My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 283 One Hundred Thousand Valiant Fruits
The emperor's carriage continued its journey toward Luoyang.

Traveling takes the most time.

When Yuwen Shu arrived at the imperial carriage with gifts and presented them to the emperor, Yang Guang's face finally lit up with joy. What Yuwen Shu gave Yang Guang was not anything luxurious, but just a strange, gaudy garment.

"This was obtained by me from the Hu people, hahaha, Your Majesty can have the concubines in the harem wear it and they will know how exquisite it is!"

Yang Guang carefully examined the clothes in front of him until he noticed several holes in them. He then smiled wryly and said, "Duke Xu, others bring rare and precious treasures as tribute. Why do you send such a rude thing? How can this be a gift from a gentleman?"

Yuwen Shu smiled and shook his head, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I am just a military man and do not know anything about rare treasures. I just thought this thing was useful, so I asked for a few extra and brought them to Your Majesty!"

Yang Guang laughed heartily upon hearing this.

Since Yuwen Shu pacified Tuyuhun, his favor with Yang Guang has increased day by day. Even when Yang Guang encountered something delicious, he would send it to Yuwen Shu. People who delivered things to Yuwen Shu would even meet him on the road. Whenever there was a problem, they would ask Yuwen Shu for his opinion. His status even surpassed that of Su Wei, and he was showing signs of becoming the number one minister in the court.

Yang Guang accepted the precious gift and had Yuwen Shu sit beside him.

The carriage continued to move forward. Yang Guang looked at Yuwen Shu with a smile and said softly, "I like the gift sent by the Duke of Xu very much. However, in the past few days, ministers have been coming to me with gifts, all wanting to recommend me for the position of general."

"I have appointed six new generals of the Vanguard and six new generals of the Vanguard. In just over ten days, more than thirty or forty people have been recommended to me, all claiming to be brave and skilled in martial arts. Hehehe. I have rejected them all. A few of them were persistent, so I dismissed them from their posts and made them follow me on foot. Surely Duke Xu will not be like them?"

Yuwen Shu shook his head. “Your Majesty, I am not giving gifts to recommend someone. I come to give gifts every month. Do you mean I am recommending someone every month? However, I have come here today to recommend someone to Your Majesty to serve as the General of the Vanguard.”

Yang Guang stared at Yuwen Shu for a moment, but did not get angry. "Who does the Duke of Xu want to recommend?"

"I would like to recommend a brave man named Zhao Xingshu. I believe he is suitable to serve as a general."

Yang Guang sneered, "What is this man's background? And what relation is he to the Duke of Xu?"

"This person is of commoner origin, his family is in business, and he has no relation to me."

"Oh, then why recommend a merchant's son to serve as a general?"

Yuwen Shu said earnestly, "Your Majesty, this man recently sent someone to find me, saying that if I recommend him to Your Majesty, he is willing to give me his family property!"

Yang Guang's eyes widened. "I don't say anything about you taking bribes normally, but why are you saying this to my face?"
He pointed at Yuwen Shu, his fingers trembling with anger.

Yuwen Shu hurriedly explained, “Your Majesty, this is what I think. Although this man comes from a merchant family, he has a huge fortune. Even if he does nothing, he can live a very comfortable life. But the military is not a good job, especially the new army, which requires daily drills and involves fighting and death! This man is willing to give up his vast fortune to join the dangerous military, serve Your Majesty, and contribute to the country!”

"I recommend this man because I believe his loyalty is beyond question, and it is not because I covet his money!"

“These days, many people have come to me, wanting me to place them in the new army, but I haven’t agreed to any of them!”

"Your Majesty knows that Your Majesty's new army cannot tolerate those incompetent fools! Only those like Zhao Xingshu, who have earned my respect, have been recommended to Your Majesty. If Your Majesty finds this inappropriate, I am willing to admit my guilt!"

Yang Guang hesitated for a moment, then said, "Even so, the Duke should not have mentioned bribery in front of me. This is a breach of the proper etiquette between ruler and subject!"

Yuwen Shu hurriedly confessed, "Your Majesty, I dared not lie to you, so I told you the truth!"

Yang Guang waved his hand, "Alright, get up. Duke Xu, the recommendation is fine, but he has no military merits. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to appoint him as a General of the Vanguard?"

Yuwen Shu asked in confusion, "Didn't Your Majesty intend to form a new army from commoners? If you don't let commoners serve as commanders, are you going to appoint meritorious officials instead?"

