Are you crazy? Trying to trick him into military service? He's the number one dragon on the fro

"We have lived up to His Majesty's expectations!"

Upon hearing Wang Fu's words, the soldiers of the White Wolf Camp erupted in a surge of enthusiasm, cheering loudly.

Although they had never met Emperor Dehong in Hengdu, their encouragement and praise filled them with pride and a desire to sacrifice their lives for him.

Seeing this, Wang Fu was very satisfied and immediately brought everyone another piece of good news:

"His Majesty has watched the battle you fought at White Wolf Mountain closely, so in addition to rewarding the Marquis of Loyalty and Valor, everyone who participated in this battle will be rewarded!"

"Let me let you know in advance that the relevant rewards are on their way."

"Please don't be anxious, everyone!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers nearly erupted in cheers, shouting, roaring, and celebrating their joy.

Wang Fu smiled and, after speaking, gestured to Lu Xiao that he could announce the dismissal of the soldiers.

A short while later, Lu Xiao personally escorted the person to the south gate of the camp, and wanted to see them off further, but the other party refused:

"Lord Zhongyong, when I came here, I saw that there were quite a lot of people on one side of our White Wolf Camp. The liveliness was almost comparable to that of the market town in the county."

"These must be the soldiers' families, right?"

"Eunuch Wang has such discerning eyes!"

Lu Xiao nodded and explained that these people were originally refugees who came along because someone in their family had joined the army.

Changyang County was too small to accommodate them, so they had to settle down next to the camp.

Upon hearing this, Wang Fu pondered for a moment, then solemnly said:

"To maintain the fighting capacity of an army in the long run, it is far from enough for the Marquis to train the troops; a sufficient number of soldiers are also needed!"

"Although His Majesty has granted the Marquis the authority to act expediently, if the Marquis recruits soldiers in other places, it may cause friction with local officials, which will be another problem in the future."

"Now that Your Excellency's fiefdom comprises five hundred households, it would be inappropriate to drive these people away or relocate them to nearby towns. Why not use these people as a base to build another city?"

For a moment, Lu Xiao's heart was stirred, and amidst his excitement, he couldn't help but ask with concern:

"Eunuch Wang, isn't this behavior... a bit too arbitrary?"

Lu Xiao actually had the same idea.

But he knew very well that there were some things that guests couldn't take if the host didn't give them to them.

Emperor Dehong trusted him greatly, but in the end, the entire Great Zhou was someone else's backyard, and they could do whatever they wanted with it. But as a subject, he absolutely could not overstep his bounds!

Even if the two are fellow students in private, it won't work.

Wang Fu smiled gently at this:

"The Marquis truly deserves the titles of loyalty and bravery!"

"Please rest assured, my lord. Before I came here, His Majesty specifically instructed me that, apart from matters within the military, you also have the right to act expediently in other areas."

"After all, the more people gather here, the greater the help to the Marquis, and the more victories the Marquis can win for the Great Zhou!"

"Therefore, Your Excellency could easily establish another county here for easier administration!"

As soon as he said that, Lu Xiao knew what was going on.

He quickly said that he would do his best to prepare for the construction of the new county town before the officials sent by the imperial court arrived, at least to get a rough outline.

Unexpectedly, Wang Fu shook his head:

"If we wait for the court to send officials again, there will be many delays, which will be quite detrimental to the Marquis's command of the army."

"Since Your Excellency is particularly familiar with the situation here, why don't you personally select the chief official of the new county, and then send him to the capital along with the list of merits of the soldiers?"

After saying this, he bowed slightly to Lu Xiao amidst his delighted expression, telling him not to see him off any further, and then returned to the capital with the eunuch.

At this moment, Lu Xiao could not contain his excitement.

Since returning from the capital, he has been recruiting soldiers and expanding outposts into large camps. While he has the special right to act expediently, he faces more pressure from the Hu people.

At the same time, this was also a simple test of Emperor Dehong and Prime Minister Zhou, to see how much tolerance they had for him.

With the marquisate secured, Lu Xiao understood that Emperor Dehong and Prime Minister Zhou fully supported his decision to go ahead and do whatever he wanted, as long as nothing major happened.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have let him choose the county magistrate directly.

After much deliberation, Lu Xiao decided on a candidate for county magistrate and excitedly left the camp to head home.

Seeing Fan Changrui turning over the soil alone, he couldn't help but ask out of curiosity:

"My lady, what are you doing...?"

"Getting ready to plant vegetables, and also to improve my physical fitness."

Fan Changrui turned around upon hearing the sound, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and smiled:

"After this battle, I suddenly realized that although we are women, we cannot accept our husbands' protection without a clear conscience. When necessary, we also need to have some strength to protect ourselves."

"My lord, this place is adjacent to the Northern Hu, and the burden of the entire army rests on your shoulders. To put it bluntly, who knows, after you lead the troops out to war one day, the clever Hu people might come and launch a sneak attack."

"Even when my husband is away, I can set an example for the soldiers who remain, so that we can preserve the foundation he laid!"

After saying that, she asked in return:

"Why did you come home, my husband? Was everything alright at the camp?"

Ever since she personally took up arms to boost morale last time, Fan Changrui had harbored these thoughts in her mind. Since Lu Xiao didn't say much after finding out, she decided not to hide them from him anymore.

The stronger her ability to protect herself, the more at ease Lu Xiao can be when he is fighting on the front lines.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiao smiled and said:

"I was just about to discuss something incredibly important with my brother. I thought he was at home, but he just came back."

Fan Changrui smiled, realizing that her brother's decision back then was absolutely correct, and casually said:

"Yesterday, a batch of goods arrived at the market in the west, which was spontaneously formed by the local people. My husband saw that there was quite a lot of it, so he went to check it himself. He was really busy."

"It depends... we should be back in a little over an hour."

"I could hear you talking about it from across the courtyard gate."

Just then, Fan Changxin walked in laughing, plopped down on a wooden stool in the courtyard, and wiped his sweat.

"The people here are living better and better lives; I'm almost too busy to keep up with them."

"Brother-in-law, what brings you here?"

Seeing that he, as the head of the family, only needed to give orders in the county town, but had to do everything personally here, Lu Xiao couldn't help but feel warm inside.

After all, they did these things for him.

Coming to his senses, he smiled and walked forward:

"Brother, the imperial court plans to establish a separate county here, separate from Changyang County, which will create many more official positions."

"I intend to appoint my elder brother as the magistrate of the new county."

Fan Changxin had just picked up his cup to drink tea when he suddenly heard these words and was so shocked that he spat out the tea.

He stared wide-eyed at Lu Xiao:

"What?"

"You want me to be the county magistrate?"