"Do you think I, Lü Tu, am a biased person? Can't I even see your efforts and contributions?"
"Brother, is that really true? I thought you'd forgotten about your brothers."
Liu Yang and the others stepped forward and punched Nie Yun in the chest, laughing and scolding, "Nie Yun, you little brat, it's not like you just met Big Brother today, yet you still doubt him on this matter. You're really something."
Nie Yun scratched his head: "It's my fault, it's my fault. I was being petty and judging you by my own standards. Brother, please tell me what important task you have for us, and we will definitely do it well!"
Lu Tu waved his hand: "Wait a moment, Six Garrison Commanders, listen to my orders!"
Liu Yang and the others stepped forward, their expressions solemn, and said, "Your subordinate is here!"
"Your mission to govern the six towns has only one purpose: to keep the Wuhuan tribes of the north out and ensure that the people under your rule can survive!"
"Yes, sir!"
Lu Tu nodded: "You have all been following me all along. If there is anything you don't understand, you can write to Mr. Xiao for help. But there is one important thing I want you all to do!"
"Please speak, brother!"
"That means planting sweet potatoes on all the fertile land that has been reclaimed this year!"
"clear!"
At this moment, Lü Tu turned to Nie Yun, Tuoba Yue, and the others: "The three of you, listen to my command!"
"Your subordinate is here!"
“Nie Yun is the general of the left army, Tuoba Yue is in charge of the right army, and Xiang Ze is my personal guard.”
Upon hearing this, the three men were overjoyed: "Yes, sir!"
At this moment, those who had been enfeoffed to the Six Garrisons looked at Nie Yun and the others with envy. In their eyes, being able to follow Lü Tu was definitely more likely to bring them more opportunities to make meritorious contributions than being a captain in the Six Garrisons.
Nie Yun and the others understood this principle, and in an instant, they swept away the gloom from before!
Lu Tu got up, poured himself a glass of wine, and raised it. The others followed suit.
“Brothers, we’re all brothers from Wuchuan, sharing the same fate. There was a time when I lay on the Gobi Desert and wondered, were we born with worthless lives? Can those bastards in the imperial court decide our life or death with just a word?”
Everyone's eyes lit up. All of them had experienced hardship, and the experiences that Lu Tu had described were unforgettable for them. How could they forget them?
"But! We brothers did it! Are kings and nobles born with their titles? Today we have conquered Wuchuan, and the entire northern border belongs to us brothers. What we need to do next is to lay low, recuperate, and let the people who are of the same origin as us also live a good life, understand?"
"Yes, sir!"
After saying this, Lü Tu drank the wine in his cup in one gulp, and then smashed the cup heavily on the ground. Seeing this, the others followed suit, and the sound of shattering echoed throughout the hall, symbolizing their unwavering commitment to their original aspirations.
Xiao Zhong nodded repeatedly. After learning that Lü Tu had become General Abe, he had imagined many possible outcomes, but none of them came to pass.
In fact, this is the best-case scenario, which Lü Tu achieved. That is, by staying true to his original aspiration, he was able to achieve his goal. Now, Lü Tu can be said to be one of the most powerful people in the entire Great Yu Dynasty. Even though he has never gone to the capital to meet the emperor, he has still accomplished all of this.
Many people in the court must be very puzzled, as it sounds like a fantasy, but Lü Tu achieved this through his military capabilities and political skills, and in just one year!
The year seemed to pass very quickly, but Lü Tu took every step in the right direction and wasted no time. Xiao Zhong suddenly remembered what his master had once said.
When a man truly rises to prominence, it often only takes one or two years to accomplish something that changes his life forever.
The man before him, Lü Tu, was the very true Son of Heaven that their Xuanpin Sect had been searching for all along. Even though Lü Tu had never shown any signs or thoughts about this in front of him, Xiao Zhong had a vague feeling that Lü Tu's ambitions were far more than that.
After all, Lu Tu had just announced an important decision: to plant sweet potatoes in all the fertile fields of the six border towns.
This means that by simply waiting another season, Lü Tu will be able to receive unimaginable military pay!
Xiao Zhongna was involved in the entire process of sweet potato production from the very beginning of planting and witnessed the remarkable achievement of a yield of 5,000 jin per mu!
You should know that even in the most fertile fields of Wuchuan, if millet is grown, a yield of three to five hundred catties during a good harvest is already considered a great harvest that everyone should celebrate.
But the fact that sweet potatoes could produce ten times the yield speaks volumes about what this means for a people who rely on the weather for their livelihood.
Lu Tu nodded: "In that case, let's brothers stick together so we won't be bullied. Report anything that happens to us immediately!"
"Yes, sir!" the crowd shouted in unison.
Lu Tu waved his hand, signaling everyone to go and rest, leaving only Xiao Zhong behind: "Mr. Xiao, I want you to be my strategist."
"I am not good at strategizing, my lord."
"It's alright. I'll handle leading troops into battle. What I need is your ability to manage internal affairs. You also know that my goals are not limited to Wuchuan, so I will need you to help take care of the rear in many future times."
"Yes, sir."
In the following days, Lü Tu spent his days training his troops, aiming to transform the 250,000 soldiers under his command into an unparalleled elite force!
Furthermore, taking advantage of Dragon City's superior geographical location, he attracted a continuous stream of people to purchase large quantities of minerals, and began frantically producing gunpowder and detonators.
This stay lasted for a whole year. During that year, Zhang Chengyan avoided Lü Tu as if he were hiding, and never appeared in the northern territory again.
Furthermore, a large influx of refugees arrived under Lü Tu's rule, and almost the entire Great Yu knew that in Dragon City in the northern border, there was a just and upright official named Lü Tu, who treated the people as well as his own family.
As long as they can hold out until they reach the North, the people will have land to cultivate, houses to live in, and food to eat.
So in that year, not only did the population of Longcheng increase by 200%, but the population of the six border towns, especially Wuchuan, also reached 500,000. The amount of fertile land reclaimed was more than a million mu. With the methods of Lu Tu to manage saline-alkali land and the curved plow, and with the efforts of all the people in the six northern towns, the cultivated land area increased rapidly in just one year!
Whether it was because Lu Tu wiped out the Saili tribe a year ago, or something else, the entire Wuhuan tribe remained quiet and well-behaved for a whole year.
Over the past year, Lü Tu's power has been rapidly increasing. Then one day, the emperor's edict arrived once again: "General Lü Tu of Anbei, I have heard that your northern border had a bumper harvest last year, while the capital and surrounding areas are plagued by a famine of displaced people. Starting this year, taxes in the entire northern border will be increased tenfold to alleviate the urgent crisis. This must not be done without fail!"
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