Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 990: Chapter 695: Insufficient Troops (Part 2)

Yang Zhenshan even brought out Ding Qiu, yet Yang Chengye still wasn’t satisfied and wanted archers from Divine Wood Island.

The archers from Divine Wood Island are all Martial Artists of the Postnatal Fifth Layer or above. Their numbers are few, but their combat strength is indeed terrifying.

The Yang family has occupied Divine Wood Island for three years, and it was only in these three years that Yang Mingzhi managed to train a thousand qualified archers.

Yang Zhenshan pondered for a moment and said, “I don’t have archers, but I can decide to give you five hundred strong bows. If you want archers, you’ll have to train them yourself!”

“The Da’an Dynasty is the Da’an Dynasty, and the Yang family is the Yang family. Right now, they can be mixed, but in the future, they must be clearly divided, just like the Dajing Dynasty!”

Yang Chengye hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, “I understand!”

The Yang family is of the royal family of the Da’an New Dynasty, yet the Yang family does not belong to the Da’an New Dynasty.

Yang Zhenshan has seriously considered the future relationship between the Yang family and the Da’an New Dynasty. What he desires is not for the Yang family to belong to the Da’an Dynasty, but for the Yang family to be above the Da’an Dynasty.

Simply put, the Da’an Dynasty belongs to Yang Chengye’s branch, and the Dajing Dynasty belongs to Yang Chengyou’s branch. In the future, their descendants will inherit the throne and the royal title.

The Yang family will not interfere in the internal affairs of the dynasty, but the Yang family will monitor the dynasty.

This is similar to a large corporation where the Yang family is the chairman of the group, the Da’an Dynasty and the Dajing Dynasty are subsidiaries, and families like the Xie family, the Han family, the Wu family, the Yu family, and the Luo family are considered as directors of the group. Their descendants are also employees of the group and its subsidiaries.

Families like the Zhou family and the Liang family, they are considered directors of the Da’an Dynasty subsidiary.

Subsidiaries have autonomous operations rights, the group has supervisory rights, but also their own business.

The responsibility of the subsidiary is to manage internally while also ensuring the business needs of the group.

What are the business needs of the Yang family?

Currently, the most important business of the Yang family is sea trade.

Therefore, the Da’an Dynasty must provide more products and goods for the Yang family’s merchants, while the Da’an Dynasty is also the largest market for the Yang family’s commerce.

The Yang family will not monopolize the Da’an Dynasty’s sea trade business, but the Da’an Dynasty must not prohibit the development of sea trade.

The Yang family and the Da’an Dynasty have a relationship of control, but also a cooperative relationship. The two must be clearly distinguished, yet closely connected.

Currently, the Da’an Dynasty has not stabilized, so Yang Zhenshan has not made explicit distinctions. Once the Da’an Dynasty stabilizes, he plans to gradually withdraw the Yang family’s personnel from the Da’an Dynasty to maintain its independence.

As for whether the Da’an Dynasty will break free from the Yang family’s control in the future, Yang Zhenshan has no such concern.

As long as the Yang family remains strong, the Da’an Dynasty will not break free from the Yang family’s control.

If the Da’an Dynasty can break free from the Yang family’s control, then that would indicate the decline of the Yang family.

That perhaps is something several hundred or even a thousand years in the future.

Yang Zhenshan cannot manage such long-term concerns at present.

Given the current state of the Yang family, prosperity for two hundred years can still be assured; however, beyond two hundred years, it becomes an uncertain matter.

Of course, if Yang Zhenshan’s cultivation can advance further, extending his lifespan significantly, then he can ensure the Yang family’s prosperity for a longer term.

But these are all future matters; the current issue before Yang Zhenshan is first to stabilize Yang Chengye on the throne of Da’an.

Subsequently, Yang Zhenshan brought up the matter of the joint efforts between Chen Hengchang and Wu Tuo.

“What are your thoughts?”

Yang Chengye pondered for a while and said, “We can’t wait for them to unite and attack us; it’s best to eliminate one of them before they launch an attack!”

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, “That’s right, although we aren’t afraid even if they unite, it will certainly cause us significant trouble.”

“Who do you think we should strike first?”

Yang Chengye thought for a bit more, “The Wuliang Royal Court!”

“Oh? Why not Chen Hengchang?” Yang Zhenshan asked in surprise.

