Chapter 27: Obtaining Literary Officials (Part 1)

  Zhe Yan rushed to see Yang Yingqi coming to Binzhou and asked: "How is Ah Hu?"

  "Everything is fine."

  Zhe Yan nodded and asked: "Our captives are sent to Han Village in batches, the situation over there must be complicated, how do you have time to come over?"

  Yang Yingqi smiled and said, "After the last time we captured prisoners, Han Village has formed a system. There is a set of procedures for how to calm people's minds, how to select talent, and how to integrate them into the Han department. I'm only responsible for creating, trivial matters can be handled by those below me. Why should I worry too much? The land is less than ten miles, with fewer than a thousand households. This small place thinks I'll be busy to the point of exhaustion, it's really underestimating me."

  Cao Guangyi said: "In that case, will our grain and money be enough?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "I had prepared for these things before the war. Moreover, this time's great victory, Kaifeng sent over a considerable number of spoils of war. Zhao Guan, Liu Cong and others saw that our situation was very good, so they also used various methods to transport important supplies to us. I exchanged the Khitan and Jie tribe prisoners with the Jurchen people for Han and Bohai prisoners, and gave the precious objects and treasures to the families of the Jurchen nobles through Ahu's wife. Only grain and cloth were left behind. Now, Dongcun is already full of over a thousand people, and the first batch of people can help with mining and ironwork, herding horses and sheep. Although the population is dense, as long as we get through this year, everything will be fine. Zhou Sheng said that by next year's first harvest season, we can rely on our own grain production to support tens of thousands of people. By the second harvest season, it won't be a problem to support three to five hundred thousand people either. Moreover, as more and more people join in, our food situation will get better and better."

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "We have more manpower, but land..."

  Yang Yingqi said, "Do you still remember the Donglu mainland crops we brought from that unnamed valley? The land they require is quite different from what traditional crops need. So now we're all planting on barren lands that the Jurchen people don't want, and for the time being, there's no conflict."

  Zhe Yan Chong smiled slightly and said: "It sounds like everything is in order in the village, so why did you come here?"

  Yang Yingqi smiled and said: "Things on my side are generally going as I wish, but how about you guys?"

  Di Yu told about the battle situation, prisoners of war and new recruits.

  Yang Yingqi nodded after listening: "Good. I'm just afraid that you will expand your military strength too quickly. Big brother is now the commander of a 800-man team, which is fully deserving of its name. However, Binzhou city is small and narrow, not suitable for long-term residence. This place should be left to Wan Yan Zong Shi to guard, let's go back."

  "Go back? Now? Does it need to be so urgent?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "Elder sister is waiting anxiously at home. There are also many soldiers here who have families in Handan Village. Although the Liao people were defeated, they will definitely not give up easily. Let's take advantage of the fact that the Liao army has not made a big move yet and let everyone return to Handan Village to rest. The conditions there are much better than here after all."

  Di Yu and Cao Guangyi both detected that there was more to Yang Yingqi's words, knowing he must have had other plans in mind, otherwise he wouldn't have left Han Village especially to come here.

  Cao Guangyi saw that there were no outsiders around, and directly asked: "Ying Qi, are you trying to avoid suspicion? I think the Jurchen people have no intention of harming us, especially after my brother's marriage, both sides have no suspicions. Are you being too cautious?"

  Yang Yingqi said: "Once there is a gap, it will be difficult to make up for it. At present, our strength is not enough to stand alone, and it's better to stay under the eyelids of Wanyan Department and live a simple life. Before I came, I had asked Du Bojielie, saying that many Han men are thinking of their hometown, he has allowed us to return to Hui Ning. Tomorrow, Wu Lusai will come over to take over Binzhou."

  Zhe Yan Chong fell silent for a moment, no longer objecting. He allowed Di Wu to lead 400 troops to guard Binzhou, with Alu Man as his deputy, waiting for the Wan Yan department to send someone to take over. He and Cao Guangbi, Yang Yingqi, Yang Kaiyuan, and Xiao Tienu set out towards Huining with 400 cavalry and 500 engineer soldiers. Yang Yingqi looked at the formation of the engineer soldiers and said: "Our main combat force is only 800 people, but we have 500 engineer soldiers, and there are still 200 in the Han village. This ratio is also too unreasonable."

