Chapter Seventy-One: Reorganization

  Xu Weishan returned home after defeating the bandits and being promoted, but he was busy with military affairs and had no time to spare. That evening, Xu Wangshi and Xu Xiuping were busy preparing a sumptuous feast for Xu Jiaolao's birthday. The whole family of seven gathered together, creating a lively atmosphere! During dinner, the nephews and nieces were all instructed by their mothers to come and ask for red envelopes, and Xu Weishan was generous, giving each child twenty taels. The two women were overjoyed, beaming with smiles.

  "Son, since your uncle is so generous, why don't we just stay and not leave? We can wait until after the New Year to receive our lucky money and then head back, how about that?" Xu Xiuping asked with a smile while hugging her son.

  "Good! I'll go fight with Xiao Shu!"

  Xu Wei stroked his nephew's little head and asked San Jie: "How about it, are you going back?"

  Xu Xiuping only then said that after Xu Wei went to Tokyo two days ago, Fan Jing sent a letter from Zhending, asking her to bring their son back to his maternal grandparents' home. The letter vaguely apologized for the incident of colliding with her father-in-law without mentioning anything about her younger brother-in-law Xu Jiu.

  "Dad, look, should I go back?" Xu Xiuping cautiously asked, seeing that her father was in a good mood.

  Xu Taigong smiled and said indifferently: "I'm old, I don't care about your family affairs, ask your two brothers."

  Xu Shengyi immediately denied: "Third sister, don't ask me! Whoever drove brother-in-law away is responsible." After that, he stared at his younger brother with a few points of watching the excitement.

  Xu Wei stuffed a big mouthful of beef, and upon hearing this, he gave his fourth brother a glance. He said to his sister, "Don't go back! What kind of thing is that? A dog looks at people with disdain, don't bother with him!" Just thinking about his brother-in-law's attitude that day made him so angry that he couldn't bear it.

  Xu Xiuping's face showed a difficult expression, and she said in a tone of discussion: "Old Nine, I'm a married daughter, that is, a member of the Fan family. It's not right for me to stay at my mother's house all the time, is it? Besides, he has already apologized, we can't ask him to send eight sedan chairs to carry me back home, can we?" Indeed, as the saying goes, a married daughter is like spilled water, her heart always belongs to her husband.

  "Your mother's house doesn't lack a mouthful of food for you, as long as Fourth Brother and Fourth Sister-in-law don't have any objections, I'd be more than happy for you to stay at your mother's house." Xu Wei said. This was indeed sincere words, Third Sister's personality may be careless, but she cooks extremely well.

  Xu Xiuping remained silent, Xu Wangshi saw her and wanted to speak up for her sister. But Xu Taigong's tone was firm: "Listen to your brother, he won't be wrong. Zhending, you absolutely cannot go back." He now completely believed his son's words, the Jurchen people would attack at any moment, and Zhending being close to Yan Yun made it impossible for her to return. Seeing his daughter still hesitating, he glanced at Xu Jiu and added in a low voice: "The Jurchen people are going to attack..."

  One sentence frightened two women into changing their complexion, Xu Xiuping lost her voice and said: "That official, mother-in-law, and younger sister, what to do?"

  Xu Taigong hesitated for a moment, looking at Xu Si and Xu Jiu, "Do you think it's...?"

  Xu Sheng was also thinking that this marriage wasn't a feud, after all they were still one family, and couldn't just stand by and do nothing. He then turned to Xu Jiu and asked: "Old Ninth, what do you think?"

  Historically, when the Jurchen people first attacked the Song Dynasty, the Western Route Army of the Jin Dynasty encountered stubborn resistance from the Song army in Taiyuan and was besieged for a long time. The Eastern Route Army, led by Wanyan Zongwang, advanced smoothly and directly attacked the Eastern Capital, but failed to capture it after a prolonged siege due to insufficient food and grass, as well as the arrival of large numbers of Song reinforcements. As a result, the Jin army was forced to withdraw northward after compelling the Song court to accept humiliating terms. In the first attack on the Song Dynasty, the Jin army did not threaten Dezhou and Daming, so there was no need to be too anxious for the time being. However, thinking again, if the plan he had made with He Zhuo succeeded, history would have already changed, and would the Jin army give up its original battle plan due to this change?

