Chapter 12: Expensive Oil and Salt!

Three days of busyness.

With almost everyone in the Prince's Mansion helping, the task of recruiting tenant farmers and the Personal Army was finally mostly finished.

Yet, of these two matters, while the land had been distributed, the recruitment of the Personal Army was not very ideal.

"Your Highness, currently a total of over five thousand six hundred men have been recruited for the Personal Army; we are still a long way from being at full capacity," Chang Wei said, very distressed.

Although people were still coming to sign up intermittently, he estimated that at most, they could recruit about eight thousand men from Yan Commandery.

"This is already quite good," Zhao Xu shook his head.

The population of Yan Commandery is what it is, and able-bodied young men are a rare commodity.

Most importantly, of the three hundred and eighty Battalion Commander in Yan Commandery, at least two hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixty thousand have been turned into vassals of various Rich Clans through all sorts of methods.

These people might yearn for the Prince's Mansion, but with the contracts signed with the Rich Clans, they can only look toward the Prince's Mansion and sigh.

"Can it only be like this?" Chang Wei was unwilling to accept it.

This bit of military strength, not to mention fighting the Northern Di, would struggle even to suppress the private armies of the Rich Clans in Yan Commandery.

"This Prince never said I would only recruit in Yan Commandery," Zhao Xu suddenly smiled, "Leave the remaining troop quota to this Prince. Your most important task right now is to train the troops; this is the guarantee for us to sit firmly in Yan Commandery."

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei cupped his fists heavily, sounding like a firecracker going off.

Following that, he raised his head, his square face covered in whiskers revealing a pleading look, "Your Highness, now that we have the troops, but as for the food, clothing, supplies, and Armor and Weapon, what do you think?"

Hearing this, Zhao Xu couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.

What was bound to come had come.

In ancient times, raising an army was the biggest expense for any country or faction.

Sometimes, even half of a country's tax revenue was spent on the military.

He could not escape this rule either.

These five thousand-plus men of the Prince's Personal Army were not just a simple number, but five thousand-plus mouths to feed.

"How much Silver is needed?" Zhao Xu asked.

"According to the decree, the Imperial Court allocated the North Camp of Yan Commandery to the Prince's Personal Army. This subordinate went to look; the Armor and Weapon in the camp warehouse are only enough for one thousand men, and they are all covered in rust."

Chang Wei had been prepared; he took a booklet from his bosom and presented it to Zhao Xu with both hands.

Zhao Xu opened it and looked; on it, Chang Wei had detailed how much grain, how many military uniforms, pay, and various types of Armor and Weapon were needed.

The expenditure for this month was approximately forty thousand taels.

Zhao Xu broke into a cold sweat; one-quarter of the quota already had a monthly consumption of forty thousand taels, so wouldn't full capacity mean one hundred and sixty thousand taels?

The Silver he earned from selling the Ice-Making Technique wouldn't last for many months at all.

"Indeed, a large household has large expenses."

Zhao Xu sighed; he still had to find ways to keep making money.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to afford to raise the troops, and then he would truly never be able to turn things around.

He picked up a brush, signed the booklet, and stamped it with the Prince's seal.

Zhao Xu said, "Leave the Armor, Weapon, and military uniforms to this Prince; as for the rest, go to Qin Zhangfang to collect it."

"Yes." Chang Wei left happily.

Liu Fu and Zhao Xu stayed together.

The two of them were currently in the gatehouse of the front courtyard of the Prince's Mansion.

Liu Fu said, "By rights, the Armor, Weapon, and military uniforms of the Personal Guard Army should be the responsibility of the Yan Commandery Armory Bureau, but now that the Yan Commandery Government Office is controlled by Zhang Kang, I fear he will inevitably line his own pockets and substitute inferior goods for good ones."

Zhao Xu nodded; such an important matter naturally could not have any errors.

This was a matter that directly affected the combat effectiveness of the Prince's Personal Army.

And as for the current Yan Commandery Government Office, he completely distrusted it.

"The current Government Office has basically become a plaything for the Rich Clans, filled with their descendants. If we were to use the Government Office to command Yan Commandery, there would inevitably be people obstructing us from within, so it is better to start anew," Zhao Xu pondered for a moment and said.

