More children, more blessings, starting from marrying a wife to fight for world hegemony

After everyone knelt down, Wei Heng spoke up: "From this day forward, all affairs of the Zhennan Prince's Mansion will be decided by the Heir Apparent, and the royal seal will be handed over to him from today onwards!"

At this point, Wei Heng opened the wooden box in his hand, inside which was the Zhennan King's Seal carved from white jade.

When people heard that the Prince of Zhennan was going to hand over the royal seal to Lu Chen, they were all stunned. Handing over the royal seal meant that the Prince of Zhennan had decided to completely relinquish power to Lu Chen.

In other words, from this moment on, Lu Chen is equivalent to the Prince of Zhennan.

At this moment, Wei Heng knelt down in front of Lu Chen, took the wooden box from his head, and said to Lu Chen, "Your Highness, please accept the royal seal."

Without any hesitation, Lu Chen immediately took the wooden box from Wei Heng's hand, then held the royal seal in his hand, raised it above his head, and said, "Now that Father has handed the royal seal to me, let's carry out my first order. Anyone who wants to leave Zhennan Prince's Mansion, step forward immediately. I, the Crown Prince, swear in the name of Zhennan Prince's Mansion that I will not hold anyone accountable for leaving Zhennan Prince's Mansion now, and I will let you leave safely."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, the people in the training ground looked at each other.

After an unknown amount of time, a servant cautiously stepped out from the crowd and said, "Young Master, I...I...want to leave. I wonder if it's possible? I can take out all my silver to exchange for my indenture."

The servants in the Prince of Zhennan's mansion all had indentures, which was a major reason why they couldn't leave easily.

The servant was bowing his head, covered in sweat, his coarse clothes soaked through. He was terrified that Lu Chen would go back on his word and have him killed immediately.

However, if they stay in the Prince of Zhennan's mansion, they probably won't live much longer once the Prince of Zhennan dies. They might as well take a gamble. What if the Prince of Zhennan and this young master really have a change of heart and release them from the mansion?
Lu Chen glanced at the servant and noticed that the servant had a 60% favorability rating towards him. A 60% favorability rating meant the servant was thinking about leaving the Zhennan Prince's Mansion. It seemed that most people in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion had already decided to escape.

Lu Chen then asked, "You don't need to be nervous. Since I said I would let you leave safely, I will. However, I am a little curious as to why you would want to leave the Zhennan Prince's Mansion. I feel that your loyalty to the Zhennan Prince's Mansion is not low."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's statement that his loyalty to the Prince of Zhennan's mansion was not low, the servant immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Lu Chen, saying, "Your Highness, I already have a family, two parents who are over eighty years old, and four children. I really cannot die!"

Many people in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion are indeed quite loyal to it. No matter how much the Zhennan Prince's Mansion declines, it is still the only non-royal prince in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Serving as a servant in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion is much easier and more rewarding than serving as a servant in other places.

However, there was nothing that could be done. The Prince of Zhennan was about to perish, and it was obvious to everyone that the Great Zhou royal family had always coveted the Prince of Zhennan's mansion. Over the years, the Great Zhou royal family had been suppressing the Prince of Zhennan's mansion and weakening its power.

The Great Zhou royal family acted so ruthlessly while the Prince of Zhennan was still alive; if the Prince of Zhennan were to die, the fate of the Zhennan Prince's Mansion would be predictable.

Even though most people are loyal to the Prince of Zhennan's mansion, they still know how to choose when faced with their own life or death.

Just as the servant in front of Lu Chen said, they also have families. Their deaths may not seem like a big deal, but if something happens to the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, their families will most likely be implicated.

Even if they weren't implicated, their families would still be affected after their deaths, as the pillars of their households would be gone. Of course, this only applies to a portion of the male servants.

However, no matter what, there is no such thing as absolute loyalty when it comes to life and death.

Lu Chen then said, "I see. Now you can prepare to leave."

Upon hearing this, the servant who was kowtowing paused, looking up at Lu Chen with some disbelief. He had already resigned himself to death, after all, how could the Zhennan Prince's Mansion truly tolerate their betrayal? Just then, Lu Chen added, "However, since you mentioned exchanging silver for indentures, I think it's a good suggestion. Anyone who wants to leave the Zhennan Prince's Mansion can take out their silver and exchange it for their indentures."

"You've exchanged your indentures for your former indentures. From now on, you are free and it doesn't count as betraying the Prince of Zhennan's mansion."

Upon hearing this, the people present were taken aback. There was another reason why they dared not betray the Prince of Zhennan's Mansion: those who betrayed their masters were despised in this era.

Even if they survive in the end, if outsiders find out that they betrayed the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, they will be looked down upon in the future, and their lives will probably not be easy.

However, if they exchanged their indentures for silver in a normal way, then they would not be considered to have betrayed their master. Redeeming indentures was a very common thing in this era.

Lu Chen glanced at the thousands of people in the training ground and then said, "Go and prepare the silver now. In an hour, I will have Steward Wei bring your indentures. Anyone who wants to leave the Prince's Mansion only needs to pay double the price of indenture."

"If you really don't have any money, you can sign an IOU."

Previously, people were worried that Lu Chen was bluffing them, since Lu Chen had taken the initiative to let them leave, which seemed rather unusual. They did not believe that the Prince of Zhennan and Lu Chen, the heir of the Prince of Zhennan, would be so kind.

However, if they could exchange the indenture for silver, they wouldn't have such big concerns; redeeming an indenture was a perfectly normal thing.

Lu Chen continued, "That's it, we'll gather again in an hour."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, the people in the training ground dispersed, and Lu Chen's gaze fell on Wu Feng.

Wu Feng was not a servant of the Prince's mansion, nor did he have any so-called indenture. Whether he could leave depended mainly on the Prince of Zhennan's decision.

At this moment, Lu Chen asked Zhao Yu, "What did my father say?"

Seeing that Lu Chen was looking at Wu Feng while speaking, Zhao Yu knew what Lu Chen wanted to ask, so he immediately said, "Your Highness, the King said to let him go."

Hearing Zhao Yu's words, Wu Feng breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had been gambling that the Prince of Zhennan was nearing the end of his life and wouldn't want to offend the people behind him.

The person who can win over the deputy commander of the Zhennan Army of the Prince of Zhennan must have a certain status. If Lu Chen offends this person, his life will be even more difficult after the Prince of Zhennan falls.

The Prince of Zhennan did indeed have some concerns. His time was up, and he could go on a killing spree, but once he was gone, Lu Chen would probably soon join him.

Lu Chen looked at Wu Feng and said, "I will make you understand in the future that it is a very foolish thing to rely on the Empress Dowager."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Wu Feng's heart skipped a beat. (End of Chapter)