Yang Guang no longer hesitated, "Since it was recommended by the Duke, let him give it a try."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!!"

Yuwen Shu hurriedly bowed in thanks. Yang Guang gestured for Yuwen Shu to come closer, deciding to have a proper discussion with him about the matter.

"Duke Xu, the new army that I want to build does not want to belong to any of the other guards."

Yuwen Shu already knew this, and nodded, "That's for the best!"

Today, the army in the world is divided into sixteen legions. Each legion has its own 'command headquarters' and a group of commanders. Local military governments belong to different legions. Normally, the command headquarters and local troops are separate. When war breaks out, the command headquarters assembles the local troops to go to war.

Among them, there are twelve guards who command the military forces of the entire country, but there are four offices that do not command troops. These include the Left and Right Bodyguard Offices, which are responsible for guarding the emperor, and the Left and Right Gatekeeper Offices, which are in charge of guarding the palace gates. Their members are not soldiers; they are all sons of nobles.

At present, the emperor is preparing to establish the position of Zhechong Langjiang in this Beishenfu (a military headquarters) which does not command troops, and to increase the number of troops. This army will have no commander; the only commander will be the emperor himself.

Yuwen Shu knew the emperor's thoughts long ago. The current emperor was quite vigilant and didn't trust those around him much. He was wary of everyone and wanted to increase his personal guard, which was quite reasonable.

Yang Guang continued, "I have heard that many brave generals come from the army. I want to select the elite from among the soldiers to join the army."

Yuwen Shu nodded again. The emperor did not trust the nobles and wanted to promote some fallen generals, such as Sima Dekan, who was a butcher, and Yuan Li, a former member of the imperial family who had fallen from grace. He would then pair them with brave commoners from Guanzhong to form an army that would not be influenced by the nobles and would only obey his orders. This was quite reasonable.

Yang Guang suddenly asked, "But to build a new army, we need enough generals. Soldiers are easy to find, but generals are not. Even if all the people in the Right Guard Office are dispersed, I'm afraid it will be difficult to support a strong army. Does the Duke of Xu have any advice for me?"

Yuwen Shu was taken aback for a moment, then quickly explained, “Your Majesty need not worry at all. The soldiers in the Right Guard are all capable of serving as brigade commanders, squad leaders, and other similar positions. They are more than capable. Adding six more battalions, with eight hundred men in each guard, would amount to four thousand eight hundred men in six guards. That’s more than enough!”

Yang Guang narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Yuwen Shu.

"Does Duke Xu think that one Zhechong Lang General leading eight hundred men is enough?"

Yuwen Shu paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Actually, 1,600 people per prefecture is also acceptable. The Left Guard Prefecture alone has over 4,000 inner soldiers. If there are six prefectures, that would be 9,600 people?"

"If that's the case, then let more people from the Right Army serve as captains; that should be enough."

Yang Guang's expression darkened slightly. "Is 1,600 people enough for one prefecture?"

At this moment, even Yuwen Shu sensed something was amiss. One thousand six hundred men per prefecture wasn't enough? Could it be that they wanted to build an army roughly the same size as the Left and Right Wing Guards?
Yuwen Shu dared not give a definitive answer anymore. He tentatively asked, "That prefecture has three thousand people?"

Yang Guang kept a straight face and remained silent.

Yuwen Shu's lips trembled. "Six thousand men?"

"Alright, Duke Xu, you may go back now. I am feeling a bit tired."

Yuwen Shu stepped out of the carriage in a daze, still unable to understand. Six thousand soldiers per prefecture, six prefectures would be thirty-six thousand soldiers, which is about the same as the troops of some generals who command both the inner and outer armies. Isn't that enough?

Does the sage intend to command 10,000 men in one prefecture, thus forming a valiant army of 60,000?
Is it really necessary to go to such an extreme?

What's the point of keeping an army of 60,000 around?

Yuwen Shu was completely baffled by the emperor's thinking.

After seeing Yuwen Shu off, Yang Guang lowered his head, his eyes full of displeasure. He hadn't expected that even a capable minister like Yuwen Shu couldn't understand his thoughts. The Left Guard alone had more than 30,000 troops. Shouldn't he, as a General of the Vanguard, command about 20,000 troops?

In this way, the six generals would command 120,000 elite troops, which would be a considerable force that could be used for expeditions, for self-defense, and for suppressing other disobedient guard units.

(End of this chapter)