Chapter 609 [Second Update]

Everyone thought that the 100,000 troops the emperor sent to the King of the North was the limit, but they didn't expect that there would be something even more extreme - along with the 100,000 troops came cartloads of money that would make people jealous!

It is said that these are military expenses given by the Emperor, Empress, and the Northern King’s elder brothers and sisters!

Liu Tan looked at the Yan Palace with great melancholy. He had previously complained that the Yan Palace was built too luxuriously and wondered if all the money of Yan State was used to build the palace.

But then he turned around and found that the money his family sent...even the treasury of the Yan Palace could not hold it all!

There was no other way, so Liu Tan had his men clear out two side halls to store the money. When the county governors found out, they were all jealous.

Not to mention them, even Dou Sibo has been a little bit overwhelmed recently - how can he spend so much money?

However, Liu Tan knew that the money was only with him temporarily. In the future, he would need money for military equipment and food, especially food. It would be impossible to buy enough food within the State of Yan, so he could only buy it from the surrounding areas.

Liu Tan sent people to other counties to purchase grain, and asked Huo Guang to quickly organize people to send some soy products over.

In fact, Huo Guang had already prepared everything without waiting for Liu Tan's order, except that the black gunpowder that his prince wanted had not been prepared yet.

I don't know what's wrong with Gongshu Can, but he seems to be pursuing more and more perfection the more he stays with Liu Tan. The black gunpowder has been made as stable as possible. As long as you are careful, it will basically not explode due to excessive temperature.

In the end, Gongshu Can was still not satisfied. He felt that it would take so much manpower and resources to care for and maintain it, which was too costly. He needed to save some money for their prince.

Huo Guang sent people to ask two or three times, and each time Gongshu Can replied, "Wait a little longer."

When Huo Guang received the news that the 100,000-strong army was about to arrive at the Northern Border Kingdom one after another, he could no longer hold back and went directly to find Gongshu Can in person, ordering him to immediately get the most stable batch of black gunpowder so that it could be sent to their prince.

After the army arrived in Yan State, the war could no longer be delayed. Every day of delay would cost money. It was better to finish the war as soon as possible. Who could afford to waste so much money?

Gongshu Can finally had to select a group with regret, and then applied to go with the caravan in person.

Huo Guang was immediately overwhelmed: "Why are you causing trouble?"

Gongshu Can said confidently, "I need to listen to your highness's teachings. Without your guidance, we are at a loss!"

This was probably the first time they had done something so important completely without Liu Tan's command.

In the past, Liu Tan had directly given them drawings or formulas and asked them to do it, but at that time they usually made a model first and asked Liu Tan for advice. This time, Liu Tan went directly to Yan State, and they could only bury their heads in research on their own, and they had no idea about the direction of the research.

Huo Guang gave him a cold look and said, "Stay still. It doesn't matter if you go slowly. Don't cause trouble for His Highness now. The chaos in Yan State is worse than we imagined. His Highness is even going to send troops to retake Liaodong County. If you go to him now, do you believe he will beat you?"

After hearing this, Gongshu Can immediately stopped his efforts and could only watch helplessly as the transport team sent by Huo Guang went away.

When the things delivered by Huo Guang arrived, Liu Tan was writing a letter to him. He felt helpless when he heard the news halfway through. He originally wanted to ask Huo Guang to bring something else, but forget it, he could only let them go through it again.

What he didn't expect was that Huo Guang was extremely thoughtful and directly sent him everything he needed, the most important of which were cement and bricks.

The ones who escorted the things over were Wei Deng and Li Ling. They were very excited when they saw Liu Tan. The first reason was that they missed their prince a little bit, and the second reason was that they finally caught up with a big battle, a battle between 100,000 troops.

After Wei Deng saluted Liu Tan, he said, "Your Highness, the Prime Minister said that they have sent some extra things for you. If you need anything else, please send it back."

Liu Tan deeply felt that his behavior of bringing projects wherever he went had been deeply rooted in people's hearts. Otherwise, how would Huo Guang know that he just wanted cement and bricks?

Li Ling added, "The people who sent this time are all Xiongnu. The Prime Minister said you should be able to use them."

Liu Tan was very happy and said, "It is indeed useful."

In recent years, the Xiongnu people have not only done a good job in herding sheep, cattle and horses, but are also good at engineering.

After all, they were not used to farming, so they did not buy arable land. They simply took on projects everywhere. Liu Tan would always look for them whenever he wanted to do a project.

He calculated the time when the army would arrive and said simply, "Let's go to Liaoxi County first."

Liaoxi County is adjacent to Liaodong County, so the army should be stationed in Liaoxi County after arriving.

However, the further east and north you go in Yan State, the colder and harsher it becomes. The environment in Liaoxi County is really not very good. Because it is close to the sea, many lands cannot be used to grow crops, and the harvest is not good. So basically, in Yan State, Liaodong County is the only place that is better.

