To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 839: Chapter 359: Chu Wei’s Inborn Abilities_2

Especially for Su Country, almost all the gold and silver obtained from attacking the Southwest Barbarians were given to Nanhai Country.

These vampires who speculate on grain prices, one by one, made a fortune, not knowing how fat they had become.

Furthermore, after a long period of recuperation, it has been nearly twenty years since Nanhai Country heard of any warfare within its borders.

Twenty years of peace created an unparalleled prosperity in Nanhai Country, which could almost rival that of Ning Country’s Jiangdong.

On such a fertile piece of land, who knows how many wealthy landlords and gentry were supported.

These people occupied over eighty percent of Nanhai Country’s wealth, and with another ten percent held by the Yan Family Royal Family, looting them would allow Chu State to gorge itself in one fell swoop.

Therefore, since the grand army entered the territory of Nanhai, the imperial outer agents previously planted there began to emerge one by one, as per Lu Yuan’s orders.

They took the lead, guiding the grand army according to a list already prepared, to attack and loot various manors and estates, exterminating families and harvesting money and grain.

Consequently, as the cold winter descended and snow covered the land, making it unsuitable for sieging, Qingyunzi, upon surrounding Nanhai City with the main forces, allowed the troops originally sent to attack the eastern part of Nanhai Country and the borderlands of Ning Country not to hurry back.

Instead, they coordinated with the imperial agents to scavenge money and grain locally, amassing military funds for the Chu army.

The commander of this detached army was Li Xiong; this man was originally a rebel and had, in order to raise military funds and aid his own Breakthrough of Innate, turned one of the richest prefectures in Xichuan, which could rank among the top three wealthiest, into the poorest one.

Clearly, his ability to extort money reached the pinnacle.

Although now with the constraints of Chu State, it was impossible to allow Li Xiong to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs and ruin South Sea Prefecture.

But even so, with him there, the increasingly unruly wealthy gentry and merchants of Nanhai over the years could experience for themselves what it meant for Heavenly Path to cycle and whom Providence had spared.

What they had consumed over the years, they would have to regurgitate, and along with their own share, thereby making a profit including principal and interest.

This task had been entrusted to Qingyunzi by Lu Yuan, who believed this Avatar, capable of understanding his intentions, would not disappoint.

And indeed, this was more or less the case.

So far, it’s only the initial plundering of various prefectures and counties in Nanhai, but the troops led by Li Xiong have already scraped together more than thirty million silver taels.

As the investigation deepens, the amount of silver is expected to rise to sixty or seventy million.

And this is not the limit.

Because a large amount of Nanhai Country’s wealth, along with its top nobility, had fled to the safest Nanhai City before the Great War erupted with their family’s savings.

If Nanhai City could be breached and the wealth of these nobles, the national treasury, and the royal family savings could be seized, the gains should be no less than those of the various prefectures and counties.

That is to say,

as long as Nanhai Country could be successfully looted, Chu State could at least earn a hundred million silver taels, gaining a massive amount of manpower, resources, and a grain-producing region.

With this conquest, even if the current scale of the war continued, Chu State could sustain for another three years.

The wealth of Nanhai is thus evident.

However, compared to the prosperous Nanhai Country, Su Country, which had always been mired in wars and turmoils over the years, was destitute.

The populace of this country was originally only a million, with scarce people and poor land.

Now, after the war, the population suffered hugely, dropping below the million mark.

Furthermore, with its approach of Impoverished Soldiers and Fierce Warriors, even the powerful clans and commoners were destitute, barely able to squeeze out any resources.

Therefore, the gains from conquering this place, except for the territory and population, were not much for the army led by Lan Cai’er.

Essentially, this battle was at a loss.

Fortunately, apart from Su Country, Song Country has been managed quite well by Xie Ning over the years, not only with a thriving population but also with sufficient reserves of money and grain.

If two prefectures of Song Country could be conquered, it should be enough to compensate for the military consumption of Lan Cai’er’s forces.

However, to attack Song Country, Yulin City must first be captured and Su Country eliminated.

But now, with the Great Cold of Heaven and Earth, large snowfalls even in Lingnan make it inconvenient for the army to move, no matter how urgent, they can only huddle in the camps built outside the city, shivering with the cold as they lay siege.

Only those selected for their superior martial arts, specifically to attack estates and loot money and grain, could ignore the snow and move about in this winter chill.

As the Northern Land fell into silence, the Lingnan Region at the south of The world grew more raucous and bloodier because of it.

And in this tranquility, with an undercurrent of undulations, the time quickly advanced to the early days of the second month of the eleventh year of Shenwu.

…

“Ha ha ha…”

On this day, deep within the estate district on the mid-mountain of Jiangxia City, a hearty and unrestrained laugh suddenly wafted and spread.

Such a commotion naturally attracted people’s attention swiftly.

Particularly because this estate district was specifically provided for the high officials and generals of Chu who came with the army, there were Soldiers patrolling and guarding the area.

Upon hearing the noise, the Soldiers quickly approached the source under the leadership of the Patrol Team Leader.

“This is… General Wei’s residence.”

“Is it General Wei laughing?”

“What has happened here? Is General Wei safe?”@@novelbin@@

The patrolling Soldiers arrived at the front gate and asked the personal guards stationed at the estate, resulting in confusion on both sides, as clearly neither was aware of the cause.