Mythical Three Kingdoms

”Zilong, currently due to the insufficient strength of our army, the chaos within Jizhou has not been completely settled, and the calamity of roving bandits and runaway soldiers occurs from time to time; the road is not stable. You are to go to Mount Tai and escort the families back.” After sending away Ma Teng and Xiahou Yuan, Liu Bei turned and said to Zhao Yun.

”Understood.” Zhao Yun clasped his fists in salute, then turned towards the Ye City military camp to prepare to lead his trusted aide to Mount Tai.

As Liu Bei said, the road is indeed unstable right now. Even though Liu Bei’s actions are incredibly swift, there still remain many complications. Restoring order after a war, despite being fast, cannot be accomplished within one or two months, especially under circumstances where the transmission of information and troop mobilization are not particularly rapid.

”Finally gone.” Chen Xi sighed deeply as he gazed at the ceremonial guard accompanying Ma Teng and Xiahou Yuan. If they did not leave, some matters would have to be delayed continuously.

”Transmit orders to all leaders to form squads of five hundred men each to eliminate bandit problems in the occupied areas of Jizhou, investigate road conditions, and assess mineral reserves.” After Ma Teng and Xiahou Yuan departed, Liu Bei immediately began assigning tasks.

”Order Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping to take over the current horse farms in Jizhou and breed quality horses!” After everyone acknowledged the orders, Liu Bei issued a second command.

Wars in the North can never lack cavalry, and with Jizhou being a region of horse production, the support of quality horses finally allows cavalry to become a standard unit.

”Hua Xiong, use the soldier drilling technique of Xiliang to train the cavalry.” Witnessing the almost invincible impact force of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and the momentum of the horse trampling over mountains and rivers, made Liu Bei fully understand the importance of cavalry.

Previously, the White Horse seldom engaged in close-quarters combat, lacking a sense of the beauty of force. Although it deserved the description of brutality during slaughter, it ultimately could not match the manic aggression of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry’s charge and formation-trap, that definitive annihilating kill made Liu Bei completely understand what direction the cavalry should develop in!

”Understood!” Hua Xiong smirked. He himself did not precisely understand how the Xiliang Iron Cavalry was trained, so he turned to look at Li You behind Liu Bei. Fortunately, with this master here, everything was not a problem.

”Zijing, reassess the fields, do not mind offending people, reevaluate all files within three years, and directly go heavy-handed on those local tyrants causing harm in the villages. Prepare to register landless commoners and allocate land to them.” Liu Bei swept away his previous smile and spoke coldly.

”Understood!” Lub Su furrowed his brow, reevaluating files within three years is extremely troublesome, but upon contemplating it, he still nodded in agreement, considering he had long prepared for the other matters Liu Bei mentioned.

”Wen He, shift the focus of intelligence from the South and the West to the Northern Frontier. The battle in the Central Plains has come to an end; what we need to do next is truly important.” Liu Bei turned and spoke to Jia Xu.

”Understood.” Jia Xu showed no emotion on his face, though he had already arranged what Liu Bei ordered, just waiting for these words from Liu Bei.

”Ziyang, after verifying the number and yield of fields, reset the tax rate, this is crucial, any mishap might cause endless harm, remember to exercise great caution, you can seek help from Fengxiao and Xiaoo Zhi on this matter.” Liu Bei contemplated for a moment before he turned to instruct Liu Ye, as determining the tax rate is essentially a scapegoat role, no matter how it’s set, there will always be critics...

”Alright.” Liu Ye nodded, having anticipated Liu Bei would eventually assign the task of reassessing the tax rate. After all, he was the one who assessed Mount Tai’s tax before, and overall it was decent, albeit there being accusations of adding taxes, but the people’s grain on hand did not decrease, overall suppressing the aristocratic family.

”I’ll also help with this, as there may arise issues of differing tax rates during the upcoming assessment; count me in.” Chen Xi thought for a moment and spoke up, ”Ziyang, you wouldn’t mind me joining, would you?”

”Having another person to share the blame is always better.” Liu Ye laughed, completely indifferent about Chen Xi joining him in the assessment, as determining the tax rate certainly involves placing blame, and having one more person can lessen his burden.

”Don’t always think about passing the blame; you should think about how to throw it off.” Chen Xi rolled his eyes, ”I really need your multi-angle thinking approach; relying on your mindset might help me overlook fewer aspects.”

”Zichuan, you join in determining the tax rate too, ensure there are no issues.” Liu Bei nodded and said.

”Rest assured, there definitely won’t be any problems; everyone present will surely help at that time.” Chen Xi smiled and said, ”Collective effort is the King’s Way. Also, we need to consult some village elders, aristocratic families, and common folks together then.”

”Indeed, a good idea.” Li You laughed and said. This completely transforms the government’s conflict with the people into internal conflict among the people themselves, not needing to assume any blame whatsoever; at that point, not seeing the three parties clash would be surprising.

”Wen Ru, register the entire population of Jizhou, like before, reassess the household registration.” Liu Bei turned to Li You and said, nearly doing the same tasks as before but with the addition of large parts of Yuzhou and Jizhou, far exceeding the previous population.

”Understood.” Li You shook his head without saying much; this task suited him best, and compared to others, the timeframe for this task can be very long, as there’s no hurry. It might even entail reevaluating prior household registrations since household registration is a bother!

”Household registration is also crucial, Wen Ru remember to bear more responsibility. Gong Youu, continue building bridges and roads, once the road survey is complete, the road construction will depend on you.” Liu Bei spoke to Sunx Qian.

”Alright, but I might not have my hands free anytime soon. I’m currently reassessing the geology near the Yellow River for bridge construction, which will require considerable time unless I’m allocated two construction armies; otherwise, the current situation makes it impossible to complete construction by the end of next year.” Sunx Qian said with a wry smile.

”Two construction armies?” Liu Bei said headache-inducing, as the entire Jizhou and Yuzhou need infrastructure development, transferring two construction armies now will significantly impact construction timelines.

”My Lord, I believe allocating them to Gong Youu is more advantageous.” Li You stepped forward to suggest upon seeing Liu Bei’s indecisiveness, as building roads can be done by anyone, but constructing a bridge on the Yellow River is a pioneering undertaking!

”Very well...” Liu Bei contemplated momentarily before responding as the hesitation naturally indicated similar importance, and Li You’s words acted as a weight, directly tipping the balance.

”Xianhe, are you ready?” Liu Bei turned to look at Jian Yong and asked, as the most significant factor was Jian Yong’s performance at Mount Tai, where the glorious culture festival is about to commence.

”Been waiting for a long time, the convergence of Hundred Schools of Thought is about to begin.” Jian Yong slowly spoke, then turned to look at Chen Xi, ”Zichuan, you knew today would come long ago!”(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Starting Point (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)