As a young marshal, it's reasonable for me to have 300,000 private troops, right?

As soon as Qi Fan stepped into the gate of the Marshal's Mansion, a small figure rushed over and grabbed his sleeve.

It was Zhang Xuezeng, the eldest son of the fourth concubine, who was two or three years younger than him. His eyes and brows still had a childish look, and his little face was flushed red at the moment.

"Brother! You're finally back! Oh no, oh no, Dad and Master Feng are arguing in the council hall! You have to go check it out!"

Qi Fan's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't stop and followed Zhang Xuezeng to the council hall.

Although he currently holds no official position in the Fengtian Army, Zhang Zuolin has never treated him as an ordinary junior, and has never avoided discussing these kinds of military and political disputes with him.

Just as he reached the entrance of the council chamber, before he could even push the door open, Feng Delin's loud voice boomed from inside.

"You little rascal Zhang! You've really got yourself into the limelight! You've quietly seized the position of Military Governor of Fengtian, and now you want me, Feng Delin, to be your deputy? You've got a pretty good plan!"

Then came Zhang Zuolin's ingratiating laughter, tinged with a deliberate attempt at smoothness.

"Oh, my dear third brother! Look at what you're saying, what schemes did I have? These are all orders from above, I'm just following orders! Besides, Fengtian City is in our hands, wasn't it all decided by us brothers?"

"Discuss it?" Feng Delin sneered, his tone practically overflowing with sarcasm.

"You shorty Zhang, you've probably wanted to kick me, Feng Delin, out of the game for a while now, haven't you? Let me tell you straight, if you don't give me a satisfactory explanation today, this isn't over between us!"

Qi Fan peeked inside from the door frame. Feng Delin was so angry that his face turned red and his neck bulged. He put one hand on his hip and slammed the other on the table.

Zhang Zuolin's smile faded, and his expression darkened slightly, clearly indicating that he could no longer deceive people about this matter.

"Third Brother." Zhang Zuolin's tone became a bit more serious, but he still left some room for maneuver.

"How about this? Tonight I'll gather all the brothers together at your mansion, and we can drink and discuss it slowly. We'll definitely give you an explanation. What do you say?"

"Fine! I'd like to see what tricks you little rascal Zhang can pull!" Feng Delin snorted, flicked his sleeve, and turned to walk out.

As soon as Feng Delin left, Zhang Zuolin called out towards the door, "Stop clinging to me, come in."

Qi Fan felt a pang of guilt and quickly withdrew his hand, then walked in with a grin.

"Dad, I just happened to be passing by and heard a lot of noise inside, so I listened in for a bit. I didn't mean to eavesdrop!"

"Don't give me that." Zhang Zuolin glared at him, sat down in the armchair, picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea to catch his breath, and then asked.

"You heard what Third Master Feng said. What are your thoughts on this, kid?"

Qi Fan was puzzled: Thoughts? What thoughts could I possibly have? What right do I, a junior, have to get involved in the power struggles of the older generation? Getting involved wouldn't bring me any benefit.

He quickly waved his hand, his face sincere: "Dad, this won't do. I'm just a junior, how can I meddle in the affairs of you elders? You should consult with whoever you need to consult. I really can't and have no say in this matter."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zuolin paused, his small eyes narrowed sharply, and he stared intently at Qi Fan, remaining silent for a long time.

Qi Fan felt uneasy under his gaze and wondered to himself: What did I say wrong? Should I have said I couldn't control it?

After a while, Zhang Zuolin suddenly slammed down his teacup, slapped his thigh, and burst into laughter, his eyes narrowing into slits with laughter.

"Good lad! Good lad! I knew you'd have a way!"

Qi Fan: "???"

He was completely stunned. He opened his mouth, but couldn't react for a long time: When did I have a solution? I clearly said just now that I couldn't control it!

Zhang Zuolin, on the other hand, thought it made more and more sense and nodded repeatedly to Qi Fan.

"You little rascal, you just love playing cryptic games! You say you can't handle it, which means you want me to find someone who can! I'll call my older brother Ma Longtan right now; with him coordinating, this matter will definitely be resolved."

Qi Fan: "!!!"

