"Poor fellow!"
Looking at the Mayor’s Mansion, which was a mess right now, Lu Chengfeng breathed out a long sigh of relief. He then stuck his tongue out and licked some porridge from the bowl. The way he behaved now was no different with those townspeople on the street, making people wonder if he was really a young master from an influential family? With a smile on his face, he narrowed his eyes to hide the exultation over the sorrows of Yi Yan.
Wu Qi stuck his tongue out and licked all the remaining porridge in his bowl, then breathed out a sigh of satisfaction. The nutrients in this world were marvelous. The rice used to cook the porridge was so fragrant and soft, it was the best porridge Wu Qi had ever eaten. After finishing a bowl full of porridge, Wu Qi felt warmth in his stomach, and the fragrance of the rice seemed to emit from his pores. Yes, the food here was very satisfying!
"Karma is a bitch."
Pressing on his tightly bundled right shoulder, Wu Qi took a deep breath and said.
"When Yi Xing ordered his hanger-on to challenge us, he should have known this would happen!"
"Obviously, they are our enemies, and not our friends. To deal with enemies, we must be ruthless. We have to hit them at their biggest weak spot. If someone likes pretty girls, then we will let a group of ugly guys surround him. If he likes handsome men, then we will arrange for them to be accompanied by a group of the ugliest women at all times."
Lu Chengfeng tilted his head and stared at Wu Qi thoughtfully, then asked, "So, how about dealing with Yi Yan, a man who likes his money so much?"
Wu Qi smiled reservedly, "Then, of course, we need to follow Heaven’s decree and take away all of his money! With that, his mind will be disturbed. When he can’t stay calm, no one can be in charge, and that will be our time. We can do whatever we want and lay our roots deep in Little Meng City!"
Staring back at the chaotic Mayor’s Mansion, which was like a beehive that had caught fire, Lu Chengfeng bared his teeth and nodded his head in agreement. Yi Yan and his three siblings had their mind confused like entangled hemp now; they were sad and scared. Now was the best time for Lu Chengfeng to do something in Little Meng City, as they simply weren’t in the mood to pick on him now.
Lu Chengfeng sat down and began to ponder, trying to figure out what he should do during this period where Yi Yan and all the others were mentally unstable.
It was clear that Yi Yan and his siblings did not have good attitudes toward Lu Chengfeng’s arrival. Initially, Little Meng City was their territory, and now that Lu Chengfeng was here, he had ruined their money making scheme. Also, if not because their money was stolen and they had been mentally disturbed, they would have protested against Lu Chengfeng’s decision in reforming the City Guards.
Luckily, someone had stolen all their money.
Wu Qi stood up from where he was, then slowly strolled back into General Residency with the bowl in his hand. Lu Chengfeng gladly stared at his back, feeling lucky that this guy was his chief hanger-on. It was so fortunate that he had recruited him. But, was he the one who stolen Yi Yan and his siblings money in the first place?
The chaotic situation of Mayor’s Mansion lasted until noon. Even after Wu Qi had settled a few military tasks for Lu Chengfeng in the General’s Office, he could still hear the noise and crying coming from the Mayor’s Mansion. Especially the howling of fatty Yi Yan, it was so loud, strong, and penetrating that even half of Little Meng City could hear his cries.
But, no matter how sad Yi Yan and his siblings were, Wu Qi would not care in the slightest.
Early in the morning, Zhang Hu led two thousand City Guards and left the city. They were going to station themselves in Meng Village, replacing the few hundred elite soldiers from the third battalion, which would be sent back to Little Meng City.
The third battalion of the Heavenly Group, it was the last elite army left by previous General of Little Meng City. Captain Hu, who was leading the third battalion, clearly didn’t belong to Yi Yan’s gang. As a matter of fact, he always went against their order. Therefore, when Lu Chengfeng was assigned as the new General, Yi Yan was scared that this Captain Hu would get along with Lu Chengfeng. So, he decided to send him out to Meng Village.
According to Yi Yan’s plan, it would be great if captain Hu and all the soldiers of the third battalion got themselves killed in Meng Village. After all, there were endless barbarians within the Meng Mountains, and the chances for the entire third battalion to be killed in action would be high. When they were all dead, Yi Yan would be able to have peace of mind.
