On our wedding night, my wife acted strangely.

The wedding procession, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, finally stopped at the gate of the Regent's Palace.

Compared to the grand spectacle of gongs and drums at the palace, this place was much quieter. There wasn't even a wedding procession at the gate; only two rows of ramrod-straight retainers, led by Lin An, stood there expressionlessly.

The commander of the Imperial Guards responsible for the escort, seeing this scene, felt his heart pounding. He steeled himself and stepped forward, calling out towards the entrance of the Prince's residence, "Her Highness the Princess has arrived! Please, Your Highness, come out to greet her!"

The shouts echoed through the empty streets, but no one answered.

The scene was extremely awkward.

Just as the commander was about to call out again, the steward Lin An calmly said, "His Highness is currently drinking with friends in the manor and cannot come out. Princess, please go directly to the bridal chamber. As for the rest of the dowry, our manor will take care of it."

After saying that, he stepped aside to make way for him.

The commander was so angry that his face turned green.

This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!

This is the emperor's own daughter, the eldest princess of noble birth! The white moonlight of our three thousand imperial guards!

Lin Yi, you're quite something. You don't even show your face, just send out a butler to deal with me?

Do you have no respect for the law? Do you have no respect for the dignity of royalty?

It's infuriating as it may be, but can he really lead his troops to charge in? Putting aside whether he dares or not, even if he did charge in, could you possibly defeat them? You must know that the retainers of the Prince's mansion are all veterans who have retired from the battlefield; they kill without blinking an eye.

Sigh, whatever, I'll just find another princess to be my ideal woman.

The commander, deflated like a punctured balloon, waved his hand and ordered his men to carry the imperial carriage into the palace through the side gate.

As for the dowry of more than thirty carriages, it was taken over by the servants of the Prince's Mansion and hauled in one carriage after another.

The people watching this scene were also discussing it animatedly.

"Isn't this regent putting on airs? He's marrying a princess and he doesn't even come out to greet her?"

"What do you know? This is called a show of force! Didn't you see even the emperor backed down?"

"Alas, this princess is pitiful. Marrying such a man, she's afraid she won't have a good life from now on."

Regardless of what outsiders thought, the gates of the Regent's Palace slowly closed after welcoming the new mistress and her astonishingly lavish dowry. All the noise and gossip were shut out.

......

The Regent's Palace, Garden.

A gentle evening breeze stirred the pear blossoms, bringing a touch of coolness.

Inside the pavilion, a stone table was laden with all sorts of snacks to accompany drinks: roast chicken, roast duck, braised pork hock, and several plates of cold side dishes.

Lin Yi didn't invite anyone else today, only his two trusted confidants, Fatty Wang and Lu Dehao.

Of course, in the morning, both Lu Buting and Wang Tienan sent people to deliver gifts.

At that moment, Fatty and Lu Dehao were drinking, and after drinking too much, they couldn't keep their mouths shut anymore.

Lu Dehao sighed and said, "Oh, Fatty, you know, my brother's two trips to Yanlai Restaurant have made him a laughingstock. What are we going to do now..."

The fat man, slurring his words, held up two fingers and gestured to Lu Dehao: "Are you crazy? Why do you care what they do? Just enjoy yourself, okay?"

"No way, you don't know, the way that girl looked at me after we were done last time... Oh my, my heart sank, it felt like I did something to wrong her."

"I told you long ago not to eat crabs in the morning, they'd make you sick, but you wouldn't listen. Now you believe me?"

"What's the point of saying all this now? The problem is I've already had my morning crabs."

"Alright, since you're so diligent and eager to learn, I'll teach you a trick." The fat man held up two fingers and gestured to Lu Dehao, "Hiccup~ Just put these two in and pry them up! It'll definitely work in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn!"

I wonder what those two are talking about.

Upon hearing this, Lu Dehao asked earnestly, "Really?"

"Absolutely, that's experience!" the fat man said confidently, taking a sip of his drink.

When Lin Yi arrived, the two brothers had just finished their conversation and stood up.

"Big brother."

"Big brother, you've finally arrived. That bastard Lu Dehao has made a fool of himself among the women. Let's go to Yanlai Tower later and teach them a lesson."

Lin Yi smiled faintly and waved his hand: "Have a seat and leave quickly."

The three men sat down around the stone table. Lu Dehao stood up and poured wine for Lin Yi: "Brother, to be honest, I've really seen something today. A dowry of thirty carriages—how much money is that?!"

"It's all small change." Lin Yi grabbed a handful of peanuts and chewed them.

