I became a prince in a martial arts world.

Chapter 91 The Arrangement of the Loulan Treasure

After drinking and saying goodbye to Wang Bin, he stayed at Baima Mountain Villa for a day, and then traveled through cities and prefectures, returning to Longshan Prefecture on the day of Laba Festival.

"Yu-ge'er! I've missed you so much!"

Before they even entered the city, Zhao Yingjie greeted them, "Was Tianshan fun? Did you find any Tianshan snow lotus?"

Ignoring the playful Zhao Yingjie, Zhao Rong first greeted Wang Yu and the other two before bowing respectfully to Yan Xiangxue, saying, "Greetings, Senior Yan!"

After entering Longshan Prefecture, Wang Yu had already sent someone back with a message, and Zhao Rong knew that Yan Xiangxue and Alde were also traveling with them.

One was the Snow Mountain Granny, whom the Qiang people revered as a deity, and the other was the apple of the eye of the White Qiang King. Although Wang Yuxin did not explain in detail how he had brought these two people back, Zhao Rong still cleaned the Guanyun Tower next to the main courtyard and personally went out of the city to welcome them.

Yan Xiangxue said with a smile, "Thank you for your help, Steward Zhao."

"I dare not!" Seeing Yan Xiangxue's friendly attitude towards Wang Yu, Zhao Rong temporarily lowered his guard, cupped his hands and said, "It is an honor for this junior to have you stay at the Wang residence, senior."

Although Yan Xiangxue is a young girl in front of Ye Tianlin, strictly speaking, she should be of the same generation as the founder of the Zhenxi Prince's Mansion. She has protected the Baiqiang tribe for nearly fifty years, and Zhao Zheng and Zhao Rong are all juniors in front of her.

It was also under her influence that the Bai Qiang tribe became increasingly friendly with Han Chinese areas, and for fifty years there have been no conflicts with the Zhenxi Prince's Mansion.

So although Zhao Rong was wary, he wasn't actually that worried. Instead, he was more puzzled, wondering how Wang Yu could have brought back such a powerful figure on his trip.

Then he heard Zhao Yingjie keep asking questions, finally asking, "Brother Yu, are the women from the Western Regions beautiful? Are they all those with slender waists? Why didn't you bring back any?"

Sensing the cold glares from the three pairs of eyes, including his father's, the perceptive Zhao Yingjie finally realized he had spoken too quickly. He immediately reported seriously, "Brother Yu, I've recently been in charge of the ironworks and glass workshops, and I've revised a few formulas. They've been very effective, earning the Prince's Mansion an additional 700,000 taels of silver!"

Wang Yu looked him up and down, then shook his head and said, "I don't believe it."

Zhao Yingjie panicked, "It's true!"

Wang Yu snorted, "More than three months, and you've gained even more weight. Do you think I believe that?"

Zhao Yingjie glared at him. "But I need to fatten up for autumn, and I need to eat more meat in the cold winter!"

Everyone laughed upon hearing this, and then they all entered the city together.

Back at the Prince of Zhenxi's mansion, everyone washed up, rested for a while, and then went to the front hall for a banquet.

Zhao Rong first reported on the previous task of the Iron Eagle Cavalry escorting the Loulan treasure back.

"Seven Iron Eagle Cavalrymen died, five were wounded, and twenty-eight were injured in the Western Regions. They have been properly compensated and resettled."

Zhao Rong said, "In addition, the treasures of Loulan brought back by the Iron Eagle Cavalry have been categorized into 54 large carts, including gold coins and ingots, gold jewelry, gold utensils, and silver. These are the most numerous items."

In addition, pearls, agate, jade, coral, etc. are each in one category, and gold and silver ornaments are in another category. Although these items are rare, they are the most valuable.

After taking stock, I asked the gentlemen in the household to estimate its value. Based on market prices, this treasure is worth approximately eleven million.

"hiss""

Even Li Yunxiu was somewhat astonished, "This King of Loulan has really amassed quite a fortune."

