Jun Muzhu's First Move

No time to waste, the mountain pass bustled with activity the next day.

The mountain pass stretched about three miles wide. Building a city wall with just a few hundred people in a short time would be like chasing a rainbow.

Xiao Shaoyou and Han Shuo suggested starting by cutting down sturdy pine trees from Heqi Mountain to build a wooden wall, similar to a military camp's perimeter fence.

With a wooden wall in place, they'd have some basic defense, then they could gradually build a proper city wall. Luo Yu immediately agreed with this approach. The young men handled the logging, transportation, and post setting, while the elderly, women, and children took care of laundry, cooking, and crafting. Everyone was busy, working with great enthusiasm.

As Luo Yu put it, they were building their own home, so everyone naturally put their heart into it.

The city construction had barely begun when Luo Yu sought out Xiao Shaoyou and Han Shuo.

"I have a question that's been bothering me. Since I'm nominally the city lord now, and all these people are under my command, how do I feed them all? Food and drink cost money, right? We need some income. Where does the income for Changqi City come from?"

Back at Yunyang Pass, they at least had military rations and pay from higher-ups. But now, with so many mouths to feed, all the silver was coming out of Luo Yu's pocket, and it was flowing out faster than he could count. He was starting to panic.

"You don't know this? Then why are you the city lord?"

Xiao Shaoyou and Han Shuo were shocked. To them, Luo Yu was just a big idiot. Luo Yu felt extremely embarrassed and snapped:

"I told you, I came from the mountains. I don't know anything. Just tell me!"

Only then did Xiao Shaoyou explain:

"The simplest source of income is taxes. Taxes from the peasants' fields and merchants' trade in our jurisdiction are our sources of income."

"The taxes belong to us? We don't have to hand them over to the imperial court?"

"Technically, we should hand them over."

Han Shuo gave a look that anyone could understand: "But how many regional warlords or regional governors actually hand over their taxes? They all keep it for themselves, and the court doesn't dare to say anything. Even if they do have to hand it over, it's to powerful local clans seeking their protection."

Luo Yu understood. So-called taxes were essentially protection money. The big fish ate the small fish, the small fish ate the shrimp. In simple terms, whoever had the strength had more ways to make money.

Only then did he realize why the central court had weakened and no longer cared about the lives of border residents. Since you don't hand over a single copper coin to the court, why should they send troops and grain to help you defend against enemies? It's just a show.

"Then this matter is easy to handle."

Luo Yu smiled:

"Jun Muzhu said there are seven or eight villages nearby that belong to Changqi City's jurisdiction. Now that Changqi is our territory, does that mean I can collect taxes from those villages?"

"Exactly!"

"Ha ha, great. Then we have some income."

The stone in Luo Yu's heart finally lifted:

"Brother Han, please take people out to visit those villages and tell them that Changqi City has a new owner. We need to collect some taxes. Silver or grain, we need to solve our immediate needs!"

"Got it!"

...

Two days passed, and Han Shuo finally returned with his tax collection team.

"How did it go? Did you collect any field taxes?"

Luo Yu scanned the group and noticed their expressions weren't good, immediately realizing something was wrong.

"No."

Han Shuo replied awkwardly:

"We visited all seven or eight nearby villages. Each village basically has a large landlord who owns all the land. We went door to door, but we didn't collect a single grain of rice or a single copper coin."

"How is that possible?"

Xiao Shaoyou frowned immediately:

"Collecting taxes from peasants in our jurisdiction is a given for the city lord. And you went with soldiers. Could they really refuse to pay taxes?"

"It's not that they're unwilling to pay."

Han Shuo smiled bitterly:

"They said that someone from the Jun family came five days ago."

"Someone from the Jun family came? For what?"

"The Jun family collected three months' worth of field taxes in advance, so they can't pay taxes to us again."

"What?"

Luo Yu's eyes turned cold.

Five days ago, that was before he arrived at Sanqi Mountain.

So Jun Muzhu handed over Changqi City to him, then immediately sent people to collect the taxes. Was he supposed to go to the Jun family to reclaim the taxes?

"These small villages' field taxes aren't worth much to the Jun family."

Xiao Shaoyou said gravely:

"Jun Muzhu is deliberately doing this, trying to force us into a corner."

"Hmph, thinking that such tactics will force me to join the Jun family? You're underestimating me."

Luo Yu smiled coldly:

"Let's go. We need to figure out how to deal with this!"

...

Yunyang Pass, Jun Family Camp

Jun Muzhu casually flipped through an ancient book, with the elderly butler respectfully serving by his side.

"Should he have reached Sanqi Mountain by now?"

"He's there."

Having served Jun Muzhu for so many years, the old butler naturally knew who "he" was.

"How did things go with what I asked you to do?"

The old butler said softly:

"All the villages in our jurisdiction have been paid three months' worth of taxes in advance. And we've already told them that if Luo Yu tries to collect taxes forcefully, they should mention the Jun family's name and tell him to come to us with any problems. In short, don't give him a single grain of rice for three months.

You can rest assured, young master."

"Excellent."

Jun Muzhu put down his book and stretched lazily:

"I did some calculations. He's been in the military for two months, and his reward silver from military achievements is probably down to about two hundred taels. He didn't take much grain when he left.

With over four hundred soldiers and civilians, so many mouths to feed, two hundred taels would only buy enough grain for a month.

Without collecting taxes, what will he do after a month?

To avoid starving, he'll have to come to me."

"Master, there's something I don't understand."

After much hesitation, the old butler finally asked:

"You said you didn't want to force someone, so you gave him three options. You said forcing things isn't good. But now we're using these methods to force him to join the Jun family. Isn't that still forcing him?"

"No, no, no, those are two different things."

Jun Muzhu smiled:

"I gave him three options to choose freely. First, I didn't want to force him to join the Jun family, and second, I wanted to see what kind of aspirations this person had.

His choice to be a city lord shows that he's a smart person, someone with pride. He believes he has the ability and intelligence, unwilling to serve under others.

Making things difficult for him, openly and secretly tripping him up, is actually this young master testing his wits against him. I believe he understands. Cutting off his food supply is my first move. I make a move, he counters it.

The day he can't counter my moves is the day he loses.

When he realizes he's not as good as me, won't he willingly join the Jun family?"

"Young master is truly a genius."

The old butler chuckled: "This is what's called winning through psychological warfare."

"You're right, hehe. Let's pack up and head home."

Jun Muzhu smiled:

"By the time we get back to Dingzhou, he'll probably be out of food. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how he'll feed his people.

If he can't get through this, then I must have misjudged him."