Chapter 79: Conquest

“Aunt He, I’m designating one hectare of land for you to establish a large textile factory. Use only the best textile machines. My requirement is a minimum of 100,000 rolls of fabric per day, with no upper limit!”

He Lin was both happy and surprised. “Young Master, 100,000 rolls of fabric won’t sell! Even 20,000 rolls a day are already hard to move. Besides, the raw materials are becoming quite tight.”

Li Xian glanced to the north, a smirk appearing on his lips. “We can sell that many! Even if it’s a million rolls, we can sell them! There are plenty of people to help us sell! The raw materials won’t be a problem either!”

The relocation of the textile factory would have significant implications; the textile factory was already the largest single industry in the group in terms of workforce and scale. Moreover, there were no secrets left to protect in the textile factory, and considering the large volume of shipments and future development, Li Xian naturally decided to move the textile factory near Anyang.

The relocation was expected to take over half a month, and it was fortunate that they had magical assistance.

On the seventh day, Li Yulong sent a letter, along with an old acquaintance—Fu Minghui.

“Young Master Li, impressive! Recently, His Majesty has been in a great mood.”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Li Xian thought, feeling disdainful. This way of greeting is so outdated!

Fu Minghui shoved the imperial edict into Li Xian’s hands. “You can read the edict yourself. By the way, His Majesty wants 100 kilometers of sea soul silk.”

At the mention of this, Li Xian became anxious. “General Fu, we can certainly provide 100 kilometers of sea soul silk, but what will His Majesty use to pay for it? Last time it was considered Qingqing’s dowry, but now I still owe the soldiers tens of thousands of taels of gold as rewards.”

Fu Minghui laughed heartily. “3.5 taels of gold per meter, cash payment of 100,000 taels, and the rest will be four hundred-year-old purple spirit mushrooms and three hundred-year-old ginseng.”

“I’ve already brought them; they’re at the entrance.”

“Ah, that’s great!” Li Xian finally breathed a sigh of relief. With these 100,000 taels of gold, he could finally alleviate his urgent financial troubles. As for the seven spiritual herbs, they were also quite valuable.

One hundred kilometers of sea soul silk was naturally not a problem; it weighed only about sixty or seventy jin, and Fu Minghui could easily carry it himself.

After Fu Minghui left, Li Xian looked at the seven seemingly ordinary yet highly spiritual medicinal herbs, his eyes shining and saliva flowing—what would it feel like to take a bite?

In the end, he couldn’t bear to waste it, especially since each one was worth tens of thousands of taels of gold. After thinking it over, he took out three stalks of ginseng to reward Xu Ren, Fang Shijing, and Beichen Yuqing.

“Young Master, these hundred-year-old herbs are suitable for improving the cultivation of the generals!” Xu Ren refused Li Xian’s generous offer. “We can share the spirit stones among ourselves, but externally, the spirit stones must be kept confidential. If the Young Master wants to truly win over these generals, a single hundred-year-old herb is more effective than tens of thousands of taels of gold.”

With Xu Ren’s words, Fang Shijing and Beichen Yuqing exchanged glances filled with regret and also firmly rejected the offer. After all, they already had spirit stones; it would be unreasonable to greedily accept this small favor as well.

Li Xian put away one stalk of purple spirit mushroom and laid out three spirit mushrooms and three ginseng stalks in a row, sending Song Xing to invite the three generals.

Generals Wang Jian, Chang Lin, and Cheng Jiming were currently boasting about their achievements in battle, each trying to one-up the other. They were enjoying the conversation until it turned to the rewards that Li Xian owed.

Just as they were getting into the conversation, Song Xing arrived. “Generals, the Young Master invites you.”

“Is it regarding the rewards and military salaries?” Cheng Jiming asked, somewhat impatiently.

“Uh… you’ll find out when you get there,” Song Xing replied. Although he was close to Li Xian and knew a lot, he couldn’t divulge anything.

