I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 472 - 262: Two Months, The Lord’s Assassin

Chapter 472: Chapter 262: Two Months, The Lord’s Assassin

"They’ve already fought their way here; these past two months have indeed been tough," Gu Shanhai realized that Lord Wen’an and the two major families had been targeting Jiang Lu all along.

It wasn’t that Jiang Lu had a face inviting mockery; he had simply blocked their way.

In his past life, Jiang Lu could have organized local militias, and neither the aristocratic families nor Lord Wen’an would have minded, because the militias Jiang Lu assembled were just ordinary people. Even if they were well-trained, they were merely regular soldiers, posing no threat to their interests.

But in this life, the forces Jiang Lu had been preparing were not ordinary soldiers; they were true Daoist Soldiers, and these three powers could see at a glance how extraordinary they were.

So, within two months, even with Li Yu’s impeccable mediation, the training results barely reached half of what had been expected.

Then the rebels attacked.

Gu Shanhai had reason to suspect that it was the doing of the two great families within Wen’an City.

The families didn’t care about the court’s interests, obviously prioritizing their own, and Lord Wen’an had implicitly approved their actions, simply because he needed a political achievement.

As a newly appointed prefectural lord, he couldn’t showcase any remarkable achievements in such a short time.

But if he happened to suppress a rebellion, that would be an accomplishment, albeit a modest one, but still presentable.

As for why the two families were so keen on taking Jiang Lu down, it was naturally because there were too many Daoist Soldiers on the other side.

Due to Li Yu’s joining, they hadn’t been able to organize regular soldiers at all. The entirety of the Li family’s assets had been turned into five hundred Daoist Soldiers, each person managing a hundred soldiers for warfare.

It’s noted that within Wen’an Prefecture, the aristocratic families could only support a thousand Daoist Soldiers each. The current prefect, a man of considerable wealth, brought with him fifteen hundred Daoist Soldiers. Otherwise, the two major families would have shown Lord Wen’an their might.

Under the fist of Lord Wen’an, that might was sure to dissipate.

Now, a mere peasant, even if descended from the Royal Family, daring to have five hundred Daoist Soldiers, posed a sense of crisis to them.

If Jiang Lu were to accomplish something significant, he could become the third major family; how could they tolerate that?

"These two months’ experiences are sure to become valuable lessons for Jiang Lu and his men."

Once the five hundred Daoist Soldiers were formed, the two families started to restrain themselves, not daring to target them anymore.

They could mock as the opponent was making spears, but once the other side had spears, they didn’t dare anymore, for they’d be genuinely shot at.

However, their restraint did not mean giving up. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be rebels arriving in Wen’an Prefecture.

Although the rebels were bound to come eventually, under normal circumstances, it would not be at this particular time.

Fortunately for Lord Wen’an, he didn’t care who crushed the rebellion; his tacit agreement was that as long as someone suppressed the rebels and got him a piece of the credit, that would be enough.

Whether it was the two major families or Jiang Lu didn’t matter to him.

After Jiang Lu took the troops to suppress the rebellion, the current Lord Wen’an stood on the same side as Jiang Lu. As for the court’s troops, they were all under Lord Wen’an’s control; why would he be willing to sacrifice his soldiers when he could use Jiang Lu as a tool, merely supplying three days’ worth of rations.

The two major families luring the rebels could be ignored by him, but if they thought about stabbing Jiang Lu in the back, then Lord Wen’an would strike them mercilessly.

Firstly, if Jiang Lu failed, then a defeat would be registered under his name. Moreover, by aiding the rebels against the court, did they intend to rebel themselves?

Aiding the rebels against the court’s local militias today, would they aim to behead him as the prefect and surrender the city the next day?

However, if Jiang Lu won, it would be a different story, with two achievements in his hands. The first would naturally be the eradication of the rebels, which he might have to share with Jiang Lu, but that didn’t matter much to Lord Wen’an. The second achievement, however, was different, representing a successful education effort: having produced such a brave warrior showed he was a good prefect, and in times of crisis, there would be righteous individuals willing to help, in line with the policy of forming local militias.

Lord Wen’an also wasn’t concerned that Jiang Lu would become too powerful. After the rebellion, just assigning him the role of a County Magistrate would suffice.

Five hundred Daoist Soldiers? Jiang Lu would still have to support them financially. Now it seemed significant because of the court’s bonuses, but once peace was restored, those bonuses could financially cripple him. Even the aristocratic families within Wen’an City could only afford a thousand soldiers; how long could they sustain five hundred Daoist Soldiers after spending all their assets?

Thus, in Lord Wen’an’s eyes, they were but temporary tools, more utilitarian than his predecessor, not prone to impatience or prematurely discarding the used-up.

Gu Shanhai also guessed this point, so he wasn’t worried that the matter would fail.

Now it was the third day of Jiang Lu leading troops to suppress the rebellion, and Gu Shanhai truly understood why a group of rebels could exhaust even the entirety of Dalong, and its military leaders.

It was just too numerous; besides everything else, just in Cansang Village where he was located, the price of food had multiplied, and the current cost of grain was unaffordable for ordinary people.

Famine coupled with drought made the situation dire, and desperate people wouldn’t heed any rules.

A natural disaster alone might not unsettle Dalong, but an added human calamity significantly compounded the problem, stirring unrest within Cansang Village, where the eyes of the people were turning emerald with greed.

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