Liu Fu's eyes lit up; Yan Wang and he were thinking the same thing.

After these few days of contact, he respected Yan Wang's foresight more and more.

"This subordinate thinks the same. Since the old broom cannot sweep the floor, we shall replace it with a new one. We can build a new office within the Prince's Mansion for our own use; in any case, the Prince's Mansion no longer counts on the Government Office to collect taxes for us," Liu Fu said.

"Hmm, well said," Zhao Xu smiled.

The most basic function of the Government Office for the Prince's Mansion is to collect taxes.

This rotten Government Office in Yan Commandery cannot do that.

As for issuing administrative orders and the like, the people of Yan Commandery have almost all become vassals of the Rich Clans, so what administration is there to carry out?

It is better to build an office to manage the people on the Prince's Mansion's land.

In the future, once the Rich Clans of Yan Commandery are dealt with, this office can take over Yan Commandery.

"When this subordinate was studying, I knew some scholars from humble backgrounds. They possess talent but have no path to enter officialdom, and can only make a living by selling paintings and copying characters on the street. If Your Highness does not mind, this subordinate is willing to recommend them to Your Highness," Liu Fu said.

He also had his own selfish motives, which were that he did not want to work with those descendants of the Rich Clans.

"The Prince's Mansion is currently in need of people; of course, that would be best."

In Da Song, the opposition between those of humble backgrounds and the Rich Clans is a widespread existence.

Under the current circumstances, only these scholars from humble backgrounds can work steadily for him.

Liu Fu felt a surge of joy, "This subordinate will go visit them now and invite them to come."

Zhao Xu nodded, and thinking of something, he said, "When you go, call the head of the Yan Commandery Agency over as well; just say the Prince's Mansion has a big business deal to do with him."

"The Agency?" Liu Fu was surprised.

This Agency is a place for buying and selling slaves, specializing in human trafficking.

He had indeed met the head of the Agency a few times.

He thought to himself that Zhao Xu might feel the Prince's Mansion has too few slaves and wants to buy some more.

So, without asking further, he left.

After Liu Fu left, Zhao Xu subsequently went out of the Yan Prince Mansion.

Since waking up, his range of movement had basically been within the Yan Prince Mansion; he had not even been to the nearby streets.

Now, everything was proceeding according to plan.

He was also able to find time to wander around.

"Whose are the courtyards on the left and right sides of the Yan Prince Mansion?"

The Yan Prince Mansion faced west from the east, and there was a wide main street in front of the mansion gate.

On both sides of the mansion were large courtyards, and the scale of these courtyards was much larger than the Yan Prince Mansion.

Sandwiched between these two large courtyards, his Yan Prince Mansion appeared even more shabby.

"Replying to Your Highness, one courtyard belongs to the Dong Family, and one belongs to the Lv Family. Originally, these two courtyards combined with the current mansion were the true Yan Prince Mansion, but..."

As soon as Zhao Xu went out, twenty guards immediately followed to protect him.

Chang Wei was busy with matters of the Personal Guard Army.

He had selected his most capable subordinate to serve as the new Commander of the guards, whose name was Xu Lie.

According to Chang Wei, besides being able to fight, this Xu Lie was also extremely skilled with a bow and arrow.

"But what..." Zhao Xu asked.

Unlike the rigid and upright Chang Wei, Xu Lie had somewhat the demeanor of a scholar-general, and his speech was gentle and refined.

"But, they were sold to the Dong and Lv families by Liang Chief Steward," Xu Lie said cautiously.

"Liang Cheng!" Zhao Xu frowned; this evoked very unpleasant images in his memory.

This Liang Cheng was the eunuch most trusted by Emperor Zhao Heng.

In recent years, Emperor Zhao Heng had indulged in pleasure and ignored state affairs, and much of the power had fallen into his hands.

The reason he had come to Yan Commandery.

A large part of the reason lay with Liang Cheng.

This Liang Cheng was a complete snob.

Zhao Xu was crazy and foolish, just a piece of trash, and his mother's family had no power or influence.

Regarding his departure to the fief, he naturally had no scruples and tried his best to rake in Silver.

He would not care about his life or death at all.