Chapter 18

The water was finally drawn, but Yueyang's heart was still somewhat uneasy, especially about the matter of the militia.

The militia, in essence, is a group of civilian soldiers. The nature of this organization is the same whether in feudal times or in the so-called democratic modern society; it is, in plain terms, a reserve force for the army. Although this reserve force is often not valued or even despised by the court, it is still an armed force. As long as you have this title, you can openly recruit soldiers and horses. As long as you don't openly raise a banner and rebel, no one will interfere with you. Therefore, such a title is very important for Yueyang, who severely lacks a sense of security.

However, the more you are in a hurry, the slower things come. It had been several days since he returned from Yingzhou Prefecture, but there was still no news about the militia. Yueyang wanted Shunbao to go to Yingzhou Prefecture to inquire about the news, but Shunbao's response greatly disappointed him. Shunbao's answer was only one sentence: "Young Master, we have no connections in the Yingzhou Prefecture government!"

This one sentence was enough to make Yueyang complain endlessly. The Yue family, after all, is one of the top four landlord families in Yingzhou City. How could they be so poorly connected that they don't even have someone in the government to gather information? It's no wonder they have been bullied by the other three families for so many years. The decline of the Yue family over the years is certainly due to the other three families squeezing their living space, but their own lack of effort is also a major reason.

Yueyang's anxiety was not without reason. He was drilling wells on a large scale here, and although he had instructed Yue Laifu to keep it confidential, he was unsure how long it could be kept secret. After all, there is no wall that doesn't leak. Drilling wells for water is a big deal, and if the servants and tenants could all keep their mouths shut, Yueyang would rather believe that pigs could climb trees.

However, Yueyang's worry didn't last long. On the third day of the sixth month, five days later, the prefectural government finally sent someone to Yue Family Village. Yueyang finally received what he had been eagerly awaiting: an official document from the Datong Prefecture Military Commissioner, appointing him as the commander of the Yingzhou Militia. However, don't misunderstand; this commander is not the same as the regular military commander.

The commander, established during the Ming Dynasty, was a military official responsible for guarding the border. They were appointed on a temporary basis, and during wartime, they would be given a seal to lead the troops, which they would return after the war. They had no fixed rank. However, this was only in the early Ming Dynasty. By the late Ming Dynasty, with the unrest at the borders, the position of commander gradually became a permanent post, becoming the highest military commander in a region, like Li Chengliang and Li Chengdong, who were genuine commanders. In modern terms, they would be at least the level of a military district commander.

However, if the word "militia" is added to "commander," it's not so glorious. What is the militia? It is a civilian army organized by the locals. So, the commander of the militia is the leader of the civilian army. Often, after the locals organize a civilian army, they offer to accept dispatches from the court, and the court, as a reward, appoints the leader as the commander of the militia. Although it becomes an officially recognized quasi-military organization, its power doesn't change much; it still only manages the civilian army under its command, just with a shiny new title.

Despite this, Yueyang was still very happy. What he lacked most was that shiny new title. With this title, he could openly recruit soldiers and horses. What made Yueyang even happier was that the Datong Prefecture Military Commissioner did not limit the number of civilian soldiers Yueyang could recruit in the official document. This gave Yueyang a loophole to exploit, meaning that as long as he was willing and could afford it, he could recruit as many people as he wanted.

However, Yueyang's joy didn't last long. Along with the official document came a piece of bad news: on the sixth day of the sixth month, the Yellow River breached its banks at Mengjin, causing countless deaths and injuries among the military and civilians. Tens of thousands of people were displaced, begging for food everywhere, with no way out, and eventually gathered to rebel.

Seeing this, Yueyang knew that the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty had begun. Although this chaos would rise and fall over the next decade, sometimes being suppressed by the court, it would ultimately spread throughout the Ming Empire with the expansion of the disasters, eventually drowning the dynasty that had lasted for over two hundred years.

"The chaos has finally begun. Can I protect my family and everything around me in this time and space?" Yueyang slowly folded the official document and the attached imperial bulletin and put them in his sleeve. He squinted his eyes, looking at the setting sun, and walked toward the old lady's courtyard...

The old lady was still sitting in the courtyard, her eyes half-closed, letting the two maids massage her back. After a long time, she opened her eyes and said to Yueyang, "Grandson, since Grandma has already said that all the affairs of Yue Family Village are under your control, you should act boldly. Grandma will support you. You don't need to report everything to Grandma. You are Grandma's good grandson; how could Grandma not trust you?"

Yueyang smiled bitterly and said, "Grandma, it's not that I want to trouble you, but I think this matter is too significant. I still need to report it to you because it concerns the lives of thousands, even tens of thousands, of people in Yue Family Village and Wulisi Village. I can't be careless!"

Hearing this, the old lady's originally cloudy eyes suddenly shot a sharp look. "Oh, what is it?"

Yueyang took out the official document from his sleeve and handed it to the old lady. "The Military Commissioner's office has sent an official document, allowing me to organize a militia. I plan to form a militia team soon and hope for Grandma's approval."

"Organize a militia?" The old lady took the document, looked at it carefully, and said indifferently, "Isn't it just organizing a militia? What's the big deal? Every wealthy family in the area has a militia to protect their homes. You mentioned this to Grandma before, and Grandma agreed, didn't she?"

Yueyang shook his head. "But this time is different. I plan to form a large militia."

"Oh, how large? Do you want to recruit ten thousand or so militia soldiers?" The old lady laughed indifferently and took a sip of tea from the cup handed to her by the maid.

Yueyang didn't laugh. He looked at the old lady solemnly and said, "You're right, Grandma. I do plan to recruit ten thousand or so militia soldiers!"

"Spit..."

As soon as Yueyang finished speaking, the old lady spat out the tea in her mouth.

"What? How many militia soldiers do you want to recruit? Did Grandma hear you wrong?"

The old lady, who was usually calm, lost her composure today. Yueyang's words were not just nonsense but madness. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, although many local gentry organized militias, they usually only had a few hundred to protect their homes, at most a thousand. No gentry had ever dared to recruit ten thousand militia soldiers, because that would not be protecting their homes and maintaining peace; it would be rebellion.

"Grandson, what are you doing? Do you know that if the government hears this, our Yue family will face the threat of extermination!" Even the old lady, who had weathered decades of storms, was frightened by her precious grandson's crazy idea. Not to mention whether Yue Family Village had the financial and material resources to recruit so many soldiers, but even if they did, what would they do with so many soldiers? Do you know that a regular commander in the court only commands so many soldiers? Are you planning to rebel?

"Grandma, don't worry. Please listen to me first before you get upset!" Seeing that the old lady was really worried, Yueyang didn't dare to keep her in suspense any longer and quickly explained his thoughts...

PS: There's only one chapter these days. A Ding is currently undergoing a health check-up. Unfortunately, my blood pressure was high again this noon, and the nurse said my post-meal blood sugar is also high. They drew five tubes of blood this morning for a glucose tolerance test. I don't know what the results will be. I'm still young and don't want to get diabetes. Sob!

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