Chapter 112: Regaining Stability

“Only five hundred sets?”

Xue Ju frowned as well. Compared with the Mo Dao formation he had envisioned, that number was truly not very large.

“Five hundred sets is the greatest number I can provide this year. After all, I have to equip my own troops with them as well. Now that I have reclaimed these three commanderies, I share a direct border with the Western Turks. The pressure they will place on me in the days ahead will be considerable. I must expand this type of unit as much as possible. Otherwise, I may not be able to fulfill the promise I made to you, Brother.”

Li Wenyuan spread his hands helplessly and explained his present circumstances honestly to Xue Ju. That was indeed the situation he faced. After coming into direct contact with the Western Turks, all the resentment that had accumulated before would likely erupt at once. In particular, he had once captured the khan’s son and later exchanged him for a considerable number of cattle and sheep.

The Western Turks must certainly bear a grudge against him. For now, with the Great Sui still standing, he could enjoy a few more peaceful days. But once the empire fell into chaos this year, his quiet life would probably come to an end. When the Central Plains descended into disorder, the Western Turks would surely launch retaliatory attacks against him. At that point, troops equipped with the Mo Dao would be his most effective weapon against them.

The five hundred sets he had promised Xue Ju had already been painfully squeezed out of his own supplies. In the near future, once all the craftsmen and resources of the Western Regions had been brought together, the production of Mo Dao equipment might increase considerably. For now, however, five hundred sets was the absolute limit.

As Xue Ju listened to Li Wenyuan count out the production capacity, his own military needs, and the threats he might face, he understood that Li Wenyuan had only managed to provide these five hundred sets by forcibly taking them from his own army out of regard for their friendship. Though he felt helpless, he was deeply moved.

To have a brotherly bond like this was truly worth it.

Xue Ju nodded and said, “Brother Wenyuan, I naturally understand your difficulties. To receive these five hundred sets at this time has already exceeded my expectations. You still have a great many official duties to attend to, and there are many matters in Jincheng awaiting my approval. Let us sign the alliance agreement, and then I will no longer impose upon you.”

Li Wenyuan nodded. He brought out paper, ink, brushes, and his official seal, and signed an agreement with Xue Ju.

The agreement stipulated that, beginning from the day Xue Ju raised his army, the two sides would refrain from any form of armed conflict for a period of two years. Neither side was permitted to impose a trade embargo on the other. Xue Ju’s side would provide Li Wenyuan’s side with two hundred thousand dan of grain, while Li Wenyuan’s side would provide Xue Ju’s side with five hundred sets of Mo Dao equipment.

Both Xue Ju and Li Wenyuan obtained what they had wanted from the discussion. Though neither had been completely satisfied, something was better than nothing, and at least neither had returned empty-handed. After the agreement was prepared in duplicate and each man stamped it with his seal, they carefully put the documents away.

Li Wenyuan escorted Xue Ju to the gate of the Governor-General’s Residence. Before his departure, he also gave Xue Ju an entire cartload of grape wine. Unlike the grape wine brewed by ordinary households, all of this had been produced by official distilleries.

At the time, privately brewed grape wine was still made using traditional methods. The official wine, however, had been improved by Li Wenyuan after he combined certain brewing and storage techniques from later generations. Its flavor was vastly superior to that of privately made wine. The grape wine Li Wenyuan presented to Emperor Yang of Sui each year was produced in the official distilleries as well.

After seeing Xue Ju off, Li Wenyuan returned to the Governor-General’s Residence and sat in his office with his eyes closed, resting his mind.

The agreement he had negotiated and signed with Xue Ju had resolved the food shortage facing the three commanderies that year. As matters stood, ensuring that the people within his territory had enough to eat was effectively the same as winning their loyalty. In time, the relevant officials would naturally travel to the three commanderies to study their local customs and conditions, then develop cash crops suited to their native products.

Those matters did not require his personal attention for now. What he needed to do was halt his outward expansion for the time being.

The political officers transferred to the three commanderies had nearly exhausted Li Wenyuan’s reserve of such personnel. Registering the households and population of the three commanderies would also take time. To prevent public trials from becoming tools in the hands of certain individuals, Li Wenyuan maintained a cautious attitude toward every such proceeding.

The two lines of the official Night Owl organization had to cross-check their findings before reaching a final judgment on a target for public trial. This, however, meant that every trial required a great deal of preliminary preparation.

The preparations consumed much of Night Owl’s manpower and energy, and this gave the hidden pieces Li Gui had left behind in the three commanderies an opportunity to stir. According to the reports submitted by the staff stationed there, conditions were relatively stable only in Dunhuang Commandery, where Li Wenyuan and Qiu Niang were personally overseeing affairs. The other two commanderies had already begun to show signs of unrest.

Many remnants of Li Gui’s faction had attempted to flee northward. After those efforts failed, they simply joined forces and formed a considerable bandit organization. Li Wenyuan did not have many troops at his disposal, and once they were spread across the territory, they lacked the strength to deliver a devastating blow to the bandits.

These developments also sounded an alarm for Li Wenyuan: conquering the realm on horseback was easy, but governing it was difficult.

At the same time, he became acutely aware of the shortage of troops under his command. Faced with one problem after another, Li Wenyuan finally reached a decision.

He would stabilize the situation first.

He would consolidate the territories he had already occupied and expand the army once more. After repeated calculations, Li Wenyuan decided that, based on the forces already stationed in the Western Regions, he would double the army’s overall strength.

In other words, once the expansion was complete, Li Wenyuan would command eight army corps and a total force of one hundred and twenty thousand men. That should be sufficient for self-defense. In addition, each army corps would be appropriately expanded to include a specialized mixed division of Mo Dao troops and firearm infantry, thereby increasing its combat effectiveness.

During this reorganization and expansion, all officers currently serving in the army, as well as reserve officers who had entered the officer-candidate ranks through the military examinations, would return to the classroom to study new tactics involving gunpowder and firearms. They would need this knowledge to prepare for the prolonged wars that might lie ahead.

The training was compulsory. Regardless of whether an officer was willing, anyone who still wished to serve as an officer in Li Wenyuan’s army had to participate.

Only after issuing a series of orders to consolidate internal development and suspend external expansion did Li Wenyuan feel the heavy weight pressing on his chest ease somewhat.

Once the army’s expansion was complete and large numbers of officers familiar with the new tactics of firearms and gunpowder had entered active service, Li Wenyuan believed that the army under his command would surely ascend to an entirely new level of combat power.

(End of Chapter)