Chapter 928: Not Bad Even as a Regional Commander

Zhao Jin could guess the reason for this attitude. Among the five Li brothers, one was a Battalion Commander and three were Squad Commanders — proper military officers of the imperial court, who naturally looked down on any local militia. Zhao Jin himself was still just a village head. Plenty of people called him Commander Zhao, but anyone could tell at a glance that it was just a name from the jianghu.

Government troops and official constables never had any regard for people of the jianghu. If not for the fact that they were here asking for shelter and protection, they probably wouldn't even be this polite.

The Internal Guard had no trouble planting informants among the Li party. The cart drivers and the temporarily hired servants were all eyes and ears for the Internal Guard. According to their reports, Li Lin had once said: "Rabble like this — if the five of us brothers mounted up and rode out together, we'd sweep them flat in no time."

Li Sen's reply was just as amusing: "Why else do you think they asked us to come? Country tyrants like them recruit military officers like us precisely to put on a show of strength."

As for their youthful arrogance, Zhao Jin couldn't be bothered to pay it any mind. The journey this time had been hastened by the Shandong earthquake in the third month. After arriving at Qingjiangpu, he met with the people he needed to see, joined up with the five Li brothers, and set out directly on the return trip.

These Li brothers, proud and haughty, looked down on the Zhao Camp. When they first linked up, they hadn't even been willing to let the other side look after their own party, afraid the other side wouldn't manage it properly and would end up causing trouble instead. If any real trouble came, the five of them riding out to kill the enemy would be more than enough to handle it.

But once the main column got moving, the Li brothers' arrogance diminished considerably. It wasn't that the cavalry escorting Zhao Jin was so exceptionally fine or their horsemanship so extraordinary. What truly shook the Li brothers was the formation's discipline and strict order, along with that raw, unadorned killing aura — not to mention the full suits of iron armor.

Originally, since they were hurrying back, the two hundred cavalry guarding Zhao Jin had planned to travel light. But Zhao Jin ordered them to don their full gear and strictly follow wartime drill and discipline. As a result, the mounted retainers all wore their armor, presenting an appearance of extraordinary rigor.

"With two hundred elite troops like these, in the Liao Garrison you'd be at least a Mobile Corps Commander. How is he still just a village head?" This was the Li brothers' private talk among themselves, and they were all utterly astonished.

When they made camp for the night and saw how the Zhao Camp's mounted retainers set their sentry posts and arranged everything else — the kind of proficiency only seasoned veterans could display — the Li brothers lowered their heads. They no longer camped separately but chose to stay with the main force. After that, they stopped talking so much about their own prowess and instead began worrying that Xuzhou would be poor and miserable.

"Sixth Uncle said Xuzhou isn't bad, but how can Xuzhou compare to Qingjiangpu? Besides, isn't that place supposed to be poor?"

"Bear with it a little. The Zu family is still searching for both our families. The poorer and more remote the place, the easier it is to hide."

These idle conversations among the Li family members were reported to Zhao Jin every day. He couldn't be bothered to pay them much mind. What concerned him most was news from the Grand Canal. Reports from Shandong traveled south by both water and land. With Zhao Jin's return route running right alongside the canal, the water route was considerably more convenient. Besides the dedicated messengers on the canal, there were also grain barges returning after delivering their tribute rice and traveling merchants passing through Shandong — all of them brought valuable information.

Along the river, more and more refugees were selling their sons and daughters, or even themselves. More and more starving refugees and displaced people were also attempting to storm aboard the boats. Because of this, apart from official docks, neither government nor civilian vessels on the canal dared put to shore easily anymore. The corpses floating in the river were growing more numerous as well. Fortunately, the weather was cool — in the summer, the stench would have been unbearable.

Some people said, however, that after this second earthquake, conditions in Shandong actually seemed to be improving. No matter how you looked at it, things had hit rock bottom and had to begin a slow recovery.

Zhao Jin entered Xuzhou at Fangcun Market. Ji Xiang, leading several hundred household retainers, was waiting there to link up with him. The combined force then marched toward the He Estate.

At the sight of these several hundred retainers, the Li clansmen entrusted by Li Ziyou lost every last trace of their arrogance. Such elite troops were a rare sight even in the Liao Garrison.

"Only the old core troops of the Grand Marshal's headquarters had this kind of bearing. What a pity they were all squandered and ruined at Sarhu!"

"Not just that! Those men all walked around with their noses in the air, but these Zhao men are tight-lipped and restrained. On the battlefield, that kind of quiet intensity is far more useful — they can hold the line, they can endure!"

"I heard their rank and file shouting about how these are the Zhao family's household retainers. What a joke — a country thug, and he's got himself household retainers too."

"You'd best cut down on talk like that from now on. What do you mean, 'country thug'? From now on, the dozen or so mouths in our family will be depending on him for our livelihood. And what joke? Counting the cavalry and the infantry, that's over six hundred household retainers. Back in our Liao Garrison, that would make him a full Regional Vice Commander at the very least — a Regional Commander wouldn't be out of the question either."

Once they truly entered Xuzhou territory, the Li family's reaction could only be described as stunned. Traveling north from Qingjiangpu, they had passed through Qinghe, Siyang, and Suqian counties in succession. These three places, caught between Xuzhou and Qingjiangpu with no ties to either, had never received any benefit from the Zhao Camp. They were no different from county seats anywhere else in the Great Ming. Compared to the bustling prosperity of Qingjiangpu, they all seemed poor, desolate, and run-down. The Li family had assumed Xuzhou would be much the same.

