Huizhou Prefecture

This city, which had been peaceful for a hundred years, was in a panic at this time. The crowded streets on weekdays became empty, with only some bandits passing by from time to time. Most of the people hid at home, staring at the roaring groups of bandits through the gaps in horror. They could even hear screams and begging from time to time from time to time.

Li Zicheng walked slowly on the streets surrounded by leaders with dozens of personal soldiers, patrolling the rich city with a look of pride. He could no longer remember how many cities he captured, but he clearly remembered that this was the richest one he had taken.

The mood of taking down the city was so joyful that the depression caused by the death of his nephew Li Guo during this period also improved a lot.

He smiled and asked Li Laiheng behind him, "Laiheng, how many good things have we collected in the past two days?"

Speaking of this, Li Laiheng showed an excited smile on his face: "King of Chuang, we are really here to come to Jiangnan. In the past two days, we have found more than 500,000 taels of gold alone, and the silver is as high as 15,680,000 taels. Not to mention jewelry, calligraphy and painting, we have made a fortune."

"What about food? How much did we get?" Li Zicheng asked immediately. The food problem is the top priority these days. For them, no matter how much gold, silver and jewelry there are, they cannot be eaten as food.

"This is more." When talking about this, Li Laiheng's eyebrows were almost flying. "You don't know, King Chuang. Yesterday, I found 150,000 stones of grain, enough for our rebels to eat for half a year. This was just searching for the grain stores. If we searched for the grains of those rich and unkind households and those people, our rebels would have the grain for one year."

"There are so many?"

Li Zicheng widened his eyes in surprise.

Li Laiheng was in a good mood and smiled and said, "What's this? I heard that Suzhou Prefecture and Hangzhou Prefecture are richer than here. As long as we can take it down, it will be enough for us to eat for the rest of our lives."

Li Zicheng took a deep breath and suppressed the excitement in his heart and sighed: "We used to be in Shaanxi and Shanxi, but we didn't expect that Jiangnan was so rich. I was really shocked when I saw it."

"Hahaha... It's not too late to come now. The Raozhou Prefecture alone is so rich. Now the brothers Liu Zongmin are still in Ningguo Prefecture. I don't know how many good things he can get. I guess he won't be less than us, right?"

While the two of them were talking, a group of people hurried over in front of them, and Li Yan was the leader.

I saw Li Yan walking in front of them and saluted, "I have met the King of Chuang."

Li Zicheng smiled and raised his hand: "Your brother doesn't have to be too polite. Brother Li, where are you going?"

Li Yan said: "The students came here this time to discuss some things with the King of Chuang."

Looking at Li Yan's serious face, Li Zicheng had a bad premonition in his heart. He couldn't help but look at Li Laiheng, and actually saw the emotions in his heart from the other person's eyes.

However, at this time, Li Zicheng was not the one who entered Beijing City in another time and space who was ready to be called lonely. He could still hear other people's opinions. He smiled and said, "You are my military, so just say something."

Li Yan said seriously: "King of Chuang, I wonder if you remember the strategy we set when we came out of Anqing Mansion."

"Of course I remember."

"Since we remember, should we prepare and start recruiting troops."

"Recruiting troops?"

Li Zicheng was a little confused. The word "recruitment" was too unfamiliar to him.

Li Laiheng, who was standing beside him, was also confused. After a while, he asked stammeringly: "Military advisor, if I heard correctly, is recruiting soldiers like the imperial court and asking them to fight for us? What kind of salary do we have to pay them every month?"

"Of course I have to pay a salary."

Li Yan looked at Li Laiheng with a strange look.

"Isn't it natural to be a soldier to eat food and pay? Just like you help others work, you have to calculate the reward, right?"

"But... but what are we? We are wandering... No, we are rebels, why do we pay people a salary?"

Li Laiheng was anxious. I was a bandit, and I always robbed wherever I went. Moreover, there were rules for the bandits to pay as much as they could keep every time they robbed the things they robbed and how much they could keep. The more you rob, the more you would be, the more you would be.

But now, Li Yan actually said he wanted to recruit soldiers and pay the soldiers. Isn’t this cutting off the brother’s financial path?

Li Zicheng was also unhappy. Now he is the leader of tens of thousands of bandits. If he wants to pay everyone, he will get so much money... Hey... it's not right. He has the money now, but he is not willing to give it to those mud legs so idle.

After a long time, Li Zichengcai frowned and said, "Military advisor, have you ever thought about it? After all, our rebel army is a first-timer, and there are still many places that need to use silver. Although we have made some money these days, once we spend all the money, what can we use to support the soldiers if we lose the money in the future?

Will those soldiers who are used to leading military pay start to make trouble? Just like the imperial court, they will cause mutiny because they did not pay their wages. At that time, a bad situation seems to be very good will be decayed."

"Yes, military advisor." Li Laiheng also said, "Our rebel army recruitment is different from those of Wen Zou Zou's courts. There is nothing we don't want to recruit soldiers, and we don't have to give money at all. Why do you do this for nothing?"

"I'm doing this more than that?"

Li Yan almost got angry. The reason why no one is willing to recruit soldiers is because everyone who doesn’t want to be killed by you, right?

However, the energy is still there, but Li Yan has to admit that Li Zicheng's words make some sense.

Although they have robbed a sum of silver now, it is still unknown how long the silver can last. Moreover, once paying wages to soldiers becomes a habit, they have to ensure that they have to pay wages to soldiers every month, otherwise the consequences... Look at the mutiny that the court has caused over the years and knows the consequences.

Thinking of this, Li Yan fell into deep thought. After a long time, he raised his head and said seriously: "King King of Chuang, brother Laiheng, I know what you are worried about. Once a routine is formed to pay the soldiers, it is indeed a great burden for our rebel army, but this is also a hurdle we must overcome. Only in this way can we turn from bandits into a force that can compete with the court.

But, I also know that the income of our rebel army is still very unstable, and it is a bit abrupt to pay all brothers at once. Let’s draw up a charter first, and then implement it after taking Suzhou and Hangzhou. What do you think of the King of Chuang?"
Chapter completed!