I run a casino in the immortal realm.

At the same time, Zheng Yifei used his vast intelligence network and propaganda channels of more than 160 gambling dens in the Southern Wilderness to launch a massive campaign to create momentum among the people.

"Two silver coins for a million gold!"

"Buying lottery tickets is doing good deeds, and doing good deeds will surely bring blessings!"

"One grand prize every day, the next millionaire could be you!"

Highly inflammatory slogans were plastered all over the streets and alleys.

Zheng Yifei then plunged into the Tiangong Academy branch, working with several array masters to produce lottery tickets overnight.

The lottery tickets are made of a cheap but extremely durable parchment paper. The front is printed with exquisite dragon patterns and the four characters "Disaster Relief and Blessings," while the back has an anti-counterfeiting watermark.

The most crucial scratch-off area was coated with a thick layer of special ink mixed with spirit-repelling sand, perfectly preventing divine sense from probing it.

Zheng Yifei dispatched all four hundred Nascent Soul stage anti-smuggling officers from the Criminal Investigation Department.

Each lottery draw point is guarded by thirty Nascent Soul cultivators, who are responsible for maintaining order, supervising the distribution, and protecting the safety of the huge prize money.

Ten days later.

The central square of Tanzhou County.

This is the largest lottery station in the county town.

A three-zhang-high platform was erected in the center of the square, piled high with boxes and boxes of gold coins, glittering so brightly that people couldn't open their eyes.

Around the high platform, thirty Nascent Soul stage anti-smuggling officers, dressed in black and with cold expressions, stood with knives in hand, exuding a powerful aura.

The square was already packed with people, so crowded that it was impossible to move. Not only were there local residents of Tanzhou County, but also cultivators and merchants from several nearby counties who had heard the news and flocked there.

At the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), the Ninth Prince Long Yuan and Prefect Zhu Zhenbang personally ascended the high platform.

"Disaster relief lottery tickets are officially on sale!"

At Long Yuan's command, dozens of sales windows opened simultaneously.

At first, the crowd hesitated.

In particular, the stewards sent by those powerful families hid behind the crowd and sneered. In their view, this was nothing more than a scam by the government to extort money in disguise. The grand prize of one million gold coins must have been predetermined to be given to one of the government's own people.

Those who paid first were actually the low-level independent cultivators and ordinary people.

Two silver coins were nothing to them; what if they won?

"Give me one!"

A rogue monk in a tattered Taoist robe squeezed to the window, handed over two silver coins, and received a beautiful lottery ticket in return.

He walked to the side, took out a copper coin from his pocket, and nervously scraped off the coating.

Thank you for participating.

The rogue cultivator sighed and casually tossed the lottery ticket into the nearby wastepaper basket.

Half an hour after the sale started, most people scratched off "Thank you for participating" or the lowest prize of ten gold coins.

Some skeptical murmurs began to circulate among the crowd.

Just then, a pig-like scream suddenly erupted from a window in the corner of the square.

"I won! I won! Second prize! Fifty thousand gold coins!!!"

A man covered in grease, looking like a butcher, held up a scratched lottery ticket in both hands, trembling with excitement, tears and snot streaming down his face.

The anti-smuggling officer in charge of verification stepped forward, carefully examined the lottery ticket's security watermark, and after confirming it was genuine, announced loudly: "Second prize, 50,000 gold coins, valid! Payable on the spot!"

Two constables carried over a small box and, in front of everyone, poured out 50,000 gleaming gold coins.

The crowd fell silent for a second, then erupted into a deafening uproar.

"They really paid! They paid right there!"

"I know that pig butcher, Li the butcher from the south of the city. He's dirt poor, he's definitely not a government shill!"

"Quick! Give me ten!"

"Don't push! I want to buy a hundred tickets!"

Butcher Li's winning the lottery was like a spark thrown into dry tinder, igniting a frenzy among everyone. A long queue instantly formed in front of the sales window.

At noon, even more shocking news arrived.

At the Yuanyang Prefecture lottery station, a rogue cultivator in the Qi Refining stage spent only one gold coin to buy six lottery tickets, and the last one won the grand prize of one million gold coins!

When the message was transmitted back to the city square via the jade slip and confirmed by the authorities, the powerful families who had been observing finally could no longer sit still.

They immediately sent people to investigate the background of that rogue cultivator, and found that he really was just a poor boy with no connections.

This is not a scam! The government is genuinely giving away money!

One million gold coins is equivalent to several years' worth of net profit for some middle-class families.

Now, you only need to spend a few gold coins to have a chance to get it!

Greed completely overwhelmed reason.

In the afternoon, the stewards of those powerful families no longer hid in the back watching the excitement.

They brought a large number of servants, carrying boxes of gold coins, and surrounded the sales window.

