Chapter 101
The scouts were aware of Xiao Yu’s arrival when they were about 20 miles away from the Lion town. They reported back to Housekeeper Hong and Captain Hui who came out to meet them at the gates of the Lion town.
All of them were looking out for Siwen instead of Xiao Yu. Because she was the key to this trip. Xiao Yu’s purpose was bringing her back. The other sisters-in-law went towards Siwen and Xiao Yu when they saw them get off the carriage. Housekeeper Hong and Captain Hui were happy when they saw her back too. It meant that Lion town was on the rise and no one dared to look down at Lion town that he was able to bring Siwen back.
Xiao Yu opened his arms as he waited for sisters-in-law to hug him but found out that they past by his side to embrace Siwen. He looked like a silly idiot with a stiff smile on his face as he stood still with open arms.
“You have made a great job by bringing her back.” Camilla pinched Xiao Yu’s cheek as a reward.
“You are a real man.” Second sister-in-law whispered to Xiao Yu.
“I’ll write off the former grievances as you were able to bring back Siwen.” Suesha said. When she meant former grievances she was referring to Xiao Yu’s shameless peeping acts.
“Xiao Yu, you really brought Siwen back! You deserve to be a descendant of Xiao family!” First sister-in-law Qiyen hugged Xiao Yu. His injured self-esteem was made up with this little move.
…
The population made a warm welcome too. Xiao Yu waved at the people as his carriage went into the town. He was observing the changes in the Lion town too.
There weren’t so many people in the Lion town when he had left. However, right now there was even a formation of 1000 guards who had welcomed him into the town. The Lion town had gone through a lot of changes.
…
Back at the mansion Xiao Yu sent Siwen with other sisters-in-law while he began to listen to reports made by Housekeeper Hong and Captain Hui about the development of the Lion town.
Both Housekeeper Hong and Captain Hui were cheerful as the huge changes in the Lion town were making them happy too.
The population of the Lion territory had reach more than 150,000 people. The number of soldiers was about 10,000 people. Captain Hui said that he didn’t dare to recruit more soldiers as they lacked a general who could manage such a big force. Otherwise, they could increase the number of soldiers up to 30,000 people. Because of implementation of Xiao Yu’s policies many men wanted to get glory and wealth for their family and joined the army. They weren’t worried about their families even if they died on battles.
The Lion territory was much better than other territories for both military service and farmers. The tax officers wouldn’t come to knock the doors of people on daily basis to collect taxes. Moreover, they didn’t have to worry about renting land too. The farmers had to pay only for labor and could sell their corps. In addition, a farmer could use the unused lands for free for several years without paying taxes. The new migrants were living better in Lion territory in comparison to their old villages.
At the start, Housekeeper Hong was very resistant and against implementation of such policies. But he was relieved to see Lion territory to improve and develop so fast. In his mind, the land would be recovered after few years so it wouldn’t hurt them not to collect tax for few years. It was like an investment move from his perspective.
Xiao Yu wasn’t planning to give the land ownership to the farmers until his territory got larger. For now, he was just making it tax free. Xiao Yu was planning to add another policy which would give rewards to the soldiers for their military exploits. The soldiers could get land rights to use for five even ten years without paying taxes if they managed to show feats in the battles. He was making the troops of Lion town similar to the Qin state of the Warring States period.
The soldiers of the Qin were bloodthirsty in wars after Shang Yang came up with the military service rewards policy.
Xiao Yu knew that he could be invincible if he rewarded farmers and military men. These peasants and soldiers would die for him if they wanted to keep their land and family. It was the impact of thinking from a better world.
In addition to these, Xiao Yu asked about the situation on Carrie’s father’s territory. He believed that Solomon still eyed his territory. Solomon’s state of troops was badly hurt after losing 20,000 troops at the last war. It would be very difficult to re-organize such a large-scale battle in the near future. Moreover, Solomon’s territory wasn’t as big as Kahn country. It wasn’t a princ.i.p.ality but just a territory.
Right now, Xiao Yu believed that most of their soldiers were temporary recruits or mercenaries. So Xiao Yu wasn’t worried about attack from Carrie’s father.
Moreover, he had sent Arthas to hara.s.s them!
Captain Hui reported that undeads have been troubling people in Solomon’s territory recently. Many people had fled and there was chaos. Xiao Yu was proud of Arthas!
Captain Hui said with a concern in his tone: “The territory of Solomon isn’t a big threat but the bandits are! They will be a huge threat to Lion town soon…”
Xiao Yu immediately asked about the information.
Xiao Yu had ordered Thrall to take troops and exterminate small bandit camps as he had left. Because of continues attacks from the orcs those small bandit camps had taken an initiative to come together to fight against Lion town. One of the bandit leaders was called Subaru who was a capable man and had taken the opportunity to integrate a lot of bandit groups under his own banner. He had gathered about 70,000 to 80,000 bandits together.
Xiao Yu had only 2,000 warriors and about 10,000 soldiers from the Lion town. The combat effectiveness of the Lion town was low as most of those soldiers were new recruits. As a result, bandit alliance of 70,000 was a huge threat to them.
Moreover, it was said that Carrie and his father Solomon had sent people to contact bandits and make an arrangement with them to deal with Lion town.
Xiao Yu didn’t expect that he would contribute to such a situation by an accident. However, it was much better. The bandits were gathered together and it would be much easier to deal with them instead of finding each group one by one throughout the northwest. OF course, it would be hard to deal with 70,000 or 80,000 bandits but with a wise plan he could outdo them.
“I will extinguish all the bandits within a year and unify the northwest within two years!” Xiao Yu had set a new target for himself.
He knew that the chaotic times were coming and he had to have a strong foothold in this world. As a result, he had to unify the northwest before going on to conquer other places.
The Lion town wasn’t considered even an opponent against forces such as Kahn country. They could bring troops of 100,000 which could demolish their territory in one swoop.
Moreover, such large princ.i.p.alities had lots of mages, magical items, advanced weapons and so on which opponents like Solomon didn’t have!