38: Chapter 0038 The Empress's Husband

After painting a grand picture for the group of Border Army officers, Lin Xiao gave them one day to consider.

When he came out, the officers' expressions were excited; they were clearly tempted!

As far as Lin Xiao knew, the base-level soldiers of the Great Gan only earned 200 wen a month, while low-level officers at the rank of lieutenant earned 1,000 wen.

In terms of purchasing power, this was roughly equivalent to a monthly income of 3,000 and 15,000 in his hometown.

Even with a 50% increase, it wasn't actually that high; after all, in these chaotic times, the mortality rate for soldiers was too high.

He returned to the Prefects Mansion.

Lin Xiao headed straight for Official Lu Yang's room.

Outside, some of the female relatives of the Lu household were there, crying and wailing, demanding to see their master.

But with Qin He standing guard, these women dared not enter.

Lin Xiao took one look and thought, "Good grief! As expected of a Prefect of a prefecture, he actually has seven concubines!?"

"Commander, you've finally returned. They keep crying, it's noisy as hell!"

Qin He looked depressed; he would rather face the Barbarian Army than deal with these women and children.

Lin Xiao patted his buddy on the shoulder, looking equally helpless.

For a bunch of men, going into battle to kill the enemy was easy, but managing the backyard really required a woman.

He was now hoping that Xiao Qingxuan would arrive quickly; with her credentials as an Empress, she should be able to help with a lot of things.

After some intimidation from Lin Xiao, the women and children returned to their quarters and were forbidden from coming out.

After an hour of chaos, the mansion finally quieted down.

Although Official Lu Yang was dead, the news of his death could not be released yet. As long as he was "not dead," power would not be in a vacuum, and the subordinates would not fall into chaos.

In the middle of the night, Lord Su arrived in a hurry with the drafted announcement.

Lin Xiao took a look; it was mostly correct.

"Lord Su, have this announcement posted all over the prefecture overnight. Not just in Baishui, but also in the subordinate counties."

"I want everyone in Cangzhou Prefecture to know that Baishui Prefecture, under the administration of Prefect Lu, is loyal to the imperial court and loyal to His Majesty!"

Lord Su smiled bitterly: "Commander Lin, is this really a good idea? If you do this... Baishui Prefecture will become a thorn in the side of Prince Bai!"

"Indeed, but compared to being a dog for Prince Bai, I would rather stand tall as a human!"

Lin Xiao looked at the chubby Lord Su with an amused gaze: "Lord Su, you shouldn't be content with remaining obscure forever, right?"

Lord Su felt nervous. Strange, could this kid know my background?

It looked like Lin Xiao had big ambitions!

Whatever, if things go south, I'll just take my wife and daughter and run away!

Lord Su's thoughts turned, and he cupped his hands: "I will handle it right away!"

"Oh right, Lord Su, have the Fiscal Officer of the prefecture come over. I have something to ask him."

The Fiscal Officer was the one who managed the prefecture's finances.

Lord Su was stunned, but he didn't ask further and withdrew.

It was late at night, and the Baishui Prefecture Fiscal Officer, Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi, had already gone to sleep.

After all, he was old and couldn't stay up late.

But the bloody incident at the Prefects Mansion tonight was too shocking, so the old man couldn't sleep at all.

When Lord Su knocked on his door and he learned that the Commander Lin who had killed Liu and Zhao wanted to see him, Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi naturally dared not delay and hurried to the government office.

Lin Xiao sat in the main seat of the meeting hall behind the government office, watching the old man walk in.

[Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi, 52 years old, Baishui Prefecture Fiscal Officer, Aptitude: mortal grade]

Just after finishing with the Eye of God, a message popped up?

[Ding! The Eye of God has been used 100 times, meeting the requirements for advancement. Do you wish to advance?]

Lin Xiao was overjoyed; he had almost forgotten that the system's two basic skills could both be upgraded!

He hadn't expected the Eye of God to meet the requirements before the Killing Machine.

"Advance!"

[Ding! "Eye of God" successfully advanced!]

Lin Xiao noticed that the label "lv2" had appeared after the "Eye of God" skill.