“Because it’s easier to attack the Wuliang Royal Court!” Yang Chengye replied.

Yang Zhenshan nodded in satisfaction, “Right, we should strike the Wuliang Royal Court first!”

Although the Wuliang Royal Court seems strong and formidable now, they are actually easier to deal with compared to Chen Hengchang.

Because attacking the Wuliang Royal Court doesn’t require much consideration; we just need to charge forward.

While attacking Chen Hengchang requires consideration of post-governance issues, ensuring the livelihood of people under Chen Hengchang’s rule.

Towards the Hu Clan, the Da’an New Dynasty can wipe them out completely, but towards the former citizens of Da Rong, the Da’an New Dynasty cannot do so, as these people are also citizens of the Da’an New Dynasty.

“How many troops can be mobilized from Chongshan Town?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

“About thirty thousand! Dinghu Guard, Daning Guard, and the Black Cloud Guard’s Rescue Camp haven’t been mobilized yet, which is over twenty thousand. If more garrison troops are moved, gathering thirty thousand troops shouldn’t be difficult,” Yang Chengye replied.

“What about Beiyuan Town?”

“They can mobilize about fifty thousand! General Zhou only took the Camp, and currently, Beiyuan Town still has fifty thousand in the Rescue Camp, always on guard against the Wuliang Hu Clan moving south!”

“What about Longbei Town, are there troops available?”

Yang Chengye shook his head, “No, General Zhou just won Longbei Town, and the original soldiers there were disbanded. The new army in Longbei Town has just started training!”

“So only eighty thousand troops available in the north?” Even Yang Zhenshan felt a bit troubled.

Back in the day, the four major northern frontier towns, Chongshan Town, Beiyuan Town, Longbei Town, and Suzhou Town, each could mobilize a hundred thousand troops.

But now, among the four frontier towns, most troops from Chongshan Town have headed south, Beiyuan Town’s Primordial Qi has not yet recovered, Longbei Town is controlled by the Da’an New Dynasty but remains in chaos, and Suzhou Town is still outside of control.

“Yes, currently only these eighty thousand troops can be dispatched. Although the court is training new troops in various places, these new troops will need at least half a year before they can enter the battlefield!” Yang Chengye said.

A shortage of troops is one of the most pressing issues for the Da’an New Dynasty, and a major hindrance to its unification of the realm.

Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment and said, “Let your second uncle come to assist; he has a few thousand elite soldiers on his side!”

The troop shortage of the Da’an New Dynasty isn’t only severe in the northern frontier towns, but also in the south and west. However, Southern Border Town and Yunling Town can deploy some forces. The problem is the distance from the south to the north, and the potential unsuitability of southern soldiers adapting to northern weather.

Deploying troops from Divine Wood Island faces similar issues, but the soldiers from Divine Wood Island are elite, top-notch troops, and since their numbers are relatively small, mobilization is easier.

Divine Wood Island doesn’t have many troops. The population on the islands controlled by the Yang family is about four hundred thousand, and the regular army on Divine Wood Island consists of only eight thousand in the Navy.

These eight thousand in the Navy are the result of multiple expansions, starting from a few hundred, to two thousand five hundred, to five thousand, and now expanded to eight thousand.

Of course, while the regular army on Divine Wood Island isn’t large, it has many private soldiers. The Yang family has several hundred guards, and each of the subordinate families has two or three hundred guards, totaling more than three thousand guard troops. Additionally, there are over two thousand government officials.

However, the number of personnel that can actually be mobilized is not significant, probably only about two thousand soldiers from the Navy for land operations.

In fact, there is another area from which the Yang family can draw troops, which is the Dajing Dynasty. The Dajing Dynasty still has tens of thousands of the Navy, and deploying two or three thousand would not be difficult, but drawing troops from the Dajing Dynasty is not as preferable as from Southern Border Town or Yunling Town.

Mobilizing troops from Divine Wood Island also seems burdensome, but the elite soldiers from Divine Wood Island can fight like a hundred men, and even if it’s just two thousand soldiers, they have extremely formidable combat power.

After making the decision, Yang Zhenshan immediately wrote a letter and had it sent to Divine Wood Island.

Simultaneously, the Da’an New Dynasty began preparations to campaign against the Wuliang Hu Clan.