56. Departing to Defend Yangzhou and Recruiting Militia Forces

Upon catching sight of his eldest brother, Zhang Xun instinctively shrank his neck. Throughout the original owner's youth and early adulthood, he had essentially lived beneath the protective wings of this brother, who was roughly fifteen years his senior. Although not his biological father, the deeply ingrained cultural concept of "an elder brother acting as a father" was firmly rooted in Zhang Xun's heart.

His eldest brother possessed a square, dignified visage and a poised, self-restrained demeanor; every gesture and movement exuded upright propriety. Yet, upon spotting Zhang Xun and the gathering of local clansmen, relatives, and friends, a genuine, natural warmth broke across his features.

On one hand, he clasped Zhang Xun’s hand, praising his recent conduct as exemplary and untainted by any dishonor to the Zhang clan of Jinling. On the other hand, he inquired whether their mother was currently residing at Camellia-Cassia Lane within the city or at Vermilion-Summer Villa outside the walls.

She was at Camellia-Cassia Lane within the city—very close indeed.

With that, Zhang Cheng offered apologies to the local elders, officials, and gentry who had come to greet him, explaining that he must first return to pay his respects to his mother, and that he would gladly share three hundred cups of wine with the elders tomorrow.

The elders naturally raised no objections, yet they "reluctantly" escorted Zhang Cheng’s small boat into the city, navigating straight to the landing at Camellia-Cassia Lane.

Simultaneously, Zhang Cheng’s legal wife, Lady Zhen, along with their son and two daughters, were also brought ashore. Upon beholding her eldest son’s family, Madam Zhang was naturally overjoyed; she was even more ecstatic over her eldest grandson, pulling him into her embrace and showering him with endearments.

Splendid. Standing quietly to the side, Zhang Xun watched Zhang Cheng converse with their mother. Once Madam Zhang and the children had been escorted away to settle in, Zhang Cheng reined in his expression, assuming a grave and solemn demeanor as he turned to speak with Zhang Xun.

The imperial court had commissioned him as Prefect of Yangzhou. He was painfully aware of his own lack of military expertise and the absence of adequate forces. Consequently, the court had extended his departure date by ten days, specifically to allow him to recruit troops in Changzhou.

Furthermore, the imperial court had issued a decree dispatching a force of seven thousand men under Wang Xiaojie, formerly the additional inspector of troops and horses in Western Zhejiang, to garrison Yangzhou. Wang would serve as the military commissioner of Yangzhou, assisting him in holding the city.

How many?

Seven thousand.

Seven bloody thousand! Zhang Xun nearly leaped to his feet to curse aloud. Yet, reflecting on how the Song dynasty military was plagued by endemic corruption—with phantom soldiers listed on the payrolls—it was hardly surprising. Not only did commanding officers pocket the pay of absent soldiers, but the civil officials above them conspired in the scam as well. The ghost soldier numbers within the imperial guards and cavalry units were particularly astronomical, reportedly reaching forty thousand at one point.

Ghost soldiers numbering forty thousand—truly a staggering figure.

"Wang Xiaojie is currently stationed in the military camp outside the city; you may summon him directly for an audience," Zhang Cheng continued. "Beneath his command, there are only slightly more than three thousand vagrants and recruited starving refugees rounded up from Changzhou Commandery.

Among them, the number of truly combat-capable regular troops does not exceed one thousand. Another thousand or so garrison troops are currently building city walls for Changzhou, and the remaining few hundred are mere auxiliary laborers for odd jobs."

"What?!" It was hardly Zhang Cheng's fault for never having managed troops; upon learning that Wang Xiaojie’s contingent fell short by four thousand men, he wore an expression of sheer disbelief.

Even if one were to factor in the roughly three thousand men under Ma Yong’s command, the total still fell well short of seven thousand. Moreover, Ma Yong’s troops belonged to Zhao Huai, the Transport and Pacification Commissioner of Western Zhejiang, and their military registry could not be transferred to Huainan lightly.

"Though shocking, this is simply the way things are nowadays," Zhang Xun realized he was witnessing another side of his elder brother.

"This is disastrous! How on earth are we to resolve this?" While Zhang Cheng possessed an immaculate public image and was undoubtedly a skilled administrator for routine bureaucratic affairs, when it came to military matters, he was utterly clueless.

"The imperial decree grants you only ten days in Changzhou, Elder Brother. How are we to recruit four thousand more men?"

"How many archers are there in this commandery? What about local militia, earth-troupes, and paojia forces? What of the two branches of garrison troops and the inspector's men?" Although ignorant of military strategy, Zhang Cheng still had a vague grasp of statistical data.

"No, no, no..." Zhang Xun hastily intervened to stop him.

