The imperial court is ceding territory from our northern border? Then we'll rebel!

Ancheng, Wuwei Palace.

With Xiao Jingchen being conferred the title of king, the original Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion was officially renamed "Wuwei King's Mansion".

Inside the study, Xiao Jingchen was listening to Su Mou's report.

"Your Highness, the 'cleaning up' of all the aristocratic families in Yunzhou has been completed. All their farmland, shops, and treasuries have been taken over. Preliminary statistics show that we have acquired over eight million mu of fertile land, over three thousand shops, and treasuries containing over ten million taels of silver and over two million shi of grain."

Su Mou's tone carried a hint of excitement.

His gains in Yunzhou this time far exceeded his expectations. The wealth accumulated by those aristocratic families over a century of exploitation was simply astronomical.

With this money and supplies, the pressure of settling the surrendered soldiers and rebuilding the northern frontier was greatly reduced.

"Well done." Xiao Jingchen nodded, but there wasn't much joy on his face.

He knew that this amount of money was still a drop in the ocean for his future plans.

The resettlement of millions of people, the reorganization and equipment of new recruits, and the repair and reinforcement of city defenses in various places—aren't all of these enormous money-devouring beasts?

More importantly, he wanted to build an unprecedentedly powerful cavalry legion to fight against the three races, and even... to deal with the threat from the south. And building the cavalry was incredibly expensive, costing him money like water.

Simply confiscating the property of a few aristocratic families is far from enough.

"What's the situation with the imperial court?" Xiao Jingchen asked.

This is what he cares about most right now.

The imperial edict sounded impressive, allocating three million taels of silver and five hundred thousand shi of grain. However, almost a month has passed since the edict was issued, and there hasn't been a single sign of it.

"Your Highness," Su Mou's face darkened, "The day before yesterday, an official from the Ministry of Revenue was sent from the capital, saying that he was ordered to come and verify the specific amount of money and grain needed in the northern border."

"Verification?" Xiao Jingchen sneered. "Wasn't my memorial clear enough?"

"That's what I said too," Su Mou said with a wry smile. "But that Vice Minister Zhang said that since it concerns a major expenditure of the national treasury, we must be extremely cautious. He brought a team of people and said that he would personally go to the various surrendered soldiers' camps to count the number of people, calculate the daily food expenses, and also investigate the treasury reserves in various parts of the northern frontier, saying that... we must ensure that the accounts are clear to prevent anyone from embezzling."

"Heh." Xiao Jingchen laughed, a cold laugh.

How could he not understand what that meant?

drag.

It's a blatant delaying tactic.

A camp with millions of people—he's going to count the heads? By the time he finishes counting them all, it'll be too late.

They want to inspect the treasuries of various prefectures? The northern frontier is so vast, when will he ever get there?

That Empress is indeed stubborn and won't admit defeat until she sees the coffin. She agrees readily on the surface, but behind your back, she uses the kind of stalling tactics that civil officials excel at to annoy and wear you down.

She wanted to drag things out until the northern border couldn't hold out any longer, until the surrendered soldiers mutinied due to lack of food, then she could reap the benefits.

"Where is he?" Xiao Jingchen asked.

"He's still at the post station. I made up an excuse, saying that Your Highness is busy with military affairs and doesn't have time to see him for the time being," Su Mou said.

"Send him to see me." Xiao Jingchen stood up. "I want to see how this official from the Ministry of Revenue plans to 'settle' this score with me."

Half an hour later, Zhang Cheng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was brought to the Prince's study.

Zhang Cheng was about forty years old, with a fair complexion and no beard. He was dressed in his official robes meticulously, and his face carried the arrogance unique to officials in the capital.

Upon seeing Xiao Jingchen, he merely gave a perfunctory bow: "This humble official, Zhang Cheng of the Ministry of Revenue, greets the Prince of Wuwei."

Even the self-reference of "this humble official" sounded somewhat forced, let alone kneeling and bowing.

In his eyes, Xiao Jingchen was nothing more than a lucky military man who had seized the throne through a coup and coercion, and was not worthy of respect. He represented the imperial court and the emperor.

Xiao Jingchen didn't mind his rudeness and simply pointed to the chair next to him.

