The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 457 Wealth, Companionship, Land and Law
How to plan a new army, to establish a force completely loyal to oneself under the very nose of the Southern Song court, and to ensure that this force is not small in size.

In Wu Chengyu's plan, the troops trained would inevitably be elite soldiers, aiming to be as invincible as Yue Fei's army, capable of winning battles with fewer troops and holding off the elite cavalry of the northern barbarians. Moreover, since the south lacks horses, this army, which is mainly composed of infantry, would have even higher requirements.

However, no matter how much emphasis is placed on the ability to win with fewer troops, the size of this army would not be less than 50,000, so that it could influence the situation of the world when the opportunity arises.

If they truly had 50,000 elite soldiers comparable to Yue Fei's army back then, Wu Chengyu was terrified just thinking about how formidable their fighting power would be.

The army that Yue Fei led when he swept through the north actually had uneven combat capabilities, and the real main force and elite troops probably did not even number 50,000.

However, creating 50,000 elite soldiers from scratch required far too many conditions, the most pressing of which was the source of manpower—where could so many soldiers be recruited?

These people cannot be locals, or rather, the number of locals must not be too large. If there are too many, and they have too much contact with Suzhou, it will attract attention.

These people must start out as teenagers to have room for training or brainwashing, thus ensuring the cohesion of the unit.

These people's backgrounds cannot be too complicated, otherwise too many spies from various places will inevitably be mixed in. At least a considerable number of them must come from sources that Wu Chengyu can trust.

These few points alone are enough to give Wu Chengyu a headache. In his previous life, he had never worked as an HR in a state-owned enterprise. Fortunately, he had a capable wife.

Lin Xiao said, "Hong Niangzi has already thought about the issue of manpower. The scale of the training should not be too large at the beginning, as the conditions in various aspects are not yet in place."

At this stage, the size of the first batch of soldiers is limited to 5,000. Only after the first batch of people are trained and become our base can we recruit other soldiers.

This group of people must be absolutely trustworthy, and the matchmaker has already prepared everything for you. Once everything is ready on your end, they will be sent to you.

These are all orphans we have been searching for in the Jin Kingdom in recent years. They are all Han Chinese and pitiful people whose families were destroyed and whose lives were lost under the oppression of the Jin Kingdom. These children were still young at the time and did what they could in various bases, but they all had a good foundation.

The Jin Kingdom's rebel army has now reached saturation, and its old bases can no longer accommodate so many troops. Its main objective recently has been to expand into new bases while streamlining its forces to make the rebel army more combat-ready.

Before a new base area is established, we lack sufficient territory, and the new base area is constantly at risk of being exposed. Therefore, we are unable to train new recruits in the short term, and the best solution is to send them here.

Wu Chengyu nodded. You can't get fat in one bite. With five thousand boys who grew up in the Jin Kingdom's rebel army, their backgrounds are not complicated and their credibility is high. Once they are trained, the new recruits from other places can be controlled.

After these people are successfully trained, they can be sent back to the Jin Kingdom. By then, the new base in Hong Niangzi's hands will probably be complete and can fully accommodate the new army, increasing the size of the rebel army.

Alternatively, according to Wu Chengyu's plan, these people could be slowly and gradually mixed into the Southern Song army, increasing their proportion in the military.

This problem of manpower can be temporarily solved, but Wu Chengyu will face more than just this problem, and it is even more difficult.

He suddenly realized that the requirements for training the new army were somewhat like cultivating immortality, and also required wealth, companions, land, and methods.

First and foremost is money, which is also the most important thing. Putting everything else aside, feeding five thousand soldiers is a huge problem. If these young boys eat their fathers' food, and the training is rigorous, the daily food consumption will probably be even greater.

Assuming a soldier eats three catties of grain a day during training, five thousand soldiers would eat fifteen thousand catties. According to the Song Dynasty's unit of measurement, one shi of grain is one hundred and twenty catties. That is to say, to feed five thousand soldiers, Wu Chengyu would have to prepare 125 shi of grain every day, which would amount to more than forty-five thousand shi a year.

This was a tremendous burden for Wu Chengyu, who had once only wanted to roam the martial arts world as a martial arts master or a street urchin.

Food is the foundation of morale. If your soldiers are not well-fed, how can they fight a war, and how can they be willing to obey your orders?

Fortunately, Wu Chengyu is now in Suzhou, a true land of fish and rice. Suzhou and the neighboring Changshu are known as "Suzhou and Changshu, where the world is well-fed," which means that a large granary is right on his doorstep.

The Southern Song Dynasty was militarily weak and its court was corrupt, but its grain production was not low. The surrounding counties and cities such as Changshu and Taicang alone could meet the needs of its large army, provided that Wu Chengyu could provide enough silver.

The Beiwei Army ransacked and exterminated the gangs in Changzhou, finding a total of over 200,000 taels of silver, plus over 100,000 taels from the Iron Palm Gang, totaling over 400,000 taels. It seemed like a lot, but if it were used to support soldiers, it wouldn't last more than a few years.

Moreover, the silver was used for more than just buying food, building military camps, and expanding bases; it was also used for soldiers' weapons and armor, which were the main expenses.

Therefore, the word "wealth" alone was enough to stump Wu Chengyu, forcing him to put his plans into action as soon as possible.

After wealth comes companionship, a like-minded comrade-in-arms, someone you can entrust your life to and build a career with, and this is something Wu Chengyu already possesses.

Hong Niangzi, far away in the Jin Kingdom, and her tens of thousands of elite troops who have already formed a fighting force, are descendants of Yue Fei's army, personally trained by Wu Chengyu, the Beiwei Army, which can be used as a weapon on the battlefield, and even veterans who have just been sent to serve as instructors.