  "Alright, let's do it." Xu Wei said after a moment of contemplation, nodding his head.

  "Why not do this, Father can write a letter to invite them over as guests, and at the same time help mediate between Third Sister and her husband." Xu Sheng suggested. This was already being extremely kind and generous, if the other party insisted on putting up a front and refused to come, then all one could do was hope they would be blessed with good fortune.

  Xu Tai Gong expressed his agreement, and Xu Xiu Ping finally felt a little more at ease. After eating for a while, the two children started making a fuss about going out to play, so the two aunts from the Xu family took them out.

  Xu Sheng and the others left, and he couldn't wait to ask: "Lao Jiu, did you see San Shu this time in Tokyo? What was his attitude?"

  Xu Wei heard this and shook his head, saying: "This time in Tokyo, it's not that he wants to see me."

  "Who is that?" Xu Taigong and Xu Sheng asked in unison.

  "Yan Guo Gong, knowing the secrets of the institute, Cai You." Xu Wei smiled bitterly. On that day, after discussing with He Gan and deciding on a plan, he also found Zhang Shu Ye to discuss together, and they all thought it was feasible. Xu Wei then went to Xu Shao's mansion, and Xu Shaobao didn't say much, only suggesting that Xu Wei should personally go to pay his respects since he owed his current position to the promotion of the chief secretary. As soon as he heard this, he determined that Xu Shao had written a letter summoning him to Dongjing at Cai You's behest. He then bid farewell to San Shu and went to see Cai You. Cai You, the chief secretary, treated Xu Wei with extraordinary respect, repeatedly instructing him to do his best while telling him that recruiting local braves to suppress bandits was a policy that the imperial court would vigorously promote, and he was a banner for the local braves, so he must be careful not to be careless. At the same time, he promised Xu Wei that as long as he handled things well, he would help him move up next year. Xu Wei's mouth was full of agreement, but in his heart, he secretly laughed: Next year? You'll be gone by then.

  Xu Wei recounted the matter of going to Tokyo in detail, and both his father and brother felt astonished. Xu Sheng held his wine cup, furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, and asked: "Since it was your idea, how did you get He Taoyi and Zhang Zhifu not to spread it outside?"

  Xu Wei sipped his wine and smiled shallowly: "A tree that stands out in the forest will be felled by the wind. What am I considered now? Being too sharp isn't a good thing." Building high walls, storing grain widely, and slowly emerging is the right path. If this matter fails, everyone will be finished, and no one can blame anyone else. If it succeeds, He Guang and Zhang Shuye will naturally have their own calculations, wondering why they had to take the lead. Matters in the officialdom have never been certain; before having enough real power, it's best to focus on practical work.

  "What's yours is yours, why bother with so many tricks?" Xu Tai Gong obviously didn't quite agree with his son's methods and scolded him with a long face.

  Xu Wei didn't argue with him, and quickly offered him a cup of wine to shut the old man's mouth. Xu Sheng asked again: "Guo Yao Shi Guan Bai Jie Du Shi, also Yan Shan Fu Zhen Shou Da Jiang, I'm afraid it won't be that easy to move. If this one fails, we can only hope for a decisive battle in Hebei, and absolutely cannot let the Jurchen people cross the Yellow River!"

  Xu Wei immediately replied: "I estimate that the imperial court will dispatch troops from Daming Prefecture to suppress Zhang Di, Fourth Brother, I'll send a message in advance to warn you, so be prepared."

  Xu Sheng nodded solemnly and said loudly, "I'm not afraid of the Khitan people, and I won't be afraid if the Jurchen people come!" Although the Song army was defeated in the battle against Liao, his troops fought well, which is no wonder he had such ambition.

