Chapter Thirty-Eight Return to Lingzhou

  Lingzhou.

  In the county government office, Zhang Shan knelt in front of the desk, staring at the bamboo slips on it, but he was scratching his ears and cheeks, getting more and more anxious.

  He used to be a wandering knight, and after following Li Zhong, he also established his identity as a military general. Handling government affairs was not really his strong suit.

  But there was no way out, Li Zhong handed over Lingzhou to him when he left. In any case, he couldn't let Li Zhong down, could he?

  Fortunately, Lingzhou is just a small county and nothing big has happened recently. But even some trivial matters are enough to make him worried.

  Just as he was wracking his brains thinking about how to handle government affairs, a sound of footsteps came from outside the door.

  "Haha, Dashan!"

  Zhang Shan heard this and suddenly lifted his head, just in time to see Nuo Luo walking briskly into the hall.

  "Nu Luo, you're back?! Where's Master?!"

  Zhang Shan said, hastily getting up, his eyes searching behind Nuo Luo.

  Nuo Luo stepped forward, heavily punching Zhang Shan with a fist, and said: "The master escorted Fu Tai Shou to Zuo Feng Yi, I'm sure he will return safely in a few days. I followed the master's orders, leading the infantry to take a step ahead."

  "Oh."

  Zhang Shan's morale immediately dropped a notch.

  At this time, he finally focused his attention on Nuo Luo, looked him up and down, and exclaimed in surprise: "Your change... is really great!"

  Zhang Shan found that Nuo Luo's body had a kind of murderous and decisive aura, which was completely different from the one before he left Lingzhou!

  "I really envy you and Bai Lang."

  Zhang Shan said with a sour face.

  "Haha," Nuro laughed loudly: "Your Majesty is indeed trusting you! Lingzhou is the foundation of Your Majesty's power, ordinary people don't have the qualifications to garrison Lingzhou."

  Zhang Shan smiled and said, "It's good, but it's not exciting. You see me... pointing to the bamboo slips on the desk, his face turned into a bitter melon again, saying: "These things are left for me to deal with, aren't they making things difficult for Zhang?"

  "Next time, Master will definitely bring you along."

  Unable to bear Zhang Shan's resentful gaze, Nuo Luo hastily changed the subject and started chatting idly with Zhang Shan.

  Although it was only a little over ten days, Nuro felt that he had experienced more in these ten days than in his entire life! Although he had fought with other tribes as a Qiang person before, those were just skirmishes between hundreds of people, which couldn't compare to this time?!

  Dozens of people broke through the tens of thousands of troops, and more than a hundred people set fire to the pursuing army of over ten thousand. This kind of magnificent life made him feel like he was in a different world when he returned to Lingzhou.

  It feels like it's been a long time since I left.

  The relationship between Zhangshan and I was not so close at first, but once we met, we couldn't help but be enthusiastic.

  Upon learning that Nuo Luo led his troops back to Lingzhou, Zhou Lin and Wang Lao Hu immediately dropped their affairs and rushed to the county government office. First, they inquired about the news of Lord Li Zheng.

  Learning that everything went smoothly, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

  Then, after learning in detail about Li Zhēn's experiences over the past ten or more days, he couldn't help but sigh repeatedly, and at the same time feel fortunate.

  Several people are important figures under Li Zhong's command. They rise and fall together with Li Zhong, the more powerful Li Zhong becomes, the brighter their prospects will be.

  After rescuing Fu Shuo this time, not only did Fu Shuo want to grant Li Jing the title of Protector of the Western Regions, but he also gave all the remaining property of the Fu family to Li Jing!

  Zhou Lin's eyes widened in shock, his mouth agape, and for a moment he was speechless.

  Fu's remaining assets in Lingzhou, how much exactly, Zhang Shan and others didn't understand, but Zhou Lin was very clear. Zhou Fei was the manager of the fort left behind by Fu after he moved away from Lingzhou, and was Zhou Lin's uncle. Now, with his uncle holding so many properties in his hands, it was as clear as a mirror to him.

  Then Zhou Lin and others discussed these two things for a moment and soon brought out the constitution.

  "We should get things done by the time Master returns and give him a surprise."

  Zhou Lin pondered and said, "First, we will renovate the county government office into the Protector of the Western Regions' mansion. The plaque above the main gate must be replaced, and the layout of the furnishings inside the mansion also needs to be changed."

  Hu Qiang school lieutenant is a military position, the layout of the mansion is naturally different from that of the county government office. Neither Zhang Shan nor Zhou Lin understood this point very well, only Wang Lao Hu, who came from the border army, was somewhat clear about it, so this matter fell on Wang Lao Hu's head.

  "Next, the two brothers Dashan and Nuo followed me to Fuzi Wengbao. Zhou Lin said: 'The person in charge of Wengbao is my uncle. Although we don't have a letter from the master of the Fu family, I'm sure that after knowing the whole story, my uncle will cooperate with us to hand over the Fu family's property.'"

  Zhang Shan and several others were all martial artists who came from the lower levels of society, without Zhou Lin's background, so they naturally followed Zhou Lin's arrangements.

  Now that all matters have a suitable plan, what follows is implementation.

  Wang Lao Hu went out first to find craftsmen, purchase materials and prepare for the renovation of the county government office.

  Zhou Lin then rode out of the city with Zhang Shan and Nu Luo, heading towards Fu Shi Wu Fortress.

  Upon arriving at the Fu family's fortified manor, Zhou Lin thoroughly informed his uncle Zhou Fei about the situation, saying: "The master of the Fu family, Han Yang Prefecture Duke Fu Nanrong, has a personal letter in the hands of the ruler. However, the ruler is escorting Duke Nanrong to Zuo Fengyi and hasn't returned yet. We thought it would be best to take care of things first, so..."

