Chapter 2 (Updated)
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the original characters.
10 years later
Yang Jin POV
He couldn't believe that it has been so long since he came to this world. He has changed so much that he barely recognize himself. At first he didn't even noticed the changes, but as time went by the became more pronounced. Nowadays he spent most of his time studying and training for what he knows is coming. Campaign against Zhao has been going on for two years already. It will soon reached its climax and should result in victory for Qin. But he can't help but worry that his actions might have done something that will change the course of that battle.
From the historical point of view, the Battle at Chouhei is the turning point for the state of Qin. Before that point in time, Zhao had one of the biggest military forces among all states and was considered to be one of the strongest. But due to the defeat dealt to them by Qin at Battle of Chouhei, it allowed Qin to take Zhao out of the picture. Zhao would never regain its former strength and that will give Qin some breathing room and eventually allow it to expand until eventually it conquered all other states.
If he did anything that will change the result of Battle Chouhei than he will completely the history of this period and will not be able to predict many things that he needs to in order to survive and gain recognition. Yes, he decided that instead of just being satisfied with just being an inheritor to Yang family, he will make something of himself, and make sure that name Yang Jin is carved out in history. Having that goal is very important to him, since it let him concentrate on it and forget any other thoughts, without this dream he would have gone insane by now. Being a history buff gave him a lot of knowledge about both military and civil matters that will allow him to gain upper hand over competition. But the only way for him to get any serious recognition during this day and age is to become a famous general. To set himself unto that path he threw himself head first into his studies and training. As a result he was being hailed as a genius by his tutors in both civil and military studies. This is very important, because Qin abolished nobility and practices a meritocracy. In other words if he wants to get to the top he will have to climb there with his own two hands, instead of inheriting the position like nobles.
During this age of warring states, the military still practices total war, which means a lot of things. If there is a call to arms and you're a male and of age then you are expected to come to the nearest rally point. You also have to buy your own weapons and armor, so as you can imagine the commoners did not have much of equipment at all, they're lucky if they can afford a decent sword. Only people who took part and survived in many battles were able to afford better equipment. The concept of professional army is practically non-existent and that was something he will use to his advantage. Also, in total war the distinction between military and normal civilians is very blurred, if you're part of state you're part of war effort. So if enemy state conquers you, you better pray that they do not simply displace or even exterminate the population. During this time the only professional military belongs to kings, nobles and wealthy families. Even then they're nowhere near up to standards of modern military. And that's one of the few times that I thank whatever or whoever brought me here for making me part of the Yang family.
While Yang family is small, consisting of only me and my parents, it used to be an old noble family line, which can trace its roots to many royal families. And while it does not have a lot of political influence, what it does have is a lot of money and respect and loyalty of the Kwan citizens. Yang family ruled the city of Kwan for generations, despite the numerous times it changed hands between several states. Yang family is respected by its citizens, because it always made sure that the civilians had food in their bellies, clothes on their backs and roofs over their heads. This has granted Kwan a stability and unblemished reputation and in turn attracted a fair number of people and in turn more merchants. Due to Yang family being business minded, they owned or invested into a lot of businesses and business ventures, this made Yang family extremely rich. What appalled me is the fact that they simply reinvest a small part of their fortune back into the city and hoard the rest in the treasury. Now don't get me wrong there was no embezzlement or corruption that I know of, Yang family simply hoarded most of the fortune it made through its businesses and business ventures instead of doing something with it. This opened doors for me to a lot more possibilities when I heard it from my parents for the first time.
When I was around 8 years old I persuaded my father to give me access to the treasury, since he barely if ever used it during his whole life. Now normally if an eight year old would ask you for an access to a family treasury which had untold amount of money, you would refuse. But my father knew that I was more mature than someone my age was supposed to be and he trusted me. So I invested a small fortune into the city, like improving Kwan city's defenses and improve the equipment of the garrison. I hired the best blacksmiths I could find and made them all swear to secrecy under the penalty of death of both them and their family, that any project that I entrust them they are to take those secrets to their graves or only divulge them with my permission. While it might seem harsh, but the works I will have for them in the future could end in disaster if they ended up in my enemies hands. After several tries I successfully explained to them how to craft the armor and weapons similar to those used by the Roman Legions, instead of the piece of cloth, leather and tiny plates that current military calls armor. But I also hired personal guards for the family, in total I hired over 100 of them from all over the warring states. I took the most experienced of them and those who showed that they will stay loyal to me and my family instead money. After they passed the selection process and were hired I made sure to teach them a lot of things about what I wanted them to think was my vision for military. After they passed the rigorous training I put them through, I assigned about 50 of them to be made officers in garrison and told them how I want all soldiers to be drilled. Once again I borrowed a page from the Roman Legions and made sure all of them were trained in that style of fighting. Together with drills and occasional bandit incursion from surrounding areas gave both me and them a lot of practice and experience we needed. As a result of those things while Kwan does not have the biggest garrison in the region, we do have the best one.
AN:
Many thanks to all people who read my story, special thanks to Exar Kun IV, Noldea135 and darkcloudt2 for the reviews, you are awesome.
Don't worry about the lack of dialog it will be there in the next chapter. I'm just trying to get all the background stuff over with and soon we'll get to the juicy parts.
Once again please leave a review and let me know what you think.
