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

"No wonder Juxianglou has become the largest restaurant in Yong'an City! The manager is really bold! If you don't get rich, who will?" Ye Cheng'an stopped and praised Zhao Dingchang a few times, then turned back and sat down opposite him.

"Here's the thing, I plan to sell the locusts to Manager Zhao by weight. Right now, I already have control over the locusts in Yong'an City and Panlong City. Soon, I will have a monopoly on all the locusts in Liuzhou. Therefore, only you can have these Golden Crispy Dragon Wings..."

"Manager Zhao, you've been in business for so many years, you should know what this means, right?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dingchang's breathing became rapid. Scarcity increases value, and he certainly knew that monopolizing the market would bring him and Juxianglou huge profits!

What's even more terrifying is the added advantage of being a princess...

Once this deal is done, he and Juxianglou will soar to new heights!

However, what really worried him was whether his restaurant could really eat all the locusts in Xialiuzhou.

Seeing Zhao Dingchang frown, Ye Cheng'an guessed his worries. First, the locust density could reach four to five thousand per square meter, and the affected area in the two cities totaled one million square meters. Each locust weighed about two grams...

Even at the lowest density, there would be 400 million locusts, weighing 800 million grams, or 16 million catties.

Ye Cheng'an plans to price a pound of locusts at thirty coins, so that all the people in Liuzhou can afford them. This will accelerate the consumption of locusts and prevent them from being wasted.

Roughly calculated, the total price of the locusts in these two cities alone could reach 480,000 taels of silver (each tael of silver is worth 1000 wen).

Even if Zhao Dingchang emptied his pockets, he certainly wouldn't be able to come up with the money.

So Ye Chengan said, "Manager Zhao, how about this? I'll sell you the locusts for thirty coins a catty. I don't care how you sell them to the guests. As for the money, you can pay me 100,000 taels first, and the rest can be paid to me after you make money selling the Golden Dragon Wings."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dingchang was delighted. "But aren't you afraid that I might go back on my word and not pay you?"

Ye Cheng'an laughed, "Since I have the ability to monopolize the locusts in the entire Liuzhou, do you think I'm afraid of a mere Juxianglou? I believe Manager Zhao is a smart man and won't play those underhanded tricks with me. Otherwise, the consequences will be more than you can bear."

Zhao Dingchang was taken aback. Yes, how could he have overlooked the identity of the person in front of him?

Such extraordinary demeanor, connections with the princess, and the ability to monopolize the locusts of the entire Liuzhou...

Could he be the eldest prince of the North?!

At that moment, Zhao Dingchang said no more and told his assistant, "What are you all standing there for? Quickly go and get 100,000 taels of silver for this young master!"

"Don't worry, young master. Once the Golden Crispy Dragon Wings from Juxianglou are sold, I will definitely pay you back the full amount I owe you."

"Hmm." Ye Cheng'an nodded in satisfaction. After receiving the money, he left with the pearls and jade. At the same time, he ordered Zhang Hanfeng and others to send all the locusts stored in the residence of the eldest son of Liuzhou to Juxianglou.

On the return journey, Ye Cheng'an did some calculations. Before leaving Beian City, he had Zhu Yu sell all the congratulatory gifts that the ministers had originally intended to give to Ye Jinyu, which he had looted from the promotion ceremony. He sold them for a total of 150,000 taels of silver. Adding this to the 330,000 taels he originally had, he had a total of 480,000 taels of silver.

In addition, the 200,000 taels confiscated from Xiao Heming's residence this time bring the total to 680,000 taels.

Once the money from the locust sales in both cities is recovered, the 480,000 taels minus 30% will amount to... 336,000 taels.

He will soon become a millionaire with a million taels of silver!

From now on, we don't need to be so frugal with money!

If Xie Yuandao, the magistrate of Tongchuan City, knew that the locusts he had offered to compensate him that day, which had been repeatedly refused, could be sold for such a high price... he would surely regret it to the point of despair.

...

Back at the eldest son's residence, the troops from the Nine Cities had not yet arrived, but Mu Yanqi had already come.

When Ye Cheng'an stepped into the mansion, he witnessed Zhao Xuefu and Mu Yanqi arguing fiercely.

"As far as I know, Prime Minister Mu has already completed the deal with the Northern Border. Why is he coming to Liuzhou instead of returning to the Western Regions?" Zhao Xuefu stared intently at Mu Yanqi and asked in a cold voice.

Mu Yanqi chuckled, "Is it any of your business, Princess? The Great Qian Dynasty is open to trade and welcomes merchants from all over the world. Why does the Princess have to interfere wherever I go? This makes me wonder if the Great Qian Dynasty is truly a land of etiquette and hospitality?"

"I will not interfere with where Prime Minister Mu goes. However, I must remind Prime Minister Mu of something... Ye Cheng'an is now the consort whom my father has betrothed to me. If you come to Liuzhou only for trade, then I, on behalf of the Great Qian Dynasty, welcome you. But if you are still entangled with him after I have already made a marriage agreement with him, then don't blame me for being ruthless!" Zhao Xuefu said with a cold and stern face.