"Minister Zhang, please have a seat."

"Your Highness is too kind." Zhang Cheng didn't stand on ceremony either, and casually sat down with a flick of his official robe.

"I heard that Minister Zhang has come to check the money and grain?" Xiao Jingchen asked bluntly.

"Exactly." Zhang Cheng nodded, took out a small booklet from his sleeve, and said slowly, "As Your Highness knows, the national treasury is empty, and every expenditure must be carefully calculated. His Majesty is also doing this for the good of the northern border, fearing that if the allocated funds and provisions are not in accordance with the amount, it will cause unnecessary trouble."

"I've come here today with a serious and responsible attitude to thoroughly understand the situation in the northern border. For example, what is the exact number of surrendered soldiers—three million, or three to five million? What is the daily ration standard—one liter per person, or eight measures per person? Also, the Protectorate has just raided the aristocratic families of Yunzhou, and must have seized a considerable amount of money and grain. Could this be used to provide some relief...?"

He went on and on, spouting a lot of bureaucratic platitudes, the core message of which was: You want money? Fine, first tell me your financial situation, and then I'll calculate it for you.

Xiao Jingchen did not interrupt him, but listened quietly.

After he finished speaking, Xiao Jingchen slowly opened his mouth.

"Minister Zhang, what you said is all correct."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cheng's face revealed a smug expression. He knew that this martial artist must have been completely confused by his words.

"However," Xiao Jingchen changed the subject, "I don't have time to argue with you like this."

He stood up, walked up to Zhang Cheng, and looked down at him.

"I'll only tell you three things."

"First, I have over five million surrendered soldiers and their families who need to be fed. They are currently eating only thin porridge every day. The grain I have can last for at most ten days."

"Secondly, if the imperial supplies haven't arrived in ten days, these five million people will go hungry. I think I don't need to elaborate on what hungry people will do, do I?"

"third……"

Xiao Jingchen's voice suddenly dropped, carrying a chilling coldness that sent shivers down one's spine.

"If they have no food, I'll have no choice but to take them and find food ourselves."

The smug look on Zhang Cheng's face froze instantly.

He swallowed hard, forcing himself to speak, "Your Highness... what does Your Highness mean? Could it be... could it be that you intend to lead your troops south? That would be treason!"

"Treason?" Xiao Jingchen laughed. "Minister Zhang is joking. How could I possibly rebel? I am the Prince of Wuwei, personally appointed by His Majesty, a loyal subject of the Great Yan."

"I just feel that since transporting grain from the capital is a long and inconvenient journey, why not solve the problem locally?"

He walked up to the map and tapped it lightly with his finger.

"I've taken a look. The closest prefecture to Yunzhou is Hejian Prefecture. That's a famous grain-producing area in our Great Yan. I imagine there's quite a bit of grain stored in the prefectural granary, right?"

"I plan to send an army of 500,000 to Hejian Prefecture to 'assist' the local government in the transportation of grain supplies. They have been traveling a long way and must be exhausted, so the grain supplies will naturally be replenished locally by Hejian Prefecture."

"Minister Zhang, look, isn't my method much faster than you calculating the accounts one by one?"

Zhang Cheng's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

He wasn't stupid. He understood what Xiao Jingchen meant.

This is hardly a "transfer assistance" trip.

This is clearly a blatant military threat!

Hejian Prefecture is not territory assigned to the Northern Protectorate! Sending 500,000 troops there is no different from directly occupying the territory.

This is no longer just slapping the court in the face; it's stepping on the court's face!

"You...you dare!" Zhang Cheng pointed at Xiao Jingchen, his voice trembling.

"You'll see if I dare." Xiao Jingchen turned around, sat back down in the main seat, and picked up his teacup.

"Su Mou".

"Your subordinate is here."

Prepare writing materials for Vice Minister Zhang.

"Draft another royal decree for me, ordering General Cang Jia to immediately reorganize 500,000 troops and set off for Hejian Prefecture in ten days."

Xiao Jingchen blew on the steam rising from his teacup, not even glancing at Zhang Cheng.

"Minister Zhang, didn't you want to do the calculations? Now you can start."

"Let's see, is your pen faster, or my knife?"