"Get out of the way! The Wang family wants 10,000 gold coins!"

"The Li family bought 30,000 gold coins! They just gave us a whole box of lottery tickets!"

An extremely comical and crazy scene unfolded in the square.

Those usually aloof family stewards, directing dozens of servants, sat directly on the open ground of the square, each holding a copper coin, frantically scratching lottery tickets like madmen.

Scratch off one ticket and throw it away; the floor is covered with lottery ticket scraps.

When the sales figures for the first day were released, even Zheng Yifei himself was taken aback.

Eleven lottery draw locations sold over 80 million gold coins worth of lottery tickets in one day! After deducting the prize money paid out, the net profit reached a staggering 60 million gold coins!

In just one day, they earned back ten times the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court!

Long Yuan stared at the numbers in the ledger, his hands trembling. He abruptly turned to Zheng Yifei, his eyes filled with awe: "Yifei, you...you're practically a god of wealth!"

In the following days, the fervor not only did not subside, but intensified as big prizes were awarded in various places.

The news spread beyond Tanzhou County, shaking the entire Tianlong Dynasty.

Several surrounding counties, and even some powerful figures in the capital, sent people on horseback to Tanzhou County to buy lottery tickets.

The lottery event, originally planned for seven days, continued to draw large crowds from out of town on the seventh day.

Long Yuan and Zhu Zhenbang made a quick decision to add three more days!

Zheng Yifei had no choice but to issue an emergency order, requiring all the array masters and craftsmen of the Tiangong Academy branch to work overtime overnight, with spirit stones being supplied in abundance, and lottery tickets being printed day and night.

Ten days later, this "disaster relief lottery" event that shook the dynasty finally came to an end amidst a lingering sense of jubilation.

Late at night, in a secret room in the prefectural governor's mansion.

Long Yuan, Zhu Zhenbang, and Zheng Yifei sat around a long table piled high with account books sent from various places. Su Wanqing, along with more than a dozen actuaries, spent three hours finalizing the accounts.

When Su Wanqing handed the last summary sheet to Zheng Yifei, her hand was trembling slightly.

Zheng Yifei glanced at the numbers, took a deep breath, and pushed the paper in front of Long Yuan and Zhu Zhenbang.

"Your Highness, my lord. In ten days, the eleven lottery stations across the entire prefecture have raised a total of... 500 billion gold."

"hiss--"

Two sharp gasps rang out in unison from inside the sealed room.

Zhu Zhenbang slumped into a chair, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets: "Five...five hundred billion? The combined taxes of my entire Tanzhou Prefecture for three years don't even amount to that much!"

Long Yuan stared intently at the number, then suddenly threw his head back and burst into laughter, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

"Third brother, you think you can force me to my death with five million gold? You'd never dream that I'd amassed five hundred billion in just ten days!"

Long Yuan grabbed Zheng Yifei's shoulder and squeezed it hard, his eyes filled with admiration and gratitude: "Yifei, you've done an incredible service this time! With this money, let alone restoring people's livelihoods, I can demolish and rebuild all ten flooded counties in Tanzhou Prefecture within a year, making them even more prosperous than before!"

This huge sum of money completely solved the funding shortage for disaster relief.

Long Yuan even generously allocated the remaining 30 billion gold coins as a reward for the hard work of the Criminal Investigation Department's Anti-Smuggling Team and the Imperial Crafts Institute.

The crisis was not only perfectly resolved, but it even turned into an unprecedented victory.

Behind this celebration, Su Wanqing also brought good news.

"Your Highness."

Su Wanqing looked at the excited Long Yuan and smiled slightly: "I went to the Tiangong Academy yesterday to ask Ling'er. She said that when Your Highness was killing demons on the city wall of Yuanyang Prefecture, she actually saw it from afar in the city. She thinks... Your Highness is a great hero."

If Your Highness doesn't mind that she only knows alchemy and not the arts (music, chess, calligraphy, painting), she is willing to try to get along with Your Highness.

Upon hearing this, Long Yuan froze, and then the ecstasy on his face was a hundred times more intense than when he saw the five hundred billion gold.

This dignified Ninth Prince was pacing back and forth excitedly in the secret room like a young boy, rubbing his hands and babbling incoherently: "I don't mind! Absolutely not! Being able to refine pills is great! I love refining pills the most!"

Yifei, sister-in-law, I can't thank you enough. From now on, we're family!

Seeing Long Yuan gesturing wildly, Zheng Yifei and Su Wanqing exchanged a smile.

Zheng Yifei knew that from this moment on, he was completely bound to the Ninth Prince and the current Crown Prince.

Now that the Third Prince of Kyoto has made his move, Zheng Yifei will gladly face the upcoming court struggle to the very end.