To be honest, Liu Tan couldn't believe it after learning the news. People in later generations basically knew that the black soil in the Northeast was very fertile, so there was a period of time when the Great Northern Wilderness was developed. At that time, it was mainly because the Northeast was bitterly cold, so a large number of people went to the interior, and people could not stay there, which led to the economic downturn for a time.

Nowadays, people are reluctant to leave their hometown. Even if the climate in Yan State is bad, the people here will rarely go to other places. How is it possible that the grain production is so low?

He was also puzzled by the fact that this place near the sea was so poor. It was cold in the winter, but there were still a few months of good weather in the year.

Liu Tan had thought that if the Northern Country had an ocean, it could develop even faster.

After enduring threats from the King of the North and severe beatings in Chang'an, all the county governors became much more dispirited.

Now they finally understood that this person was different from the previous King of Yan. The previous King of Yan could never catch up with this person no matter how hard he tried.

Since they were obedient, Liu Tan felt less worried and planned to send them back first.

Before letting them go, Liu Tan said coldly, "The Emperor has already ordered that we must do our utmost to retake Liaodong County, so I will give you a break. Go back and read these documents carefully. You must know what to do and what the procedures are. Don't wait for me to remind you again. Also, go back and thoroughly understand the situation of the people and land under your jurisdiction. I will see what you are saying. As the head of a county, you don't understand it as clearly as I do. I feel ashamed for you. I will give you one year. If the situation remains the same in next year's exam... Don't worry, I don't want your lives. Just go back to where you came from. I don't want useless people under my command."

The county governors' faces turned red and blue after hearing what Liu Tan said, but they could not refute it.

They just felt that the King of the Northern Territory was really not a human being. They found out that the King of the Northern Territory only got the overall news of Yan State after entering the territory of Yan State. As a result, in such a short period of time, he actually memorized those records, as if he knew them like the back of his hand.

Those of them who had served as county governors for many years were completely defeated by this man.

What else can I say? I can only admit that I am incompetent.

Fortunately, they still have a year, and within this year... maybe there will be some changes.

Those who are more honest will think about going back and doing their job as county magistrate well, and not slacking off anymore, otherwise they might really lose their official hats.

Those who are used to doing nothing and listening to music every day naturally don’t want to work. They think that no one knows what will happen in the next battle with Wuhuan. What if the King of the North is defeated?

If they lose the war, His Majesty will be angry no matter how much he dotes on him, and they will naturally have room to maneuver.

Well, I'll take advantage of this year to build up connections in Beijing, and then ask for help when the time comes.

They just don’t believe that the King of the North has no political enemies in Chang’an!

Liu Tan was more or less aware of what these people were thinking, but he really didn't have the time to care about them. He let them go for the time being. After he took back Liaodong County and even defeated the Wuhuan, he would naturally have time to deal with these people.

He drove back all the county governors, leaving only the governor of Liaoxi County.

The governor of Liaoxi County has always been relatively silent. When he is with Liu Tan, he usually doesn't say anything unless asked.

After arriving at Liaoxi County, Liu Tan discovered that there was no sign of human habitation for miles. He couldn't help but wonder, "Where are all the people in Liaoxi County?"

The Liaoxi County Magistrate had a rare look of guilt on his face: "Most of them are around the county town, and some are on the coast."

Since farming cannot provide enough food and clothing, the only option is to go out to sea and fish.

Perhaps because the circulation of aquatic products in the Han Dynasty was not particularly abundant, the imperial court did not stipulate fishery taxes.

Of course, each place would levy its own fishery tax according to its own circumstances. The governor of Liaoxi County was relatively kind. Although Liaoxi County was very poor and he felt ashamed when he went to the royal city to report on his work every year, he never collected taxes.

Therefore, many people choose to be fishermen. Although being a fisherman is harder, by paying less taxes, the whole family may be able to survive.

Liu Tan said nothing after hearing this. He already knew that Liaoxi County guarded the sea but still lacked salt to eat.

It's basically the same as the beginning of the Northern Kingdom, with few trees here.

Because planting trees also requires tax. Well, there is no tax on fishing, but there is a tax on trees. Liu Tan guessed that the first thing he would do when he arrived here would be to change the tax policy.

The Liaoxi County capital wasn't particularly impressive, and the prefectural governor's mansion was even more dilapidated. The Liaoxi County governor felt somewhat uneasy, yet said calmly, "Your Highness, I have already asked the wealthy families in the city to vacate their space. Please move in."

Well, the county magistrate's mansion is not as good as the rich family's house. Liu Tan is no longer surprised by this kind of thing.

He waved his hand and said, "No need. This place is great. When I first arrived in Shuofang County, it was even more dilapidated than this. Later, it was plundered by the Xiongnu, and the conditions were much worse than here."

