Chapter 23 Blackmail
"How to report to the Ministry of War is your business. I don't care about you." Wang An sneered and raised his eyebrows. "Besides, I don't need your weapons and armor. If you don't want them, you can just return the food."

"What if I don't give it to you?" Zhao Yi said hatefully with his face flushed.

"It's up to you, but I believe the court should also be interested in the whereabouts of the missing food and grass." Wang An said jokingly.

Zhao Yi's flushed face turned pale in an instant when he heard this, and Wang An knew that his words had hit the other party's sore spot.

Jizhou is located on the border, bordering foreign barbarians in the northeast and northeast directions. Those barbarians mostly make a living by grazing, and the production of rice and wheat is almost non-existent.

If they wanted to eat food, they had to import it from Daliang. However, the Daliang court, as the two sides were hostile, issued an order to ban its import.

This resulted in extremely high profits from grain smuggling. In addition to private merchants, generals guarding the border also sold military rations privately.

Needless to say, Zhao Yi must be doing this business.

If it is reported to the court and investigated, it will be a capital crime.

Don't be fooled by Zhao Yi's boastful remarks, saying that his father was a disciple of the eldest prince's father-in-law.

In the final analysis, he just wanted to find an excuse to make things difficult for Wang An so that he could curry favor with Mao Huan and Wang Qianqiu through his complicated relationships.

If he was really charged with aiding the enemy, how would Wang Qingqiu and the others know what kind of person Zhao Yi was?
It is even more impossible to come forward to protect him.

To put it bluntly, a third-rank guerrilla general is not qualified to please them directly.

"Your Highness Prince Xin has a good trick," Zhao Yi said unwillingly, "I, Zhao Yi, admit defeat."

"But if Your Highness asks for too much, even if I agree, I won't be able to explain it to the Ministry of War when the time comes."

Wang An saw that his goal had been achieved, so he stopped making trouble and his smile suddenly became gentle. "Don't worry, General Zhao, I will understand the reason!"

After some bargaining, Wang An managed to obtain one hundred sets of armor, shields and weapons, twenty war horses, and a number of bows and arrows.

No matter how much Zhao Yi said, he would rather Wang An impeach him.

Wang An also knew that if only a small amount of the weapons and armor were missing, he could find some excuses such as damage during training to explain it away, but if too many were missing, the Ministry of War would not let it go easily.

So I stopped being embarrassed and just said thank you with a smile.

Zhao Yi was so angry that he was unwilling to waste any time with a swollen face. He directly ordered the entire army to withdraw from the camp.

After Zhao Yi's garrison withdrew from Shuangfeng Pass, Wang An's smiling face suddenly turned gloomy.

After riding his horse around the city, Wan An looked at Chen Huaian beside him and said, "Huaian, what do you think of this pass?"

Although Chen Huaian does not have much practical experience, he is a leader among the younger generation of generals in the Black Armor Guards and has a good vision and insight.

Upon hearing this, he immediately replied: "Your Highness, this Shuangfeng Pass has been the best pass in Jizhou since ancient times. The terrain is difficult to attack and easy to defend."

"There are wells inside the city. As long as we store enough food and grass, we don't have to worry about being surrounded by the enemy. It can be said to be a place where the bereaved families can hold out. But..."

"Just what? Just tell me!" Wang Andao said.

Chen Huaian thought for a moment and replied: "Although this fortress is great, it has been in disrepair for many years. Many places are loose and collapsed. If the enemy attacks, they will have to pay with their lives!" "Moreover, once the imperial garrison withdraws, I will have no soldiers to use in Jizhou. Even if this fortress is intact, it will be of no use!"

Wang An laughed and said, "Huai An is wrong. Who said that I have no soldiers in Jizhou?"

"Your Highness, are you talking about our Black Armor Guards?" Chen Huaian frowned. Although the Black Armor Guards were elite, there were only more than a hundred of them. They were ok to serve as guards for Wang An, or they could be stationed outside the city as a field vanguard with their war horses, but if they wanted to defend the city, this number of troops would not be enough.

However, when Chen Huaian saw Wang An smiling but not saying anything, he suddenly realized, "Your Highness, are you talking about the guards?"

In the Daliang military system, the army directly under the imperial court recruited soldiers for the purpose of fighting and killing the enemy, and was completely off-duty.

The opposing army, including the armed forces of local princes, were all mainly composed of garrison troops.

The so-called garrison troops were actually military farm troops.

They are all made up of local people, who farm in their spare time and kill the enemy in times of war.

The advantage is that through military farming, one can obtain some food and fodder, or even achieve complete self-sufficiency, but the disadvantages are also obvious.

These garrison troops needed to farm, lacked training, and were extremely short of weapons and armor, so their combat effectiveness was not strong.

Some of the garrison troops were even poorly trained. Rather than being an imperial army, they were more like a group of peasants armed with knives.

Wang An nodded and smiled, "Yes, the princes of various places all rely on the garrison troops as their main force. I don't believe in them, but I do!"

Chen Huaian shook his head and said nothing, even though what Wang An said was true.

However, in the 600 years since the founding of the Daliang Dynasty, most of the vassal kings had been based in the inland. Apart from the occasional small-scale uprisings of bandits, there were no powerful enemies for them to deal with. Under such circumstances, even a weak garrison army was sufficient.

There were only four vassal kings who actually governed the border areas, namely the King of Qin, the King of Yan, the King of Qi, located in the east, west, south and north of Daliang, and the newly enfeoffed King Xin of Jizhou.

The King of Qin, the King of Yan, and the King of Qi are all old vassal kings with a heritage of at least two hundred years. In addition to their useless garrison troops, each of them also has a strong group of recruited soldiers.

As vassal kings of border towns, they were able to defend their fiefdoms not by relying on the garrison troops.

Wang An was a young prince who was not loved by his grandmother and uncle. He had no power, no influence, no background, and no support from the court. Even if he wanted to recruit soldiers from scratch, he had no resources to build a new army.

Even if Wang An had it, the autumn harvest was approaching and Wang An might not even have recruited enough men before Baicheng, the capital of Jizhou Prefecture, was captured by the barbarians.

"Huaian, I wonder if you have ever heard the saying, 'Everything depends on human effort! '" Seeing Chen Huaian's pessimistic expression, Wang An said in a firm tone.

After saying that, he didn't say anything else. After all, words alone are not enough. Only by achieving results will outsiders be convinced.

After saying that, Wang An rode his horse towards Chen He who was not far away.

Chen Huaian was left standing behind, looking at Wang An's back and muttering, "Is it all up to human effort? This young man is...really confident."

"Chen He, where is the commander of Jizhou Guards? He has been waiting for me to enter the city, but he has not come to pay me a visit?" Chen He, who had just handed over armor and weapons, was about to take a rest when he was startled by the sudden voice behind him.

Turning around and seeing that it was Wang An, he immediately said with a bitter face: "Your Highness, you don't know that my Jizhou Guard Commander was killed in the battle against the enemy two years ago."

(End of this chapter)