Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 967: Chapter 684: Formation of the Cabinet

The night gave way to dawn, and this brutal battle finally came to an end.

Out of the three hundred thousand Da Liang troops, over one hundred thousand perished in battle, nearly one hundred and fifty thousand were captured, and the remaining scattered troops fled.

Nearly eighty thousand Chongshan Army soldiers, with close to ten thousand deaths, over three thousand seriously injured, and more than thirty thousand lightly wounded.

Even though the Chongshan Army fought this battle very smoothly and also had an advantage in armaments, the elite forces of Da Liang were not without resistance, resulting in considerable casualties for the Chongshan Army.

Undoubtedly, the Chongshan Army achieved a great victory, and the Da Liang army was effectively annihilated.

The Da Liang, which had been established for less than half a year, was destroyed.

When the news of this battle spread, the various powers within Da Rong’s realm suddenly fell into shock and panic.

The first to be thrown into chaos was naturally the Da Liang court in Han Zhong Prefecture.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter!

Back then, how the Da Rong court fell apart, is exactly how the Da Liang court is falling apart now.

As soon as the news reached Han Zhong Prefecture, many of Da Liang’s ministers began fleeing, even Emperor Tianwu’s sworn brothers fled with their wealth.

This wasn’t just happening with the ministers in the court, let alone the local officials.

In the provinces of Longnan and Longxi, many of the counties immediately surrendered without waiting for the Beiyuan Army and Chongshan Army to arrive; the local officials delivered letters of surrender first.

On the other hand, Chen Hengchang, who was in Jiangnan, initially intended to dispatch a large army into Shanhe Province, but before he could gather the troops, the Da Liang army had already been wiped out.

Resigned, Chen Hengchang decided to focus on defense, deploying a large army in northern Jiangnan to guard against the possible southward advance of the Chongshan Army.

On June 28, in the sixth year of Jianxing, Yang Chengye led sixty thousand Chongshan Army troops to take over the Capital City, marking the city’s fall into the hands of the Yang family.

On July 2, Yang Chengye ordered Zhou Lan to lead the Beiyuan Army to retake Longxi, and ordered Yang Qinteng and Luo Feiyu to lead the Western Army and Southern Army to reclaim Longnan.

On July 22, the Taiping Army in Bashu defeated the Nine Heavens King, unifying the entire territory of Bashu.

Three days later, Yang Zhao, the leader of the Taiping Army, announced his surrender to the Chongshan Army, requesting them to send officials to take over Bashu.

The various powers found the Taiping Army’s surrender to the Chongshan Army somewhat amusing.

Last year, the Taiping Army sided with Da Liang, but this year, while Da Liang was attacking the Capital City, they took the opportunity to attack the Black Tiger King and Nine Heavens King in Bashu, who also sided with Da Liang.

In many people’s hearts, the leader of the Taiping Army was viewed as a capricious villain.

However, the Yang family knew that the Taiping Army was truly one of them.

In mid-September, the entire area of Longnan was reclaimed by the Chongshan Army, including Han Zhong Prefecture, leading to the complete destruction of the Da Liang court.

In early October, Zhou Lan led thirty thousand Beiyuan Army troops to reclaim the entire region of Longxi.

Claiming to have reclaimed it, they practically just took a stroll around; with the exception of a few die-hard loyalists, there was hardly any resistance.

After reclaiming the entire region of Longxi, Zhou Lan did not stop but instead headed to Longbei Town, while at the same time, Yang Chengze, the Assistant General of the Beiyuan Town’s Western Route, led eight thousand troops from the Rescue Camp to approach Longbei Town.

Regarding Longbei Town and Suzhou Town, Yang Chengye’s approach was to capture the mid and high-level Military Officers and then reorganize the Camp and Rescue Camp.

There was no choice, as Longbei Town and Suzhou Town were already ruined, and the soldiers there were essentially bandits.

Yang Chengye had to rebuild these border towns.

However, there was no hurry at present, so he could leave it to Zhou Lan to deal with slowly.

Come November, Yang Chengye found himself consumed with busy affairs.

He did not proclaim himself Emperor, nor King, yet he was already exercising imperial power.

With the reclamation of Longnan and Longxi, Yang Chengye already controlled two-thirds of Da Rong’s territory.

Liao Yuan, Ping Yuan, Liaoxi, Shanhe, Longyuan, Longxi, Longyuan, and Bashu, all eight provinces fell into Yang Chengye’s hands.

The expansion was too rapid, leaving many issues unresolved, and Yang Chengye had no mind for other concerns, focusing all his energy on the appointment of officials.

Yang Chengye’s first step was to form the Cabinet.

Lu Wenquan was appointed as the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

Lin Zhan was appointed as the Deputy Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, concurrently serving as Minister of Personnel.

Li Wenchun was appointed as a Cabinet Minister, concurrently serving as Minister of Revenue.

Zheng Yulin was appointed as a Cabinet Minister, concurrently serving as Minister of Rites.

Qin Jing was appointed as a Cabinet Minister, concurrently serving as Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

Li Wenchun’s appointment to the Cabinet was to appease the Taiping Army’s civil and military officials.

Although Yang Mingzhao was one of their own, the Taiping Army officials inevitably had concerns; Li Wenchun’s entry into the Cabinet represented Yang Chengye’s stance of not marginalizing the Taiping Army officials.

Not only Li Wenchun, but Yang Chengye also transferred many officials from the Taiping Army to the capital court, while many more were sent to Longnan and Longxi.

Despite appearances of being somewhat of an ad hoc group, over the years Yang Mingzhao cultivated many capable and effective officials within the Taiping Army.

These capable officials had ample experience in land distribution and local governance.

Previously holding lower official positions, now Yang Chengye promoted them, providing them the opportunity to excel.

Yang Chengye’s stance was clear: he appointed a large number of officials from Chongshan Town, Liaodong, and the Taiping Army, while recalling all surrendered officials to the Capital City, initially leaving them without a post, allowing them to be idle.

Yang Chengye also intended to distribute land like the Taiping Army and aimed to scrutinize former officials, employing those who were useful and discarding those who were not. As for the heinous ones, they were naturally subject to punishment.

Given the multitude of entangled tasks at present, Yang Chengye needed to unravel them one at a time.