Chapter 524: Chapter 254 Internal Reform_2

So what price is your Great Changhe willing to pay to resolve a rebellion more powerful than Da Yue, and how long will it take?

Even though, I mean, even though.

Even if there is no external force involved in this civil strife in Da Changhe, it will take at least four or five years or even more than a decade to put down the rebellion.

Moreover, if the stalemate lasts for a long time, it is not impossible for the country to split into two.

And if there is external interference, such as Lu Yuan who is now plotting against this country, it will be even more difficult to quell the civil strife in Da Changhe.

Therefore, from the various signs at this time, this rebellion doesn’t seem to be able to be resolved quickly no matter how you look at it.

Since that’s the case, although Chu State can’t interfere in the internal affairs of the Great Changhe at the moment.

But wouldn’t there be a chance after two or three years?

Two or three years later, the current military spending reform, which has just begun, will also be completed. The new immigrants of Chu will have settled down and can levy taxes, balancing the fiscal revenue and expenditure.

And the five million silver tales provided by Su Country and Southsea can be used as military expenses.

At that time, the morale of the army will be stable, expenses will be sufficient, even the controversy over Chu’s renaming and founding a new era would have almost subsided.

Under such a large environment, it will naturally be possible to send troops to other countries and start another war.

So when the New Year passed, Yuanxiao and even Qingming all passed.

Although the envoys of Shizong and Milu countries stayed in Baling City, they were well-fed and well-cared-for in the post house, and Chu would not skimp on their expenses.

But amidst the torment of waiting, they were still unable to get a second audience with the King of Chu, nor could they detect any signs of Chu mobilizing their troops.

Instead, the situation in various places was becoming more and more stable. Merchants and travelers were coming and going, the people were living in peace and happiness, giving the appearance of enjoying a time of peace and prosperity.

Seeing this situation, the envoys of the two countries realized that the King of Chu had no intention of sending troops to Great Changhe.

He didn’t even want to accept the two countries as vassals.

He simply did not want to invite any trouble.

Thus, as the days went by, the envoys of the two countries became increasingly disheartened.

By the time May came, news from their homeland arrived, stating that the pressure from Wu Savage Country was too great, and with no news from this side, they could no longer withstand the pressure, and had to give in to the military demands of Wu Savage Country once again.

However, after this round of coercion, the people of their country could no longer endure the harsh levies and extortion, leading to a massive exodus.

There were even some tribes in the country that had taken up arms and rebelled after seizing control of cities and towns.

Now that rebellion had broken out within the country, the government could no longer spare any attention for this mission, and therefore, the two envoys were asked to return home as soon as possible to help.

Receiving this bad news, the envoys of the two countries were naturally shocked and subsequently filled with sorrow.

However, before leaving, they once again requested an audience with the King of Chu, but as expected, they were asked to wait for news.

Facing this unsurprising result, in their sorrow, the two Messengers could only pack their bags and return to their homeland in despair.

When Lu Yuan received this news, he simply said “Oh,” and did not say much else.

In the face of his grand plan, Shizong and Milu, these two small countries, were just insignificant specks of dust, not worth mentioning at all.

Their only value was to report the news of Da Changhe’s civil strife to him.

However, having said that.

Da Changhe is right next to Chu State, and the fact that Chu did not receive any news of its civil strife for so long indicates a negligence in foreign intelligence gathering. This can also be attributed to the isolation of the Yi People and their lack of communication with the outside world, and that they did not pay much attention to these Yi countries.

But this still has to be regarded as a dereliction of duty in foreign intelligence gathering.

In this regard, Lu Yuan has asked the relevant person in charge of the Honglu Temple to conduct a review and strengthen the intelligence gathering of the southwestern Yi tribes in the future.

This matter concerns his future strategy towards the entire southwestern Yi region, so it must be treated with caution.

However, this experience made Lu Yuan realize that it was still a bit forced to rely solely on the Honglu Temple, the foreign affairs department, and its diplomats for intelligence work.

To gain enough intelligence channels and not be blinded by his subordinates, he needed his own intelligence department.

Therefore, in February of Shenwu’s first year, Lu Yuan issued a decree to establish the Imperial City Office in the court, with two departments, North and South.

Among them, the South Department of the Imperial City is responsible for domestic intelligence affairs. It has a Commanding Officer of Fourth Rank and two Deputy Commanding Officers of the Seventh Rank.

Under the Commanding Officer, there is a military officer in each county, with a Fifth Rank title. There are two Deputy military officers, with a title of From Five Rank.

In each prefecture, there is a Commanding Officer with a Seventh Rank title and two Deputy Commanding Officers with a From Seventh Rank title.

There is one Major in each county, with a Ninth Rank title. There are two Deputy Majors, with a From Ninth Rank title.

Within the South Department, there are also other officers with various titles.

All of these are officials.

Under the South Department of the Imperial City, there are about 10 to 30 small envoys and deputy envoys with no rank, responsible for intelligence gathering in each county, depending on the size of the county.

Similarly, there are 50 to 100 small envoys and deputy envoys in each prefecture, depending on the situation.

Each province has between 300 and 1,000 people.

The entire South Department of the Imperial City has 500 people in its Capital headquarters, which will be adjusted according to future needs.

With such calculations, the newly-established Imperial City South Department, responsible for domestic intelligence affairs, currently has a staff of about 3,000, making it one of the largest agencies in the court overnight.

Lastly, there is the Imperial City North Department, responsible for foreign intelligence affairs.

Similar to the South Department, the North Department has a Commanding Officer and two Deputy Commanding Officers. Under them, there are also military officers, deputy officers, commanding officers, deputy commanding officers, majors, and deputy majors, all with the same rank as the South Department.