  "Fourth brother, don't underestimate the enemy! The Khitan are declining, and we're not even a match for them yet. The Jurchen people swept through the Khitan like autumn leaves, their military strength is not to be underestimated." Xu Wei reminded him with emphasis and concern.

  As expected, Xu Wei did not disappoint. The next day, Xu Sheng led his troops back to Daming. Three days later, he sent word that the imperial court had appointed He Ji, the commander of the Fuguo Army, as the military governor of the Daming Prefecture, leading an army of over 18,000 soldiers to suppress the bandit Zhang Di in Hebei, and Xu Sheng's troops were also summoned to join him under He Ji's command.

  It so happened that this He Ji was the son of He Guan. Cai You handed over the task of sending troops to suppress the bandits to Xu Shao, who specifically took charge of it. Xu Shao thought of He Guan's respect for himself back then and simply handed over the task to his son. Zhang Di, although claiming to have more than 100,000 followers, was just a mob. According to past experience, as long as the government troops charged, they would immediately disperse. Xu Shao intentionally let He Ji gain merit, but didn't know that He Guan had promoted Xu Wei back then, not because he had an uncle who was a minor official, but because he had saved He Guan's wife and daughter.

  Xu Wei heard the news and exclaimed, "Heaven is helping me!" If someone else were sent, it would be difficult to explain to He Guang. But since the commander was his son, He Guang must have given him instructions before he set out. However, although two plans have been successful so far, if there is no movement from Guo Yao Shi's side, the problem still exists. Although He Ji led an army of nearly 20,000 in Hebei Province, as long as Guo Yao Shi surrendered and led his 60,000 Jurchen elite troops to attack the Yellow River, He Ji would definitely be unable to withstand it.

  What can be done now is to seize every opportunity to train troops, this is the fundamental thing!

  The equipment allocated by the governor was not hastily distributed to the soldiers by Xu Wei, but instead, he reorganized the Jingwei Camp. Since their great victory in Shandong, the Jingwei Camp's reputation shook the entire Daming Prefecture, and during Xu Wei's trip to Dongjing, people from all over the prefecture flocked to join the army. Lord Xu selected those with a clean family background and strong physique to enlist, and now the Jingwei Camp has more than 2,700 soldiers.

  Xu Wei divided the more than 2,700 people into six battalions. More than 200 cavalrymen were placed under Ma Tai as battalion head. One thousand three hundred brave infantrymen were divided into three battalions, with Yang Yan, Zhang Hong and Cheng Fang as battalion heads to command them. Another one thousand soldiers with exceptional strength and eyesight were selected and divided into two battalions, with Zhou Xiong and Zhou Ji as battalion heads. The 200 most elite soldiers, including more than 90 local militiamen from Xu's village, were personally commanded by Xu Wei as his personal bodyguards.

  After reorganizing, Xu Wei distributed the equipment. Zhou Xiong and Zhou Ji each had 1,000 cavalrymen, all equipped with bows and arrows, and were personally trained by Deputy Commander Zhang Qing, who was skilled in archery. The two battalions led by Zhang Hong and Cheng Fang were fully equipped with armor, long spears, and large knives. Yang Yan's troops and Xu Wei's personal guards were all equipped with swords and shields.

  At this time, a problem arose. The armor issued by the Imperial Court was all full sets of "infantry armor", weighing 60 jin, which was really too heavy. Soldiers with long guns and big knives had to face the charge head-on, and wearing heavy armor was unavoidable. However, if archers and shieldmen wore such heavy armor, their speed would inevitably be affected.

  After soliciting the opinions of the blacksmiths in the camp, Xu Wei ordered the removal of some iron leaves from the armor to reduce its weight, so that it could be equipped with knife shields, archers and cavalry. The removed armor leaves can also be strung together into armor, killing two birds with one stone. From then on, the reorganization was completed, the equipment was issued, and Xu Wei devoted all his energy to training the troops. According to the methods described by his father and brother, as well as the suggestions of the Western Army Commander, combined with his own experience as a military commander for two generations, he strictly trained the soldiers and waited for the arrival of *.