Chapter 150: Chapter 124: Achieving the Right Result_2
Translator: 549690339
After conducting an inspection on the drill ground to observe the soldiers’ morale, and making sure nothing had changed, Lu Yuan felt relieved to leave.
Before he left, he selected twenty personal guards to take back to his residence.
Over the past year, even though Lu Yuan had spent most of his time not attending to his duties, he still devoted some effort to the training of his army.
When he had previously taken in disciples in the army, he eliminated the majority of unqualified people. However, he didn’t abandon all of the eliminated ones.
Among the outstandings, Lu Yuan picked some of them and formed a team of about fifty personal guards.
These personal guards were between the ages of sixteen and twenty, with great potential, and were all skilled in divine archery, making them valuable talents.
As for these guards responsible for his protection, he had also passed on his martial arts skills to them. However, it was not Cloud Palm, but some other miscellaneous martial arts that he had previously confiscated in Wugang County, third-rate skills.
Even though they were third-rate, these skills were still a rare opportunity for these personal guards who came from a hunter background.
As a result, everyone practiced diligently and earnestly.
Furthermore, Lu Yuan also spent generously on them, spending a hundred silver tales each month on herbs to assist them in their training and to toughen their bodies.
Now, after more than a year’s time, these fifty personal guards had all cultivated inner strength. Although they only had the inner strength and had not even opened up one meridian, they were still at the bottom of the bottom.
However, no matter how low-level they were, having inner strength was better than not having it.
With fifty skillful divine archery guards with inner strength, even a second-rate expert could be surrounded by them and end up dead under their arrows.
If these personal guards develop into third -rate martial artists, then fifty of them forming an arrow formation would be enough to restrain a first-rate expert. Although they still couldn’t win, they could at least tie up the enemy for a while.
But waiting for them to become third-rate martial artists would take at least another seven years, which was still too long.
As of now, these personal guards could not be put to much use yet.
These personal guards were actually another hidden card prepared by Lu Yuan.
Whether it was for protecting himself or taking them to assassinate others, they were a powerful support.
“There are too few personal guards. Now that I am a commander, I can manage an army of a thousand. In a few days, I will send people to recruit soldiers and fill the vacancy of six hundred people.
At that time, I will pick fifty more people from the new recruits and form a hundred personal guards.
When the martial arts are passed down and trained for a year or two, even if the individual strength of the guards is weak, a hundred of them forming an array can still have some effect.”
On the way back, Lu Yuan was planning and preparing.
Recruiting soldiers was definitely necessary, as he had the organization, and naturally, it should be filled.
However, now that he was in Fu City, even though he was the chief military official, he could only rank third in the city.
The person in charge of the city now was the Prefect, Cui.
To recruit six hundred people, it would mean an increase in the expenses of twenty thousand silver tales in a year.
This was not a small amount.
So deciding when to recruit, how many people to recruit, and whether to recruit had to be discussed with the Prefect.
It was impossible for things to go as smoothly as they did in Wugang County, where whatever Lu Yuan said, Sun Siwen would agree.
Unless you pay for the soldiers yourself, then naturally no one can object.
But now, to purchase herbs for refining pills every month, Lu Yuan had to spend a tremendous amount of silver. It was like an endless pit that seemed impossible to fill.
He even had to use 5,000 silver tales of Sun Siwen’s rewards for the soldiers. How could he possibly afford to pay for the soldiers for the court?
“Sigh, officialdom, troublesome.”
Whenever Lu Yuan thought of these interpersonal relationships and worldly affairs, he couldn’t help but feel a headache, so he stopped thinking about it altogether.
Anyway, the soldiers belonged to the court, and whether the quotas were full or not had nothing to do with him.
Whether to recruit soldiers or not would depend on the Prefect’s urging.
The days of skiving at work were actually quite nice.
While Lu Yuan was skiving at work, Sun Siwen’s situation was not as relaxed.
As the deputy of the Prefect, he had to help the Prefect deal with various affairs in the mansion every day.
Cui Prefect was a person who wanted to do things, could do things, and would do things.
Consequently, they were currently busy implementing reforms.
As a result, the workload was piled up, and the official documents were as high as a small mountain.
Sometimes, even when a batch was processed, more documents were brought in, as if there was no end to the work.
It had only been a few days since Sun Siwen, who was previously energetic, had become pale and exhausted.
He looked like he hadn’t rested well and was overworked.
However, although he was exhausted, Sun Siwen’s ability to handle affairs was still quite high.
With his assistance, Cui Prefect’s speed of handling official documents was noticeably faster than before.
Moreover, Sun Siwen also provided a lot of useful suggestions when dealing with difficult issues, which made the Prefect very happy, openly praising him as a good assistant.
Even the people inside the Prefect’s back house had a good impression of the newly arrived Sun Siwen.
Since Sun Siwen’s arrival, the time the Prefect spent on handling documents had reduced, and he was able to maintain a normal work schedule every day.
Things were not like they had been in the past when he often had to work overtime and stay up late, causing him to have more white hair.
On several occasions, Miss Wenxiu had brought tonics for her father and also prepared a portion for Sun Siwen. Upon seeing him, she would always greet him warmly, praising him as a good official and a great talent, and gratefully acknowledging his help and care to her father.
Whenever this happened, the Prefect would watch with a smile, and then
reveal a motherly grin..