Starting as a centurion, he fought his way through the chaos of the world.

Chapter 23 Plan
When Lu Ming returned to the Thousand Households Office, the soldiers had already begun to move around freely. After escorting Li Xirou to the house in the backyard, he went to the front hall. In the few days since he left Fenglei Town, the things that were originally from the Hundred Households Office had already been moved here.

The maidservants also entered the garrison.

Behind him was where his family lived, and in front were the soldiers of the garrison. Now, Lu Ming felt completely safe.

In particular, when ten armor-piercing crossbows were placed on the crenellations of the courtyard wall and on the arrow tower.

Unless a Blood Transformation Realm expert attacks, he can hold off even thousands of people.

"grown ups!"

As soon as they arrived at the front hall, Wang Han and Zheng Yong came over and greeted them.

They are now considered the backbone of the thousand-household garrison.

"Well, no need for formalities. Tell me about your brothers' cultivation progress!"

Lu Ming picked up his teacup and took a sip.

His expression was extremely calm.

"Sir, our brothers are truly remarkable. After practicing the techniques you taught us, more than two hundred of them have reached the Body Tempering Realm in just a few days, and many others are showing signs of breaking through!"

Zheng Yong rubbed his hands together excitedly.

Such a configuration is considered elite even among border troops.

Upon hearing the report, Lu Ming put down his teacup. "Now that the Thousand Household Office has been established, it's no longer the makeshift operation it used to be. Today, besides checking on the brothers' cultivation levels, we also need to establish regulations for their provisions and pay. The imperial court won't provide any, so I'll cover all the expenses."

Zheng Yong, Wang Han, Zhang Meng, and Sun Tian will each lead one hundred men, with each receiving a monthly salary of thirty taels of silver. The remaining brothers will each receive five taels of silver per month.

Those who break through to the Body Tempering Realm will receive six taels of silver per month. Tell them that in this place, the stronger you are, the more you will receive. Those who break through to the mid-stage of Body Tempering will receive ten taels of silver per month!

As for the other centurion positions, we'll see how they perform. Whoever breaks through to the Bone Forging Realm first will be promoted to centurion.

"Yes, my lord!"

After exchanging a glance, Wang Han and Zheng Yong understood that their lives now belonged to the centurion before them.

Then, Lu Ming looked at Wang Han and asked, "Did you manage to get the doctor I asked you to before you left?"

Lu Ming originally wanted to go to the prefectural city to find a suitable doctor to brew the body-tempering soup at the Thousand Household Office, but he couldn't find a suitable one in the end. However, he had made two preparations.

He instructed Wang Han to find a doctor in Fenglei Town to serve in the Thousand Household Office.

Anyway, the recipe for the body-tempering soup is readily available; anyone who understands pharmacology should be able to brew it.

"We've found him. His surname is Tian. He's a doctor in a village down below. He has no family and is willing to stay in the army year-round."

"Bring him here so I can take a look!" Lu Ming said with a smile.

Without hesitation, Wang Han immediately stepped back and returned a moment later with a dark-skinned middle-aged man.

He was not tall, his face was dark, and he was somewhat hunched over.

No wonder he's still single at his age; he really is quite unattractive.

"This humble servant, Tian Fu, greets Your Excellency!"

The doctor knelt down on the ground as soon as he saw Lu Ming.

"Alright, no need for formalities. From now on, we'll be brothers working together in the same pot. Look at this recipe. If we were to supply over a thousand brothers with this every three days, how much silver would it cost to brew it ourselves?"

As he spoke, Lu Ming handed over the order form.

Medicine is indispensable for rapidly improving the strength of an army.

Given the current conditions, forget about the Body Tempering Pill, but we can still give the Body Tempering Soup a try.

"Sir, these medicinal herbs are available in the Zhou family's mountain area. You can buy them directly. If all the brothers over a thousand need them, we'll probably have to boil a hundred catties each time. I've calculated that the price will be around a thousand taels of silver." "Hiss!" Lu Ming gasped inwardly. No wonder they say training elites is expensive. A thousand taels for three days, that's ten thousand taels of silver a month. And this is just for a thousand people. It costs more than their salaries.

Add in the armor and weapons, and it's practically a money-devouring beast; no wonder ordinary people can't afford to support an army!

The elite troops in the land are only in the hands of the royal family and a few generals born into noble families.

However, Lu Ming still gritted his teeth and said, "I will talk to the Zhou family head about the medicinal herbs tomorrow and guarantee that they will be delivered to you. The herbs will be ready to cook tomorrow."

At this moment, Lu Ming realized that he really didn't have enough money to spend.

They simply can't last more than a few months.

Thinking of this, he raised his head and shouted into the distance, "Zhang Meng, come here!"

"Alright, sir!" The other person ran over with a grin.

Actually, Lu Ming was already there when he entered the hall, but since the other party didn't call him, he didn't dare to go forward.

"I asked you to take the accountant's report on the Zhang family's assets. Did you do it?"

"Everything has been arranged, sir. Their family owns 12,000 mu of land and 123 shops in Fenglei Town, including three brothels, five gambling dens, and twelve grain shops. The rest of the shops are rented out. If converted into silver each year, they can earn about 30,000 taels."

We haven't touched any of the shop owners running these businesses; they're all back in operation.

“That’s right, but what about the taxes paid by merchants in different regions?” Lu Ming hadn’t forgotten about that.

“The monthly tax revenue should be between five and six thousand taels!” Zhang Meng said hurriedly.

Lu Ming was very satisfied; with these tax revenues, he now had the money to support the army.

As for the Zhang family's businesses, the money they've acquired could certainly be used to make some plans.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "I remember that each thousand-household unit has a quota for strongmen. The world is not good now, otherwise, how about we recruit some more strongmen?"

Despite the current shortage of funds, Lu Ming still decided to continue recruiting.

Money can be earned back, but in this chaotic world, the most dangerous thing is to find that when you need people, there are no one willing to risk their lives for you.

If all else fails, we can wait until there are more people and then think of other solutions.

In this world, as long as you have connections, you won't lack money.

The strongmen were considered unofficial personnel of the local hundred-household and thousand-household garrisons. The imperial court did not stipulate a specific number; if you had money, you could recruit as many as you wanted.

However, a typical 100-household unit would be lucky to have half its personnel; how could it possibly recruit more?

"My lord, this is indeed a good idea. I have been inquiring these past few days and I have learned that there are nearly 100,000 bandits hiding in our Black Mountain. The largest of them is the Black Mountain Army, and there are also quite a few people in other mountain strongholds."

"Fenglei Town is right next to Black Mountain. If we don't have enough manpower, we'll be like meat on a chopping board," Wang Han said in a muffled voice.

Lu Ming nodded. "Then let's recruit some strongmen. They can train with our Thousand Households. They'll pay three taels of silver a month. We'll recruit a thousand people. They can practice martial arts. We'll skip the body-tempering soup."

However, I told them that as long as they break through to the Body Tempering Realm, they can officially join the Thousand Household Office. Also, I need young people, between eighteen and twenty years old. If there aren't enough in the town, we'll recruit from the villages below!
Zheng Yong will take responsibility for this matter!

"Yes, sir!" Zheng Yong quickly stepped forward and replied.

At this moment, Lu Ming also nodded.

He waved to signal them to go about their business.

If the tasks assigned by me can be accomplished, the strength of the Thousand Households Office will surely be further enhanced.

Then, he returned to the backyard and opened the shop to see what kind of armor would be best for the Mo Dao soldiers.

After all, for such heavy infantry, armor is one of the most important things.

(End of this chapter)