Chapter 471: Chapter 236: Wealth Soars _3
Translator: 549690339
Therefore, his original plan was actually to make a profit in Hanzhong Prefecture and Xichuan Prefecture, and use the spoils from these two places to cover the expenses of his immigration.
Now it seems that with Li Xiong squeezing the harvest of the entire Xichuan, not to mention filling the gap of immigration expenses, there are still plenty of silver left even after filling the gap.
Even considering the harvest in Hanzhong Prefecture, this sum of money could be even more.
“I just don’t know how much money will be left from these spoils in the end?”
As Lu Yuan thought about this, his army had already been surrounded, and people were already on their way to Hanzhong Prefecture.
This time, on his way to Hanzhong Prefecture, Lu Yuan chose not to follow the route back to Xichuan but instead chose the route from Guining Prefecture, Fangling Prefecture, and Xicheng Prefecture in Xiangyang Prefecture to enter Hanzhong Prefecture.
The main reason for choosing this route was to see along the way how the immigrants who had migrated from Hanzhong Prefecture were doing?
At the same time, he led his army through the three prefectures, demonstrating his military prowess and using the momentum of his great victory to deter the ambitious local warlords in order to ensure the stability of the three prefectures.
A single great victory was enough to temporarily quell all instability in the region.
On the first day of April in the eighth year of Hongdao, Lu Yuan led sixty thousand troops northward and passed through Guining, Fangling, and Xicheng Prefectures. The local Zhou people were shocked by the victorious army.
Everywhere they went, they were submissive.
On the 20th of April, the army reached Hanzhong Prefecture. On the 25th, they reached Nan Zheng of Hanzhong Prefecture City.
Inside Nanzheng Prefecture.
After three months apart, Lu Yuan finally saw his queen again.
After a close moment and sharing intimate words, their feelings were renewed, and they finally started to talk about the important matters.
“Your Majesty, in the past three months, we have divided the troops to attack various prefectures and counties in Hanzhong, and all of them have been taken by us.
Then, according to Your Majesty’s strategy, we have checked the household registration, moved the people, searched the prefecture treasury, and collected wealth from the local wealthy families.
After three months of hard work, we have successfully relocated 150,000 households and 800,000 people to Dongting Prefecture.
In addition, we have found 5 million taels of silver in the Hanzhong government treasury, along with 3 million stones of food, which were stored here to supply Xiangyang and Wushan. Moreover, we found over 10,000 types of arms and equipment.
We also levied an army tax from local wealthy families, obtaining another 5 million silver taels and 1 million stones of food.
At the same time, we sold some of the land and businesses controlled by the government, yielding over 1 million taels of silver.
From these calculations, our total proceeds from the Hanzhong campaign are 12 million silver taels, 4 million stones of food, and many pieces of equipment.”
Lan Cai’er reported her achievements from the past few months to Lu Yuan with a hint of pride and self-confidence.
Hearing her words, Lu Yuan was overjoyed and immediately praised her, “Excellent! You are indeed my queen. This accomplishment can be considered the top merit of the Hanzhong battle.”
Although the gains in Hanzhong Prefecture were far less than those in Xichuan Prefecture,
Lu Yuan had originally considered not being too greedy in Hanzhong, fearing that his reputation would be tarnished like Li Xiong’s.
Otherwise, if they rampaged through this area, getting 50 or 60 million silver taels would be easy.
However, doing so would ruin Lu Yuan’s reputation here and even tarnish it worldwide.
Compared to these silver taels, his reputation was more important.
Moreover, as Lan Cai’er said,
Even with just the current gains, it would be enough for Lu Yuan to maintain an army of 100,000 soldiers in Hanzhong Prefecture for two years of fighting.
Not to mention, among the 110,000 troops he had in Hanzhong, over 50,000 of them were righteous army militia – essentially cheap cannon fodder that cost little money.
Taking this into account, the spoils they had collected would be enough to sustain his army for four or five years without any issues.
How could Lu Yuan not be delighted by this situation?
Thus, he lavishly praised his queen, making Lan Cai’er squint her eyes in delight and beam from ear to ear.
In the following days, while continuing to deepen his bond with Lan Cai’er, Lu Yuan also urged local officials to continue relocating people.
In addition, he began to set up defenses at Xiegu Pass and Yangping Pass, respectively stationing 30,000 troops at each location and then heading there with Lan Cai’er to defend the area.
In the rear of Hanzhong Prefecture, 50,000 troops were left to maintain stability and relocate the population.
After another half a month, 30,000 more households were relocated from Hanzhong Prefecture.
By the end of May, after more than three months, the Northern Zhou finally reacted, completed internal mobilization, and sent an army of 150,000 led by two Pillar State Grand Generals to Xiegu Pass.
Yes, just like the Yue Country.
After the Zhou people had lost two Pillar State Grand Generals, they began to urgently supplement their forces.
First, they internally promoted and trained an Inborn Grandmaster, then they absorbed another one from the martial arts world of the Zhou Country, eventually replenishing the eight Pillar State Grand Generals.
By that time, Yuwen Chong, who had originally fled from Wushan Pass, had received some news.
He fled to Xiangyang City and joined the local Zhou defenders stationed there.
As a result,
The Zhou people had four Pillar State Grand Generals and 200,000 troops in Xiangyang City, as well as two Pillar State Grand Generals and 150,000 troops at the Xiegu Pass.
At this point, only two out of the eight Pillar State Grand Generals remained in the country.
And just like the Yue Country, these two were the last pillars of stability within the country and could not be easily moved.
Therefore, the forces sent this time were the upper limit for the Zhou people.
This time, in order to cope with the Yue Country’s Northern Expedition, the Zhou Country had exhausted all its resources and put the fate of the country on the line.