Chapter 138
The extermination of the Eagle camp came up with extraordinary results. It wasn’t just about killing all the bandits that had gathered in the Eagle camp. In terms of monetary benefits Xiao Yu got more than 40 million gold coins. His heart almost stopped beating out of excitement.
The poor days were over.
In addition to money there were countless number of treasures acc.u.mulated by the Eagle bandits over 100 years. There were antiques, rare items, magic items and so on that were piled up like mountains. Fire and flames had burned some of them but most of those treasures were retained. Subaru and leaders before him had dug a lot of caves and cells to preserve those treasures. Xiao Yu had arranged carriages to pull all those coins and treasures back to Lion town. It took more than a month to transfer them all.
Housekeeper Hong’s hands were trembling in excitement as he checked the treasures and gold coins that were brought to Lion town. He knew that they wouldn’t have to worry about many things in the short-term. Xiao Yu’s sisters-in-law were standing at the gates of the Lion town with light in their eyes as they waited for those carriage.
“Robbing is the best industry and easiest way to get rich!”
Xiao Yu felt as if he had won a lottery.
Xiao Yu would go to the warehouses to see the piles of treasures. He would sleep inside once in a while. They could do a lot of things as the money flowed in. Mu Lee and others suggest to expand the territory by recruiting more and building a city. But Xiao Yu rejected the proposal. The situation was very unstable and it was to the point where chaos was dominant in some territories. He lacked talented people which he needed for expansion. Moreover, some territories will get greedy if he began to expand in such a manner.
The first aim was to recruit population. The second aim was to have enough strategic materials for the future. Xiao Yu decided not to establish a large-scale city but to develop small towns and villages which could support small militias. In times of war, he could quickly bring those forces in while his expenses to have those militia would be less because of local support.
So, in the next nearly six months time, Xiao Yu are with people around the destruction of the remnants of the robbers, the northwest completely cleared, some wandering around the people, are also willing to come along.
In short, it took Xiao Yu more than a year to clean the northwest from large bandit groups. Now, it was time to build his foundation before going bigly. Housekeeper Hong and Captain Hui were full of emotions too. They thought about the days when Xiao Zhan Tian was a famous general but unfortunately he had a sad end. Now, they were pleased to see Xiao Yu act so promising.
Lion territory had more than million population within six month. However, most of them didn’t have any talents that Xiao Yu could use in the management of the territory.
Xiao Yu founded a Military Academy in the Lion city. He encountered a lot of problems during the making of Military Academy but it was good to produce and train large number of low-level officers. Mainly, veterans from the battles were granted t.i.tles by Xiao Yu so that they could become subordinate officers after studying in the Military Academy.
There was a difference of status between the n.o.bles and civilians. So only aristocrats were meant to become commanders or high level military officers. However, to make up for it Xiao Yu came up with 5 different levels for the normal civilian population.
The fifth was the lowest level. They were equal to slaves without any status.
The fourth level were ordinary civilians. They didn’t have any rights and just were farmers like in other territories.
However, from level 3 to 1 he began to give some special incentives to the population. They could attend military academy and become subordinate commanders or work in territorial government agencies and so on.
To promote from one level to another the person had to contribute some kind of value to the Lion territory.
Captain Hui and Housekeeper Hong didn’t understand Xiao Yu’s intentions at the start so they didn’t block his proposal. However, Xiao Yu was gradually giving authority to civilians based on their level. They found that something was wrong but knew that it was impossible to change back the system as it had been implemented for a long time.
The privileges and authority given by Xiao Yu didn’t go against the status and interests of the n.o.bles. He was trying to solve of lack of officials within the territory. Anyone could improve their status as long as they had enough meritorious deeds. They could do it by military accomplishments, donate food to the territory, or materials, create inventions, teach apprentices and so on. In short, Xiao Yu was encouraging military, farming, inventions and production.
Xiao Yu’s policies improved the efficiency in the unprecedented manner. Before the farmers would have to give everything to their lord so they weren’t willing to work hard. But now, the food was theirs so they had to work hard not to die. Xiao Yu implemented other things too. The farmers with extra grain donated them to the Lion city so that they exchange it for meritorious service points. IF they had enough meritorious service points then their children could enter Military Academy or work in government agencies. Xiao Yu was able to acc.u.mulate a lot of food without paying a penny. Food was the most critical material for any war. All the emperors of the China had used this trick to rule the country. Firstly get grain then become the king!
Xiao Yu began to expand step by step as the territory got stable and population increased.
They had checkpoints throughout the junctions of roars with watchtowers. The merchants that went to or came back from the Western Cloud Empire had to pay taxes. Most merchants didn’t dare to against the Lion territory by paying taxes.
In addition, he establish a small town called Luca not far away from Lion city. It was on the trade route. He set up hotels, bars, and facilities that adventurers and merchants could use to resupply themselves. Some merchants found the taxes very offensive at the beginning. Caravans with powerful backings even dared to threaten them. However, Xiao Yu sent 100 grunts to confiscate everything from those caravans who refused to pay taxes. After several times, no one dared to make trouble.
They found out that Xiao Yu didn’t care where those caravans were going or who their backers were. Gradually, they came to understand that northwest was a remote location. It was impossible for any territory to come to attack Xiao Yu. In short, Xiao Yu was the overlord of the territory and he was the one who came up with the rules. The taxes brought great benefits to the territory.
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Carrie and his father Solomon had tried to kill him quite a few times so Xiao Yu was planning to get back at them. He couldn’t forgive them. In the past the number of troops he had was relatively small and not suitable for siege warfare. There were tens of thousands of people in Carrie’s territory. That was why Xiao Yu hadn’t launched war yet..
However, the situation had changed and Xiao Yu was more stronger than before. Now, it was time for the siege that he had planned for a long time.