Chapter 28: My Army

  Time flies quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a month has passed.

  Chen Chu finally had his own armed forces, and a thousand infantrymen were trained under Zhang Liao's efforts. To build this thousand-man infantry team, Chen Chu paid a considerable price, and the one thousand sets of armor and swords were bought by Chen Chu for one thousand gold through Li Tai. In fact, in this transaction, Li Tai did not make any money from Chen Chu, and the one thousand sets of armor and swords were all sold to Chen Chu at cost price. If sold at market value, these one thousand sets of armor and swords could have been sold for two thousand gold. Chen Chu was still very grateful for this.

  Zhang Liao did not disappoint as a renowned general, and under his strict supervision, it only took a month to turn one thousand strong villagers into well-formed soldiers. However, the combat effectiveness of this infantry unit was not great. Chen Chu excitedly asked Zhang Liao: "How is the combat effectiveness of this thousand-man infantry unit?" Zhang Liao shook his head and said: "Very poor! Firstly, the training is still insufficient! Secondly, this army has not been baptized by war, and it cannot be compared with a truly elite army!" When Chen Chu heard Zhang Liao's words, he was somewhat disappointed but not surprised. If an army can become an elite force after casual training, then that would be too easy. However, Chen Chu was still relatively satisfied with the physique of his soldiers, with even the shortest soldier being over 1.7 meters tall and very strong.

  Chen Chu did not interfere with Zhang Liao's training, after all, General Zhang Liao was much stronger than him, a pharmaceutical salesman.

  Apart from this thousand-strong infantry, Chen Chu also had other able-bodied men train for one day every seven days, and do whatever they needed to do at other times. These people totaled about 4,000, which was Chen Chu's reserve force. Zhang Liao highly praised Chen Chu's approach, saying that this method not only saved on military expenses but could also assemble a massive army in an extremely short period of time when necessary.

  Compared to Zhang Liao's praise, Chen Chu exclaimed: He is indeed a famous general of the Three Kingdoms! At a glance, he saw the benefits of my plagiarized reserve troop system from later generations!

  Apart from the military aspect, Chen Chu also gathered blacksmiths found among the refugees and set up a separate area as a blacksmith workshop. There were nearly three hundred blacksmiths in total, which was a production force that Chen Chu valued very much. Since having these blacksmiths, Chen Chu purchased iron ingots through Li Tai, then had the blacksmiths forge various weapons and armor, and finally sold them through Li Tai's channels. Chen Chu finally found a profitable way, with a high profit margin, but this business was just starting out, and Chen Chu did not gain much benefit from it.

  That day, as usual, Zhang Liao was training his troops in an open space next to Longhu Village. Chen Chu watched with great interest under the shade of a tree, accompanied by his sister Zhang Ruolan, who wore light armor and looked elegant and refreshing.

  Zhang Rui is now the deputy commander of the infantry team, which is entirely due to Chen Chu's inability to withstand the other party's soft and hard bubbles. About this, Chen Chu felt a little sentimental: This Zhang sister just loves fighting so much! It seems that she has great potential as a savage girlfriend!

  Actually, Zhang Ru's deputy commander of the infantry battalion is not responsible for the daily training of the infantry battalion. Our Rui'er is a sensible good girl, she knows that she is not as good as Zhang Liao in leading and training troops, so this deputy commander only takes charge of one thing, which is military discipline. It really doesn't need to be said that in front of this iron-faced impartial deputy commander, there really isn't anyone who dares to test the law with their body. At first, those who underestimated her because she was a woman and deliberately slacked off in front of her, now see Zhang Rui as if they were mice seeing a cat, not even daring to fart.

  Actually, with General Zhang Liao around, no one dared to disobey military orders. Although Zhang Liao was amiable and approachable in daily life, he was ruthless during training, especially towards soldiers who broke the rules. The soldiers had a deep respect for Zhang Liao.

  As for Zhang Rui's role, thinking carefully, it seems there is no particular role.

  Zhang Rui swept the scene with a majestic gaze, but Chen Chu on the side couldn't help but feel amused. In his eyes, Rui's appearance was truly comical.

  Just as the training was continuing, a government official rushed up on horseback in front of Chen Chu.

  "Sir, someone has come to the county yamen and wants to see you." The bailiff rolled off his horse and reported.

  "Want to see me? Is it someone from the Li family or the Wei family?" In Chen Chu's impression, the only two big merchants who had a good relationship with him and often came and went were these two families.

  But unexpectedly, the yamen runner shook his head and said: "Neither, the newcomer claims to be an envoy of Hu Xiaozhai." When he said this, the yamen runner's expression was somewhat unnatural.

  "Is it Hu Xiaozhai? Isn't this a gang of robbers?" Chen Chu asked in surprise. The constable nodded.

  Chen Chu rubbed his chin, feeling a bit worried: What does it mean that the bandits have sent someone? Is this Sleeping Tiger going to be fierce or not?

  After a moment of contemplation, Chen Chu asked: "Where is Hu Xiaozhai? Who is the leader? How many men and horses are there?"

  "This official seems to have some understanding of the Hu Xiaozhai, and he replied: 'Hu Xiaozhai is located within Leiping County, on Mount Hu Xiao, thirty miles north of Leiping County Town. There are probably two or three thousand people, but it's not clear who the leader is.'"

  Two or three thousand people! Chen Chu couldn't help but take a deep breath, his hands only had Zhang Liao's trained one thousand infantrymen, and there were just over a hundred yamen runners, all added up to less than half the number of these bandits, it's likely that even self-defense would be a problem!

  Chen Chu's face was gloomy, and he silently pondered a countermeasure. After a while, Chen Chu suddenly asked: "Is the envoy from Hu Xiaozhai coming to extort money and grain?"

  The official nodded, "Yes, they come twice a year, and each time they want 100,000 catties of grain and 1,000 taels of gold."

  Chen Chudong was taken aback and sighed in his heart: Oh my! These guys' appetites are really big!

  Although Chen Chu was surprised, his face was good, and he said to the bailiff: "Since they want to see the county magistrate, the county magistrate will go and see them."

  Just as they were about to set off, Zhang Rui called out: "Big brother, I'll go with you."

  Chen Chus thought for a moment: "Rui'er's martial skills are not bad, having her follow us is just right to guard against any unexpected situation." He nodded and said: "Hmm, okay, then Rui'er will go with big brother together."

  The two of them greeted Zhang Liao as they left, but did not tell him what had happened.

  。