With wives as numerous as clouds and soldiers as numerous as a million, you say he's a useless

Jiang Zhanji followed the eight people to the Governor's Mansion.

At this moment, Xiao Heming had been untied by his concubine and had undergone a process of washing and changing clothes.

But nothing could hide the bruises on his face. His concubine was rolling a peeled egg on his face, trying to reduce the swelling.

Seeing his miserable state, the eight city commanders all frowned and gasped, "Grand Commander, how...how did you get beaten like this?"

"Did the eldest young master do this?"

"This is utterly outrageous! Ye Cheng'an is nothing more than a young master who has been stripped of his title as heir apparent and demoted to Liuzhou with no real status. How dare he treat the Grand Commander like this..."

"Grand Commander, tell us how to deal with Ye Cheng'an. We will all obey your orders! We will never let him ride roughshod over you!"

"Yes! This Liuzhou belongs to the Grand Commander, it belongs to us. How can we let an outsider like him bully us?"

Faced with the indignant city lord of the Eighth City who was determined to avenge him, Xiao Heming had very complicated feelings.

How could he willingly allow Ye Cheng'an to ride roughshod over him?

The problem is that this eldest son is too ruthless. He solved the locust plague in Yong'an City as soon as he arrived, and then led his troops to attack. With the help of the rioting people, he broke into the governor's mansion and forced him to write a confession, admitting all the bad things he had done over the years...

The mere fact that he maliciously spread locust eggs to Yong'an City is enough to get him beheaded if it gets out!

Right now, how could he dare to provoke Ye Cheng'an?

Despite his deep resentment, Xiao Heming could only swallow his anger and say, "Gentlemen, you've misunderstood. These injuries I sustained were not caused by the eldest son..."

"What? If it's not Ye Cheng'an, then who would dare to be so bold?" The eight city officials were all stunned.

"If it weren't for Ye Cheng'an, why would Commander Jiang have requested assistance from our Nine Cities?"

At this point, someone suddenly noticed, "Wait, where are the troops from Jingyuan City...?"

Exchanging bewildered glances, one of them said suspiciously, "Ye Cheng'an knew all along that Panlong City would seek help from surrounding cities. His escape with his troops would definitely involve passing through Jingyuan City. Could it be that the Jingyuan City army was...?"

Just as the eight were speculating, a sudden, urgent report came from outside the door: "Report—Soldiers from Tongchuan City have come to request assistance from the Grand Commander!"

"A few days ago, the eldest son, Ye Cheng'an, passed through Tongchuan on his way from Yong'an City to Panlong City and injured our city's garrison commander. Today, my master led troops to the outskirts of Jingyuan City, intending to join forces with the Jingyuan army to force the eldest son to severely punish the perpetrator. However, the eldest son not only threatened us with locusts, but also accused my master and the garrison commander of interfering with locust control and of being spies from the northern barbarians, and had my two masters taken back to Yong'an City for interrogation..."

"Please, Grand Commander, save my master and commander no matter what!"

The soldier knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing to Xiao Heming.

The other eight city lords all had extremely gloomy expressions. Today, Ye Cheng'an could punish the official in Tongchuan City on trumped-up charges, and he could use the same trick on them in the future.

They are not unaware of the principle that "when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked."

We must find a way to rescue Xie Yuandao and his companion! We must also teach Ye Cheng'an a lesson!

"What about the army in Jingyuan City?" one of them asked.

Before the soldier could answer, Gu Mingxuan, the commander of Jingyuan City, walked in and knelt on the ground. "Your humble servant Gu Mingxuan has come to apologize to the Grand Commander. Originally, I intended to lead the army to block the young master's way and wait for reinforcements from the other eight cities, but... the young master took out tens of thousands of locusts and threatened me to make way, otherwise he would release countless locusts into Jingyuan City."

"This humble official is incompetent and has no choice but to let the eldest son go."

call.

Ye Cheng'an caught tens of thousands of locusts?

Could it be that what Jiang Zhanji said was true? Does Ye Cheng'an really have a brilliant plan to eliminate the locust plague?

