Chapter 128: Chapter 107: Two Hundred Thousand Taels
Translator: 549690339
“Are the bandits all eliminated?”
Sun Siwen looked at Zhou Qing, suppressing his excitement, and asked.
“Yes.”
Zhou Qing highly respected Sun Siwen as his Master’s friend and elder, nodded and said, “However, there are still some scattered remnants of the bandits. Inspector Ma and his team are currently searching for them in the city. The city gates have been sealed, and these people won’t be able to escape for long.” “Good, good, good!” Sun Siwen patted his hands and cheered repeatedly.
After a night of torment, it was finally at this moment that the weight on his heart lifted.
Lu Yuan looked at him with a smile, then turned to his disciple and said, “Now that the bandits from all the families have been eliminated, you will immediately lead a team to take inventory of the rebels’ properties. After you have a rough idea of the numbers, report them to me.
Moreover, send another team to maintain order on the streets. If anyone in the city dares to take advantage of the chaos, Show no mercy and kill them as rebels.”
“Yes.”
Zhou Qing immediately acknowledged the order and went on to carry out the tasks.
After he left, Lu Yuan looked at Sun Siwen, who had relaxed considerably, and said, “Brother Sun, although the rebels in the city have been eliminated, they are actually just small- time bandits and easy to dispose of.
Without them, the rest of the people in the city are law-abiding and will naturally submit.
However, last night we killed the chieftains of the three Miao surnames. Those Miao People live near mountains and rivers and are active between the mountain ridges, therefore, they were hardly loyal to the government.
Now that their chieftains are dead, we have broken with them completely, and there is no room for reconciliation.
If not handled properly, they would simply hold their ground in the mountains and raid the nearby regions, causing endless troubles for Wugang County.”
Handling the barbarian tribes living in the mountains has always been a headache for the imperial court.
They provide little in terms of taxes, are impoverished and uncivilized, and even occasionally rise to revolt.
Sending troops to subdue them would result in the troops unable to pursue the tribes as they retreat into the mountains, leaving the empire unable to do anything.
That’s why the Miao People have been constantly submitting and rebelling, rebelling and submitting. They have always been a persistent problem in Dongting District, and impossible to eradicate.
But under the circumstances of last night, Lu Yuan could not have spared the lives of the Miao chieftains.
Otherwise, the Miao People, who fear power but lack virtue, would think that the government is afraid of them and become even more arrogant and unruly.
Thus, it is better to simply kill all of them and be done with it.
However, while killing is enjoyable, dealing with the aftermath is not.
There are a total of ten thousand people among the three Miao surnames in Wugang County, forming a formidable force.
If not handled properly, the situation can easily escalate.”
“The Miao People problem has always been a chronic issue. The current turmoil throughout Dongting District is mainly caused by these Miao People’s rebellion. ”
At the mention of the Miao People, Sun Siwen also felt a headache. As a civil official skilled in educating, dealing with such military affairs was like solving a huge puzzle for him.
With no other options, he could only seek Lu Yuan’s help: “Brother Lu, do you have any plans to handle this situation?”
Lu Yuan had already planned for this and smiled, saying, “The Miao People’s resistance to the government relies on the advantages of the mountain ridges. By relying on the fact that the government is unfamiliar with the mountain environment, they are able to defy the imperial forces.
However, the soldiers I recruited are all mountain people hunters who navigate through the mountain ridges.
When it comes to familiarity with the mountains, they are no worse than the Miao People.
With these soldiers available, the Miao People’s advantage of the mountain ridges is greatly diminished.
Moreover, the city gates are now closed, and the Miao People should not yet know that their chieftains are dead.
I plan to wait until the remnants of the bandits are cleared from the city today. Tomorrow, I will send troops to attack them, wiping out their villages one by one before the Miao People can react.
Once we have breached the Miao villages, controlled their family members, and killed the leaders, they will not be able to rebel even if they want to.” Similar to the Hongmen Banquet, Lu Yuan’s solution was still to kill.
He always believed that problems in the world were endless and many could not be resolved.
Alternatively, some resolutions could not satisfy everyone.
However, all problems and troubles first arise from people before they occur.
Therefore, since the problems cannot be resolved, it is better to eliminate the troublemakers so that there are no problems left.”
As with the slaughter of the five major families and the Jianghu gangs the night before, the same goes for the current three Miao surnames.
Hearing about more killings, Sun Siwen felt somewhat uncomfortable, but he also knew that this was the best solution, so he said, “As previously agreed, I will handle civil affairs in the county, while Brother Lu will handle military affairs. I am unfamiliar with military matters, so I will leave this to you, Brother Lu.”
Lu Yuan nodded, “Leave this matter to me.”
Afterward, Sun Siwen, who had barely slept the night before, could no longer endure and got up to bid farewell, returning to his bedroom to rest.
Lu Yuan looked at the bright sky and continued his cultivation.
Having cultivated to his level, his energy was far superior to ordinary people’s, and staying awake for several days without sleep was not a problem at all.
It was not time to rest yet, as there were still matters to be handled.
By the afternoon, Zhou Qing returned.
Busy for a day and a night, even for a third-rate martial artist like his apprentice, he was also somewhat tired.
However, he still seemed somewhat excited after killing so many people. At the moment, he was directing people to carry boxes of gold, silver, and jewelry into the backyard.
He then reported to his Master, “Master, after counting the wealth of the seven houses, there are more than 1,700 taels of gold, more than 39,000 taels of current silver, and over 700,000 copper coins.
In addition, there are other antiques and valuables worth over 50,000 taels.
There are also land deeds, fields, houses, shops, and other assets. Roughly counting, the value is no less than one hundred thousand silver taels.
The total assets confiscated from the bandits amount to at least two hundred thousand silver taels. However, it will take some time to liquidate the full amount. ”
Zhou Qing was quite excited as he spoke.
For him, two hundred thousand taels of silver was an unimaginable amount.
Even Lu Yuan was astonished that such a small county town could amass so much silver.
He had just managed to accumulate over ten thousand taels of silver after several transactions and relying on his original wealth.
Now, in less than a day, he had seized assets worth two hundred thousand taels of silver.
Of course, he could not take all of this silver for himself.
Some of it had to be distributed to the soldiers as rewards, fulfilling the promise made earlier to assist them in settling down. Some had to be left to Sun Siwen to serve as funds for the recovery of the city.
Nevertheless, even after deducting the above, Lu Yuan could still easily acquire a hundred thousand taels.
An asset increase of ten times in a day was surprising to anyone who heard it.
“Very well, seal and store all of this money, and personally guard it with your men.” With so much money in one place, Lu Yuan didn’t trust anyone to guard it except for his most trusted disciple.
As for himself?
He would be attacking the Miao People tomorrow. Such an important operation must be personally supervised and could not be entrusted to his subordinates.
‘Yes.”
Zhou Qing knew the importance of the matter and solemnly nodded..