Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Twenty personal followers each had two horses; one of the horses was needed to transport various supplies.

For instance, Yang Zhenshan's Bright Armor required a team of horses specially for transportation. Although Red Cloud could carry it without any problem, having an extra horse to help could give Red Cloud some relief.

Speaking of Red Cloud, it was already twenty-four or twenty-five years old. In horse years, that meant it had already entered old age.

However, this beast was still incredibly formidable. Not only had its strength not declined, but it also seemed to grow stronger, possessing an extraordinary amount of power.

Naturally, this was related to its long-term consumption of Spiritual Spring Water. Now, it could be fully referred to as a monstrous evolution.

With its hooves alone, not to mention ordinary people, even Martial Artists at the seventh or eighth level of the Acquired Realm couldn't withstand it.

Who knows if this beast would turn into a demon beast in the future?

Anyway, it seems to be showing a trend toward evolving into a demon beast!

The group spurred their horses and rushed on their journey, taking seven days to finally reach Chongshan Town. Mainly because the horses couldn't run all the time; they had to stop for a rest every two hours. Although Yang Zhenshan provided these horses with quite a bit of Spiritual Spring Water, the horses were still worn out.

Outside Chongshan Pass, Yang Zhenshan and his entourage came galloping in, covered in dust.

Before the people reached the city gates, the soldiers guarding the gates became tense.

At this time, the gates of Chongshan Pass were already open; the assassins who had attempted to kill Zhou Lan and Pang Tang had been executed, and many of the Wuliang Hu Clan spies hidden in the city had been cleared out.

So Yang Minghao opened the city gates.

There was no choice; inside the gates, not only were there over ten thousand soldiers, but also five or six thousand civilians living there. If the gates were closed all the time, it would inevitably affect the livelihood of the civilians.

Unless a great enemy army was at the gates, the gates of Chongshan Pass could not be closed.

"Who goes there!" The guard in charge at the gate asked loudly.

Yang Zhenshan pulled Red Cloud to a halt and said solemnly, "It is I, the Marquis!"

The guard in charge was first startled, then overjoyed, "The Marquis has returned!"

Most of the soldiers within Chongshan Pass recognized Yang Zhenshan, especially the soldiers from the Five Camps. Although Yang Zhenshan did not personally train them, he would visit the training ground every now and then to inspect their training.

As long as they were not soldiers who had just joined the Five Camps in recent years, the rest had all seen Yang Zhenshan.

"Quickly remove the barrier!"

While the guard in charge called for the soldiers to move the barriers aside, he stepped forward and knelt to say, "Li Jiahe from the vanguard outpost of the Five Camps' rear camp pays his respects to the Marquis!"

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, not saying much, and rode straight into the city.

Soon he arrived in front of the General Mansion.

Seeing him arrive, the General Mansion immediately burst into a frenzy; both officials and soldiers cheered joyfully.

Yang Minghao came out to meet him, looking at Yang Zhenshan and letting out a deep breath.

"Dad!"

Yang Zhenshan nodded and patted his shoulder, "Your mother has also arrived!"

"Son pays respects to Mother!" Yang Minghao quickly went up to pay his respects to Yu Qingyi.

Yu Qingyi didn't mince words and asked, "How are General Zhou and Yun Qiao doing?"

Yang Minghao replied, "They still have residual poison in them and haven't fully recovered, but they woke up briefly yesterday!"

Yu Qingyi asked, "Where are they?"

Yang Minghao answered, "In the backyard of the government office!"

Yang Zhenshan turned to Wang Mingzhe, "Mingzhe, you go with your Master's wife first to see them; if any Elixir is missing, come find me!"

He brought Wang Mingzhe not because he was Wang Yunqiao's brother, but because Wang Mingzhe was a Doctor.

Now, Wang Mingzhe's Medical Skill may not be on par with that of Sun Wanzhen, but he had received the true teachings of Sun Wanzhen and often accompanied him out on medical visits. His medical skills were already quite impressive.

Afterward, Yu Qingyi, accompanied by Yu Lu and Wang Mingzhe, went to the backyard of the government office, while Yang Zhenshan, with Wu Zhan and Yang Chengye, and others, entered the main hall of the government office.

A moment later, Song Dashan and Yang Chengxu also arrived.

"Greetings, Marquis!"

Seeing Yang Zhenshan, they all showed a relieved smile on their faces.

Yang Zhenshan smiled and said, "First, let's talk about the situation!"

