Chapter Twenty-Five: Economic Development

The news that Fang Han intended to suppress the bandits spread throughout the provinces.

For a time, every governor who received the message began making calculations of his own.

Some factions wanted to seize the opportunity to send troops into the capital. Officially, they would be assisting Fang Han in suppressing the bandits, but in truth, they wished to imitate Xiyun County: stationing an army in the capital so that, should war ever break out, they could seize control of the capital at the earliest possible moment.

Others did not take Fang Han seriously at all and directly refused to send troops on the grounds of insufficient manpower.

Five days later, at the prefectural headquarters, all the messengers had returned. Su Zihuan compiled the reports and informed Fang Han.

“My lord, three governors have agreed to help. The troops they dispatched are already on their way. The other fourteen have refused to send troops.”

“Three?” Fang Han asked in surprise, a trace of displeasure appearing on his face.

In the eyes of the officials, Fang Han was clearly dissatisfied with the governors’ response.

In truth, Fang Han had never expected anyone to agree in the first place.

If each faction sent three hundred soldiers, then seventeen factions would contribute five thousand troops. Whether he could control them was one matter; feeding and maintaining them every day would be another enormous expense.

Even if the bandits were successfully suppressed, there would be no way to make up for the resulting losses.

After all, the major bandit groups had already been absorbed on the surface. Those who remained were merely small factions.

Even the pacification of Black Cloud Stronghold had been entirely arranged by Fang Han.

First, he had someone disguise himself as a bandit and make contact with the stronghold’s second-in-command. He told the man that, having failed to become a governor, he intended to teach the capital a lesson.

Tempted by gold and silver, the second-in-command of Black Cloud Stronghold ordered his men to steal crops in the dead of night. This would both create unrest in the capital and provide the stronghold with additional provisions.

What he did not know was that Fang Yuan had been waiting for them all along and managed to capture several of them alive.

After they were betrayed, Zhao Hu led troops to eliminate the bandits, and Black Cloud Stronghold was destroyed.

Given the capital’s current strength, unless Fang Han had secretly orchestrated matters, no bandit foolish enough to do so would dare confront it head-on.

Suppressing the bandits was merely an excuse. The true purpose was to emphasize the authority of the Protector-General of the Southern Borderlands.

Fang Han had assumed that no one would agree, giving him a reason to expand his own military forces on a large scale.

He had not expected three men to send troops after all. Not only would he be unable to control these nine hundred soldiers, he would also have to feed them.

When one of the officials heard that only three governors had responded, he was enraged as well.

“My lord, these bandits are utterly outrageous. They clearly do not regard you at all.”

Su Zihuan frowned. “My lord, the bandits around us are no threat. Nine hundred soldiers, combined with the men from Xiyun County, should be more than enough. The only problem is provisions.”

The capital still relied mainly on purchasing grain from elsewhere.

The expenses were being covered by the officials’ personal savings, along with some of the gold and silver Lin Qingwei had brought with her.

The only wealth seized from the bandits had been bestowed upon Zhao Hu by Fang Han.

After Su Zihuan spoke, everyone fell silent.

Each of them already had to contribute gold and silver every day. If another nine hundred soldiers arrived, they feared they would not be able to sustain the burden for long.

“My lord, since they refuse to send troops, why not order them to send provisions instead?” one official suggested.

Fang Han naturally knew that provisions were running short, but those men certainly would not agree simply because he ordered them to send grain.

The campaign against the bandits still had to remain the main focus.

The troops arriving from outside were not yet loyal to him. He could only rely on repeated campaigns against the bandits, using large quantities of gold, silver, and precious treasures to win their allegiance.

Zhao Hu had accepted the wealth seized from Black Cloud Stronghold. Fang Han had already ordered people to spread the news that Zhao Hu had earned his favor and might have a chance to become commander of the city defense forces.

