Chapter 391 Employing People

The old man's words made Lin Changning uneasy. She felt that the two old men seemed to have figured something out. Listening to their incessant chatter, Lin Changning felt a surge of annoyance, but she calmly cupped her hands in greeting to the two men.

"The elder is too kind."

Li Mingxiu looked Lin Changning up and down several times, then suddenly burst into laughter: "The elder is absolutely right. Changning is indeed quite talented in military affairs and is highly regarded by my second brother and father in the army. His swordsmanship is superb, and he is now my teacher, teaching me and my eighth brother swordsmanship in the palace."

The clan elder looked at Lin Changning with a kind smile, nodded slightly, and then said nothing more.

Li Mingxiu felt quite pleased to hear what the two said. First, they said his father was a wise ruler, and then they praised the people around him as having great power and influence. Wasn't that an indirect way of implying that their Chu Prince's Mansion would eventually rise to a high position?

With a hint of joy and excitement in his eyes, he glanced at the map on the table, then bowed to the two gentlemen along with Lin Changning and Li Mingde before preparing to take his leave.

The original intention was to release the Xie family, and now that they know it was all part of a scheme by the Xie family to test the Chu Prince's Mansion, there's no need to worry too much about this.

Tomorrow we still need to deal with various matters in the city and appease the people. There is also a prefect who would rather die than surrender, and Commander Yan is still being held in custody. If we can persuade him to surrender, we will; if not, we will have to use some ruthless methods.

"It is getting late, so Mingxiu will not disturb the two elders' rest any longer. There are still many matters to attend to in the city tomorrow, so we will take our leave now."

The two elders nodded slightly to Li Mingxiu, exchanged a glance, and then smiled at him, saying, "There are thirteen young members of the Xie clan, all outstanding graduates of the Xie clan school. If you don't mind their lack of talent, Your Highness, please give them your orders. Let the Xie clan do its best to repay the Prince's kindness in saving our patriarch..."

With a smile on his face, Li Mingxiu cupped his hands in greeting to the two elders: "Recently, various matters have piled up, and the elders' arrival with their people has truly relieved our urgent needs. We thank you both."

The Third Elder turned his head and glanced at Xie Yongchang beside him: "Yongchang, you've had enough rest these past few days. Take the young men of the family and go help the young master and the others tonight. They've all studied and practiced martial arts, so don't tarnish the reputation of the Xie family. Work hard, and if I find out any of them dare to slack off, they'll be punished according to family rules!"

Xie Yongchang straightened his expression and bowed to the clan elder: "Yes, Third Uncle."

After saying that, he looked at Li Mingxiu and Lin Changning and gestured to lead the way.

"Your Highness, Your Excellency, please..."

After Li Mingxiu led Lin Changning and Li Mingde out, Xie Yongchang led them to another side room. As they walked, Xie Yongchang said, "The young men of the family are all waiting in the side room. If the young master has anything to say, just give the order."

Li Mingxiu nodded to the person and entered the room, only to find it brightly lit, with a group of young people in their early twenties sitting upright at the table.

Upon seeing Li Mingxiu enter, the group of people stood up in unison and bowed to him.

"Greetings, Your Highness and Lord!"

Li Mingxiu stood at the door and waved to the group of people: "No need for formalities."

The man who led the bow glanced at Xie Yongchang, straightened up, and walked towards Li Mingxiu with an account book in his hand.

"May Your Highness be well. I am Xie Yongcheng, the eldest son in my clan. These past few days, having had some free time, my brothers and I have compiled statistics on Pingning City's tax revenue over the past few years, as well as the grain harvested last autumn. In addition, we have also compiled and registered the city's permanent residents and local gentry. I think Your Highness will find this useful..."

Li Mingxiu silently accepted the booklets Xie Yongcheng presented, glanced at them briefly, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

The Xie family was truly shrewd and astute. They had just captured the city and the Xie family had already taken stock of the population and food supplies, saving the Xie family a lot of trouble.

Thinking of this, Li Mingxiu smiled warmly at the group of Xie family members: "Then thank you all very much."

After saying that, he took several booklets from Xie Yongcheng's hand and turned to hand them to Lin Changning.

A knowing glint flashed in Xie Yongchang's eyes. Seeing Li Mingxiu's extremely satisfied expression, he said again, "I wonder what else needs to be done tomorrow, Your Highness? Please feel free to give your instructions."

The other members of the Xie family also stared intently at Lin Changning and his group. Li Mingxiu glanced at Lin Changning, realizing that the rest of the work should actually be done by Lin Changning. He also had a lot of work to do in terms of the specific tasks and responsibilities.

Lin Changning, receiving a glance from his young master, gently reminded the group of Xie family members who were standing bowing, "Young master, aren't we supposed to distribute grain to the people tomorrow? We should at least take a population count before distributing it."

The implication was that he would handle military affairs himself, but it would be more appropriate for the Xie family members to take on the tasks of pacifying the people, distributing grain, and conducting statistics and arithmetic tomorrow.

Li Mingxiu nodded slightly: "Then I'll trouble you all tonight to take stock of the population and the amount of grain, and see how much to distribute to each household and where to distribute the grain. We'll distribute the grain to the people first thing tomorrow morning."

At this point, a group of Xie family members bowed and said in unison, "Yes."

Lin Changning glanced at Li Mingxiu and coughed lightly, reminding him, "Tomorrow I will go with the two princes to distribute the grain."

Now that the good deed has been done, let's spread the word. The Xie family will be in charge of overall planning and calculation. Tomorrow, he will send troops to distribute grain to the people and maintain order along the way.

The Xie family has already taken stock of the grain and population, and there's not much left to do. The army will handle the capture of the remaining people and the clearing of the city, so Li Mingxiu probably doesn't have much to do either.

It would be best to take Li Mingde and the other man along to distribute grain and boost the reputation of the Chu Prince's Mansion.

Li Mingxiu looked at Lin Changning and said, "Understood. We'll go first thing tomorrow morning."

Lin Changning nodded to the men. Li Mingde, still dressed in white, watched as the two made their decision, then responded and asked, "There's a prefect locked up in jail, probably in a life-or-death situation right now. What should we do with him?"

When Li Mingxiu saw Li Mingde mention Yang Huan, who insisted on being loyal to the country, his forehead throbbed a little. This man was not bad; he was also very honest as an official and was well-loved by the local people.

If this person were to die, their reputation among the people would certainly not be very good.

Upon thinking of this, Li Mingxiu's brows furrowed involuntarily. Seeing Li Mingxiu's worried expression, Xie Yongchang hesitated for a moment and said, "Young Master, why not hand this person over to my Xie family?"