Chapter 354- Incentives and Penalties

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

After he sent away the various tribal leaders of the mountain barbarian tribes, Ouyang Shuo was ready to see his second batch of guests.

This batch had a more special identity.

They were the leaders of the various grassland tribes. Apart from Kehan Mengke, who could not personally come due to health reasons, the other seven medium-sized tribe leaders all arrived.

During New Year's Eve, the second division had ‘invited’ the various leaders over.

When Ouyang Shuo returned to Shanhai City, he was busy, so he did not have the time to see all of them.

"Greetings, my lord!"

As he walked into the main hall, all of them greeted him in unison.

This was a historical moment.

The various tribe leaders knelt down, an action that represented the grassland tribes’ successful pledge of allegiance to Shanhai City.

Ouyang Shuo sat on the leader seat and emotionlessly said, “Please take your seats."

"Yes, my lord!"

All of them went back to their seats; most of them had exceptionally anxious expressions.

Among them, representing the Tianqi Tribe, was Mengke's oldest son, Jida. He was close to thirty years in age. Compared to the other leaders, he looked really arrogant and sat right at the front. He wore a huge gold necklace, and he had equipped himself with a gold sword.

When Ouyang Shuo saw such a scene, he could not help but frown.

The other leaders all saw what was going on, and they gloated in their hearts.

Jida was really arrogant. He did not know his place. At this point, he was still acting like he was the leader of the best tribe in the grasslands.

Compared to the warmth and friendliness he projected when he welcomed the mountain barbarians, the current Ouyang Shuo looked really cold, “Before all of you surrendered, on the grasslands, a leader named Dari Ahci also surrendered."

The moment his words sounded out, they felt a shiver run down their spines.

During the Battle of Lianzhou, Dari Ahci had tried to help the alliance army. As a result, he was sent to jail; this news had long since spread through the grasslands.

When they heard the Lianzhou Lord suddenly bring this out, the meaning could not be more obvious.

As expected, Ouyang Shuo had a face full of rage and said, “We have never treated him badly. I didn't expect him to act so ambitious and try to betray us. Toward such a person, I won't give him any other chances. The Procuratorate Division has already decided to execute him tomorrow on the streets."

The various tribe leaders were all ashen white with fear, as they trembled, “Wise decision, lord!"

This feeling was really a mixed one.

"I won’t hide anything from all of you. Some of my officials told me in the past that Dari Ahci was the role model of the grasslands. To the grassland tribes, I should show no mercy and rip out their roots to make them loyal."

Ouyang Shuo was emotionless, but the words that dripped from his mouth were cruel and bloody.

"What do you all think?"

Ouyang Shuo's words did not only intend to scare them.

The official that he mentioned was the internal affairs director, Tian Wenjing.

The Internal Affairs Department had handled the whole case of Dari Ahci. After Tian Wenjing reported the situation to Ouyang Shuo, he suggested that they wipe out the leaders and roots of the grassland tribes.

At that time, Ouyang Shuo did not think much about it and shelved the proposal.

Compared to killing them, Ouyang Shuo was more inclined toward more peaceful methods to prevent the build up of resentment. He did not want to kill all the noble families of the tribes.

After all, Dari Ahci was just one example.

The current grassland tribes could not go against him even if they tried.

Most crucially, since Ouyang Shuo wanted the grassland tribes to support him, he had to treat these noble families well.

If not, many many side effects would build up.

Ouyang Shuo did not want to see the grassland tribes creating unrest under his rule. His goal was to rule the entire Lianzhou Basin and make it like an iron fortress.

Putting it another way, if he really slaughtered the noble grassland families, not only would it affect the grassland tribe, it would also affect the mountain barbarians.

The various tribe leaders looked at one another, as their faces grew whiter and whiter.

As they watched the situation grow more and more against them, the leaders could not sit still. They all stood out and pledged their allegiance.

"Lord! Lord!" One of them directly laid face down on the floor and cried out. They did not have the dignity and pride of a leader, “Lord, Dari Ahci can't represent us all. We are all sincere, and we don't have any other intentions!"

"Please, my lord!"

Out of all of them, only Jida did not plead. He despised them and even scoffed at the attitude of the other leaders.

His actions instantly made him stand out. Even if he did not want to attract attention, he already had.

"Prince Jida seems to have another opinion?"

Ouyang Shuo looked calm, but his words contained anger and provocation.

When Jida heard this, he replied, “Ever since the world started, the loser dies. As such, Dari Ahci deserves it. It won't happen to me, as the Tianqi tribe doesn't have such losers."

