Chapter 784: The Battle in Liangzhou Concludes
Chapter 784: The Battle in Liangzhou Concludes
September 25, 2017
After Lu HaiKong returned to Beifeng with Niu Niu, the events that started with the 'Dragon Slayer' incident had mostly settled.
Although some of the rogue practitioners who escaped from Tai Shi Ling were still causing trouble, they were either killed or driven out of Bingzhou by Lu HaiKong's bloody suppression.
Not long after Lu HaiKong returned to Beifeng with Niu Niu, the Mystic Household under Lu HaiKong's command began issuing the Wanderer Decree to the rogue practitioners within Bingzhou.
The so-called Wanderer Decree was a set of laws specifically targeting rogue practitioners. When the rogue practitioners learned that the Mystic Household was about to issue the decree, it caused a huge stir among them.
What right did Lu HaiKong have to issue such a decree? Who did he think he was? Did being the number one mystic give him the authority to control the rogue practitioners?
Adding to this was Lu HaiKong's previous actions during the dragon slaying incident, which left the rogue practitioners with a very negative impression of him. They saw him as bloody, brutal, and arrogant!
Although they cursed Lu HaiKong fiercely, they didn't actually do anything. On the one hand, Lu HaiKong's terrifying strength was undeniable, and on the other hand, after the Wanderer Decree was issued, the rogue practitioners seemed to have no choice but to comply.
The first Wanderer Decree stated, "Within Beifeng City, no form of fighting or killing is allowed. Those who engage in brawls will be expelled from the city, and those who kill will be relentlessly pursued until death!"
This decree was indeed domineering, but Beifeng City was Lu HaiKong's stronghold, and it was his decision to make such a law. At most, those who disagreed could simply avoid Beifeng City in the future.
Many rogue practitioners calmed down after seeing the content of this decree, as it didn't infringe upon their substantial interests. Let him issue the decree if he wanted to.
However, the rogue practitioners didn't pay much attention to this decree, but many mystics were closely watching Lu HaiKong.
They all knew that Lu HaiKong wouldn't do anything meaningless, so they kept a close eye on him, wanting to see what he was up to.
But what puzzled them was that Lu HaiKong only issued the decree and then did nothing else. They didn't see any further actions from him.
In fact, Lu HaiKong wasn't entirely inactive. His actions were just confined within Beifeng City.
After the decree was issued, it was evident that Lu HaiKong had significantly strengthened the security forces in Beifeng City. The security team also underwent changes. Previously, Lu HaiKong's army was responsible for the city's security, but now, in addition to the army, the Mystic Household under Lu HaiKong's command also joined the security forces.
Over the years, the Mystic Household gradually transformed its structure from a loose organization to a more disciplined and powerful one.
Gradually, the relationship between Lu HaiKong and the Mystic Household also changed from a cooperative employment relationship to one of superior and subordinate.
During this transformation, as Lu HaiKong's control and constraints over the Mystic Household increased, the rogue practitioners within the organization gained stability and some additional benefits.
Many of them settled down in Beifeng City, and some even got married, taking either a rogue practitioner or an NPC as their spouse. They started living in Beifeng City, and with a stable life and family, they could no longer be considered rogue practitioners. Having found stability, they naturally accepted a relatively peaceful life at the cost of their freedom.
Their presence not only improved the city's security but also attracted some rogue practitioners who yearned for stability.
It was clear that Lu HaiKong intended to create a city for rogue practitioners, but his actions were still limited for now. Although there were some results, they weren't particularly impressive, as rogue practitioners who valued stability were ultimately few.
Moreover, Lu HaiKong's Wanderer Decree had a purpose beyond just managing Beifeng City. In fact, the first decree was merely a stone thrown by Lu HaiKong to gauge the rogue practitioners' reaction to such a law.
The reaction to Lu HaiKong's decree was quite positive.
This further confirmed Lu HaiKong's view of rogue practitioners—they lacked a collective consciousness and could only see their own interests.
Although this discovery had no immediate use, in the future, Lu HaiKong could use it when issuing new Wanderer Decrees. As long as he controlled the scale well, Lu HaiKong could gradually create the Wanderer Decrees he wanted within his territory.
After returning, Lu HaiKong not only issued this Wanderer Decree but also had another focus—the wealth of the four prefecture aristocratic families.
This time, Lu HaiKong took advantage of the rogue practitioner uprising to eliminate fifty percent of the aristocratic families in the four prefectures. The amount of wealth confiscated was countless, and by the time Lu HaiKong returned, Wang Jun had already tallied it up.