When Li Zhu had departed to take up his post in Chongqing, Sichuan, he had taken only two or three hundred core veterans with him, refusing to carry out massive conscription of able-bodied men within his home commandery and county. He knew full well that nine times out of ten, anyone who went there would never return.

Although Yangzhou was closer than Chongqing, the latter had been locked in a protracted tug-of-war for years. Demographics dictated the scale of warfare there, precluding massive decisive battles involving hundreds of thousands of troops. Yangzhou, however, was on the verge of erupting into all-out war. The moment Liu Zheng arrived, he would undoubtedly launch a fierce assault on Huainan in a bid to pierce both the Huainan and Jinghu defense lines simultaneously, forcing the Southern Song court to cope with emergencies on multiple fronts and ultimately destroying the dynasty in a single campaign.

If you were to draft all the able-bodied men from Changzhou Commandery, throwing together a crude rabble without proper training, sending them to the front lines would be sending them straight to slaughter.

Every family would be mourning for you, every household draped in hempen garments, and the young bloods of the same lineage would be utterly wiped out.

"Ah..." Zhang Cheng heaved a heavy sigh. Everything Zhang Xun said was the unvarnished truth, yet he was bound by imperial orders, and he desperately needed seven thousand men to defend Yangzhou.

"We had best invite Military Commissioner Wang and Deputy General Ma over to deliberate." Bereft of other options and possessing virtually no military knowledge himself, Zhang Xun could only suggest this.

Before long, Wang Xiaojie and Ma Yong were escorted in. Wang Xiaojie had already received the military order transferring him to the post of Yangzhou Commissioner, but he felt somewhat perplexed. He had assumed he was merely recruiting supplementary forces to go and reinforce his elder brother, Wang Anjie.

When the subject of the seven thousand troops was raised, both men fell silent.

In truth, the soldiers under their respective commands had largely been recruited with Zhang Xun's assistance. While they each possessed their own insights into training and leading troops, when it came to raw recruitment, they could only spread their hands in helplessness.

Wang Xiaojie offered words of consolation, noting that since the founding of the dynasty, a standard 500-man command typically mustered only three hundred and eighty to four hundred and twenty men; a fully manned command of five hundred was virtually nonexistent.

He had over three thousand men here; along the way, they could recruit more oarsmen and punting hands from the Grand Canal. Upon reaching Runzhou, they could issue official documents to the local prefects and magistrates to scoop up one or two thousand vagrants. Bringing the total close to five thousand would be more than enough to justify themselves to the Son of Heaven.

Look at the Emperor—the funds allocated did not even cover the pay for seven thousand men. Even if seven thousand were recruited, there were simply not enough resources to feed them.

To everyone's astonishment, Zhang Cheng refused. He possessed a rather stubborn streak; if the order specified seven thousand, then seven thousand it must be. However, his train of thought differed from Wang Xiaojie’s. He turned back to Zhang Xun and demanded, "Over the past two years and more while I have been away from home, how much income has the family estate generated? Bring me the account books so I may inspect them."

Furthermore, he ordered ten thousand guan of cash to be immediately withdrawn from the treasury: five thousand guan would be used to recruit brave and valiant men in Changzhou, Runzhou, and Suzhou, while the remaining five thousand guan he would take with him to Yangzhou. Since Li Tingzhe had once managed to raise the Wurui Army, he was confident he could raise a loyal and valiant army of his own.

It was merely a matter of money, after all. He was performing his official duties for the state at his own expense; he harbored a deep devotion to this Great Song.

"Hiss..." Zhang Xun was left speechless. When all was said and done, the vast majority of this household's wealth belonged to Zhang Cheng.

Because their mother was still alive, adhering to the traditional filial code that properties remain undivided while parents live, the family finances were pooled together. The moment Madam Zhang passed away and the two brothers divided the estate, Zhang Xun would receive at most thirty percent, after which he would branch off into a minor lineage and fend for himself elsewhere.

Therefore, the money Zhang Cheng was spending now was, in essence, his own. No matter how one looked at it, Zhang Xun had no grounds to stop him. Zhang Xun merely managed the household funds on his behalf.

"Let it be done thus. I shall immediately order the subordinate officials to apportion ten thousand guan and dispatch them to Suzhou and Runzhou," Zhang Cheng commanded decisively.

The three men around him fell silent, having no arguments left, and could only obey.

Money invariably yielded results. Once the blood-money bounties were offered generously enough, brave and desperate men naturally emerged, willing to trade their lives for this hard-earned silver. True to his ten-day limit, Zhang Cheng successfully recruited over two thousand men.

Yet, regarding their quality, Zhang Xun looked upon many of them and noticed a heavy aura of banditry clinging to their persons—they were likely water bandits from Taihu Lake or pirates from the river mouth. Whether Zhang Cheng possessed the authority and iron will to keep them in check remained to be seen.