Upon hearing that the Emperor of Daqian had already bestowed a marriage upon Zhao Xuefu and Ye Chengan, a deep sense of suspicion flashed in Mu Yanqi's eyes. "How come I haven't heard anything about the Emperor of Daqian bestowing a marriage upon you and the eldest son?"

Zhao Xuefu had Hongluan bring the imperial edict. "Do you see it? This is the marriage decree my father bestowed upon me. My father unconditionally supports my choice of whoever I choose as my son-in-law. As long as I write Ye Cheng'an's name here, he will be mine. Prime Minister Mu, give up on him!"

"But Princess hasn't written it yet, has she?" Mu Yanqi retorted, unwilling to back down. "As long as she hasn't written it, I still have a chance. There's always a chance for things to turn around until the very last moment."

"I will not give you any chance to change things!" With that, Zhao Xuefu bit her finger and used her own blood to carefully write Ye Cheng'an's name on the marriage decree. "Prime Minister Mu has seen it all. Now, Ye Cheng'an is rightfully my fiancé."

"..." Mu Yanqi gritted her teeth, a raging fire burning in her eyes, then sneered, "Such forced buying and selling, the young master probably doesn't know about it yet, does he?"

"Even if the princess can use this imperial decree to bind the eldest prince's body, can she stop his heart from following someone else?"

After saying that, Mu Yanqi's gaze fell on Ye Cheng'an, who had just stepped into the mansion, and she went up to him, adopting an intimate posture, "Young Master, you've actually been waiting for me, haven't you?"

"You must need me right now."

Ye Cheng'an nodded; he desperately needed Mu Yanqi right now.

Now that we have money in hand, it's time to reorganize Tiger Roar Camp.

These 12,000 soldiers were his entire force in Liuzhou, and they had to be equipped with the best weapons, armor, and warhorses!

This was also what he had promised Zhang Hanfeng and the other two: to restore the former glory of the Tiger Roar Camp.

Let's start by improving our military bearing.

"I am overjoyed that Prime Minister Mu has come. Please come in, Prime Minister Mu, let us have a good talk."

Seeing Ye Cheng'an's ardent gaze towards Mu Yanqi, and reflecting on her own experience of following him without ever receiving a warm welcome, Zhao Xuefu felt even more resentful. She bit her lip and coldly shouted at Ye Cheng'an's retreating back, "Ye Cheng'an, don't forget, you are now my future consort! You must maintain a safe distance from Mu Yanqi!"

Ye Cheng'an ignored her and continued leading Mu Yanqi inside.

What happened to the princess?

He knew all too well the imperial court's wolfish ambitions; they wouldn't let a princess cloud his judgment!

He's not Ye Jinglan!

Moreover, he never said he wanted to marry Zhao Xuefu; it was always the other woman who insisted on getting close to him.

Ideally, Zhao Xuefu would return to the capital and abandon the marriage alliance because she couldn't stand his cold treatment.

Seeing that Ye Cheng'an completely ignored her, Zhao Xuefu stomped her foot in anger, then chased after him, saying, "It's improper for a man and a woman to be alone in a room. I'll be keeping an eye on you to prevent you from doing anything inappropriate!"

"..." Ye Cheng'an hadn't expected Zhao Xuefu to be so difficult to deal with when she was being unreasonable. He immediately said, "Princess, if you continue to be so unreasonable, I think there's no need for our cooperation to continue."

"Don't you want that share of the profits? Do you know that the locusts from Yong'an City and Panlong City alone sold for 480,000 taels of silver?"

Four hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver!

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xuefu was stunned. Ye Chengan was truly a master at making money.

Even the locust plague that terrified everyone turned into a windfall of wealth in his presence, which explains why the North became incredibly rich during his reign.

No, she had to win over Ye Cheng'an for the imperial court no matter what!

If necessary, even selling one's body.

"I can go out, but only if you give me my 30% of the profits first," Zhao Xuefu said.

Ye Cheng'an winked at Zhu Yu. He wasn't short of money now; problems that could be solved with money weren't problems at all.

Zhu Yu immediately gestured to Zhao Xuefu, "Princess, please come with me to collect the money?"

Zhao Xuefu then snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Seeing Zhao Xuefu's discomfiture, Mu Yanqi couldn't help but laugh. "Young Master, with such a beauty as the Ninth Princess relentlessly pursuing you, how can you remain so calm and unmoved? I'm starting to doubt whether you're even a man..."

"If Prime Minister Mu wants to know, why not try it yourself?" Ye Cheng'an said.

Mu Yanqi walked step by step towards Ye Cheng'an, tiptoed, and kissed him on the lips. "Alright, I actually regret it too. That day in Bei'an City, I gave you, young master, time to consider..."

"Besides making a deal with the eldest son, I also have a personal motive for coming to Liuzhou this time."

"What?" Ye Chengan asked.

Mu Yanqi gazed at him with alluring eyes, and said, each word soft and sweet, "I want the young master to be my man!"

"If the eldest young master agrees, I will give the Tiger Roar Camp two thousand sets of armor for free! In addition, the warhorses can also be given to the eldest young master at the lowest price."

As she spoke, Mu Yanqi gently traced circles on Ye Cheng'an's chest with her slender fingers, then grabbed his collar and pulled him sharply in front of her.

And then, she took the opportunity to untie his belt.

"Young Master, come here, let me see what a real man is..."