Just as Bruce Summers and Ian Song had predicted, ten days later, the imperial court’s transfer order arrived at Frostmarch Garrison Town: three thousand troops were to be dispatched to the Northwest to suppress the rebel army.
In addition, Frostmarch Prefecture was ordered to provide the army with one thousand shi of grain and twenty thousand taels of silver for military expenses.
One shi equals one hundred jin, so one thousand shi is a hundred thousand jin of grain.
Sending troops and grain would leave Frostmarch itself in danger. Even an upright official like Bruce Summers couldn’t help feeling resentment toward the court.
Moreover, the court required the army to set out within five days.
"Ian, what do you think—should we send the troops or not?"
With no other choice, Bruce Summers could only turn to Ian Song for advice.
"We have no choice—it's an imperial order!" Ian replied.
"But what about Frostmarch City? If the barbarians attack, what will we have left to defend ourselves with?" Bruce said anxiously.
Ian thought for a moment and said, "We can only recruit new soldiers and train them!"
Hearing this, Bruce Summers felt another pang—recruiting new soldiers meant paying settlement fees. Each new recruit required at least two taels of silver for their settlement payment, plus more for weapons, armor, and training.
Recruiting three thousand new soldiers would cost nearly twenty thousand taels of silver.
So of course Bruce Summers felt the pain of spending all that silver.
But he knew that if Frostmarch lacked enough troops, the barbarians would surely take advantage. So recruiting new soldiers was absolutely necessary.
He nodded and said, "Ian, how many new soldiers do you think we should recruit?"
"Let’s start with ten thousand," Ian replied calmly.
"Ten thousand? That many?"
Bruce Summers looked utterly shocked.
Ian said, "All the regional garrisons are a mess—there are hardly any usable troops left. The court is pulling soldiers from everywhere, and if they can scrape together fifty thousand men, that’s already impressive. But the rebel army is expanding fast, and we’re right next to the Northwest. If the rebels defeat the court’s forces, Frostmarch will be in trouble. We’ll have barbarians in front, rebels behind—if we don’t have enough troops, either the barbarians will break through, or the rebels will take the city. To protect Frostmarch City, we have to expand the garrison!"
"Is it really that bad?" Bruce Summers’ face turned grim.
"You know what the officialdom of Valeguard is like, sir. If the Northwest uprising succeeds, other regions will surely rise up too. Chaos is coming. If we don’t hold military power, then...!"
At this, Ian Song fell silent. He was certain that even Bruce Summers, if he wasn’t completely clueless, could grasp his meaning.
Bruce lowered his head and pondered for a while.
Bruce Summers said, "Alright, then we’ll recruit new troops—let’s go straight for fifteen thousand. Still, we’ll have to rely on you, Ian. I can write essays, but when it comes to military matters, I’m hopeless!"
"Don’t worry, sir!"
Ian nodded, appreciating this quality in Bruce Summers—he didn’t covet power.
Once he got the recruitment order, Ian immediately called Leonard Lewis over and told him to post the notices. The requirements were simple: men aged sixteen to thirty, two taels of silver as a settlement fee if selected, and five qian in monthly pay.
Not long after Leonard left, Victor Wu arrived.
"Sir, what should I do?"
Victor Wu was also very reluctant about this transfer order.
Ian reminded him, "The troops have to go, but you can take it slow on the road!"
The entire Northwest was in dire straits and would probably fall soon. As long as you moved slowly, you might not even arrive before the fighting was over.
Victor Wu’s eyes lit up. He quickly bowed and said, "Thank you for the reminder, sir!"
Frostmarch is on the border—its people are tough, but poor. That’s why the two-tael settlement fee for new recruits was so attractive. In just two days, two thousand new soldiers signed up.
At the same time, Frostmarch’s three subordinate counties also joined in the recruitment.
Five days passed in a flash.
Within Frostmarch Prefecture, 7,600 new soldiers were recruited.
The three counties gathered more than 3,800 men, bringing the total number of new recruits to over 11,000.
Thanks to Ian’s special instructions, the quality of these recruits was decent.
On that same day...
Victor Wu set out with three thousand troops from the garrison. After Ian’s hint, he only managed fifteen li on the first day. When Ian heard, he couldn’t help but laugh—at that pace, it’d take a month just to reach the Northwest.
The deputy general left in charge of the garrison was Sha Tianchen, promoted by Victor Wu.
Before leaving, Victor Wu made sure to tell him to cooperate fully with Ian Song.
So Sha Tianchen was very respectful and did everything by the book.
Three more days passed.
The fifteen thousand new recruits were finally assembled—plus another five hundred.
So Ian had Sha Tianchen take them to the garrison for training. Weapons and armor were being rushed into production.
Pure iron armor was out of reach; at best, they could add iron heart-guards to the chest.
As for weapons, long spears were the mainstay—only the spearheads used iron.
Even so, arming and outfitting fifteen thousand men cost over thirty thousand taels of silver. Recruitment burned through another thirty thousand, so before the army was even formed, sixty thousand taels were gone.
