Power unused is power wasted.
Shao Xun would never let such a golden opportunity slip through his fingers.
On the second day of the army's expedition, he led his troops to take over the empty Jinyong City.
After that, he ordered the opening of the imperial granary and armory, taking a significant portion of the supplies and moving them into Jinyong City for storage.
From that day on, supplies were replenished as they were consumed, ensuring that Jinyong City had enough reserves to sustain ten thousand men for half a year—the three cities of Jinyong were only so big, and that was the maximum they could store.
Chen Yougen's training unit was expanded, mainly by drawing veterans from the lower army who had experienced several battles, along with a few skilled soldiers from the upper army's Donghai troops.
After the reorganization, the unit was fully staffed with fifty men, and Chen Yougen finally became a proper squad leader.
The upper army's thousand or so Luoyang city residents were all dismissed.
They weren't sent away—after all, they had been trained for half a year and had some basic understanding of military discipline and skills.
They were reorganized into "auxiliary troops," primarily responsible for logistical support, and would only be called to the city walls for rotation when necessary.
As for the vacancies left in the upper and lower armies, they were filled by recruiting new soldiers—these recruits might be new, but that didn't mean they were inexperienced.
Some of these "new soldiers" might have fought more battles than Shao Xun himself.
He also took the opportunity to form two new squads.
The battle at the Great Xia Gate had resulted in some losses, around a few dozen men.
Squad leader Zhou Ying had been unlucky, struck by a stray arrow while pursuing the enemy.
This time, some more men were pulled into the training unit, leaving even more vacancies.
Shao Xun disbanded the third squad, distributing its members among the other squads to fill the gaps.
At the same time, he rebuilt the third squad, appointing Jin San as its leader.
He also formed the eleventh squad, promoting Lu Heigou to squad leader—Mao Er had some talent for learning and was good at arithmetic, so Shao Xun didn't want him risking his life on the battlefield.
The soldiers for these two squads came from the same sources as before: market porters, dockworkers, and even boat trackers from the Luo and Yi rivers.
Shao Xun personally vetted each recruit, roughly assessing their character before allowing them to join.
The main tasks for these two squads were simple: train, train, and train some more.
Of course, Wang Que'er's squad (the seventh squad) had already seen battle, but they still needed more training.
The training was intense, and Shao Xun sometimes oversaw it himself, while other times he left it to the training unit.
He Lun and Wang Bing had almost completely stepped back, letting Shao Xun do as he pleased.
It was unclear whether they were lowering their stance because of the impending war or if the Minister of Works had promised them something, making them less interested in their current positions.
But either way, it was a good thing.
Some people would do anything to climb the ranks, the higher the better, but that was just a sign that they hadn't yet grasped the bigger picture.
Historically, it wasn't until the Yongjia Rebellion that many would wake up to reality and take a hard look at their past.
The wise would discard outdated beliefs and redefine what true "wealth" meant in a time of chaos.
Those with determination and courage would take advantage of the power vacuum during the collapse of the imperial order, expanding their private armies, fortifying cities, and biding their time.
Those without as much courage would try to flee south, seeking official positions.
At that point, they wouldn't be picky—someone who could have been a prefect might settle for a county magistrate, and someone who could have been a governor might consider a prefecture.
In the face of such a grand shift, everyone made their own choices, leaving behind records in the annals of history—some smug, some heroic, some just trying to survive, and some charging forward without hesitation.
People are, after all, different.
Recruiting new soldiers, reorganizing the troops, and rigorous training—these things couldn't be done overnight.
Shao Xun was busy until the end of July before he finally caught a breather.
On the last day of July, he led the third, seventh, and eleventh squads—a total of one hundred and fifty soldiers—out of the West Bright Gate and headed to his estate.
It was meant to be a training march.
Pei Shiliu, Pei Jin, and Tang Jian came out to greet him.
"Young master, after following your advice and expanding our land, no one has come to bother us," Pei Jin said with admiration.
"Some tenants even offered their land to us, just to ensure their family's safety. They didn't even want the land anymore."
"What did you do?" Shao Xun asked.
"I accepted it all. We now have fifty or sixty tenant households, and we can't even farm all the land. A lot of it is ownerless—people just packed up their valuables and fled south to Yuzhou or Jingzhou. As you instructed, we planted fast-growing crops, and they'll be ready for harvest soon."
In other places, ownerless land would have been snatched up by powerful families, but Luoyang was different.
It was too heavily contested, with wars breaking out every year.
Who could stand it? Even if you wanted to sell the land, no one would buy it.
The population of the Luoyang basin had been steadily declining.
It was better to flee to Yuzhou than to stay in Luoyang.
And if Yuzhou wasn't safe enough, then Jingzhou, which was relatively stable, was the next option.
It was said that Governor Liu Hong was distributing land to those who fled south—and of course, that land came from the chaos caused by Zhang Chang.
Without war, there would be no "ownerless land."
The newly acquired land had missed the spring planting season, so only fast-growing crops could be planted—mostly beans.
With the threat of war looming, these were the most suitable emergency crops.
Once harvested and dried, they would become immediate food reserves.
"Harvest as quickly as possible," Shao Xun said.
"Pick the fruits from the estate in batches and find a way to dry them. Fatten up the livestock and then slaughter them—smoke or salt them, it's up to you. If you can catch fish from the ponds, send some fresh ones to the army and dry the rest. Finally, gather as much firewood as you can and send it to Jinyong City."
