knife

Chapter 230 The Great Conscription of Tai'an City

(I wasn't feeling well and spent the whole day at the hospital on the 1st. I have to go for blood tests early on the 2nd. I hope everything is alright. Please pray for me; I'm really terrified of being sick. This is a draft I saved up a couple of days ago; I'll try my best not to take time off.)
Jin Bao, the former bandit and now the owner of Ruyi Cloth Shop, hurriedly came down from the private room on the third floor of Deyiju and rushed home.

There are many others like him.

The once crowded Deyiju restaurant was soon mostly empty.

"What happened?" Some out-of-town customers, not knowing what was going on, saw even the usually composed manager of Deyiju Restaurant running out like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and couldn't help but tug at the sleeve of one of the waiters and ask.

"A massive conscription in Tai'an City!" The young shopkeeper's face was full of envy. "It must be a major battle. There has never been a conscription like this before!"

"A massive conscription? War?" The out-of-town customer looked at the waiter in shock: "Does anyone still dare to attack Tai'an City?"

“They must be from the Yuan Dynasty!” the waiter said.

"War is no good thing, so why do you look so excited, waiter? Shouldn't you be secretly happy that you weren't drafted?" the out-of-town guest asked with a smile.

The young waiter sighed, "It seems this guest is visiting Tai'an City for the first time. You don't think just anyone can be conscripted, do you? Only official Tai'an City residents are eligible for conscription. Those people who left in such a hurry just now were all official residents, carrying silver, bronze, or iron badges. I haven't even managed to become a prospective resident yet! I have no skills, I can only earn a living by physical strength, and I have no hope of ever becoming one!"

The young waiter sighed and pulled the towel off his shoulder, vigorously wiping the table where the customer was sitting until it shone. "What else would you like to order, sir? But the head chef in the back kitchen has probably already left for his job, so you'll have to make do with the dishes prepared by the apprentices. But the apprentices at our Deyiju Restaurant could easily be top chefs in any restaurant!"

"Sure, sure!" the out-of-town guest said with a smile.

Jinbao did not want to fight.

After surviving that life-or-death ordeal with Lü You, he came to Tai'an City with the silver token that Gu Xiaoman had promised him and started doing business.

Because not only military figures like Lü You and He Li were shareholders, but even people from the Zhi Qiu Yuan had invested, Jin Bao's business was truly unstoppable.

Anyway, he always gets the news a step ahead of others. Just a slight time difference is enough for him to make a fortune. What's more, he can get some goods that others can't get. Plus, he's very good at social maneuvering, so he's very successful in the business world.

In less than a year, he had made quite a name for himself in Tai'an City.

However, despite his reluctance, as a silver-ranked citizen of Tai'an City, it was his duty to immediately take up arms and rush to the assembly point when faced with a major conscription.

A top-tier resident is qualified to recommend five prospective residents.

A silver-medal resident is eligible to recommend two prospective residents.

These are all one-time awards; once the recommendations are given, they're gone. Therefore, whether you're a gold-level or silver-level resident, you still value these metrics quite a bit.

To put it bluntly, these indicators are the benefits that Tai'an City offers them; you can bring two subordinates with you.

Jinbao had four prospective city dwellers under his command, and two others were recommended by Lü You. These four men were all former bandits who had worked with them and were quite skilled.

However, when the great conscription arrives, these people will also go to the battlefield with their recommenders.

If you win the battle and make a contribution, then your promotion from probationary to full commission is a sure thing.

Therefore, these prospective city residents were actually more enthusiastic than the regular city residents.

The mobilization order was received at noon, and by sunset, the temporary camp outside Tai'an City was already filled with smoke from cooking fires, indicating that the army was basically formed.

Whether they were city residents or prospective city residents, they were considered successful people in Tai'an City. Even if some prospective city residents didn't have much money to equip themselves, their sponsors would pay out of their own pockets to buy them the best equipment. After all, on the battlefield, everyone was one, and if a prospective city resident made a contribution, the sponsor would also share in the credit.

Therefore, if Xiao Changche saw the equipment in this camp, he would definitely covet it.

The best equipment related to the weapons industry in Tai'an City can be found in this camp, and there are even many experimental items that people can obtain.

Each person had three horses, and many people even had chainmail made for their main warhorses.

In Tai'an City, as long as you are willing to pay, there are plenty of craftsmen who can satisfy all sorts of strange requests from customers.

According to Yuan intelligence, the main fighting force of the Anxi Protectorate consisted of 5,000 Tianlang Army soldiers and more than 10,000 Feihu Army soldiers. Moreover, the Feihu Army soldiers were on rotation, with only half of them serving in the military at any given time.

In reality, the Anxi Protectorate was able to gather more than 10,000 elite cavalrymen within a single day.

Inside the city lord's mansion, Ma Dacheng was engaged in a fierce battle between the black and white forces with the city lord, Zhou Zhi.

The old man loved playing chess, but he was a complete idiot. In the city lord's mansion, no one who knew how to play chess wanted to play with him, and even a chess master like Li Kaixin considered it an absolutely miserable task.

