The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Guo Jia had just waved to Yan Rou and Tian Yu, saying that he didn't want to take on everything himself and that it was better to be lazy. Chen Er, who was standing to the side, knew exactly what Guo Jia was thinking. Chen Er glared at Guo Jia and said to Tian Yu, "Guorang, I'm giving you a task." "Your subordinate obeys," Tian Yu replied immediately.

Chen Er was taken aback, then smiled and said to Tian Yu, "Guorang, aren't you afraid I'll give you a task you can't complete?"

“My lord has assigned me a task privately, which shows his approval of me. No matter what the task is, I will do my best to complete it,” Tian Yu said.

Chen Er laughed heartily and said to Tian Yu, "Guorang is very thoughtful, but the task I'm giving you today is very simple: supervise Fengxiao! In this Liaodong war, Fengxiao will definitely try to slack off and cheat. Your job is to supervise the strategist. For each battle, the strategist must come up with several battle plans. You should fight according to the strategist's battle plans. If you can't win or suffer heavy casualties, the strategist will bear all the responsibility, understand?"

"Ah, no! My lord!" Upon hearing Chen Er's words, Guo Jia was devastated. Wasn't this asking him to die?

However, what could Guo Jia do? When Tian Yu heard that Chen Er had given him such a task, he was also somewhat devastated. But like Guo Jia, what could he do? A higher-ranking official can crush a person, especially when that official is their lord. They had no way to resist.

The worst part was that after the two exchanged a glance, Chen Er's lips curled up slightly, and he said to them, "Every battle plan must be written down. All the written texts should be kept with Commander Yan, and then handed over to me after the mission is over."

"Your subordinate obeys." Yan Rou quickly stepped forward and agreed. She was only on a surveillance mission, which was much better than the other two. Tian Yu seemed to have figured it out as well. Anyway, he was just on a supervisory mission. At worst, he would offend Guo Jia a little. It was no big deal. It was the lord's order, and he had no choice, right? Besides, everyone in the autonomous region knew that Guo Jia was the least vengeful of all the strategists (of course, the others weren't either). It didn't matter.

Chen Er ignored Guo Jia and the other two. If Guo Jia hadn't been so lazy, Chen Er wouldn't have pressured him like this. Of course, the benefits of this pressure were also very obvious. With Guo Jia offering advice in every battle, the army's casualties would be greatly reduced. This would not only save a lot of money, but also allow more soldiers to live longer and prevent more families from suffering the grief of losing loved ones.

"From this moment forward, issue a mobilization order for Youzhou in my name," Chen Er said to the people in the conference room. "Except for necessary agricultural production and industrial handicrafts, all men aged eighteen to thirty-five must be mobilized!"

"My lord, why is this?" Xun Yu, who was participating in the meeting, asked Chen Er. Even if they were to take action against the grasslands, they wouldn't need so many troops, especially since this was almost a full mobilization. Xun Yu was a little puzzled.

"Pass down the message: this is just an exercise in preparation for an enemy attack. Our reserves have been built up for so long, and I'm taking this opportunity to see the war potential of our autonomous region. At the same time, I'm also asking those spies from the feudal lords who are lurking in Youzhou to do us a favor and warn some ill-intentioned forces so that no one can take advantage of this opportunity."

"Understood, Your Majesty," Xun Yu replied. Fortunately, he had almost thought that his lord had been provoked by the campaign against Dong Zhuo and was about to launch a war of aggression.

"Gongda."

"My subordinate is here."

"Have you tallied up the money we robbed from Ding Yuan this time?" Having finished discussing the upcoming battle plans, Chen Er asked Xun You, who was standing beside him, "Now it's time to see what we've gained from this trip south."

Xun You stood up and replied to Chen Er: "Reporting to our lord, our army has harvested a total of 20,000 catties of gold, 71,000 catties of silver, and more than 10 million strings of copper coins during this southward campaign! There are also more than ten cartloads of various jewels and antiques. All of these things together are worth at least four or five million strings of copper coins."

"How much is that in silver?" Chen Er asked.

“If we convert all of it into silver at the lowest possible value, it would amount to at least thirty million taels of silver!” Xun You said.

"So much money!" Upon hearing Xun Yu's words, everyone in the conference room gasped. Thirty million taels of silver! Youzhou's annual tax revenue is only five million taels, and that's only because of the opening of many markets, especially the trade in furs and horses. If it were agricultural tax, Youzhou would be lucky if it didn't lose money. Chen Er's raid south this time has actually yielded five or six years' worth of tax revenue in one go. What a huge fortune that is!

"Although there is a lot of money, the autonomous region needs money for many more things right now. Whether it's mining, industrial infrastructure, road construction, city maintenance, or military expenses, all require large sums of money. In particular, Ji Province, which has only recently been incorporated into the territory, needs even more investment. Therefore, the money that our lord has received this time is probably only enough to support the autonomous region's expenses for one year." Xun You shook his head helplessly and said. He was very excited when he first received so much money, but after calculating, he realized that so much money was barely enough to cover the expenses. Not to mention that many of the antiques and treasures could not be converted into cash immediately, which was also a problem. It was likely that only when You Province's industry and commerce developed to a new level and Ji Province could generate its own revenue would the financial problem gradually be balanced. Of course, if it really couldn't be sustained, Chen Er would also offer his ideas from his previous life to help the autonomous region government overcome the difficulties.

Chen Er waved his hand and said to Xun You, "I'll leave all administrative matters to you, Gongda. I only have one principle: steady development. I don't care about speed, I only care about stability." Having witnessed the disastrous consequences of pursuing economic growth too much in his previous life, Chen Er naturally learned from those lessons and wouldn't act recklessly.

"Yes, my lord, I understand." Xun You said respectfully. Having served as the de facto head of administration for so long, Xun You had a fairly thorough understanding of the new industrial and commercial sectors. Indeed, the development of industry and commerce could greatly boost the development of the territory. However, as Chen Er said, stable development was the most important thing. Xun You did not want the autonomous region to become unstable under his rule.

"That concludes today's meeting," Chen Er said to the group.

"Respectfully seeing off our lord!" Upon hearing Chen Er's words, everyone stood up to respectfully see him off. Since the start of the southern campaign, Chen Er had not returned for a long time, let alone married and had children.