Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 38: The Armies of the Righteous
With the appearance of the first person who responded to the call, a chain reaction soon occurred, and more people came forward one after another.

Especially when Yan Yi announced that he would only recruit one or two groups of soldiers and the number of places was limited, those who were still hesitating and waiting could no longer sit still. They threw aside their reserve and responded to the call.

For a moment, a romantic banquet turned into a place for Yan Yi to recruit soldiers.

Fei Shang watched all this helplessly, not knowing what to do except shaking his head and sighing.

Yan Yi was in a good mood, because all the people who responded to the call were wealthy families in the county, which was exactly the ideal source of soldiers in his mind.

Don't underestimate these wealthy families. You should know that most of them are powerful people in various villages and towns.

These wealthy families were all large families that had been reproducing in Wucheng for generations. Some of them were large families that had owned property and settled there for hundreds of years. There were also some minor officials in their families. There were many local knights, heroes, and people who were well-versed in poetry and books among their children. The population and the number of acres of land in their families were also not to be underestimated. Some of them even owned workshops and shops.

More importantly, as these wealthy families and powerful people settled in various villages and towns for a long time, they gradually took control of the local township offices and controlled the power of local taxes, labor service, litigation disputes, and monopolies. Their family foundation accumulated day by day, and their influence grew day by day.

In addition, there was a law in the Han Empire that required the owners of land to settle in the local area. Once they moved elsewhere, the land would need to be handed over to relatives or taken back by the government. Although this law was ineffective in front of the wealthy families and there were various ways to deal with it, it was very restrictive for the common people. This also made it difficult for the common people to leave their villages and towns, and they could only rely on the wealthy families in the village, and more and more land was annexed.

If things continue to develop in this way, perhaps in ten or even dozens of years, through continuous mergers and expansion, a few of these wealthy families and powerful people will stand out and become new powerful families.

However, the road to becoming a powerful family is also very bumpy, because the old powerful families are always colluding with officials to suppress these wealthy families, and firmly control the high-ranking officials in the counties. When positions are vacant, they would rather let these positions remain idle than easily give them to the wealthy families below.

It is not difficult to understand why when Yan Yi showed a hint of his intention to recruit them, these wealthy and powerful people would flock to him.

Yan Yi focused his recruitment efforts on them precisely because he saw the characteristics of these powerful and wealthy families. Once these people came over to him, for a considerable period of time, if he wanted to expand his family, there would be no other way except to follow him closely. Their loyalty was undoubtedly much stronger than those of the aristocratic and powerful families. This was a group of people who could consolidate the foundation of his rule.

As for those noble families and powerful people, he regarded them as fat sheep with whom he could maintain a certain cooperative relationship.

When military supplies were scarce, he would not hesitate to pluck the wool from these fat sheep, or pick out one or two disobedient ones to kill to satisfy his hunger.

Although he had only been in command for a short time, Yan Yi was already beginning to feel the pressure of insufficient military funds. The same exhilaration he felt in the past when he was slaying bandits and prohibiting looting from the people was now exacerbated by the pressure. As Yan Baihu had said, many armies in this era relied on plundering the people to sustain themselves. Without this income, increasing revenue became something he had to consider.

"Young Master, our clan also wants to select some young men to respond to the call. I wonder if you can accept them?" Shen Quan stood up with a smile and became the first noble family to respond to the call.

The reason why he was willing to respond to the call was partly to eliminate the bad impression that Shen had left on Yan Yi, and partly because he wanted to deepen his relationship with Yan Yi and invest in him.

After visiting Geqi Pavilion, his cousin Shen Jing immediately abducted the offending guest and took him to the thieves' department. He praised Yan Yi highly and was very optimistic about his future. After observing him himself, Shen Quan also agreed with this. He was not a man of hesitation and made a decision immediately. Yan Yi agreed and nodded.

After all, the powerful families are a huge force. At this stage, he can only target a small number of them, and the majority still need to be won over or cooperated with.

The Shen family was willing to let the clan members respond to the call and participate in the battle against Wu Jing, which was a clear sign of taking sides, so he naturally would not refuse.

With the Shen family taking the lead, two more powerful families stepped forward to respond to the call, while the other four powerful families remained seated.

Shi was even more calm and composed, as if he was staying out of the matter.

Yan Yi did not want to recruit too many soldiers from powerful families, and was also happy to see this result.

The conscription went very smoothly. There were more than 500 soldiers from the rich families alone, most of whom brought their own weapons and equipment and provided their own military rations, which relieved a lot of his pressure.

The money and grain offered by various tribes added up to five or six million coins and tens of thousands of stones of grain, which was enough for his temporary needs.

After finishing his business, Yan Yi immediately changed his attitude and became cheerful and talkative. Not only did he withdraw the soldiers guarding outside the manor, he also drank and talked happily with everyone present, as if the previous unpleasantness had never happened.

For a moment, the banquet returned to its original lively scene, with the sound of piano and laughter ringing out one after another, until night fell and everyone dispersed.

When he returned to Yan's residence, Yan Baihu already knew what Yan Yi had done today, but he felt increasingly powerless to discipline Yan Yi. In addition, with the expedition imminent and many things to do, he simply turned a blind eye and was too lazy to care anymore.

On the afternoon of the third day, when the money and grain donated by various ethnic groups arrived one after another, Yan Yi asked Cao Qiu to take three million yuan and go to Yuncheng in disguise to bribe Wan Bing.

One Wuzhu coin weighs about three to four grams, and three million coins are eleven tons. It is naturally impossible for Cao Qiu to sneak into Yuncheng with so much money. Instead, he converted it into gold and silver and sent it to Wan Bing, saying frankly that this was only the first batch of gifts. If he could help the two families stop fighting, he would definitely give more generous gifts in the future.

After receiving such a huge sum of money, Wan Bing was overjoyed and agreed to it without hesitation. After sending someone to secretly send Cao Qiuli out of the country, he began to think about how to profit from both Yan's family and Qian Tong.

In the blink of an eye, another day passed. Yan Yi held a swearing-in banquet in Baihu City, rewarded his soldiers, enforced strict military discipline, and promised generous rewards.

In addition to the 400 people taken away by Si Qing, he now has 1,500 soldiers under his command: the elite soldiers of Sanqu transferred by Yan Baihu, 80 cavalrymen serving as personal guards, 400 new soldiers recruited from refugees, and 400 people selected from the young men of various ethnic groups.

For a moment, the sky was filled with war clouds and murderous aura!
(End of this chapter)