Wu Qi would never allow an elite army, especially an army which didn’t belong to Yi Yan’s gang, to be cast away so easily. Also, Wu Qi needed more manpower badly.
The primary purpose of sending out two thousand City Guards to Meng Village was to train these soldiers. The ideal situation would be that these soldiers had to deal with barbarian attacks daily. Keeping them constantly fighting with barbarians would be the best and fastest training method. Although the casualties would be high, there were many brave and ruthless villagers in Meng Village, which could always fill up the open slots in the army.
All eight thousand City Guards of Little Meng City would take turns, in groups of two thousand, being stationed in Meng Village each month. If those barbarians didn’t attack Meng Village, these City Guards would switch into aggressive mode and actively search for barbarians.
As the Recruitment Officer of Little Meng City, Zhang Hu brought with him an official letter from Lu Chengfeng, so he could recruit three hundred young men to join as the personal guards for the General’s Office. In Wu Qi’s opinion, these humble and simple, but strong and ruthless villagers of Meng Village were the perfect candidates for being personal guards. They had no grudge or whatsoever with the Mayor’s Mansion and, as long as Lu Chengfeng treated them well, they had no problem in showing their loyalty.
Taking away three hundred young men from Meng Village would reduce the defensive strength of Meng Village, but with two thousand City Guards stationed in Meng Village, the departure of these three hundred young men became nothing.
The aim was quickly building up a team of loyal personal guards and increasing the combat strength of the City Guards. Wu Qi’s suggestion served for these two purposes, and immediately got praise from Lu Chengfeng and Zhang Hu.
Besides sending Zhang Hu and the City Guards to Meng Village, Wu Qi also sent someone to recruit new soldiers in Little Meng City. In his mind, eight thousand City Guards was not enough at all. In order for Lu Chengfeng to set deep roots in Little Meng City, he needed to expand the army. After all, they had the money from Yi Yan’s huge golden bed. They could have an army of twenty thousand soldiers without any problems. They had enough weapons and armor as well.
After some restless hours in the morning, Wu Qi finally settled all these military tasks, only to see Laohei rush into the main hall of General Office.
The villagers from Meng Village had come to the Barbarian Office with their push carts, and had gotten their two hundred thousand coins of reward from the barbarian heads.
These villagers knew Zhang Hu had joined the new General. Therefore, they asked Laohei to pass the other half of the money to Zhang Hu and his men. After purchasing some hemp clothes, salts, hard liquors, and other stuff, these villagers started their journey back to Meng Village happily.
But, Laohei had some problems. The money that Barbarian Office gave to these villagers was from the military fund of City Guards. Under the management of Yi Yan, the military coffer for City Guard could make even rats die of starvation. Without including half of the money the villagers gave to Zhang Hu, the hundred thousand coins reward for those villagers had used up all of the remaining military funds.
Laohei was frowning and standing in the main hall of General Office. He told Lu Chengfeng worriedly, "The reward was offered by the Mayor’s Mansion, one hundred coins for a barbarian’s head… By law, this money was paid from Barbarian Office, and we should get the money back from Little Meng City."
Lu Chengfeng sat comfortably behind his table and was astonished as he asked, "According to the rules, you should go and ask for money from the Bursary Office of Little Meng City, right?"
Laohei let out an angry snort, stamped his feet and said, "The Bursary Officer of Mayor Mansion told me that without the order from the Mayor himself, no one is allowed to touch a single coin in the city’s coffer!"
Lu Chengfeng snorted coldly. With big steps, Wu Qi walked up to Laohei, grabbing the piece of paper signed by Laohei as the Barbarian Officer. On top of the paper, it clearly stated that the villagers of Meng Village had submitted a total of 1975 barbarian heads, and the General Office had paid them with 197,500 coins. All the money was paid first from the military fund of the City Guards, and later would be reimbursed by the Bursary Office of Little Meng City.
"They refuse to pay? Xiaohei, go and get two thousand brave soldiers who can risk their life. Let them follow us and meet that Bursary Officer of the Mayor’s Mansion!"
Xiaohei answered excitedly. He gave Lu Chengfeng a gaze, and when he saw the smile on his face, he turned around and ran out of the hall without any hesitation.