  Yang Kaiyuan smiled and said: "What can be done? Along the way, they screened out some people and it's not good to re-stuff them back into the prisoner-of-war camp, so I'll take command of all of them."

  Zhe Yan thought for a moment and said: "The quality of these people is actually not bad, half of them can be extracted as reserves!"

  In this battle, the Han army captured more than 1,800 people. Six hundred of them were incorporated into the ranks, and the rest became farmers, workers, or reserve laborers for the glass house and smelting room. Since there weren't enough people to use at the moment, Yang Yingqi had them mine coal, transport stones, and build villages.

  On the road, Yang Yingqi said: "The biggest problem in our Han Village before was that there were more men than women. This time, the Eastern and Southeastern Route Armies captured many Bohai women, making all the bachelors in Han Village drool."

  "What then?"

  Yang Yingqi smiled and said, "Many people would think of ways to buy one to quench their thirst. I immediately set a rule: Han Village does not tolerate slaves, even if it's a woman bought, she can only be a wife, not a female slave. Those who want to buy a wife but don't have enough money can come here to borrow."

  Zhe Yan Chong smiled and said: "If so, Han Village must be very lively now."

  Yang Yingqi said: "Yes, before I left, more than 300 bachelors had come to borrow money for their marriage certificates."

  "Marriage certificate?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "It's also a new rule we've established. As civilized people, we can't just get married in the wild, we have to go through the village head and obtain a marriage certificate before we can get married. Hmph! These 300 people used tea to buy their wives, they've emptied my stock of tea leaves."

  Zhe Yan Chong smiled and said, "Having a family and a home is very beneficial for the stability of our Han people. However, aren't the houses in our new village shared by five or six people? How can one live with a wife?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "That's a semi-military house. In each village, I left some land and built a house frame. After getting married, they can still buy bricks and stones to build a small home - huh, of course, they'll have to come to Han Village to borrow money." He pointed behind him and said, "Among these hundreds of people, only a few dozen have wives. When they all return, those who haven't married will see the bachelors in the Ministry of Civil Affairs getting married one by one, and they'll probably be very envious. At that time, there will definitely be another wave of marriage fever! However, it's good for them - after this battle, most of them have received a lot of rewards, so they won't need to come to the village to borrow money to buy a wife or build a house."

  Zhe Yan Chong returned to Hui Ning Han Village, apart from his own village, there were three other villages with smoke rising from their kitchens, the villages were scattered, and it was a lively scene.

  Yang Yingqi said: "Our Han department originally sat northwest and faced southeast, after expansion can hold three thousand people, in addition there are eight villages surrounding it, because of the direction they are located in front, back, left, right, east, south, west, north. Each village can hold two thousand people. In the future if we connect the nine villages into one, we can form a small city that holds fifty thousand people. However this is probably something that will happen several years later."

  "What is the current number of people in our Han department?"

  Yang Yingqi said: "The exact number, even I can't say clearly for the time being. It's probably around three thousand now. In addition to prisoners of war and newly purchased family members from the Ministry of War, there are also many escaped slaves - you know that our Han department has no slaves, and many slaves of the Jurchen nobles who cannot bear it run to our side. However, I only accept those who can speak Chinese."

  Cao Guangyi said, "I thought it was strange when I saw you building and renovating in the middle of the year. Now that I think about it, it seems like you had already calculated today's situation. Otherwise, why would you have laid the foundation for these villages at that time? Old Seventh, you're not really skilled in some kind of Wu Hou divine calculation that allows you to know the past and future, are you?"

  Yang Yingqi smiled and said: "I say I have it, do you believe me?"

  Cao Guangyi laughed and said: "I don't believe it!"

  Yang Yingqi said: "The Liao people are really miscalculating! These few times of deploying troops and sending generals, each time they reveal the incompetence of the central decision-makers! If they had come with a thunderous momentum from the start, I'm afraid we would have been crushed to powder by now. But instead, they're good, the army is dispatched bit by bit, the defeats are fought one by one, and the manpower and financial resources are sent over bit by bit. It's as if they're not here to kill the enemy, but to aid them! Just like when a young tiger appears in the mountains, they first send a pig, which gets eaten; then they send a horse, which also gets eaten; then they send a hunting dog, which still gets eaten. By the time they realize they need to launch a full-scale attack, the young tiger has already become a fierce tiger!"