Chapter 560: The 220,000-strong Forbidden Army

After capturing Chang'an, the absolutely busiest person was not the King, but the Marquis of Eastern Capital. He was busy integrating the surrendered troops of Chang'an, eliminating all those who were old, disabled, or frail, and within a few days he had a list of sixty to seventy thousand.

The King only wants elite troops.

"It's not that I can't afford to keep them; I just care more about cost‑effectiveness!"

Wei Shen nodded: "I believe you."

The King: ……hmph!

This reorganization took several days; the original soldiers of Chang'an, whether Tiger Guard, Feathered Forest Guard, or the Chang'an City Guard, were all broken up and mixed together, and adding the garrison troops they brought from Luoyang, they rounded up to a total of 220,000.

The King named these 220,000 the Forbidden Army, under direct central command.

He ordered Changli and Liang He to oversee retraining; even though these 220,000 were picked from the core strength, they were still far inferior to the Northern Border Army.

The discharged troops were temporarily placed in the West Big Camp, while the retained 220,000 were stationed in the more spacious East Big Camp. You ask why the discharged weren't just disbanded on the spot? Well… the King hasn't scraped together the discharge funds yet!

He could let them leave empty‑handed, after all these people once served Baili Jun, but there are still over 200,000 left. Being so stingy gives them no prospect, which hurts morale! Besides, the King can't afford to lose face either.

Hearing that the Marquis of Eastern Capital wanted an audience, the King buried his head in the clutter on the desk. When the Marquis entered and saw his posture, he almost laughed out loud.

Please be at ease, Your Highness!

I'm fine. You may withdraw~

My lord, I haven't finished speaking yet, Your Highness…

The national treasury is empty; the money borrowed from the Ministry of Commerce is still en route. Any other business?" the King interjected.

The Marquis of Eastern Capital struggled to keep his composure: "I've come to confirm with Your Highness whether, as Liang He heard from Young Master Wei, you intend to reward the troops in three days and hold a victory banquet."

It's true, and it will be held in the East Big Camp.

The King again clarified: "Actually, it's four days later." Why? Chang'an simply doesn't have that much alcohol; he exchanged a jade pillow and Baiyang's white liquor and provisions in the Jianzhang Palace—enough for nearly 300,000 people to each have a bowl—and Baiyang needs time to procure the supplies.

After settling that, the Marquis of Eastern Capital didn't leave; he produced a roster. "Your Highness, this demobilization totals 76,112 people, of whom 7,320 were wounded in battle and left with various disabilities, while the remaining nearly 70,000 are elderly and infirm. Your Highness, should those disabled by battle receive a bit more silver?"

The King could no longer avoid it, his head buzzing, but he was still curious: "So many disabled soldiers? What do they usually do in the army? Can they fight?"

"Your Highness, these people are mostly in the Firehead Camp and Logistics Camp and the like; for most of them the disability doesn't affect work—for example, losing an eye or an ear.' Others could use them, but the King couldn't. The Northern Border Army trains all its troops alike; the Logistics Camp is only slightly weaker than the vanguard—its soldiers can drop their cooking pots and charge—whereas these Chang'an troops who only handle logistics are still different. Keeping them is just dead weight, and the King lacks the resources to support too many redundant soldiers."

"Then… give those with bodily disabilities an extra ten taels. Their wounds are also merit awards; we can't be too stingy." The King said, clutching his chest.

This money should come from the national treasury, but the treasury is bare, so the King had to lend it personally as an advance. He already had the Ministry of Commerce draw silver from the Luoshui Money House, and he had long had his eye on the purses of Chang'an's wealthy merchants and gentry—all that remained was for the Ministry of Commerce to move in and harvest the profits.

Even after receiving the answer, the Marquis of Eastern Capital didn't leave: "Your Highness, are we really just letting them go like that? Besides the vicinity of Chang'an, heading south we actually don't even control the area."

The King sat upright: "What are you saying?"

"They're still able‑bodied men; sending them back would be aiding the enemy. Just because we don't value them doesn't mean others won't. They certainly have more experience than men freshly dragged from the fields, and many of them hail from Jingzhou and Huzhou."

The King rose and paced in the study: "If so, we can't just send them back to their native lands? Then… have them migrate north? Our Northern Border is sparsely populated."

"I think we can have them migrate north to the Northern Border to undertake land reclamation, following our Northern Border Army Household policy: allocate them a plot, each receiving several mu of wasteland. The difference is they won't need to train or fight anymore; we'll make them a dedicated reclamation army, not disbanding them on the spot, which in these times is also a form of restraint."

The King's eyes lit up: "Great idea! Rather than sending them back to their ancestral homes, let them move north to become army households in the Northern Border—after all, they're still population!"

"However, the places in the Northern Border that need reclamation look to southerners almost like exile; I'm afraid they won't want to go."

The King bluntly: "That's simple. We won't give the discharge pay now; we'll give it after they settle their household registration in the Northern Border."

The Marquis of Eastern Capital: ……

Still, the King is the crafty one.

Probably the Marquis of Eastern Capital and Wei Shen's expressions are too easy to read; the King cleared his throat and said, "I can allow them to move their whole families into Northern Border registration. Refugees now need three years in the Northern Border to obtain household registration—it's in high demand, after all! In the future I will certainly relocate the capital, of course, but for now let's keep it quiet."

The Marquis of Eastern Capital felt that registering their households in the Northern Border would now be attractive to at most twenty percent of them, but withholding the discharge silver would definitely come in handy.

Whether for future unification endeavors or to reward their dedication to the imperial house, the King allocated this advertising fee generously. Each ordinary soldier receives ten taels of silver, while the seven thousand disabled receive twenty taels each—a considerable sum in these times.

If he weren't generous, who would ever enlist to defend home and country? Just shouting slogans without substance— the King thinks it's useless.

After the Marquis of Eastern Capital left, the King winced for a while, but then thought, compared to his two‑million‑tael debt at Mengmeng, this is… less than half! Moreover, this money is owed by the national treasury—what does it have to do with him, Baili Jing? The King silently decided he would collect interest on this sum.

Public is public, private is private. Right, that's correct.

Poor Grand Minister Zhang, in the midsummer of Youzhou, felt waves of chills. Catching a chill is impossible… could something be wrong? He picked up the abacus and flicked it—sure enough, he still owed Chief Administrator Zhu nearly ten million taels of silver, a very stable debt!

After finishing, he quickly tossed the abacus aside; even another glance made him dizzy and killed his appetite.