"The Huo Family of Huwei County, despite being a noble family with a century-long heritage, fostered a strong martial tradition. The members of the Huo Family are all skilled practitioners.
I didn’t scatter them or assign them elsewhere. I kept them here, just for you."
The convicts who were escorted here weren’t all intended for manual labor. They were more like a reserve force, or rather, reinforcements for the local troops.
The Jingnan Army had its own fifty-thousand-strong rear camp reserve. Besides, for an elite force like the Jingnan Army, blind expansion would only lead to a decline in its combat effectiveness. That’s why the Jingnan Army didn’t absorb many convicts. Instead, they were to be absorbed by the various fortresses and military units within Yinlang County.
In any case, local security forces were mostly used as cannon fodder. Whether any true talent could be forged from them, well, that remained to be seen.
Speculating with a more cynical mind, isn’t the Imperial Court sending these convicts from prominent families to the front lines precisely to deliberately consume them? If they didn’t die and remained in the country, they would become a latent threat.
"The Huo Family, how many of them?"
"Over seven hundred."
According to tradition, convicts from such families would most likely be broken up and assigned to different units. Even ordinary displaced people are dispersed during resettlement, let alone members of an entire family.
But whether to break them up or not had its advantages and disadvantages. If you couldn’t keep them in check, this group might band together to resist you. Worse, if they became truly desperate, they might even abandon their families left behind in the rear and defect to an enemy state.
But if you *could* suppress and tame them, these seven hundred family members, all sharing the same surname, would be very unlikely to break and flee when thrown onto the battlefield. Their tenacity would be much greater.
"Good, I’ll take them. Armor, weapons, provisions, all of that..."
Hui Wenzu gestured for Zheng Fan to help him up, saying at the same time, "Let people say I’m playing favorites if they want. After all, I’m portly and thick-skinned, heh heh."
In truth, Zheng Fan’s Green Willow Fortress wasn’t lacking in provisions, armaments, armor, or warhorses. But such things are always better to have in abundance.
"Hey, hey, hey, don’t be so formal! Absolutely no need to be formal! I’m betting heavily on you, you know. You absolutely have to make me proud! The war is about to begin. Honestly, I might have to put on armor and take to the field myself!"
Zheng Fan was silent.
An image flashed through Zheng Fan’s mind: Fatty Hui charging on horseback, with a group of soldiers cowering behind him to dodge arrows... Or, during a siege defense, Fatty Hui being used like a sandbag, thrown behind the city gates to block the enemy’s charge...
Of course, such scenarios were highly unlikely. If the Yan Army truly reached a state where even Fatty Hui had to charge into battle, then the fall of Yan State would not be far off.
Hui Wenzu would certainly go to the battlefield. He was a Commanding General, after all; it was impossible for him not to lead troops. But what he was doing now, based on his relationship with Zheng Fan, was cultivating his own trusted faction.
If Hui Wenzu knew that Shatuo Queshi, the one who had smashed his carriage back then, was currently recuperating in Green Willow Fortress, he would probably...
"This subordinate will definitely not disappoint Your Lordship’s high hopes!"
Since the other party was showing him such great respect and offering such significant benefits, Zheng Fan genuinely didn’t mind performing a loud and sincere salute.
After leaving the Commanding General’s Mansion, guided by a trusted captain dispatched by Hui Wenzu, Zheng Fan arrived at a training ground within the city.
The training ground was teeming with people. Many convicts were detained inside. Some were in shackles, but most were not restricted, merely confined to designated areas.
Around the perimeter of the training ground, armored soldiers armed with bows and crossbows stood guard.
Inside, many military officers and scribes were moving back and forth.
A Ming, who was following Zheng Fan, whispered to him, "It looks like a livestock market."
"Yes," Zheng Fan nodded in agreement.
"My Lord, if this war doesn’t go smoothly, then Yan State will be in serious trouble."
Zheng Fan felt it too. If before he had merely admired the grand vision of the Yan Emperor and the two Lords, now he truly sensed the signs of an imminent volcanic eruption hidden beneath this audacity.
Perhaps, in the past, there was only one Zheng Fan in Yan State. But now, the Yan Emperor had personally created countless more like him.
If problems arose in the war against the Qian State, and if, at the same time, an accident befell one of the three—the Yan Emperor or the two Lords—then these people, their hearts burning with vengeful fury...
It had to be understood that in this world, the vast majority of elites bore the label of the great clans.
One misstep, and it could trigger a new Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
"Lord Zheng, the Huo Family is over here."
The captain assigned by Hui Wenzu led Zheng Fan to the front of an enclosure.
Behind the fence, one could clearly discern the inherent discipline within the group of people seated there.
At this point, a man from the group stood up and walked over. His gaze fell on the captain, and finally, on Zheng Fan. The rıghtful source is 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚·𝔫𝔢𝔱
He shouted in a very defiant tone, "Well, well, which lord is it that wants to ’buy’ us back, eh?"
"How insolent!" the captain immediately snapped.
Zheng Fan, however, didn’t get angry at the man’s insolent attitude. Firstly, he believed that no matter how cohesive and untamed a group might be, it shouldn’t be a major problem after being handed over to Liang Cheng and Blind Bei for ’reconditioning’.
Secondly, Zheng Fan’s attention was currently captivated by the adjacent enclosure, just as he had been drawn to that person at first sight during the funeral of the former Commanding General, Xiao Dahai.
The person was leaning there, apparently lost in thought.
Zheng Fan first ignored the troublemaker from the Huo Family. Instead, he walked over to that other enclosure and tapped on the fence.
Hearing this address, the man’s body first trembled, then he turned his head to look at Zheng Fan.
His hands immediately shot out to grip the fence, and he cried out to Zheng Fan, "Brother Zheng! No, no, no, Lord Zheng! Lord Zheng, please, do a good deed, please, take me! Take me!"