Training this new force and paying their salaries would probably cost another thirty thousand taels.
Earlier, when Ian confiscated the York Manor’s assets, he brought back over five hundred thousand jin of grain. Victor Wu took a hundred thousand, so about four hundred thousand remained.
As for silver,
After these expenses, only about a hundred thousand taels were left.
With a force of seventeen thousand, just their salaries would run to about ten thousand taels, and grain consumption was over twenty thousand jin a day. The remaining four hundred thousand jin wouldn’t last a month.
So they still had to spend silver to buy more grain. A hundred thousand jin plus the four hundred thousand already in stock would last just over two months.
Another ten days passed.
Victor Wu was still dawdling on the road with his three thousand troops, but the situation in the Northwest was now critical—only two cities remained.
But those two cities didn’t have many troops left.
The court managed to gather eight thousand reinforcements, later barely reaching ten thousand.
One city had only five thousand defenders, the other just three thousand.
The massive army the court assembled from all over only managed to send eight thousand men; the rest were either still on the road or hadn’t set out yet.
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Meanwhile, the rebel army had already swelled to five hundred thousand.
So the eight thousand regular troops didn’t dare enter the Northwest—they camped outside, waiting for reinforcements.
Three days later, one of the last two cities was breached by the rebels.
The court’s assembled army barely reached ten thousand.
But even then, they still didn’t dare attack the rebels.
Two days later, the last city in the Northwest fell—marking the complete takeover by the rebel forces.
The rebel army had three leaders, said to be brothers.
The eldest was Peter Xue, the second Charles Xue, and the youngest Shawn Xue.
After taking Northwest Province, a scholar who defected to them suggested the three brothers each declare themselves king.
But Peter Xue, the eldest, immediately had the scholar dragged out and beheaded.
When Ian heard about this,
he found himself becoming quite interested in Peter Xue.
In both this world’s history and his previous life’s, peasant uprisings always started strong, but later the leaders would get caught up in luxury, and many would declare themselves generals or kings.
Those types usually ended up defeated, but Peter Xue resisted the temptation to become a king. That meant he wasn’t satisfied with just being a local rebel—he probably wanted the whole Valeguard Kingdom.
"Sir, urgent news from Xifeng County!"
Just as Ian was reading the Northwest intelligence, a yamen runner rushed in to report.
Ian picked up the urgent dispatch and opened it. His expression darkened—a force of eight thousand Red Wolf Tribe cavalry had attacked Xifeng County two days ago.
Xifeng County was Frostmarch Prefecture’s only mid-sized county, but it had just five hundred local troops. The Red Wolf Tribe sent eight thousand cavalry, while Frostmarch Garrison Town had only two thousand veterans—the rest were fresh recruits still in training.
If those new recruits were sent into battle against Red Wolf cavalry, they’d be slaughtered.
After a moment’s thought, Ian went to see Bruce Summers.
Bruce’s face fell as soon as he heard the news.
"Ian, what should we do?"
Bruce asked, his face full of worry.
"With only five hundred men, Xifeng County can’t possibly hold off the Red Wolf Tribe’s attack. And the assault started two days ago, so unless something unusual happened, Xifeng should already have fallen!"
Ian explained.
So Ian sent out scouts.
That night, the scouts returned with news: Xifeng City hadn’t fallen.
"It’s still holding? That’s great!" Bruce said happily.
"It might not be a good thing," Ian replied.
Ian shook his head.
"Why do you say that, Ian?" Bruce asked, puzzled.
"The Red Wolf Tribe is all cavalry, but do you think it’s hard for them to take Xifeng City?" Ian asked Bruce.
"Not at all," Bruce said after thinking for a moment.
Ian continued, "If it’s not hard, why haven’t they taken the city? Simple—they’re after Frostmarch Garrison Town. As long as Xifeng City stands, we’ll be forced to send reinforcements. We only have two thousand veterans, and even if we bring all the new recruits, we’re no match for the Red Wolf cavalry. If our main force is wiped out, what’s left to defend Frostmarch City? So the Red Wolf Tribe’s real target isn’t Xifeng County—it’s Frostmarch Prefecture!"
Bruce sucked in a breath. "So what should we do—don’t send reinforcements to Xifeng?"
"If we don’t, Xifeng County will definitely fall!" Ian replied.
Ian insisted.
"Ian, you’ve completely confused me. Just tell me—what should we do?" Bruce said helplessly.
"Sir, I’m willing to lead a thousand veterans to break Xifeng County’s siege. The rest of the troops should be pulled back into the city, so Frostmarch Prefecture will be safe!"
"No way, I won’t allow it! That’s not a rescue, it’s suicide!"
Bruce shouted. A thousand infantry against eight thousand cavalry—the outcome was obvious. To him, Ian was just throwing his life away.
Ian smiled confidently. "Sir, I wouldn’t suggest it unless I was sure I could pull it off!"
"But—!"
Ian cut him off. "Sir, unless you have another plan, this is the only way!"
"Ian, you’re still young, with a bright future ahead. I can’t let you take such a risk!" Bruce said, still determined.