Chapter 92: Chapter 88: Grand Rewards! The Youngest General in the Army!
"Military Marquis Zhang Han of the First Commandant Camp has made outstanding contributions by breaching the city and slaying numerous generals. He is granted a promotion of two ranks in his office and one rank in his nobility. Wei Quan, Luo Hua, Liu Wang, and Zhuang Wei, for your contributions in the siege, you are granted a promotion of one rank in your office and nobility."
"The Sharp Warriors of the entire First Wanjiang Camp made meritorious contributions in the city’s assault. The camp’s Wanjiang died in battle; all warriors who fell heroically will have their families provided for with a compensation of three times their annual salary. The surviving Sharp Warriors will all be promoted based on their contributions in breaching the city."
"The Seventh Wanjiang Camp..."
"In the military, all credit for slaying the enemy will be rewarded according to the military merit system, supervised by the Military Judge," Kuai Pu read aloud.
Hearing this, nearly all the officers in the hall received awards, and every one of them appeared extremely excited. With each advancement in official rank and nobility, the annual salary would increase severalfold. This was a substantial gain.
It seems the King of Qin has attributed almost all the credit for breaching the city to me. Although Chen Tao was promoted two ranks in nobility, he ultimately didn’t become a Deputy General. Or perhaps, the position of Deputy General is temporarily full. My former superiors are now my subordinates, heh. And Zhang Han and the others... the five of them followed me through every charge and have been justly rewarded. Zhang Han has even been promoted to Wanjiang, likely taking the place of the one from the vanguard who died in battle. The other four have all been appointed Capital Commandants. The next step is to assign them to various armies.
As he listened to Kuai Pu’s announcement, Zhao Feng immediately took note of several key points. All five of his subordinates had received awards, and the rewards were significant. Zhang Han alone would now command an army of ten thousand. The other four would each command five thousand men, which amounted to an army of thirty thousand.
"Your servants thank the Great King for his munificent grace!" all the officers in the hall proclaimed in unison.
"The conferrals for ranks above Capital Commandant are now complete," Kuai Pu announced loudly. "For ranks below Capital Commandant, each army has recorded the merits, and I will supervise the distribution of awards one by one."
The other officers naturally nodded in agreement.
"General Zhao, you were just asking which five Wanjiang camps you will be leading to Wei City," Li Teng said to Zhao Feng with a smile, a clear gesture of goodwill. "How about this? You may make your selections from the main camp."
"I will keep my original Wanjiang camp. As for the other four, I will wait to select them until after the army is reorganized," Zhao Feng replied after a moment’s thought.
"General Zhao makes a good point," Li Teng agreed. "Han has been vanquished, but our army has also suffered significant losses."
"This one battle has cost our forces more than twenty thousand men. It will likely be next year before these losses can be replenished with new recruits and the units reorganized," Deputy General Sun Ting added.
"But aren’t there quite a few surrendered soldiers?" Zhao Feng asked, surprised.
"In this last battle, our army captured nearly fifty thousand surrendered soldiers. It is indeed a significant number, but they are nothing more than slaves. They are suitable only as cannon fodder, not to be formed into a proper army," Li Teng said slowly.
"And these surrendered soldiers won’t be organized into new units?" Zhao Feng asked, surprised again.
Recruiting surrendered soldiers to fight and organizing them into Penal Battalions... Weren’t these common practices in Qin? Historically, when Qin conquered the Six States, captured soldiers were an important source of manpower. Even toward the End of Qin, Zhang Han’s Penal Battalions possessed formidable fighting strength. But from Li Teng’s reaction, it seems that practice no longer exists?
"Organize surrendered soldiers?"
Upon hearing Zhao Feng’s words, Li Teng was taken aback. The other officers in the hall were stunned as well, but then many of them couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
"General Zhao," Sun Ting said with a hint of a smile, "it seems you don’t understand much about these men. It’s a common occurrence for reorganized soldiers to rebel or turn their coats in the middle of a battle. Surrendered soldiers can only be demoted to slaves, put to work constructing imperial highways and the Great Wall, or used as cannon fodder in sieges. Form them into a proper army? Qin has no such precedent."
"So all these surrendered soldiers from Han are to be demoted to slavery?" Zhao Feng asked.
"Yingchuan County has just been pacified," Meng Yi stated. "These men will first be put to work building imperial highways and repairing the city walls. Afterward, they will be dispatched to the Northern Frontier."
Zhao Feng nodded. After pondering for a moment, he addressed the two men, "Prefect Meng, General Li, I have a proposal."
"Could you allow me to attempt organizing these surrendered soldiers into a fighting force?" Zhao Feng asked.
At this, Meng Yi and Li Teng exchanged a glance, their expressions a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"General Zhao," Li Teng explained, "in the past, both Qin and other nations attempted to organize surrendered soldiers. However, these new units often rebelled, turned on us mid-battle, or caused disturbances in the camps, posing a great danger. That is why such a practice is no longer considered."
"But the Han army had many elite soldiers. If they could be made to fight for Qin, we could reduce the casualties among our own Sharp Warriors," Zhao Feng countered. "Give me just twenty thousand of the surrendered soldiers. If I succeed, they can become a true asset to Qin’s military might!" he earnestly petitioned.