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Chapter 537 -258: Rebellion in the Su Kingdom (Please subscribe!)_3

This is about eight million silver taels!

One must know that Lu Yuan’s Chu State spans three provinces and seventeen prefectures, with two prefecture cities and a population nearing six million. The nation also possesses two major food-producing areas, the Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake.

In addition, the Yangtze River and the Han River connect Chu, Zhou, Liang, Ning, Xichuan, and Hanzhong, benefiting from international waterway trade.

Moreover, with the help of Cui Changqing, Sun Siwen, and others, they have tirelessly recruited talents from all over the world, worked together, implemented clear governance, and achieved high administrative efficiency.

With so many unique advantages, after three years of recuperation, their annual revenue now stands at just about fifteen million silver taels.

But what does Su Country have?

Far inferior natural conditions compared to Chu State, only half of the territory, one-third of the population, and a myriad of rogue martial artists acting as local officials, taking advantage of people through corruption and chaos.

With these conditions, how could they generate an annual revenue of eight million silver taels? Can it not be clear what they rely on?

Not to mention, the eight million taels of tax revenue is only what is handed over to the Su Country court.

During the tax collection process, it is unimaginable how much the local officials embezzled and how much the junior officials collected extra taxes.

Perhaps as some Su Country refugees who were taken in by Lu Yuan have said, they toil for a year only for the government to take more than half or even most of it.

The people are left with nothing and their families have no means of livelihood.

It’s not because they want to leave their homes and flee, rather, it’s because they simply cannot survive in their homeland.

Faced with tyranny, it is quite normal for some to choose to flee and leave their hometowns for other places.

Lu Yuan has been both welcoming Su Country refugees and settling them in local prefectures and counties to strengthen his own national power while laughing at their predicament.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

However, not everyone would choose to swallow their pride and run away.

In this extraordinary era,

With martial arts and Immortal Techniques, the power gathered in one person can naturally give them courage.

Thus, the courageous people are not lacking.

At this time, facing Su Country’s tyranny that has been worsening over the years, it is not surprising that rebel forces have emerged within the nation.

Gaoliang Prefectural Du origin resident Du Chang, during the Winter Tax collection, was provoked excessively by a junior official in his clan, which eventually drove his nephew to death.

Seeing the tragic death of his family member, Du Chang, who had always practiced martial arts, could no longer bear it.

He killed the tax-collecting junior official on the spot and then led the young and strong clansmen to rebel against Su Country in the eleventh month of the third year of Guangwu era.

On the same day, he sent out a proclamation condemning the tyranny of Su Xuange and called on the local heroes of the nation to jointly remove this tyrant.

The proclamation was spread, and within ten days, more than 30,000 people from Gaoliang Prefecture flocked to join Du Chang.

Leading this army of tens of thousands, Du Chang directly attacked and broke through Gaoliang Prefectural City, killing the officials that Su Xuange had appointed in the city, winning the support of the residents there.

A large number of people suffering under tyranny saw this scene, with many of them arming themselves and coming forward to join the army. As a result, Du Chang’s rebel force expanded to 50,000 members.

With such a large-scale rebellion breaking out in the country and causing such destruction and influence, Su Xuange could not possibly ignore it.

In fact, as soon as he heard the news of the rebellion, he immediately began to mobilize 50,000 Forbidden Army soldiers in the capital and prepared to personally lead the troops to suppress the rebellion.

But before his rebel suppression force could set off, another revolt began within Su Country–the Guangchang Road of the Daoist Path in the Cangwu Prefecture, who were fed up with Su Country’s tyranny and had also seen many of their own followers driven to death by the government.

Shortly after receiving the news of Du Chang’s rebellion, they also started mobilizing their followers in Cangwu Prefecture, killing local officials and staging a rebellion.

In just a few days, the entrenched resentful local followers responded to the call from Guangchang Road, killing the local officials, occupying the city, and rebelling.

The city could not hold for even three days and was occupied by their followers.

Guangchang Road was the largest Dao Vein in Yulin County. Its activity areas were distributed in Shian, Cangwu, and Xiping prefectures, while its Mountain Gate was in Cangwu Prefecture.

So when Guangchang Road began to rebel in Cangwu Prefecture, rebellions also broke out in the prefectures of Shian and Xiping.

Although local government precautions made it impossible to break through the prefecture city, they each occupied several counties with equally considerable momentum.

In less than half a month, the Guangchang Road rebellion affected three prefectures, with a total of 100,000 followers participating.

It was not only Guangchang Road-

Even the Seven Islands Assembly, a local gang involved in maritime business in Ningyue Prefecture, which bordered the Su Country capital Yulin Prefecture, had enough of the heavy trade taxes and tariffs. With hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors, they attacked and broke into the Ningyue Prefecture city.

After looting the city, they formally raised their flag to rebel against the government.

For a time, out of ten prefectures in Yulin County, five faced rebellion.

Su Country lost half of its territory in an instant.

At this point in time, Su Country faced the same predicament as the Great Yue court in the twenty-eighth year of the Longqing era. However, under Su Xuange’s management, chaos was staged once more.

Who knows whether he will be able to suppress this rebellion and how much national strength Su Country will have left afterward?

Su Xuange had no time to think about whether he could survive this crisis.

Three rebel forces suddenly emerged within the country, each more formidable than the last. This sudden rebellion truly caught him off guard.

But after all, Su Xuange had been a ruler for many years and was an Inborn Grandmaster, so he had the courage and mentality to face this challenge.

Thus, after experiencing initial anger and panic, Su Xuange quickly adjusted his mentality and began to plan how to quell this rebellion.

That first rebel, Du Chang, can be left alone for now.

Gaoliang County is far east of Yulin County and quite distant from the capital, it will take time for them to reach there.

However, the Guangchang Road in the north with their 100,000-strong army, not only are they local snakes, but the rebellion has also expanded to three prefectures. If not checked as soon as possible, they might gain momentum and become unstoppable.

At that point, it would not be as easy to suppress them.

Then there is Ningyue Prefecture to the south.

It is right next to Yulin Prefecture, and the city is less than 400 miles from the capital. A lightly armed force rushing there could arrive in just two or three days.

If this danger close to the heart is not dealt with, it would truly make it difficult to sleep in peace.

So after just a brief consideration, Su Xuange devised a strategy for suppressing the rebellion: first south, then north; first west, then east.

First, eliminate the Seven Islands Assembly, then attack and destroy Guangchang Road, and finally quell Du Chang’s rebellion.

With these three steps, internal strife will be resolved. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Once the strategy was set, the troops were dispatched.

In the first month of the third year of Guangwu, Su Xuange left twenty thousand Forbidden Army soldiers to guard the capital, then personally led thirty thousand elite troops towards Ningyue Prefecture.