Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather-Chapter 83 - 81 Lv Hua, Secret Martial Guards_2

Now, these ten elite cavalry Scouts are his personal guards, serving to bolster his presence.

Of course, Yang Zhenshan also intentionally cultivates them, hoping they could become the seeds of his cavalry troops.

"Let’s go!"

Yang Zhenshan mounted his horse and galloped toward Jianning Guard.

Jianning Guard is over seventy miles away from Yinghe Castle, and the group of more than ten riders arrived in just over two hours.

Jianning Guard City is a large city, with walls taller than four zhang and a circumference of over seven miles, even larger than many state cities.

And Zhou Lan, the Jianning Guard Assistant General, should more accurately be called the Central Route Assistant General of Chongshan Town.

Her jurisdiction is vast, including five garrison offices, three conduct officers, and two defense officers.

Yang Zhenshan is one of those two defense officers.

The group arrived at the east gate of Jianning Guard City, where Yang Zhenshan showed his defense officer token and entered the city smoothly.

Inside the city were several government offices, including the Jianning Guard Commander office, Jianning Garrison Officer Office, Inspection Supervision Institute, and the Assistant General Mansion.

Upon arriving at the Assistant General Mansion, Zhao Yuan had already received the news and was waiting for Yang Zhenshan in front of the mansion.

Zhao Yuan had been promoted as well, to Jianning Guard Governor, a secondary fifth-rank official position, but his main duty was still to assist Zhou Lan with miscellaneous matters.

Recovering from a severe injury, Zhao Yuan had lost much weight, yet his spirit was still good.

"Mr. Zhengshan! Hahaha, please, come in!"

The two met again, with their friendship unchanged.

Although they hadn’t fought side by side, they had campaigned together and worked side by side for months, forming a deep revolutionary friendship.

Even though Zhao Yuan envied Yang Zhenshan’s promotion to households head, he was still very glad to see him.

During the months they worked together, Zhao Yuan felt he had learned a lot from Yang Zhenshan and received substantial care from him, hence he considered Yang Zhenshan both a mentor and a friend.

"Mr. Zhao, how have you been recently?"

Yang Zhenshan walked with him into the Assistant General Mansion, observing the mansion’s situation as they moved.

The Assistant General Mansion, to be accurate, is a staff organization, and most here are aides and civil servants recruited by Zhou Lan.

Just as Yang Zhenshan entered the mansion, he encountered a man; a tall man, about 1.8 meters, slightly built, in his early twenties, with a face as gentle as jade and dressed primarily in plain colors, giving off a rather cool temperament.

There were two attendants following the man, one tall and one short. Yang Zhenshan glanced at the attendants and then withdrew his gaze as he passed by the man.

Just from that glance, he could tell the two attendants behind the man were experts, likely to be experts of the Postnatal Seventh Layer.

As for the man himself, his strength was also unfathomably deep.

After the man walked some distance away, he asked, "Who was that person just now?"

Zhao Yuan’s eyes flickered, "He’s from the palace!"

From the palace?

Yang Zhenshan’s expression shifted slightly, nodding slightly.

The new garrison eunuch, Lv Hua!

This garrison eunuch is entirely different from the former Zhang Yude. Zhang Yude was greedy and arrogant, whereas Lv Hua has been extremely low-key since his arrival in Chongshan Town and seldom appears in public.

"What is he here for?"

Curious, Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but ask.

"Not sure, but it’s best to stay away from him when you see him!" Zhao Yuan whispered.

"How so? Is he dangerous?" Yang Zhenshan asked.

"Not just dangerous?," Zhao Yuan seemed very wary of Lv Hua, speaking very cautiously, "This one is from the Secret Martial Guards!"

"Secret Martial Guards!" Yang Zhenshan’s pupils shrank.

Even though he didn’t pay much attention to court affairs, he had heard of the notorious name of the Secret Martial Guards.

Secret Martial Guards, a privileged surveillance institution exclusively for the Emperor, a secret investigative agency for internal surveillance of officials and external espionage on foreign countries and situations.

Most importantly, the Secret Martial Guards have a royal privilege, to execute first and report later.

