Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

The Mr. Ning referred to is Mr. Ning Yuanhe, the Yu State Judge, a small old man with flecks of white in his hair.

"Now, how many soldiers do we have at our disposal?" Lin Zhan inquired again.

Zhang Yu replied, "Apart from the five hundred soldiers brought by Li Boran, there are six hundred from the Inspection Bureau within the city, and over a hundred Government Officials and constables, as well as over eight hundred Civilians newly recruited by the undersigned!"

Hearing this, Lin Zhan rubbed his temples with a somewhat headache.

Li Boran, this households, is from the Hai State Guard, and as Prefect, he has no authority to command the Hai State Guard. At this time, it's already responsible that the Hai State Guard arranged a households to oversee the city's defense.

As for the Inspection Bureau, their duties are to investigate individuals without proper documents, capture fugitives, combat smuggling, maintain normal business and travel, and so on; but to be frank, the soldiers of the Inspection Bureau are hardly useful for anything significant.

What's left are the constables and the Civilian forces. Forgetting about the Civilian forces—they are just ordinary people, not even considered soldiers.

However, among the constables, there are quite a few useful Martial Artists.

In the various levels of government offices, there are quite a few Government Officials and constables who are Martial Artists, including even Postnatal Martial Artists; although there are no particularly strong Martial Artists among them, they are responsible for solving cases and apprehending criminals. Often they must confront criminal Martial Artists, so they do possess some strength.

"What about the Martial Arts Department? Do we have a Martial Arts Department in the city?" Lin Zhan asked further.

Zhang Yu shook his head, "Our Yu State hasn't established a Martial Arts Department yet, but Hai State Mansion did set up one last year!"

Lin Zhan was not surprised. Currently, Martial Arts Temples are beginning to establish Martial Arts Departments in various Mansions, but not all the State Mansions have them yet. Some have established them; others have not.

"What about our funds and provisions? How much do we have left now?"

"The government office's stipend rice and tax silver were all looted by the pirates, but the official warehouse within the city is still intact. There are twenty thousand stones of rice in the official warehouse!"

Lin Zhan nodded. With rice in hand, there's no need to panic. Twenty thousand stones is not a lot, but it's enough to last for a while.

He then inquired about the situation within the city. Currently, there are over thirty thousand civilians left in the city, but they are all panic-stricken, each hiding at home and afraid to go out.

And under Yu State's jurisdiction are three county towns. These county towns have not been attacked by pirates, but now all three have their gates tightly shut. Because there are still pirates lurking about, they dare not open the city gates.

After understanding the general situation, Lin Zhan asked, "Hasn't the Governor's Office dispatched troops to eliminate the pirates roaming about?"

Zhang Yu and Li Boran looked at each other and said, "They should have, but the troops don't seem to have arrived yet!"

Lin Zhan frowned, "What do you mean they haven't arrived?"

"The only available forces near Yu State are from Hai State Guard and Sangzhou Guard. However, Sangzhou Guard is the Navy, and it is said they have already gone after the pirates. As for Hai State Guard," Zhang Yu looked at Li Boran.

Li Boran gave a wry smile, "The primary duty of Hai State Guard is to defend Hai State Mansion. After the appearance of the pirates in Yu State, Hai State Guard concentrated their forces on Hai State Mansion. The Commander only sent me to Yu State."

Lin Zhan gave him a glance, nodded slightly, and said nothing more.

Although Li Boran wasn't clear in his explanation, Lin Zhan still understood.

The Hai State Guard Commander is probably a man who fears death and doesn't dare to come to Yu State to eliminate the pirates, so he is hiding within the territory of Hai State Mansion. In truth, his actions aren't wrong. Compared to Yu State, Hai State Mansion is unquestionably more important.

When Yu State suffered from pirate attacks, ensuring Hai State Mansion was not attacked was also a reasonable and understandable approach.

Li Boran was sent to Yu State, clearly due to the alienation of his superiors; otherwise, Hai State Guard could have completely refrained from sending anyone to Yu State.

However, Lin Zhan had a good impression of Li Boran. Yu State City is still in a manageable state, and that is Li Boran's merit.

Without Li Boran, Yu State City would probably be in total chaos.