If we include the 30% that Shuntian Army took, the King of Loulan reaped the profits from the trade route and amassed a fortune of nearly 15 million.

It should be noted that the Prince of Zhenxi's Mansion has been operating for nearly forty years, occupying three prefectures in the northwest and controlling the northwest trade routes. However, when Li Yunxiu took over the administration of the mansion at the beginning of the year, the entire mansion's treasury had less than one million taels of silver.

Even though Wang Yu had been making perfumes, building blast furnaces, and firing glass for the past six months, opening up many avenues for wealth, time was limited after all. Many businesses had only just begun to take off, and by the time they left Yumen Pass to the west, the Wang family's treasury had only just exceeded two million taels.

Yes, of course, there will be more and more in the future.

However, eleven million taels of silver is by no means a small sum, and even the imperial court would find it difficult to come up with it all at once.

Zhao Yingjie curled his lips and said, "The thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions are really rich. It's a pity that the new dynasty is incompetent and abolished the Protectorate. Although the thirty-six kingdoms still respect the imperial court, they are basically autonomous except for paying tribute once every few years."

"Ahem!" Zhao Rong pointed to the dishes on the table, "Even the three kinds of sacrificial animals and six kinds of livestock can't shut you up."

"Hehe!" Zhao Yingjie chuckled, then looked at Wang Yu, his eyes gleaming, "Brother Yu, are you really going to give all this money to that emperor in the Golden Palace?"

Zhao Die stopped talking, picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks, and focused on picking out the bones.

Yan Xiangxue ate the winter bamboo shoots and cabbage that Alder had picked out for her with a smile.

Alde was chatting with Yuan Feifei, who was sitting next to her. One of them genuinely didn't care about the matter, but her eyes kept glancing at Wang Yu. The other, though talking, was actually listening intently.

Qianqian gave a mysterious smile and poured Wang Yu a glass of wine.

Wang Yu nodded. "Of course we'll give it to him. The emperor has issued a secret decree specifically to prepare for this treasure as an emergency. If we don't give it to him, he'll go crazy!"

Zhao Yingjie blinked his small eyes. "So what if he's gone mad?"

"If he goes crazy, we'll suffer." Wang Yu took a sip of wine. "Everything is going well for us now, and we're not short of money, so there's no need for us to suffer with him."

Moreover, the Loulan treasure has a bad reputation; taking it would easily earn one a reputation for squandering one's inheritance, drawing ridicule. It's better to give it to the emperor and let him bear that reputation.

Zhao Yingjie clicked his tongue. Although he thought Wang Yu's words made a lot of sense, because they now had three avenues for making money that Xi Jinping monopolized: perfume, high-efficiency iron smelting, and luxury glass, they would become increasingly wealthy in the future.

But this is a huge sum of money after all, and it has already gone into the treasury of the Prince of Zhenxi's mansion. It would be a real shame to give it away!

Zhao Yingjie glanced at Li Yunxiu cautiously.

Li Yunxiu smiled slightly, "We should still give it, but there's no need to give it all. His Majesty doesn't know how much Loulan treasure is actually. Our Zhenxi Prince's Mansion ventured deep into the Western Regions and was besieged by the Black Qiang. My husband narrowly escaped death. How can we not reward him?"

"Hmm?" Zhao Yingjie looked at Li Yunxiu, his eyes shining. "What does Your Highness mean by that?"

Li Yunxiu laughed and said, "Before going to Loulan, my guess about the Loulan treasure was only six or seven million."

Loulan was only considered middle to upper class among the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions, but it was located on a strategic route and close to the Central Plains, so it rarely participated in the conflicts of the Western Regions. Therefore, it should be richer than most of the kingdoms.

But governing a country requires money, and Loulan had no special products of its own, relying entirely on tolls. Li Yunxiu thought that they could save up seven or eight million in their treasury at most, but she never expected that they would save up twice as much as she had anticipated.

This shows the greed of the Loulan king, and it's no wonder they were overthrown.