For any officials below the third-rank, the Secret Martial Guards could apprehend them without prior approval.

With this privilege alone, all officials would shun the Secret Martial Guards.

The reason why Yang Zhenshan had heard of the Secret Martial Guards was because there was a rumor in Chongshan Pass that Zhang Yude had been taken away by the Secret Martial Guards.

He never expected to actually meet the Secret Martial Guards today.

Yang Zhenshan gathered his thoughts and followed Zhao Yuan into Zhou Lan’s study.

"Greetings, General!"

In the study, Zhou Lan was engrossed in writing and without lifting her head, she said, "Take a seat first, we’ll talk once I’m done!"

Yang Zhenshan, unreserved, directly sat by the side tea table. Zhao Yuan gave him a meaningful look, seemingly indicating that General Zhou has indeed been very busy lately.

Then, a maid brought over some tea. Yang Zhenshan wasn’t in a hurry, leisurely sipping the tea with an air of serenity.

Tea leaves were expensive in Chongshan Town, and he usually couldn’t afford to drink them; however, Zhou Lan’s tea was of superior quality. This rare opportunity to enjoy such tea brought him great pleasure.

About two hours later, after consuming a pot of tea, Zhou Lan finally finished her work.

"Ah, these messy matters really pile up. Had I known this, I would’ve rather stayed at Camp!" Zhou Lan said while stretching her arms and legs.

In Camp, although she was the chief of a regiment, she didn’t have much to deal with. But after becoming Assistant General, her responsibilities had significantly increased.

Taking a gulp of tea, she said, "Your timing is perfect, I have some matters to discuss with you."

"Please speak, General!" said Yang Zhenshan.

"After the autumn harvest, it’s time to schedule military training. I’m planning to start with a thousand households, and you should start training on your side too!" Zhou Lan stated.

"General, I lack food!" Yang Zhenshan said, caressing his considerably long beard.

"Uh!" Zhou Lan suddenly felt awkward.

Yang Zhenshan was short on food, and so was she.

Yang Zhenshan only governed three garrisons, while she oversaw five ones, and more than twenty garrisons in total.

Each garrison was pretty much in the same situation, with very low yields this year.

"No food!" Zhou Lan somewhat embarrassingly said.

"How can we train troops without food?" Yang Zhenshan exclaimed.

"I have silver! I’ll give you three thousand taels. In three months, I want to see a well-trained force of no fewer than five hundred men!" Zhou Lan declared.

Yang Zhenshan felt somewhat relieved, but he still said, "Even with silver, it’s not guaranteed we can buy food!"

A severe drought in Chongshan Town had impacted this year’s harvest, and it was obvious that the price of food would skyrocket in the coming year.

"I have no other way!" Zhou Lan said with a headache, massaging her temples.

Military training required food and fodder. Yang Zhenshan lacked it, and so did she.

Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment and asked, "What about armaments?"

"We have armaments. I’ll give you three hundred war horses and five hundred sets of armaments. If you can train three hundred elite cavalry, I’ll give you three hundred more horses!" Zhou Lan encouraged him.

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes lit up.

Three hundred war horses!

That’s much more valuable than three thousand taels of silver.

However, he immediately thought of a new problem.

Three hundred elite cavalry, five hundred infantry—wouldn’t that require eight hundred soldiers?

But he only had a little more than five hundred soldiers under his command, plus the hundred from Linguan Castle.

Moreover, it was impossible to gather all soldiers for training while still maintaining vigilance at each fort and signal tower.

"Can I recruit new soldiers?" Yang Zhenshan asked.

He was supposed to have ten units under his command, totaling over eleven hundred soldiers, but currently, he had only a little more than five hundred.

"Yes, but you can only choose from military households!" Zhou Lan promptly agreed.

Choosing only from military households meant Yang Zhenshan couldn’t recruit soldiers broadly.

However, he could gather migrants and convert civilian households into military ones.

Having just experienced a severe drought, there should be quite a few people in Chongshan Town struggling to make ends meet; recruiting some migrants shouldn’t be difficult.

Thinking this, Yang Zhenshan felt somewhat settled.

"Your subordinate obeys the order!"