At the Governor's Mansion, Lin Ze put down a document, gently rubbed his temples with both hands, and asked slightly tiredly: "You just said, where did the young master go?"
Standing in the hall was none other than Wu Fan, the commander of the Jinyi Guards in Shu. He replied with a helpless look on his face: "Just now news came from below. Three days ago, when the young master was chasing down the remnants of the barbarians in the west, he discovered a
A sixth-grade monster, a flying tiger with two wings. Seeing that the young master was eager to hunt, he threw his 10,000 troops to the deputy general Yu Ziqi on the spot, and pursued him with about a hundred personal guards."
Lin Ze said with a speechless face: "Chasing a sixth-grade monster? Young Master is becoming more and more courageous. Can he beat a fifth-grade mid-level monster?"
Wu Fan remained silent. Sir, you really know how to joke. How could a fifth-grade mid-level player beat a sixth-grade person?
"By the way, how many sixth-grade guards did the young master bring?" Lin Ze asked next.
Wu Fan quickly replied: "Including the four strong men in black who were almost inseparable from the young master, the young master brought a total of six sixth-grade men at that time, and the remaining two sixth-grade men followed Yu Ziqi to continue to hunt down the remnants in the west.
Barbarians.”
"Then let the young master go and don't worry about him. When he has had enough fun, he will naturally want to come back," Lin Ze waved his hand and said, "Anyway, there are so many people protecting him, so there is no problem in safety."
"By the way, how is the recent recruitment situation?"
Wu Fan replied truthfully: "Reporting to your lord, since the Governor's Mansion started recruiting troops three years ago, almost all those who can be recruited have been recruited near the capital of Shu. According to the feedback from other places, about a thousand recruits have been sent this month."
Come to the capital of Shu."
"It's just that my subordinates don't quite understand. There are already 50,000 Tianlang troops under the young master's sect, and nearly 30,000 government troops. As early as a month ago, the barbarians in Shu were basically pacified. Why are you still not recruiting troops?"
stop?"
Lin Ze raised his head and took a deep look at Wu Fan, which made him tremble in his heart, and then slowly said: "There are some things that you shouldn't know now. It's best not to ask or pry. It won't do you any good.
.When it’s time for you to know, you will naturally know.”
Wu Fan felt an invisible pressure coming towards him and quickly replied: "My subordinate was rude, please forgive me."
Of course, Lin Ze would not blame his confidants for this trivial matter. He just waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, just go down first."
Wu Fan felt relieved and bowed to leave.
After Wu Fan left, Lin Ze showed a depressed expression. More than three years ago, he had a premonition that something big was about to happen, so he desperately expanded his strength and practiced martial arts to cope with the big change.
As a result, this bullshit premonition has lasted for more than three years. Except for Fusu going to the North again and Emperor Qin ordering the expansion of the Lishan Palace and Tombs again, nothing serious has happened.
However, in the past three years, the strength of Hu Hai's men has indeed increased a lot.
First of all, in the past three years, the Sirius army has been expanding during the conquest of the barbarians. From the initial 5,000 people, it has expanded to 50,000 people.
At the same time, the government army originally led by Yu Ziqi also expanded to 30,000 troops. Not counting the local guards in subordinate counties, Hu Hai had 80,000 troops under his command.
Moreover, under the training of Han Xin, apart from being inferior to the Forbidden Army in mid-level combat power, the Sirius Army's actual strength is probably not much better than that of the Forbidden Army.
Secondly, with the support of the Governor-General's Office, the Qi Sect has also grown from three workshops at the beginning to thirty workshops today.
When these workshops were operating at full capacity, they were more than enough to supply the armaments needed by the Heavenly Wolf Army and the Fu Army, and the excess was kept by Lin Ze.
As a result, the ore excavated from all the Bajia iron mines does not need to be exported, but can be sent directly to various workshops.
While achieving such great achievements, it was not without paying a price. The tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land obtained from the extermination of the three aristocratic families and the food grown were all used as military rations, which was still not enough.
Except for the part paid to the empire, most of the taxes in Shu were used as military expenses, which was far from enough. Adding in the income from Hu Hai's industry in Shu, it was not enough.
In order to save costs, Lin Ze even encouraged Hu Hai to propose to the Qin Emperor that all taxes in Shu should be handed over in the form of gold and copper. This was actually a reference to the practice of the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, the benefits of Emperor Qin's preference for his younger son became apparent, and he even specifically approved it.
Then Hu Hai "expanded" and instead of transporting gold and copper from Shu to Chang'an, he directly exchanged the profits from Chang'an's industry for gold and copper and sent them there.
Even though Emperor Qin didn't express his position clearly, Li Si still asked his subordinates to accept it.
This method indeed saved a lot of trouble. Other governors wanted to follow suit and submitted memorials, expressing their willingness to pay taxes in the form of gold and copper like Shu.
However, before the memorial was sent to Emperor Qin, the governor who submitted the memorial was impeached by the Yushitai people and was finally removed from office.
…
Lin Ze collected his thoughts and sent someone to call Chen Ping and asked, "Has there been any reply from Nanyun Province?"
Chen Ping shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Uncle Master, according to the intelligence we have collected, with the character of Governor Nanyun, it is impossible for him to agree to the Shu army entering Nanyun Province to conquer the barbarians."
Lin Ze couldn't deny it and said: "It's better to give it a try. After all, Nanyun Province also has barbarians making trouble, and Nanyun Province is not as good as Shu, with strong soldiers and horses, so the Governor of Nanyun just lets it go?"
That's right, a month ago, after Han Xin defeated the last army of the coalition of barbarian tribes in southern Shu, it was announced that the barbarians in the entire Shu were completely pacified.
Seeing that the 80,000-strong army was about to rest, Lin Ze couldn't help but turn his attention to the surrounding Nanyun Province, which had more barbarians than Shu.
Lin Ze, in the name of the Governor of Shu, wrote a letter and sent it to the Nanyun Governor's Mansion, expressing his willingness to dispatch the Shu army to assist Nanyun Province in wiping out the rebellious barbarians.
However, after this letter was sent, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, without any reply.
Chen Ping replied with a wry smile on his face: "I'm afraid that for the Governor of Nanyun, compared with accepting the army of Shu into Nanyun to pacify the barbarians, which makes him look particularly incompetent, the mere rebellion of the barbarians is nothing more than a trivial matter."
Lin Ze didn't know the thoughts of these officials, so he just said: "Send another letter, with a more sincere tone, and see if I can convince him. If it doesn't work, wait for the young master to come back and find an excuse to force it."
Chen Ping nodded in agreement.
At the end, Lin Ze asked quietly, "Is there any news from Chang'an?"
Chen Ping quickly looked around, then ran out to see that there was no one in the yard, then walked to Lin Ze and whispered: "Over in Chang'an, we have always maintained close contact with Eunuch Huang. After a series of secret inquiries,
, Eunuch Huang sent the message through the code."
"Your Majesty, you are indeed ill. Even the hospital is at a loss what to do. Uncle Master should have made plans early."
After hearing this, Lin Ze's pupils shrank sharply.