He froze on the spot, internally screaming: "No way! Dad, your imagination is running wild! I just didn't want to get involved, how did it turn into reminding you to look for Ma Longtan? I didn't even think of Ma Longtan myself!"

Before Qi Fan could even explain, Zhang Zuolin had already excitedly picked up the phone on the table, his fingers flying across the dial pad as he muttered something under his breath.

"You're quick-witted, kid, much smarter than your old man! You always keep things from me, making me figure it out myself. You're such a sly little devil!"

As soon as the call connected, Zhang Zuolin immediately adopted a warm tone, raising his voice by eight octaves.

"Big brother! It's me, seventh brother! I've missed you so much!"

Qi Fan sat next to him, his lips twitching as he listened. Well, no need to guess anymore, it must be Ma Longtan on the other end of the phone.

"Nothing else of great importance," Zhang Zuolin said with a smile.

"I've just become the military governor of Fengtian, and my third brother is a bit unhappy about it, causing a little commotion. I was thinking that I should ask you, eldest brother, to come and help us mediate. I've prepared some wine at Brother Feng's mansion tonight, just waiting for you to arrive!"

"Good! Good! Then I'll wait for your news tonight, brother!" After hanging up the phone, Zhang Zuolin turned to look at Qi Fan, his eyes full of approval.

"You're so smart, kid! You woke me up with just one sentence! If you hadn't reminded me, I really wouldn't have thought to ask my older brother to come over!"

Qi Fan opened his mouth, but in the end, he swallowed his words back.

Alright, there's no use explaining now. Dad has already filled in the blanks in his mind. Let's just consider it an unintentional success.

As soon as Zhang Zuolin hung up the phone, he turned his gaze to Qi Fan and spoke casually.

"Your sister's married now, and the house feels a bit lifeless. You're not getting any younger, have you considered finding me a wife sometime to bring some joy?"

"It's here! It's finally here!" Qi Fan was overjoyed, his eyes lit up. Yu Fengzhi! His "mobile treasury" was finally going to be online!

But he knew he couldn't show any eagerness, otherwise it would be difficult to get the money back.

He immediately frowned and looked at Zhang Zuolin with a reluctant expression.

"Dad, how old am I? I should be building my career, why are you already thinking about me getting married?"

Zhang Zuolin chuckled, leaned back in his armchair, and waved his hand.

"Hey! You brat, what do you know? When I was your age, your mom was already pregnant with your sister! Besides, this marriage wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was agreed upon long ago. You have to agree whether you like it or not!"

"What?" Qi Fan deliberately widened his eyes, pretending to be shocked and dissatisfied.

"Father, this is so unreasonable! You're making me marry a complete stranger without even asking if I want to?"

In his mind, however, he was frantically calculating: his older sister asked for 500,000 yuan as a dowry when she got married, and he would need at least 300,000 yuan for his own wedding! He thought, "Why not take advantage of my own father? It'll be a good opportunity to fill the gap in my secret stash."

On the surface, he still wore a sour face, looking as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Seeing his resistance, Zhang Zuolin did not get angry, but instead patiently tried to persuade him.

"Don't be ungrateful, you brat! Let me tell you, that girl from the Yu family, Yu Fengzhi, is beautiful, has a good temperament, and is also shrewd and capable. She's the wife I carefully selected for you. You marry her first, and if you want to find other women later, I won't care, okay?"

Qi Fan chuckled inwardly: The time is almost right, it's time to set the terms. He rolled his eyes and pretended to hesitate before speaking.

"I'll agree if you want me to, but you have to agree to one condition first."

"What are the conditions? Tell me," Zhang Zuolin asked bluntly.

"When my sister got married, you gave her a dowry of 500,000 silver dollars. When I get married, my wife can't be any less than my sister's; I also need a dowry of 500,000 silver dollars!"

Zhang Zuolin frowned, his face contorted with pain: "Three hundred thousand!"

"Three hundred and fifty thousand! Not a penny less!"

"Okay! Sold for 350,000!"

With just a few words of conversation, Qi Fan's marriage was settled.

Zhang Zuolin then said, "Since you've agreed, I'll arrange for someone to personally go to the Yu family residence in Zhengjiatun to propose marriage in the next few days, to show sincerity."

"Alright! Xuecheng can come with me then, he'll have a companion and can help out a bit."