Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 233: Chapter 223: Setting Out on a Campaign

Date: April 12th.

Mission: Venture a thousand miles beyond the border. Eliminate Hu Zei, no questions asked.

The entire military order was just these sixteen characters.

The intent was clear, it was to let Yang Zhenshan lead the An Yuan City garrison outside the borders to campaign against the Hu Clan.

There were no detailed plans, no specific marching routes, nor any hard orders, only a demand for unconditional killing.

Of course, this battle would surely be judged by the number of enemy leaders slain, and how much military achievement could be obtained depended entirely on Yang Zhenshan himself.

As for other matters, they were not for Yang Zhenshan to be concerned with.

Such a plan for deployment might seem unreliable at first glance, but in actuality, it was the best plan for dealing with the East Sea Hu Clan.

Because beyond the border, a thousand miles away, the East Sea Hu Clan’s settlements were nomadic, and it was incredibly difficult to locate all their dwelling places.

For three hundred years, the Da Rong Dynasty had been unable to completely eradicate the East Sea Hu Clan because it was so difficult to find all of their settlements.

Now, Lu Chongde and Liang Chu were letting a large number of garrisons from Chongshan Town go beyond the border, dispersing them to sweep across a thousand miles. Doing so could maximally expose all the settlements of the East Sea Hu Clan.

Of course, there were risks involved.

The garrison at most had about a thousand soldiers, and when facing a somewhat larger settlement, they might suffer heavy losses or even total annihilation.

But on the other hand, this was a chance for all garrisons to earn merit.

For a garrison, an opportunity to lead troops independently was extremely rare.

Especially for Yang Zhenshan, he truly did not expect to have such an opportunity to lead troops on his own so soon.

With such an opportunity, how much military achievement could the An Yuan City garrison obtain?

”Han Fei, summon all officers of Hundred Households and above for a meeting immediately!”

Time was of the essence. As soon as Yang Zhenshan received the military order, he gathered all the Military Officers of Hundred Households and above under the garrison office.

The military order stipulated deployment on April 12th, and today was already the beginning of April, meaning they had less than four days.

Approaching evening, clusters of officers arrived on horseback, one after another.

At nightfall, the main hall of the garrison office was filled with people. Yang Zhenshan sat at the main seat, with Han Fei, Xie Yuan, and other Military Officers standing quietly in the hall.

The atmosphere inside the hall was very somber. Even though Yang Zhenshan had not yet spoken, everyone had already guessed.

Once everyone arrived, Yang Zhenshan glanced over the crowd, stood up, and said, ”I have just received a military order from the Assistant General Mansion. The Assistant General Mansion orders our garrison to go beyond the border on the twelfth of January to campaign against the East Sea Hu Clan!”

”In two days, I will be leading the garrison on the expedition. After my departure, all affairs of the garrison office will still need everyone’s utmost cooperation to ensure there are no mistakes!”

”Xie Yuan!” Yang Zhenshan’s gaze fell on Xie Yuan.

”At your command!”

Xie Yuan quickly responded.

”After I depart, you will temporarily lead the garrison office. Any problems with that?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

”None! Your subordinate will not fail the trust you have placed in me!” Xie Yuan said resolutely.

This arrangement did not come as a surprise to everyone, as Yang Zhenshan had been preparing since last year, and Xie Yuan had often come to An Yuan City to familiarize himself with the garrison office’s affairs.

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, ”Yang Minghao!”

”Your subordinate is here!”

”Next, you’ll be in charge of the defense matters of An Yuan City. No matter what happens, you must ensure that there’s no chaos within An Yuan City, and it must not be lost!”

”Even if it means dying in battle!”

Yang Zhenshan looked sharply at Yang Minghao.

Ostensibly, this was about duty, as the primary responsibility of a garrison officer was to guard the city. But in fact, it was to ensure the safety of the Yang family, which was located within An Yuan City. If An Yuan City were to fall, the Yang family would undoubtedly be the first to be affected.

Therefore, he entrusted the city’s defense to Yang Minghao.

”Your subordinate obeys the command!” Yang Minghao bowed his head in response.

Yang Zhenshan nodded, then looked at Wu Chongzhe, ”Next up, there are two major tasks for the garrison office. The first is city defense, and the second is spring plowing and fortifying garrison farms.”

”Lord Wu, establishing garrison farms is fundamental for us, I’m sure I need not place further emphasis on its importance, right?”

”Mr. Xie will be responsible for the affairs of the garrison office, so the task of managing the garrison farms and spring plowing will fall to you!”

Wu Chongzhe hesitated slightly, ”Lord, take me to the battlefield as well!”

He wanted to go into battle. Now that the Wu family had started making their way back into the official ranks, it was a crucial time to earn merit, and he hoped to accomplish that to rise in rank.

Yang Zhenshan shook his head slightly, ”Just follow the orders for now, it’s definitely not possible this time!”

He understood what Wu Chongzhe was thinking and did not oppose Wu Chongzhe having such an aspiration, but he couldn’t take Wu Chongzhe into battle with him.

Wu Chongzhe was the defense officer of Shaling Castle, and as the name implied, his responsibility was defense.

Allowing him to temporarily manage the garrison’s farming ventures was acceptable, but allowing him to accompany the garrison on an expedition was not.

Wu Chongzhe nodded somewhat dejectedly, ”Your subordinate obeys the command!”

”There will be other opportunities in the future!” Yang Zhenshan smiled and patted his shoulder.

Having arranged affairs for the fortifications, Yang Zhenshan turned to Han Cheng, Song Dashan, and Yang Mingzhen.