  Zhou Fei listened to Zhou Lin's words, but shook his head and smiled, saying: "Since the master has given all of Fu's property in Lingzhou to Li Xiaowei, then from now on, we Fu family slaves who are still lingering in Lingzhou will also become Li Xiaowei's family slaves. As a family slave, doing things for the master is only natural."

  Zhou Fei has been with the Fu family for twenty or thirty years, from an ordinary household slave to his current position as a steward. Anyone who says he is not clever must be a fool himself.

  Zhou Fei did not suspect the authenticity of Zhou Lin's words at all, and he believed that under this sky, there was no one who dared to occupy the property of such a big family as Fu without any reason.

  At the same time, his thinking changed very quickly and had strong adaptability.

  He clearly knew that if Fu Shuai, the master of the Fu family, really opened his mouth, he would immediately change from a slave of the Fu family to a slave of Li Zhong.

  It is a house slave's duty to consider the master. If at this time, with such and such reasons, they hindered, saying that they could not help but offend the new master, then there would definitely be no good outcome.

  Since it's like this, why not be more cooperative and give a good impression in front of the new master?

  When Li Jing led the crowd back to Lingzhou, he entered the city and arrived at the original county government office. He looked up and saw a plaque that read "Huguan School Lieutenant's Mansion".

  Li Zhong's mouth twitched, knowing that it was probably the work of Zhang Shan and others. It seemed that after Nu Luo returned to Lingzhou, he told them about this matter, and several people discussed it together, turning their brains, before coming up with this scheme.

  This time leaving Lingzhou, all the goals that were supposed to be achieved have been reached, and there are also gains beyond expectations. This time back, I was already relaxed in body and mind, and after seeing this plaque, I felt even more happy.

  Hahaha, from Qingyun's back, Li Zhēng turned over and walked into the Hujiayuan school with the escort of his relatives.

  As soon as he entered the door, Zhang Shan quickly came up to greet him.

  "My lord!"

  Zhang Shan saw Li Zhuang and immediately opened his mouth, hastily bowing.

  Li Zhēn chuckled and waved his hand, saying: "No need for excessive courtesy." He then turned around, pointed to the main gate, looked at the newly renovated mansion, and said: "Is this your masterpiece?!"

  "Heh heh," Zhang Shan scratched his head and said, "It was that little brat Zhou Lin who brought it up, and Old Tiger Wang had the craftsmen make it."

  "Not bad, not bad."

  With a smile, Li Zheng walked towards the back hall while saying to Zhang Shan: "I'll go and remove my armor first, you call Zhou Lin and the others to come to the mansion, I have something to instruct them."

  Zhang Shan did not dare to slack off and hastily agreed, striding out of the gate.

  Li Zhong arrived at the back hall, changed his armor in the bedroom, washed and dressed in his usual clothes.

  He waited for him to come out of the back hall and enter the main hall, where Zhang Shan and others were already waiting.

  Li Zhēng was also surprised to find that Zhou Féi was also waiting in line.

  "I have seen the master!"

  Five people under the hall, Zhou Lin, Zhou Fei uncle and nephew, Zhang Shan, Wang Lao Hu and Nuo Luo, all bowed their heads in unison.

  "Don't be too polite."

  Li Zhong waved his sleeve and knelt down.

  "So urgent to call you all here, first of all, let's understand the current situation in Lingzhou." Li Zhēng said: "Dashan, you tell them."

  "Reporting to the master," Zhang Shan said with a fist, "After the master left, we first counted the population and households of Lingzhou. After the previous Fu family migration chaos, Lingzhou now has only 8,126 permanent resident households, totaling 32,539 people."

  Before Fu's migration, Lingzhou had a population of over 10,000 households, totaling around 40-50,000 people. Now it has decreased by almost one-third.

  Apart from the tenants and family slaves who followed Fu to move, many residents also moved out of Lingzhou City due to the previous chaos and rumors, either hiding in remote areas or migrating east to the Sanfu region, or becoming refugees.

  "Secondly, after the situation calmed down, seven days ago, Lingzhou reopened its markets. The shops in the city also started to operate normally."

  "Thirdly, the soldiers recruited in Lingzhou totaled three thousand. However, due to food supply issues, recruitment of soldiers has been suspended."

  "The fourth is that the management layer of Lingzhou has taken its place and operates smoothly."

  Zhang Shan's stumbling reply made Li Zheng somewhat amused.

  Although Zhang Shan's words were coherent, Li Zheng obviously knew that this was a prepared speech. In fact, it wasn't even Zhang Shan who had prepared it himself, but rather Zhou Lin and others who had helped him out.

  Zhang Shan finished speaking, and then it was the turn of the person in charge of each aspect to give Li Zhuo a detailed explanation.

  First of all, it was Zhou Lin.

  Zhou Lin was in charge of the specific affairs related to business and people's livelihood. Whether it was counting the population, reopening markets, or allowing city shops to reopen, all were Zhou Lin's achievements.

  Listening to Zhou Lin's detailed explanation, Li Zheng was more and more satisfied.

  Although Lingzhou is just a small county, Zhou Lin was able to handle all the messy affairs in a short period of time, and it's clear that he is still very capable.

  After Zhou Lin finished speaking, it was Wang Lao Hu's turn.

  Wang Lao Hu summarized his task in a few words, including recruiting soldiers and training soldiers, nothing more.

  After listening to the reports of the three people, Li Zhong already had a general understanding of the current situation in Lingzhou.

  Although it seemed that Lingzhou had returned to its former tranquility, Li Zhong still discovered many problems that urgently needed to be solved.

  However, before solving these problems, Li Zhēng was still very curious about Zhou Féi's arrival.