Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 231: Chapter 222: Revealing the Family’s True Colors

Wang Bin, after returning from Chongshan Pass, immediately convened all the subordinates to gather at the Assistant General Mansion, and this time Yang Zhenshan was qualified to attend.

As the Assistant General of East Road Songzhou Guard at Chongshan Town, he commanded two Rescue Camps and five garrison camps, with a total military strength of about 11,000 soldiers.

Additionally, he also had the Songzhou Guard, Songzhou Front Guard, and Songzhou Rear Guard, three garrison units, possessing about 15,000 garrison troops.

Of course, these numbers represent the standard organizational strength, the actual count was not as high.

In the past, the phenomenon of ghost soldiers in Chongshan Town was severe; under normal circumstances, a garrison camp of a thousand could be considered good if it had five hundred men, and among those five hundred, many were old, weak, sick, or disabled.

As for the garrison bases within the wards, they also suffered severe shortages, and military farm lands were occupied by officials, causing a large number of military households to flee.

Actually, when compared with other garrison offices, the former garrison office of An Yuan City had been considered quite good, at least having not too many missing from its military quota.

The reason for such was because the previous garrison officer Cao Han disdained the small gains from ghost salaries and focused all his attention on smuggling.

And now, although Chongshan Town’s various divisions have recovered somewhat, there are still deficiencies in troop numbers.

At the moment, Wang Bin’s forces amounted to about eighty percent of the total organization, which is around 10,000 camp soldiers and about 13,000 garrison troops.

After arriving at the Assistant General Mansion, Yang Zhenshan found that many officials had already arrived early.

Everyone was greeting and exchanging pleasantries.

Yang Zhenshan, however, was not isolated; instead, many people greeted him enthusiastically.

Although on normal days everyone was busy with their own duties and didn’t work in the same city, they occasionally met up, so being somewhat acquainted was not a problem.

Yang Zhenshan was not unfamiliar with these officials.

As for why these officers were particularly warm to him, the reason was the marriage alliance between the Yang family and the Marquis Mansion.

Those who were envious and resentful were these people, and those who flattered were also these people.