After hearing this, the Liaoxi County Magistrate couldn't help but feel more favorable towards Liu Tan. He deeply felt that it made sense for this prince to stand out among so many princes and princes. At least he was down-to-earth enough.

Being down-to-earth means that he understands people's livelihood, so it is not surprising that he can govern a country well.

As for Liu Tan... Actually, if possible, he would certainly like to live in a place with better conditions, but the problem is that the rich people in these small places always have some weird ideas.

Liu Tan was worried that he would just move in and there would be two more women in the room, and he would not be able to explain himself.

These things may not be considered a crisis for him. Who in Chang'an City doesn't know that he is deeply in love with the King of Wusun?

But it is also very troublesome, because then we have to distract ourselves from dealing with the rich and those who spread rumors.

After Liu talked about Liaoxi County, the people were a little panicked. Even officials with the rank of county governor or above had never come to their small place. They had never seen an angel, so when had they ever seen the carriage of a prince?

For a moment, everyone was wondering what this prince would do after coming here?

But after waiting for several days, there was no movement. Everyone continued to live their lives as usual. Things like princes harming the people or even raping women did not happen - these rumors were left over from the time when the former King of Yan, Liu Dan, was in power.

Liu Dan did a lot of bullying to men and women, so his legend spread throughout the State of Yan.

After Liu talked about Liaoxi County, the first thing he did was to select a place and then make plans.

Well, he didn't come in person to choose the place, but let the governor of Liaoxi County choose it.

He was worried that he would find another mine. Although it was not a bad thing, he was busy with many affairs and had no mood to engage in mining. Once Liaodong County was taken back and the Wuhuan were defeated, he could focus on developing the economy of Yan State.

The Liaoxi County Magistrate, unaware of the reason, felt a certain trepidation, deeply convinced that His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory valued him highly. Even though he wasn't very good at speaking, he became so excited that he stuttered, "Thank you so much, Your Highness, for your appreciation."

Liu Tan: ...

Forget it, as long as you are happy.

Although Liu Tan had let the Liaoxi County Governor make the selection, he still gave some guidance: "The main purpose of this newly built city is to provide a base for the army. Now that the weather in Yan State has begun to cool down, even if they do, they won't launch a large-scale war. At most, they will test each other's strength. You can't let the army live in tents outside in the middle of winter. But after the war is over, the army will return to where they came from. This city will serve as the new county seat of Liaoxi County."

The Liaoxi County Magistrate became even more excited after hearing this. When Liu Tan was designing the city, he directly took out the drawings of Shuofang City and started to modify them.

A county town certainly cannot be compared with a capital city, and because it needs to house a large army, many places need to be modified.

Among them is the setting of Lifang. Liu Tan thought about it and decided that the house could be built according to the shape of Lifang, but the wall of Lifang should not be built first, otherwise it would be very troublesome to communicate with each other.

The rest of the planning is basically the same, as long as the business aspects can meet the basic requirements of these soldiers.

Anyway, everything should be kept simple, and it's a good opportunity to build a new county magistrate's mansion so that he can move there when the time comes.

When the conditions were not met, we just endured it. Now that the conditions are there, why not change it?

The Liaoxi County Magistrate estimated the area of ​​the entire city and suddenly felt a little unbelievable - the size of this city was twice the size of the current county seat, which he had never dared to imagine before.

Moreover, he felt excited just by looking at the blueprint of the new city. He directly asked Liu Tan to make a copy. He treated it as a treasure and hugged it even when he slept at night.

Liu Tan was so amused after learning this that he interrupted the Liaoxi County Governor's excitement and said, "Don't think too much. Let's recruit people to build the city first."

Upon hearing this, the Liaoxi County Magistrate instantly returned to earth from heaven, and said with an embarrassed look on his face, "This... but... I have already served this year's corvee labor."

The governor of Liaoxi County was also a man of principle. Although he was poor, he never treated the people harshly, nor did he arbitrarily levy military orders or impose forced labor.

Liu Tan gave him a strange look after hearing this. "Did you not know anything about the Northern Kingdom before? Labor outside of the prescribed corvée isn't called conscription; it's called conscription and employment."

The Liaoxi County Magistrate thought to himself: "Isn't it just a nicer name? What's the difference?"

However, the King of the Northern Territory seemed to know what he was thinking and said directly: "We hire people for money."

The Liaoxi County Magistrate's ears pricked up immediately. He was very sensitive to the word "money" and couldn't help but whisper, "Then this money..."

"Go to the treasury."

The Liaoxi County Governor's face suddenly turned pale: "Your Highness, the treasury... the treasury is out of money."

Liu Tan patted his shoulder and said, "Now that I'm here, how can I be short of money?"

Short of money? Go to the beach and get some salt. How can you be short of money while guarding the sea?