury.

Such changes were undoubtedly positive and exactly what Yang Zhenshan wanted.

After checking the military households building their houses, Yang Zhenshan showed concern for their spring plowing, "Are there any issues with your farming tools and oxen?"

"Rest assured, Your Excellency, the oxen are all well, and everyone cherishes the oxen provided by the government office, even feeding them with their own grain," Zhang Hu replied, his smile bright.

For military and farming households, an ox is more crucial than a healthy man.

It’s not that human life is less valuable than that of an ox, but that an ox greatly aids in farming.

"And the seeds?" Yang Zhenshan continued.

"Our seeds are all new grains from last year, and they have been well-preserved!" Zhang Hu said.

Yang Zhenshan nodded, and after walking around the village with no issues found, he left with his personal followers.

After leaving Nanling Village, he also toured several thousand households and garrisons around the Guard City to understand the situation.

Overall, he was quite satisfied with the current situation at Tenglong Guard. Although the foundation of the military households was thin, they were obedient. As long as some benefits were provided, they would loyally follow and work diligently.

After the previous grain distribution and now starting house construction, the military households naturally held deep gratitude towards Yang Zhenshan, hence they were dedicated and diligent in their tasks.