Kays Translations

Chapter 78: Taking Over Anyang

The capital city has been bustling these days, celebrating an unprecedented great victory. The numerous carts filled with ears are the best proof of this; moreover, information from the Cai nation further confirms its authenticity. It is said that in the two counties southeast of the Cai nation, the cries of mourning are heard everywhere, with families in grief.

The Li family is completely on fire: Li Yulong holds the title of Grand Minister of the First Rank; the eldest son, Li Liang, is a Second Rank local official; and the third son, Li Xian, shines brightly.

Only the Wang family is furious, feeling as if they have drawn water with a basket—totally empty-handed. In the past few days, Wang Chuan has killed several maidservants and servants, leaving everyone in the Wang family trembling with fear, hardly daring to breathe.

In the southern part of Wuyang City, at a fork in the road leading south, Kong Xiang quietly waited.

“Why hasn’t the master left yet?” the steward asked, puzzled.

“Waiting for someone!” Kong Xiang replied with an unhappy tone, and the steward dared not inquire further. Soon, the sound of creaking carts came from afar as a convoy of carts slowly approached.

Beichen Yuqing jumped down from the cart. “Lord Kong, there are exactly 500 corpses here. I take my leave now.”

After speaking, he immediately led his men away.

Kong Xiang opened the cart to take a look; the bodies had already been preserved with ice magic. He sighed and said, “Let’s go.”

The guards of the Kong family urged the carts forward again, swaying as they headed south, the atmosphere feeling extremely oppressive.

————

In An Yang, Li Xian’s face turned green. His elder brother had left too carefreely, waving his hand and not taking away a single bit of trouble; all the troubles were left for Li Xian.

Li Liang had taken away five thousand elite soldiers, along with Zou Hui, his wife, and nearly six thousand people, leaving the rest to Li Xian.

This included thirty thousand elite soldiers, unissued rewards, post-war pacification, broken city walls, and… all the troubles!

The only consolation was that when Li Liang wanted to take Zhang Hongtao and ten others, Zhang Hongtao and his men resolutely refused; helpless, Li Liang could only take away ten rifles and a few thousand bullets.

“Master, the statistics are in. The total of all bonuses, pacifications, and so on comes to twenty-seven thousand six hundred taels of gold!” Fang Shijing placed the detailed report in front of Li Xian.

“How could it be so much! If we add other expenses, it would take thirty thousand taels of gold!”

Fang Shijing calmly replied, “The military salaries and such for this month for the eldest son have not been issued.”

“I…” Li Xian gasped for breath, “When will His Majesty’s rewards arrive?”

“His Majesty’s rewards have already arrived,” Fang Shijing said helplessly.

“Arrived? Why haven’t I seen them?”

“An Yang County has been exempt from taxes for fifty years.”

“I￥*&……” Li Xian was so angry he trembled.

Xu Ren sighed softly, “Master, did you not know that the various regions of the Great Xia Empire have long been independently responsible? It’s said that some counties have been tax-exempt for over a hundred years, like the Nanyang County where the Kong family is located.

Now, among the twelve counties in the Great Xia Empire, only four can be directly controlled by His Majesty.”

Li Xian was stunned for a long time, finally sighing, “Sir, the Great Xia Empire won’t last for many years. Even if His Majesty values industry now, at most it can only last for three to five years.”

“Five years is no problem,” Xu Ren smiled confidently. “This war has given the Great Xia Empire at least three years of breathing room.”

“Hmm.” Li Xian looked at the tasks at hand and finally pointed out a crucial one, “Sir, we can start the discussions we had earlier about purchasing refugees and food. Now that Anyang is ours and its population is relatively small, we expect to resettle three hundred to five hundred thousand people.”

“It’s fine.” Xu Ren nodded.

Then, the task was entirely handed over to Fang Shijing. This time, it was Fang Shijing’s turn to make a bitter face: the post-war work had not yet been completed, and now another task was piling up; he looked at Li Xian and Xu Ren with a resentful gaze.

Xu Ren smiled proudly, “Old Fang, I’m the strategist, and you’re the scholar; this is your job. If you can’t manage it, can’t you find someone yourself? Didn’t I just find you guys? If someone can’t be persuaded, the young master can handle it personally.

Also, all the refugees need to be categorized based on their specialties. Furthermore, when purchasing refugees, we should try to keep families together.”

Fang Shijing wore a bitter face, “Young master, we currently only have fourteen thousand taels of gold. Let alone purchasing refugees and food; there isn’t even enough for the soldiers’ rewards.”

“How can it not be enough? Didn’t Wei Zhe send over two hundred thousand taels of gold before?” Li Xian was genuinely surprised. There was no shortage of gold in the sea; Wei Zhe had almost immediately replenished two hundred thousand taels of gold.

Fang Shijing pulled out a small notebook. “The cement factory expansion cost a total of twenty thousand taels of gold. The locomotive factory expansion cost a total of twenty thousand taels of gold. The research department and internal factory rewards amount to twenty thousand taels. The smelting of mysterious iron cost a total of forty thousand taels. The chemical and explosives factories and the weapons factory together cost thirty thousand taels. The rest went to expanding the smelting sub-factory to create tridents.

The remaining fourteen thousand taels of gold is still from past accumulations.

Young master, according to the generous reward rules you set, having fourteen thousand taels of gold is only enough to pay for the rewards and salaries within the factory next month.

Currently, whether it’s textiles or electricity, nearly all the factories are producing numerous new inventions every day. We are now in a phase of great explosion.”

“Oh…” Li Xian rubbed his temples, feeling an unusual headache.

This realm didn’t lack smart people or skilled craftsmen; every practitioner was a talent. Now, under Li Xian’s guidance, after the group had passed the initial stage, everything was showing explosive growth; naturally, the rewards were flowing out like water.

Everyone fell silent for a moment; how to manage the group and acquire funds depended on Li Xian’s attitude.

Slap! Li Xian slapped the table and looked at Xu Ren. “Sir, we need to demand war reparations from the Cai Kingdom!”

Xu Ren calculated in his mind for a moment and finally nodded. “Feasible. But we need to work on it; we must get permission from His Majesty, and we will negotiate ourselves. The reparations obtained must be kept in Anyang.”

“Leave it to my father!” Li Xian immediately picked up his pen to write a letter.

The following events were chaotic; Li Xian and the others were so busy they could hardly catch their breath. The wounded soldiers needed to be comforted, and the deceased soldiers needed to be buried. With insufficient funds, Li Xian had to prioritize the care of the injured and dead soldiers; as for the rewards for the other soldiers, they could only be postponed for now. Fortunately, Li Xian had gained some prestige, and the soldiers were still able to forgive him, though they inevitably felt some dissatisfaction.

To compensate for the soldiers’ discontent, Li Xian ordered that each of them be given a stainless steel saber, which slightly alleviated their grievances.

In addition, the broken border wall needed repairs, and the bloody ground had to be dealt with to prevent outbreaks of disease.

Afterward, Li Xian also attended the funerals; the funerals for seven or eight thousand people made his expression grave and his mood heavy. This funeral solidified Li Xian’s resolve to seek justice from the Cai Kingdom; of course, the Kong family could not be easily let off either.

After six busy days, he finally managed to sort everything out temporarily. Li Xian’s first order was to separate the textile sub-factory, moving it out of the Qingyun Valley to a location near Anyang.

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