Chapter 226 - Chapter 226: Chapter 153: Top-notch Peak_2

Chapter 226: Chapter 153: Top-notch Peak_2

Translator: 549690339

According to the imperial court’s promise, after they rebelled, they reclaimed the county town from the hands of the rebel; hence, this area naturally belonged to them to decide what to do with it.

However, this calculation was too neat, effectively stealing food from Lu Yuan’s mouth.

“I, Lu, painstakingly defeated the rebels, and now you rats who originally consorted with the rebels or surrendered to them, are coming out to claim this territory. Do you really think this general is easy to bully?”

Hence, the graves of these blind fools have already started sprouting green shoots.

But after those rats were dealt with, nobody on Lu Yuan’s side had the strength and confidence to seize power from him.

Although formally, Lu Yuan belonged to the regular military system under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court and was not part of those local militias.

But cutting through all that, he was essentially an Army Leader.

The tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, wouldn’t listen to anyone except for Lu Yuan’s orders.

Luyang Prefecture was conquered by him, so naturally, according to the custom, it should be managed by him and outsiders should not interfere.

This is also why Lu Yuan requested the county office to let Sun Siwen serve as Prefect. The latter agreed quickly for this reason.

Because the county office had already acknowledged that Luyang Prefecture was his territory.

Hence, even though Sun Siwen was the Prefect, he still had to consult Lu Yuan on the personnel arrangements within the Prefecture.

After all, his position was essentially a reward from Lu Yuan, so how could he possibly take matters into his own hands and assign officials on his own?

“I don’t know any scholars, so I don’t have a clue about the civil posts in each county. Brother Sun, you taught many disciples in Changning, shouldn’t there be several suitable candidates?”

If there are, you can compile a list, and I will request approval from the county office at that time.

As for other military positions, there are plenty of officers who know how to lead troops in my army, so there is no big problem.”

For this matter, Lu Yuan chose to let Sun Siwen, the Prefect, handle it.

Anyway, he highly trusted his good friend and was not worried about him betraying.

Would the people he recommended be reliable?

Even if we don’t consider that Sun Siwen’s disciples in Changning County have established good relationships with Lu Yuan, they can also be considered half locals and juniors to him, giving them the benefit of some shared affinity.

In the chaos of war, military power is supreme.

As long as he controls the soldiers, some scholars, without any military might, will not be able to stir up any trouble.

They will probably be suppressed by his disciples, leading the soldiers, even before they tried to revolt.

Therefore, instead of selecting unreliable people to be officials, it would be better to let Sun Siwen, a professional, properly manage Luyang Prefecture.

After all, this is Lu Yuan’s territory. It might become the basis for his future, so it’s also good for him if this place can be managed better.

“Brother Lu wants me to recommend people?”

When Sun Siwen heard Lu Yuan’s words, he was slightly surprised. He had actually made preparations for his good friend to place his trusted martial artists in major county positions.

However, to his surprise, Lu Yuan only wanted martial official positions.

Whilst Sun Siwen felt relieved, he was also somewhat moved, and seriously said: “Brother Lu, rest assured. Since you have asked me to recommend officials, I will certainly live up to your trust.

I have many disciples in Changning, and I also know many talented individuals in Shaoyang Prefecture. All of them are of good character and well-versed in administration.

I will write to them shortly and invite them to come.

With these people, Luyang Prefecture will certainly prosper within two years.” Lu Yuan smiled at his words: “Then I will leave it to Brother Sun.”

With this, the arrangement of officials in Luyang Prefecture was decided.

After that, Sun Siwen spoke about his ideas for future governance, what policies he would implement, and what plans he would carry out. All of these needed the approval of Lu Yuan, the master of Luyang Prefecture.

After all, it was his resources that were going to be used, and without the approval of the master, nothing could be done.

However, since Lu Yuan had already let Sun Siwen handle all the government affairs, he, of course, would not veto Sun Siwen’s plans. He basically agreed to all the policies, even though they would require a lot of money.

According to Sun Siwen’s plan, to restore civil life and bring Luyang Prefecture out of the war’s trauma in the next three years, at least 800,000 silver taels of investment would be needed.

During this time, taxes would have to be exempted in this area, and revenue couldn’t be collected.

But in Lu Yuan’s campaign against the Seven Star Sect rebellion, he swept through the entire Luyang Prefecture, confiscated countless properties and land from the rebels.

Although he hadn’t made a detailed account yet, as far as today’s rough estimate was concerned, he had confiscated at least one million silver taels in cash. As for other various immovables like farmland, houses, and shops, the value was even higher.

All these were just the gains within the county town.

If he seizes Luyang City, given the wealth of this city, the gain would be above one million taels.

With such a substantial foundation, Lu Yuan wasn’t even concerned about the expenditure of 800,000 taels.

He was not just planning to restore production in Luyang Prefecture, but also planning to recruit more troops, intending to expand his army to over 30,000.

After all, his territory had expanded.

He had to guard both Shaoyang Prefecture and Luyang Prefecture, and also maintain a certain amount of mobile troops, ready to fight in other places.

His current 15,000 troops were indeed too few.

He needed at least 30,000 soldiers to meet the demands of the current situation.

After all, Lu Yuan’s enemy was the Five Poisons Sect that had over 100,000 soldiers. He hadn’t forgotten about this formidable enemy..