Chapter 129 Departure

Chapter 129 – Departure

July 6th.

As Tong sent the mobilize order yesterday, the wartime policy was issued to the citizens. The craftsmen got more busy forging weapons and armors while the housewives helped their husband making arrows.

The commoners who recently migrated into the city were afraid of the sudden force conscription. They hid themselves and shut all doors and windows.

On the other hand, the old tenants did not bother hiding themselves and continued their lives as if nothing had happened. The rude ones happily mocked the newcomers as cowards because they knew that the city possessed over 60,000 soldiers, without including Zhang Ji's cavalries and Ding Yuan's forces. Therefore, Julu City would not recruit new militias any time soon.

Jia Xu, who hitched the ride and entered the city as one of the immigrants, had not gotten used to the new laws and the environment of the city yet. He was preoccupying reading every notification on the public announcement boards.

The more he read, the more his curiosity, Jia Xu approached one of the officials and asked.

"Excuse me, sir. I'm new to this city and I'm interested in the new laws of the Lord. Do you have a full details version besides the one on the public boards? It's difficult for an old man like me to walk around and read."

Still pretending to be an old man, Jia Xu moved at a slow pace with a wooden stick.

The deceived official could not help but felt sympathy for this elder.

"Please wait here for a moment. I'll get the handbook from the government for you. It has more details than the public announcements."

"Thank you very much, sir. I really appreciate it."

…

Jia Xu returned to the inn with the government handbook. It was not just an ordinary handbook that distributed to the citizens, it was a guidebook for the government staffs which contained the inside information about types of orders, emergency protocols, locations of major buildings, and etc.

The old fox grinned from ear to ear after he skimmed through the book.

'I still have it. No one can match my persuasive power!'

He left the baby prince to the hired wet nurse and spent the rest of the day reading through the book over and over again as his scholar nature kicked in.

The smiley face he had when he first acquired the book turned into a serious face. He noticed many unusual flaws in the government system.

'The heck is wrong with this city!? Where did they get all these food for the commoners?'

'There isn't a single detail about the supplier of the provision at all.'

'And why have all the nobles submitted to the tyranny laws!?'

'They can't have any private land and soldier, yet why are they still working for Zhang Jiao!?'

'This doesn't make any sense!'

Jia Xu tossed the guidebook to the side and he shifted his gaze toward the window to change the scenery. The sun was about to set, yet everyone outside the inn was still working hard.

Because of the incentive of the overtime was introduced for the government employees and other staffs, the workers were still working with enthusiasm as they would get additional overtime bonuses when their wages came out.

Jia Xu shook his head at these people.

'Brainwashed. They're all brainwashed. Even their grandmothers are brainwashed!'

'Only forgivable trait of Zhang Jiao is his hard working. The rest is just dumb.'

'It's just only a matter of time, the government treasury will be emptied if they continue using these stupid policies.'

'…Well, it doesn't matter. It's none of my business anyway.'

'First things first, I should use this chance to get more gold.'

The long trip from Luo Yang to Chang An, then Chang An to this city consumed 90% of his fund. Jia Xu only had 20 gold in his pocket bag which was not enough for his luxurious retirement life.

'I think there's a job recruitment on the public board. If I remember correctly, it is a teacher of a scholar school? An easy job for 2 gold a month. Or should I be ambitious and apply for the minor official position?'

'No! I can't! The pay is good but the future of this city is dubious! How the hell can they pay 30-50 gold a month for a minor official position! This is a phishing scam!'

While Jia Xu was randomly dissing Tong's government system, he caught a whiff of a fresh baked butter bread aroma. The innkeeper was cooking dinners for the guests at the tavern, which was on the first floor of the two-story inn.

"For fOOk sake! Why does the food of this city smell so good, yet why is all of them so expensive! What kind of scam is this!?"

Jia Xu stopped thinking and threw a fit like a real moody old man.

*Growl*

His stomach cried as he got hungry because of the smell.

'If I want to eat those to the fullest every day, I'll have to spend at least 3 to 5 gold a month...'

"…"

"FOOk it! Minor official it is! But if something stupid happens, I'll quit it on the spot!"

Despite the irritation, Jia Xu stomped out of his room to the tavern on the first floor to order some food.

…

…

June 7th.

Lu Zhi packed his necessary belonging, he planned to take a journey back to Luo Yang as his family was still in the Capital.

He worried that once Tong and Zhang Jiao rebelled, his families would get implicated into this mess and would be executed for treason. Therefore, Lu Zhi had to go back home himself and migrate everyone back to Julu to be safe.