The three generals felt a chill in their hearts—was he going to cut military salaries? That was what everyone feared the most! Although Li Xian had been doing well, people could change at any moment.

However, when the three generals entered the hall, their eyes widened in surprise, and they couldn’t tear their gaze away. The six jade boxes were all opened, and six stalks of hundred-year-old herbs looked incredibly tempting.

Li Xian seemed not to notice these herbs. “Please take a seat, Generals. I have prepared the gold, and the rewards will be distributed tomorrow. Please return and gather your subordinates to confirm the rewards.”

“Also, any soldiers who leave the ranks casually or violate discipline in the next few days, after receiving their rewards, their weapons and armor will be confiscated, and they will be expelled from the ranks forever. If anyone sells their weapons and armor privately, the losses must be recovered; serious cases will be dealt with according to the law.”

“Ah… uh… understood…”

The three generals had no mood to discuss military salaries anymore. If it had been earlier, hearing about Li Xian’s straightforward reward distribution would have made them overjoyed; but now, their hearts were all set on the spiritual herbs.

However, after Li Xian finished speaking, he got up and left without saying another word. The three generals were left dumbfounded: Young Master, you displayed the spiritual herbs; surely you have more to say!

Sitting beside them, Beichen Yuqing lightly tapped the table. “Generals, it seems you’ve regained your focus. There are some things the Young Master isn’t convenient to say, so I’ll take it upon myself. You’ve all seen the six stalks of spiritual herbs, right?”

“Yes,” the three replied in unison.

Beichen Yuqing smiled slightly. “Generals, do you believe that you qualify to receive the complete hundred-year spiritual herbs for this victory?”

The three fell silent. According to the rules of the Great Xia Empire, they would be rewarded with at most a few thousand taels of gold and promoted one or two ranks. To receive the spiritual herbs, however, was beyond their qualification. After all, the herbs were too scarce! In this era, cultivators were everywhere, but spiritual materials were almost extinct!

Beichen Yuqing continued teasing them, “However, these spiritual herbs are indeed prepared as a reward for you.”

Swish… the three pairs of eyes lit up.

“But, there’s a condition!” Beichen Yuqing said, like an old hunter slowly enticing his prey.

Yet, the three didn’t care about the conditions at all. All three had reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage; with the herbs, they were almost certain to break through to the Golden Core stage! So they all stared eagerly at Beichen Yuqing—please, what’s the condition?

Beichen Yuqing’s expression became serious. “Generals, without rules, nothing can be accomplished. The Young Master’s rewards and punishments are clear, and everyone knows how much is due. This time, you can receive the spiritual herbs, but the ginseng is valued at thirty thousand taels of gold, and the spiritual mushroom at twenty thousand taels of gold.

These gold amounts will be deducted from your future merits until fully repaid.

How does that sound?”

“No problem!” Cheng Jiming exclaimed with delight, thinking the conditions were much less harsh than expected.

Chang Lin, however, was more composed. “Sir, I won’t speak sweet words; as long as the Young Master doesn’t abandon me, I, Chang Lin, pledge my life to serve him.”

Chang Lin’s words awakened Wang Jian and Cheng Jiming, who immediately echoed him.

Beichen Yuqing was very satisfied. “Then let’s sign.”

The document they signed was a ledger. Each of the three received two stalks of ginseng and spiritual mushrooms, incurring a debt of fifty thousand taels of gold. Their current merits were valued at five thousand taels of gold and already deducted.

After the three signed, they hurriedly picked up the herbs and rushed home to enter closed-door training!

Once everything was settled, Li Xian finally opened the imperial edict; however, the edict was full of rhyming words, and he found it difficult to read, so he handed it over to Xu Ren.

Xu Ren took a look and smiled brightly. “Young Master, this is good news. The Emperor said you can handle it yourself, and the compensation you receive will serve as military funds for Anyang. The only requirement is that you must not tarnish the reputation of the Great Xia Empire.”

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