Fifteen minutes later, Xiaohei brought two thousand soldiers from the City Guard’s camp, lined up in a formation and charging into the Mayor’s Mansion. Wu Qi didn’t say anything to these soldiers. He just showed them the General’s token from Lu Chengfeng, and the whole army started to march in the direction of the Bursary Office, which was located at the center of the Mayor Manson.
According to the governmental system of the Lu Kingdom, the Mayor and his four assistants were assigned with a Bursary Officer each. Their job was a combination of finance and bookkeeping, which Wu Qi was pretty familiar with. The General had a Bursary Officer, whose job was to handle military funds and equipment. The Officer of Records had his own Bursary Officer, who was in charge of all the salaries and the office expenses of every single officer. The Bursary Officers under the Officer of Internal Affairs and Security had similar functions.
As for the Bursary Officer who was reporting directly to Mayor, he was responsible for all the finances and taxes related to Little Meng City, and in charge of distributing funds to all four Bursary Officers. Therefore, the responsibility and power of the Bursary Officer in the Mayor’s Mansion was huge. It could only be assigned to someone who was close to Mayor himself.
The current Bursary Officer of Little Meng City was a servant who grew up together with Yi Yan. His name was Yi San Er(易三儿)[1]. Since he had become a government officer, he thought his name was not manly enough, so he asked Yi Yan to give him a new name. Hence he became Yi Shan (易山)[2].
Although his name was Yi Shan, he didn’t carry any air that made him look like a mountain. Yi Shan was a skinny and short guy, the total opposite of his master, Yi Yan. He had a triangle-shaped face, triangle-shaped eyes, two separated mustaches underneath his nose, all of which gave him the impression of a mean and cunning man.
When Wu Qi brought the big group of soldiers and came to the Bursary Office within the Mayor’s Mansion, Yi Shan was standing right in front of it with his eyes rolling, as if he was calculating and planning something. Two hundred Mayor Mansion Guards were lining up, guarding the Bursary Office, giving the place a touch of majesty and aggressiveness.
The outer wall of the coffer room was made from stone slabs, and the inside was covered with a half inch steel plating, extremely strong. The main door was made from a foot-thick black iron. Even if someone used some heavy weapon and tried to break it, it would last for a long time. Two totems were carved on the door, on the left was ‘Tao Tie’[3] and on the right was ‘Pi Xiu’[4]. Both were greedy legendary beasts who only consumed but never excreted. They represented endless wealth.
Yi Shan was startled when he saw Wu Qi rushing in with so many soldiers. His tongue was swollen with terror as he pointed at Wu Qi and shouted, "You, you, you! The guy whose name is Wu Qi! Do you know what place is this? You, if you dare to mess with me here, even your young master can’t save you!" The coffer room was a restricted area. If Wu Qi really messed around here, he would be sentenced to a serious punishment.
Wu Qi held the paper signed by Laohei and walked in front of Yi Shan. Without saying anything, he started slapping Yi Shan.
After a few rounds of slapping sounds, Yi Shan was bleeding from his lips and had almost fainted.
Slamming the paper issued by Laohei onto Yi Shan’s face, Wu Qi snapped, "Give me the money, also, issue another ten thousand silver coins for City Guards as military fund. Or else, I, Wu Qi, will tear you apart today!"
Without wasting any time for Yi Shan to respond, Wu Qi kicked on his stomach forcefully and sent him flying away, slamming into the door of the coffer room.
When those guards outside of coffer room saw this, they stormed in and tried to catch Wu Qi. But Wu Qi just waved his hand and shouted, "Beat them! I’ll be responsible for those that die!"
There was plenty of empty space in front of the coffer room. When those two thousand soldiers brought by Xiaohei heard the command, they cried out loud and charged at the guards of the coffer room.
The two hundred poor guards of the coffer room… In an instant, they were flooded by soldiers who numbered ten times their own number.
Notes:
[1] Yi San Er 易三儿 – Yi is the family name, and San Er means ‘the third’
[2] Yi Shan – 易山 – Yi is the family name, Shan here is mountain, which sounds mightier.
[3] Tao Tie - 饕餮 – The legendary ferocious beast, fifth son of the Dragon King.
[4] Pi Xiu - 貔貅 – The legendary beast which has the head of a dragon and lion’s body, often with hoofs, wings and tail.
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