This time, in addition to the land of the four prefecture aristocratic families, they also obtained around 500 million taels of gold. They also acquired enough food to feed Lu Hai Kong's troops for three years, along with the land belonging to the aristocratic families, as well as various calligraphy, paintings, and antiques. The gains from Lu Hai Kong's latest scheme were not much less than those from the grassland war, and they might even be greater.
Looking at the data, Lu Hai Kong's eyes almost turned red.
He had long known that the aristocratic families were wealthy, but he never expected them to be this rich. For a moment, Lu Hai Kong felt an urge to take over all the remaining aristocratic families in Bingzhou in one go.
Of course, this impulse was just an impulse. If Lu Hai Kong had any sense, he wouldn't dare to act on it.
The calls for his court-martial within the imperial court had already been high due to his previous actions. The aristocratic groups, led by the Yuan family, deeply despised Lu Hai Kong's behavior. If it weren't for Emperor Ling's favor towards Lu Hai Kong, his official hat would have been in jeopardy if someone else had carried out this deed.
If Lu Hai Kong dared to make another move at this time, he would likely have to face severe consequences, even with Emperor Ling's backing.
So, Lu Hai Kong remained rational and did not raise his butcher's knife again. Instead, he sent people to appease the aristocratic families in the four prefectures that had not been slaughtered, and even took good care of the collateral branches of the eliminated families, putting on an appearance of reform and self-improvement.
However, in Lu Hai Kong's eyes at this moment, the remaining aristocratic families in Bingzhou had become nothing more than money bags and grain sacks. Whenever Lu Hai Kong needed them, he could raise his butcher's knife.
Of course, without that knife, he couldn't raise it in the short term. But it didn't matter; the wealth obtained from the grassland war and the rogue uprising was already enough for Lu Hai Kong to indulge in a period of extravagance.
With this money in hand, Lu Hai Kong now had sufficient funds for both military construction and the development of Bingzhou.
Many of Lu Hai Kong's previous plans, which had been shelved due to a lack of funds, could now be put into action.
As Lu Hai Kong was gearing up for the dual development of his territory and military, on the other side, in Liangzhou, which could be considered Lu Hai Kong's neighboring region, Dong Zhuo's battle was also coming to an end.
In the 1619 version, there was no mistake!
In reality, the Qianghu rebellion in Dong Zhuo's territory should have ended much earlier. However, due to the involvement of the Mystic forces, Dong Zhuo's war became exceptionally challenging. It dragged on for half a year, and there were several instances where he almost got wiped out, especially in the middle of the war, when Dong Zhuo nearly got played.
Li Ru barely survived an assassination attempt, and most of his supplies were burned. At that time, Dong Zhuo's situation was at its lowest point. But he managed to grit his teeth and endure that low point.
Not only did he endure it, but Dong Zhuo also gained another top-notch strategist during that low point.
With Li Ru severely injured and on the verge of death, and with the rogues thinking that Dong Zhuo had lost his brain, they let their guard down and fell into a trap.
Under the schemes of a new strategist in Dong Zhuo's camp, tens of thousands of Qianghu troops were directly annihilated. When the rogues who had sided with Qianghu realized who the person standing behind Dong Zhuo was, they were utterly shocked.
After finally getting rid of Li Ru, Jia Xu appeared, eager to take his place.
There must have been an invisible hand behind this incident; otherwise, Jia Xu wouldn't have come forward to advise Dong Zhuo at this time.
But when Jia Xu stepped forward, whether there was a hidden hand behind this incident or who it was, became unimportant.
Once Jia Xu temporarily took Li Ru's place, Dong Zhuo's powerful legion began to operate.
With Lu Bu and Hua Xiong as their martial might and Jia Xu as their strategic mind, this army easily crushed the Qianghu rebellion.
Just as Lu Hai Kong and Niu Niu were returning to Beifeng, Dong Zhuo's troops also surrounded the last stronghold of the Qianghu forces. Once Dong Zhuo finished this battle, the Qianghu rebellion would essentially be over.
Dong Zhuo originally didn't think this final battle would be difficult.
But he didn't expect that when he led his soldiers to take on the last battle, the enemy was already dead!
Mysteriously, tens of thousands of Qianghu auxiliary troops were annihilated!
When Dong Zhuo arrived and saw the corpses all over the place, he himself felt a bit bewildered.
He hadn't even made a move yet, so how could the enemy be dead?
Out of curiosity and caution, Dong Zhuo sent people to investigate the Qianghu camp. Several thousand soldiers searched for an entire day but found no clues. Instead, they brought back a cart full of spoils of war for Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo didn't mind not finding anything. He casually picked a nice-looking knife from the spoils of war as his own and went to write a victory report...
(End of Chapter)
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