Song Qingshu did not have Li Quan's troops fully merge with Yang Miaozhen's Red Tunic Army. Instead, he placed them under Zhang Lin's command, though nominally they were to obey Yang Miaozhen's orders.
The main reason for this arrangement was that the Red Tunic Army's primary purpose was to resist the Jin Dynasty. Yang Miaozhen came from Tianbo Yang Mansion and naturally wished to serve the Southern Song loyally. Yet he could not openly say that the Jin Dynasty was now his property. If Yang Miaozhen continued stirring up trouble within Jin territory in the future, he would be caught in an impossible position.
He might as well use this opportunity to divide the Red Tunic Army. With fewer troops directly loyal to Yang Miaozhen, even if she made another move in the future, the losses would remain within an acceptable range.
Thus, despite having shared intimacy with her, Song Qingshu had not been blinded by beauty and made such arrangements.
Several leaders discussed how to deal with Xia Quan inside the main tent. Zhang Lin reported, "Li Quan had been managing his forces for a long time. It will take quite a while to fully absorb them, so I'm afraid they cannot be thrown into battle immediately."
"How many men can you spare at most?" Song Qingshu understood as well that they had only just subdued this force. If they acted too hastily, they might repeat Fu Jian's old mistake. Sending incompletely assimilated surrendered troops into battle merely for a numerical advantage would be more trouble than it was worth if they mutinied at the front.
In the end, Zhang Lin and Yang Miaozhen calculated that together they could gather roughly ten thousand battle-hardened veterans. Song Qingshu frowned slightly. That should be enough to deal with Xia Quan, but