Chapter 278: Le's Declaration of Emperorship (5)
Le Yi looked at Lu Yi.
Lu Yi looked at Le Yi.
Le Yi suddenly asked: "Where is it outside the city? What is it?"
Lu Yi looked at Le Yi coldly, bowed to him, and then pointed to the door casually: "Forget it, since Master Le Yi is such a person... Le Huo can't afford him, please go! Lezhou City is so big, and the Le family is so big. I think with the money in my hands, it won't be difficult to find a direct descendant of the Le family who treats people sincerely."
Le Yi stared at Lu Yi for a while, then burst into laughter.
He sat back in his seat, lifted the front of his robe, crossed his legs, and swung the front of his robe heavily in a self-proclaimed coolness, making a loud "snap" sound.
"I understand. Brother Le Huo, you are still scared." Le Yi smiled and nodded: "But I can understand. I have heard about the Jizhou City tragedy, but the murderer has not yet been determined."
"Brother Le Huo narrowly escaped death and traveled thousands of miles to come to my Lezhou City. It is only right for him to be on guard. I guess Brother Le Huo brought a lot of wealth from Jizhou?" Le Yi tilted his head and asked Lu Yi. He hurriedly explained: "I am not coveting Brother Le Huo's wealth. I just want to get a general idea of it so that I can make preparations for my future plans."
Lu Yi looked at the serious Le Yi and sneered in his heart.
Come on, yesterday's Le De was still a dandy who understood things a little, but this Le Yi, he pretended to do so many tricks, using words to trick Lu Yi into being a "palace guardian", and letting this middle-aged man feel Lu Yi's bones and pulse, these were all useless tricks.
Le De just wanted to get some pocket money from Lu Yi to spend.
As for Le Yi... he must have other motives for using such crude means to test and intimidate.
But, this matter was handled a little roughly.
It is understandable, after all, Le Yi is the descendant of the Le family who stayed in Lezhou City. The truly outstanding descendants of the Le family, such as Le Shan, Le Shui and others, are all following Le Wu and are valued. They have long been placed in important positions in the Imperial Guards and the Five Military Offices.
Therefore, Le Yi was just an ordinary child left by the Le family in Lezhou City. He was not outstanding in terms of qualifications, talents, abilities, and personality. You can't expect such an ordinary child to have any great abilities.
To be able to perform like he did just now, to bluff Lu Yi, and then let this middle-aged man pretend to exert some pressure on him, was already the limit of his ability.
Lu Yi snorted coldly and pretended to be reluctant. After hesitating for a while, he still made a cooperative gesture and said hesitantly, "I left in a hurry, so I brought some cash with me, but most of it is jewels and rare treasures from the family's treasure house... The value is also considerable..."
Lu Yi coughed lightly and said, "There are a few trusted elders who are staying outside the city to guard these things. This is related to the foundation of my future life, and I absolutely cannot leave."
Sighing softly, Lu Yi shook his head and said, "Manpower is tight. After all, few people escaped from Jizhou City alive, right? Therefore, I, the legitimate son of the Le family, can only go into the city alone to set up business."
"But this is why I like Lezhou City... The rumors in the world are true. In Lezhou City, as long as you have enough money, there is nothing you can't do. Look at this house and these maids and servants, aren't they wonderful?"
Lu Yi pursed his lips and smiled.
Le Yi nodded with satisfaction. What Lu Fei said was quite reasonable.
He also felt that there would be no problem with this 'Lehuo'.
However, Le Wu suddenly returned from Haojing, and the elders of the clan gave some advice and warnings to all the young people of the Le family. The Le family is now in a very tense situation. Le Yi still pretended to be serious and tested Le Huo.
Now that it has been determined that there is no problem with 'Le Huo', then you can tell us your plan.
"Brother Le Huo, you said that you wanted to acquire the eighteen new bamboo towers as your property... I think that is inappropriate." Le Yi began to explain his purpose: "I have a great fortune here. It depends on whether you have the determination and luck to do so."
Lu Yi raised his eyebrows and said, "Great wealth? How do you say that? Could it be that the official positions in Lezhou City can be purchased with money just like the titles and positions in the court of Gaojing? If so, how much is the chief official of a district in Lezhou City worth?"
Le Yi waved his hands hastily: "No, no, the official positions in Lezhou City are all filled by talented people carefully selected by the elders of the clan. How can we young people have any say in this? The great wealth I mentioned, that is, Brother Le Huo, you have encountered a good opportunity."
Le Yi stood up, put his hands behind his back, and walked around the lobby. He first said a lot of nonsense like "the emperor is unjust and has brought disaster to the country and the people."
Then, Le Yi talked freely, and Lu Yi finally understood the real purpose of Le Yi's visit today.
Leshi!
They were a family of butchers who had been slaughtering dogs and selling meat in Gaojing City for generations. Their business was very big, and a large share of the Gaojing dog meat business was monopolized by the Le family, so they were quite wealthy.
The Le clan originally had only a thousand or so members.
However, after Le entered the palace, her status in the harem gradually increased, and the Le family also rose accordingly.
Especially after Le became the empress dowager and Le Wu became the general, the Le family began to expand frantically - the so-called expansion here does not refer to the expansion of territory, wealth, industry, or wealth, but the expansion of population.