Lu Dehao nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, it's all small change! Hahahaha, Big Brother is really amazing, forcing the old emperor to marry off his daughter to sue for peace without shedding a drop of blood! Just that awesomeness alone is enough for the three of us brothers to have a drink! Hahahaha."

The three clinked glasses.

The fat man downed his chicken leg in one gulp, wiped his mouth, picked up another chicken leg and started gnawing on it, saying indistinctly, "What do you know? This is nothing! Back in the day, my brother charged into the barbarian camp all by himself in the North, killing his way through rivers of blood! In the end, he didn't capture the Khan, but he captured his mother, the Khan's wife! Hahahaha."

"Really?" Lu Dehao's eyes widened as he looked at Lin Yi with adoration.

Lin Yi smiled but didn't say anything.

This isn't just the fat guy bragging; this part really did exist in the original owner's memories.

That year, the original Lin Yi was eighteen years old. The northern border rebelled, and the old regent personally led him on an expedition, fighting his way through the northern deserts. However, the process wasn't as dramatic as it seemed. It wasn't just him who stormed into the camp, but a hundred-man suicide squad that launched a surprise attack under the cover of night, which is how they managed to succeed by sheer luck.

However, these are all old stories, and there's no need to bring them up again.

"Alright, enough already. You're always bragging when you get a chance." Lin Yi put down his wine glass and looked at Fatty Wang. "How's the thing I asked you to do going?"

Fatty Wang spat out the chicken bones, rubbed his greasy hands between his smelly toes, and then pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. On the paper was a map drawn crookedly with a brush, showing several counties around the capital.

There were many words written next to it, but the words were crooked and looked like earthworms, and they were completely incomprehensible.

Lin Yi glanced at it briefly and frowned: "Hey Fatty, your handwriting is pretty awful."

"Oh, don't worry about the details. Look," Fatty Wang pointed to a point on the map, "this is Ping'an County, the closest to the capital, and also the place with the most landlords and wealthy people. I took five hundred Shenji Battalion brothers there for a tour and invited all the famous landlords to the county government for tea."

Lu Dehao was terrified.

Five hundred elite Shenji Battalion soldiers are more than enough to suppress bandits. Why would they invite a bunch of unarmed landlords for tea?

"Would those landlords be willing to go?" Lu Dehao asked cautiously.

"Do you think they dare not go?" Fatty Wang glared, slamming his hand on the table. "I've already set up the Eight-Ox Crossbow at their doorstep and told them, either walk to the county government themselves, or I'll help them by putting their entire family in coffins and carrying them there! Guess what they'll choose?"

Lu Dehao swallowed hard and chuckled dryly, "Then...then it must have walked there by itself."

"Nonsense!" Fatty Wang snorted smugly. "These guys are all bullies who prey on the weak! They act like tyrants in the countryside, but when they see government troops, they run away faster than rabbits!"

Lin Yi listened to Fatty Wang's account without much expression, simply asking, "No innocent civilians were harmed, were they?"

Fatty Wang waved his hand: "Hey, brother, don't you trust me to handle things? Our men didn't even take a needle from the common people's homes! Those landlords' servants and guards, if they dared to resist, I had my brothers chop them all down. As for the landlords themselves, as long as they cooperated obediently, I didn't make things difficult for them."

Lin Yi nodded, finally relieved.

What he wants is money, land, and popular support, but certainly not the indiscriminate killing of innocent people. If he can't even uphold the most basic principles in order to achieve his goals, then what difference is there between him and those brutal warlords?

"Well done," Lin Yi rarely praised.

Fatty Wang's face lit up with joy, feeling even better than if he'd drunk ten pounds of horse urine. He quickly filled Lin Yi's cup again: "Hehe, it's all thanks to your excellent leadership, Big Brother! By the way, Big Brother, guess how many good things I confiscated from those landlords' houses?"

"Tell me about it." Lin Yi became interested, and Lu Dehao next to him also looked on expectantly.

Fatty Wang deliberately kept everyone in suspense by holding up two fingers and waving them.

"Two million taels?" Lu Dehao guessed tentatively.

The fat man shook his head.

"Then... it can't be twenty million taels, can it?" Lu Dehao clicked his tongue in amazement.

How could a landlord from Ping'an County have so much money?

"Go to hell! You just spout nonsense!" Fatty Wang laughed and cursed. "It's 2.6 million catties of grain! And over 300,000 taels of silver! All sorts of antiques, paintings, calligraphy, and silks—enough to fill over fifty large carts!"