Ma Dacheng also loves playing chess, and his skill level is slightly higher than that of the lousy chess player. Ever since Ma Dacheng was sent to Tai'an City by his son, he and Zhou Zhi have become evenly matched, like two equally matched generals. They can't sleep if they don't play three or five games every day.

The two had their wins and losses, and they were having a great time.

Li Kaixin, clad in armor, strode in.

In the grand conscription in Tai'an City, theoretically, Zhou Zhi was the commander-in-chief of the entire army, and Li Kaixin was his general. However, Zhou Zhi had stopped managing affairs a long time ago, and Li Dachui was in charge of them.

However, Li Dachui is still in Baoping City and hasn't returned yet, so the preliminary work naturally falls to Li Kaixin.

"Lord, the grand conscription is complete, with a total of 10,386 people gathered." Li Kaixin glanced at the chessboard on the table, then quickly lowered his head. The chaotic state of the game made even a master like him want to curse. However, the identities of the two players prevented him from doing so.

"A grand conscription? What grand conscription?" Ma Dacheng was new to the area and naturally didn't know anything about it.

After Li Kaixin briefly explained the ins and outs of the Great Conscription, Ma Dacheng couldn't sit still any longer.

"Are the Yuan people coming to attack Tai'an?"

"Thirty thousand cavalry?"

"Is the Anxi Protectorate planning to amass a large army in Tai'an to fight them?"

Ma Dacheng fired off a barrage of questions.

Zhou Zhi tapped the chessboard with a chess piece and said, "Let the younger generation decide their own affairs. We old folks don't need to worry about it. Let's play chess!"

Ma Dacheng, however, was displeased. He reached out and messed up the chessboard, saying, "Lord Zhou, you're old, but I'm not. Steward Li, I live in Tai'an City now, so I should also be within the conscription range. I want to go to the front lines!"

"Do you have any cards?" Zhou Zhi grumbled in dissatisfaction. Just when he was about to kill Ma Dacheng's large group of stones, this guy took the opportunity to disrupt the game and ruin his victory.

"You know what, I actually have one!" Ma Dacheng chuckled, pulled a gold medal from his pocket, and placed it on the table.

"Huh?" Zhou Zhi was greatly surprised: "Where did you steal it from?"

"What do you mean 'stolen'? This was given to me by my son!" Ma Dacheng said smugly.

He didn't have a tag, but his son did, and it was gold.

Zhou Zhi looked at Li Kaixin.

Li Kaixin nodded with some difficulty, indicating that the badge was genuine. Ma Liang had followed Li Dachui for many years in his early years, so it was not surprising that he had a gold medal. He just did not expect that the badge would be given to Ma Dacheng now.

"With my skill level, what position could I possibly get in the military?" Ma Dacheng proudly put away the gold medal and tucked it into his pocket.

Li Kaixin looked apologetic: "General Ma, the command system of our Tai'an City's large conscription force has long been established and cannot be disrupted. If you insist on joining the army to participate in this great battle, then you can only serve as a staff officer in the central command headquarters to assist the young master in commanding the battle!"

"You mean assisting Li Dachui?" Ma Dacheng asked.

"Indeed, young master will arrive tonight!"

"I'll help if I can. Believe me, I can still be of some use!" Ma Dacheng patted his chest and said with great pride.

When the moon was high in the sky, Li Dachui finally appeared outside the camp.

Standing under the moonlight, looking at the camp that had been erected for miles in just one day, and the torches that circled the camp like a fiery dragon, Li Dachui suddenly felt as if he had a mighty army in his hands and the world was his.

Tell me, who in this world can achieve such a level as Tai'an City is right now?

After decades of management, they have truly succeeded in hiding their troops among the people.

When not in need, they are law-abiding citizens and high-quality taxpayers in Tai'an City.
When needed, they donned their armor, mounted their warhorses, and became the most powerful guardians of Tai'an City.

The main camp gate opened, and several rows of generals, led by Li Kaixin, filed out.

Ten generals from the ten garrison commanderies, each led by a gold medalist, along with a group from the central command headquarters, a group from logistics, and a group from intelligence support, a total of thirty or forty high-ranking generals bowed down to Li Dachui.

"Greetings, Protector-General!"

"You've all worked hard!" Li Dachui dismounted and laughed loudly.

It was indeed very hard work. The entire framework of the army was set up and put into normal operation in just one day. Although there had been training in the past, this was a real battle.

"Young master, you must be tired from your long journey!" Li Kaixin walked up with a smile and naturally took the reins of Li Dachui's horse.

Then Li Dachui's gaze fell on one of the group of staff officers in the central army.

There's one more person.

And he was someone I knew.

"General Ma, what are you doing here?" Li Dachui suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Ma Dacheng immediately pulled out a gold medal from his pocket and said, "Governor Li, I have a medal. I came here by imperial decree. This is my duty."

Li Dachui was speechless.

(End of this chapter)