The eight city lords were breathing heavily. Every city under their jurisdiction was plagued by locusts. If they could get a way to eliminate the locust plague from Ye Cheng'an...

As the eight men pondered, the soldiers they had sent out to check the situation in the fields of Panlong City returned one after another, whispering in their ears, "Sir, the locust plague in Panlong City has truly been eliminated..."

At this moment, the officials of the eight cities were all making their own calculations.

"Your Excellency, I believe that since the eldest son has a method to eliminate the locust plague, he should tell us so that we can implement it in various places, relieve the people's worries, and alleviate the crisis in Liuzhou..."

"How about this: we can use his attack on the governor's mansion to force him to reveal his method for eradicating the locusts?"

"..." Xiao Heming fell silent. Did these people want to use the excuse of standing up for him to cause trouble for Ye Cheng'an? Did they want to kill him?

If Ye Cheng'an, in a fit of anger, were to expose his confession to the Northern Royal Court...

No!

We absolutely cannot let these guys run wild!

"No! The eldest young master has led his troops here today to help Panlong City eradicate locusts. As for Commander Jiang's request for reinforcements from the Nine Cities Army, it was just a misunderstanding, an unintentional blunder. No one should use this as an excuse to make things difficult for the eldest young master!" Xiao Heming stopped the nine men. "If you want the eldest young master to help you eradicate locusts, use other methods!"

"Grand Commander..." The Nine City Commander was unwilling and wanted to say something more.

However, Xiao Heming made the final decision, "Alright, I'm tired and need to rest. You should all focus on controlling the locust plague. As for other matters, we can discuss them after the locust plague."

After saying that, Xiao Heming asked Jiang Zhanji to see the guest out.

As the nine city officials left the governor's mansion, they whispered amongst themselves, "What does the Grand Governor mean by this? Why is he siding with Ye Cheng'an?"

"Judging from the Grand Commander's expression, could it be that Ye Cheng'an has terrified him?"

"Hmph! I used to think this Grand Commander was so powerful, but now it seems he's nothing special! He doesn't dare to deal with Ye Cheng'an, but I do! Anyone with guts, lead your troops to Yong'an City now and force Ye Cheng'an to hand over his locust eradication strategy!!!" said Nie Chongshan, the magistrate of Pingyang City.

Gu Mingxuan's eyes darted around before he said, "Young Master could threaten me with releasing locusts when we were in Jingyuan territory, but now that we've come to him, Yong'an City is his territory, he can't threaten us with locusts anymore... I'll go with Lord Nie!"

One person agreed, and the other seven echoed, "We'll all go! We'll gather troops from all nine cities to put pressure on him. I don't believe Ye Cheng'an can withstand the pressure and won't hand over the locust eradication plan!"

Immediately, the nine men led their troops and traveled day and night to Yong'an City.

Jiang Zhanji watched them drive away in a grand procession, his brows furrowing slightly, but ultimately he did not stop them.

Instead, he beckoned to his soldiers and said, "Go, send an urgent message over 300 li, take the back road, catch up with the young master's troops, and tell him that the armies of the nine cities have gathered and are approaching Yong'an City. Force him to hand over the brilliant plan to eliminate the locusts. Consider it my way of repaying him for relieving the locust plague in Panlong City."

"yes!"

...

Ye Cheng'an overcame numerous obstacles and finally arrived at Yong'an City three days after leaving Panlong City.

As for whether he and Zhuyu did anything on the way, the answer is definitely no.

Because just as he was holding Zhu Yu's slender and soft waist, rubbing against her, and the arrow was about to be released... Zhao Xuefu suddenly led the nine thousand soldiers of the Tiger Roar Camp that he had left in Yong'an City to meet him.

He had to abandon his plan to continue in-depth exchanges with Zhu Yu.

This pent-up anger remained until they returned to Yong'an City.

"Why did the princess lead the Tiger Roar Camp to welcome me?" Ye Cheng'an asked.