Yang Minghao reported, "After Mr. Pang and General Zhou were assassinated, I've transferred the left and right camps to Dinghu Guard and Daning Guard. Currently, the Wuliang Hu Clan is not attacking us but is attacking Beiyuan Town!"

"The situation in Beiyuan Town is not good. Wu Tuo seems to have summoned all his troops to move southward, with an estimated total strength of over two hundred thousand!"

"Furthermore, the Wula Tribe and Chi Ci Tribe close to our Chongshan Town have not moved southward; they seem to be guarding against us."

Yang Zhenshan asked, "What about the Assistant Generals from the various routes?"

"I have already sent them messages. To prevent unrest, I didn't have them come to Chongshan Pass. They all responded two days ago, saying they can set out at any time," replied Yang Minghao.

Yang Zhenshan smiled and nodded, "Well done!"

Yang Minghao grinned, "I didn't know what else to do, just tried to keep everyone from making rash moves."

Yang Zhenshan patted his shoulder, very pleased with his performance.

Yang Minghao had truly grown up, no longer that impulsive young man. Being able to calmly face such sudden changes at this time was enough to prove that he already had the capability to stand on his own.

"How much money and grain do we have now?" asked Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Minghao said, "Currently, the General Mansion has eight hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver and one hundred and twenty thousand stones of grain. The Governor's Office should have even more money and grain. I have already asked Mr. Song Ying, the governor, to temporarily take over the affairs of the Governor's Office."

Yang Zhenshan said, "Go invite Mr. Song here!"

"Yes!" Song Dashan responded reflexively, then stepped out to send for Song Ying.

Yang Zhenshan continued to ask, "What about the armaments?"

Yang Minghao replied, "The Five Camps have a total of thirty thousand combat soldiers, the Engineering Camp can mobilize five thousand engineers and twenty thousand laborers at any time. The Rescue Camps from the eight routes each have five thousand combat soldiers – that was the count from last year, though I suspect each Rescue Camp can gather more combat soldiers now."

Yang Zhenshan waved his hand and said, "It's not the number but the quality of the soldiers that matters!"

Chongshan Town was not as capable as the Tenglong Guard. Yang Zhenshan had spent a full six years at the Tenglong Guard, where he had trained every soldier.

Therefore, at that time, Yang Zhenshan was able to mobilize fifteen thousand combat soldiers from Tenglong Guard.

Chongshan Town had a large number of soldiers; not to mention ordinary soldiers, but just the Camp and the Rescue Camps had sixty to seventy thousand soldiers. When Yang Zhenshan left Chongshan Town, the Six Relief Camps had only completed basic training.

The Black Mountain Guard and West Road Dinghu Guard had not yet been established.

Although after Yang Zhenshan left, the well water in the camps outside Chongshan Pass also had the effect of Spiritual Spring Water, without Yang Zhenshan regularly adding Spiritual Spring Water, the effectiveness of the well water would definitely decrease.

By now, it is estimated that those well waters have lost the effect of the Spiritual Spring Water.

"What is the proportion of Martial Artists in the Camp?" asked Yang Zhenshan.

"All of them are Martial Artists!" replied Yang Minghao.

"And the Rescue Camps?"

"In Dinghu Guard and Black Mountain Guard, Martial Artists only make up one-tenth, while the other six routes might be about thirty percent."

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, it was as expected, without the help of Spiritual Spring Water, it was indeed difficult for ordinary soldiers to become Martial Artists.

In fact, the proportion of Martial Artists in Dinghu Guard and Black Mountain Guard was already much higher than other border towns' main camps, after all, they had also trained at Chongshan Pass, and after Yang Zhenshan left, the well water here still retained some effects of the Spiritual Spring Water.

While they were talking, Qingxia arrived at the front office hall and said, "Marquis, Madam said that the residual poison in General Zhou and Miss Yun Qiao is not a big issue and can be completely removed. However, a full recovery is estimated to take about a month or two."

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, "I got it."

Qingxia bowed and left, just as Song Ying hurriedly arrived.

Not only Song Ying, but Inspector General Zhang Cong and Capital Commander Ning Qinghe also came along.

"Greetings, Marquis!" The three of them arrived at the hall, each paying their respects.

Yang Zhenshan smiled and said, "Gentlemen, please be seated."

"The situation is urgent, so I will not stand on ceremony with you gentlemen!"

"Your Majesty has already decreed, commanding me to take control of all military and political affairs in Chongshan Town."

Having said this, he motioned to Yang Chengye and Yang Chengmao, who quickly presented the royal decree and the royal command banner.