Chapter 581

“It’s not that the Secret Guard is powerful, but that Prince Wei is too foolish. He only knows how to protect the interests of the powerful families but forgets that common people outnumber them in this world.”

Sitting in the government office, Li San took a sip of tea.

He had been truly exhausted these days. As per Xiao Ming’s request, they organized ‘suffering conventions’ in the villages, allowing common people oppressed by powerful families to speak of their grievances on stage, ending with strong condemnations of Prince Wei and the powerful families.

Besides the suffering conventions, there were also propaganda slogans in every village, naturally advocating for Prince Qi and the elimination of Prince Wei.

At the same time, they were cooperating with the government office to establish local militia organizations and rally public support.

Of course, no amount of talk was as effective as actual action. Distributing land to the common people was the real key to making them lower their guard.

With all these methods combined, the four prefectures finally gained the people’s support, and young adults eagerly joining the army were everywhere.

Ye Qingyun smiled. The Secret Guard had always been mysterious, and he felt a sense of awe towards Li San, because he felt that he and his people were definitely being watched by Li San.

After a moment of hesitation, he asked, “Where are you going next?”

“Jinling City!” Li San did not shy away. He said, “To catch a thief, first catch the king. If we can assassinate Prince Wei, wouldn’t it be easier to conquer cities and territories?”

“Assassination!” Ye Qingyun was startled. “Aren’t you afraid of this leaking out by telling me?”

“If the governor leaks it, I will know immediately,” Li San said with a half-smile.

Ye Qingyun shivered, which further confirmed his suspicion. At this moment, his reverence for Xiao Ming grew, because in his view, Prince Qi is truly unfathomable.

‘How did he establish an organization like the Secret Guard?’

But this was not a problem for him to ponder. After a brief chat with Li San, he left the government office to busy himself with recruiting new soldiers.

Yangzhou City was a large city with a population of 600,000. Because they arrived in time, after the massacre, there were still over 400,000 people remaining in the city. Coupled with the population from nearby prefectures and counties, the population of Yangzhou City was quite substantial, basically around 700,000.

Such a surplus population naturally made conscription easy. Moreover, orders had now come from Qingzhou, instructing him to recruit 30,000 new soldiers from Yangzhou and Tongzhou. In half a year, he would need to lead the army to cooperate with the southern expeditionary force to completely take down Wei territory.

…

Qingzhou.

Amidst the fervent propaganda in the four prefectures, war bonds began to be issued at the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce. In conjunction with the issuance of war bonds, the Qingzhou Daily thoroughly explained what war bonds were.

When the common people and merchants learned that these war bonds were issued by Xiao Ming, the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce was immediately packed with people.

Holding grains and silver, the common people exchanged them for war bonds at the Chamber of Commerce to support the war effort.

Compared to the common people, merchants were even more interested in war bonds. They eagerly took out their silver to purchase them. At the same time, the powerful families who came to Qingzhou from Chang’an also did not miss this opportunity.

Taking their assets, they exchanged their gold and silver for a few thin sheets of paper, which were the bonds issued by the Chamber of Commerce.

Xiao Ming had not anticipated such a bustling scene, but the enthusiasm of the common people and merchants was enough to show his current standing in the hearts of the common people. As for the merchants, having tasted the benefits during the Northern Expedition, they naturally did not want to miss this opportunity.

The only regret they had was that Xiao Ming had set a limit this time: they could not purchase more than 10,000 taels of war bonds.

While the Chamber of Commerce was packed, Xiao Ming’s princely estate was bustling with activity. After the war bonds were issued, Cao Zhengyang and a group of prominent merchants all arrived at the princely estate to discuss the matter of the war bonds.

“Your Highness, during the last Northern Expedition, I did not set a limit. Why set a limit this time? And 10,000 taels is really too little,” Cao Zhengyang said.

Ding Wu also echoed, “Your Highness, please believe in our loyalty to the state. We hope Your Highness can win battle after battle and expand the territory.”

“Yes, Your Highness, we are all Qingzhou people now, with no ulterior motives.”

“…”

The merchants spoke one after another, and the main hall was noisy.

Xiao Ming sat calmly in the main seat, drinking tea and listening to the merchants’ complaints. After everyone had spoken, he said, “Gentlemen, setting limits is by no means because I do not trust you, but because the amount of war bonds issued this time is limited, and we cannot let all of them go to you.”

Pausing, Xiao Ming said, “Moreover, for these war bonds, I don’t want too much silver or banknotes. They are not very useful to me right now. Do you understand now?”

Cao Zhengyang and Ding Wu exchanged glances, and they immediately understood. This time, the common people were exchanging their grains, cloth, and other goods for bonds, as the common people did not like silver and preferred to exchange it for goods.

However, these merchants had a lot of silver in their hands, and the 50,000 taels of bonds were purchased in the form of silver and banknotes.

“Your Highness means that if we exchange goods, we don’t have to worry about the limit?” Cao Zhengyang tentatively asked.

“Of course not, I can consider raising the limit to 300,000 taels,” Xiao Ming said with a smile. This restriction was actually a trap, intended to make merchants find ways to acquire various materials from outside the state.

His individual strength was limited, but the combined energy of so many merchants in Qingzhou was immense. After all, they had connections in other places, and if they took action, it would save him a lot of trouble.

“300,000 taels.” Ding Wu repeated. This limit was acceptable. He asked, “What materials does Your Highness need?”

“Iron ore, saltpeter, sulfur, cloth, horses,” Xiao Ming said. These were all things he was short of. After expanding the army, he would need more steel, gunpowder, military uniforms, and warhorses.

Cao Zhengyang frowned upon hearing this. “Your Highness, these materials are currently very scarce and difficult to find.”

“If it were easy, why would I talk to you about it? However, regarding iron ore, I can give you a hint: there is a lot of iron ore in Prince Yong’s territory. You can go there to purchase mines and extract it,” Xiao Ming said. He now had to mobilize the power of capital to prepare materials for the war.

The merchants looked at each other, but thinking of the generous returns, they ultimately could not resist the temptation and all agreed to the matter.

“Your Highness, in that case, we will prepare these materials for Your Highness. My horse farm has 20,000 warhorses, at fifteen taels per warhorse, which totals exactly 300,000 taels,” Cao Zhengyang proudly glanced at the others.

“20,000 warhorses!” Xiao Ming was also shocked. Cao Zhengyang had only taken over this pasture a year ago.

However, after a brief thought, he understood that Cao Zhengyang must have been involved in smuggling from the grasslands, otherwise, he wouldn’t have so many horses.

But at this moment, he was too lazy to manage this matter. Sometimes capital and politics are contradictory; while being mutually wary, they also need each other.