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Chapter 247 - 247: 160: Ulterior Motives_2

The formidable strength of the imperial court certainly boosted Lu Yuan’s confidence, but at the same time, it also exerted considerable pressure on him.

Neither the Poison Sect nor the imperial court were entities he could afford to provoke.

And the only way to maintain balance between these two and ensure he did not capsize was to bolster his own strength as much as possible.

There was no immediate way for Lu Yuan to enhance his personal martial prowess. However, he could still increase the size of his forces.

These days, the recruiters sent out by Lu Yuan have begun to yield results.

Firstly, it was naturally in Luyang Prefecture.

After a round of recruitment across the entire prefecture, Lu Yuan had obtained more than five hundred new soldiers.

The reason for such a low number was primarily due to the severe toll previous battles had taken. Furthermore, Lu Yuan had already conducted recruitment within his jurisdiction to form the county soldiers, resulting in a shortage of suitable soldiers.

The next were the soldiers from Hengyang and Changsha Prefectures to the north.

Although conditions in these two prefectures were slightly better than in Luyang Prefecture, the improvement was not significant. Hengyang Prefecture had drafted too many men into the militia in several recruitment drives, leaving not many adult men behind.

Changsha Prefecture had been in direct conflict with the Poison Sect, and the majority of its men had been conscripted into the county soldiers and militia. The recruiters sent by Lu Yuan couldn’t get much.

After all the hustle and bustle, Hengyang Prefecture only recruited more than two thousand men, and Changsha Prefecture just over a thousand. Including Luyang Prefecture, a total of just four thousand men had been recruited from the three prefectures.

This number was far from Lu Yuan’s goal of expanding his forces to fifteen thousand. It did not even reach one-third of the target.

Feeling helpless, and after Sun Siwen had advised him several times, he had no choice but to adjust his previous strategy and conduct recruitment among the prisoners of the Seven Star Sect in Linwu County.

Actually, aside from their affiliation with the Seven Star Sect in Linwu County, most of the prisoners were extremely suitable soldiers.

After all, their local customs respected martial arts, many of them had practiced martial arts since childhood and had decent boxing skills.

And these warriors were generally brave, not afraid of death when fighting with others.

However, people from Linwu County mainly practiced Jianghu martial arts and their habits were somewhat influenced by the local customs of Jianghu. To transform them into qualified elite soldiers, they needed proper training and discipline.

Lu Yuan didn’t find this too troublesome.

Disciplining soldiers in the barracks was very straightforward, primarily through rods and military laws. If these methods failed, then it would be a matter of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys by executing those who caused trouble, and the rest would naturally behave.

As for the influence of the Seven Star Sect.

Lu Yuan felt that the Sect Leader of the Seven Star Sect had already died, and the remaining high-ranking members and core figures he had banished were likely to have already left Yue Country.

Without these ringleaders, the remaining elements with associations to the Seven Star Sect were essentially a group in disarray and posed no threat.

Perhaps in a couple of years, the Seven Star Sect would simply become a memory in their minds, a forgotten entity tucked deep away.

So, Lu Yuan began to reorganize these prisoners, selected a thousand suitable soldiers, and then released the remaining four thousand unsuitable ones back to their local areas.

Sun Siwen had approached Lu Yuan several times during this period.

He reported that only old and weak men and women were left in Linwu County. Not only were they unable to revive local production, but they were also incapable of resisting the bandits and rogue soldiers scattered around the local area.

Many villages had already been attacked and looted by these rogue forces.

Local law and order in Linwu County could only be maintained by the five hundred county soldiers dispatched from the prefecture, greatly draining resources and energy from Fu City.

The need to form local militias for self-defence in Linwu County was urgent.

Releasing four thousand prisoners from Linwu County back to their homes should greatly alleviate local security issues.

After reorganizing the prisoners from Linwu County, the number of new soldiers recruited by Lu Yuan reached five thousand, just barely reaching one-third of his anticipated target.

However, Dongting Prefecture alone could not provide the remaining ten thousand people.

In order to fill the ranks, he would need tried recruiting troops from other jurisdictions.

The first choice that came to Lu Yuan’s mind, was Yuzhang Prefecture, his half-hometown.

Firstly, Yuzhang Prefecture was close to Luyang Prefecture, so recruiting soldiers there would be fast. It could be done in little over a month.

Secondly, Yuzhang Prefecture had been largely untouched by the wars of recent years. It had remained tranquil, with a well-preserved population.

There had been no losses; in fact, it had absorbed a fair number of refugees from other jurisdictions due to the war.

Recruiting soldiers from here should easily yield enough manpower.

Therefore, Lu Yuan dispatched officials and messengers, who carried his name and letters, to various prefectures and counties in Yuzhang Prefecture, asking local officials to assist in recruiting soldiers.

Given the great endeavor of suppressing the rebellion mandated by the court, and considering Lu Yuan’s identities as the Pingxi General and Marquis of Luyang, officials from various prefectures in Yuzhang could hardly refuse this request.

After all, if the Miao rebels in Dongting Prefecture were not suppressed, then once Lu Yuan fell, the next to face the brunt of the Miao thieves would be Yuzhang Prefecture.

Beyond the relationship of interests, even the most basic strategic implications should be clear to these officials.

They would not be too difficult on this matter.

Instead, after leaving Luyang Prefecture, he continued to the north and arrived at Changsha Prefecture. He then arrived at Liuyang County, the westernmost part of the prefecture, to meet with the commander of the anti-Miao operation, Wucheng Marquis Shangguan Ming..