Li Jue was stunned when he heard this. In his mind, conscription work should take at least one or two months to complete.

However, Master Yu told him that the conscription was over!

"Master Yu, where did you recruit soldiers from?"

"I have a few close friends; if each of them sends a little, that should be enough!"

"Master Yu, our Zhechong Prefecture has 1,200 slots. Don't you have a lot of close friends?"

Yuchi Jingde was somewhat embarrassed upon hearing this. Who would have thought that the quota for the Zhechong Prefecture would be so sought after? He had barely made the announcement two days ago when all sorts of connections had reached out to him.

They stuffed a dozen or so into this group, a few dozen into that group, and in no time they had eight or nine hundred people...

Li Jing could clearly see that Li Jue was unhappy, so he immediately stepped in to smooth things over.

"Child, there are standards for conscripting soldiers. First, we look at their qualifications, abilities, and the number of people in their household, etc."

“Most of the people you recruit don’t meet this requirement, so after discussing it with your Master Yu, I took it upon myself to make the decision for you.”

"Oh, by the way, you, Mr. Li, are also aware of this matter!"

Li Jue was still very unhappy when he heard this. He thought he was in charge of the Sanglin General's Office, but he never expected that a few old men would make decisions for him.

It's like getting married, but before you even consummate the marriage, someone else snatches her away. Who would be happy about that?

"I don't care!"

"If you're going to do it this way, then I'm not going to take the position of Commandant anymore. You can find whoever you want to be the commander!"

Upon hearing this, Yuchi Jingde and Li Jing immediately panicked. To put it bluntly, it was because of this grandson that the Sanglin General's Office came into being.

If this grandson abandons his post, then there is no need for the Sanglin Garrison Command to exist!

"Apprentice, you can't just give up!"

"If you give up now, not only will you miss a great opportunity, but we two masters will also lose all face!"

"I don't care!"

"I must be in charge of my own military command. If I don't like someone, I won't accept them no matter how capable they are!"

Hearing this, Yuchi Jingde was extremely annoyed and couldn't help but complain.

"well!"

"Why are you throwing a tantrum like a little kid..."

Li Jue rolled his eyes at him and retorted.

"I'm a child after all!"

"Uh..."

In the end, Li Jing stepped in as a peacemaker, coaxing Li Jue.

"Disciple, it was wrong of us not to discuss this with you beforehand, but we did it all for your sake!"

"Moreover, every single person we recruit for you is truly capable, definitely better than those you hire yourself!"

Li Jue remained unmoved upon hearing this. In his mind, the strength of an army lay not in its quantity but in its quality, courage, discipline, and organization.

If you give yourself a group of highly capable but disobedient rogue soldiers, you might as well have a group of obedient sheep that will follow orders wherever they want.

"Let me make it clear beforehand: if anyone disobeys, I will fire them on the spot!"

"And this Sun Daniu, I've already hired him, and no one can stop me!"

Sun Daniu had thought all hope was lost and was about to slink home when he suddenly heard this and burst into ecstatic joy.

"Young Master, you've really accepted me?"

"certainly!"

"I've finally become a commander of the vanguard, so I should recruit some of my own people!"

"From this day forward, you belong to me, Li Zhong!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Daniu immediately bowed down and kowtowed to Li Jue several times.

"From now on, you are my lord. I will do whatever you tell me to do!"

Seeing this, Li Jing spoke in a muffled voice.

“Disciple, our Great Tang Dynasty does not allow the keeping of private armies. The Fubing (府兵) are, in principle, all of the imperial court's troops, and there is no such thing as using public resources for private purposes…”

"ah?"

"Master Mu, aren't you exaggerating? I'm just hiring a few people who listen to me, is that wrong?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jing secretly thought to himself, "This is a huge mistake. If the censors find out and report it to His Majesty, it'll be enough to get me beheaded."

But since you're the emperor's grandson, you can do whatever you want with him!

Li Jing only fulfilled his duty to remind him and then didn't bother with anything else. Anyway, he just wanted to find some noble and old ministers to endorse his disciple, so that when that day really came, these people could stand on his disciple's side.

Li Jue led Sun Daniu and the two masters back to Zhechong Prefecture. They found that the once empty training ground was now filled with warriors in bright armor.

These people were standing very lazily, some even sitting on the ground chatting, and they showed no intention of getting up even when they saw me and my two masters arrive.

Seeing this, Yuchi Jingde was very embarrassed. He immediately shouted and cursed at the men wearing bright armor.

"A bunch of good-for-nothing dogs, they don't even bow down to the Commander-in-Chief!"

When everyone saw Yuchi Jingde get angry, they noticed the little boy next to him wearing the official uniform of a military officer.

This Commandant is way too young! He's at most fourteen or fifteen years old!

Some people who had gotten in through connections and money spent immediately looked down on Li Jue when they saw how young he was.

Is it possible for such a young captain to be able to participate in His Majesty's personal expedition?

Although everyone harbored their own grievances, they dared not disobey Yuchi Jingde's words and quickly and obediently lined up in formation.

Looking at the haphazardly arranged queue, Li Jue felt a headache coming on.

"Master Yu, Master Mu, is this the elite you were talking about?"

"ah?"

"Isn't it elite enough?"

"Look at them, quite a few of them are wearing armor. A single suit of armor costs tens of strings of cash, and the better ones cost over a hundred. Plus, some of them are riding horses, which is another considerable expense. Do you think an ordinary family could afford that?"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!