Ouyang Shuo's eyes brightened. Jida’s words contained a hint of hardness in his soft reply.

He showed his stance. At the same time, he also maintained his arrogance and dignity.

A short sentence actually had so much depth.

As a result, Ouyang Shuo had a totally new evaluation and opinion of this person.

It seems like Mengke had brought up a good son.

Ouyang Shuo nodded, “Good, well said."

He looked around, his voice was slow but powerful, “As a lord, I have a responsibility to my territory, but I'm magnanimous. I know when to give mercy. However, if one of you tries to disrupt law and order, I wouldn't mind letting blood flow!"

His strength and prestige filled up the entire hall.

He emitted an unblockable killing intent and pride.

All of the leaders knelt down, even Jida did the same.

All of them kept silent. No one dared to make a sound; the hall instantly fell quiet.

When he faced their terrified faces, Ouyang Shuo was delighted. All of the men in front of him were top-level people. They represented the peak of the grassland tribes.

Now, they were all under his feet and did not dare to speak up.

This was the charm of power.

No wonder from the past till now, numerous heroes had charged into battle because of this.

That afternoon, Ouyang Shuo made a promise.

He allowed the leaders and the noble families to take their assets and move into Shanhai City.

Shanhai City would set aside a region in the outer city and build a street for them to live in.

On normal days, the noble families could not walk out of their houses. They could not make contact with the other tribesmen.

The moment they were found committing such an act, they would be heavily punished.

Apart from that, their punishment would drag down their tribe.

The light punishment was the confiscation of assets, while the harsh punishment would involve the forced performance of hard labor.

If one tried to stir unrest, his whole tribe would be slaughtered.

2nd month 22th day, second day of the New Year.

On this day, Ouyang Shuo threw down all of his matters on hand and met the various prefects and city magistrates in his reading room.

The four prefects and one city magistrate took turns to be dispatched by him.

Ouyang Shuo met them one by one and discussed their objectives. The main person he wanted to meet was naturally Broken Blade House prefect, Zhou Haichen.

Although Ba Dao had a weak army, he had left behind a very strong base.

Based on his report, Broken Blade County had a total of 210 thousand people, similar to two max population grade 3 counties.

Broken Blade House became the most highly populated area in the territory after Shanhai House.

Even Mulan House had much less.

Such a huge population would take an unknown amount of time for Shanhai City to build up. Broken Blade House was the most successful example after Ouyang Shuo used the poison insect project.

Apart from that, the greatest wealth of the House was the gold mine.

Similar to the Langshan Mine Fields, it was called the Beishan Mine Fields. The gold mine was really huge, and Ba Dao had only opened a small part of it.

Ouyang Shuo immediately promised to place the mine into the control of the Broken Blade House. He hoped that they could use it to improve their financial situation.

When Ba Dao was in charge, he used 90% and above of the finance for military. Public and residential spending was nearly zero.

Broken Blade House desperately needed to recover itself.

Of course, the Beishan Mines was under Broken Blade House. The Lord's Manor would not care about it. They only needed to hand over a set ratio of the income.

Ouyang Shuo also ordered Langshan Mine Fields to send experts over to teach the Beishan Mine Fields, which would raise the skill levels and efficiency.

In the end, Ouyang Shuo raised three requirements with Zhou Haichen.

Firstly, Broken Blade House needed to build the Xila Lake Sailor unit to clear out the water bandits around the lake. Be it obtaining water products or producing pearls, they needed to start early.

Secondly, the various counties under the House, especially the tier two subsidiary territories, needed to be removed. Their populations would all move to the main city.

Thirdly, the plan for the outer wall must proceed quickly. Before the spring planting season, they had to finish building it. If they failed, they would have to postpone it till after the spring planting season before continuing.

Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo had sent instructions to the Military Affairs Department to take charge of building the Broken Blade City city protection regiment.

Compared to Gushan County, Broken Blade City was even closer to a hundred thousand mountain.

The future city would act as the frontline of the defense against Chiyou.

After Ouyang Shuo described their roles, the prefects set forth for their governed areas the next day.

Spring was the most important part of the year. As prefects, they simply did not have enough time to laze around. Even Cui Shousi only had a simple meeting with Cui Yingyu before leaving.

Before Zhou Haichen left, Ouyang Shuo handed him a token. It was the village creation token Ouyang Shuo had used the merger token on. This token would revive Broken Blade City.

After he gave out this token, Ouyang Shuo now had three such tokens remaining in his storage bag.

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