CHAPTER 297: CHAPTER 9 KNOWING THE SOLDIERS_2

Saying this, Prince Fu pointed at a middle-aged man in leather armor standing there and said,

"Meng Geng."

"At your service, My Prince."

"Tell me, if Old Bastard Yang dares to lead his army into battle, what will be the outcome?"

"My Prince, the Yan Jingnan Army has fifty thousand men. However, including their rear camp and local garrisons, their total strength could reach several hundred thousand."

Militarily, the Qian people have always lacked confidence when facing the Yan people. The root of this all lies in the battle where the first Earl of North Border, with merely thirty thousand men, defeated an army of five hundred thousand, completely shattering the martial spine of the Qian people.

"Ah, the numbers are even," Prince Fu sighed. Our numbers are on par with the Yan people. So why the hell would we initiate an attack!

"My Prince, the Yan Jingnan Army is cavalry."

Qian lacks cavalry; this has been our affliction for a hundred years. The Yan people’s horse farms are better than Qian’s, and they border the desert. Whether they buy or seize them, they never lack warhorses. But it’s different for Qian. However, solutions are always devised by people. Qian is wealthy and did attempt to establish its own horse administration, but all efforts eventually came to nothing. A great deal was invested, but it barely made a ripple.

"Although I’m always cursing Old Bastard Yang, I still have to admit his competence. He didn’t secure the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Three Borders solely because of his three nieces. Over the years, there have been numerous internal rebellions, and Old Bastard Yang led troops to quell them all. He knows what he’s doing."

This is also why Grand Commandant Yang, despite being a eunuch, could hold such a critical and perilous position. The civil officials had to pinch their noses and accept it, because deep down, even they admitted that this eunuch truly knew how to wage war.

"Sentiment in the court is running high, with everyone condemning Old Bastard Yang for avoiding battle. There’s a strong push to recall him to the imperial capital and replace him as Commander-in-Chief of the Three Borders. Do you two know who quashed these discussions?"

Man Le and Meng Geng shook their heads simultaneously.

"It was Minister Han."

Both Man Le and Meng Geng appeared surprised. It’s well known that Minister Han and Grand Commandant Yang are bitter rivals. In the past, before Grand Commandant Yang was assigned away from the palace, Minister Han had personally denounced him, accusing him of bewitching the Emperor and causing chaos in the court. He nearly got Grand Commandant Yang sentenced to death. Although Yang ultimately survived, he was left utterly disgraced and humiliated.

"Surprised?" Prince Fu chuckled. "It wasn’t just Minister Han. Master Fu, Mr. Sima—all the ministers—suppressed the public outcry. They jointly vouched for him to the Emperor, and that’s how Old Bastard Yang managed to keep his position."

Prince Fu’s feet were wiped clean and slipped into his boots. He rose with some effort and said,

"The ministers in the court aren’t fools. Ordinarily, they’d probably be delighted to see Old Bastard Yang dismissed. But now is not the time. If we dismiss Old Bastard Yang, who’s avoiding battle, and send someone else to take his place, then no matter who that person is, they wouldn’t dare follow Old Bastard Yang’s old path. They’d definitely have to find an opportunity to actively engage the Yan forces.

The Emperor might not be fully aware of how much strength our Qian military truly has left, but the ministers know. They understand that Qian’s frontier army is all the capital we have remaining. If that’s truly gone, we won’t even have paper left to patch our windows. So, to pacify the discussions at court, they had a useless vassal king like me take on the role of Imperial Envoy to reprimand Old Bastard Yang. Heh. If they truly wanted to reprimand him, why would they pick me as the Imperial Envoy?"

Prince Fu had a very clear understanding of his own role in this.

Man Le cupped his hands and said,

"My Prince, you are too modest."

"No, I’m not being modest. Actually, the ministers in the court have handled this well. To be honest, I was genuinely worried before that the Emperor would issue an edict to dismiss Old Bastard Yang or replace him. My fief is in Chuzhou. Once the Yan bastards break through the Three Borders, I’ll be the first to suffer. However, I feel more at ease now.

The West Army Division, one hundred fifty thousand strong, has already been dispatched. There are also fifty thousand Wolf Land Soldiers and one hundred thousand Imperial Guards en route. The Zu family army, which has been busy clearing out sea bandits along the southeast coast these past few years, has also been redeployed; fifty thousand of them are heading north. Roughly calculated, that’s about three hundred fifty thousand troops heading this way. Heh heh."

The West Army Division has been suppressing Tusi rebellions in Qian’s Southwest region. That Tattoo-faced Master also came from the West Army Division. It can be said that the West Army Division is Qian’s most dependable elite field army. The Wolf Land Soldiers are controlled by some of the Tusi chieftains who have submitted to the court. These soldiers are ferocious in battle. As long as the court provides money and grain, they are willing to fight for it. They were initially subdued by the Tattoo-faced Master. Consequently, although there have been occasional minor disturbances in the Southwest region in recent years, they haven’t amounted to much. It’s no longer possible for the situation to regress to the widespread devastation that plagued Qian’s Southwest decades ago. The Zu family army is an elite force from Qian’s southeast coast and is also a capable fighting unit.

As for the Imperial Guards... Prince Fu was unsure. Like the frontier armies, the Imperial Guard stationed in the imperial capital also claimed to have eight hundred thousand men. But who knew how many of those were actually spending their days hauling goods and doing business at the docks? It was said that Minister Han initially wanted to dispatch two hundred thousand Imperial Guards north. But in the end... they couldn’t scrape that many together and could only muster a hundred thousand to set off. Prince Fu trusted the West Army Division, the Wolf Land Soldiers, and the Zu family army. As for the Imperial Guards from the capital, he just hoped they wouldn’t be too much of a disappointment. Then there were the local garrison troops ordered to mobilize from various prefectures and vassal states; they could probably scrape together another hundred thousand. If worst came to worst, they could at least serve as support troops and help defend the cities.