Chapter 60

Ye Suijin decided to make Biyang City her base of operations.When Fourth Uncle Ye learned of her decision, he was taken aback for a moment, then asked, “What about the family estate...?”

Ye Suijin said, “Of course people will be left behind to guard our ancestral legacy.”

With the phrase “guard our ancestral legacy,” her meaning was made more clear.

Yefamily Fortress was now a thing of the past.

Fourth Uncle Ye was stunned for half a beat.

“Uncle,” said Ye Suijin, “As you’ve seen, the city walls of Biyang are even taller than those of the other county seats.”

The population was greater, commerce more prosperous, and its geography and transportation links were superior in every way.

Once Ye Suijin controlled the entirety of Deng Prefecture, she would possess two prefectures’ worth of territory. So looking at it from every angle, making Biyang the seat of power undoubtedly far surpassed Yefamily Fortress.

Even though Yefamily Fort had been built in the style of a military fortress from the very beginning, making it a cut above the average civilian stockade, in the end it was still just a country fort.

There was no comparing it to a prefectural city.

Fourth Uncle Ye understood this reasoning, but the decision made him feel suddenly hollow inside.

Because in the past, “inheriting and managing Yefamily Fortress” had been one of the most important matters in his life. For the sake of this fort, uncle and niece had once opposed each other to the point of falling out.

Yet now his niece was telling him that Yefamily Fortress wasn’t actually that important, or rather, was no longer that important - at least not as important as he’d thought.

How could Fourth Uncle not feel upset?

Ye Suijin saw this clearly.

After thinking for a moment, she decided, “Fourth Uncle, don’t go back this time. Stay here for now.”

“How can that be?” said Fourth Uncle Ye. “There are still many matters at home. Bean harvesting will begin soon, and we still need to drill the troops...”

Recruitment had never stopped. Yefamily Fortress still had new recruits in training.

“Aren’t Sixth Uncle and Eighth Uncle still at home?” said Ye Suijin. “The household affairs can be left to them. As for drilling troops...”

“It’d be best if Third Brother went back to check on Third Sister. Let him go back and recuperate for a while, and put him in charge of training the new recruits.”

Her third brother had also been a fierce general in his past life. But in this life, it seemed he was moving too quickly.

Ye Suijin noticed the killing intent on him was too heavy.

She was starting to worry whether she had pushed him too fast. This was a good chance to send Ye Sanlang back home, to be by his mother and wife's side, and recuperate. She looked at the hesitant Fourth Uncle.

"Uncle, don't you want to show off your martial skills?" She smiled. "Seventh Uncle has fought real battles with real steel."

Fourth Uncle Ye's heart stirred.

He too was of the Ye family bloodline, raised on military books.

When at home, he had also envied the younger pups getting chances to go to battle, while he was tangled up in administrative affairs, busy from dawn to dusk, always feeling that Yefamily Fortress and Deng Prefecture couldn't do without him, so he could only admire from afar.

On the recent trip to and from the capital to see the Emperor, he had also killed some bandits who tried to block the road. But that was just small fry.

He shouldn't let his martial skills go to waste.

Ye Suijin smiled as she watched her uncle struggle with himself.

Among her uncles, Fourth Uncle was the best in martial arts and military strategy.

Because recently she had needed to make many drastic changes, she had worried the elders might not be able to shake off their outdated concepts and old thinking right away, which could hinder her. So she had deliberately kept only the younger generation at her side as she acted, while keeping the uncles in supporting roles at the rear.

But now that the overall situation in Deng and Tang Prefectures was clear, and the Ye family forces' way of doing things and fighting wars had taken initial shape, the elders had also started to get used to it.

Since this was the case, Deng Prefecture's Ye Feng Tang - her Fourth Uncle - should no longer be bound by little Yefamily Fortress, and should also come out and show his skills.

Let the world see the might of Ye Chong and Ye Feng Tang, black steed and silver spear, violence like thunder!

Some were born eloquent, like Zhao Jingwen; some honed their eloquence through effort, like Ye Suijin.

In any case, Ye Suijin persuaded Fourth Uncle to let go of Yefamily Fortress for now and remain in Biyang City.

She planned to send Third and Fourth Brothers back to train new recruits.