Tong dispatched Zhou Cang and 3,000 elite soldiers as Lu Zhi personal guards because he did not have a private army. It would be unnatural for someone with high status as Lu Zhi to travel alone.

"I'll gather the news in the Capital while I'm there. For now, don't do anything that will get Liu Ping and the Han Court's attention. I don't want my family dead before I get home."

"I understand, master. Please take care."

…

…

July 14th.

The deployment preparation was completed. A total of 40,000 soldiers which comprised of 5,000 light cavalries, 5,000 Qiang horse archers from Zhang Ji, 10,000 heavy cavalries from Zhang Liao, and 20,000 heavy infantries.

All of them was armed to the teeth. Each infantry equipped with a full iron armor suit, a large iron tower shield, a long pike, a sword, an all-purpose shovel, a repeating crossbow, and two hundred arrows. The horsemen even had extra spears and throwing javelins.

The logistics supply army of 10,000 men also took extra spare weapons and armors with them. Hundred thousands of crossbow arrows and the 20,000 tons of provision were the main resources that the logistic troops had to put extra care on.

Tong did not load everything into his inventory this time as he wanted everyone to experience a real war from the beginning to the end. The age of chaos was coming soon, he could not spoil his soldiers all the time or they would be too weak when Tong had to use them. In addition, once the territories expanded, Tong could not babysit everyone by tagging along in every campaign. The troops had to be ready for such scenarios.

Even though Tong let the logistic troops handled the supplies, he did not fully entrust them with everything. He still had double the number of armory, weapons, and provisions in his inventory, just in case the enemy was strong enough to ruin his logistic troops.

As usual, Tong would be the grand commander of this army and he would be in charge of the 20,000 foot-soldiers with Li Feihong, who recovered a bit, as his aide. However, he had to sit in a wheelchair at the moment as he had not completely healed yet.

Bo Cai was now a 5,000 men commander who was responsible for the light horsemen.

Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu retained their former troops of 5,000 Qiang horse archers and were promoted as 5,000-man-commanders. Although the horses Tong provided them were weaker than their former horses that Lu Bu confiscated, they were satisfied that they could be in charge of their subordinates.

Gao Shun and Zhang Liao were dragged along with this army as well with their heavy cavalries. Each of them was in charge of a unit of 5,000 heavy horsemen. Since Ding Yuan joined hands with Tong, they had to follow Tong's command. The two of them already held the rank of a general, so Tong did not need to promote them again.

Ding Yuan, Hua Shi, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Jiao remained in Julu to protect their headquarter stronghold.

"Men! Move out!"

With a signal, the flag bearers waved their color flags to relay orders to the troops. Tong and his leading troops started their march toward Ganling City.

Before Tong and his men could march, a young teenager with bandages all over his body rushed to the side of Tong.

"Sir! Let me go with you!"

The teenager was none other than the young Zhao Yun who was disguising himself as "Zhao Tian".

"You're the messenger from Ganling, right? You've done your job. The rest will be up to us."

Tong pretended to stop Zhao Yun from following them. This was an act to get this heroic figure to join his army in the future. Though he said that, Tong predicted that Zhao Yun would insist following them anyway.

"Sir, Zhang Yan's boss is not ordinary. I've fought with him many times before. I'm afraid that he might still have more tricks in his sleeves. Let me go with you! I'll fight alongside you in this battle!"

The elite soldiers behind Tong gazed at the young man in half-admiration and half-mocking. They looked down on Zhao Yun as he was still injured and he was too young for the battlefield. None of them believed that their young lord would let him tag along.

Tong raised his eyebrows when he heard that Zhao Yun knew something about Zhang Yan's army. His curiosity was piqued.

"Fine, you come with me then. Since you know about Zhang Yan's mysterious boss, I'll make you my personal guard for now."

"T-Thank you, sir! I'll do my best!"

"Men, get him a horse! Oh, I forgot. You do know how to ride a horse, right?"

"Err, I can try…"

Tong shook his head in secret. It seemed like this young Zhao Yun was similar to Zhang He as he had not blossomed yet.

In the historical timeline, Zhao Yun first debuted as a leader of a volunteer force when he joined Gongsun Zan in the year 189, which was seven years from now on.

But the current Zhao Yun's condition was too weak in the eyes of Tong.

'I guess he still has a long road ahead of him. But I don't mind that. If I can raise this young boy into a flying dragon like his style name, any kind of investment is worth it.'