Strange, it didn't specify exactly what had changed.

Lin Xiao simply took another look at the old man in front of him.

[Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi, 52 years old, Baishui Prefecture Fiscal Officer, Aptitude: mortal grade]

[Tags: Commerce, Finance]

Lin Xiao was confused.

"Little System, what does this 'Tag' mean?"

[System: The Tag function displays the character's highlight attributes, generally the fields in which this person excels.]

[Special Reminder: Tags are divided into four categories: "Ordinary," "Special," "Legendary," and "Unique." Currently, the level displays a maximum of 3 tags.]

Lin Xiao realized and tried looking at his own tags.

[Lin Xiao, 20 years old, Stone Fortress Border Army Commander, Aptitude: yellow grade]

[Tags: Chosen One (Legendary), Martial Arts Grandmaster (Legendary), Empress's Husband (Legendary)]

"Damn, I'm already a Martial Arts Grandmaster? No wonder killing these guys is like cutting melons and vegetables."

"That makes sense. How could a normal person cultivate hundreds of years of cultivation? It's about time I became a Martial Arts Grandmaster."

"Wait, does 'Empress's Husband' count as a tag!?"

Lin Xiao didn't know whether to laugh or cry; it was actually Legendary? What the hell is the use of this tag!?

Well... it was true that the Empress made him feel great.

"Lord Commander? Your subordinate Zheng Siqi pays his respects to you, my Lord!"

Seeing that Lin Xiao remained silent, the old man was somewhat anxious and uneasy.

Lin Xiao snapped back to reality and smiled: "Fiscal Officer Zheng, there is no need for such formalities."

He immediately had the servants serve tea to ease the old man's tension.

"Actually, it was Official Lu Yang who asked me to find you and inquire: how much silver is currently in our prefecture's treasury?"

"Official Lu Yang asked?"

Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi was confused: "The official should be aware of this; there is 3,000 taels left."

"Only 3,000!?"

The exchange rate of the Great Gan was 1 tael of gold equal to 3 taels of silver, which equaled 3,000 wen.

Lin Xiao had just made a rough estimate; to make up the soldiers' pay, he would need at least 50,000 taels of silver!

To be safe, maybe even 60,000 taels!

If he wanted to stabilize the morale of the army and make the soldiers stay and risk their lives for him, he definitely had to find a way to make up the military pay.

Actually, the simplest method was nothing more than killing a few local tyrants and gentry; those landlords were all wealthy.

But the problem was, once this method was used, it would ruin his reputation, and wealthy merchants would all avoid him in the future.

If the business environment deteriorated, the economy would severely regress.

As a descendant of five thousand years of civilization, Lin Xiao understood the importance of the rule of law.

Even if the rich were guilty, he couldn't just kill them; they had to be dealt with step by step according to the law.

Otherwise, killing the goose that lays the golden eggs would only lead to self-destruction.

It was just that... if he couldn't rely on robbing the local tyrants, he would have to think of another way.

"Fiscal Officer Zheng, is there any way to scrape together 60,000 taels of silver within a day?" Lin Xiao asked.

Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi was stunned: "Is the Commander thinking of... paying the military salaries for the Border Army?"

Lin Xiao silently praised him; the old man was quite clever.

"To tell you the truth, Official Lu Yang is very worried that Prince Bai's rebel army will attack, so the Border Army must be appeased."

Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi hesitated for a moment, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

"Speak freely!"

Lin Xiao could see that this old man really had some substance, he was just timid.

Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi finally stood up and bowed.

"Your subordinate dares to be bold; if you could persuade Official Lu Yang to lend out a portion of the silver from his private treasury... perhaps it could solve the urgent need!"

Lin Xiao was stunned: "Official Lu Yang's private treasury? How much money is in there?"

Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi smiled sheepishly: "This... I don't know, but it is certainly enough for the military pay."

As he spoke, Fiscal Officer Zheng Siqi tremblingly wiped away cold sweat.

Lin Xiao cursed internally.

As expected of the "loyal and patriotic" Official Lu Yang, if you don't die, who will!!