Chapter 222: Showing Family Assets

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

As the lieutenant general of Songzhou Guard on the east route 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 three garrisons: Songzhou Guard, Songzhou Vanguard, and Songzhou Rear Guard, with a total of about 15,000 troops stationed there.

Of course, this is the normal number of troops, and there are not actually that many.

In the past, the problem of ghost soldiers in Chongshan Town was serious. Under normal circumstances, it was considered good for a garrison battalion of 1,000 people to have 500 people, and among these 500 people, there were many old, weak, sick and disabled people.

As for the military garrisons in various garrisons, there was also a serious shortage of manpower, and the military farms were occupied by officials, causing a large number of soldiers to flee.

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

The reason for this is that the previous garrison commander Cao Han looked down upon the small profits from drawing a salary without doing any work, and focused all his attention on smuggling.

Now, the various units in Chongshan Town have recovered a lot, but there is still a shortage of soldiers.

Currently, the troops under Wang Bin's command account for about 80% of the total establishment, that is, there are about 10,000 battalion soldiers and about 13,000 garrison troops.

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

Everyone was greeting each other and being polite.

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

Although we all have our own jobs and don't work in the same city on weekdays, we still run into each other occasionally and it's not a problem to get to know each other.

Yang Zhengshan was no stranger to these officials.

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

This group of people are envious, jealous and hateful, and this group of people are also the ones who try to please and flatter.

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

"Lord Tan doesn't seem to like dealing with his colleagues!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile when he saw Tan Jingtai in the corner.

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 already old, and it is a blessing for him 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 would come to please him deliberately.

Of course, this is also because Tan Jingtai is unwilling to be hypocritically polite with these people. If he is willing, he can still integrate into them.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and turned to look at a middle-aged man next to him, "Mr. Nian, how are you these days?"

Nian Luyao was another commander-in-chief of Songzhou Guard. He was the person who succeeded Tan Jingtai as commander-in-chief after Tan Jingtai was promoted to commander-in-chief.

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

This young man was no simple man. He was originally the deputy 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 mainland before, the abilities he demonstrated after coming to Songzhou Wei were still very strong.

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

The three of them gathered together and chatted casually. About quarter of an hour later, Wang Bin finally arrived.

Everyone greeted each other. Wang Bin sat in the main seat and glanced at everyone.

"I believe you have all received the news. Let's stop talking nonsense and get straight to business!"

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

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's hearts could not help but shudder.

Military orders are as heavy as a mountain and military law is ruthless.

Things are different now. In the past, they still had a chance to maneuver if they disobeyed military orders, but now everything is different.

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

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

Wang Bin then learned about the defense situation of each city.

The reinforcement camp was under his control and he knew the situation very well, so he didn't need to ask any more questions.

However, his understanding of the garrison camps in each city was very limited. He knew the general situation, but he did not know the details.

The garrisons of each city reported the situation of their subordinates, including how many soldiers were available for combat, whether the weapons and armor were complete, how many war horses there were, how much food and fodder there were, etc.

This is the time to show off one's financial resources. Whoever has less financial resources will be embarrassed.

After listening to several replies from the garrisons, Wang Bin's face looked a little unhappy.

It is not an easy task to withdraw the garrison battalion, because the garrison battalion is responsible for the defense of the city, and even if it is withdrawn, it cannot affect the defense of the city.

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

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

The soldiers stationed in the garrisons are also responsible for the military farming. If it affects the military farming, it is better not to withdraw them.

The previous reply given to Wang Bin by several garrisons was that they could only mobilize five to six hundred men, which was equivalent to a battalion's worth of troops.

"Master Yang, what's the situation in Anyuan City?"

Wang Bin was very dissatisfied with several garrisons and wanted to hear some good news.

Yang Zhengshan felt a little depressed. Asking him to speak at this time felt like a slap in the face.

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

"Well, General, our Anyuan City garrison battalion is ready to go into battle at any time!"

Yang Zhengshan said while holding it.

He did not say how many combat-capable soldiers, war horses, or armor the Anyuan City garrison had.

If I say this out loud, I will make my other colleagues look inferior.

However, Wang Bin was obviously not someone who could be easily fooled, and he asked directly: "How many troops can your garrison camp mobilize, how many cavalry, how many armored soldiers!"

There is no need to say much about the cavalry. It is not enough for these armored soldiers to just have a set of cotton armor.

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

The second type is leather armor, which is made of leather connected with iron plates. It is light and has 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 thick and heavy, with extremely complicated manufacturing process, extremely high cost, and extremely high maintenance cost. Generally, only high-ranking military officers can wear it.

For example, the gold-lacquered mountain-patterned armor that Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan is a set of iron armor with extremely strong protective power.

In the garrison camp, cotton armor is the basic equipment for soldiers, so the armor Wang Bin asked about was definitely not cotton armor.

Wang Bin asked this question, so Yang Zhengshan had no choice but to answer honestly: "General, there are currently 1,112 combat-ready soldiers in the Anyuan City garrison camp, including 300 leather-armored cavalry, 200 iron-armored infantry, and the rest are cotton-armored infantry!"

This number may not sound like a lot, but to the other guards it sounded like something incredible.

Three hundred cavalry and two hundred armored infantry.

What is this concept.

A batch of war horses costs between thirty and one hundred taels of silver, and they are not even the top-quality ones.

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

Iron armor is more expensive, and not just simply expensive. Forging iron armor requires more than just silver. It also requires a large number of highly skilled blacksmiths.

It takes a skilled blacksmith about a month to forge a set of real iron armor.

If you bring a few apprentices with you, it will take more than half a month.

It would take at least a dozen highly skilled blacksmiths several years to make two hundred sets of armor.

This would not be a big deal in the Shogun's office, but it would be difficult to accomplish in a small garrison office, after all, the garrison office did not employ many craftsmen.

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

Where did a garrison get so much silver?

This is the most incredible part.

Faced with a crowd of suspicious looks, Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard helplessly.

It wasn't easy for him to accumulate this much wealth.

When we first arrived at Anyuan City, the weapons and armor of the Anyuan City garrison camp were relatively complete, but not rich.

The reason why he has accumulated so much wealth today is all due to his perseverance and hard work.

War horses, food, armor, iron ingots, etc. In order to ask for all kinds of supplies, he went to Jiacheng many times.

Wang Bin and Tan Jingtai were often harassed by him.

Even Xu Jin was fed up with his harassment.

Of course, it was precisely because these three people provided him with food and various supplies many times that he was able to accumulate so much wealth.

As for blacksmiths and the like, this is much simpler. Three years ago, he asked the Luo family to help train blacksmiths and carpenters. Now, three years have passed, and he has gained a lot.

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

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

If time was sufficient, Yang Zhengshan would have wanted all the soldiers in the garrison camp to wear leather armor.

It is a bit unrealistic to replace all the armor with iron armor, but leather armor is still possible.

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

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

He generally knew the financial situation of the Anyuan City garrison camp.

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

Because he knew that Yang Zhengshan would use the supplies he gave him for the right purposes, unlike others who always thought about making a quick buck.

"Very good!" Wang Bin nodded with satisfaction.

He did not give too many comments, but simply said "very good", and then talked about the preparations for the expedition.

Different requirements were made according to the reports from each garrison battalion, and arrangements were also made for supplies.

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.

(End of this chapter)