Zhao Xuefu snorted lightly, "What? Is the eldest young master blaming me for ruining your good time with that girl?"

Uh, Ye Cheng'an didn't expect Zhao Xuefu to have such sharp eyes, seeing through his relationship with Zhuyu so early on...

"A little," he admitted quite frankly.

Zhao Xuefu's pretty face darkened further. "Do you think I wanted to come and greet you? It was someone who stayed up for a day and a night, taking a shortcut and sending a message by express courier to Yong'an City, saying that troops from nine cities have gathered, ready to force you to hand over the secret formula for eradicating locusts..."

"Whether you live or die is not that important to me, but if you die, there will be no one to control this locust plague."

"Furthermore, Shen Jingchuan has been begging me to mobilize the Tiger Roar Camp to welcome you, in order to prevent the Nine Cities troops from succeeding."

"If I had known you were so heartless, I would never have come, even if Shen Jingchuan had smashed his head!"

After saying that, Zhao Xuefu turned her head away haughtily.

Ye Cheng'an showed no intention of comforting her; instead, he asked, "Who delivered the letter to you?"

"..." Seeing that Ye Cheng'an ignored her emotions, Zhao Xuefu gritted her teeth and said, "The soldier who delivered the message said that his general was named Jiang Zhanji. He was afraid that the other nine city officials would find out, so he took a shortcut back after delivering the message."

"Jiang Zhanji..." Ye Chengan murmured to himself, "It seems that besides the financial gains, there are other benefits to be gained from this trip to Panlong City."

"Although Jiang Zhanji's army is currently under Xiao Heming's command, given time and a little maneuvering, it's not impossible to win him over and add another five thousand elite troops to my ranks!"

"...You're going to add more soldiers? Can you afford to support them? Don't forget, the King of the North won't provide you with any support," Zhao Xuefu said.

Ye Cheng'an chuckled, "Princess, you don't need to worry about that. Before going to Panlong City, I had already planned to make a fortune by exploiting the locust plague. Once this is done, I won't be short of money for a while!"

"Oh?" Zhao Xuefu raised her eyebrows slightly. How come she didn't know what Ye Cheng'an was planning?

Just as she was filled with doubt, Ye Cheng'an looked at Shen Jingchuan, who was walking quickly towards him, and asked, "How's the matter I entrusted to you going?"

Shen Jingchuan glanced furtively at Zhao Xuefu to the side before cautiously speaking, "Young Master, rest assured, I have done everything you instructed. Those bribed beggars are singing the rewritten Lotus Ballad on the streets every day. Now the whole of Yong'an City knows that the princess loves to eat Golden Crispy Dragon Wings..."

"Furthermore, Juxianglou, the largest restaurant in Yong'an City, has also been mentioned in the Lotus Flower Ballad. Recently, many people have been going to Juxianglou clamoring to try the Golden Crispy Dragon Wings that even the princess loves!"

"I assure you, if the young master were to bring the delicious Golden Crispy Dragon Wings right now, the manager of Juxiang Restaurant would definitely buy them! But my concern is, can those terrifying things really be made into dishes as delicious as the legends say?"

"If we can't, all our previous plans will have been in vain!"

Golden Crispy Dragon Wings?

Hearing the conversation between the two, Zhao Xuefu frowned even more. How come she had never heard of this dish before?

Moreover, on what basis did Ye Cheng'an bribe a beggar to sing Lianhualuo (a type of folk ballad) and say that she loved this dish?

What exactly is this guy plotting?

"Ye Cheng'an, what exactly are you doing using my name?" Zhao Xuefu stared coldly at Ye Cheng'an, warning him in a chilling voice, "Don't blame me for not warning you. If you do anything to damage the reputation of the royal family and me, I will definitely not let you off!!!"

Ye Cheng'an smiled faintly, offering no explanation, "If the princess wishes to know, then please wait here for a moment."

"In a moment, I will reveal all my plans to the princess!"

"Fine, I'll see what you're up to!" Zhao Xuefu snorted coldly, sitting in the courtyard, waiting for Ye Cheng'an to reveal the mystery.