Chapter 41: I Am Giving You a Warning

Chen Kan walked along, pondering how he should carry out the "three fires" of a newly appointed official. A moment later, he had an idea. "That's how I'll do it!"

However, as soon as Chen Kan reached the edge of the training ground, his expression soured. The scene he had envisioned—a thousand men gathered together—was nowhere to be seen. Instead, only about a hundred men stood scattered across the grounds.

Chen Kan’s anger instantly reached a boiling point. A "thousand-man garrison" (Qianhu Suo) should, by its very name, have at least a thousand men. He had just been thinking about the high professionalism of the Ming dynasty, only to realize that this was a deliberate cold reception waiting for him.

Shi Wen, who had come to assemble the subordinates, saw Chen Kan approaching slowly and shouted, "All troops, form ranks!"

The words made Chen Kan’s face twitch. With these few stray cats and dogs, they were going to "form ranks"? Form a load of nonsense. It was simply insulting.

"Reporting to you, sir. Thousand-man Garrison commander Shi Wen of the Northern Division requests your inspection."

Looking at Shi Wen, who stood straight as a ramrod before him, Chen Kan felt like cursing. With only this many people showing up for a thousand-man unit, and he had the nerve to ask for an inspection?

Chen Kan kept his face impassive and asked, "Is this all there is to a thousand-man garrison?"

Shi Wen cupped his hands and replied, "Reporting to you, sir, this unit has two hundred men in total. Except for two centurions who are away on business, the rest are all here."

"What? You mean to tell me this is a thousand-man garrison?" Chen Kan’s voice suddenly rose.

Shi Wen replied calmly and respectfully, "Yes, sir."

"You dare say yes!" Chen Kan, enraged, flew forward and kicked Shi Wen in the chest.

To his surprise, Shi Wen didn't budge an inch. Instead, Chen Kan was jolted, stumbling backward. Shi Wen looked bewildered; why was this official hitting people out of the blue? "Sir, are you all right?"

"Get lost!" Chen Kan said, feeling both embarrassed and angry.

Great, the show of authority had failed. He had intended to beat Shi Wen in front of his subordinates to show the Embroidered Uniform Guards (Jinyiwei) that he was not someone to be trifled with. But now, that seemed unlikely to happen. He couldn't even move the man!

"A thousand-man garrison, and you tell me these hundred-odd people are the whole thing?" Chen Kan felt like his intelligence was being ground into the dirt by Shi Wen.

***

However, once Chen Kan said this, Shi Wen grew puzzled. Even the Jinyiwei guards on the training ground changed their expressions, whispering to one another.

"What, nothing to say? I ask you, where are the rest of the men?" Chen Kan thought his show of authority had worked, silently mocking, *Little brat, trying to fight me!*

Shi Wen’s stoic face twitched, and he couldn't help but whisper, "Sir, a thousand-man garrison is officially mandated by the imperial court to have two hundred Jinyiwei guards."

If Shi Wen had previously doubted the rumors of Chen Kan being a spoiled fop, he was now absolutely certain. The man was a fool without a shred of common sense.

Chen Kan paused, disbelievingly picking at his ear. "You mean to say a thousand-man garrison only has two hundred men?"

Shi Wen nodded innocently.

Chen Kan: "..."

*Why didn't you say so earlier? Why the hell didn't you say so? How was I supposed to know a thousand-man garrison only has two hundred men? If there are only two hundred, why not just split them into two hundred-man units?*

In an instant, Chen Kan grew irritable out of shame. "Do you think I didn't know? I was just testing you, understand?"

Chen Kan glared at Shi Wen. Shi Wen twitched his mouth and sighed, "Yes, sir, I understand."

"Please, sir, address the troops."

After such a ridiculous blunder, Chen Kan had no mood to give a speech. Who knows why two hundred men were called a thousand-man garrison? He needed to find someone to explain the Jinyiwei organizational structure before he made any more of a fool of himself.

"Address them? Nonsense. Dismissed!" Chen Kan waved his hand and scurried off toward his office.

The Jinyiwei guards on the training ground turned their innocent, wide eyes toward Shi Wen, as if to say, *We didn't do anything today; he left on his own...*

"That's it, disperse." Shi Wen was also helpless. He knew this new superior was a novice, but he hadn't expected him to be *this* green. Who could he complain to?

After dismissing the guards, Shi Wen hurriedly followed behind Chen Kan. "Sir, it was my oversight."

"I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it!"

***

Eventually, Chen Kan managed to understand the general framework of the Jinyiwei through Shi Wen’s explanation. A thousand-man garrison was theoretically supposed to be at full capacity with one thousand men. However, the imperial court only provided funding for two hundred. In other words, only two hundred were officially recognized. The remaining eight hundred had to be funded by the garrison itself. Therefore, the standard configuration was two hundred men. Only when a mission required it would they temporarily hire thugs and wanderers to fill the quota. These hired hands had a pleasant but highly derogatory name: "Bu Liang Ren" (the bad ones).

In short, a thousand-man garrison consisted of two hundred permanent employees and eight hundred temporary ones.

Having grasped the structure, Chen Kan immediately made a decision. "I don't care about other garrisons, but mine must be at full strength. Tomorrow, you will recruit enough men to fill the ranks."

"Sir, recruiting is no problem, but the pay..." Shi Wen looked troubled.

Chen Kan waved his hand grandly. "I will handle the pay. You just focus on the recruiting."

"Yes, sir! I will get right on it!" With Chen Kan’s assurance, Shi Wen felt relieved. A spoiled brat might lack many things, but money was certainly not one of them.

Once Shi Wen left, Chen Kan finally let his face show his embarrassment. He rubbed his face vigorously. When he stepped out again, he looked as if nothing had happened.

Ensuring his garrison was at full strength was something Chen Kan had to do. As he had thought before, his current situation was not safe. In the capital, the vassal kings might not dare to strike at him under Zhu Di's nose, but he couldn't stay in the capital forever. Furthermore, his proposal for curbing the power of the vassal kings had already reached Zhu Di’s desk via Li Jinglong. Once the Emperor gave the go-ahead, his departure from the capital to oversee this would be inevitable. The Ming vassal kings were not to be trifled with; when facing them directly, the more men he had, the better.

As for how to pay for them? Chen Kan wasn't worried at all. Holding the power of the most arrogant and lawless organization in the Ming dynasty, it would be a laughingstock if he couldn't find a way to make money.

The moment he stepped out of the Jinyiwei office, Chen Kan had already conceived dozens of ways to generate wealth.