Zhao Yingjie roughly understood, "So—"

Li Yunxiu nodded and smiled, "So I guess His Majesty also expected this. Moreover, the Shuntian Army also took away part of the treasure. If we can send five million to the court, that will be enough to satisfy His Majesty."

Although the emperor issued a secret decree, although Wang Yu was an imposter, and although Li Yunxiu was widely recognized as the emperor's man—

But the treasure was seized by the Prince of Zhenxi's mansion after all. If they gave it all to the imperial court without keeping a single piece, not only Li Yunxiu, but even Wang Yu would have no way to explain it to his subordinates.

Li Yunxiu came here to take control of the Zhenxi Prince's Mansion, or at least to stabilize it, not to force the mansion to rebel. Wang Yu, of course, must not be exposed, but he also cannot go against the emperor's wishes.

So the two of them settled on this agreement.

I won't give it all to avoid trouble; I'll keep a copy as an explanation.

Li Yun had done her best within her capabilities. After all, with Old Master Yan dead, she could no longer contact the Emperor at any time, and the Emperor must have felt her good intentions.

As expected, with Wang Yu having already given away all the benefits, Li Yunxiu then intercepted half of them. The situation shifted from Wang Yu, who should have been one of their own, offering the benefits, to Li Yunxiu, who should have been an outsider, intercepting them.

Zhao Rong and Zhao Yingjie immediately accepted the arrangement and thought that Li Yunxiu was a good person. Although she was sent by the emperor to infiltrate the family, she respected the Prince of Zhenxi's family after marrying into the family and did not forget her roots.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, the imperial court is still in power, and the Prince of Zhenxi's Mansion has no intention of rebelling. Therefore, the arrangement of the imperial court providing information, the manpower and resources provided by the Prince's Mansion, and finally sharing the treasure is quite appropriate.

Yan Xiangxue smiled slightly. Although she didn't know that Wang Yu was an imposter, she felt that he had handled the situation well. After all, the pressure from the imperial court was still great, and there was also the Black Qiang in the north who were eager to cause trouble.

If there is no intention to rebel, spending money to avoid trouble, maintaining peace and dignity with the court, and focusing attention on the ambitious Black Qiang tribe is a very correct choice.

After the arrangements for the Loulan treasure were made, the atmosphere at the welcoming banquet relaxed again. Wang Yu talked about the sword competition at Tianshan and then about Yan Xiangxue being ambushed by Shi Mo and coming to Longshan Prefecture to recuperate and heal her injuries.

Yan Xiangxue was seriously injured and unable to fight. This matter could not be kept from Zhao Rong, and it was not exactly a secret, so there was no need to hide it.

"I see!" Zhao Rong finally understood and felt relieved. "Since Shi Mo was seriously injured by Sect Leader Ling's sword, we can rest easy for the next year."

At the same time, his eyes were full of satisfaction when he looked at Wang Yu, because he did not expect that Wang Yu's aptitude and comprehension were so high that he could cultivate "Flowing Fire Reflection" and "Ice Mountain Flowing Spring" at the same time.

"Wow! You actually met the Sword Demon Ye Tianlin!" Zhao Yingjie's eyes were full of admiration. "What does he look like?"

.

Isn't it imposing and intimidating, keeping strangers at bay?

If Zhao Ling's establishment of the Zhenxi Prince's Mansion and Zhao Zheng's surpassing of his predecessors in sweeping across the Northwest are considered legendary stories in the region, then Ye Tianlin can be considered a myth.

He roamed the Central Plains without ever being defeated, and his might shook the Western Regions. As a Han Chinese, he intimidated the Hu people of the Western Regions. In particular, the Tianshan Mountains, located on Lingxiao Peak outside Yumen Pass, were sparsely populated and full of mystery.

Many people in the Northwest regard Ye Tian as almost mythical, and the name "Sword Demon" does indeed inspire imagination.

Then Zhao Yingjie saw Wang Yu shake his head, "No, he's just a kind, fat old man."

Zhao Yingjie: ? ? ?

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