"Yes…" Pei Jin replied with a hint of sadness.
Having spent several months at the Shao estate, this was the first time he had independently managed such a large estate.
It was a significant milestone in his life.
But now, due to the war, he had to destroy it, just like clearing the fields to deny resources to the enemy.
And he had to do it himself.
The bittersweet feelings in his heart—who could understand them?
"Young master," Tang Jian stepped forward, looking a bit uneasy.
"There are a total of one hundred and four children and teenagers. They've been training for three months. Would you like to see them?"
Tang Jian had once been a commander in Hebei, but now he was a guest of the Shao estate, managing only six other guests.
They used to hone their skills and guard the estate, but now they also had to manage a group of Luoyang orphans—children left parentless by the war.
Over the past few months, Shao Xun had visited a few times, mainly to assess the children's progress in both academics and military training.
The academics were taught by scholars who were stranded in Luoyang, struggling to make ends meet.
The military training focused on formations and drills, taught by the training unit when they had time.
Shao Xun himself had taught a couple of sessions.
As his status rose, he became busier and busier, and his visits to the estate became fewer and farther between.
"Lead the way," Shao Xun said with a wave of his hand.
Tang Jian immediately took the lead, and Shao Xun, surrounded by one hundred and fifty soldiers, soon arrived at the orchard on the right.
The children were busy picking fruits—mostly pears, grapes, and persimmons.
Some were using spear shafts to knock down jujubes.
It was a bustling scene.
Shao Xun felt a sudden surge of anger, not at the children, but at those who started wars.
But then he remembered that he, too, was one of those warmongers, and his anger dissipated.
Everyone would have to endure some hardship for now.
Once the war was over, he would return peace to them.
Wang Que'er, Jin San, and Lu Heigou, the three squad leaders, watched the Luoyang children with curiosity.
The children, while working, also stole glances at the soldiers who had come to the estate, especially the three young men who were about their age.
Their instructors had mentioned that Master Shao also had a group of Donghai youths who were studying and training.
These three must be them.
The Donghai and Luoyang "brats" exchanged glances for a moment before looking away, their emotions a bit complicated.
Donghai's first batch, Luoyang's second batch…
The word "faction" seemed to hang in the air, almost plastered to their foreheads.
"Sun He, Zhang Da Niu, come here," Shao Xun called out.
"Master Shao," the two boys put down their work and bowed in unison.
Shao Xun took the two most outstanding students from the second batch of Luoyang trainees by the hand and led them in front of the one hundred and fifty soldiers standing in formation.
"Many of these men started studying and training two years ago. Now they're squad leaders, platoon leaders, and even company commanders, leading troops in battle. You've only been training for three months, so you haven't learned much yet. But don't belittle yourselves. Keep working hard, and one day you'll become squad leaders, platoon leaders, company commanders, or even officials in the counties. Do you understand?"
"Yes," the two boys replied in unison.
Shao Xun nodded in satisfaction.
Becoming an official required a certain background—not just anyone could do it.
But he was thinking about the future.
For now, the Jin dynasty still maintained a semblance of order.
The central authority, though weakening, still existed.
If you were appointed as a prefect and went to your post, the local officials and powerful families would still recognize your authority.
So everything had to be done by the book.
Those who challenged this system first would bear the brunt of the backlash.
Such people were often called "vanguards for the king."
Later generations even came up with the theory that "the first to rise will be punished, while those who follow will prosper."
After the first few waves of rebels were wiped out, those who came after would have more room to maneuver and a greater chance of success.
In essence, someone had to exhaust the remaining authority, wealth, and military strength of the dying dynasty, leaving it too weak to crush the new wave of ambitious figures.
In this dynasty, the first wave of rebel armies—like Qi Wannian, Shi Bing, and the soon-to-be-dead Zhang Chang—had already been wiped out.
The second wave of rebels was starting to emerge, but most of them would still be crushed.
Only a lucky few would survive by cutting their losses.
Once this wave was mostly gone, the third wave would begin—the real power players would step onto the stage.
Official rebel armies (like the Qihuo Army), rebel armies, local officers who rose to power by suppressing rebels, the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, fortress commanders, and even ambitious noble families would all make their appearances.
It was a chaotic dance—and it wasn't much different in other dynasties.
Without the Yellow Turban Rebellion paving the way, there would have been no warlords carving out their own territories.
Without the Red Turban Army fighting the Yuan forces in the north, Zhu Yuanzhang wouldn't have been able to build up his strength in the south.
By this stage, the north would be completely out of control, and some of the "divine laws" and "iron rules" would become more flexible, allowing for opportunities that were extremely rare in peacetime—opportunities unique to times of chaos.
This was the opportunity Shao Xun was waiting for.
"You can't slack off either," Shao Xun turned to Wang Que'er and the others.
"My position was earned through risking my life, through the five scars on my body. On the battlefield, blades and arrows don't discriminate. Only through hard training can you survive and achieve greatness."
"Yes, sir!" the student soldiers replied in unison.
"Yes, sir!" The three squads of soldiers echoed their response.
Shao Xun laughed heartily.
Pei Shiliu glanced around and leaned in to whisper, "Young master, the princess is still waiting to see you."
(End of Chapter)