Le Wu was a rough man. Based on his instinct as a street vendor, he understood the truth that "there is strength in numbers".
Therefore, after he became the general, he issued a regulation in the clan, requiring the male members of the Le family to do their best to have children - from young boys as young as thirteen or fourteen years old who are just able to have children to old people in their seventies or eighties who are still able to eat.
As long as the male members of the Le family were still able to breathe, they would be nursed back with the finest tonics. They would bring back concubines one after another to the mansion, who would give birth to sons for them one after another.
Even having children was considered by Le Wuding to be the foundation of a family. Every year, the Le family would select ten men who had made the most outstanding contributions to the reproduction of offspring that year and reward them with high amounts of money.
Under such family policies, from the time when Le Wudang became the general to the 19th year of Jiayou this year, the Le family, which originally had more than a thousand people, has rapidly expanded to around 200,000 people!
Among the more than 200,000 members of the Le clan, there are about 10,000 "adult" males over the age of 15 or 16, such as Le Yi and Le De.
This time, Le Wu brought a group of direct descendants from Haojing and fled back to Lezhou City, and conveyed the order directly to his clansmen.
The Le family’s private troops in these six states were preparing for war.
The private soldiers who have been trained for many years, together with the army that the Le family is preparing to expand, will all be handed over to the command of the direct elites such as Leshan and Leshui who have returned from Haojing.
As for the more than 10,000 "adult" males of the Le clan, they were either incorporated into private soldiers to fight in the wars, or they found ways to raise resources and train their own army in addition to the army organized by the Le clan.
"General, you are going to do something earth-shattering." Le Yi smiled at Lu Yi and said, "Once it is accomplished, the world will be changed, the mountains and rivers will be transformed, and the country and the people will all be in the hands of my Le family."
"However, although this country is great, my Le family has a large population. In the future, who will have a high status, who will have a low status, who will eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks, and who will eat coarse food and drool on the sidelines, all depends on the contributions made by everyone in the process."
Le Yi shook his head and said, "If we join the clan's private army and serve under Le Shan and Le Shui, even if we make achievements, the credit will be theirs."
Le Yi looked at Lu Yi and said casually, "So, I and a few brothers from the same family are planning to recruit soldiers and build a large army. When the general starts a rebellion, we will lead the army and cooperate with the general to fight in all directions."
"In this way, we will be rewarded for our achievements in the future... I am thinking that with the talents of me and my brothers, we will definitely be awarded the title of a prince... By then, we will own several states, enjoy mountains of gold and seas of silver, be surrounded by beautiful women, and indulge in wine and women. How happy will that be?"
Le Yi had a gloomy face and gritted his teeth as he said, "It's not like now, when the public treasury only gives me a hundred or so strings of cash a month for expenses."
Lu Yu curled his lips.
He wanted to swear.
Well, there are now more than 10,000 'adult' males in the Le family. Even if they are all like Le Yi, each of them only has a hundred or so strings of pocket money every month , so the expenditure this month is more than one million strings of pocket money!
Not to mention, what about the older elders in the clan?
What about the 200,000 young masters and young ladies who are not yet adults?
Tsk tsk…
Lu Yi nodded slowly: "So, what does Master Le Yi mean?"
Le Yi walked up to Lu Yi again and put his hands on his shoulders: "A good cook cannot cook without rice... We brothers are quite ambitious and confident that we can accomplish great things... However, to organize our own army, it costs money!"
Le Yi said in a deep voice: "We were just about to go around and raise funds, but unexpectedly, God sent you, Brother Le Huo, to me!"
Le Yi looked at Lu Yi with sharp eyes.
Lu Yi also looked at him with an embarrassed look - Lu Yi's heart was in turmoil at this moment, what a Le Wu, this is really... There are tens of thousands of adult males in the Le family. If they form a team of ten on average to raise funds and organize their own private army, they can also form thousands of teams.
A team, even if it only has 10,000 people...
What kind of military discipline can you expect from this temporarily assembled army?
That means more than a thousand bandits and robbers are running rampant!
However, there was one thing that Le Wu's order was correct - if these members of the Le clan could achieve great achievements and military exploits in this randomly organized army, and if Le Wu could eventually accomplish great things, then such members of the Le clan would definitely be reused!
Lu Yi pulled out a handful of deep red pigeon blood rubies from his sleeve and played with them.
Le Yi stared at the ruby in his hand and swallowed hard - this kind of top-grade pigeon blood ruby, with such large grains, each of which was as big as a quail egg, could be sold for at least 20,000 strings of cash at the auction in Lezhou City!
Lu Yi has big hands, and his palms are filled with at least twenty pigeon blood rubies!
This is enough to form a team of tens of thousands of people!
"As for money, I have no shortage of it." Lu Yi threw his handful of rubies onto the table beside him and clapped his hands vigorously. "But, I want a promise from Master Le Yi... When you achieve your goals in the future, I want a title that is only one level lower than the one you will eventually get ."
Lu Yi smiled and said, "If you are crowned as a king, I want the title of a lord!"
Le Yi patted Lu Yi's shoulder happily: "Deal!"
Then he quickly asked, "How much military funds can you give me? How much money can you give me?"