The male members of the family could bear it, but the womenfolk were all gloomy and distressed. The children, too young to understand, cried and fussed to go back. But as they drew near to Xuzhou — more precisely, once they entered Pizhou territory — everything changed. The roads were level and broad, the fields well-tended, and the common people looked healthy and content. Everywhere, there was an air of thriving vitality.

Having traveled south the entire way by boat on the canal, they had naturally never seen such sights inland. The shock was all the greater because they had assumed this place would be poor and now saw something completely different.

When they laid eyes on the He Estate, every single member of the Li family was stunned. Who could have imagined that in a place like this, there would be such a prosperous, wealthy, clean, and orderly settlement? It was truly unbelievable. Living here might not be much worse than Qingjiangpu after all. The womenfolk beamed with delight, and the children laughed and chattered happily.

The Li men, however, saw something else. Back in the day, how had Li Chengliang been able to support nearly ten thousand household retainers? It all came down to having silver in hand and knowing how to generate wealth. Never mind the grain and fodder collected layer by layer from the entire Liao Garrison — Li Chengliang had controlled all the salt tax, tea tax, and commercial tax of the whole Liao Garrison. That was how he had the vast sums of silver needed to maintain an elite force.

When they first met Zhao Jin and saw he was their own age, or even slightly younger, they couldn't help feeling some disappointment and contempt. Who could have guessed he commanded such elite troops? Still less could they have imagined he had built something on this scale. The Li family had an inkling of how this game worked, and they naturally understood what the future prospects were.

After arriving at the He Estate, Zhao Jin had a thousand things to attend to. He only called the Li men over for a single conversation. Since this was a matter entrusted by Li Ziyou, there was no need to worry about money. Arranging farmland and housing here was simple enough. Besides, Li Ziyou had sent them here partly to look after the Xuzhou branch of the Chengbei Firm, so there was no need to worry about employment either. Zhao Jin had no intention of proactively recruiting or assigning them. The reason he called them in was to ask about the situation in the Liao Garrison.

"... As for how formidable those Jurchen Tartars really are — truth be told, they're not all that. All that talk out there about unmatched archery and horsemanship is pure nonsense. The Mongols shoot from horseback, but the Jurchens, though they have plenty of horses, mainly fight on foot. Their archery is nothing special either, and their bows don't have much range. It's just that their arrowheads are thick and heavy and can punch through armor. If one hits you, it leaves a big gaping wound, and once the bleeding starts, it's very hard to stop — you can't keep fighting... When it comes to martial skill, I can take on two or three Tartars by myself, even mounted, no problem. But men like me — out of ten men in the Liao Garrison, you won't find one. Look at the ones a notch below me, and you still won't find one in ten. When we go to war with the Jurchen Tartars, we field tens of thousands at a time, but if we can scrape together three thousand who can actually fight, that's already not bad. The Tartar slaves put ten thousand in the field, but out of that ten thousand, eight thousand are the kind just a notch below me. How are we supposed to win against that?..."

"... What's more, these household retainers and family officers are our capital. If too many of them die, all the glory and wealth are gone. No one is willing to spend them freely. But the Jurchens have harsh military law. When battle is joined, they throw away all thought of life and death. So when we tally numbers before a fight, we have tens of thousands — several times the enemy's count. But once the fighting actually starts, it's as if the enemy outnumbers us several times over. All those thousands and tens of thousands are just there to swell the ranks and put on a show. What use are they?..."

The Li men spoke with great clarity and insight about the Liaodong battlefield. They also spoke with great care. In their view, Zhao Jin's reason for asking was actually to test them — perhaps he was thinking of recruiting them.

Before, they had thought of themselves as regular military officers and looked down on a Xuzhou country thug like him. But after what they had seen along the journey, they now felt this was a place where a man could settle down and make his mark. Having trained hard in archery, horsemanship, and martial skills since childhood, they certainly had no desire to spend their lives clerking in a relative's shop, fading into mediocrity. Besides, they were still young — precisely the age of hot blood and ambition.

To their surprise, Zhao Jin merely chatted with them briefly, then gave a few instructions, saying that if they ran into any difficulties, they could come to him for help. He said nothing else. This left them thoroughly confused.

After settling in at the He Estate for a few days, they learned more about the Zhao Camp from the manager of the Chengbei Firm's branch. When they heard that Zhao Jin had close to six thousand household retainers under his command, the Li family, for a moment, simply didn't know what to say.

"... With six thousand household retainers, never mind a Regional Commander of a single garrison — even a position like Grand Marshal Li's wouldn't be out of reach..."

"... How could he possibly have six thousand household retainers? How big is our Liao Garrison, and how big is this Xuzhou? How could it support that many men? In my view, only those six hundred or so are real household retainers — the rest are just for show..."

"Even six hundred or so is not bad at all..."

On the third day after Zhao Jin returned to Xuzhou, he received an urgent letter from Songjiang. Xu Housheng had already disembarked in Songjiang Prefecture. Not only had he purchased cannons, but he was also bringing back foreign craftsmen from there who understood cannon-casting. He planned to rest briefly and then set out on the return journey at once.

Zhao Jin had originally not held high hopes for Xu Housheng's trip. He had never expected such excellent results — this was truly an unexpected delight. It also let Zhao Jin breathe a sigh of relief. Although Xu Housheng's journey south to find cannon-casting craftsmen had been supported by Xu Zhenzhen, after Xu Housheng left, Xu Zhenzhen had been unable to stop fretting about him every day, worrying terribly, and had kept sending people to Songjiang to ask for news. Now that his return was confirmed, she could finally relax.

Thanks to old friends "Yuan Heng Li Zhen, Wu Liulang, User Light in the Darkness, Sui Xin Zi Wo 0" for their tips. Thanks to all friends on Chuangshi and Qidian for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you, everyone.