Inside the soldiers’ barracks in Xiyun County, Zhao Hu stared at the gold and silver they had seized, lost in thought.

Normally, all of it should have belonged to Fang Han. Yet Fang Han had actually rewarded it to him outright.

For the past few days, Zhao Hu had been pondering one question: Did Fang Han truly value him?

Ever since the martial arts tournament had ended, Fang Han had frequently sent him gifts.

It seemed that Fang Han wished to recruit him, yet he had never offered him any real position.

Zhao Hu naturally had no interest in becoming commander of the city defense forces. But Fang Han had once spoken of making him a Great General of the Southern Expedition.

He simply did not know when Fang Han would be able to raise an army and march south to conquer the southern barbarians.

That would certainly be impossible in the short term.

Perhaps ten or twenty years from now, the Southern Borderlands would possess the strength to launch such a campaign.

But by then, a new generation of talented commanders would surely have emerged, and there would be no need for old soldiers like them to charge into battle.

Moreover, the Southern Borderlands would not remain peaceful forever. At its current rate of development, it might take only a few years for the region to accumulate vast stores of grain.

When that happened, every faction would recruit soldiers and purchase horses. What voice would Fang Han have left?

For that reason, Zhao Hu had always maintained his distance from Fang Han while strengthening his ties with Xiyun County.

Now that he had been rewarded with the treasures, he had sent a messenger to Xiyun County to report the matter truthfully. He still did not know what instructions would come from there.

At the prefectural headquarters, Chen Xingshi stepped forward.

“My lord, these bandits are wolves in human clothing. Even if they send troops here, they will certainly have ulterior motives.

“Why not have the soldiers of the capital begin training as well? That way, we will have the strength to suppress the bandits.”

Chen Xingshi’s words immediately aroused the displeasure of the other officials.

They had all once served as county magistrates and had possessed city-defense troops under their command. Naturally, they knew how much grain was consumed by military training.

A soldier who trained every day ate at least twice as much as usual.

Although the men in the capital were called soldiers, they lacked sufficient provisions and could train for only two hours a day.

They were nowhere near the standard of true soldiers and might even be inferior to the bandits.

Otherwise, Fang Han would have ordered an expedition against the bandits long ago, without waiting for the bandits to come harass them.

Fang Han had intended to use the campaign against the bandits as a pretext to expand his power.

In his previous life, he had served in the military and possessed an advanced method of training soldiers.

If training began, he could forge an elite army within half a year.

If no one had responded to his summons, he could naturally have trained his own forces.

Unfortunately, some had responded and sent troops to assist him.

As a result, four separate factions would now be entangled within the capital.

He had no choice but to use these soldiers to suppress the bandits first. Otherwise, if they discovered his training methods, they would inevitably perceive his intentions.

For the time being, training the capital’s soldiers was out of the question.

Unless he could bring the several foreign factions under his command, or allow them to gradually weaken themselves during the campaigns against the bandits.

After Chen Xingshi finished speaking, another official stepped forward.

“My lord, we already spend vast amounts of gold and silver every day purchasing grain from other regions.

“If we begin training soldiers as well, a great deal of the Southern Borderlands’ wealth will flow outward, making future development difficult. It would be better to wait until the harvest is gathered before beginning the training.”

Another official added, “That is right, my lord. With outside troops now stationed in the capital, our fields can remain safe. Why not focus on developing the economy and attracting people from other regions to settle in the Southern Borderlands?”

His words immediately prompted a lively discussion among the officials.

After hearing this, Fang Han also felt that the proposal was feasible.

In the past, the Southern Borderlands had always been viewed as a place overrun by bandits and plagued by raids from the southern barbarians.

Now, the major bandit threats had temporarily been brought under control, and the smaller groups under their command had also quieted down.

Even the bandits without any backing would soon be wiped out.

It was time for the Southern Borderlands to develop its economy.

“Very well. Issue my order: have the governors of every province send representatives here to discuss the region’s development.”