Yao Lin's expression immediately turned serious, and after a long while, he slowly spoke.
"In the north of the Fan Kingdom, there are two countries, namely the Luo Kingdom and the Jin Kingdom, which do not border the territory of the Great Northern Dynasty."
Because both countries are located in extremely cold regions with harsh living conditions, they, like the foreign kingdoms, have long coveted the territory of the Great Northern Dynasty.
The imperial court received news that these three countries intended to jointly send troops to invade the Northern Dynasty.
Especially the Kingdom of Luo and the Kingdom of Jin, who had been preparing for war for many years and were fully committed to this invasion, were determined to succeed.
The establishment of a local army in Shuixian Village is also a strategic consideration. Due to the limited military strength of the imperial court, we will mainly adopt the form of recruitment to recruit soldiers and build the army.
It is estimated that the Great Northern Dynasty will not be peaceful for the next few years. The young prince must take this opportunity to develop his own power and have his own army.
The princess told me that the imperial army was no match for the allied forces of the three kingdoms.
There were some conservatives in the court who advocated for peace talks in order to secure their own official positions and wealth.
This is essentially surrender. Once peace is negotiated, one must agree to their conditions, which is that the Great Northern Kingdom must pay tribute to other countries every year and come to court every year.
This would mean that the people of the Great Northern Dynasty would suffer endless humiliation, something none of us want to see.
Now that the princess and Lord Yao are pinning their hopes on the young prince, and with the assistance of a remarkable figure like Prefect Zhao, the Great Northern Dynasty may not necessarily be defeated.
"General Yao, I have remembered everything you said, and I know what to do," Li Guang said.
Just then, Meng Yaoyao returned with two attendants.
The workshop has been very busy these past few days, and Meng Yaoyao has to go there to help every day.
Upon seeing Meng Yaoyao return, Li Guang introduced her to him.
"Yaoyao, this is General Yao from the capital. He will be forming a local army in Narcissus Village."
"Greetings, General Yao." Meng Yaoyao stepped forward to greet him warmly.
Yao Lin sized up Meng Yaoyao. As expected of the young master of the Nanyi Clan, she was dashing and had an excellent figure.
"So it's the young master. I'm honored to meet you. The story of your capture of Nashi Bai at night has been widely circulated in the capital. I'm so glad to finally see you today."
Yao Lin's praise made Meng Yaoyao a little embarrassed.
"General Yao, you flatter me. I am not that amazing."
After Meng Yaoyao finished speaking, she went to prepare dinner.
Seeing that it was still early, Li Guang spoke up:
"General Yao, let's go take a look now. When building a military camp, we can't limit ourselves to a scale of three thousand people."
Considering the future need to deal with foreign enemies, it is necessary to station an army of at least tens of thousands of people.
"That's what I mean too. Right now, we need to build at least one military camp that can accommodate 30,000 people. In the future, we may expand the camp based on the actual situation."
The two quickly arrived at the wasteland and surveyed the terrain again. They found that a military camp could be built next to the square, and the square could be used for training.
If the military camp is to be expanded in the future, it can be developed towards the foot of the mountain, where the terrain is flat and can extend all the way into the depths of the mountains. There would be no problem even if hundreds of thousands of troops were stationed there.
They came to a high point on the back mountain, where they could see for dozens of miles around. If they built a hidden sentry post there, it would serve as an excellent early warning system.
The two reluctantly left as darkness fell.
The next day, Yao Lin, accompanied by Imperial Censor Lu, inspected the site for the construction of the military camp. Imperial Censor Lu approved Yao Lin's suggestion, and the construction of the military camp officially began.
Building military camps is not complicated. The core issue in organizing an army is recruiting soldiers. Since the imperial court lacks troops, it is unrealistic to transfer troops. The only option is to recruit soldiers.
It was the twelfth lunar month, and Shuixian Village was bustling with activity. Li Guang and Yao Lin discussed it and decided to recruit soldiers directly in the village.
Two months passed quickly; spring came exceptionally early this year.
Spring plowing has already begun, and the fields are full of thriving activity.
Thanks to everyone's efforts, the military camp has been built and three thousand new recruits have been recruited.
On the square in front of the military camp, new recruits were doing drills. Zhao Xian and Li Guang stood beside the drill ground, their hearts pounding with excitement.
Zhao Xian walked to Li Guang's side and said:
"This army was established under the strong advocacy of the Princess and Lord Yao. The current situation in the Great Northern Dynasty is not optimistic. Perhaps in the near future, this army will play a vital role in protecting the country."
This is a new recruit team that needs a long period of training to develop combat effectiveness. You are a true disciple of Guiguzi, and the strength of this team will be immeasurable in the future.
This is your first team; later, there will be thousands more. I'll be your strong support. Go ahead and do what you need to do with confidence.
Zhao Xian's words stirred Li Guang's blood. He looked at Zhao Xian and nodded earnestly.
"Brother Zhao, I will work hard. With your support, we will not perish."
For the next few months, everything seemed peaceful, and Li Guang and Yao Lin continued to train their troops diligently.
These soldiers all came from poor families; they were hardworking and diligent in their training.
To improve training effectiveness and combat capabilities, Zhao Cheng and Chen Daniu often came to help with training. Sometimes Xiao Hei would also come over to join in the fun and practice wrestling with the soldiers.
Since Li Guang still had a lot of land to cultivate, this 3,000-strong force helped with farm work during busy seasons and trained soldiers during slack seasons, truly achieving a balance between work and training.
Spring has passed and autumn has come, and the sweet potato harvest season is here again. This time, the sweet potato planting area has reached more than 3,000 mu, and with the sweet potatoes planted by farmers in the surrounding areas, the total sweet potato planting area has reached tens of thousands of mu.
With so many sweet potatoes, we can promote them nationwide.
Just as Li Guang was preparing to harvest sweet potatoes, Lord Yao and Li Xue arrived at Narcissus Village at the same time, which delighted Li Guang.
Here, Li Xue returns to Narcissus Village a year later.
Li Xue hasn't changed much, except she's lost some weight.
When the group arrived, it was nearly dusk. Zhao Xian instructed the chef to slaughter chickens and sheep to welcome them.
After the meal, Zhao Xian and Li Guang wanted to have a good chat with them, but the two seemed very tired, so Zhao Xian had them taken to an inn to rest.
After a night's rest, Lord Yao and Li Xue were in much better condition. They summoned Zhao Xian and Li Guang together to discuss some important matters.
Li Xue accompanied Lord Yao on this trip. Lord Yao's main task in coming to Shuixian Village was to promote sweet potatoes.
"Young Master Zhao, how much sweet potato harvest will we have this year?"
Zhao Xian did a rough calculation and then said:
"Currently, Li Guang has planted more than 3,000 mu of sweet potatoes. Including the ones planted in several surrounding villages, the total area exceeds 20,000 mu. Conservatively speaking, the total harvest is no less than 70 to 80 million jin."
If these sweet potatoes are collected and used as a parent plant, they can be widely cultivated in most parts of China.
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