New and dark light years

Chapter 360 Army Expansion
The Tree Fairy is getting stronger and stronger!
Yulin County is about ten miles away from here, and she was able to flick her tail over from that distance. That's really impressive.

Li Lin immediately turned his horse around and ran away. He knew he had heard something he shouldn't have. What if the Tree Fairy wanted to silence him?
Fortunately, he rode his horse at full speed for more than ten miles without being whipped by a big tail, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

The Tree Fairy Goddess still cares about me.

Li Lin was secretly delighted.

He spent two days riding a horse from Yulin County to Tianjin.

At night, as long as it doesn't rain, he dares to find a secluded spot near the official road, scatter small paper figures as guards, and then lie down on the grass to rest.

There were no strange creatures to be seen around; they had all been driven away by Liu Shen.

It must be said that she is very responsible in her work.

Even at night, Li Lin could occasionally see her figure flying over the official road.

This is clearly an inspection.

Upon arriving in Jin County, Li Lin did not go to the county government office, but went directly to the Huang residence.

Upon seeing him, the gatekeeper immediately opened the door and said, "Young master, the master said that as long as you come, you can go directly to the backyard. I will arrange for someone to go to the government office to inform the master that you have arrived."

Li Lin nodded and walked naturally towards the backyard.

The servants along the way bowed respectfully to him when they saw him.

After passing through the fourth moon archway and approaching the backyard, Li Lin suddenly heard a woman's laughter.

He looked over curiously.

Generally speaking, a woman who dares to be so happy and make such loud noises in a house is usually the owner.

But the eldest daughter-in-law of the Huang family returned to the capital with her daughter, while Huang Qing was still at home. There was no mistress left in the Huang family.

When Li Lin saw the person, he discovered that it was a glamorous woman sitting on a swing among the flowers and plants on the left, swinging back and forth.

Just as Li Lin looked over, the woman also looked over.

Their eyes met.

Woman smiles.

Li Lin then withdrew his gaze and walked straight to the backyard.

He sat down on a stone chair in the backyard.

Not long after, a maid brought tea.

Li Lin asked, "Just now I saw a woman I've never seen before near the fourth gate. What is her identity?"

"Reporting to the son-in-law, that is the master's newly acquired concubine."

Li Lin nodded and said nothing more.

He waited for about half an hour before Huang Yan finally returned.

"My dear son-in-law, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Huang Yan sat down and said with a smile, "You didn't go to the government office to find me, but came to my house instead. I suppose you have some private matters to discuss with me."

At this moment, Huang Yan had a beaming smile on his face and didn't seem nervous at all.

Li Lin asked curiously, "Does Mount Tai not know what happened in the capital?"

"What is it?" Huang Yan's expression immediately turned serious.

Li Lin recounted what Jiang Jili had told him.

Then he said, "It's obvious that the Huang family in the capital is in trouble, but you haven't received any news about it. That's not right."

Huang Yan's face darkened, and he said, "Fortunately, my son-in-law is here. I really didn't know about this."

At this point, both of them realized that things seemed to be getting a bit complicated.

Li Lin said, "Of course, I can't guarantee that this is definitely true."

Huang Yan waved his hand: "The Jiang family's reputation is still good. Wait here for a moment, I'll go check and come back."

Li Lin nodded.

Then Huang Yan left.

After a while, Li Lin faintly heard a woman screaming and crying in the front yard, but it stopped quickly.

It was fortunate that Li Lin had cultivated spiritual energy, making him sharp-eared and sharp-eyed; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to hear it.

After a while, Huang Yan returned with a strange expression. He said, "It seems there's no major problem. The capital did send me a message, but the woman actually hid the message sent by carrier pigeon."

They've hidden themselves?

Li Lin looked incredulous.

Then he realized: "The new concubine?"

"You saw her just now?"

Li Lin nodded, then asked, "Was she sent by the enemy?"

Huang Yan shook his head and sighed, "She felt that if I took care of this matter, I would have less time to spend with her, so she hid the note and planned to give it to me in a few days."

Arrogance stemming from favor?

Li Lin shook his head helplessly.

He couldn't understand what this woman was thinking!

Completely confused.

Huang Yan continued, "I have a general idea of ​​what happened. It's thanks to you that you came; otherwise, I would have had to wait several days to find out. If I had waited until then to make a decision, it would have taken several more days for the news to reach the capital, and it might have been too late."

"Taishan, I'll head back now. I still have some things to take care of in Yulin County."

"Wait, why are you giving the credit for the Blue Scale True Monarch Temple to the Jiang family?"

Li Lin replied, "I have no intention of pursuing a career in civil service."

"Being a military officer isn't easy," Huang Yan sighed.

"But it is a talisman during times of great chaos."

Huang Yan closed his eyes and pondered for a moment before asking, "Do you have any plans to expand your army?"

"Have."

“Then I will entrust you with a portion of the tax revenue from Jin County,” Huang Yan said.

Li Lin's eyes widened. He did hope to receive some tax revenue, but he didn't know how to ask. He didn't expect Huang Yan to send the money over directly.

"Won't this affect... Taishan's achievements in the court?" Huang Yan laughed and said, "It's always good to have more options. Besides... isn't it normal for civil officials to be greedy? If I embezzle this money and send it to you, the people above will just think I'm complicit and know the rules. They won't think anything of it."