It was also because both of them had wives. Ye Suijin wished to see the brothers reunited with their wives. And it would be best if they had more children.

The Ye family of this lifetime should prosper and multiply.

With Fourth Uncle here, he could also help her handle affairs in Biyang City.

In one fell swoop she had taken down over a dozen powerful households, seizing almost half of Biyang City’s wealth.

Just in real estate there were over forty large and small properties, while two or three streets of shops in the bustling East Market, one after another, now belonged to the Ye family. Not to mention countless fields and tenants outside the city.

In Fourth Uncle's words, they had "struck it rich again."

Fourth Uncle was starting to become numb to getting rich.

But Ye Suijin said lightly, "We'll probably need to recruit more soldiers than we can afford to pay."

Fourth Uncle: "..." S~ᴇaʀᴄh the N0vᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Fourth Uncle wiped his face. "Sixth Miss, give me a number. How many troops are you planning to recruit?"

Raising troops really cost a lot of money. Fourth Uncle wanted to have a figure in mind.

But Ye Suijin said in surprise, "How would I know?"

Fourth Uncle: "???"

Ye Suijin spread her hands, looking innocent. "When you gain some territory, you want to hold onto it, so you need troops. Once you have troops, if your territory isn't big enough to support them, then you have to go seize more territory. After gaining more land, there still aren't enough troops, so recruit more troops, then go take even more land. The more land..."

"Alright, alright!" Fourth Uncle said irritably. "Are you telling some monk's tale that goes on forever?"

Hands on hips, he said, "If we keep going by your logic, there'll be no end to it! Territory keeps expanding, troops keep growing. In the end, we'd have to become Emp- hmmph, we can't say that!"

The ingrained taboo against speaking of seizing the imperial throne remained. Especially since they were now vassals of the Jin, they couldn't speak recklessly.

Ye Suijin raised her brows. "Aren't princes and ministers born from common men? Who knows? If a man dares enough, even a beggar can become emperor."

"Psht psht psht!" Fourth Uncle looked around quickly to make sure no one else was within earshot. "Watch your words!"

While he privately felt "The Emperor is just an old man with a bit more white hair than me," he didn't dare voice it carelessly. He only grumbled in whispers to his sons behind closed doors.

Unable to get an answer for now, this question would have to be shelved.

Fourth Uncle asked, "What should we do about the businesses in Biyang?"

Over a dozen in total that monopolized eighty percent of commerce in Biyang City. Or more precisely, four or five houses headed by the Li family that controlled seventy to eighty percent of Biyang's commercial livelihood.

Now, those killed were killed, those who's properties were seized had properties seized. All these assets had fallen into Ye Suijin's hands.

It was wealth beyond what Fourth Uncle had dared imagine before on a personal level.

Of course, the term "massive wealth" was speaking from the standpoint of private property.

But no matter who managed it, there would be no starving chefs in this world. With ladle in hand, the chef's waist would thicken and his belly grow rounder, and people would find it reasonable and normal.

Yet Ye Suijin said, "I don't plan to hand it over to the family."

Fourth Uncle: "Huh?"

"Sudden wealth can easily lead people astray and muddle the mind," said Ye Suijin. "I'm still counting on these businesses to generate money, but I also don't want money to make my own kin see blood."

Fourth Uncle's forehead beaded with sweat.

He recalled execution day.

Those hadn't been petty thieves and bandits. They had once been upstanding citizens and gentry of the big city. If you admitted it, many had held petty official ranks, their ancestors having held proper official posts.

That day, there had also been wailing women, and children crying in terror.

Thinking of it now, Fourth Uncle's palms still sweated a little.

But Sanlang, his son, had remained expressionless the entire time.

How had Sanlang changed so much? In the past, when he saw a child trip and fall, he would also gently crouch down and patiently comfort them. How could Sixth Miss have changed Sanlang so much? It was like he had become a different person.

No - Sixth Miss herself seemed to have become a different person.

Pondering the phrase "don't want my own kin to see blood," the back of his neck chilled slightly.

Fourth Uncle rubbed the back of his neck. "What do you have in mind then?"

"There is expertise in every industry. We can hand it over to professionals who specialize in this line of work," said Ye Suijin. "There's no disadvantage to cooperating with others, and it saves a great deal of worry. Our family should focus on military affairs."

