Pick up a princess to be your wife

"You already know the first wife, Li Xin. You also know the second wife and the third wife, so I won't go into further introductions."

Han Dong naturally knew Xu Yi; the two were old acquaintances.

In fact, Xu Yi had treated Han Dong quite well before, and had never withheld his and Ye Feng's military pay in terms of logistics.

Later, Han Dong even tried to steal Xu Yi away, but he failed.

I never expected that Li Mu would snatch it away, and in such a blatant way at that.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

"Mm." Xu Yi nodded gently.

"Uncle Han."

Li Mu changed his mind.

Han Dong is fifteen or sixteen years older than him, so calling him "uncle" is quite appropriate.

It mainly depends on Li Ertie's seniority; otherwise, Li Mu would still have to call him "brother."

"I'm staying in Luyang for a few more days this time."

"Upon entering the city today, I am amazed by the changes in Luyang. When I led my troops westward and passed through Luyang, it was not like this at that time. In just two or three years, it has truly changed dramatically."

"In just two or three years, Commander Han has already become the Left General of the Army and the Duke of Dai," Li Mu said with a smile.

"I owe you a favor in this matter. If you hadn't let me go back then, I wouldn't be where I am today."

"Haha, it seems I've become family with Brother Ertie. Come on, let's drink."

"We won't leave until we're drunk tonight."

……

In the afternoon, Li Mu was busy making arrangements, and they had another meal together in the evening.

After dinner, Li Mu led his brothers in a playful prank on the newlyweds, and performed a few more elaborate acts.

After the festivities, the bridal chamber was left to the newlyweds.

That evening, Han Dong left without saying goodbye and returned to the capital overnight.

He did want to stay in Luyang for a while longer, but the military affairs in the capital could not be handled by Ye Feng alone.

When Li Mu officially married Yang Xianrong, he still didn't hold a grand banquet. He simply had a meal at home with his family.

After moving to his new home, Li Mu felt like he was living the life of a nouveau riche.

There was a steward and twenty maids in the house. This meant that Li Mu and his family no longer had to do many things themselves.

Even Wang Xiulian felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Li Tian was the one who was least able to adapt.

The household steward and maids called him "Master." They called Li Mu "Master."

Li Mu felt he was still young, and the way he was calling himself "Master" made him sound like a nouveau riche.

One morning, Li Mu summoned all the maids.

"From now on, stop calling me 'Master' and just call my brother 'Young Master' and me 'Young Master'."

"Yes, sir."

"Call me young master."

"Okay, sir."

Li Mu: ...

This form of address wasn't decided by Li Mu, but by Lao Huang, so the maids wouldn't change their way of addressing her.

These twenty maids were all women that Li Mu had selected from the homes of deceased White Horse Army soldiers.

Although they were maids, they were not of lowly status and had signed proper contracts with Li Mu.

In June, the new policies in Luyang will have been in effect for two full years.

That year, the total commercial turnover alone exceeded 45 million taels, more than double that of the previous year.

The biggest contributor was Wanjia Real Estate, which launched its projects one after another that year, generating a total revenue of nearly 20 million taels and a profit of over 4 million taels.

However, Wanjia Real Estate was still operating at a loss because it had not yet repaid the money it had borrowed from the government, and two million taels of debt had even been transferred to the third phase.

Originally, the government had some other debts, but this time Li Mu won a great victory and plundered countless resources, which allowed him to pay off all the government's loans.

In addition, the compensation and pensions for wounded and injured soldiers are higher than before.

The White Horse Army is not short of military funds; all members of the White Horse Army know that they are very wealthy.

They already possess over 30,000 warhorses alone.

Various types of heavy armor, light armor, horse bows, recurve bows, hand crossbows, and all kinds of strategic materials were countless.

It also possessed 3,000 Wan Shi bows, 2,000 sets of chainmail, 30 ballistae, and 100 Divine Arm crossbows.

However, this is only the surface of war assets.

No one could have imagined that Li Mu had emptied the entire palace, making it far richer than they had ever imagined.

With over 400 million points, you could exchange them for 400 Divine Guns and Cannons!

It's true what they say: when the cannons roar, gold pours in.

Li Mu's system was only ten million points away from the second tier of permissions.

If they were all replaced with cannons and chariots, wouldn't a cluster of four hundred cannons be enough to sweep across the world?

Of course, things weren't as simple as they seemed.

Firearms superiority should absolutely not be the key to victory for the White Horse Army; combat effectiveness and morale are the most important factors.

The White Horse Army now has fewer than 25,000 men and urgently needs to expand.

After making some preparations, Li Mu convened a military meeting.

"The current total number of White Horse Army members is 23,237. I propose to expand the number of White Horse Army members to 50,000. If anyone has any objections, please raise your hand to vote."

The suggestion to expand the White Horse Army was met with no opposition from the crowd.

Now that they are getting richer and richer, with more and more equipment and a larger and larger empire, it is only natural for them to expand their military.

So everyone voted in favor.

The White Horse Army's decision-making system is based on majority rule. Everyone else has decision-making power.

However, the more Ma Rulong learned about the White Horse Army, the more details he discovered.

Although the White Horse Army's decisions are made by a vote of the crowd, Li Mu and Li Ertie both have veto power.

If Li Mu agrees to something but Li Ertie opposes it, then that matter will not be approved. The reverse is also true.

While it may seem that everyone has decision-making power, this is not actually the case.

To be precise, Zhao Cuo could offer suggestions, but he didn't actually have decision-making power.

Aside from the two heads of state, there are only six people in total who truly have decision-making power.

They are Xiong Wenjing, Hei Fu, Zhong Wu, Cheng Liang, Ma Rulong himself, and Fang Hu, who has been away from Luyang for a long time.

Ma Rulong understood the reasoning behind this immediately: these people were all intelligent. As for Zhao Cuo, that kid's IQ fluctuated, and most of the time he was single-minded.

Zhao Wuji and Yang Xiaoliu were of average talent. They were good at fighting on the battlefield, but their strategic vision was not very good. They basically obeyed the majority.

In fact, in Ma Rulong's eyes, Qin Zian's talent was no less than that of those who had decision-making power.

He's just a typical "laissez-faire" type of person.

Whenever the White Horse Army held a council meeting, he would hide in a corner, half asleep, completely invisible.

The two core members of the White Horse Army, Li Mu and Li Ertie, have always been in complete agreement and have never had any disagreements.

Furthermore, after Ma Rulong fought this battle, he became the deputy supervisor of the military affairs office.

He was deeply moved that Li Mu and Li Ertie were able to delegate so much authority to him.

With such a talented army and generous rewards, it's no wonder that even Wu Fengxian's Poshan Army was no different from an ordinary army when facing the Baima Army.

If the White Horse Army's combat strength cannot surpass that of other armies by a significant margin, it would be an absolute injustice.