”The garrison’s soldiers will have a day off tomorrow to unite with their families and say their farewells properly.”

The battlefield was unpredictable, and no one knew if they would return.

Perhaps this encounter would be their last.

Before the expedition, Yang Zhenshan wished for the soldiers to have a proper meeting with their families to avoid any regrets.

”Lord is benevolent! Your subordinate, on behalf of all the soldiers of the garrison, thanks you, Lord!”

Han Cheng stepped forward, bowed with cupped hands, and thanked him.

Yang Zhenshan waved his hand, then let everyone disperse.

The necessary preparations had long been made; this meeting was merely to confirm the arrangements.

Soon, everyone dispersed. Yang Zhenshan didn’t offer to treat them to a meal; instead, he took a short rest and returned to the backyard.

He had also decided to spend some quality time with Yu Qingyi these two days.

By the time he returned to the main courtyard, Yu Qingyi was already standing at the doorway, looking out for him.

”My lord is setting out for battle!”

Upon seeing Yang Zhenshan, Yu Qingyi asked with some urgency.

”Mhmm!”

Yang Zhenshan stepped forward to support her, his gaze falling on her slightly bulging abdomen.

”It’s chilly outside, let’s go inside to talk!”

Yu Qingyi’s face could not hide her worrisome expression.

Once inside, Yang Zhenshan could only offer her reassurance: ”Don’t worry, although your husband is no veteran of a hundred battles, this isn’t my first time on the battlefield!”

”I will surely return safely!”

”But I still worry!” Yu Qingyi’s eyes turned faintly red.

Even her, usually soft on the outside but tough on the inside, couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by this kind of situation.

”What, you don’t have faith in your husband?” Yang Zhenshan pulled her into his embrace, gently stroking her belly.

”For our child, I will also return safely.”

”It’s just unfortunate that I probably won’t be able to be by your side when the child is born!”

Yu Qingyi leaned into his chest, her arms tightly wrapping around him.

Seeing her mood downcast, Yang Zhenshan changed the subject, saying, ”How about I give the child a name first?”

”Mhmm!” Yu Qingyi replied softly.

Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment, ”If it’s a daughter, then let’s name her Yang Yunmeng, and if it’s a son, then let’s call him...”

He paused when it came to naming a boy.

There were many men in the Yang family generation with the ’Ming’ character in their names, and it seemed all the names he could think of were taken.

For girls, it was easier, as many girls in the countryside were simply called ’Daya’ or ’Erya’, so names like Yang Daya or Yang Erya were common, thus naming girls was much simpler.

But a boy’s name?

Yang Zhenshan was at a loss for an appealing name for the moment.

”Why don’t you think of a name for the boy?”

”You should decide, my lord!” Yu Qingyi refused without even thinking about it.

Yang Zhenshan could only rack his brains.

Mingzhe, Mingyu, Minghui, Mingzhen, Minglei...

These seemed all taken.

There are no telling how many people in the world share the same name, but it’s not good to have the same name within the same clan.

”How about Yang Mingzhao!”

”Mingzhao! Mingzhao!” Yu Qingyi murmured softly, her hand unconsciously stroking her own abdomen, ”This name is good!”

Yang Zhenshan saw her spirits lift considerably, and his heart relaxed a bit.

For the next two days, Yang Zhenshan stayed with Yu Qingyi.

Until the morning of April 12th.

Just as dawn was breaking, over a thousand soldiers from the garrison had gathered outside the North City Gate of An Yuan City.

Three hundred and fifty cavalrymen, two hundred iron-armored infantrymen, and nearly six hundred cotton-armored infantrymen.

These were all the troops under Yang Zhenshan.

The reason why there were three hundred and fifty cavalrymen was that last month, the Yang family’s stud farm sold fifty high-quality warhorses to the garrison office.

Yang Zhenshan said a reluctant farewell to Yu Qingyi and left some instructions for Yang Mingcheng, then he rode out to the city gate.

At this time, outside the city gates, other than the soldiers from the garrison, there were Xu Jin and Lin Shoude who had come to see him off.

”Master Yang, I wish you invincible and triumphant victory in this expedition!”

Xu Jin brought a jug of wine over to Yang Zhenshan and poured a cup each for Yang Zhenshan and Lin Shoude.

Yang Zhenshan cheerfully lifted his cup and drank it in a single gulp.

”Both of you just wait for my triumphant news!”

After saying this, he mounted his horse and rode away.

Behind him, the army followed, the procession of more than a thousand men stretching for miles, like a dragon moving northward.

The garrison’s expedition did not conscript civilians; all logistics were to be taken care of by the garrison’s soldiers themselves.

The troops had over a hundred horse-drawn carts among them, loaded with the soldiers’ armaments and supplies.

For instance, iron-armored infantry could not wear their iron armor while marching, or they would exhaust themselves before even leaving the border.

However, there wasn’t actually a need for so many horse-drawn carts just to carry armaments and supplies, but Yang Zhenshan brought so many to facilitate setting up camp.

With these hundred-plus carts, they could completely circle them around the perimeter when setting up camp at night to block cavalry raids.

Simply put, these carts could serve as makeshift barricades.

Furthermore, if there were spoils of war, they could also transport them back, preventing the need to destroy them on site due to the inability to carry.

From this, it was evident how greedy Yang Zhenshan was.

He not only thought of killing enemies and earning merits on the battlefield but also of profiting from war spoils.

Unlike others who pondered how to survive the dangers of the battlefield, Yang Zhenshan alone contemplated enriching himself through war spoils.