Ye Suijin had Jiang Yinxuan pull some strings on this.

She told Jiang Yinxuan, "Let your eastern family pick first among the businesses in Biyang City. The remainder I want no less than five other firms to take over. For your family's portion, I can take a lower percentage than from the others."

This is not allowing one family to dominate and monopolize the market.

This woman can ride horses, fight wars, open granaries, and distribute grain. She also understands how to balance the market. Not only that, she reciprocates favors and does not just peel the skin and suck blood from merchants.

Jiang Yingao bent his waist even lower: "My lord, please rest assured."

"There is no hurry for this. There are too many things to do, we'll take them one by one." Ye Suigold said.

Right now, Jiang Yingao is bringing people to organize the various books of Bayang City.

This is really a huge project. The prefectural office has specially allocated a row of rooms for the accounting room, and the abacus of the accountants is smoking fast. Fourth Uncle Ye does not even like to walk past that side.

"The clattering sound makes my head hurt," he said.

Now, there is neither manpower nor energy to recount the entire population of Bayang City and resurvey the fields. We will have to make do with the data from when the Prince of Wei was the prefect for now.

During the transition between Liang and Jin dynasties, Ye Suigold had to secure enough land as a foundation to operate first.

Otherwise, it would become more and more difficult later on.

While Jiang Yingao was organizing the account books of Bayang City and the confiscated assets of the various families with the accounting room, he was also sending people south to deliver letters to his employer. At the same time, he was also preparing the shops under the names of the various families to open for business and resume Bayang's normal commercial circulation.

How could a big city not have commerce? With all the shops closed, even with abundant grain and oil, the lives of the common people would still be very inconvenient.

The Ye family troops in green shirts and black pants followed him, street by street, to announce Ye Suigold's orders.

For shopkeepers who used to operate their businesses in a certain way, they should continue to operate that way for now.

If the shopkeeper was also someone from a certain family who had their assets seized this time, then Jiang Yingao would take over to manage it temporarily first, and pick a temporary shopkeeper from the shop assistants.

"Watch the account books closely," the female prefect instructed. "When my people come to take over, if anyone tells me the books have been burned, lost, or ruined by water, I'll send them to reunite with their former masters. I'll confiscate all their assets to make up for my incalculable losses."

The green-shirted troops loudly transmitted these words to each commercial street.

The shopkeepers, sniffing up their snot in the cold wind, listened to the warning and repeatedly said, "We servants would never dare. Military sir, please reassure my lord."

The livelihoods of Bayang City have been initially restored to normal.

As for the huge asset transfers behind this "normal", ordinary commoners did not care.

The Ye family males were not idle either.

Even Tenth Son doesn't complain anymore. Now even he understands that managing a place after "conquering" it is much more troublesome than the "conquering" itself.

Of course he wasn't bored of these matters, he was just so worn out by them that he got used to it.

He was ordered around by his sixth sister till his backside got kicked.

The fields of the various families have all changed their surname to Ye.

The hidden granaries everywhere were seized by Third Son and the others.

First they had to fill Bayang's ever-normal granary. Then, they had to replenish Deng Prefecture's ever-normal granary to return the grain they borrowed this time.

Just returning it was not enough. Winter was here, and it was difficult for the refugees. They had to transport relief grain to Deng Prefecture.

Fangcheng had the greatest amount.

Although they had successfully rushed to plant soybeans this year, much of Fangcheng's fields had been abandoned for a long time, and the soil fertility could not be restored all at once. The growth of the soybeans was not good, and large populations were concentrated there, so at least for this winter they still could not be self-sufficient.

But the planting of this crop of soybeans itself helped to restore fertility to the fields.

After this crop of soybeans was harvested, planting corn next year would yield better results than this year.

Fourth Uncle Ye stayed in Bayang City, while Third Son Ye and Fourth Son Ye escorted the grain convoy back home to...ahem, back to Ye Family Fort to train soldiers and deliver grain, amidst the mocking sounds of their younger brothers.

Before leaving, Third Son Ye instructed his father: "When in doubt, listen to Sixth Sister."

Fourth Uncle Ye glared at him, annoyed: "Since when do sons get to teach their fathers?"

Third Son just smiled and rode off.

The convoy of grain wagons lumbered towards Deng Prefecture.