There's also the third branch of the Wu family in Wujiapo. Although they don't directly participate in the construction of the new army, they help purchase food and various supplies in the Suzhou area. We absolutely have to rely on them.

These people were all Wu Chengyu's helpers. Without them, Wu Chengyu's dream of training a new army would have remained just that—a pipe dream.

Even in the future, he could develop more comrades. When the Southern Song Dynasty collapsed, there were many loyal men, and these people were all worth cultivating. Finally, regarding the land and the law, the law was simple: Wu Chengyu had military books like the Wumu Legacy, which taught soldiers step by step, as well as battlefield martial arts specifically for soldiers.

The martial arts techniques left to the rebel army, after several years of testing, have indeed greatly improved the soldiers' combat effectiveness.

The martial arts training system of the Beiwei Army could not be popularized throughout the entire army; that was a special forces system. The Tiger Warrior Body he created for the rebel army, which greatly improved the soldiers' strength and defense, was already sufficient.

They also have no shortage of other formations, sword techniques, and so on. In the future, the individual combat capabilities of these 50,000 elite troops may even surpass those of Yue Fei's army back then.

The only problem was finding a suitable location. A base for hiding and training troops was extremely important. The reason the rebel army was able to survive within the Jin territory was because they had access to several ancient military caves hidden deep in the Qinling Mountains, which gave them a real foundation.

At this point, Suzhou became a disadvantage for Wu Chengyu. The Jiangnan region has few continuous mountain ranges, mostly just hills. The highest peak in Suzhou is Limao Peak, which is 341.7 meters above sea level. If it were in South Korea, it would be considered a high mountain.

As for Xiaonanshan next to Yanyun Mountain Villa, its name includes the character "Xiao" (meaning "small"), and it is only a little over 100 meters above sea level. It is not a place to hide people, nor can any hidden tunnels be developed.

Leaving aside the distant future, Yan Yun Manor can comfortably house three hundred Beiwei soldiers, five hundred veterans, and over two hundred elderly, weak, women, and children. But if Hong Niangzi were to send five thousand half-grown boys, how would Wu Chengyu possibly solve their sleeping problem? The communal sleeping area would probably stretch for miles.

Thinking about this, Wu Chengyu also had a headache. This was no longer the carefree and unburdened life he had when he was wandering the world. Since he decided to do something, he would only face more and more problems, but now was not the time to back down.

"Brother Lin, from now on you will be in charge of contacting Hong Niangzi's side. You will be in charge of these veterans for now, and I will take care of the rest."

I need to leave for a while now. I should be stepping down from my position as the military commander of Suzhou, and I also need to inquire about some things with my elders.

The next day at lunchtime, Wu Chengyu appeared at Wuweilou disguised as Murong Xiu. He had previously sent a message to Wujiapo, inviting Wu Zhengliang to meet at Wuweilou.

In order not to affect the Wu family, he would appear in Suzhou with this face from then on, and would not go to Wu Family Slope unless there was something important to do.

Wu Jinshui, the head chef of Wuweilou, didn't know who the young man who had booked the private room was. He only knew that he had made an appointment with his fourth uncle, so he was very hospitable and quickly served all of Wuweilou's signature dishes.

When Wu Zhengliang arrived, Wu Chengyu quickly stood up and bowed to him, saying, "Murong Xiu greets Fourth Master Wu."

Murong Xiu's identity was facilitated by the Mu family in Changzhou, which was the Murong family that had been cut off from its lineage. Hong Niangzi set his identity as the posthumous son of the Murong family. He had been doing business outside for many years and later returned to Changzhou, where he restored the Murong family name.

The Murong family no longer attracts the attention of people in the martial arts world, and very few people know about the Murong family's past from a hundred years ago.

Hong Qigong knew this only because the Murong family had had many conflicts with the Beggars' Sect. Apart from him, the sect leader, other Beggars' Sect disciples could not see these inside stories.

As for the Southern Song court, it actually had no feelings towards the Murong family at all.

Back then, the Murong family secretly plotted a rebellion, but they only engaged in petty squabbles in the martial arts world and did nothing that could truly influence the political situation.

The Southern Yan dynasty of the Murong clan was destroyed in 410 AD. Murong Fu lived during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, around 1090 AD, a difference of 680 years.

For the Northern Song court, the so-called great cause of restoring the country was ultimately a joke and would not attract any attention from the upper echelons of the Song Dynasty.

Wu Chengyu had no problem using the name Murong Xiu, after all, he had half Murong blood in his body, and he also wanted to show the ancestors of the Murong clan what rebellion really meant.

Wu Zhengliang felt a little uncomfortable seeing Wu Chengyu's face now, but he quickly recovered.

"Young Master Murong, there's no need for such formalities. My father and I were close friends back then, and seeing you now reminds me of our old friend. If he could see you now, he would be very pleased."

"Come, have a seat. This is Wu Family's Five Flavors Restaurant. These signature dishes are famous far and wide. Please have a good taste."

After exchanging pleasantries, Wu Zhengliang dismissed Wu Jinshui and the others, closed the door, and then pulled Wu Chengyu to sit down.

“You entrusted me with something, then ran off for months. At least you still know to come back.”

Fourth Uncle, I'm fortunate to have fulfilled my mission and managed to buy back your official hat as the Military Commissioner of Suzhou.

　Today is the God of Wealth Festival, a day to welcome the God of Wealth. Many people in the south may not know this, but it is a relatively important festival in my area. So I took my wife and children to my parents' house for dinner, which delayed my writing. I will hurry up and finish the second chapter.

　　Finally, I wish all readers to receive the blessings of the God of Wealth and have abundant wealth.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)