Reforming Dragon Ascending Town's Military

Sheng Minglan hung the Finance Department sign on the door of the East Side Room in the City Lord's Mansion, then had someone place a long table at the entrance. On the table were brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, along with several thick account books.

She was the young lady of the Sheng Family Trading Firm to begin with, and had followed her father in business since childhood. Managing accounts was her specialty.

In three days, she went through Dragon Ascending Town's tax accounts from the past three years, and even calculated exactly how much the previous city lord had embezzled.

"Brother Xiao, over these three years, the previous city lord scraped at least three thousand Gold Soul Coins out of Dragon Ascending Town." She slapped the account book onto Xiao Yun's desk, her face red with anger. "Three thousand! That's enough for us to build two docks!"

Xiao Yun flipped through the account book and said calmly, "Write it down. We'll settle accounts with him later."

Sheng Minglan nodded hard and added another entry to the account book.

Shui Ruoyan's Administration Department was set up in the West Side Room.

Her work was far more tedious than Sheng Minglan's—she had to reregister the household records of the entire town, formulate new tax rules, handle all kinds of civil disputes, and take charge of overall management for the recruitment projects.

She could not handle it all alone, so she pulled Shui Yue'er and several Skywater Academy students in to help. They were busy from morning until night every day, even eating their meals at their desks.

"Sister Ruoyan, the recruitment list for the dock expansion is out. Three hundred and twenty people in total, all from families struggling to make ends meet." Shui Yue'er ran in carrying a stack of