"Not using official accounts?"

"Don't go!"

Li Lin hissed; he understood what the other person meant.

"Thank you for your care, Taishan."

Huang Yan waved his hand: "If one day something happens to the Huang family in the capital, you should try your best to protect the bloodline of my Huang family, especially Ying'er."

"What about the brother-in-law?"

Huang Yan smiled and said, "When he decided to follow Prince Lu, the family had already separated."

Li Lin was somewhat impressed; these powerful families seemed to know a great deal about risk avoidance.

After chatting for a while, Li Lin took his leave. When he walked to the front yard, he saw the woman who had been swinging on the swing earlier, Huang Yan's new concubine, kneeling in front of the study with her hair disheveled.

Li Lin shook his head. He really couldn't understand why some women couldn't distinguish between what was important and what wasn't.

After leaving the Huang residence, Li Lin went straight to the Huang army camp and summoned four military commanders.

None of the four were always in the main camp, so after waiting for most of the day, they all gathered in Li Lin's command tent.

Li Lin sat on the large chair, his gaze sweeping across the room.

Both Mu Tianen and Ji Bo looked perfectly normal.

Guo Yuan's face was flushed, clearly not yet fully recovered from being drunk.

Zhang Qi also looked sleepy.

After the four men bowed, Li Lin said, "I plan to expand the army."

Upon hearing this, the eyes of all four men lit up.

Guo Yuan, in particular, seemed to be emboldened by alcohol as he shouted, "Chief Commander, is it true?"

“Of course it’s true,” Li Lin said with a smile. “On such an important occasion, we can’t just say anything carelessly.”

The four of them became excited upon hearing the affirmative answer.

To be honest, a prefecture's army should normally have more than 30,000 men, but Jin County only has a little over 10,000, which is indeed too few.

Of course, this also has something to do with the local area.

For example, 'can't afford to raise them'.

The former prefect of Jin County could not afford to support so many soldiers, but the current prefect, Huang Yan, can.

There are big differences between people.

"The maximum number of soldiers in each prefecture is 40,000, and I intend to recruit the full number."

The four men were even more excited, which meant that each of them could lead 10,000 soldiers.

What a concept!
"But as you can see, the current camp simply can't hold so many people," Li Lin said with a smile. "After some time, once the money and provisions arrive, you can expand the camp and gradually recruit more people."

The four of them nodded.

This is easy to handle. The Fujun (military garrison) is good at farming and fighting. It's just that after Li Lin came and gave them more money and food, the Fujun no longer needed to farm.

But he hasn't given up his old profession.

Guo Yuan asked, "Chief Supervisor, what is the approximate age range for recruits?"

"Fifteen to twenty-five, I guess," Li Lin said after thinking for a moment.

Guo Yuan clasped his hands and said, "This humble official thinks that the age limit can be relaxed to thirty. After all, there are still too few young and strong men under the age of twenty-five. If the age limit is thirty, we should be able to fill the positions within six months."

Li Lin nodded and said, "Alright, I'll leave this to you. I'll be reviewing the troops on the battlefield in six months, so make sure there are no mistakes."

Guo Yuan smiled and said, "Yes!"

"Alright, that's settled then." Li Lin stood up. "I'll come back in a while to check on your progress."

The four men respectfully escorted Li Lin out of the camp.

Li Lin then spent about two more days riding back to Yulin County.

As soon as they arrived at the county government office, a constable came up to them: "County Commandant, we've found the boy who escaped from prison."

"Oh?" Li Lin dismounted and asked curiously, "Where is he?"

"He's hiding in a wealthy merchant's house." The constable's face was extremely grim. "He's even taken that merchant hostage!"

Li Lin said, "Didn't you try to rescue the hostages?"

“We’ve tried. Several times at night, we tried to sneak in to rescue them, but the other side thwarted our plans with sorcery.” The head constable hesitated for a moment before saying, “Moreover, the villain was angered by this and injured several hostages. We dare not try to force our way in again.”

Li Lin nodded and asked, "How is the situation now?"

The constable said, "That villain said he wants you to go see him, otherwise he'll start killing people in two days."

"Let's go take a look then." Li Lin sighed, "We just got back, and we haven't even changed our clothes yet."

He grumbled and asked the constable to lead the way.

Half an incense stick later, he followed the head constable to a four-courtyard house.

There were many people watching the play around them, and when they saw Li Lin arrive, many of them took the initiative to bow and greet him.

Li Lin returned the greeting by bowing to the left and right, then looked ahead.

This is the 'Bai Mansion', a well-known grain merchant in Yulin County.

Master Bai was known for his fair dealings in business, which earned him a good reputation.

At this moment, several constables pushed open the gate. Li Lin looked inside, exclaimed "Eh?" and said, "No wonder you were discovered when you rescued people at night; there's a formation set up here."

In Li Lin's line of sight, he saw several command flags, stuck among the flowers and plants, extremely inconspicuous.

But it created a very special aura.

The internal airflow becomes turbulent.

Ordinary people can't see it at all; only Li Lin's foundation-building method, which is very sensitive to disturbances in the Qi mechanism, can detect it.

“Shout inside and say that I’ve arrived, and tell Du Fei to come out and see me.”

(End of this chapter)